THE PRICE OF JUSTICE (BETTER CALL SAUL, SEASON FIVE)

For four seasons on AMC and Netflix, fans of 'Better Call Saul' have watched Jimmy McGill crystallise into the 'Breaking Bad' attorney Saul Goodman.

It has been a bumpy journey, with the smooth talking conman brushing up against corporate law firms and a brother that felt he was unworthy of the legal profession.

Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould's 'Breaking Bad' prequel has been compelling from the off - piecing together the lives of some of the best loved characters from the previous show.

Not only have we revelled in the transformation of Bob Odenkirk's Jimmy into the corner cutting Saul but we have been able to enjoy the back story of Jonathan Banks' world weary henchman Mike Ehrmantraut and how he came to be in the grip of Giancarlo Esposito's calculating businessman Gustavo Fring.

Then there is Rhea Seehorn's Kim Wexler, a character who only surfaced in 'Better Call Saul' but is one of the richest female roles in television today.

Michael Manda's Nacho Varga also fascinates - a streetsmart operator in the Salamanca drug gang whose loyalties are tested when his law abiding father is threatened.

'Better Call Saul' has for four seasons looked set to join the pantheon of great US dramas like 'The Sopranos', 'The Wire', 'Game of Thrones' and 'Breaking Bad'.

Season five arguably achieves that.

All of those dramas cemented their greatness with memorable individual episodes that could hold their own against the best Hollywood movies.

Fans of 'The Sopranos' will often cite 'The Pine Barrens' as its finest hour - a brilliantly executed piece of macabre comedy involving Michael Imperioli's Christopher Moltisanti and Tony Sirico's Pauly Walnut getting stuck in snow covered woods when a piece of routine Mob business goes badly awry.

However you could also point to the trippy 'Funhouse' episode in which James Gandolfini's Tony Soprano has surreal food poisoning induced dreams while Vincent Pastore's Big Pussy Bonpensiero meets his maker or 'College' when Tony takes Jamie-Lynn Sigler's Meadow on a trip looking at perspective universities when he spots an informant living under an assumed identity.

'Game of Thrones' had its 'Red Wedding' episode. 'The Wire' had 'Middle Ground' with Idris Elba's Stringer Bell proving major characters in such series were expendable.

'Breaking Bad' also had the heart wrenching 'Ozymandias' episode in the final series and the Pine Barrens-esque '4 Days Out' instalment in Season 2 where Aaron Paul's Jesse Pinkman and Bryan Cranston's Walter White's plans for a marathon meth cooking session in the desert go spectacularly wrong.

For 'Better Call Saul' the outstanding episode comes this season in episode eight when Jimmy is sent by Tony Dalton's Lalo Salamanca to go into the desert to act as a bagman to collect $7 million in bail money.

In the Gordon Smith written and Vince Gilligan directed episode, Jimmy is ambushed by a rival gang who try to intercept the money, only to be rescued by Mike who flees the scene with him on foot through the New Mexico desert to avoid capture from the rival gang.

With its 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' echoes, it is a brilliant piece of writing by Gilligan that is thrillingly acted and directed which also has huge implications for Jimmy's uneasy relationship with Lalo.

Season Five of 'Better Call Saul' finds Jimmy embracing his legal alter ego Saul Goodman, offering discount legal services to felons.

Kim continues to work on the Mesa Verde corporate law account, while undertaking some pro bono cases.

Inevitably, Jimmy's dodgy legal services bump up against Kim's noble intentions but, as in previous series, she also eventually flirts with the unethical.

Jimmy's nemesis, Patrick Fabian's Howard Hamlin tries to woo him back to the world of corporate law.

(SPOILER ALERT FROM SERIES 4)

Meanwhile Mike is wrestling with his feelings about Gustavo Fring's decision to have him execute Rainer Bock's German engineer Werner Ziegler for running away from the construction of the crystal meth cooking factory under a chicken chilling facility.

And this also attracts the interest of Lalo Salamanca whose truce with Fring remains uneasy.

Fring, meanwhile, has Nacho working as an inside man working his way up the ranks of the Salamanca gang and soon Jimmy's prowess as a smart, smooth talking lawyer also brings him inti the radar of Lalo.

All of these elements bubble up nicely, with occasional appearances from other characters in the 'Breaking Bad' universe.

Dean Norris' DEA agent Hank Schrader and his partner Steven Michael Quizada's Steven Gomez have their first encounter with Jimmy in his Saul persona and end up on a stakeout to disrupt the Salamanca operation.

Laura Fraser's Lydia Rodarte-Quayle returns briefly as the Madrigal business executive who is the corporate link with Fring's elaborate drug operation.

In the signature black and white flash-forward that begins every series' opening episode, the late Robert Forster delightfully reprises his 'El Camino' role as Ed Galbraith, the vacuum cleaner repairman with a lucrative sideline in smuggling people out of the country with new identities.

Gilligan and Gould and their fellow writers Smith, Alison Tatlock, Ann Cherkis, Heather Marion, Thomas Schnauz and Ariel Levine effortlessly weave these characters in and out of the narrative.

Gould, Gilligan, Smith, Bronwen Hughes, Norberto Barba, Michael Morris, Jim McKay and Melissa Bernstein comfortably step into their directorial duties.

As for the cast, Odenkirk continues to brilliantly portray a lawyer living on his wits, often at a cost to those around him.

Seehorn proves she is every bit his match as a character also with a penchant for cutting corners and who could easily turn good or bad.

Banks remains a delight as the grouchy old tough guy, while Esposito's icy detachment makes Fring one of the most unsettling villains on TV.

Manda is effective as Nacho treads a dangerous double life, Fabian is suitably stiff as Howard, while Dalton pulls off being a smooth and sinister figure with consummate ease.

It is a particular delight to see return of Norris and Quizada reprise their 'Breaking Bad' double act.

And there is a wonderfully spiky appearance by former 'Northern Exposure' star Barry Corbin as a stubborn homeowner blocking the Mesa Verde call centre development.

With one more season to run, 'Better Call Saul' continues to be one of the most intelligently crafted drama series on television.

Quite how it has not picked up an Emmy or a Golden Globe just yet is a bit of a mystery.

Not that any of that really matters.

With its cinematic sweep and expert blend of comedy and sinister drama, 'Better Call Saul' continues to set a high bar for any comedy or drama show considering spin-off prequel or sequel.

Feeding off Odenkirk's undoubted charm, it could yet eclipse 'Breaking Bad'.

A big final season beckons. 

('Better Call Saul' Season 5 aired on AMC in the US from February 23, 2020 to April 20, 2020 and was made available on Netflix one day later in other territories)