Better Call Saul: Season One [Blu-Ray] 
Cast: Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Michael McKean
Release Date: Now Available On Blu-ray & DVD
A Review By: Kevin Lovell
Disc Rating: 9.5/10
Synopsis:
Before Saul Goodman met Walter White, he was struggling attorney Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk). In this prequel to the Emmy-winning series Breaking Bad, Jimmy teams up with “fixer” Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) and begins his transformation from optimistic underdog into Albuquerque’s most notorious legal legend.
Before he was criminal lawyer Saul Goodman defending criminals such as Walt and Jesse with the most questionable and profound law practices imaginable in the hit series ‘Breaking Bad’, he was known simply as Jimmy McGill. Barely making ends meet working odd law jobs as a public defender and caring for his troubled brother, ‘Better Call Saul’ follows Jimmy from the bottom as he begins his wild crusade to do whatever is necessary in order to build his brand and become the lawyer he knows he was meant to be.
Developed by ‘Breaking Bad’ creator Vince Gilligan along with Peter Gould who initially created the character of Saul Goodman, ‘Better Call Saul’ is a far different beast than ‘Breaking Bad’ although no less fantastic. With far less focus on the violence and more depressing and life threatening scenarios the previous series had a talent for portraying with ruthless intensity, ‘Better Call Saul’ keeps things operating in a fairly serious manner, while simultaneously delivering a much more fun, light-hearted and hilarious series which should come as no surprise considering what we already knew of the title character portrayed once again with vigor and ease by the hilarious and talented Bob Odenkirk along with Jonathan Banks once again reprising his role of Mike. Fans of the amazing series ‘Breaking Bad’ and even some who weren’t wild about it will definitely want to give ‘Better Call Saul’ a shot if they haven’t already, it’s a phenomenal and insanely fun series that you definitely won’t want to miss out on.
Fans of ‘Better Call Saul’ and the hit series ‘Breaking Bad’ from which it was spawned will definitely want to make certain to pick up a copy of ‘Better Call Saul: Season One’ to add to their collections on Blu-ray. Sony’ Blu-ray release of the debut season delivers in every way, providing phenomenal high definition video and audio presentations in addition to tons of great bonus goodies including a number of ‘Deleted Scenes’, along with ‘Cast and Crew Audio Commentaries’ on every episode and a whole lot more (more detailed information regarding the bonus content can be found in the special features section of the technical specification coverage below) easily making this impressive release a definite must own.
VIDEO:
The Blu-ray release of ‘Better Call Saul: Season One’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the show’s original 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio on all of the first seasons episodes. The video presentations look fantastic, delivering a sharp, detailed and nearly flawless presentation on every episode with no faults of any kind to be found within, holding up admirably during the darkly lit and/or fast moving sequences and never resulting in anything occurring on screen to become negatively affected let alone rendered indiscernible. Overall, these are impressive high definition video presentations that should easily more than satisfy the series’ fans.
AUDIO:
The Blu-ray release features a lossless 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on all 10 Season One episodes. These lossless multichannel soundtrack sound great, providing a clean, crisp and solid audio presentation on each episode, utilizing all five available channels with the series’ wonderful music as it unfolds beautifully between the channels, along with taking advantage of the surround channels with car and crowd activity as well as subtle and distinctive noises that beautifully break through the silence among more; never resulting in any dialogue which may be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or rendered inaudible. Overall, these are truly fantastic 5.1 channel DTS-HD MA soundtracks that should not disappoint in the slightest.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Blu-ray release of ‘Better Call Saul: Season One’ is fully loaded with tons of great extras. Included on the release are ‘Cast and Crew Audio Commentaries’ on every episode (plus ‘Kettle Commentary with Craig and Betsy Kettleman’ on the episode ‘Bingo’), in addition to a ‘Gag Reel’ (running approximately 4 minutes in length), and a number of ‘Deleted Scenes’ which also include commentary by Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould and Thomas Schnauz (running approximately 11 minutes altogether). The release also includes a number of Behind the Scenes Featurettes with interviews and comments from members of the cast and crew, in addition to a number of fun little videos and more including: ‘Better Call Saul: Day One’ (running approximately 4 minutes), ‘Creating the First Season’ (approximately 24 minutes), ‘Good Cop, Bad Cop: Becoming Mike’ (13 minutes), ‘In Conversation: Bob Odenkirk and Michael McKean’ (34 minutes), ‘Jimmy in the Courtroom’ with an introduction by Director Michelle MacLaren (12 minutes), ‘Jimmy Kaleidoscope’ with an introduction by Executive Producer Peter Gould (2 minutes), ‘Uno: Table Read’ (53 minutes), ‘Better Call Saul: In the Studio’ (5 minutes), and the ‘Better Call Saul Music Video’ (3 minutes).
*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.
Disc Rating: 9.5/10
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