The way he then ropes them into a bigger score hints at the scale Better Call Saul will be operating on: Jimmy’s not quite the criminal criminal lawyer that Saul will be – but he’s definitely not afraid of trying to bend the edges of the law if there’s a buck in it.Īs soon as the idea of a Breaking Bad spin-off was announced, it had comparisons to second-album syndrome, where bands pour a lifetime of experience into their debut release, and then don’t have much left for the follow up. The goofiness of watching Jimmy talk to himself as he practices various legal gambits, dreaming about how his schemes might play out, and then seeing them fall apart is a lot of fun, as is the scene with the skater brothers who try to rip him off by faking a car accident.
There are nods to Breaking Bad of course – unusual camera angles (the inside of a mail box), the cameos from other old characters like Mike and Tuco, an offbeat soundtrack, pop culture references and the “cold open” beginning that throws a future storyline into the mix – but there are also hints that Saul can find its own path. The more senior McGill even suggests that Jimmy stops using the family name to avoid confusing any potential clients, with a “Wouldn’t you rather build your own identity? Why ride on someone else’s coattails?” line that almost doubles as a comment on the show itself. Chuck, who wavers between sounding loopy and then offering Jimmy some fairly reasonable advice, is an unreliable guru for the show to draw on. Jimmy even has to leave his phone outside the house and “ground” himself to discharge static electricity before coming in. Played by the excellent Michael McKean (Spinal Tap), Chuck is a far more successful lawyer who is on an extended leave of absence, holed up in his own home protecting himself against what he believes are the ravages of “electromagnetic forces”.
Which is inconvenient as Chuck seems to be in the middle of a breakdown. Far from being from the guy who always knows a guy who can get you out of a tight spot, Jimmy is the kind of man who fakes a secretary’s voice when he answers his own phone, has an office that’s basically a store cupboard in the back of a nail salon, and is very much living in the shadow of his older brother, Chuck.
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