| "Uno" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Better Call Saul episode | |||
 Jimmy McGill argues with parking attendantMike Ehrmantraut. The actors who play them,Bob Odenkirk andJonathan Banks, reprise their roles fromBreaking Bad. | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 1 Episode 1 | ||
| Directed by | Vince Gilligan | ||
| Written by |
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| Featured music | "Address Unknown" byThe Ink Spots | ||
| Cinematography by | Arthur Albert | ||
| Editing by | Skip Macdonald | ||
| Original air date | February 8, 2015 (2015-02-08) | ||
| Running time | 53 minutes | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| Better Call Saulseason 1 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Uno" is theseries premiere of the television seriesBetter Call Saul, the spinoff series ofBreaking Bad. The episode was written by series creatorsVince Gilligan andPeter Gould, and directed by Gilligan. In the United States, the episode aired on February 8, 2015 and lasted 50 minutes and 55 seconds, onAMC. Outside of the United States, the episode premiered on streaming serviceNetflix in several countries.
The series mainly takes place in 2002, approximately six years prior to the title characterSaul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk)meetingWalter White (Bryan Cranston). In "Uno", Jimmy McGill (Saul), is a struggling lawyer living in and working out of a makeshift office at the back of a nail salon.Jonathan Banks reprises his role asMike Ehrmantraut, a retired cop working as a parking lot security guard, as doesRaymond Cruz asTuco Salamanca, a high-ranking Mexican drug dealer. The episode received generally positive reviews from critics, and at the time, it became the most-watched series premiere for a scripted series in U.S. cable history, with 6.9 million viewers.[1]
InOmaha, Nebraska, a balding, mustachedSaul Goodman, now living under thepseudonym "Gene Takavic", works as the manager of a shopping mallCinnabon, wary of being recognized. In his apartment that night, he tearfully watches aVHS tape of his old television commercials.
In May 2002, Jimmy McGill is a strugglingAlbuquerque attorney. After representing three teenagers as apublic defender, he is frustrated to be paid only $700. On his way out of the courthouse parking lot to meet a prospective client, Jimmy is stopped by attendantMike Ehrmantraut. Mike refuses to let him exit until he pays cash or provides a court-supplied parking sticker.
Jimmy meets withBetsy and Craig Kettleman, who are being investigated forembezzlement. They are hesitant to hire him and when Jimmy later tries to order them flowers while driving, he hits a man on a skateboard. The skateboarder's twin brother videotapes the incident and threatens to call the police unless Jimmy pays them. Recognizing their ruse, Jimmy refuses. Afterward, he returns to his "office" – the boiler room of a Vietnamese beauty salon – where he finds a check from Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill (HHM). Jimmy tears up the check and later accuses the partners of offering a token payment to cheat his brotherChuck McGill out of his partnership. On his way out of HHM, he sees the Kettlemans entering, which causes him to angrily and repeatedly kick a trash can.
Jimmy visits Chuck, who is housebound and believes he haselectromagnetic hypersensitivity. He has no electricity and works by lantern light on a manual typewriter. Chuck refuses to accept a buyout from HHM and also suggests that Jimmy stop using the McGill name for his law practice.
Jimmy tracks down the skateboarders, Cal and Lars, and tells them he got the nickname "Slippin' Jimmy" as a young man by faking "slip and fall" accidents for easy money. He arranges for one of them to be struck by Betsy's car, which will enable him to make another pitch to defend the Kettlemans. However, after the accident the motorist drives off without checking on Cal. Cal and Lars give chase, but when the car stops, an elderly woman exits. They try to make her pay and follow her into her house. Jimmy arrives moments later and begins to search, but is pulled into the house at gunpoint byTuco Salamanca.
A spin-off series toBreaking Bad was first discussed during the airing of the show'sfifth season.[2] In July 2012,Breaking Bad creatorVince Gilligan hinted at a possible spin-off series focusing on Goodman.[3] In April 2013, the series was confirmed to be in development by Gilligan and Gould; the latter wrote theBreaking Bad episode that introduced the character.[4] In a July 2012 interview, Gilligan said he liked "the idea of a lawyer show in which the main lawyer will do anything it takes to stay out of a court of law" including settling on the courthouse steps.[5]
The show is filmed inAlbuquerque, New Mexico, whereBreaking Bad was also shot.[6] As filming began on June 2, 2014,[7] concerns were expressed regarding the possible disappointment from the series' turnout, in terms of audience reception.[8][9] On June 19, 2014, AMC announced it had renewed the series for a second season of 13 episodes to premiere in early 2016, with the first season to consist of 10 episodes, and that the series premiere had been delayed to early 2015.[10] The first teaser trailer debuted on AMC on August 10, 2014, and confirmed its premiere date of February 2015.[11]
In thecold open, Saul (now hiding his real identity under the alias Gene), is working at a shopping mallCinnabon. This scene is set inOmaha, Nebraska, but it was filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at theCottonwood Mall.[12] The cold open is predominantly shown in black and white, except for a brief moment where a Saul Goodman commercial in color reflects on Gene's glasses.[13]
As Jimmy barges into a partner's meeting at HHM, he shouts "You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Hamlin, and I won't have it!", paraphrasing a quote from the filmNetwork.[14] As Jimmy exits HHM's offices after arguing with the partners, he shouts "You Will Atone!" When no one understands the reference, he says "It'sNed Beatty fromNetwork. For Christ's sake, guys."[14]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 100% of 20 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.70/10. The website's consensus reads: "The premiere will be familiar territory, but Bob Odenkirk's turn as Jimmy McGill establishesBetter Call Saul as a worthy character study in its own right."[15]
Erik Kain ofForbes said of the episode and series: "[It] isn't just a spin-off of a popular TV show. So far, it's a terrific TV show on its own merits. It covers familiar ground, but it still manages to be its own unique snowflake."[16] Hank Stuever ofThe Washington Post graded it a "B+" and wrote the series "is right in line with the tone and style of the original, now-classic series" and that it "raises more questions in two hours than it will readily answer".[17] Stephen Marche ofEsquire wrote that the first few episodes were better thanBreaking Bad.[18] Kirsten Acuna ofBusiness Insider declared the initial episodes "everything you could possibly want from a spinoff television series".[19]
Roth Cornet ofIGN gave the episode an 8.7 out of 10, saying, "Can Saul compete with Walter White? No. But he doesn't have to.Better Call Saul poses one simple, but fascinating question: What happened to Jimmy McGill that forced him to transform himself into the ruthless, hardened, yet entirely entertaining *criminal* lawyer Saul Goodman? The man that we came to know and love onBreaking Bad. I, for one, look forward to watching that story unfold."[20] Michael Star of TheNew York Post wrote, "Sunday's premiere episode moves along at a brisk clip, with moody cinematography that, likeBreaking Bad, somehow makes the bright New Mexico sunlight, set against a brilliant azure sky, seem like stormy foreboding—lifted by Odenkirk's confident performance and Jimmy's snappy dialogue .... I'm always interested to see how/if a new show carries its premiere momentum forward, especially with a show likeBetter Call Saul, which was hyped so relentlessly by AMC that you began to wonder."[21]
Robert Bianco ofUSA Today said, "Face it: When AMC announced it had ordered a prequel toBreaking Bad, odds are many of us saw it as a callow move by a network bereft of new ideas to milk an old one for all it was worth. Well, we were right—but what we failed to factor in were the gifts star Bob Odenkirk and creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould would bring toBetter Call Saul ... and their ability to transform what looked to be a sow's ear into something pretty much approaching a silk purse."[22] In her review, Mary McNamara of TheLos Angeles Times summarized that "the beauty of Saul was his unflappable nature; no matter how dire or dreadful the circumstances, he was able to identify the next logical step and take it. Jimmy McGill doesn't know how to do that yet;Better Call Saul will show us how he learned."[23]
Upon airing, the episode became the highest-rated series premiere for a scripted series in U.S. cable history up to that date, with 6.9 million viewers.[1] The show placed second for the night among U.S. cable networks, behind only its lead-in showThe Walking Dead, which as of February 9, 2015, ranks as the second-highest rated entertainment broadcast with adults 18–49 in the U.S., behindThe Blacklist episode "Luther Braxton" which aired afterSuper Bowl XLIX.[1][24][25]
Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould won theWriters Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama for this episode.[26] At theAmerican Cinema Editors Awards, editorSkip Macdonald received a nomination for Best Edited One-Hour Series for Commercial Television.[27]
