Todd VanDerWerff reviews Better Call Saul for Vox:
The most interesting thing about Better Call Saul is also the thing that might ultimately cause it to seem like a minor diversion for all involved. Put simply, if Breaking Bad was a show about a good man who chose to indulge his evil side, Better Call Saul is its thematic opposite. Jimmy McGill is a man who has been bad, who has hurt people, who has done wrong, and now, he’s trying, desperately, to overcome that part of himself, to perform a kind of alchemy that will let him be good.
I found out about Breaking Bad late in the series’s lifespan. I think I saw basically the last four or five episodes “live”—all the previous episodes were binged watched in a two week period.[1] Such a great show.
What I am most looking forward about this new series is the same thing I look forward to in all sequels/prequels—seeing familiar characters in slightly different roles. I want to see Mike being Mike. What about Gus? Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, the creators of both series’, have teased that other characters from the Breaking Bad universe might make cameos, maybe even Heisenberg himself.
Better Call Saul debuts Sunday, February 8, on AMC.