Should You Put Better Call Saul On Retainer?

What Is This Thing?

After departing the fancy Albuquerque law firm at which his brother was a name partner, Jimmy McGill works on establishing his own practice. Since Public Defender gigs pay like shit and just stick him with, for instance, clients that sexually defile corpses, this proves to be a struggle, such that extra-legal efforts are required.

When Is It On?

It premieres this Sunday, February 8, at 10 PM on AMC, but the next night moves to its permanent time slot: 10 PM Mondays. (On AMC.)

Why Was It Made Now?

Breaking Bad, the show that spawned it, remains one of AMC's biggest critical hits, so naturally, the network would pursue a new angle on the story that keeps the brand alive.

What's Its Pedigree?

Bob Odenkirk returns as Jimmy/eventually Saul, the role he created in Bad, as do Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut and Raymond Cruz as Tuco Salamanca -- but, even more importantly, Bad creator Vince Gilligan and writer Peter Gould return as co-creators here; legendary Bad director Michelle MacLaren directs the second episode (and, one hopes, many more after that). Joining the proceedings are Michael Mando -- Orphan Black's Vic the Dick -- in a role that's not so big in the first two episodes but seems like it might get more pivotal soon thereafter; and Michael McKean as Chuck, Jimmy's brother.

...And?

I went into this pilot with a lot of trepidation. While I'd enjoyed Saul Goodman as a secondary character on Breaking Bad, providing the usually very dark show with many of its most comic moments, I wasn't sure there was enough substance to the character to put him at the centre of his own series. And what kind of show would it be? A mostly grim character study like its ancestor? An Orange Is The New Black-ish dramedy? Surely not a straight-up sitcom like Benched, but then, it could be: it could be anything! And as a Breaking Bad superfan, I worried that Better Call Saul would be the thing that made me empathetic to Ghostbusters reboot agonistes.

Fortunately, I can (and do) continue thinking those dudes are butthurt hysterics: Better Call Saul is really good! Especially considering how easily it could have gone another way. After a brief (and unexpectedly moving) opening segment in which we see what Saul is doing post-Walter White, we jump backward to meet Jimmy, who's defending his shitty clients, and then bitching to an unimpressed courthouse clerk about his fee, and then arguing with an even less impressed parking-lot attendant (Mike!) about how many stickers he should have collected in order to get fully validated, and then returning to his rathole of an office, conveniently located just off the laundry room in the back of a nail salon. So if he's doing so poorly, why is he so willing to tear up a five-figure cheque from another law firm? Will we care to watch this character if we're going far enough back to see what he was like when he still had professional ethics or personal scruples? Do we care about his tragic backstory? This isn't going to be some Bates Motel BS, is it?!

Don't worry: Jimmy's sense of morality is not that high (also, dwindling fast); and he's already got some pretty good ideas -- well...ideas -- as to how to parlay his training and contacts into unconventional scores. Just as on Breaking Bad, random chance intervenes to destroy even the best/worst plans, and just as on Breaking Bad, adversity brings out resourcefulness our "hero" may not have even known he possesses. Without really spoiling anything: the best lawyering we see from Jimmy comes about a third of the way into the second episode, nowhere near a courtroom. And it's tense enough and dramatically satisfying enough to be inserted into just about any Breaking Bad without sticking out wrong. Thank God.

...But?

Chuck, one of the additions to the Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill mythology, has left his law firm (temporarily, he insists) due to a serious case of what I guess is severe OCD: he's chosen to live without electricity and requires visitors to his home to decontaminate by leaving their cell phones outside. So far, this has been handled well -- Jimmy is meeting this challenge with a credible mix of sensitivity and irritation, and McKean is particularly strong; watching these two normally comic actors playing their quiet dramatic scenes is a pleasure -- but I worry that Jimmy's caretaking with Chuck is supposed to be the one touchstone that humanizes Jimmy for the viewer, which: pass. I doubt that anyone watches Glee for the Sue/Becky scenes, and I don't need a similar dynamic to play out here. Jimmy is a scumbag; I really just want to see how he gets even scummier as time goes on.

...So?

Well, look: the subhead on this article is totally absurd. But Better Call Saul is pretty great so far, and worth getting excited about.