Now we know why critics were raving about the first two episodes of "Better Call Saul."
AMC spoiled us with back-to-back opening episodes of the highly-anticipated prequel to "Breaking Bad" on Sunday and Monday, opting to give us that quick fix to satisfy our urges, and now making us wait like junkies over the next six days before we see episode three.
It's been a thrill-ride so far, high on action and tense drama for the cast we already knew, easing into the back story of the new characters, and planting the seeds for the story lines over the next two months.
Because we know what becomes of Saul Goodman, still Jimmy McGill at this point, we know that he will be "in the game" sooner than later. The best characters on TV are filled with moral ambiguity. The drama is how they straddle the line, the tipping point that makes them cross the line, and how soon they forget the line ever existed. Just how fast Saul caves to the almighty dollar is a test for the patience of Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould and the rest of the writing cast.
The writers had to get our attention right away. They did that. They've proven this show can stand on its own legs and won't cheapen the legacy of Breaking Bad.
Hopefully, Saul/Jimmy continues to waver for more episodes on the moral ambiguity he's facing, and finds clever gaps within the lanes to justify his actions. Because once Jimmy becomes Saul, the journey is over. All that remains is deciding who lives, clever ways for people to die, Saul one-liners, and syncing up the plot from the original episodes of Bad.
Episode two gave us walking-stick violence, stunning cloud porn in the desert as Jimmy does his best negotiating to save three lives, a window into Jimmy's pathetic world, an artfully crafted montage scene of Jimmy at work, and the emergence of Nacho (played by Michael Mando) as a prime character that sets the stage for Jimmy to become Saul.
That's a helluva 60 minutes.
The montage scene in "Mijo" was my favorite. Too often, montage scenes are a cheap, lazy way to jump ahead and save storytelling time. If there's a Hall of Fame for executing a montage scene, however, it's Gilligan/Gould and these writers. The music sets the mood. The editing is tight. There's humor without words. A little dialog is mixed in.
We saw that with Wendy the Prostitute working the Crossroads Motel. We saw that with Crystal Blue Persuasion. And we saw it again in "Mijo" with Jimmy meeting scumbag clients, arguing in vain, collecting shitty paychecks, drinking vending machine coffee, pumping himself up in the bathroom, and arguing with Mike over the validation stickers on his parking ticket.
Moving forward, can the writers keep up this action-packed pace without making the show lose its focus? Enjoyable as it is to see guns drawn in the desert on duct-taped skater twins, and the front of more emergency rooms in Albuquerque, the brakes are coming. Or are they?
But it doesn't seem like there's anything slow about what's next for Tuco and Nacho, especially if episode three is titled "Nacho."
Reading the tealeaves, Nacho is poised to become the breakout star. Much as the audience loves Tuco for his brutality, he can't hang with Jimmy's mouth. Nacho can.
"Wow, you've got a mouth on you," declares Tuco, after an extended monologue by Jimmy in the desert. Jimmy handled 90 percent of the dialog in that scene, which was probably a few minutes longer than necessary. Jimmy needs another talker, a criminal with a brain and a mouth, to lead him to his eventual destination. Nacho is his gateway drug.
It looks like a helluva ride. What a shame we must wait another week to find out what's next.
Unanswered questions:
* Did the fajitas burn when Tuco stopped making dinner because the twins arrived?
* Do public defenders really get $700 every time?
* How did the Mai Tai-drinking cougar get home from the bar?
More reviews written much better than me:
* AV Club
* IGN
* Mashable
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