Besting Bad

What do you do after completing one of the most critically acclaimed TV series in the history of the genre? Where do you go from the top? For Breaking Bad producers Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould you go back in time and tell the story of Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk), the “criminal” lawyer and confidant that advised drug kingpin Walter “Heisenberg” White on his rise to the top. If you’re lucky, you create a prequel good enough to live up to the legacy of the original show. If you’re Gilligan and Gould you create one that surpasses it.

It’s ironic that Better Call Saul, one of the most original programs of the current television season, is not entirely original. The Breaking Bad prequel reuses both characters and setting to tell the origin story of Saul Goodman, Albuquerque’s premiere ambulance chaser. Yet somehow for all of the familiar faces, and the knowledge the average viewer may have about the future of Goodman and the people he associates with, Better Call Saul is both original and compelling, drawing the viewer into the story of nice guy Jimmy McGill’s transformation into the sleazy Goodman.

Of course Jimmy is more complicated than that, and we can see the origins of Goodman’s more questionable tactics in the younger lawyer’s schemes to get clients, but for McGill the right thing is still a consideration in the matter, even if only to prove something to his older brother Chuck (Michael McKean). Jimmy is trying to walk a righteous path, with only the occasional lapses in ethics, and those that he feels are completely justifiable. One of those lapses leads him into a confrontation with Breaking Bad’s original nightmare sociopath Tuco (Raymond Cruz). There was just enough of Tuco in Saul’s first season, but I’m still hoping to see a confrontation between him and Mike at some point in the show’s run.

Jonathan Banks also returns to give us some insight into Mike Ehrmantraut’s past, and as clearly as we get the sense of what turned semi-shady Jimmy McGill into Saul Goodman so we get to see the transformation of Mike from not-to-clean cop to the right hand of Gus Fring. And Banks has proven that he can play the raw emotions as well as he does the cold-hearted fixer. Better Call Saul works because as interesting as these characters were in their supporting roles on Breaking Bad, their own stories have become every bit as compelling as Walter White’s.

Season of Disappointment

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

There are a handful of television programs airing in the first few months of the year that I look forward to watching, the last eight episodes of AMC’s The Walking Dead, the new season of Downton Abbey on PBS, and the Netflix original House of Cards, which begins streaming at the end of February. These shows are very different from one another, and each has always had their share of strengths and weaknesses, but in the winter of 2015 they have all been somewhat more disappointing than entertaining.

The Walking Dead has been shuffling toward fatigue since the prison burned in the midseason finale of 2013. Recycling The Governor as a villain may have turned out better than expected, but beginning with the death of Herschel the show started losing too many characters that the viewers cared about. In a show about rampant death you risk losing your audience as much as your actors risk losing their jobs. And maybe nobody misses Bob (except for Sasha), but clearly Beth had fans who are upset over her loss. Killing off Tyrese in the first episode of the back eight didn’t help things. Some fans may be wondering who is left to identify with. But beyond the constant deaths, the old run, kill zombies, find haven, get threatened by human survivors, burn haven to the ground plot can only be used so many times before it is totally exhausted. Because we all already know that Alexandria is doomed.

On the other end of the spectrum is the period drama Downton Abbey, which is populated by strangely compelling (if somewhat too modern acting) characters living on an English estate in the early 20th century. This season saw more that the usual share of contrived plot points, including one that turned the tables on earlier events by having Anna end up in prison on suspicion of murder. And like The Walking Dead, too much of this season spent time going over old ground, Mary’s manipulative way with men, Edith’s self-defeating self-pity, Lord Grantham’s general cluelessness followed by a moment of rare insight. And even developments that seemed more original, Daisy’s pursuit of further education, Barrow’s attempts to cure himself of his homosexuality, and Carson’s proposal to Mrs. Hughes, never proved as compelling as earlier events in the series were.

Finally, House of Cards gave us what we’ve been waiting for since season one, a Frank Underwood presidency. But the Underwoods aren’t nearly as interesting in power as they are when scheming to get power. Yes their power is threatened from the beginning by the Party’s decision to not back Frank’s reelection, but under the scrutiny of being president he just isn’t able to make those classically nefarious Underwood maneuvers. He then manages to screw up by overreaching on both foreign policy and his domestic agenda, not to mention the estrangement of all of his personal and political allies. I understand that Underwood needs to be the underdog in order for this series to work, but he just makes way too many mistakes. And the dynamic of the relationship between Frank and Claire, whatever deep conflicts and problems exist there, is founded upon their mutual desire for power and their mutual dependence on one another to acquire that power. Claire leave? I don’t think so.

Binge Watch: Mad Men (Season Six) Edition

Trying to catch up on Mad Men before the season seven premiere on April 13th has not been easy given AMC’s scheduling of season six episodes in advance of that premiere. So far I’ve made it as far as episode six watching DVR recordings of early Sunday morning rebroadcasts. Don Draper and his cohort of Madison Avenue ad men (and women) enter season six a little worn out by the events of 1960s, and the series has yet to recover from the failures of season five or recapture the greatness of earlier episodes.

We start season six in Hawaii, paradise as seen through the cynical and calculated eyes of Don Draper (John Hamm). Wife Megan (Jessica Paré), having gained fame as a soap opera star, enjoys Hawaii more than Don, who is really there on business. Roger’s (John Slattery) mother dies. Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) has problems adjusting to her position of power at rival firm Cutler, Gleason and Chaough. Don and Megan arrive back in New York and Don, finding his crutch alcohol more of a stumbling block than an aid, makes a fool of himself at Roger’s mother's funeral. He is also having an affair with neighbor Silvia (Linda Cardellini). That’s just the first episode of the season.

Mad Men is a show about a narcissistic asshole, and as such wears a little thin after a while. Don’s and Pete’s affairs with other women might have been interesting three or four season ago, but now it’s just more of the same, and hardly revealing or compelling. Cardellini is a fine actress, and she may do something interesting with the role by the end of the season, but so far I’m not that interested. We also get more flashbacks to Don’s crappy childhood, but again nothing really revealing or compelling. Same old same old. The show is at its best when dealing with the creative side of the ad business or the historic events of the 1960s. The Tet Offensive. The MLK and RFK assassinations. Of course season six of Mad Men is still better than most other programs on television, it’s just not as good as it was in earlier seasons.