TV Review: Better Call Saul (Season 5)

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Synopsis: Jimmy McGill’s (Bob Odenkirk) decision to practice law as “Saul Goodman” creates unexpected and profound waves of change for those in his orbit.  

Review: After four seasons of origin, we are finally seeing Jimmy McGill transform into Saul Goodman. On a show that took a supporting character from one of the best television dramas of all time and turned him into a character almost as interesting as Walter White, we finally have reached the point where this prequel begins to collide with Breaking Bad. With the announcement that next year's sixth season will be the last, Better Call Saul has delivered yet another nuanced and brilliantly written chapter in the story of Saul Goodman that continues to showcase the acting chops of Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Giancarlo Esposito, and Rhea Seehorn.

At the end of the fourth season, Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) finally came up with his plan to become Saul. After trying different schemes like selling burner phones, Jimmy finally got himself reinstated with the New Mexico bar and this season opens with him donning the technicolor suits and beginning his practice as "The Magic Man" himself, Saul Goodman. Of course, over the length of the series, Jimmy's relationship with fellow attorney Kim Wexler (Seehorn) has been challenged by her disdain for Jimmy's legal boundary straddling ideas. That has never been more apparent than here as we see the beginning of the end for their romance. Seehorn has long been the undeclared MVP of Better Call Saul as she has entertained and even participated in some of Jimmy's plans but always left feeling sick by her actions.

Season 5 is set just a few years before Saul Goodman will run into Walter White which is why the trailers for these episodes have teased familiar faces, including Dean Norris as DEA agent Hank Schrader and the late Robert Forster reprising his role as Ed Galbraith, the vacuum salesman who helps criminals disappear. As we have seen in seasons past, there are black and white flashes of Saul's post-Breaking Bad life as a Cinnabon manager. While they have illuminated the aftershocks of that series, this season's scenes are some of the most intense we have yet seen and show a definite change in Saul's mental state. All of this rides heavily on Bob Odenkirk who is able to switch between his Jimmy and Saul personas instantly and this year is the first time we begin to see one fading away while the other takes control. Much like Walter White's transformation from vibrant to dark, this series gives us Jimmy's nondescript and muted suits blooming into the vibrant and over the top persona we have been waiting to see.

This season also sees further development of the Salamanca and Fring criminal enterprises. Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) continues his employment with Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) while Nacho (Michael Mando) must contend with the intrusion of Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton), the nephew of Hector who comes to town in the wake of his uncle's stroke. Gus Fring's quiet ferocity continues to bubble this season and Mike begins to realize just how deep he is involved in what is coming. Everyone who has seen Breaking Bad knows what is coming soon and yet Peter Gould and Vince Gilligan continue to find ways of making it thrilling despite the fates of these characters being sealed. Jonathan Banks continues to make Mike a sympathetic character, more than he ever was on Breaking Bad, while Giancarlo Esposito serves more as the spectre of who he is on that series. That doesn't make him any less frightening.

The latest run of Better Call Saul also continues to make great use of music and editing which keeps the style very much in line with Breaking Bad. The desert landscapes of New Mexico remain a character on this series and prevents it from feeling like any other show on television. From frenetically edited sequences (like the opening of the second episode "50% Off") to quieter moments where Jimmy questions who he is becoming, Better Call Saul fits in better with the overall mythology of Breaking Bad than last year's EL CAMINO did.

Without getting into spoiler territory, Better Call Saul works wonderfully as a mirror image to Breaking Bad. While we saw Walter White do horrendous things, he was always the actionable party. Walter White directly and intentionally killed people which made him a clear villain. Jimmy/Saul is a much more ambiguous character whose worst weapon is his mouth and while he never is the one who pulls the trigger, his actions have created a domino effect that without him may have never led to Walter White becoming Heisenberg. In that sense, Better Call Saul may end up being a better series than Breaking Bad and this season is proof we are headed in that direction.

Better Call Saul's fifth season premieres February 23rd on AMC.

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