Ozark, Breaking Bad, and Better Call Saul: SPOILERS
Slap my titties and call me uncle, but I don’t necessarily like being told what to do.
There was that instance when my girlfriend told me to fold her clothes while she sucked my dick, but that’s a story for another day.
Point is, I didn’t watch Breaking Bad when it originally aired. I heard the talk but I wasn’t interested in TV back then. I didn’t like it. But opinions are like panties: they’re gonna get changed.
I have gone months without seeing a single movie and I have gone longer without watching a TV show.
But finally, after listening to so many screenwriters talk about Breaking Bad, I gave in. And I’m glad I did.
It Don’t Feel Good, I Can Tell You That
It’s compelling as shit.
There are some boring cuts here and there but that’s bound to happen. The strength here is that those boring cuts didn’t last long.
Unlike Ozark, which left me feeling like I wasted hours of my life, Breaking Bad stayed on point throughout the entire show, driving towards a horrible end.
I understand the hype. Folks are right to praise it.
Going into it, I thought folks exaggerated how good this show was. They didn’t. It’s an exemplary piece of storytelling. There is not a single wasted character. The tension is realer than real. None of it felt forced or unbelievable — and again, that is not how Ozark felt.
I kept rooting for Walter to pull his head out of his ass. But seeing him morph into someone compromised made me feel gritty.
As the series went on, I walked way from the episodes not feeling too good.
It Stayed On Point
The show stayed on point. It told a single story. It didn’t get distracted. It never lost focus of its main characters, and it never felt like the show was putting you on.
As things got bleaker and bleaker — as Walter’s motivation shifted from family to power — I thought to myself, Let’s go back to the good days when they dissolved bodies in acid.
It’s a sad ending that literally no one wants.
But it’s compelling. It’s right for the characters.
It left me feeling sore.
El Camino
I watched El Camino immediately after I finished the series. The same focus from the show was applied to the movie. It’s a direct continuation of the storyline and, like the show, it does not feel forced or unnecessary.
The show and the movie and the world respect the viewers.
It respects our time, our sensibility, and our interest. The creators (I’m including everyone involved in the show) don’t fuck us with a pompous assumption that we’re going to keep watching just because we’re already invested. The creators value the audience, which is not the impression I get from most shows I’ve tasted over the years.
The Sopranos changed the way stories are told with TV shows. Hands down, it’s my favorite fiction TV show. And Breaking Bad changed things in a different way, almost in the opposite direction than The Sopranos took us.
Breaking Bad and El Camino offer refreshing directness.
I Went for the Spin-Off
I took a break between El Camino and Better Call Saul. I needed to wash off all the grit.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to watch Better Call Saul, to be honest. I gave Ozark a try … and by that, I mean I went through the whole show, coming away from it with this lesson: I should’ve listened to my gut and stopped after the first episode.
Ozark is not altogether bad, and it’s not a total a waste of time. I got into it as things picked up.
But Marty Byrde’s head-down stoicism is nowhere near as believable as Walter White’s character. I felt most episodes should’ve been cut by 10–15 minutes. Long shots establishing backwoods Missouri, tiresome arguments between Marty and Wendy, and an ending that was anticlimactic — it lacked the focus of Breaking Bad.
But it had boobies, and that counts for something.
After Ozark I dug into Better Call Saul.
Saul Good, Man
It’s a spin-off. You can’t have this series without Breaking Bad and El Camino.
While the bulk of this is told in the years leading up to Saul Goodman becoming the lawyer for Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, Better Call Saul also continues the storyline, pushing us into the future after El Camino.
It has a slow start, but I knew I was in good hands from the beginning. The quality of Breaking Bad and El Camino established trust in the franchise and its world.
And it delivers.
Obligatory Setup
Saul Goodman’s real name is Jimmy McGill. His brother is a well-respected attorney who thinks he’s allergic to electricity. I love that. The “allergy” is quirky and wild. I like wild.
Yes, there’s a slow start.
The best thing about Better Call Saul is the depth of these characters.
We see Mike Ehrmantraut, Gustavo Fring, Tina Parker, Hector Salamanca, Krazy-8, and Hank Shrader, with appearances of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.
Gustavo Fring never struck me as a bad guy. The sympathy for him here is more than the hint of I felt in Breaking Bad. Fring is fair, understandable, and even admirable.
What I like most is how we feel about Saul Goodman.
No Seriously, You Better Call
At first I thought Goodman was too much of a goofball in Breaking Bad. (I can’t be the only one who thought that.)
He certainly retains his goofiness in Better Caul Saul. But there’s complexity: selfish motivations muddled with love, loyalty, and strife to do the right thing. He’s sleazy, but he’s more than sleazy.
He loves his brother. He actually does want to be a better man. And he loves Kim Wexler, an associated attorney.
Even though Kim Wexler isn’t in Breaking Bad, as Better Call Saul continues, I’m suspended between:
1. Assuming this is going to end, and
2. Hoping that it never ends, that we don’t see Kim because we didn’t take a deep dive into Saul’s character in Breaking Bad.
Truth is, I’m a sucker for love and I always want it to win.
Yes, Better Call Saul is a prequel spin-off. A backstory. But it is exciting and engaging. Even though we know how it goes with Gus Fring and Mike Ehrmantraut, this show is rewarding.
If there is a hero in any of this — and I think there are two — it’s Mike Ehrmantraut and Hank Shrader.
Swivels in, Swivels out
