Eagerly waiting for Saul to break bad

Better Call Saul Season 2 debuts Monday, AMC

Better Call Saul doesn’t owe me a damn thing.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t want more from it.

With the second season of Better Call Saul debuting Monday, on AMC, I’ll admit that my expectations have changed. Well, maybe “expectations” isn’t the right word. More like, my “desires,” or my “needs.”

Right to the point: Better Call Saul has to get goin’ a little bit.

I enjoyed the first season immensely. Bob Odenkirk successfully transformed Jimmy McGill (who later will become Saul Goodman), from comic relief in Breaking Bad to a viable and complex lead character in Better Call Saul.

But now that the first season of this Breaking Bad prequel is under our belts, I’m going to need the connections to the world of Breaking Bad to start getting more direct.

I understand that creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould wanted to keep the nods to Breaking Bad to a minimum in Season 1. The presence of Jimmy, Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), and Nacho Varga (Michael Mando), notwithstanding, Better Call Saul needed to establish its own identity, and that was achieved with significant success.

I totally got into the story, and welcomed many of the intriguing new characters, such as Jimmy’s brilliant but damaged older brother Chuck, played by Michael McKean, and Jimmy’s would-be love interest Kim, played by Rhea Seehorn.

As you’ll recall, Season 1 ended with Jimmy literally driving away from a lucrative job offer that had been arranged largely through Kim. As he exited the parking lot, Jimmy spoke briefly with Mike, and Jimmy vowed that his days of playing it straight are over.

With each passing year, even though I’m a fan of both these shows, Breaking Bad fades a little more in my memory. So I might not pick up on the subtle references anymore. You’re going to have to hit me over the head with some of this stuff.

So I guess what I’m asking from Better Call Saul in Season 2, is to hit me over the head a bit more often.

It’s a bruisin’ for which I’m cruisin.’