We're getting Slipping Jimmy.īefore Saul Goodman was the shady lawyer that we know him as, he was James McGill, a rising attorney-at-law … sort of. He still wears the cheap suits and nasty aftershave and has a deck of dirty tricks up his sleeve – but that's just the thing.
Stylistically, you're going to see some of the same elements, but aside from the series' six-minute black & white intro and one 'Bad'-like backstory episode that happens mid-season, it doesn't carry the "Crystal Blue Persuasion" flavor of the series that introduced us to Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.
Top that off with a drastically different tone, like that of a court room drama mixed with sarcastic humor, and that's what you're getting with the first season, but it shows us how James Magill turned into the slimy greaseball attorney that we would love to watch, Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk).īeing from the same folks that made 'Bad' good, you're definitely going to notice similarities. Saul is a different character, coming from different circumstances, and his level of criminality is quite different from that of Walter White/Heisenberg. In its first 10 episode season, you never once get fatigued from watching the same routine play itself out. It's another exploration of the downfall of man – but it couldn't be any more different from breaking bad. When you take the time to look at it, better call Saul does the exact same thing that breaking bad did: we follow two decent man into the pits of despair. Thanks to an amazingly talented production crew, writing staff and a network that had the faith to let them do whatever came to their twisted minds, Vince Gilligan delivered 62 perfect episodes of 'Breaking Bad,' why should we doubt that they could deliver ten more? I had forgotten what I learned from 'Breaking Bad': in Vince we trust. Even though I love the Saul Goodman character, love 'Breaking Bad' and miss seeing it, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I was a little frightened that 'Better Call Saul' would turn out like the ' Star Wars' prequels.
How do you make a good spin-off to arguably the best TV show that has ever run on television? How do you prequelize the series that everyone loved without tarnishing it's brand? That's the challenge the ' Breaking Bad' folks faced when they decided to spin 'Bad' off with an origins tale that focuses solely on one of the series' most likable criminal characters, Saul Goodman.