I am incredibly excited to see that BETTER CALL SAUL is back for its penultimate season. It’s such a good show, on every level, possibly even surpassing the heady heights of BREAKING BAD in terms of the slow-burn characterisation and the intricate, Swiss-watch plotting, as Jimmy completes his journey to becoming Saul Goodman.
As with BREAKING BAD, the attention to detail is staggering. For instance, there is a theory that characters and situations are associated with colours, with more villainous characters being associated with red, and the good guys wearing blue. I wonder what colour shirt Jimmy will wear in season 5?
One of the hardest things in fiction is to write a prequel – ask George Lucas. There is a real problem with creating drama if the reader or viewer knows where the characters must end up in order to fit in with stories that they’ve already enjoyed. To not only create tension and threat – but to create narratives with humour, drama and pin-sharp characterisation – is an incredible feat, and Vince Gilligan and everyone who works on the show deserve every single plaudit that comes their way. We all know Jimmy must become Saul, but I am completely invested in finding out how it happens. No easy feat.
The other thing that the show does so well is to make every character interesting. Think about any character from SAUL, and you can start to imagine wanting to know more about them. After all, Mike started as a fairly minor character in BREAKING BAD, and only through time do we start to see all of the depth in what could be a fairly rote character in the hands of lesser writers.
Mrs D and I will be sitting down to enjoy it with a beer this evening.