Posted on 03/20/2015 8:55:56 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Are some Breaking Bad fans disappointed with Better Call Saul?>
Not every Breaking Bad fan is thrilled with the spin-off, Better Call Saul. The opposite case is also evident. Many BB fans have a new addiction; they’re hooked on the world of Saul Goodman. Mixed reactions among fans should have been expected, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
Although its primarily based off the world of Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul is its own show. Andrew Whalen with iDigital Times voices his opinion as to why he feels the storyline is going nowhere:
“Better Call Saul offers up a myriad of subplots, brings them to a head, and then has Jimmy McGill come up with a clever plan to side-step the crisis point entirely. In some ways this Better Call Saul formula is similar to Breaking Bad, just with Walt’s outlandish train heists, electromagnets, and chemistry tricks replaced with a wily lawyer’s legal (often extra-legal) maneuvering. But Breaking Bad had an underlying sense of urgency and anger that’s so far completely lacking in Better Call Saul. This is, in part, because we already know where Saul winds up. But it’s also a question of motivation. What does Jimmy McGill want… to be a successful lawyer?”
Whalen goes on to say that the bargaining scene in the desert with Tuco has been the apex of the show thus far. This was a very Breaking Bad-esque moment for the spin-off. A pattern that it should avoid to establish an identity as its own show.
“Five-O” covered plenty of ground in developing Better Call Saul‘s storyline. It was heavy on diving into the background behind one certain character. It also gave fans the first view of Mike and Jimmy McGill participating in illegal activities as they fooled Detective Abbasi.
Fans saw a fast progression of Mike Ehrmantraut’s character within a single episode. This is something that arguably had not been accomplished on Breaking Bad. BB fans knew about Mike’s relationship with his granddaughter Kaylee but this seemed like a part of Ehrmantraut’s character that took multiple episodes to establish.
Better Call Saul is not giving us the same thrills that Breaking Bad gave fans. The scenes of desert hold-ups and machine guns rigged in car trunks are replaced with characters being moved to tears on a couch and heartbreak surrounding a sibling that is suffering from an illness. Better Call Saul is giving us a look into certain characters that was never offered on Breaking Bad. Emotions are still high but the spin-off is evoking different feelings for fans.
The events and storyline of Breaking Bad are not the same as Better Call Saul, therefore fans should not be expecting the same result. Instead of following a cancer-ridden high school chemistry hell-bent on providing for his family we’re following a down on his luck lawyer hell-bent on proving himself.
Jimmy McGill may end up establishing himself as Saul Goodman, an important component to Breaking Bad, but he has his own story of how he gets to that point. Goodman is already a seasoned veteran in the world of criminals by the time Walter White ventures into his office. He had to get there somehow, Better Call Saul is going to chronicle that “somehow.”
The next episode of Better Call Saul will premiere on Monday, March 23rd at 10 PM ET on AMC. Get a sneak peek of “Rico” before it debuts next week.
It stands on its own just fine. Why would anyone want the show to be a clone of BB. I enjoyed BB, and I’m currently enjoying Saul.
I liked the episode where we got Mike’s back-story that I watched it twice. I like the character development and the fact that the plot is logical and doesn’t cheat.
I am surprised, it actually is pretty good. My take was they should have done a series like “Grey Matter” to delve into Walt’s earlier life with family and work, but it’s been a pleasant surprise so far.
I know Jonathan Banks is happy.
Still missing The Sopranos. Breaking Bad and this don’t meaure up.
Many TV critics that I read said that episode might be the single best hour on TV for 2015. Could win Banks an Emmy.
We’re watching the slow, evolutionary process by which Jimmy McGill became Saul Goodman, lawyer and money launderer to drug dealers years later. Just let it flow. Don’t rush it.
Has it supplied the same kind of thrills BB seemed to provide every episode? No... it moves a little slower. But let's give Gilligan some rope here...BCS has been much better than expected as far the wife and I are concerned. BTW, the subplot with Mike Ermantraut's problems has been great.
Love this show!
Bob Odenkirk is just superb in his portrayal of Jimmy/Saul
I saw him in the Fargo series on FX last year, which I really enjoyed, but Billy Bob Thornton sucked all the air out of that room so I never really noticed Odenkirk.
Never was much a fan of Thornton before, but he was great in Fargo. One of the all-time great villains in tv history.
I’m really enjoying the show! It’s fun when we run into someone who was in BB.
That's pretty much it.
There's so much absolutely awful TV that insults -- even attacks -- the intelligence of the viewer scene after scene.
"But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being." [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn]
Jimmy's path across that line is not going to be the same kind of crossing that Walter White took not only because they're different people but because their circumstances are so different... but ... is there already the intimation that a failed love is going to be as big an unspoken part of James Morgan McGill's unraveling as it was for Walter White?
We'll see.
I’m enjoying BCS a lot. The little story arcs that at times intersect then diverge are fascinating. Watching Slippery Jimmy evolve with the flashes of sheer brilliance is a hoot.
I especially like the insane Betsy Kettleman — what a nutjob until she finally collapses and reveals herself to be human.
A great show. Odenkirk makes you feel empathy for Jimmy, even though you know he’s a shady lawyer - and he does have a sense of morality and ethics that he struggles with. You can feel the desperation coming out as Jimmy schemes and tries to break out as a high paid lawyer.
Yeah, she's a hoot. Crazy Eyes! LOL!
I like both shows, but I never thought of comparing them. They are, after all, different shows.
A medical one with the cancer doctors that treated Walter White.
I haven't watched BCS, probably because I don't have cable and it's not on Netflix/Hulu yet. But I was a huge fan of Breaking Bad, which IMO is one of the top 5 dramas of all time.
Thornton was good in a movie where he ended up killing a guy with a newly sharpened lawnmower blade. I can’t remember the name of the movie.
“Sling Blade”
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