He put me up on a pedestal. And I had to show him that I was down in the gutter with the rest of them. I broke my boy. Better Call Saul, as the title suggests, is concerned with telling the story of Saul Goodman, or rather how Jimmy McGill became the lawyer we saw in Breaking Bad. Despite that fact, the best episode of the first season is focused not on Jimmy, but on another supporting character from both series: Mike Ehrmantraut. While the show is already set in the past, this journeys further back to tell his story. It shows him arriving in Albuquerque to be greeted by his daughter-in-law and granddaughter, and they discuss the recent death of Mike's son, Matty. It then goes back to the present day (of this show, but still before Breaking Bad), with Mike being interrogated about the death of a couple of detectives six months earlier. It's in the next flashback that the emotional stakes are raised further, and Jonathan Banks delivers his best performance as Mike to date. It shows that he did kill the police officers, and was responsible for Matty being corrupt as well, which ultimately led to his death. As he breaks down and admits that he broke his boy, you're right there feeling it with him. It may be Saul's show, but Mike made this his episode, and the series was all the richer for it.
NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far.
A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.
