'Better Call Saul' begins unwrapping the final layers of its mystery

This week brings a second season of "Russian Doll," but in a sense, the true TV version of a Russian nesting doll is "Better Call Saul," deftly adding one more layer each year as it has approached the outer shell that was "Breaking Bad." The beginning of the final season brings the AMC series a few steps closer to its endgame, with tantalizing clues but scant clarity about these final pieces.

Masterfully weaving together disparate storylines, "Saul" has proceeded along parallel tracks that gradually began to move toward intersecting before the characters of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman entered the picture. The news that those actors will reprise their roles before the season's done only heightens anticipation the show will offer a sense of closure that wasn't clearly evident when Jimmy McGill's long, strange trip to becoming Saul Goodman began.

Of course, the show had to overcome its own hurdles, including the heart attack suffered by star Bob Odenkirk during its last flight of production.