Series Review: Breaking Bad

Before I began watching Breaking Bad I had some really awful preconceived notions about what the show was going to be like. The show was wildly successful, but the whole idea of it didn't particularly jive with me. You hear about a show that is described as: high school teacher with cancer cooks crystal meth to pay for his medical treatment. It sounds like a terrible premise. Or at the very least, an extremely odd one.

What did I think the show was going to be like coming in? I imagined a lot of white trash, a lot of meth heads. Loads of drug use. Low brow stuff that didn't really interest me. I guess I thought it was going to be a redneck drama that catered to the same type of people that watch Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty on a religious basis. I think a lot of people have the same thoughts too. My wife, for example. She WILL NOT watch Breaking Bad because she says the premise sounds so awful. I have told her she is wrong, I have told her how much I enjoyed the show. Whatever she thinks it is - it is not. And my words are absolutely not getting through. If she has the same preconceived notion about the show and refuses to watch it, just imagine how many people out there are doing the same thing?

I will admit that I didn't think the show sounded good. But I had heard so much about it and how great it was supposed to be. I like trying new things, experiencing different forms of entertainment. Despite what I thought the show was going to be like coming in - I still gave it a shot.

And I was very glad I did. Breaking Bad may be my favorite TV show of all time. In fact, as I write this blog entry, I have watched the entire series from start to finish two whole times.

I will note that I did not have cable TV when I started watching the show. Three seasons were already available on Netflix, however. While I was in the middle of season two, season four was added to Netflix as well. So right off the bat, I had access to almost the entire series.

This was great. I didn't have to deal with the annoyance of commercials. I didn't have to wait a week between episodes; a year between seasons. I could watch as much as I wanted, whenever I wanted. I'm not much of a binge watcher, but binge watch this I did. It is very rare to find a show that I can binge on and watch endlessly like this. Usually I am the type of person who watches one or two episodes of something here or there. The only other shows that come to my mind that I rapid fire wached like this are Battlestar Galactica and Lost.

Right off the bat, I knew this was going to be good. The first episode started with a random pair of pants flying in the breeze. Walter White with a gun, looking like he was going to blow his own brains out. I was hooked. I had to know how this had come about, and what was going to happen next.

Everything just feels so natural with this show. Walt is a good guy. Perhaps a little bit nice in a boring way, and a bit timid. But he's got a quaint little family. A loving, pregnant wife. A damaged but adorable son who he loves more than anything. Nice sister in law. A friendly and outgoing brother in law. In addition to his job as a chemistry teacher, he also works part time at a car wash.

Walt is living a regular everyday life. But he doesn't mind. He hates the car wash, but everything else is A-OK in his world. But over time he develops a chronic cough that just won't seem to go away. He decides to get checked out, probably expecting it to be just a minor problem.

What he doesn't expect is his whole life to get turned upside down. He has lung cancer, and the prognosis does not look good. If he wants to have any chance at survival he has to undergo chemotherapy and surgeries which will be so expensive it will put the family in the poor house for years and years to come. And that doesn't even guarantee his survival. Walt decides to keep the cancer from his family while he copes with the situation and comes to terms with his own mortality. Eventually he will tell them... when the time is right.

Walt's brother Hank is a DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency, for those who are ill informed) agent and is constantly telling Walt and his family how much cash these drug dealers whom he busts make. You can see the thought process begin to form on Walt's face. He is a chemist. He could learn how to do this and make enough money to pay for his treatments. His family might not ever even need to know he is doing it.

Walt goes on a ride along with Hank while the house of a drug dealer is being raided. Walt, not being law enforcement, is forced to wait in the car while the sting operation proceeds. He sees a former student of his, Jesse Pinkman, jump out of a window and take off down the street, unseen by all but Walt. He has found his in to the business.

Walt and Jesse hook up and begin cooking meth in the back of Jesse's RV. Jesse is a young, brash kid who makes stupid decisions that often threaten to blow Walt's cover. But Walt needs him. There is no point in making meth if you can't sell it - and Jesse has connections.

So kicks off one of the most intense series I have ever seen in my life. Walt and Jesse are constantly under fire from outside sources. Fellow drug users, drug dealers, family, the cartel, and mainly Walt's own DEA brother in law Hank. Trouble seems to come their way everywhere they turn. And that is the fun of the show. Breaking Bad constantly keeps you on the edge of your seat, just waiting for the house to come tumbling down. You know it is going to happen, you just don't know how or when.

And just when you think it is game over - Walt and Jesse come up with some crazy plan and come out unscathed. Until they don't.

It is also quite fascinating to watch Walt's descent into evil from minor league meth cook to big time drug kingpin. These changes are not only reflected in his attitude and demeanor, but in his appearance as well. Walt starts out as this Ned Flanders looking nice guy who balks at the possibility he would have to kill someone. He morphs into a bald headed, goateed, fedora wearing badass who will do whatever it takes to stay alive and keep on making that $$$$.

The show is littered with a ton of great moments. The first person Walt kills, he and Jesse have to find a way to dispose of the body. Walt decides to dissolve him in acid, and has Jesse dump the body and the acid into a container that the acid will not eat through. Jesse can't find a proper sized bin, so he just uses the second floor bathtub. Aaaaaaaand the acid eats through the bathtub and collapses onto the floor below it. Blood, guts, chunks of bone and other undefinable pieces of human anatomy splatter all over the place.

My jaw nearly hit the floor. And that was only episode two. I liked the show already, but I had decided at that point that this show was totally amazing. And it just kept getting better. So many great characters and big villains. So many big, heart stopping moments. Jane's death. The boxcutter. Gale. The Fring explosion. Hank's discovery. That incredible finale.

The show is a nonstop roller coaster ride from beginning to end. Even the slow parts, such as Walt sitting down to dinner with his family, are loaded with significance and a certain level of underlying tension. Here you have a normal family man who is keeping from his family the biggest secret in the world. And it is the weight of that secret that really carries the show. On my rewatch of the show, I paid extra close attention to Walt and the way he interacted with his family. And I just couldn't wait for it all to collapse. I'm sadistic, I know. But it really is a fascinating process.

The longer the show goes on, the darker it gets. Walt starts out with honest intentions. He just wants to pay his medical bills and not be in the poor house. But then when he sees how much money is in this, he gets greedy. He falls in with the wrong people, all of whom want to exploit him for his ability to make the most chemically pure meth ever seen. He has to backstab, manipulate, and kill before he himself can be killed, but he pulls it off and rises to the top quickly. And still he doesn't want to stop. One of the best moments of the show for me was when he told his wife that it stopped being about the money a long time ago. He liked doing it. It made him feel more alive than he had ever felt. And I can totally relate to that.

It feels weird to root for such a bad guy, but if you like the show, you can't help but do it. The atmosphere of this series is something the likes of which I have never experienced on a television show before. It is very well written, very well paced. There is never a dull episode. Even the infamous fly episode has its redeeming qualities. Considering the show is 5 seasons long with about 13 episodes a season, it is quite impressive that it could chug along so far with only one (debatable) clunker episode. It is the ultimate binge worthy show.

I am hard pressed to name a favorite show of all time. If you'd asked me a few months ago I probably would have said Lost or Battlestar Galactica. But now, having watched Breaking Bad twice, it could very well top the list. I didn't think I could enjoy the show any more than I did the first time, but watching it again from the beginning I think I enjoyed it twice as much. There is so much to pick up on. So many things that all fit into place. It is a genius series.

Best TV show of all time? It could very well be. I strongly suggest anyone who has not watched this series to check it out immediately. Don't let the description or the shaky sounding premise dissuade you. Unless you have hideous taste and don't like the show, it will change your life.