Saul Called

Better Call Saul is back for its fifth season.  While I still don't think it has the heft or excitement of Breaking Bad, it's still better than most TV out there.

I've seen the first two episodes.  The premiere starts with Cinnabon manager "Gene" being made by a taxi driver from Albuquerque.  Gene's first instinct is to flee (which gives us a short scene with the late Robert Forster), but he decides he'll stick around and deal with the problem himself.  So more action than usual will be happening in the present. (And the guy who spotted him is played by Don Harvey, an old friend of mine from college.)

The best thing about this season is we've (finally) got Saul Goodman, full blown. Jimmy McGill was tired of being Charles' loser brother, so he's going out on his own. In the past, Jimmy was a master of fast-talk and scams, and he's putting all that to good use. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Kim, though still living together, seem to be growing apart. How much longer can this relationship last? (And Kim is one of the variables in the equation--we know where most of the leads will end up, but not her.)

In the other half of the show (the two halves can't fully join, since Saul will not know who Gus is when he meets Walter White), Gus and Mike seem to be on the outs.  Gus has got some plan afoot--of course--and can use a man like Mike, but Mike is not thrilled he had to kill Werner. Gus's main problem is Lalo Salamanca.  Lalo isn't stupid, and knows Gus is up to something.  What he doesn't know is Gus already has a man on the inside--Nacho--who's feeding him info.  We also know that Gus will win this battle--one problem with the show is while the particulars aren't clear, Breaking Bad has shown us where things will end up.  The main variable in this half of the story is Nacho.

Anyway, good to have the show back.  Nice to finally have something to watch on Mondays.