Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Number of episodes: 10
Year: 2015
Starring: Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Rhea Seehorne, Patrick Fabian, Michael Mando, Michael McKeen
Description: The trials and tribulations of criminal lawyer Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) in the time before he established his strip-mall law office in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Review: It was the most anticipated series of 2015, that debut in February of that year. The spin-off of one of the best series ever made: “Breaking Bad”. That the series would be a success was a given. The question was just how big. And since “Better Call Saul” was the number one cable series in America that year, it proofs that is was very big. Add to the overwhelmingly positive reviews and you have a series that might even be as good as the series it was based on. The first season of “Better Call Saul” is good, at times very good.
We follow the adventures of James ‘Jimmy’ McGill, before he becomes the Saul Goodman we know from “Breaking Bad”. In “Better Call Saul” we see how he became the super lawyer, but there is no mention of that just yet. Nobody takes Jimmy seriously and it frustrates him. He also takes care of his brother Chuck, who is the partner at a big law firm and is now dealing with a medical condition that prevents him from leaving the house.
In this season we see how Jimmy tries to get a place in the legal profession. We also see Mike Ehremantraut, who was a people’s favorite in “Breaking Bad” and in fact one of my favorite characters as well. We see how Mike ended up in Albuquerque. Does Jimmy manage to earn respect and establish his name? And why do they call him ‘”Slippin’ Jimmy’? We’ll get answers to these questions in this first season.
“Better Call Saul” is definitely one of the best show of the moment and the performances are extraordinary. The series contains of high quality shots, spot-on cinematography, just like its predecessor. Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, also responsible for the success of “Breaking Bad”, once again succeed in making a series where we can exactly see what they were planning on making. It looks beautiful.
It's not one storyline the first season focuses on, there are several storylines which might not make it as catchy or memorable. The best episode was “Five-O”, which was carried by Jonathan Banks, who plays Mike. It was separate from the rest and didn’t feature a lot of Jimmy. It’s almost the ugly duckling episode of the season. But it’s a magnificent episode and very necessary.
Before I finish, I do want to mention Bob Odenkirk, who is the star of the show and the titular character. Odenkirk is a great actor, he already proved that in “Breaking Bad”. And here too. Throughout the season, Jimmy’s development is certainly rewarding. The pace is slow, but you can understand where Gilligan and Gould want to go. Odenkirk has and will have plenty of opportunity to embody multiple facets of Jimmy. Just look at the sharp dialogues and how convincingly Odenkirk knows how to bring it. So no complains about the acting. However, he does not (yet) have the gravitas that Bryan Cranston had. Cranston commanded every scene he was in and his Walter White will probably always be one of the greatest acting performances in TV history. You hated him for who he was, but at the same time you wanted him to slip further into madness. Jimmy McGill is not yet that kind of character and that becomes clear when you watch the episode “Five-O” and see how Jonathan Banks steals the show.
I’m late to the party, since I’m only starting “Better Call Saul” now. But I’m glad that I did, because it looks like this will become a new favorite eventually. I really loved the first season and something tells me it’s only going to get better.
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