AMC hasn't made the best business decisions as of late, but the network deserves some applause for its scheduling of Better Call Saul. Sunday's debut episode was an interesting and capable hour that did a wonderful job of introducing us Jimmy McGill, the desperate motormouth who will one day become Saul Goodman, but it didn't really introduce us to the show itself. And if the series had taken a week off between its first and second episodes, it would've risked losing the boosted audience it enjoyed thanks to debuting after the Season 5B premiere of The Walking Dead; ending Episode 1 on a bit of a cliffhanger and then airing Episode 2 one night later was about as smart as it gets. Any Breaking Bad fan who tuned in for "Uno" was probably left clamoring for more once Tuco peeked out from behind that door, but the interest of more casual viewers might've faded after a few days. Fortunately, with a turnaround time of only 24 hours, "Mijo" was able to pick up right where the premiere left off, and it felt like the point at which Better Call Saul began in earnest.
If "Uno" was "Hello, my name is Jimmy McGill," "Mijo" was "Hello, my name is Better Call Saul," and I've found it impossible to not like what we've seen so far. Instead of just chronicling the misadventures of a hustlin' lawyer, Better Call Saul threw Jimmy into the blistering-hot world of Albuquerque lowlifes. The first half of "Mijo" was just about as good as anything Breaking Badever did, serving to reacquaint us with the expansive and desolate New Mexican desert, duct-tape handcuffs, and Mexican psychopaths whose vocabulary is largely comprised of the names for horrific murder maneuvers.
There was Saul Jimmy, melting in the middle of the desert while hardened criminals decided his fate. The scene was somewhat reminiscent of one of our first encounters with Saul on Breaking Bad (in the appropriately titled "Better Call Saul"), when Jimmy used his most valuable weapon to weasel his way out of a precarious predicament: his mouth. Whereas Walter White regularly used his brain to save his skin, Jimmy tends to rely on an avalanche of words and leading questions to out-lawyer his foes and turn the tables. It's an impressive approach.
Of course, it's also not without faults. In that one sequence alone, he must have tried three or four completely different persuasion tactics to get Tuco to listen before one of them finally worked. The ultimate salesman, he's just going to keep knocking on doors until one opens.
If you'll allow me a football comparison, Walter White often employed quick, short, calculated passes to get his way; Jimmy is lobbing Hail Marys as if his arm is made of Flubber. That's what makes watching Jimmy McGill more like watching a daredevil or Jackass, as opposed to watching Walter White, who did spend plenty of time teetering on the edge, but more often had a plan and remained in control of whatever situation he was in. That makes Better Call Sauleven more of a high-wire act than Breaking Bad, which is blowing my mind.
And now, the story of Better Call Saul truly begins with the introduction of Nacho as Jimmy's accidental partner in crime. We've seen how Jimmy lives his life, we've seen how he handles trouble, but how will he navigate the world of criminal opportunity? Jimmy told Nacho, "I'm not a criminal, I'm a lawyer." And sure, he believes that. But sometimes opportunity knocks, and sometimes it puts you in a headlock and threatens to break your fingers. We already know that by the time "Better Call Saul" rolls around and Saul Goodman ends up blindfolded by Walt and Jesse in the desert, he's a well-connected criminal lawyer. He's got guys who know guys who know guys. Better Call Saul will more or less focus on getting to know those guys as Jimmy starts to leave Jimmy behind and evolve into Saul, and I'm very excited to witness that transformation.