Better Call Saul

Better Call Saul has consistently been, and still is, one of the best dramas on television. ... The series still feels like an independent organism going in surprising directions all on its own.

[The first five episodes of this fifth season] provide overwhelming proof that “Better Call Saul” remains one of the best shows of any kind anywhere on television. And Odenkirk hardly is the only compelling reason to follow this series. All of the characters are intriguing.

Better Call Saul keeps getting nominated for drama series, as it deserves to, and Odenkirk keeps being nominated as lead actor, which he deserves — but if you are a viewer who thinks that the show is compelling and that Jimmy as a character is compelling, I would argue that Seehorn's tough, funny, sympathetic, occasionally damning interactions with Jimmy are the reason the entire thing holds together.

One of many remarkable things about “Saul” is how the writers have defied the common trap of prequels in that we still feel urgency even though we know that nothing too bad can happen to Saul, Mike, Gus, and now Hank because that wouldn’t line up with “Breaking Bad.” ... The truly remarkable accomplishments of “Better Call Saul” that make it arguably the best drama on TV are in the subtlety and nuance of the characters—both in terms of writing and performance.

The best show on TV remains — emphatically — the best.

In addition to the thematic complexity, the direction and execution of this series is unparalleled by anything on television right now.

Odenkirk, as always, continues to find new things to explore about this character he’s now been playing for 11 years, with a notable addition to his repertoire in these early episodes: We’ve seen this man angry, scared, happy, and heartbroken—but there’s a new potential in him to be legitimately scary, which Odenkirk plays here with a sort of raw quiet that brings with it a new kind of terror.

Yes, “Better Call Saul” is a double-edged sword of reward and loss, but it isn’t too sad to watch because you’re too invested to look away. If you’ve come this far with Jimmy, you have to see his journey through to the end, whether that end is with Saul, Jimmy, or Gene.

Twelve years into the lead role, Odenkirk keeps finding new shades of goofy charisma and freaky desperation, and the Saulification of Jimmy is a performance within a performance. ... Season 5 still feels tangential, juggling placeholder subplots with hysterical continuity.

Although the prequel is running out of room, the AMC drama continues to achieve a dazzling balancing act in building toward an ending that is, in some ways, a beginning.

This is why Better Call Saul is better at being a prequel than other prequels are: It understands that the tragedy of fate is baked into the story.

There’s the sense of the new season as one long exhale. The fall of Jimmy McGill is all but complete; now all that’s left is the rise of Saul Goodman, and we know more about the latter story than we knew about the former.

The best thing about “Better Call Saul” is still its minimalism, its quiet spaces, its willingness to linger on details, like a frazzled prosecutor’s struggle to get a bag of chips out of a courthouse vending machine.

After four good, sometimes uneven seasons, "Better Call Saul” returns for Season 5 feeling like it finally knows where it’s going.