A DIFFERENT KIND OF WOW

Well, I certainly didn’t see this one coming, and it boggled my mind when I saw it.

At the end of Episode 8 of “Better Call Saul” last night, there was a “coming attractions” ad for “Interview With the Vampire,” in which it was announced: “From the Executive Producer of ‘Better Call Saul’ and ‘Breaking Bad’...”

That would be my fellow old airplane fan, Vince Gilligan.

My first thought was, “That’s different!”

But after some consideration, it is and it isn’t.

The Vampire Lestat can actually be seen as a combination of Walter White and Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman. And the good news out of that - for anyone who’s a fan of the novel (as I am) - is that it means the series will “dive deep” and involve itself in the subterranean horror of the idea of a vampire that Anne Rice was dealing with.

Unlike the “all surface/no depth” Tom Cruise movie.

Eric Bogosian as The Interviewer is a very interesting choice.

If there’s a writers room in Hollywood that can pull this off, the geniuses behind two series that have knocked my socks off with each and every episode are the ones to do it.

Speaking of episodes that knocked my socks off, Episode 7 that ended the first half of the final season of “Better Call Saul” with the most shocking final moment that I couldn’t see coming till it happened and then I went “Yes!” that I can think of ever seeing, really left me trying to figure out how they were going to follow up to that and come anywhere else to topping it.

And Episode 8 delivered so well I got to the end of the recording and went back immediately and watched it again to see how they did it.

At every point, you can’t see what is going to come next, there’s several possibilities in each moment, and then when it comes, the moment is superb. The set up was there just perfectly laid out without being obvious and it DELIVERS.

That final moment down in what will become Walter White’s lab between Gus and Tony was a masterpiece of writing, directing and acting. What’s coming in the final four episodes I have no clue, which is exactly the way I like it!

“Better Call Saul” and “Breaking Bad” are the only original show and prequel that work together as well as “The Godfather” I and II did.

And as of the next-to-last episode of “Dark Winds,” I really like this adaptation. They definitely got the spirit and the depth of Hillerman’s novels. The origin story of Jim Chee was definitely the way to go. I saw an announcement that they have been approved for more seasons.

So, in a time of bad news on top of bad news in the real world, there’s this news. Which is good.