Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould’s masterpiece Better Call Saul wrapped the first half of what might be their magnum opus, and that’s saying a lot when you figure that these guys also gave us Breaking Bad, widely regarded as one of the best TV shows of all-time. The show’s sixth season mid-finale was dark, explosive, and featured a classic cliffhanger that already has people talking all over social media.
That said, us fans of the franchise will have to wait until July for the final bunch of episodes to premiere, but that doesn’t mean AMC wants to leave us hanging. Enter a brand-new animated series called Slippin’ Jimmy, a Better Call Saul presentation that is a six-episode animated shorts series that sees Jimmy getting into all sorts of cartoony trouble.
For some background, Saul Goodman’s (Bob Odenkirk) real name is Jimmy McGill and hails from just outside of Chicago, Illinois in a small town called Cicero. While in the show we mostly see the flashback scenes of a young Jimmy manning the counter at his old man’s store, the animated series is more like a Disney XD series ala The Owl House or Gravity Falls in that we get to see six short parodies of famous movie franchises like The Exorcist, those that feature Buster Keaton, and a whole lot more. I certainly don’t agree with the original synopsis claiming that these shorts look like animated productions inspired by the seventies, certainly not when Starburns Industries showcases a well-refined pastiche indicative of anything that you can see on Cartoon Network or Disney XD today, but that doesn’t mean we don’t get a strong animated comedy for our troubles while we’re at it.
The series from writers Ariel Levine and Kathleen Williams-Foshee sees Jimmy as a Dennis the Menace-type character where he gets into all sorts of trouble but is able to squirm his way out of harm’s way with his pal “Marco” (originally portrayed by Mel Rodriguez) by his side regardless if it’s in school, on the bus, or even on a class trip. Portraying the role of young McGill is the always excellent Sean Giambrone (Solar Opposites) who leads a cast that also includes the likes of Laraine Newman and Chi McBridge.
Don’t expect any unearthings of new details about Saul Goodman’s sordid history, Slippin’ Jimmy is just a straight good time that would do just as well standing on it’s own as it’s own ongoing series. Much in the same way Young Sheldon sheds new light on Sheldon’s character in Big Bang Theory, this animated franchise does much of the same, though isn’t expected to be taken quite as seriously. AMC+ could use more original animated series, this could do the trick.