The odds appeared to be against “Better Call Saul” from the off. AMC hadn’t had a new hit in a while, spin-offs rarely work, and it had to live up to “Breaking Bad,” probably the most widely acclaimed and beloved drama series since “The Sopranos.” But the moral of the story, as it often is, is that you shouldn’t bet against Walter White’s attorney, or as it turns out, the once small-time-grifter-turned-crusader-for-justice, Jimmy McGill. Focusing on the gleeful amorality of Saul, which had made Bob Odenkirk’s character a favorite with fans since he emerged on “Breaking Bad,” would have been the obvious choice for Vince Gilligan and co-creator Peter Gould, but they smartly went in the opposite direction, showing Jimmy to have been, once, a fundamentally decent public defender caring for his brother (a revelatory Michael McKean), who believes he suffers from hypersensitivity to electromagnetic fields. The new show carries over much of the same aesthetics as its parent, and trod similar thematic territory in its examination of morality and what it takes for a good man to be pushed over the edge, but did so in a much more low-key way, rejecting heads-on-turtles and explosive shoot outs, for the most part, and proving all the better for it. “Better Call Saul” might not have been the “Breaking Bad” spin-off that fans wanted, but it was the one that they needed.