Saturday, November 06, 2021

"Better Call Saul": Season 1

This isn't really a review, just a flag to announce that I'm now addicted to bingeing the spinoff series "Better Call Saul," in which Saul Goodman—a side character from the series "Breaking Bad"—is the central character in this show. I've finished Season 1, in which we learn early on that Saul Goodman is actually Jimmy McGill, a con man who somehow becomes a lawyer and can't seem to give up his con-man ways. As Season 1 proceeds, we discover that Jimmy has his good qualities, but he's nicknamed "Slippin' Jimmy" because he's constantly backsliding into badness. So a bit like with "Breaking Bad," "Better Call Saul" seems to be about the eventual fall from grace of Jimmy Goodman who—just as Anakin Skywalker transformed into Darth Vader—eventually fully embraces the dark side and becomes Saul Goodman. The series begins with what I can only guess is a scene showing us Saul Goodman's life right after "Breaking Bad" finishes, and I assume that, when this prequel series ends, it's going to end right where it began, i.e., with that scene, in which we see Saul sitting alone in his place after a day of working at (managing?) Cinnabon, watching an old TV advert of himself, recorded on VHS, admonishing the viewer that he or she had better call Saul for legal help. So far, the series has been gripping stuff; I'll be bingeing Seasons 2 through 5 next. Season 6, the final season, is slated to come out next year; I'll probably binge that once it's over and available on home video. Expect a review of the series once it's done.



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