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Blu-Ray : Highly Recommended
Ranking:
Sale Price: $23 Last Price: $40.99 Buy now! 3rd Party 17.86 In Stock
Release Date: May 7th, 2019 Movie Release Year: 2018

Better Call Saul: Season Four

Overview -

Better Call Saul is only getting better with each season as it slowly bridges the gap between itself and Breaking Bad. In Season Four, Jimmy McGill scams for work while he is barred from practicing law. And, Gus Fring and Mike Ehrmantraut are planning and building the infamous underground meth lab. It's fantastic. The series comes with an excellent 1080p HD transfer along with an amazing lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio mix and a treasure trove of bonus features. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

In the critically acclaimed drama’s fourth season, his brother’s death catalyzes Jimmy McGill’s transformation into “Saul Goodman.”  Now Jimmy steps into the criminal world, putting his future as a lawyer — and his relationship with Kim Wexler — in deep jeopardy.  Meanwhile, Mike Ehrmantraut’s work for Gustavo Fring throws the cartel into chaos, with tragic results.

OVERALL:
Highly Recommended
Rating Breakdown
STORY
VIDEO
AUDIO
SPECIAL FEATURES
Tech Specs & Release Details
Technical Specs:
3 Blu-ray Discs
Video Resolution/Codec:
1080p/AVC MPEG-4
Length:
483
Aspect Ratio(s):
16:9
Audio Formats:
English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles/Captions:
English
Special Features:
Short Film: No Picnic
Release Date:
May 7th, 2019

Storyline: Our Reviewer's Take

Ranking:

As season four of Better Call Saul cooks itself perfectly, we are slowly journeying forward to intersect with the events of Breaking Bad. This prequel series focuses on the quick-witted and crime-addicted lawyer, Jimmy S'all good, man McGill (Bob Odenkirk), showing us the decisions and actions of that will eventually lead him into meeting Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. It's a fantastic story to watch unfold, given what we know.

In Season 4, Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) works with Jimmy, the cartel, and Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito). It's fantastic to watch these nuanced and amazing performances in these early storylines. We still see the super friendly Gus at Los Pollos Hermanos greet customers and employees, but also see his cold, calculating strategy skills in killing and building the underground drug lab we know from Breaking Bad. In addition to that, Mike has his deadpan comedy gold throughout each episode along with his ruthless killer side as he is starting to work with Gus.

While Gus and Mike are dealing with their huge and almost impossible undertaking, Jimmy McGill is dealing with his brother's death in his own unique way, and trying to make money by any means necessary during his one-year law suspension. This includes selling mobile phones on the street and creating and executing scams on criminals and civilians of New Mexico. It's truly great slowly seeing how and why Jimmy decides to go on the path that leads him to his alternate ego Saul Goodman. Meanwhile, Nacho, Hector Salamanca, and others are getting their time to shine as well.

This show is one fine example of how to tell a story and develop characters. With its impressive camera work, attention to detail in story and continuity, as well as the performances and dark comedy, Better Call Saul Season Four is the best yet. Just like Breaking Bad, television doesn't get much better than this. I can't wait for season five!

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray

Better Call Saul Season Four comes with three 50GB Blu-ray Discs from Sony. All of the extras are spread across all three discs. There is an insert for the digital download code too. The discs are housed in a hard, blue plastic case with a cardboard sleeve. The reverse side of the inner sleeve box art reveals the details and synopsis of each episode.

Video Review

Ranking:

Better Call Saul Season Four comes with an excellent 1080p HD transfer and is presented in 1.78:1 aspect ratio. This digitally shot tv show looks great from top to bottom. Detail is sharp and vivid in each scene where we see facial features like stubble, individual hairs, scars, and gory makeup effects nicely. The nice threads Jimmy and Kim wear in their suits always show up nicely as well. Even lower lit scenes, such as the warehouse where the underground lab is being built, showcase high levels of detail with machinery and mobile homes. The New Mexico landscape of desert, cactus, and trees all showcase their leaves, spines, and sand very well without any issues.

Colors are bright and bold too. Jimm's many odd-colored suits perfectly contrast with other characters' steely blue or black suits, which is always fun to watch on screen together. The bright colors at Gus' chicken shop look great as well, along with the clear blue skies and sparsely green coated landscapes, all of which are rich in color. Black levels are very deep and inky without any crush. Skin tones are natural as well throughout. There were no major problems with banding or aliasing here, but only a couple of small instances of video noise, which corrected itself in a matter of seconds.

Audio Review

Ranking:

Better Call Saul Season Four comes with an amazing lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio mix. Most of the show is dialogue driven, which has a ton of great moments with yelling, whispering, and being articulate in multiple languages. These forms of dialogue are perfectly balanced and centered nicely. Sound effects are robust and lively when they have to be and are quite startling, which works to significant impact for this show.

Gunshots pack a punch with a low end of bass that rumbles nicely and can often have some excellent directionality. Some sound like loud pops, where others have some deep bass to them. Cars rustling on the road with popped tires sound great along with ambient noises offices, restaurants, and the nail salon. The music of the show always adds to the suspense and entertainment value of the series, some for comedic effect too. There were no pops, cracks, or hiss to speak of either, leaving this audio presentation with excellent marks.

Special Features

Ranking:

There is a wealth of bonus features present here, including a ton of audio commentary tracks by the cast and crew, a short film, gag reels, behind the scenes, interviews, rehearsals, and more. These are definitely worth your time.

  • Audio Commentary - Each episode has a commentary track with it. Almost everyone involved with the series can be heard somewhere here, including Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Peter Gould, and more. They talk about their characters, the story, and the production. It's a lot of fun to listen to.
  • Storyboard Comparison (HD, 15 Mins.) - There are three episodes that have a storyboard comparison with the finish produce shown side-by-side on screen with optional introductions by Peter Gould.
  • Deleted Scenes (HD, 8 Mins.) - There are seven deleted scenes in total, all of which are short, but worth your time.
  • Madrigal Security Training Videos (HD, 19 Mins.) - This fantastic bonus feature is the entire video training seminar for Madrigal employees that we get a glimpse of in the show, hosted by Mike Ehrmantraut himself. So funny and great.
  • Short Film 'No Picnic' (HD, 3 Mins.) - A wonderful short film that catches up with the Kettleman family from the first season, where they hid in a tent and sang BINGO to avoid capture and fraud.
  • Camera Rehearsal (HD, 3 Mins.) - There is an impressive camera shot in the episode "Something Stupid", which here looks at how they achieved it with an introduction by Peter Gould.
  • Flashing Forward, Looking Back (HD, 12 Mins.) - The cast and crew talk about tones, themes, and drama that take place in the future post Breaking Bad, along with how it relates to the past in Better Call Saul.
  • Constructing the Super Lab (HD, 10 Mins.) - Here we get a glimpse of how the underground lab is being set up, what went into telling this story, and the design.
  • Slippin' Kimmy (HD, 10 Mins.) - A great and decently sized look at the character of Kim Wexler.
  • Gag Reel (HD, 7 Mins.) - A good length montage of missed cues, flubbed lines, laughter, and more from the set. 

Final Thoughts

Better Call Saul Season Four is the best season yet. I don't know about you, but I do believe this might just be better than Breaking Bad at this point and I don't say that lightly. The characters, storylines, and action pieces are astonishingly good. The work and detail that has gone into this season to bridge the gaps of both shows are impeccable. There just isn't anything consistently this good on television. The video and audio presentations are both great and the fantastic bonus features are all worth your time. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!