Breaking Bad was one of the best TV shows to ever grace the screens in our living rooms. With Better Call Saul around the corner, one can only hope that the spinoff will be admirably close to Heisenberg’s beautifully chaotic tale of a man consumed by power.
On Breaking Bad, Saul Goodman, played by the pitch-perfect Bob Odenkirk, existed mainly for comic relief. The morally flexible attorney flexed his sarcasm in each episode he was in, adding to the amazing group of characters created by Vince Gilligan. Saul was hilarious, but he was a two-dimensional character at best, which worked for the show. This is what makes Better Call Saul so appealing; we get to delve deeper into Saul’s life and exactly how he came to become the Saul that Walter White meets.
It wouldn’t be right to compare Better Call Saul to Breaking Bad, but it’s simply unavoidable. Let’s just go in with the expectation that Breaking Bad will always be king, but that doesn’t mean that Better Call Saul will be a bust. What did fans want after Breaking Bad was over? More. That’s exactly what they’re going to get, but Walter White’s story is over and now we have Saul’s life to peek into.
“If you’ve watched ‘Breaking Bad’ and you know it, this show will be that much richer for you. You’re going to see things, and notice things, and it’s going to be like you’re in on it,” Odenkirk told ET.
The upside that this show has already is that it adds to the story we all know and love. It will be a familiar world that we’re stepping into, and the tie-ins to Heisenberg’s story will be interesting. Of course, the winks to Breaking Bad alone won’t be enough to hold people over. This series needs to flesh out its main character and give viewers another complex look at a man dancing with his dark side. We know what he will become, a slick-talking lawyer that is a survivor to the bone, but how he gets there should be more interesting. According to Odenkirk, the show has that same type of magnetic power that Heisenberg’s story had.
“The last five seconds of the first episode, when I read it, I was like, [gasps!]” Odenkirk said. “I was like, ‘How did you do that to me in one episode? How did you get me to that place as a viewer where my heart drops?’ And they do it in the first episode,” Odenkirk tells ET.
In order to have this show stand on its own two feet, Walt and Jesse will note be making any cameos in season 1. Good call. It needs to prove to the viewers that it’s not just a rushed spinoff, but a carefully crafted story that needs to be told.
So, how will Better Call Saul fair in comparison to its predecessor? The bottom line: it doesn’t matter if Better Call Saul is going to be better than Breaking Bad, as long as it’s another amazing show in its own right.
Better Call Saul will premiere on February 9, 2015 on AMC.
