Image via Warrick Page/AMC/Sony Pictures Television
Over the last two nights, AMC has been kicking Better Call Saul into high-gear with the premiere of its fifth season. And while I hate having to say this, Potential Spoilers Beyond This Point in The Piece, because people have dropped off from watching what's consistently been one of the best shows on television. This isn't surprising; slow-burns can be cool for season-long stories, but many don't seem to stay dedicated when that burn goes on for seasons. Just look at what happened to Mr. Robot's viewership; Season 2 took a lot of steam out of the saga, only to come back harder for its third and (phenomenal) fourth season. Them's the breaks, but it feels weird considering how much people loved Breaking Bad; y'all made series creator Vince Gilligan make El Camino!
That said, with the end of Season 4 of Better Call Saul, we finally got to see Saul fully emerge. And now, over two nights, we've been able to see him operate...and the ramifications of those actions. We're in the end game, and excited, so I decided to holler at William Goodman—frequent Complex contributor and fan of the series—to share some thoughts about Saul's return.
William: Perhaps even more than the show it originally spun off from, Better Call Saul has been about duality; It’s often quite literal—the show focuses on two separate character plots and sees a character form two distinct identities—in a way that would make Breaking Bad blush. By the time Breaking Bad finished its run, it was clear Walter White was always Heisenberg; the persona had been entombed by suburban domesticity, lingering around for the right catalyst to remerge. The same can’t be said for Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk), who’s journey over the last four seasons of the AMC series has shown that while he was prone to a good grift every now and again, he largely didn’t have it in him to fully commit to the lifestyle. But with the death of his brother, the show’s fourth season saw Jimmy’s moral compass, largely disappear.
Now, as we start Season 5, we can fully say hello to Saul Goodman. And enter, finally, the true Breaking Bad prequel many have been waiting to see. The first two episodes of Season 5 (“Magic Man” and “50% Off”) finally bring together the two disparate halves of the show—the Jimmy plot and the Mike plot—together in a manner that I think fans have been really craving since the show was first announced.
Khal, I’ve been a fan of the show for quite a while now, and find it to be better than Breaking Bad. That statement is going to be heretical amongst some circles. But I would say every single second of doc review has been worth it to get us to many of the moments we see in these first two episodes. What say you?
khal: Better than Breaking Bad? It’s hard to say. I thoroughly enjoy Better Call Saul more than I do when running back through Breaking Bad, but I think loving the two of these series means examining different sides of the shows. In Breaking Bad, it was a downward spiral almost from go; we got to see Walter White rocket quickly into evil, then wallow in that muck for the remainder of its show. With Saul, Jimmy’s descent is more prolonged. He’s technically spent more time trying to stay on the side of good than break bad, but watching his inevitable decline has been presented at a slower pace, providing an intense burn that we’re only now just starting to see in action.
Looking back at Bad, it’s hilarious to think how little we knew about Saul. Shifty lawyer who had no problem representing the lowest of the low? Bob Odenkirk ate that character up, giving the series a much-needed guide that would tease you into madness. Without giving you that back story, you knew he’d taken it there. With Saul, we’re seeing how a man gets driven to that point, and it’s incredible.
Frustrating? It can be. The relationship between Jimmy and Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) is scary; I want to see the two of them living blissfully. I feel like we’re going to see them explode as Kim just can’t take the feeling she has in her gut about Jimmy. Seeing her suffer has been the worst, and with this being the penultimate season, I smell trouble for our girl.
What would you say was one of your favorite moments in these first two episodes?
William: In addition to Odenkirk’s (woefully underappreciated) performance as Jimmy, Kim Wexler has been one of the Breaking Bad universe’s best creations. From the get-go, we knew things weren’t going to end well for her—there’s a reason we don’t see her in Bad after all—so your point about her being in danger is well put. This feeling makes the house shopping scenes even more devastating, as it’s more than likely one of the last happy moments we’ll see between her and Jimmy before their relationship most likely flies off the rails.
The melancholia of it really hangs over it like an albatross, which also can be said for the brief return of Robert Forster’s Ed the disappear-er. His work in El Camino was a wonderful send-off in and of itself, but seeing him pop-up here was just an added treat. The thought of Cinnabon Gene deciding to handle the situation himself gave me big Thanos vibes. I do wonder, with only two seasons left, if we’ll get any episodes entirely dedicated to Gene, or if it will just live in these season-opening sequences.
One of my biggest frustrations of Season 4 was the fact Nacho’s (Michael Mando) plotlines were clearly being kept on the back burner until we could get Lalo (Tony Dalton) in the mix. It’s refreshing now to have him back in the picture in a larger way; the sequence of him breaking into the stash house was one of the more tense setpieces we’ve had on the show—and wasn’t just action for action’s sake. The fact it tied into a larger character moment between him and Lalo makes me appreciate it all the more.
The ‘showy’ answer would be the absolutely manic and madcap cold open to “50% Off,” which immediately makes Kim’s warning about criminals come true in a way that’s equal parts absurdly funny and scary. What connected for you?
khal: I’d say seeing Robert Forster make a cameo hit me; one of the few few “whoa” moments in watching the new episodes. Those Cinnabon Gene sequences are so intriguing; not sure how many shows would go something like 12 minutes into a season opener with a storyline that won’t be revisited for a while. I’m wondering if there’s some sort of Memento-esque moment, where those two worlds will collide, giving us the send-off we’ve been searching for.
I think the stash house sequence was dope, too. We don’t get to see a lot of these kinds of action setpieces in Saul, so it was good to latch onto the suspense of the moment here. While heavy-handed (and maybe too long?), the “50% Off” opener highlighted just how wild shit can get when you give some people an opportunity like that. It’ll have repercussions, but it’ll take a while...which can be Saul’s downfall, at times. It seems to be the reason so many tuned out on this show.
What do you think the future holds for Saul?
William: If the ending of “50% Off” is any indication, we’re finally going to see the Jimmy and Mike plots really collide—with some potentially explosive results. I feel like this is the moment so many viewers have been waiting to see since Saul was announced. After all, we know that Saul makes direct mention of Nacho and Lalo when Jesse and Walt first enlist his services; whatever happens to them both is bound to be in line with the Breaking Bad universe’s propensity for violence.
The other thing I think we can count on is a dramatic and devastating fallout between Kim and Jimmy. The tension between the two of them inside the courthouse, even if Kim ultimately takes his advice, is only going get worse—especially since it looks like Jimmy is going to have to find some loophole to get Krazy-8 out of trouble. It’s going to be absolutely heart wrenching, a turn that has the foundation to be as gutting as anything we saw in “Ozymandias.” And we still have the black and white opens to puzzle out, too.
In short: If you were out on Better Call Saul, now is the time to get caught up and strap the hell in. I have a feeling we’re about to be in for one hell of a ride.