Speaking of the heroic age of television, its last gasp is happening now with Better Call Saul. It's just stunning to watch this. I am going to get hopelessly superior-minded about this, so stand back.
From a dramatic standpoint, it puts everything else on TV to shame. The bulk of the world won't see the quality and depth. Just like most people saw Mad Men as a soap opera with a nostalgia gimmick, people will see this as just another crime drama with an ambulance chaser gimmick, but the character studies going on here are miles deeper than anything anyone else is doing now. The absence of exposition alone blows my mind.
The series as a whole can almost be split into two segments. In the first half we got Jimmy (Saul) and his brother battling in a way the only family can battle -- decades of baggage and resentments driving their actions to an ultimate tragedy. The second half we get Jimmy and Kim battling their inner instincts. Jimmy claims his actions are out of an injustice done to his brother, Kim feels her actions are a response to the injustice of the system. Or are they both making excuses to yield to their sociopathology? Or are they just playing games for their own entertainment? Whatever the source, events are driven to harrowing extremes by their characters. Greek tragedies indeed.
We are now in a brief pause before the last six episodes air. In Breaking Bad, showrunner Vince Gilligan used the last few episodes to settle the moral questions of the series. I thought it was a bad decision that dinged what was otherwise a masterpiece. I hope he ends Saul leaving the moral uncertainty in place.
In any event, this probably marks the end of quality TV in my lifetime. I'm glad I can restream it as needed.
