Saul Goodman is now under the alias of Gene in Omaha, Nebraska and is currently running Cinnabon. That night he looks at the tape of television ads formed when he was an advocate. Then, sudden creativeness indicates him to an eccentric hunt of possible clients.
Saul picks up plot speed rapidly at the end of the first hour. The beginning, however, is so deliberate it's almost hypnotic. It's shot out of time, and what we see falls right into the pocket for Breaking Bad fans.
Thankfully, Odenkirk remains worth watching. It's a hoot to see his character slip into "showtime" mode, spout random lines from movies and try to tap-dance his way out of trouble.
Better Call Saul is a sharply-written and instantly-engaging prequel that delivers on the fascinating concept of telling us the backstory of the eccentric and morally-questionable Saul Goodman.
Like its predecessor in its earliest days, Saul is moving very slowly and methodically, revealing itself only a bit at a time but there's promise in these early movements.
Most shows only wish they could reach the level of aesthetic mastery Better Call Saul demonstrates out of the gate, but my counterintuitive hope for the new AMC drama is that it gets messier, less controlled and less perfectionist in its tendencies.
Better Call Saul is not only a great show in the context of the program that birthed it into existence, but would be a great show with or without Walter White.
