Black and white. A woman pours a dark grain onto a white surface, and rolls the whole thing up. She cuts the roll into discs, and arranges them in a pan. She bakes the cinnamon buns and slathers them with icing.
A mustachioed man with a sweaty comb-over tucked into a Cinnabon visor turns on the smoothie machine. He notices a tall, bald thug-type in the corner, eyeing him suspiciously over his coffee. He steels himself as the man walks toward him, exhaling when he walks by to greet a friend in the mall’s corridor.
At home, the mustachioed man makes a stiff drink and pulls a video cassette tape out of a shoebox in the closet. As he watches, we see reflected in his glasses both the tears from his own eyes and the first splash of color we’ve seen so far: the pink and yellow of the screen in front of him, with a narration by a brash and seedy lawyer.
“Better Call—”
Blackout.
Since the finale of Breaking Bad more than a year ago, fans of the series have eagerly awaited this day. AMC’s prequel Better Call Saul tells the origin story of lawyer Saul Goodman—mister “number one on your speed dial, right next to your weed dealer”—before he got involved in all of Walter White’s drama.
The series premiere aired Sunday night, with the second episode airing Monday night at the show’s regular time. It was originally supposed to be a half-hour comedy, with Bob Odenkirk’s signature brand of committed physical and emotional comedy leading the way. But the show’s creators instead opted for a full hour, and the trailer for the first season demonstrates a new vision: a dark, dramatic comedy bred from the best of Odenkirk’s Breaking Bad character.
