Summary- Meet James M. McGill Esq. Attorney-at-law AKA Slippin’ Jimmy, AKA Saul Goodman. This features the life and emergence of Saul Goodman, the criminal attorney. In this darkly comedic and dramatic tale, you learn the motivations and transformation of Jimmy McGill into Saul Goodman.
REVIEW- AMC’s brilliant “Better Call Saul” is about many things. There is an undercurrent of trying to “fix yesterday” definitely courses through all five seasons of the show. Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) was first trying to fix the yesterday of his conman past, going as straight as possible before realizing that his brother would never let yesterday go. Meanwhile, Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) is unable to fix the yesterday of his complicity in his son’s death. At the same time, Kim is stuck between the perceived authority of Hamlin, Hamlin, & McGill, the pro bono work she finds more satisfying, and uncertainty as to whether or not she cares for Saul Goodman in the way she did for Jimmy McGill.
After the longest season-opening “flash-forward” to date, season five picks up close to where we left off last year. As it has for four full seasons before, “Better Call Saul” tracks multiple plotlines over the first four episodes. The main arc is Jimmy finally becoming Saul Goodman. He uses the burner phones’ networks to find the people in Albuquerque who may need something better than a lawyer but can’t afford Howard Hamlin.
The writing on this show is so nuanced that one can track Jimmy’s gradual steps to Saul over the first four seasons. And see what has happened to him with his brother, HHM, Kim, and others has brought him here. And he’s still trying to do some good by helping those in need of good counsel. At least, he can even convince himself he’s doing some good.
