Bob Odenkirk

Review: Season 1 of Better Call Saul

bryancyr Neo-Noir, Television , , , , , , , ,

better-call-saul-trailer

Better Call Saul is a comedy, drama, neo noir mash-up that is pure gritty fun.  Season 1 has just ended on AMC and I really enjoyed it.  Bob Odenkirk plays our main protagonist, Jimmy McGill, he is a lawyer, con-man, overall good guy?  Not how to classify him.  One minute he is conning some innocent bystander and the next he is returning almost $2 million dollars in cash to its rightful owner.

Our next most interesting character is Mike Ehrmantraut played by Jonathan Banks and he is a bad ass.  He is our normal noir protagonist, you know, ex-cop with issues that wants to get out, but seems to always finding himself in the middle of the mess.

We also have Jimmy’s brother,Chuck, a fancy lawyer who got Jimmy out of trouble before. Chuck is played by Michael McKean.  Chuck has an interesting disease that keeps him basically as a recluse now.

These three characters all have one thing in common, they have all left where they came from because something horrible has happened and ended up in New Mexico to get a fresh start.  Unfortunately a new start just means new problems, with some of their past problems hunting them down to boot.

Rhea Seehorn plays good lawyer and is always looking out for Jimmy and Patrick Fabian plays bad lawyer, always out to get Jimmy for some reason.  We also have minor characters of interest who are too numerous to talk about here.

The first season is only 10 episodes long, and hey I wish more American television would do this.  A good series could be great if it wasn’t forced to use sub-par stories to fill a complete 24 episode season.  All 10 of these episodes are great and even though it is a short season we have a lot of story.  The story starts out with a great looking black and white scene looking very film noirish, of Jimmy after the events of Breaking Bad, we then flash back to 6 years before the events of Breaking Bad, and even have flashbacks from there to tell more back story.

I honestly never got through all of Breaking Bad yet, still need to watch the last few seasons.  I look forward to doing so, but the reason I bring this up is you don’t have to have seen Breaking Bad or even know much about that series to enjoy Better Call Saul.

Better Call Saul is for anybody looking for great television in a sea of reality t.v..  If you like dark comedy, good drama, crime stories, and especially us neo noir fans need to see Better Call Saul!

What to be Watching Right Now: Better Call Saul

bryancyr Television , ,

better-call-saul-poster-slice

Fans of the legendary AMC desert noir series Breaking Bad will be tuning in for Better Call Saul, but is it worth it?  I just got done watching the first 2 episodes and found them very good.  I will not pass judgement on the series until I see the whole first season, but I think it is worth viewing. The first episode opens in a classic black and white noir style to sets the tone for the neo noir series. Better Call Saul broke the record for most viewers for a new series on cable T.V. and spinning off of Breaking Bad will do that for you.  Rolling Stone and Rotten Tomato are calling this a comedy-noir and I agree, it can get really dark and the plot can get very twisted, but we get a laugh now and then to break the darkness.  I think the creators did the right thing with this.  Originally this was going to be a half hour comedy, but I think a one-hour more serious program fits better and keeps all the Breaking Bad fans as well as gains new ones.  Bob Odenkirk is great as Jimmy McGill the sleaze bag lawyer, con-artist that we love to root for.  I look forward to seeing more episodes and from the early ratings and reviews around the web it looks like everybody that seen it so far is also excited to see more.