Better Call Saul (2015–2022)
5/10
Incredibly slow and uneventful
23 February 2016
If you liked Breaking Bad's "Fly" episode, then this show is for you. Otherwise there is very little of Breaking Bad here - almost nothing of the story, the pace, the quality or even the Saul Goodman humor.

*Breaking Bad Spoiler warning* Think of this. By episode 1 in Breaking Bad, Walt is already a cook, they're already dealing, have the RV and have killed someone and have another hostage. Walt has cancer, revealed it to the family, met Tuco, the Tuco attack on Jesse, Tuco kidnapping of the two, Hank killing Tuco, and Walt explaining his fugue state to the family and I still skipped a lot of events.

I am currently 11 episodes into BCS and the whole first season could be fit into 2 or 3 episodes. It is short on events and long with takes.

There is a scene where the camera zooms in to show graffiti and it takes about 30 seconds to show "(I) was here" when it could've done it in 10. There are a lot of mood setting and establishing shots that are made into scenes. A Cinnabon branch's closing routine is shown in full, including locking up the bottled water/juice, taking out the trash, the walk across the closed mall, etc.

The events are non-events - James playing with a light-switch is not interesting in any way.

The story doesn't seem to be heading in any direction. The episodes end without suspense, cliffhangers or even the slightest curiosity - you simply never feel like you need to watch the next one.

I feel as if all this material could've been great as a side dish for a real story. Instead it's a lot of filler but no real meat.

Breaking Bad was great because it had a great story to tell, great characters, quotes, music, drama and comedy. This one has none of those things. No great dialogues or quotes, forgettable soundtrack, no humor like Breaking Bad (Jesse, Saul, so many jokes), the drama is very little, and the characters, well, other than James and slightly Mike, there isn't much to write home about.

It's simply not an enjoyable show and it does not look like it'll get better.
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