
Better Call Saul
2015 · TV Series
CrimeDrama
Better Call Saul looks like a lighthearted spinoff about a colorful lawyer, but it's actually a slow-burn tragedy about how good people convince themselves to do bad things. This is six seasons of watching someone you care about make choices that inch him toward becoming someone you won't recognize.
How it feels
Like watching a friend slowly drift away from you over years. The show has this patient, almost hypnotic quality—beautiful desert cinematography, careful character moments, dark humor that makes you forget you're watching someone's moral collapse. It feels intimate and sprawling at the same time, like you're getting the full, unvarnished story of how decent people become indecent by degrees.
What makes it heavy
The weight comes from recognizing yourself in Jimmy's rationalizations. He's not a monster—he's someone who bends rules for good reasons until bending becomes breaking. The show makes you complicit by making his choices feel reasonable in the moment, then showing you the slow accumulation of damage. Family dysfunction, betrayal, and the way past trauma shapes present choices all play major roles.
Compared to shows you may know
-Breaking Bad → Where that was a chemistry teacher's explosive descent, this is a lawyer's gradual erosion.
-Mad Men → Both track professional men reinventing themselves, but this one never lets you forget the cost.
-The Sopranos → Both explore moral compromise, but this feels more like watching it happen to someone you actually know.
-Succession → Where that family destroys each other loudly, this one does it with quiet, methodical precision.
If Breaking Bad felt like a controlled explosion, this feels like watching the fuse burn for six years
Worth knowing
The pacing is deliberately slow, especially early on. People dealing with family estrangement or professional disappointment might find Jimmy's struggles uncomfortably familiar.