Better Call Saul

Before he becomes the slick, flamboyant lawyer clients know as Saul Goodman, Jimmy McGill is a small-time attorney hustling for clients, respect and a break. The show follows his everyday grind as he takes low-fee cases, uses creative tactics to win, and patches together income while his relationship with his older brother and his own conscience fray. Alongside him is Mike Ehrmantraut, a calm fixer whose skills and moral code complicate the line between legal work and criminality. Over multiple seasons Jimmy makes choices that steer him toward the persona and practices that will one day reshape his identity and tie him more closely to the criminal underworld established in Breaking Bad.

Created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, the series premiered in 2015 on AMC as a prequel and spin-off from Breaking Bad, reuniting a core creative team and key cast members while expanding that universe with new characters and settings.

The show has received numerous award nominations, including recognition from the Emmy Awards for acting, writing and directing, and it has been honored by critics groups and industry guilds, with repeated nods for performances and technical craft.

Better Call Saul has had a noticeable cultural footprint, bringing a legal-drama angle to the Breaking Bad world and producing moments that fans quote and discuss. Characters like Jimmy, Kim and Mike entered pop culture conversation beyond the show, spawning analysis, memes and fan theories, and the series helped sustain interest in moral-ambiguity storytelling on prestige television.

Critics and audiences have given the series strong marks, reflected in its 8.7/10 vote average, with frequent praise for its slow-burn plotting, layered character work and consistently high acting, especially from Bob Odenkirk, Rhea Seehorn and Jonathan Banks. Thematically it studies ambition, identity and the cost of pragmatic choices, showing how charm and lawyering can be used to justify compromise and how small decisions build toward larger consequences.