Better Call Saul, Season 3: Review

Better Call Saul

Picture from AMC

Better Call Saul: Netflix 3 seasons (so far)

Season one: February, 2015

Season two: February, 2016

Season three: April 2017

Season four: later this summer

Content notes: Material more appropriate for adults 

Oh my goodness. I sort of want to go back and watch seasons one and two to make sure I “got” everything in this series of shows. This series is smart, sad, humorous, and quirky (really quirky), and I love it because there is so much to love.

Picture from AMC

First of all, I enjoyed the peculiar brilliance of the character/actors: 

Saul (Bob Odenkirk) who we met in Breaking Bad is the title character. Saul’s real name is Jimmy McGill, and the audience is watching how he becomes “Saul” the criminal lawyer who is a criminal/lawyer. We learn that he has always been a charming con-artist with a heart that does not want to hurt anyone, even though he kinda does. Also he, does not want to be a bad person, but he kinda is. When Jimmy becomes a lawyer, he seems to actually want to walk the straight and narrow, but instead we catch a glimpse of the ambulance-chaser that he will become in Breaking Bad. In spite of all this, I like him, I root for him, and I think “if only!” 

Picture from AMC

Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) is so cool in Breaking Bad, and in this show he is even cooler. He is a man of few words, and a retired cop. He is like a raggedy woman-less James Bond because he is pretty good with gadgets and has the perseverance of a cat watching a mouse hole. He is like Vito Corleone because he can figure out anything going on in the criminal world. Then, he looks a bit like an aging Mr. Clean. Mike is sad because he is grieving the death of his son, and he feels guilty for this death. His only happiness is his granddaughter. It is clear that he does not suffer fools, and he clearly thinks Jimmy is just that even though he finds himself involved with Jimmy.

AMC

Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) is the hardworking and stellar lawyer who, for some reason, is in love with Jimmy. She rescues him and enables him. The audience and Jimmy himself wonder why she would ever enter into a relationship with “Slippin’ Jimmy.”  Kim is Jimmy’s heart, he keeps her from becoming a workaholic, and he adds spice to her life. We all know that Kim is on a self-destructive road as long as she stays with Jimmy.

Hollywood photo from AMC

AND now for Chuck McGill,  (Jimmy’s older brother) played by Michael McKean. Wow! What a performance. You know Michael McKean from the old Lavergne and Shirley show, This is Spinal Tap movie, and Saturday Night Live.  Now in this series, he portrays and brings to life this incredible character. Chuck McGill loves to hate his magnetic and electrifying little brother.  Maybe that is one reason why he has a psychosomatic allergy to electricity. Chuck reminds me of the unforgettable Miss Havisham from Great Expectation because he is holed up in his own little world of bizarre rules and darkness. He once was considered (especially by himself) the best of the best of lawyers. Now, he rarely ventures out of his home and anyone who visits him must empty their pockets of cell phones, watches, or anything with a battery and leave these offending objects outside his house. Jimmy and the other characters participate in Chuck’s madness by accommodating him in every way. But we forgive them all because Chuck is a powerful force even when he is at his sickest (craziest). We learn that Chuck is an ethical person who would never hurt anyone, but he sorta does. Also, he believes himself to be so noble that he could never be atrocious, but he kinda is.

Photo by Michele K. Short/Sony Pictures Television/AMC

The settings, the camera work, and the constant little metaphors within this series are incredible. The vibrant desert colors of brown, sand, and turquoise scattered through-out are beautiful. Images like a little spider next to a lawyer’s tie or Jimmy’s advertisements being washed down a drain etc. make me smile because I love images that foreshadow and reveal little clues. Jimmy paints an image on his wall that he wishes to look like a blue sky over mountains, but fears it looks like a stock market crash. I see it as a metaphor of the ups and downs of Jimmy’s life ending in a big plummet off a cliff. Because we know that will happen eventually.

The plot weaves around these characters, these sets, and the storylines. Mike is getting more and more involved with the criminal element, and is heading toward the character he will become in Breaking Bad. Then, because of Mike we meet Gustavo Fring (played by Giancarlo Esposito) who is the coolest bad guy ever in Breaking Bad (so fun to see him again). Jimmy and Kim continue their partnership (of sorts) in a law practice that keeps Kim so busy doing her work and saving Jimmy that she is falling apart. AND, then there is Jimmy and Chuck who hate to love each other as they begin an incredible journey of LOVING to hate each other as their relationship totally self-destructs.

If you saw and enjoyed Breaking Bad you will like this. If you did not, this stands on its own as a great show. So give it a try!