The show answers this question: Who is the protagonist of Better Call Saul? What do we call this guy? Who exactly is he? The answer appears in the title! The show reintroduces viewers to Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk), the shady attorney Walter White hired when he was a chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin in Season 2 of Breaking Bad. Now the interesting thing about Better Call Saul is that it is not entirely based on Breaking Bad, even though it sure is a prequel.

Despite the return of Bryan Cranston as Walter White and Aaron Paul as his sidekick Jesse Pinkman in flashback scenes, we still don’t believe we should always compare the two series.

Why we think Better Call Saul stands out

Crime in Better Call Saul is typically just depressing. The crime shown in Breaking Bad is depressing. However, we see how it gets depressing. We see a process. In the last episode of the series, Gene is back in his exile in Nebraska. The episode is dark and cinematically as good as any episode of Breaking Bad. The series is always very fresh to watch. We are sure invested in the character Saul. Remember the phrase, “I know a guy, who knows a guy..”? Saul’s character is so funny, yet we see a dark side of him in Better Call Saul, which we did not see in Breaking Bad.

In Breaking Bad, we did see Saul’s character flourish. However, there were limitations. We did not have a back story. Similarly, the endings of the two shows are vastly different. While Breaking Bad had a relatively fairytale ending with Walter proving his family’s innocence, securing money for them, and dying on his own terms, Better Call Saul’s ending was realistic and true to the character. During his run in the original series, Saul once commented upon the ill effects of having a conscience, and Better Call Saul’s ending is a testament to that dialogue, with Saul trying to right his wrongs after being inspired by his ex-wife. And this is why the spin-off offsets the original.

Why is it so popular?

Even though there are people who still prefer to watch Breaking Bad over Better Call Saul, we think the creators deserve a raise. It is so smartly put, and the episodes keep getting darker and more interesting. You can also watch a lot of YouTube videos that even compare the theme songs! We now know why Saul became Saul. It is so important to know the depth of a character sometimes, and the creators do it in a very praiseworthy way.

If you want to watch Better Call Saul, head over to Netflix!