Good news for Breaking Bad fans and anyone else who struggles with goodbyes: Better Call Saul, a prequel to Breaking Bad, premiered last Monday on AMC. But loyalists of showrunner Vince Gilligan hoping for Breaking Bad II will have to stick to their Walter-Hank fan fiction; Better Call Saul already has a smoothly-running engine, with a focus and vibe all its own. Spin-offs frequently falter out of the gate, trying too hard to recreate the appeal of their source material. But Saul
Goodman (comedian Bob Odenkirk) is the perfect main character for a project like this. He’s a guy usually at the fringes of Walter’s story, and a reliable provider of a one-liner or some kooky comic energy. The slimy lawyer is now the star of the show, and Odenkirk more than holds his own in the spotlight.

Better Call Saul, perhaps anxious to set itself apart from the get-go, begins distinctively. After a brief coda depicting Saul’s life post-Breaking Bad we’re back in Albuquerque, circa 2002. The start of the series is almost entirely wordless; the first audible speech (one of Saul’s classic courtroom monologues) occurs eight minutes into the premiere. James “Jimmy” McGill, not yet known as the titular Saul Goodman, is working as a public defender, waxing poetic in defense of three teenage pranksters. The rest of the episode follows him as he struggles to scrape together a decent (if not always decently-earned) living, hones his manipulative skills and ekes his way out of tough spots.

The show singularizes itself in several ways. Breaking Bad’s descent into the depths of Walter’s psyche took five seasons; Better Call Saul, best classified as a black comedy, can shift in seconds. Odenkirk’s wonderfully expressive face allows him to vacillate between sad sack and clown. As a protagonist, he is immediately likeable and untrustworthy, a goofier version of the male antihero trope. The cynicism of Breaking Bad persists. But Better Call Saul wields it differently, in a darkly comic approach that results in more laughs and fewer beheadings (so far). Better Call Saul is a worthy follow-up to the cultural behemoth that was, is, and forever will be Breaking Bad. This is more than an attempt by executives to capitalize on that success (though that’s certainly the kind of thing Saul himself would do). This isn’t just a good business move; it’s good television.