"Breaking Bad" was arguably been the best show of the last decade. Some might even debate that it was the best show of all time. While the writing was great, the characters were just as good. Among these great characters, was a lawyer by the name of Saul Goodman. Saul was usually the comic relief or someone's punching bag most of the series, but every once in a while, he would pop up with a serious moment to try and set Walt or Jesse in the right direction (They usually didn't listen). Towards the end of the series, a rumor went around that Saul was going to get his own show and the "Breaking Bad" fans were ecstatic. Now, the show is on and it is getting mixed reviews. In this writers opinion, the show is really good. While it's not as good as "Breaking Bad", it probably wasn't meant to be and has more than a couple of reasons to be checked out.
Where is started:
The show starts off pre Walter White. It goes so far back that Saul is still going by his birth name James "Jimmy" McGill. We get to see where it all started. Back in the day when he was the lawyer they called when you couldn't afford a lawyer. When He would spend all day in court taking cases that no one else would take for maybe one hundred and fifty dollars and had to drink crappy one dollar coffee from a machine in the courthouse hallway. Watching him hustle from dusk until dawn and continuously get knocked down over and over again is sad, but seeing him constantly pick himself back up is worth it. While it does kind of stink that we know how the story ends with him going away so he wouldn't get killed, it is cool seeing the back story of how it all started. At times, the show will have scenes from Saul's early days as a con-artist or his earlier days as just a guy and it gives you little pieces to show you how he became the man that he is later on.
A personal favorite in the show is seeing how him and Mike first met up. That's right, Mike "I'm old, but I will still shoot you in the face or break your arm if you attack me" is in this show and he's just as great in "Better Call Saul" as he is in "Breaking Bad". Saul meets him when he was a cashier at the courthouse. Then, Saul thought Mike was just some random old hard-@$$ that was just grumpy and made him go get the appropriate amount of sticker coupons for his parking discount. Mike helps Saul with a couple of cases and when Saul asked him how he knew all of this, he tells him he used to be a cop when he was in Philly. Later, Mike asks Saul for help in a case and of course Saul agrees to help him and the two seem to have started what is later going to be a mutually beneficial work partnership. We also get a glimpse into Mike's past and get to find ut what type of person he was before he made his way to Arizona.
The Many Sides of Saul:
If you've only seen Saul in "Breaking Bad", you'd assume that he's just a dirty scumbag lawyer looking to make a buck and you'd be right to an extent. Most of what Saul does is for money, but a lot of what he does is to prove people wrong. When Saul first started at his brother's law firm, he wasn't a lawyer and wasn't respected byb the higher ups. So what did Saul do? He took the time and became a lawyer unbeknownst to his brother. So after Saul passed the bar he went to his brother (who was extremely proud of him) and asked him to consider hirering him as a lawyer at the firm. His brother told him he would have to talk to the other partners first since it isn't just his decision. So, while Saul and a few of his peers celebrated, one of the partners Howard Hamlin cleared the room and told Saul he wouldn't hire him and told him maybe in a few months. This took all of the wind out of Saul's sails and left him destraught and defeated. This was probably that moment that turned Saul from a guy who was just trying to become a better person to a guy who just wanted to prove that despite what people may have saw when they look at him that he is every bit as good as everyone else. There will most certainly be other flashbacks throughout the show or this season that show him getting knocked down as a kid or a young adult that attributed to him becoming the person he became, but seeing him sitting in that room defeated seemed to be his breaking point and officially got the ball rolling.
His relationship with his brother Chuck is another example of a side of Saul that people didn't know existed until the show started. Chuck's brother is a bit...off and thinks that the electrical currents is hurting him and won't leave the house or allow electrical objects like cell phones in his home. He makes Saul leave his phone in the mailbox. His brother was once one of the partners of a lawfirm, but is now reclude in his home. But every week, Saul goes and buys him all the food and supplies he needs to live his life. There was also an episode when Chuck was in the hospital and Saul's consern for his brother's health was obvious and very heart warming.
He's still Saul Goodman:
Despite all of the other things that go on in this show, he's still Saul Goodman from "Breaking Bad". he is still an ambulance chasing, fast talking, trying to be smooth lawyer who's out to make a dollar. That is the reason we loved him in "Breaking Bad". He still has his somewhat whitty remarks and he still manages to put himself in ssituations that make you say "Seriously, Saul, why would you do that". For example, Saul thought it would be a good idea to have a couple of idiot con-artist skateboarding twins get involved in a scam. What ended up happening was they tried to cheat hima nd ended up getting beaten and tied up by Tuco (season one and two of "Breaking Bad"). Saul eventually finds them and almost gets him and the twins killed in the process. Thankfully, Saul could talk his way into not only getting out of there alive, but also making sure the twins only left with broken bones instead of dead and burried in the desert.
Rating: 8.5
The show is well written and continues to get better every episode. Some people might be expecting it to have been good right off the bat, but the people who stuck with it seem to really enjoy it (It's rated 9.2 on IMDB as this is being written). All in all, it's worth watching and definitely worth sticking with.