The Best New TV Shows & Movies This Week: 'Insecure', 'Better Call Saul', and More

The last time viewers heard the Lola Marsh cover of the Sinatra family classic “Somethin’ Stupid” was in the Season 4 episode of the same name. Used then as the spice on top of another series-great montage, the song marked the passage of time and space between Kim (Rhea Seehorn) and Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) as the two drifted apart in their new routine. At the beginning of “Bad Choice Road,” however, it reappears as a spectral melody before taking on new life as it’s twisted and coiled like the rattlesnake Jimmy and Mike (Jonathan Banks) pass during the opening of this episode. Now, the song provides a message of unity, underscoring just how much Kim and Jimmy have oriented their lives around one another; instead of being separate together, they’re now together but separate.

That unified front ultimately proves life-saving, as we’re given another all-time episode of Better Call Saul.

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'Rona Recommends: The 23 Best Shows to Watch While You're Socially Distancing - Better Call Saul

I’ve already spilled a fair amount of digital ink on this site about my love for Better Call Saul, but allow me to go to bat once more for a show I consider to be superior to Breaking Bad. The Saul Goodman-focused prequel/spin-off has its first four seasons available on Netflix, while its fifth season currently airs on AMC—which means there’s no better time to get caught up than right now.

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The Best New TV Shows & Movies This Week: 'Better Call Saul,' an 'Insecure' Preview, and More

I learned to stop trying to predict what would happen in shows a long time ago. Solving a mystery box show like Westworld, or even trying to ascertain the final fate of Walter White in Breaking Bad, never seemed like a compelling use of my time; I’d rather sit down and let the show just wash over me completely.

Yet, sometimes you can’t help yourself.

Every now and again, you get a general sense that an upcoming episode of a show has the DNA to be something special. A few factors had already aligned to make this week’s episode of Better Call Saul, “Bagman,” draw my attention. For one, this marked the first episode back for Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan since El Camino; regardless of whether or not you felt that story was necessary, Gilligan undeniably elevated his directorial talents with the project. Add in the increasing darkness around the show, a factor I keyed into last week, and the general plot behind this episode (Jimmy having to go and pick up Lalo’s $7 million bail money from the Cousins), and all the elements were there: “Bagman” was primed to be a capital “I” important episode.

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'Rona Recommends: The 23 Best Shows to Watch While You're Socially Distancing - High Fidelity

I didn’t think it was possible for me to love actress Zoe Kravitz any more than I already did...and then I started Hulu’s High Fidelity. Rebooted and retooled from the 2000 John Cusack-starring film, Hulu’s 2020 take (showrun by Veronica West and Sarah Kucserka) swaps Chicago for Brooklyn and a male lead for a female one—providing a vehicle for the aforementioned Kravitz to completely and utterly shine. Freed from the dourness that wrought most of her character in the mangled second season of Big Little Lies, Kravtiz through her portrayal of Rob gets a chance to offer a full, well-rounded, and vibrant performance.

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The Best New TV Shows & Movies This Week: 'Better Call Saul,' 'Better Things,' and More

I’ve written before about how much of Better Call Saul plays with the ideas of duality. However, if this week’s episode — expertly directed by first-timer Melissa Bernstein (a long time producer on Breaking Bad, Saul, and El Camino) and writer Alison Tatlock — perhaps proved to us the show is not so much about duality as a three-head-monster. The “JMM” that this episode draw’s its title from was previously understood to be “James Morgan McGill” was then shifted to “Justice Matter Most” to its now final meaning: “Just Make Money.” This evolving nomenclature could just as easily be applied to the three phases of Jimmy’s (Bob Odenkirk) life as Jimmy McGill, Saul Goodman, and the man we’ll later come to know as Cinnabon Gene. The consequences of Jimmy Morgan McGill led to Saul Goodman’s “Justice Matters Most,” which begets “Just Make Money,” which eventually leads to Gene and a life of looking over his shoulder. The root of that eventual outcome begins, in full, here. 

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The Best Directors Right Now: Steven Soderbergh

It feels extremely odd to say a director as prolific as Steven Soderbergh might be underrated, and yet, here we are. Here’s a quick roundup of everything the director has done in the intervening years since Ocean’s 13, The Girlfriend Experience, The Informant!, Contagion (more on that in a bit), Haywire, Magic Mike, Side Effects, Behind the Candelabra, Logan Lucky, Unsane, High Flying Bird, and The Laundromat. 

The two most recognizable films out of the eleven listed are arguably The Girlfriend Experience and Magic Mike (starring Sasha Grey and Channing Tatum respectively). But look take a look at some of the actors involved in those movies—Matt Damon, Rooney Mara, Adam Driver, Jude Law, Antonio Banderas, Andre Holland, and Meryl Streep to name a few—and it might shock you to know they were in a Soderbergh project. Hell, Logan Lucky had James Bond in it for Christ’s sake and no one saw it!

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The Best Directors Right Now: Rian Johnson

There are few directors as adept at working across genres as Rian Johnson. Whether it’s noir (Brick), heist (The Brothers Bloom), science-fiction (Looper), blockbuster (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) or mystery (Knives Out), the dual-threat writer/director has quickly proven himself to be a singular talent capable of presenting new and original tales in a world that’s becoming increasingly more dominated by franchises and IP-related fare. 

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The Best New TV Shows & Movies This Week: 'Curb Your Enthusiasm,' 'Better Call Saul,' and More

For those who really love Better Call Saul, one of the joys of watching the show has to be how the relationship between Kim (Rhea Seehorn) and Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) has grown and evolved over the course of several seasons. Complex, layered, and decidedly real, Jimmy and Kim’s genuine love and addiction for one another has been so wonderful to behold—yet tragic, too. We know that at some point or another as Jimmy inches ever closer to becoming the Saul Goodman we see in Breaking Bad, that the relationship will these two no longer be able to sustain itself. And therein lies the tragedy of Saul—as it was only a matter of time before the melancholy lingering over the edges of the show finally came home to roost. 

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