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Sunday, September 22, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Destiny crashes down on sleazy, charming Saul

Bob Odenkirk as Saul in “Better Call Saul”… “I’d say one reason I enjoyed playing Saul was that Saul enjoyed playing Saul.”

A near death experience, a messy divorce and trapped in a time look… it’s all in a week of streaming and it’s all in this week’s streaming column by NICK OVERALL.

WHEN Bob Odenkirk collapsed from a heart attack while filming the final season of “Better Call Saul” last year, thousands of fans around the world held their breath.

Nick Overall.

Fear for the actor went rampant as he was rushed to hospital. Headlines, tributes and viral social media posts poured out during the wait to hear if he was okay.

Fans also feared, if the worst came to pass, what would become of “Better Call Saul”, the popular “Breaking Bad” spin-off series Odenkirk has starred in for seven years and one that was right on the cusp of wrapping up its finale.

It was a telling insight into just how beloved both he and the famous hangdog lawyer he portrays in the show have become over the past decade.

Indeed, Odenkirk’s performance of this sleazy yet charming swindler who first appeared in “Breaking Bad” catapult him from obscure “Saturday Night Live” fame to starring in an action movie, voicing a character in the sequel to “The Incredibles” and, of course, getting his own spin-off TV series.

In turn, there was a deep sigh of relief when a few days after being rushed to hospital Odenkirk confirmed he was okay. Within two months, he’d step back on set to finish filming the ending of “Better Call Saul”.

From this week Australia will get to see the beginning of that ending, with the first episode of the final season streaming and more to follow weekly.

And what an ending this is set to be. Over seven years fans have watched the morals of this dodgy legal savant wax and wane as he careens towards the inexorable tragedy that lies at the end of the road.

For those who don’t know, Saul Goodman could be considered as something of a less yellow Lionel Hutz.

He’s a former con man who throws his wit in the legal ring. His keen eye for the constitution is hidden behind his cheap, brightly coloured suits.

It’s all calculated though. Ensnared in a world of high-rise legal firms, including one led by his older and much more over-achieving brother, Saul sees opportunity in the swindlers, the sweet trash, the ones on the margins.

But his proclivities to make a buck have always been destined to catch up with him. 

In the final season, we’re set to see that destiny come crashing down on him in what will likely be the most potent concoction of tragedy and comedy the writers of “Breaking Bad” have cooked up yet.

“I’d say one reason I enjoyed playing Saul was that Saul enjoyed playing Saul,” Odenkirk writes in his just released memoir.

“He brought light to the doomed universe of ‘Breaking Bad’, or at least until things went bad for him, too.”

On Stan from April 18.

READ anything about Duke Ian Campbell, and it won’t take long to find he’s chiefly remembered for his divorce.

It was one of the most spectated scandals of the 20th century, a separation where both parties of the Scottish nobility swung accusations of adultery, drug use, theft, abuse and more at each other and one which whipped up a media frenzy like never seen before.

Until now, the public has only been on the outside of the divorce, but “A Very British Scandal”, a new three-part miniseries with Claire Foy up front and centre as Duchess Margaret, attempts to tell the story from inside the relationship.

It’s not to be confused with “A Very English Scandal”, a 2018 miniseries from the same producers that depicted the controversial affair of British politician Jeremy Thorpe.

If the quality of that series was anything to go by, this is set to be another absorbing real-life retelling, and one that viewers will be able to knock over in one night’s watch.

On Amazon Prime Video from April 22.

EVER been stuck at a bad party? Imagine that, except literally trapped there in an unbreakable time loop.

That’s the premise of Netflix’s underrated “Russian Doll”, a drama comedy hybrid about a woman who tries to find a way to break the endless cycle she’s stuck in.

The show’s snappy writing scored it an emmy nod for best comedy, and it’s now back with another seven episodes from April 20

The first season was highly entertaining television, but one has to wonder how much juice is left in the tank here. 

The whole stuck-in-a-time loop premise once upon a time was pure originality, but it’s been done so many times since that things are getting a bit, well, repetitive.

I’m starting to feel like it’s Groundhog Day.

 

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Nick Overall

Nick Overall

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