There's spoilers here, so stop if you don't want anything ruined.
After a third season, my opinion is unchanged. Better Call Saul is the best active show that I watch on TV.
Given that the same man is behind it, it's no wonder that Saul is able to replicate the tension that we saw on Breaking Bad, and I'm wondering whether there will be legitimate debates at the end of the series as to which show is better. Unfortunately for Saul, they just killed off one of the best aspects of the show in Chuck McGill.
Chuck sort of had to vacate the show, having exhausted any sort of useful relationship with Jimmy and having been ousted from the firm that sees his condition as a detriment to its business. His story was largely complete, but the loss will still be felt. Characters as well-written as Chuck are hard to find on television, even among very good shows. He felt real, yet transparent enough for viewers to understand exactly how events, circumstances, and other characters' words would affect him. Michael McKean (who absolutely owned his character) was often able to transmit Chuck's reactions to things with just the slightest facial changes, and it was always clear what those little ticks meant because of how well-drawn the character was. Chuck was petty, a hypocrite, nit-picky, spiteful, selfish, and just plain mean-spirited throughout his arc on this series, but he's one of the 15 or so greatest characters I've ever seen on TV.
Elsewhere, Season Three treated us to Giancarlo Esposito reprising his role as Gus Fring. This was teased via a hidden message in the episode titles of last season, so it wasn't exactly a surprise, but it was still awesome to see. The season focused on Fring's rivalry with a pre-disability Hector Salamanca, and we learn about the contentious history between the two that led to the animosity we saw on Breaking Bad.
The season was loaded with excellent moments, but I'll recap three of my favorites.
First and foremost, the courtroom scene in which Jimmy interrogates Chuck might be the best thing this show has ever done. The entire time I was convinced that Jimmy was holding some sort of electronic object to prove that Chuck's issues are psychosomatic, but the reveal that Huell Babineaux (Huell!) had actually planted a charged cell phone battery on Chuck and there was no adverse reaction was some kind of twist. The entire courtroom episode is one of Better Call Saul's best.
The second involves Nacho, whom the show has transitioned from a frightening character into a sympathetic one. Faced with Hector trying to invade his father's business, Nacho decides he has to take drastic action and make a covert attempt on Hector's life by swapping Hector's pills with something...less amenable to living. We're shown Nacho unsuccessfully practicing swapping a pill bottle into a jacket pocket and despite not getting it quite right, he's essentially given one chance to do it for real, during which his life is basically at stake. The scene in which Nacho executes the switch is one of the most tense I can remember seeing on television.
Finally, we got a chance to see what happens when Fring's drug business crosses over into his chicken restaurant management business. Hector Salamanca and his guys come into Los Pollos Hermanos to intimidate the employees and get in Gus' face. The way that Gus handles the whole situation is masterful (even if the explanation of who the intruders are was a little shaky from this end). He treats his employees with care and respect and it's clear that they both look up to him and are concerned for his safety. Gus isn't just a master earner on the drug side, he's damn good at running his fast food restaurant and treats the business as more than just a front.
Better Call Saul has just kept getting better through three seasons. I think it'll be tough to repeat that feat without Chuck, and as I've observed lately, Season Four is when a lot of great shows tend to go down the tubes. However, Vince Gilligan is at the helm of this one and Breaking Bad only continued to get stronger as the series went on. I have little fear of Saul suffering the Season Four curse.
Season Grade: A
No comments:
Post a Comment