Better Call Saul (2015) Review: Tragedy in Slow Motion

Is Better Call Saul worth watching?

Yes. Better Call Saul is one of the finest dramas American television has produced, a prequel that matches and in places surpasses Breaking Bad by trading adrenaline for patience and dread. Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn give career-best performances, and the show’s visual precision makes even paperwork gripping. The only caution is pace: it is slower than its predecessor, especially early on, and it asks viewers to invest in small moral choices before the stakes explode.

What is Better Call Saul about?

In the early 2000s in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) is a small-time lawyer with a con artist’s instincts and a desperate wish to be taken seriously. He works out of a back room in a nail salon, scrambles for clients and lives in the shadow of his brilliant, disapproving older brother, Chuck (Michael McKean), a partner at a prestigious law firm. His closest ally is Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn), a sharp, ambitious lawyer whose loyalty to Jimmy is complicated by her own principles. Meanwhile, a parallel story follows Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), a former cop drifting into the criminal underworld, where the cartel and the calculating Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) are consolidating power.

Better Call Saul was created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. It is an American production in English. This review covers the complete series: six seasons and 63 episodes, and the story has ended. Viewers who know Breaking Bad understand where Jimmy is heading; the drama lies in how he gets there.

Dread as a storytelling engine

Breaking Bad was built on acceleration. Better Call Saul makes the bolder choice to slow down and let dramatic irony do the work. For viewers who have met Saul Goodman, every scene of Jimmy trying to be decent carries the ache of a foregone conclusion. For newcomers, the show works as a study of a man whose talents keep pulling him toward the wrong choices. Either way, the tension comes not from what happens but from what the audience fears is coming.

The show’s visual language reinforces this. Its compositions favour wide shots that dwarf characters against desert, strip malls and bland offices, and its montages turn legal drudgery into something close to poetry. Black-and-white opening scenes add a haunting frame around the story.

Kim Wexler and the heart of the tragedy

The series’ greatest invention is a character who does not appear in Breaking Bad. Rhea Seehorn’s Kim Wexler is the show’s moral centre and its most fascinating puzzle: principled, competent and drawn to the thrill of Jimmy’s schemes in ways she does not always admit. Seehorn’s performance is a masterpiece of restraint, and the relationship between Kim and Jimmy is among the richest in television.

Odenkirk, previously known mostly for comedy, plays Jimmy as a man performing his own likeability until the performance begins to take over. His scenes with Michael McKean are painful and brilliant, a sibling rivalry built on love, envy and contempt.

Two stories that slowly converge

The show also runs a near-silent second register. Jonathan Banks and Giancarlo Esposito conduct a cartel chess game in long, wordless sequences of planning and surveillance, and Tony Dalton’s Lalo Salamanca, arriving in later seasons, is one of the franchise’s most charismatic threats. For some viewers, especially in the early seasons, this strand can feel disconnected from Jimmy’s legal story. As the series progresses, the two converge with remarkable precision.

Who should watch Better Call Saul?

It is for viewers who love patient, character-driven drama, legal stories, crime sagas or superb acting. Breaking Bad fans will get extra layers of irony, but it works on its own. At 63 episodes, the full series on Netflix is a significant commitment that pays off. Expect violence, strong language and some drug-related content, though it is less graphic than Breaking Bad for much of its run.

If it grips you, try these next:

• Breaking Bad, the essential companion, whether watched first or afterwards.
• The Sopranos, for another landmark study of a morally compromised man.
• Mindhunter, for a similarly patient, visually precise drama that finds tension in procedure.

The verdict

Better Call Saul refutes the idea that prequels must be lesser. Slower, sadder and more formally controlled than the series that inspired it, it turns inevitability into art, carried by two extraordinary performances at its centre. Whether it surpasses Breaking Bad is a pleasant argument; that it belongs alongside it is beyond dispute.

Rating: 5/5