'Better Call Saul' needs to bring on the Fring
AMC's “Better Call Saul” returned for its third season last Monday with a premiere that felt, oddly, like a midseason steppingstone, not an important bookend.
The second season of the “Breaking Bad” spinoff ended with shifty lawyer Jimmy McGill (former Naperville resident Bob Odenkirk, whose character will eventually become the huckster of the title) confessing to brother Chuck (Michael McKean) that he committed fraud to ensure a huge client would end up at his new firm with Kim Wexler (last season's MVP Rhea Seehorn). As Jimmy leaves Chuck's living room, Chuck unveils his hidden tape recorder to the audience and hits STOP. A perfect cliffhanger, seemingly.
After a prologue showing a new glimpse of Jimmy's post-”Breaking Bad” existence as a Cinnabon manager, last Monday's premiere began with ... Jimmy walking back into the living room? We pick up right where we left off, and the two estranged brothers even have a moment of levity — Chuck makes sure to cut that short, saying he won't forget what Jimmy confessed. Later, Chuck plays the tape for law partner Howard Hamlin, who sees no clear-cut use for it. Chuck has an idea, though.
The premiere's other major thread follows parking attendant-slash-hired muscle Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) as he takes things apart. No, really — that's what he does for the entire episode. He dismantles his station wagon looking for a tracking device after receiving a note on his car telling him not to assassinate drug kingpin Hector Salamanca (Mark Margolis). Later we watch him taking apart said tracking device and setting a trap for whoever's watching — it's obviously “Breaking Bad” baddie Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), whose return to Vince Gilligan's universe has been hyped for months.
Methodical, procedural scenes like this have been a part of Gilligan's saga since “Breaking Bad” premiered in 2008, and they are filmed and edited in interesting, sometimes even exciting ways. But these scenes seem to constitute most of Banks' screen time, and are beginning to feel like self-parody. I hope the line between slow, confident storytelling and stalling for time does not blur.
I know, I know, this was only the first episode of the season, and the preview for Monday's 9 p.m. installment promises a visit to Los Pollos Hermanos, but I must admit I felt a bit underwhelmed after waiting nearly a year to see Fring, and what Chuck would do with that taped confession. Yes, Gilligan and Co. have proven their mastery of tension-building storytelling time and again — I just hope they know where this story is going once Walter White (Bryan Cranston) enters and exits.
• Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald multiplatform editor who's excited to see new “Mystery Science Theater 3000” episodes on Netflix this weekend. His favorite is Season 8's “Agent for H.A.R.M.” (“Here's eye in your mud!”) You can follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.