Better Call Saul: Poignancy heightened by knowing outcome

Pick of the day: Better Call Saul, Stan.

Jonathan Banks is Mike Ehrmantraut in Better Call Saul.

Pick of the day: Better Call Saul, Stan.

The second season of the critically acclaimed series Better Call Saul, the prequel to Breaking Bad, is coming to Stan next month. If you’re yet to see what the fuss is about — it has had award nominations and a 100 per cent rating from critics on the website Rotten Tomatoes — now would be a smart time to binge on season one.

Created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould (the creator and a writer, respectively, of Breaking Bad) and set in 2002, the series is similar to the original in pace, mood and setting, but the protagonist here is the fundamentally funnier character of Saul Goodman, or Jimmy McGill as he was first known (Bob Odenkirk).

McGill is something of a sad clown who wants nothing more than to be taken seriously as a lawyer by his older brother and law firm partner Chuck (Michael McKean), his clients and especially his love interest, Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn). The repeated rejections, put-downs and humiliations he has to endure bring to mind Jack Lemmon’s Shelley Levene in Glengarry Glen Ross. Similar to Breaking Bad’s Walter White, McGill feels that America is conspiring to deny him the chance to succeed in life via legitimate means, though unlike White he has past form, including a youthful career as a repeat slip and fall litigant, slippin’ Jimmy.

While I am a big fan of Odenkirk, who also stars in the new comedy series W/Bob and David on Netflix, a reprise of the late 1990s HBO cult hit, it is Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut who delivers the most powerful moments in this first season. Of course Ehrmantraut dies in Breaking Bad, which makes his presence here more poignant. Irish actress Kerry Condon, who memorably played Octavia in HBO’s outstanding series Rome a decade ago, plays Ehrmantraut’s daughter-in-law Stacey. The revelations about the tragic murder of his son, and the consequent end of his 30-year career as a Philadelphia cop, are presented with great sensitivity.