The hit spin-off of BREAKING BAD returns after a triumphant first season. BETTER CALL SAUL is back in action but it doesn’t quite live up to season one’s quality. This season is particularly slow paced, and by no means bad, but it just doesn’t stand on par with the sombre and frenetic duality the first season had.
The show feels like it is one massive build up, the calm before the storm season three promises to be. Vince Gilligan perfectly shoots and orchestrates his show and the aesthetic continues to be flawless throughout. The problem is, BETTER CALL SAUL seems to have taken some Valium and is just a little too slow.
Although BETTER CALL SAUL is somewhat infamous for its slower pacing, there is something a lot more noticeable about this season, and it has arguably been stretched too far. A positive consequence of this is a slow progressive build up of further tension between Jimmy MgGill (Bob Odenkirk) and his brother Chuck (Michael McKean). This is the theme that is at the very core of this season and is perhaps one of the more complex insights into a difficult sibling relationship television has to offer.
Jimmy finds a little bit of success, but he is trapped in a world where he has to do things by the book and the ‘slippin Jimmy’ in him is frustratingly repressed. This is another fantastic theme of this season, how Jimmy’s grey moral compass gets the job done, without really hurting anyone I might add, but is continually looked down on by everyone around him, particularly Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) and Chuck.
You can really feel the frustration with Jimmy as his unorthodox methods prove successful but he is berated and supressed for his unusual methods and practices, despite his exemplary results.
Rhea Seehorn’s portrayal of Kim is particularly impressive; she possesses naturalism that you utterly believe the idiosyncrasies and formation of her character. Of course this is matched with the consistent brilliant performance of Odenkirk. As their relationship takes new depths the actors both play off of each other naturally which really helps to suck in the audience into their relationship.
Vince Gilligan has set the bar so high for himself that this always had to be an eventuality. Despite the show’s excellence it just misses the bar of perfection BREAKING BAD and the first season of BETTER CALL SAUL created. What is still a lush and brilliantly executed programme just doesn’t pack the oomph his previous work did. However, this is still one of the best programmes around and the cliffhanger we are left with promises a hectic and revealing third season.
Verdict:
