BETTER CALL SAUL VS BREAKING BAD: WE DECIDE WHICH IS BETTER

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WE DECIDE WHICH IS BETTER

Two writers debate which of AMC’s acclaimed Albuquerque crime dramas is the best.

Hear-ye, hear-ye, we’re gathered today for the case of Better Call Saul vs. Breaking Bad to determine which AMC drama truly reigns supreme. EW editorat-large James Hibberd will present the case that Breaking Bad remains the better series while EW TV critic Darren Franich will argue for the defense. Court is now in session...

JAMES: Let’s start with our point of agreement. Better Call Saul is having an incredible run of episodes right now. I particularly loved the recent SaulKim-Lalo standoff. It was a Breaking Bad-like crime drama moment where the scene abruptly shifted into a Better Call Saul-like legal drama with a living room serving as the courtroom. Kim (Rhea Seehorn) acted as Saul’s (Bob Odenkirk) lawyer, fighting for her client’s life, and in that moment became just like Saul, representing a man she knew was hiding something — “Your honor, my criminal client is honest as the day is long and would never lie!”

But I’ve come around to respecting Better Call Saul’s eccentric pacing. Saul Goodman was a fabulous grotesque on Breaking Bad, and it’s stunning how completely this spin-off has deepened our understanding of his motivations — and made his shady con-man act the stuff of corrosive drama. Odenkirk keeps plumbing new dark corners of Jimmy McGill’s self-defeating psyche. And Saul co-creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould have turned willful detours into unexpected delights. Jimmy’s goofy Elder Law practice turned into a subplot that totally riveted me. The production design is impeccable.

And before that, Nacho (Michael Mando) dropping off Lalo (Tony Dalton) at the well. The way the show played that moment out. “Do you want me to stay?” No, no, go. “Sure you don’t want me to stay?” No, no, it’s fine. Your feeling of tension started to rise. You knew something bad was going to happen. Nacho is allllllmost gone when Lalo knocked on his window. Then it led to Goodman chatting blithely away with Kim, ignoring that cell ringing over and over again, Quid quos aut quasper uptiatist faceatus magnimus ipsandit entis evelit dolla cori te solessecto magnihi liquatus acesectio essunti aturis res repelest, alit, sed then Mike’s urgent Taken-like speech as Kim fearfully backs away from their door. It was all a world-class scene construction that wrung every ounce of drama possible out of their confrontation.

DARREN: Kim is a master of unexpected legal strategy, whether she’s bigfooting a bank CEO or Jedi mind-tricking the latest murdering Salamanca drugspawn. In the Wexler spirit, I’ll begin this defense of Better Call Saul with some critiques.

The early seasons were hit-or-miss, depending on unnecessary prequel canon and Michael McKean’s too-quirky-for-my-tastes Chuck. The Fring-Salamanca narconovela hasn’t always fit into the show. I didn’t like the Superlab at all.

It felt like the ultimate Better Call Saul episode, complete with tense Mesa Verde negotiations and Chuck’s ghost haunting Jimmy through Howard’s perfect tan. And then the next episode, “Bagman,” was some kind of an ultimate Breaking Bad episode, tense desert gunplay leading into funny, freaky survival tale. We’re arguing about two great TV shows, James. Am I cheating if I pick the one that achieves the best of both worlds? JAMES: I concur

with “JMM” being terrific — from Kim’s literal “check and mate” move, saying marriage was the only way she’d stay with Saul (and here we thought he was the one outmaneuvering her) — to their incredibly pathetic half-hearted “I dos” to Saul’s apocalyptic Emmy-bait meltdown.