Better Call Saul Season 3 Premiere: 7 Ups & 1 Down From 'Mabel'

1. TV's Best Tragedy

More than anything else, this episode serves as a reminder of what a tragic tale it's telling. It runs parallel to that of Walter White, only on a much smaller and indeed funnier scale, and yet is perhaps even more heartbreaking.

It does this here often without any dialogue, and in both the stories of Jimmy and Gene. Whether it's the mundanity of his new life and the yearning for what he once was, or the desperate attempts to be good enough for Kim and stay as relatively straight as possible, the character of Jimmy/Saul/Gene is the centre of one hell of a slow-burning buskin. Often all it takes is a facial expression or couple of words from Odenkirk, and you're feeling everything his character is.

We see it here when he's faced with the police officer in the mall, when things go south again with Chuck, when Kim pushes away his back-rub; there are moments of comedy and sweetness, and yet a constant undercurrent of tragedy that makes it so darn appealing and yet horrifying to watch.