About Better Call Breaking Bad
Post 813:
Breaking Bad is going down as one of the ultimate pieces of entertainment to ever entertain. It’s already legendary. The series is at the very least “in the discussion,” as they say. We hadn’t seen a story of moral descent pulled off with such a unique signature before. They did an amazing thing when they created each episode. You’d think with all the tension there would have to be a lot happening onscreen. Not really. This point gets overlooked sometimes. If you go back and watch most episodes, the shots are pretty long and there isn’t a huge amount of blocking. I’m talking about on-average. Of course there were moments of pulse-pounding frenetic energy. But it was the characters. Some of the drama did come from inventive cinematography and big acting, but it wasn’t what I’d label as flashy. This happens a lot. Making something look cool or setting up a good scene isn’t tied to pimping chase scenes. Unless everything else. All the other stuff has to be there. Stakes. Tension. The big dogs.
I have nothing negative to say about Breaking Bad. I’ll say that now that I’m removed from it, it’s funnier than I initially thought. Quirky might be a better word. Eh, words. Anyway, maybe it will age as well as shows like The Sopranos and The Wire, but it needs more age. Now, Better Call Saul, ironically, is more serious than I initially expected. Since I brought it up, let’s talk about it.
Did I really want a backstory to Saul Goodman? It wouldn’t have been my choice, but this shows what I know. It’s got all the good stuff that BB had. Wonderful acting. Patient cinematography. Stacks of dramatic tension. The family dynamics and motivations of Jimmy (Saul) and his brother are complex and interesting to see. Some of it is really sad, the way good drama sometimes is. Everything is understandable and the conflicts are multi-layered. Often the arguments will be about four different things at the same time, though they don’t mention three of them. This means the writers are trusting the audience. This is risky, but you can afford to be risky when you and your people have already made one of the most awesome things ever.
Saul asks complex questions of the characters that most shows don’t. Jimmy wants to do the right thing, mostly. He’s also really into cutting corners. He somehow works incredibly hard at finding the easy way out. It’s very interesting. His brother is a guy that’s suffering from a really weird mental/physical malady, but he’s also super into himself and his own legacy as a principled man of the law. His younger brother’s successes impinge on his idea of the law and thus the idea of himself, and this does a lot to stifle his own sense of identity. Mike’s journey is always entertaining. He’s eternally disgusted with everything, constantly put out, and mostly hilarious. Create any situation and set Mike in the middle of it; he’ll do his face and the whole thing instantly becomes absurd. I love it.
So does Saul win? I’ve got to say, I see a lot of the things that made BB great elevated to even higher levels. So yeah. It’s better. Ask me tomorrow and I’ll deny my story. And my backstory.
Cheers and see you after.
