Better Call Saulreturns with doom and glory, gorgeous visuals tense with twisted comedy and delicate heart.
In the increasingly distant past that formsSauls present, hes resurrected his legal career and changed his name.
At long last, Saul Goodman patrols the Albuquerque courthouse, rinky-dinking settlements with case-loaded district attorneys.
Credit: Warrick Page/AMC
Hes building himself up and digging his own grave.
We get another season-opening monochromatic peek forward into the Gene-verse, with the once (and future?)
Saul mall-encrusted into perpetual Cinnabon some lonely Omaha winter.
So Jimmy/Saul swings her by an open house in a nice-looking neighborhood.
They admire the glass bricks in the bathroom, explore a closet bigger than some tombs.
Could this be their new life?
And if so, for how long?
Credit co-creatorPeter Gouldfor giving this prequel a new flavor.
The recession hasnt happened yet, and the New Mexico sun shines bright enough to cast shadows everywhere.
That evolution gets granderandgranular in season 5.
Mesa Verde breaks ground on a call center in Tucumcari.
Meanwhile, across town and TV genres, conflict simmers between the Salamanca and Fring criminal empires.
In the past, Ive been frustrated by the dissonance: meticulous lawyeringhere, Gus god-shadowing the underworldthere.
Certain aspects of the new season do suggest the spin-off mostBadfans were expecting.
Theres a thrilling set piece that presents the Platonic ideal of Saul Goodman at work.
He wheel-deals through attorney-stuffed hallways, negotiating reduced sentences and con-jobbing phony witnesses.
Savvy ADA Suzanne (Julie Pearl) nails his game: Youre looking for turnover.
You wanna churn through more clients, make more money.
Theres a lot of exciting turnover in these early episodes, colorful local scuzz contracting a crooked lawyer.
Lalo is the wild cardSaulneeded, a master criminal not on rails toward an expected ending.
In the premiere, Gus constructs an elaborate charade to stop Lalos ongoing investigation of his operation.
Well, that explains everything!
Lalo responds, tone of voice suggesting that he really appreciates a good lie.
it’s possible for you to always feel the little man peacocking himself into a big myth.
That set piece I mentioned begins with Jimmy (Saul?)
Suzanne… Ithinkwe havesomethingincommon.
Suzanne, I think we have something in common.
Hes rehearsing his lines, which is funny.
Kims working overtime to have it all, her bleeding heart juggling Mesa Verde with pro bono cases.
Her internal struggle externalizes unexpectedly.
Kim tries to follow the rules, and she tries to bend the rules.
She honors the wishes of her client, while struggling to assist a person who openly despises her.
The decisions she makes are impossible to graph on any clear moral-ethical line.
Seehorn is amazing, somehow dreamy and no-nonsense all at once.
Season 5 still feels tangential, juggling placeholder subplots with hysterical continuity.
There areBadcameos that trigger the gamut from Whoa!
to Did we really needthatorigin story?
A couple druggy hedonists run rampant through pleasant suburban streets.
Broken bottles arent just broken bottles.
