I had a degree of trepidation at the notion of not only a spin off, but a prequel spin off. There was a lot of scope for it going horribly wrong. But the resulting show really is fantastic.
I still think the moments that I least like are when they try to tie it into the Breaking Bad story too much, in ways that stretch believablity. Yes the cheeky nods and winks are amusing, and it's nice to see a few familiar faces in somewhat different circumstances, but I think it's good enough to stand alone, and it's at it's best when it's trying to do that.
Presumably they are building to the next season detailing with:
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
Mike somehow getting recruited by Fring (who I suspect might have written the "Don't" note), and I guess depicting whatever happened to Tio to paralyze him. I'm not actually sure if there is anything in Breaking Bad to imply a timeline of whether Mike started working for Fring before or after he started working for Saul, or how Saul managed to get hold of Fring's contact details. I know he says "I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy", but it's not really clear if that's just an attempt to not divulge their connection, if he's talking about Mike, or some other connection. I must say that I'd expected to see Saul dipping his toe into the world of criminal underworld lawyering by this point, but the drama between him, Chuck, HHM and the other players in the reputable side of lawyering is plenty entertaining to watch unfold.
Edit: Further potential spoilers for the
future of the show.