Better Call Saul review: S1/E1 "Uno"

(Warning: Spoiler Alerts are below)

For the highly-anticipated premiere of "Better Call Saul," my aunt Janet and cousin Geoff joined me at the former law offices of Saul Goodman for a Watch Party. It wasn't the real office. The outside "establishing shot" of Saul's office is a strip mall at 9800 Montgomery in northeast Albuquerque. It used to be Hooligan's. Now it's a new bar called the Local Brewhouse.

Watching a TV show inside a bar, surrounded by 50+ diehards of "Breaking Bad," has its advantages and disadvantages.

The disadvantages start with the dude who thinks he's cool because he yells out the name of actual establishments in Albuquerque that are seen on the show. Or the annoying buzzing noise from the sound system the first 20 minutes, or the really loud air conditioning inexplicably coming on and drowning out the volume for a minute.

The advantages are primarily about sharing an event with a community that cares so much about this TV franchise, the pre-show anticipation that rivals a sporting event, the well-time clapping at certain moments, being able to get an answer about the significance of a scene, and being able to look around the room afterward and realize how awesome it is that TUCO IS BACK!

Oh yeah, the beauty of a spinoff prequel is you can bring back to life all these people that died in "Breaking Bad." We've already got two: Mike and Tuco. 

Like most "Breaking Bad" fans, when I first heard that "Better Call Saul" would be a spinoff of Breaking Bad, I was apprehensive. I had visions of Willie Mays in the 1973 World Series, butchering play after play in center field, tarnishing his legacy.

My goal for "Better Call Saul" was to simply not suck. I wasn't expecting "Frasier" or "Facts of Life" spinoff success. I just didn't want this to be the disaster that was "Joey" after "Friends" ended. Then I read reviews from Esquire and other publications that, dare they say, the first two episodes were better than the first two from Breaking Bad? This was fabulous to hear, yet seemed like too much hype for the series. 

Now that we've seen the first episode, I can understand the praise, and believe we're off to a very promising start. I'm vowing not to compare it to "Breaking Bad" or say which one is better. Not after one episode, or two, or any. "Breaking Bad" was a show that, after the first few minutes of the first episode, took awhile to get going. They had to build the back story and it was initially slow.

We need to let "Better Call Saul" stand on its own, even though seeing these familiar characters makes us giddy with nostalgia.

What I liked most about the premiere of "Better Call Saul" was actually how you didn't need to be familiar with "Breaking Bad" to enjoy it. This is the story of a down-on-his-luck public defender desperate to survive and start making money. Saul's relationship with his brother is a welcome dynamic to enjoy. Saul isn't even Saul yet. He's still Jimmy McGill, which leads us to our first question to guess: how many episodes until Jimmy McGill becomes Saul Goodman? 

Originally, I was thinking sometime in Season Two (which AMC already ordered), or the very end of Season One. My cousin Geoff mentioned episode two of season one. I'll revise my prediction to episode four.

Almost all of the teasers that AMC gave us over the last three months came from the first episode. This is good. Saul/Jimmy arguing with Mike at the toll booth, or making outrageous grand declaration in a board room are great scenes. They just didn't have an impact on me because I'd already seen them so many times in anticipation.

Thankfully, we don't have to wait a week for the second episode. AMC is gifting us the second episode tonight, then we'll settle into an every Monday rotation. 

We're off to a fun start, with a good mix of interesting new characters to learn, and lovably flawed old friends to see again.

In honor of Tuco, I'll walk to his headquarters, which is a coffee shop in real life, and get a cup of coffee.

Links for your further reading enjoyment:

* The significance of the opening scene with Saul working at the Cinnabon in Omaha and how that company is capitalizing: http://time.com/3700962/free-cinnabon/

* Albuquerque is raking in the exposure from Better Call Saul: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BETTER_CALL_SAUL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

* The viewership is enormous: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-ratings-better-call-saul-771750