‘Better Call Saul’ is the gold standard for prequels – shielded

Over a year ago I wrote one Retrospective on “Breaking Bad” and its influence on modern TV. It’s one of my favorite shows and holds up incredibly well all these years later, so much so that its influence can be seen everywhere on modern TV shows. This is especially true as it was the first hit on Netflix to start a chain reaction that created the streaming service empire we see today.

All expected what would come next from author and instructor Vince Gilligan.

What the audience got was something else hero.

“Better Call Saul” Premiere on AMC 8 February 2015 and ended August 15, 2022. It is an American TV series with crime drama created and produced by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould for AMC. The series is a prequel to “Breaking Bad” and follows Jimmy McGills (Bob Odekirk) transformation into egocentric, criminal defense lawyer Saul Goodman.

Going into “Better Call Saul” and thinking it will be like “Breaking Bad” is useless as the two shows have very little in common. So much so that when the show was first sent, people were not very happy with it. It was a much slower show compared to “Breaking Bad.” More than there was no Walter White or Jessie Pinkman to be seen. The audience was forced to follow the comic light character that did not seem very interesting to most.

Looking back, “Better Call Saul” has seeped into me at a very deep level that few works of art have. I often reflect on the show – especially the characters, the interaction between them and the amazing kinematography.

It’s all a good man:

Although “Better Call Saul” is a prequel, the show is designed to be monitored after “Breaking Bath.” With this in mind the viewer already who Saul Goodman is, or they think.

This show is fascinating because it takes the highest and most bombastic character from “Breaking Bad” and portrays him as a much quieter, nuanced and introspective character.

The viewer is introduced to Jimmy McGill, who is practically not recognizable from his Loudmouth Mode, Saul Goodman. Seeing where he starts from in this series and knowing who he ends up “breaking bath” is incentive enough to set the readers in.

However, Bob Odkirk’s ability to present this character from many angles is great. It is a crying shame that he did not win a single Emmy award for his performance as he is the captivating.

In order not to be surpassed, the rest of the role crew is equally captivating.

Mike EhrMantraut (Jonathan Banks) is the second major recurring character from “Breaking Bad.” Like Jimmy, the context of this Prequel allows him to be a very rounder character and gives the audience a newly found understanding of his future actions.

I always found that Mike was one of my favorite characters in “Breaking Bad,” and that statement has only been cemented deeper because of this show. That said, there are other equally convincing characters in this show.

Chuck McGill (Michael McKean) is a character that seems strange in the context of this world. Jimmy has a brother who is allergic to electricity? What did they think?! As the show progresses, he quickly becomes the most important character throughout the show. His introduction becomes crucial to Jimmy’s transition to Saul, leading to nail -biting interactions between the two.

Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) is another character that seems strange in this world but quickly becomes important to this story.

Kim is a lawyer just like Jimmy, but as the show progresses, she begins to slip down the same slope as Jimmy and even encourages his bad behavior. As a viewer do you think she will play a role similar to the Skylar White did in “Breaking Bad” where she tries to get out of the situation Walter White puts them in. Instead, she is the power that pushes them deeper into the criminal underworld.

There are so many other characters I could yap on and on, but the most important element that contributes to “Better Call Saul” brilliance in storytelling is also what people most often criticize it for: its pace.

One of the biggest mistakes in modern media is that writers are unpleasant in letting emotions sit too long. Marvel is the most important example of this as soon as any scene begins to become too vulnerable or sincere, they have to resort to ‘witty’ quips and sarcasm so the action can continue to roll.

However, I think the greatest strength of “Better Call Saul” is that it is not afraid to sit with a character and see them treat what has just happened to them or what is going on in their lives or consider the consequences of what they are about doing.

Visual Chicanery:

“Better Call Saul” has the best kinematography of any TV show I’ve ever seen. The way the show experiments with camera angles and lighting keeps the viewer engaged next to its excellent writing. An important aspect of this amazing kinematography is how it uses objects.

One of the most iconic scenes in the show takes place in the first episode, “Uno”, and involves a trash. This trash is a recurring object throughout the show, a physical manifestation of Jimmy’s frustration over the law firm HHM.

By linking meaning to an object like this, the authors can bring it back later and remind the viewer of the character’s inner conflicts and thoughts without dialogue. It’s a common trick that many kinematographers weave into their storytelling, but no other show makes it as masterful as this show does.

Alongside this, the show’s sustained use of visual storytelling raises it to another level. Not only does it look good, but it is also an important use of storytelling to help put the audience in the shoes for each character.

The best example is the show’s constant use of wide shots. It’s a tactic that makes the characters and objects in the camera look small. However, it uses these shots to establish the setting in new and interesting ways even “Breaking Bad” did not. Albuquerque feels much bigger and lived in, which made it feel like the city could live on, even if these figures did not exist.

On the flip side, the show has condensed, isolated shoots showing how isolated or caught they feel, a tactic that is constantly used in the last half of this show as Jimmy’s life falls apart. Compared to the wide shoots, it feels much more claustrophobic and keyes the viewer on how the characters feel, without pronouncing a single word.

This is the genius in this show’s visual storytelling, it trusts the viewer to be smart enough to understand everything without being explicitly pronounced. Instead, it emphasizes feelings and critical thinking through kinematographic art. It’s an aspect that makes this show stand out and be even better than the show that came before it.

Conclusion:

When I wrote my review of “Breaking Bad” I wasn’t done with “Better Call Saul” yet, which is why I only mentioned the show in passing along with the movie sequence “El Camino.” When I look back now, after watching all the media in the “Breaking Bad” universe (including the horrible “Slippin ‘Jimmy”), I find myself thinking more and more about the goal of Prequels.

Most prequels I have encountered stink. Most prequels tend to be cheap cash designed to lure the audience because their favorite media get a new post. On top of this, most Prequels are created by people who have no idea what made the original so good, so you get a disconnected story that serves no purpose for the original.

Once in a while, however, there is a prequel that justifies its existence. My favorite examples include “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and “Red Dead Redemption II.” These prequels are amazing on their own, but the newly -won context they bring to their tales also lifts the original work. If your prequel can do it you have succeeded.

“Better Call Saul” does exactly that. It’s not as action -packed or as focused as “Breaking Bad.” However, its patience allows the show to do more with less and forces the audience to focus more on these characters. There are so many layers for this show that I come to conclusions that are a little and very different every time I see it.

Vince Gilligan created a benchmark -tv show with “Breaking Bad” in 2008. Next to Peter Gould he did it again with “Better Call Saul”, creating one of the biggest TV shows of modern times.