It's hard to believe that the original pitch for Better Call Saul was as a half-hour sitcom. Especially as it's consistently been one of the best – and smartest - TV dramas of the last two years.
There's not been as much hype around the latest, third season of the superb Breaking Bad prequel on Netflix, but maybe that's a good thing. The show can be judged on its own merits rather than being the subject of a knee-jerk global love-in.
What I admire most about Better Call Saul is that it is very much its own show. It has its own pace and style, and Vince Gilligan and the gang are just so good at putting their own unique mark on it that it's like reacquainting with a quirky-but-entertaining old friend. And the season three opener didn't disappoint: it turned everything up a notch, gave everything a little twist and set the scene for the episodes ahead.
As with previous season-openers, we got a taste of what life is going to be like for Jimmy McGill after he becomes Saul Goodman, when he's Gene, the manager of a Cinnabon store in a faceless Omaha shopping mall. He's a largely beaten man, but - as we discover here - his inner Jimmy remains.
Far from beaten is the 'current' James McGill, who regular viewers know ended season two by telling his brother Chuck that he had stitched him up; what Jimmy didn't know is that Chuck recorded his confession.
Determined to exact revenge on his brother ("You will pay," he tells him), Chuck knows his recording is inadmissible in court, but can play havoc elsewhere. First up, he plays the tape to Howard Hamlin, the co-founder of Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill and Jimmy's former nemesis. Just to make sure Howard remains firmly in the anti-Jimmy camp.
Then Chuck sets another couple of trains in motion, with the obvious ultimate intention of toppling Jimmy, who's oblivious and trying to make things good between him and Kim, with whom he's set up a practice. A practice that's already splintering as she's determined that they have a very separate client list in the wake of Jimmy's most recent act of deception.
Things are gradually, almost invisibly unfolding for Jim, played once again with great pathos by Bob Odenkirk. He's a good guy cutting corners and doing bad things. He ain't evil. But we're clearly close to a turning point (it is season three after all).
Then there's Mike Ehrmantraut, played impeccably by the ageless Jonathan Banks, whose relentless sub-plot continues, this episode in almost complete silence, making great use of Banks' intense features as the perma-focused Mike.
He's been tracked by someone unknown, but he's smart enough to finally figure out how. All that's needed to be determined now are the 'who' and the 'why' of the man who advised him: 'Don't'.
Next Tuesday's second episode can't come quickly enough.
