By JOHN BILLINGER
Tiger Media Network
“Breaking Bad.” What can I say? It’s a near masterpiece of crime drama and ever since its original run from 2008-2013, it has only grown more popular. The same can also be said for its prequel spin-off “Better Call Saul.” In fact, I personally subscribe to the idea that BCS is better than its predecessor in many ways. I know, sue me. I just find the transformation of con-man lawyer Jimmy McGill into criminal lawyer (emphasis on the word ‘criminal’) Saul Goodman more fascinating and interesting. The same however can not be said for BCS’s own little spin-off, “Slippin’ Jimmy.”
This animated spin-off (supposedly done in the style of 1970s-era cartoons, but more on that later) follows Jimmy McGill during his younger days growing up in Cicero, Illinois with his friend Marco during what I presume to be the early 1970s. We know from BCS that Jimmy started to perform cons during this time period, however, Slippin’ Jimmy decides to have no cons. Instead, Jimmy and Marco go on a series of incredibly strange adventures, consisting of movie parodies. Movies being parodied are “The Exorcist,” “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,” and even classic silent comedies from the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
People did not take kindly to this idea for many different reasons. One being that the (supposedly) humorous concept of it does not fit with the more serious tone of BB or BCS. It contrasts with too much of the pre-established lore, and sticks out like a sore thumb. Of course, the main reason why people didn’t like can be summed up with the question “Why does this exist?” And that really is a good question, and I can’t think of a reason outside of “They wanted to make money.” Regardless of any reaction, AMC released it on its streaming service for all the world to see on May 23, 2022, just in time for the mid-season break of the last season of BCS.
I suppose I should start with something positive. The voice actors did a decent job. They got Sean Giambrone (you might know him from The Goldbergs) to play Jimmy McGill and he does an okay job voicing him, but I have an extremely hard time believing that this is the same character that Bob Odenkirk originally played. The same goes for Marco, the only other returning character from BCS. Maybe it’s because this show doesn’t really do much to really bring it home that these are the same characters. I guess I also like that Marco is a main character. He was only in a few episodes of BCS, and I liked him and wished that they had him more. I just wish it wasn’t here.
Ok, now for the bad. The plots for these episodes are nonsense. Most of them are movie parodies, but even if you don’t know the movies that they’re parodying, it still comes off as a bad joke. A lot of the time it suffers the same problem as HBO’s “The Prince,” where the characters say something, and you can’t tell if it’s supposed to be funny. A lot of it feels lengthed out, and it quickly becomes a game of ‘spot the joke’. There are far more clever movie parodies out there, especially in animated TV, and this ain’t one of them.
The animation is the most basic idea of generic that you can think of. Despite being advertised as being done in the style of 1970s cartoons, it does not look like cartoons from that era. When I think of 1970s TV animation, I think of the Hanna-Barbera shows of the era like “Scooby Doo” or “Super Friends.” You know, very cheap-looking animation (sorry, but it’s true). Well, “Slippin’ Jimmy” does have the cheap look down, but it resembles less Hanna-Barbera and more like a knock-off of “Big Mouth.” Speaking of the 1970s, this show does not even look like it’s even set back then. Sure they make a few references to Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, but overall, it’s the 70s in name only, and being very anachronistic in the process.
For example, there’s an episode where Jimmy and Marco get into a taxi cab. Instead of the cab looking like let’s just say a Checker Marathon (an iconic cab of the era), it more resembles a Ford Crown Victoria. A 2000s Crown Victoria to be specific. And on the subject of that Jimmy Carter reference from earlier, he didn’t become president until 1977 and yet this show is set in 1972 or ‘73. I assume anyway, considering that both Jimmy and Marco look like they’re middle school-aged. Anyway, at this point Carter would’ve only been the governor of Georgia, so why would middle schoolers in Illinois be talking about him this early on? It’s all just very poorly written.
Overall, the best way to sum this show up, is watching what Walter White thought of it.
Don’t watch this show. I legitimately wonder what the crew of the parent series thinks of “Slippin’ Jimmy.” As far as I know they haven’t said anything. I do know that BCS co-creator Peter Gould served as executive producer, but part of me thinks it’s just a “write him a check kind of position”. Anyway, just watch “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” instead. As for the possibility of any future spin-off: if it’s anything like this, DON’T do it AMC.
John Billinger is an FHSU student in the Informatics Department and an avid movie buff