Season 1, Episode 1: "Uno" and Episode 2: "Mijo"
Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould had the most unenviable job in television this time last year: how to follow up Breaking Bad, a show which turned the entire Western hemisphere into binge-watching evangelists, whose sole purpose was to recommend this show under the promise that it was the televisual equivalent of the second coming of Jesus. Its reputation threatens not only to overshadow but to completely engulf anything Gilligan and his team will create in the future, for the fact that Breaking Bad was such a surprising runaway success among audiences and critics alike has set a high precedent that, realistically, cannot be lived up to.
In many ways, then, creating Better Call Saul is the riskiest thing they could have done. Going back to the same universe sans the presence of cancer-ridden anti-hero Walter White (Bryan Cranston, off making insurance commercials) and hood-rat-with-a-heart-of-gold Jessie Pinkman (Aaron Paul) seems counter-intuitive, for every step of the process is in danger of being unfavourably compared to its forerunner by a rabid online fanbase. It even does the thing some shows do of taking a character with a defined niche - Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) was a dose of much-needed comic relief - and seeing if they survive by themselves in a new environment, like a newborn baby deer. But can Better Call Saul stand up by itself (Frasier) or does it collapse into a placenta-filled mess (Joey)?
It shouldn't surprise you that it's definitely the former, and for precisely the reason I was so concerned: it's more of what we loved from Breaking Bad. Sure, the focus and time period is different - we open in the post-blue meth era, with a haggard Goodman in hiding watching old tapes of his infomercials, before flashing back to 2002, to see how the man became the cheerfully amoral lawyer we saw in Breaking Bad's second season. But fundamentally the two shows are the same, or at least similar. They're both about contemporary, commercial America, and they're both about two men who learn to define themselves through their money and reputation (one leads nicely to the other, it's just getting there in the first place that's the trouble).
Of course, Better Call Saul sets itself apart by losing the cancer and drugs and turning its gaze to the world of public law. When we first see Goodman - sporting his original name, Jimmy McGill - he's living in the back of a Chinese laundromat and turning tricks for change at the local public court. It's not enough to make a living, particularly when he has an ill father to look after (who seems to be allergic to electricity), and it's why he jumps at the opportunity to represent a client who has committed a serious form of bank fraud. It's a tricky set up, de-familiarising much of what we know about the character - he's noticeably greener and more straight-laced, and reminds us of the stark contrast between the bumbling Walter White standing in his underwear in the pilot and the merciless embodiment of drug lord Heisenberg by the series' end.
Crucially the series is funnier than its predecessor, which is most evident in the pilot episode "Uno". From the darkly ludicrous antics at the courthouse involving a severed head to the sequence where McGill and two skateboarders concoct a scam where they hurl themselves at cars, it feels like a show which revels in the more absurd elements of the criminal underworld, even more so than Breaking Bad. There's also a huge debt to Bob Odenkirk, whose character could be quite annoying but stays on the right side of our sympathies by expressing vulnerability and humanity in place of unctuousness. Evidently our hero will change (for the worse) as the series goes on as he's tempted into moral ambiguity, but if this beginning is anything to go by Odenkirk can handle the dramatic material with ease - his transformation should be nothing less than compelling.
So if "Uno" is our set up episode, then "Mijo" is where the series really comes to life. Following the shocking but entirely welcome reappearance of a familiar character we get that old Breaking Bad buzz of excitement and danger, none more so in a brilliant scene where key characters Take A Ride Into The Desert (never good). McGill shows the first hints of his Goodman persona here, as he negotiates in lawyerly fashion over the severity of punishment for the two aforementioned skater boys (they settle for breaking legs). Simultaneously hilarious and brutally queasy, it proves that it's another show that works best when it's violent, frightening, unpredictable. Odenkirk describes the series as "85 percent drama, 15 percent comedy", and it's clear that it's the darkest of drama that really makes the comedy come to life.
I'm sure Better Call Saul will have its detractors, maybe even for its cloth being too closely cut from its predecessor. But it's no bad thing - Gilligan and his team have proven themselves capable of managing an audience's expectations, creating exciting and fresh drama with a consistent ease, and this has the potential to be a great show.
