Better Call Saul: 10 Major Flaws Of The Show That Fans Choose To Ignore

Breaking Bad’s prequel Better Call Saul makes for a very entertaining watch, but not even this beautifully written show is without fault.

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Better Call Saul has consistently been one of the most critically acclaimed shows of the last decade. As the prequel and somehow also the follow up to Breaking Bad the series has gone from strength to strength, building into something truly unique.

It may be quite an unpopular opinion, but the show does have some flaws and isn’t totally perfect. Of course, fans are happy to ignore this considering the quality of the writing, performances, and production. Despite this, there are a few problems that perhaps can’t even be addressed but are just built into the nature of the show.

10 The Shadow Of Breaking Bad

One of the things that will somehow always hold the show back is that it isn’t totally original. Better Call Saul will always live in the shadow of Breaking Bad and as such, comparisons will always be made between these two shows.

What’s more, there’s almost a duty for Better Call Saul to pay homage to the original series that gave it life. The arrival of DEA Agents Hank and Gomez for instance felt like nothing more than fan service, rather than something that organically fell into the narrative.

9 Knowing The Ending For Many

Some are completely taken out of the storylines in the show for the simple reason that they know how they are going to end. Mike for instance spends an extended period of time trying to decide whether he is going to work for Los Hermanos owner and drug kingpin, Gus Fring.

Of course, fans of Breaking Bad already know that Mike ends up working alongside Gus for a great portion of his career. The same can be said for characters like Saul Goodman himself, considering his endpoint has already been mapped out.

8 Re-Use Of Villains

The show has continued to evolve and the addition of Lalo Salamanca is a great change of pace for Better Call Saul, but before this, a great deal of the villains in Better Call Saul was just brought over from Breaking Bad, including Gus, Hector, and Tuco Salamanca.

While audiences wanted to see these characters on screen more, once again their narratives have already played out for viewers in Breaking Bad. What’s more, audiences know what to expect from these antagonists when they arrive on screen; another reason as to why the unpredictable Lalo was such a breath of fresh air.

7 Drawn Out Flashforwards

One of the bonuses of Better Call Saul is that there’s actually a series of black and white segments that see Jimmy in the future, after the events of Breaking Bad. It’s a small story but one that allows fans to see where he went next, after having to go into hiding.

The problem here is that only a tiny part of this story plays out each season. While it does build the suspense and leaves fans wanting more, it’s also a real problem considering how far the seasons are apart. It’s difficult to remember the previous scenes and care about what’s happening; it may be better re-watched all together once the final season airs.

6 Characters Get Less Play Later On

Better Call Saul is doing a good job of playing on characters who didn’t get their time to shine in Breaking Bad. Krazy Eight and Victor are both great examples of that. The problem is, Breaking Bad can never follow up on what has been built here.

Both Krazy Eight and Victor are given swift deaths after being introduced into Breaking Bad only briefly. While Krazy Eight’s death is a little more memorable considering it is one of Walt’s first kills, his story feels a little unfulfilled by the time Breaking Bad rolls around.

5 Its First Season

It’s difficult to remember the first episode of Better Call Saul considering it was so long ago, but it set up a few narrative threads that the first season really ran with, for better or worse. Like any other pilot season, there were some missteps as the show tried to identify what it wanted to be.

There was a heavy focus on Chuck, Kim wasn’t given all the time she needed to really thrive and Saul’s seedier life was mostly played for laughs as ‘slippin Jimmy’ replaced Saul Goodman for a while. Needless to say, while the first series is still pretty solid it doesn’t quite match up to later seasons of the show.

4 A Slow Build

Better Call Saul is all about the build-up; even if that build-up happens to be incredibly slow-moving. There’s something genius about the pacing of the show and how it ebbs and flows. Admittedly, it does sometimes seem to be moving at a snail’s pace though.

The infamous scene where Mike takes apart a car looking into whether it has been bugged is one that demonstrates just how slow-moving it can be. On the other hand, though, fans are happy to overlook this considering the pay-off at the end of it all; especially with Jimmy’s own arc.

3 Aging Actors

It’s just due to the nature of the show being a prequel that this is an issue at all, but unfortunately, the actors look quite different compared to that of Breaking Bad. Many have aged, lost weight, or changed in other subtle ways that demonstrate this is filmed after its sequel series.

This causes a little bit of a continuity problem, one that the franchise came across with El Camino. But this is something that simply cannot be helped and fans are quite happy to ignore their changing appearances, with the show doing a good job of not letting the audience be distracted.

2 Continuity

The thing about being a prequel is that Better Call Saul has to keep some of the continuity of both El Camino and Breaking Bad if it’s going to continue to live within the same shared universe. This has caused significant problems over the seasons.

Some continuity errors are so minor that it’s almost unnoticeable, although writer Vince Gilligan was a little concerned about the fact that Saul has already admitted in Breaking Bad that he’s had three wives. It’s a flaw in the show that even he acknowledges as a plot hole, although one that fans ignore nonetheless.

1 It’s Coming To An End

There’s a number of really popular shows coming to an end in 2021 but for fans of the Breaking Bad universe, the end of Better Call Saul is definitely a bittersweet moment. A flaw of the show, therefore, is that it has to end at all!

While Vince Gilligan has neither confirmed nor denied that he will return to this world at some stage in the future, the positioning of Better Call Saul in the timeline means that this really has to be its final season; it was perhaps working on a clock more than most other shows.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/better-call-saul-major-flaws-fans-ignore/