Better Call Saul: What Keeps It Going?
AMC’s prequel to Breaking Bad is not only way slower, it also experiments with new ways to narrate its deep storyline.
When Vince Gilligan announced the spin-off, Better Call Saul, everybody knew that the story is about Jimmy and we are going to review his life and his side of the story to all that made him Saul. But quite frankly no one guessed how is it gonna be. The series pilot starts with a really strong sequence which is probably happening in a time after the Breaking Bad events. The first episode of the second season also contains a similar opening scene which only makes the audience more curious.
Unlike Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul is not afraid to experience new ways of storytelling. Jimmy and Mike’s personal life is being explained with details that make them more understandable. This deep approach is probably gonna last more but It is quite amazing how the action-based events are balanced throughout these two seasons. While the first season starts with a shocking and powerful episode it continues slowly to reach a reasonable tense in the season finale. The first season’s key relationship was Chuck and Jimmy’s.
By shifting to the second season now we are tangled with a simple and romantic relationship between Jimmy and Kim which is already been prepared in the first season. This is the kind of storytelling that we rarely saw in Breaking Bad. Personally, I really enjoy the interesting relationship between them and continuously regret the fact that we know it’s gonna end soon. Kim is a character who is actively shaping Jimmy’s character and effectively leading him to the point we are all familiar with and by that I mean the Breaking Bad‘s Saul Goodman. As a matter of fact, the writers know exactly how deep they should go inside these tiny relationships like the one that Mike has with his grandchild.
Better Call Saul is constantly getting better with the right pace. It doesn’t want to be like the successful Breaking Bad nor wants to use the same method; It is exactly what it should be: more dramatic, wordier, and more personal.
