Better Call Saul

Sound on Sight’s list of the best episodes of the year so far continues with entries from Fortitude and Daredevil.

TV Editor Kate Kulzick, who has seen Breaking Bad, and Managing TV Editor Deepayan Sengupta, who hasn’t, sit down to discuss the first season of Better Call Saul.

In the crushing aftermath of Chuck’s betrayal in last weeks penultimate episode, the season finale moves at a surprisingly quiet pace, working mainly as a character study for the man who will one day be known as Saul Goodman, while filling in some of the blank marks of the time line as established thus far.

In the wake of last week’s slam dunk case, and the revelations concerning Chuck’s mental ailment, “Pimento” was set to be the hour where the brothers McGill finally rode the high country. But alas, things are rarely that in this particular variation of New Mexico.

After the events of last weeks morally challenging Better Call Saul, Saul/Jimmy is forced to climb back on the horse and deal with the fallout of his (expensive) decision to do the right thing.

In a show that is already full of moral grey areas and ethical dilemmas, the latest Better Call Saul episode puts a special focus on these particular aspects, and resolves one of the season-long arcs in the process.

After a wild left turn at the end of last weeks episode, “Five-O” is left to follow through on this sudden change of pace, and elaborate on why it should matter–outside of basic fan-service that is. Luckily, it succeeds most assuredly.

After last weeks hilariously contrived scam, Saul/Jimmy is all set to reap the benefits of his newfound popularity. Unfortunately, his little stunt may have done him more harm than good.

It should be no surprise at this point that Better Call Saul is building a pretty impressive following from its AMC audience. The shows quality has been shining like a beacon from the opening moments of its very first episode. What is surprising, though, is how it continues to reveal so many layers to a character who, while always entertaining in his original iteration, never really seemed all that complex.

Better Call Saul’s latest makes for a stressful hour, right from the get-go.

The episode opens with another time-jump, as we’re given our first glimpse of this “Slippin’ Jimmy” we’ve been hearing so much about. Saul/Jimmy appears in prisoner garb as he implores his older brother to pull him out of his mess. A couple of nuanced referential moments occur, one in a shot that is a direct reiteration of the scene in the pilot where Saul empties his pockets to visit a distressed and mentally ill Chuck. The other callback occurs when Chuck simply stands up and calls for the guard in the middle of Saul’s manipulative diatribe, showing, quite clearly, that he can see through his brother’s shtick.

After a solid opening hour, Better Call Saul continues to up the ante with an even more promising follow-up.The beginning section, one of the episodes strong points, features a decidedly downplayed Tuco Salamanca (at least compared to the Scarface-like caricature that we’re used to from Breaking Bad). Strangely, the quieter, more subdued Tuco is actually far more menacing than the psycho drugged-up version. His intense close-ups and lean-ins add a brutal new dimension to this character, while his rage-fueled response to a trespass against his grandmother is strongly reminiscent of a certain key S3 scene from BB, in which Tuco’s uncle firmly intones that “family is all!”

Right from the opening moments of Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan’s highly anticipated prequel to his aforementioned AMC hit, brows will furrow and heads will be scratched.

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