The two-night AMC premiere of the new television drama “Better Call Saul” kicked off on Feb. 8. Raking in a total of 6.9 million viewers on the first night, the series has already broken the record for the largest cable audience of a premiere episode.
Critics expect the show to have immense success. Perhaps the main reason for the show’s projected popularity is that it is both a spin-off of the five-season series “Breaking Bad” and an independent production.
With “Better Call Saul” serving as both a prequel and sequel to “Breaking Bad.” The show covers events both before and after the span of “Breaking Bad.” The show will likely attract the masses of loyal “Breaking Bad” followers, along with newly interested viewers.
“In ‘Breaking Bad,’ Saul was one of my favorite characters,” Joe Gould, a freshman undeclared major said. “He is likeable, funny but also kind of gives you a bad feeling. So, when I first saw that AMC was making a spin-off series about him, I couldn’t help but watch it.”
The show has already been renewed for a second season, which will consist of 13 episodes and premier in early 2016.
This Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould production highlights the story of James Morgan McGill, Saul’s alias, is a corrupt public defender. McGill played as a supporting role on the now-concluded show, “Breaking Bad.” Broke and running his business out of the spare room in the local nail salon, McGill strives to find a new outlet for moneymaking.
With nowhere else to turn, McGill fulfills the dual role of con man and attorney— hiring two young men to stage their injuries in order to boost the local need for attorneys.
While McGill has already participated in a number of illegal endeavors within the first two episodes, it’s a safe bet that there will be many more to come over the next eight episodes of the first season.
“I really like the show already,” Tom Cottingham, a freshman journalism and mass communication major said. “In these first two episodes there have already been appearances from characters in the ‘Breaking Bad’ series, which I like. I’m looking forward to finding out what Saul did with Mike before working with Walter White.”
In the opening scene of the premiere episode, viewers see a black-and-white McGill trying to live a normal life, presumably after all the chaotic events of “Breaking Bad.” Then, as the episode continues, the audience sees McGill in color, as the recognizable characters fans know.
It is evident that the show will include a number of flashbacks and flashforwards. As the episodes progress, viewers will most likely get a look into McGill’s life before, during and after his role on “Breaking Bad.”
While viewers can expect the show to offer a great deal of surprises and thrills, McGill’s transformation into his undercover name, Saul, is still unexplained. On “Breaking Bad,” McGill was only known by his undercover name, Saul— hence the title of the show. Fans of “Breaking Bad” look forward to finding out when this name change occurred.
“I expect ‘Better Call Saul’ to be a fun and intense show. I hope it can keep its quality high and keep me on the edge of my seat every episode,” Gould said.
Whether viewers are returning “Breaking Bad” fans or freshly intrigued, the series has something to offer everyone— humor, drama, thrills and suspense.
