Better Call Saul returns with a slow burn.
It also brings back Gus Fring, which may energize fans more than the opening pace of the story.
Saul’s third season debuts Monday at 10 p.m. ET on AMC, and it starts out furthering stories it developed in the first two.
Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk, top and left), the younger version of the shady attorney reincarnated on Breaking Bad as Saul Goodman, is trying to establish a new practice with his friend Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn, left), who shares just enough of his amorality to make them a viable team.
But some of Jimmy’s street hustler moves, like altering a document so Kim can steal a client from Jimmy’s much more accomplished attorney brother Chuck (Michael McKean), have created pesky complications.
Meanwhile, ex-Philly cop Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks, top) is working as a freelance fixer, and occasionally needing Jimmy’s help even though he considers Jimmy a nuisance.
The first two episodes of the new season focus on these stories at considerable length. When Mike goes on a stakeout, we go with him and watch parked cars for a while. The second episode opens with almost 10 minutes of near-silence.
At a time when television and movies sometimes seem afraid to let five seconds pass without a burst of action, perhaps fearing they will lose the Snapchat crowd, this deliberate approach seems particularly striking.
Worth noting: Vince Gilligan, who created Breaking Bad and now Better Call Saul, directed both the first two episodes.
Perhaps because we see everything unfold at some length, viewers have no trouble understanding every nuance right down to Jimmy repainting the wall in the lobby of his office.
The hints of what lies underneath these dramas often come and go swiftly, in almost random moments. F’rinstance, when Jimmy admits that he’d really enjoy it if just for 10 minutes Chuck would actually like him.
The first episode opens with a flash-forward to Jimmy’s post-Breaking Bad life, where he naturally has a new name and a new job. While he has seemed resigned to that fate, we see another flash here of his frustration over what he gave up because he could never bring himself to walk the line.
He’s a thrill junkie. He needs the action.
Better Call Saul has kept a lighter tone than Breaking Bad, where Saul had the lonely job of providing occasional comic relief.
This season’s first two episodes have moments of absurdity. They also have a more ominous feeling, no doubt enhanced by the return of Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito, top and left).
One of the finest incarnations of evil on Breaking Bad, Gus here is already running his cover operation, the fast-food chicken restaurant Los Pollos Hermanos.
We don’t see him engaging in any bad business. Mostly he’s running his restaurant. We do, however, notice that in one leisurely scene he seems to be looking for something or somebody.
It’s probably safe to say that something or somebody will play a significant role as the season rolls along, and not necessarily in a legal way.
Odenkirk has long since proven he can turn Saul into a leading man, which remains no minor feat, and we don’t mind cruising for a while at a speed where we can take in the scenery.
We also won’t mind if the arrival of Gus Fring means we will at some point spend time in the fast lane.