Over two whole seasons, Jimmy McGill has so far managed to make an advert and tamper with a document. Here’s a wishlist for giving the new series of the Breaking Bad prequel a bit more oomph

Better Call Saul returns this week with its third series, although you’d be forgiven for not noticing. The new series has commanded much less anticipation than those before it, possibly thanks to accusations that the show isn’t delivering the same whizz-bang thrills as Breaking Bad.

To be fair, the naysayers have a point. Like Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul is the story of one man’s terminal corruption. However, by this point in Breaking Bad’s lifecycle Walter White had jumped the rails to such an extent that he had indirectly caused an air disaster. Meanwhile, over on Better Call Saul, Jimmy McGill has basically made an advert and tampered with a document.

Even Bob Odenkirk has expressed frustration at Better Call Saul’s glacial pace, recently promising the Radio Times that things would be “picking up speed” over the next 10 episodes, admitting: “It’s an incremental journey, and it’s a little too slow for some people.”

Now, I don’t hold much truck with these complaints. Better Call Saul is not Breaking Bad, and it’s silly to expect similar things from it. It is a prequel, and everyone knows how the story ends, so that leaves plenty of room to methodically unearth character motivation. I defy anyone to show me a more nuanced depiction of fraternal rivalry anywhere in modern culture. Plus, if you can trust anyone to deliver a satisfying story, it’s going to be Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Better Call Saul is fine. It’s going to turn out great.

That said, I have a small wishlist of things I want it to do. For instance, one of the most fascinating aspects of both series has been the black-and-white flash-forwards to the present day. These show McGill, bored and anonymous after the events of Breaking Bad, slogging away at a Cinnabon in Omaha under the pseudonym Gene. There is clearly a story to be told here – and better yet, a story that allows Odenkirk to play his real age – but so far we’ve only seen glimpses. You can understand the reluctance to leap forward too far – remember that Jonathan Banks isn’t around in the present day – but these flash-forwards show a man desperate to remind the world of the impact he once made. I’d dearly love to see more of these.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Together again? … Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut and Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill. Photograph: Ben Leuner/AMC

I also want to see Jimmy and Mike share the screen more often. After being brought together in the first series, their storylines were basically cleaved last year, with each of them too mired in their own issues to properly interact. It has been fun to see each of their stories told simultaneously, especially because we know that Mike will end up beholden to both Jimmy and Gus Fring. But I miss watching their antagonistic, frustrated interplay. Hopefully they’ll collide again this year.

Finally, and this is a tiny point, but Better Call Saul has made no secret of the fact that Gus Fring is turning up this season. That’s all well and good, but there is one character I’d love to return more than anything else: Sobchak. Poor Sobchak only appeared in one scene in Better Call Saul’s first series, and in it he basically just got punched in the throat, but the fact that he was played by Steven Ogg – Trevor from Grand Theft Auto V – meant that he was automatically a stand-out. Better Call Saul is one of the best shows on television, and people who complain about it are misguided, but God knows it’d be a thousand times better if Sobchak came back.

Better Call Saul is on Mondays at 10pm on AMC in the US, with new episodes every Tuesday on Netflix in the UK.