Better Call Saul Review: Pilot Episode 'Uno' Honors Breaking Bad, Sets Up New Story

The highly anticipated series premiere of the Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul finally arrived with a special airing on Sunday night. The pilot episode had the difficult task of hooking in Breaking Bad fans who questioned the need for more story set in the universe of one of the greatest and most complete television series ever, specifically if that story was not about Walter White or Jesse Pinkman.

Furthermore, the episode needed to honor the original series while establishing a clear story of its own. This is a tricky task for any spinoff to manage, much less one based on what is arguably the greatest TV series in history. But Better Call Saul seems to have found the right balance, at least in its first hour.

For starters, the episode opens with a superb six-minute scene shot entirely in black-and-white that shows us the state of Saul Goodman after the events of Breaking Bad. As he predicted the last time he saw Walter White, he's managing a Cinnabon in Omaha, Nebraska. And his life sucks.

No one speaks in this first scene, save for some television chatter in the background. The first time Saul opens his mouth, it's on tapes of old commercials that he has saved as mementos of his previous life, tapes he seemingly breaks out and watches from time to time. Saul lives a dreary, rote existence now, and he's not even at peace.

At one point, we see an angry-looking man in the Cinnabon stare in Saul's direction, and the former lawyer begins to quake as if his old ways are about to catch up to him and his life is about to end. It turns out to be a mistake, as the man walks up to some other people outside the store, but we get the sense that this sort of thing happens to Saul too often now.

So we get the tie-in to Breaking Bad, but then the show dives into the past and shows us young Jimmy McGill, the man Saul Goodman was before he was Saul Goodman. He's a struggling young lawyer who's horrendous in court, can't land a client, and works out of a boiler room. He has a brother who suffers (or thinks he suffers) from a disease that causes sensitivity to electromagnetism, so he has no lights in his house.

It's clear Saul's past life wasn't much better than his current one, but his status provides a starting point and an impetus for him to become the criminal lawyer we all know and love. He's trying to dig his way out and make something of himself, and while this is not as interesting as Walter White's transformation, it does provide a hook for the viewer.

And much like Walt in the beginning of Breaking Bad, Jimmy has very little idea how to scheme in the early going of this show. He tries to enlist the twin brother skateboarders (who tried to scam him earlier in the episode) to help him land a big fish client by "accidentally" crashing into his car, but of course the whole thing goes sideways right off the bat and they hit the wrong car.

And because this is Vince Gilligan's universe and we're all just living in it, the car turns out to belong to the grandmother of Tuco Salamanca, the crazed meth dealer from Season 1 and 2 of Breaking Bad. Ordinarily, this would just be pandering to the fans, but it actually makes sense here. We met Saul after we met Tuco, so why couldn't the two have had a history we never knew about? This serves as yet another way to retain the Breaking Bad fans while also establishing a brand new story.

Tonally, this show seamlessly fits into the Breaking Bad universe, and it feels like you're watching an extension of that show. The opening scene alone is evidence of that. From the extreme close up shots of Cinnabons in production to the musical choice of The Ink Spots' "Address Unknown," this show has Vince Gilligan's fingerprints all over it, and that is a very good thing.

The show didn't quite establish a complete tone yet, but we'll have to give it time. Is it a comedy, a drama, both, or neither? It's definitely lighter than Breaking Bad (which could be hilarious at times), but we'll need to see just how light it is.

"Uno" hit the right marks in establishing characters and setting up plot, but the true test will be if Better Call Saul can stand on its own two feet over the course of this first season.

Notes:

- The episode's second scene in the courtroom was classic Gilligan, too. The ticking clock and the lack of any action or dialogue exemplified one of his go-to moves, which is making you want to yell at the screen for the tension to break.

- Jimmy's defense of the three kids was horrendous, but the prosecutor's response was even better. To silently play the tape of the defendants having...you know what, just go watch it.

- The skateboarder's crash into Jimmy's car made me jump, even though that driving scene went on for what felt like seven minutes.

- Whose mustache is/was worse: Saul Goodman or Walter White?

What did you think of the first episode of Better Call Saul? Let us know in the comments section.