Well I haven't done too many reviews on TV so far so I thought I would one especially devoted to a TV show, which has received much critical acclaim in recent years, and the show is Breaking Bad. So here are my thoughts on this fascinating and gripping TV show.... (OH AND SOME PLOT SPOILERS LIE AHEAD!). So I will do this post in two parts given there is so much to cover on the series, so let's get started with part 1.
Right as this is a whole TV show and it spans 62 episodes it would be impossible for me to cover the entire plot within one post (or if I did it would be one BIG post!) so I thought I would keep it relatively short and cover the main concept of the show. So the story follows its main character, Walter White (Bryan Cranston) a mild mannered high school chemistry teacher, who lives with his wife Skyler (Anna Gunn) and his son, Walter Jr (RJ Mitte) however financially they are struggling somewhat and Walt in an effort to earn extra money works a second job at a car wash. On his 50th birthday, Walt is given the chance to go on a ridealong with his brother in law, Hank Schrader (Dean Norris) who is a DEA agent, and they witness a drug bust, in which Walt is impressed by the amount of money the agents recovered and Walt notices a former student of his, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) leave the scene of the crime. The next day Walt collapses while working at the car wash and he goes to the hospital where scans reveal he has lung cancer, which he is told is inoperable.
Out of desparation, Walt decides to pay Jesse a visit and makes him a business proposal to make methamphetamine using his chemistry skills, of the purest quality to compete with the junk currently on the drug market. Together they make the meth, which turns out to be successful and of pure quality and Jesse starts to sling it on the streets, and to takes it to a customer, Krazy 8, who is a meth distributor. Krazy 8 is surprised by the quality of the meth and demands Jesse to tell him who made it and forces him to take him to Walt, where they were cooking in the middle of the desert. When Krazy 8 and his cousin, Emilio hold Walt at gun point and force him to show how he makes the meth, Walt mixes up phosphine gas, which suffocates Emilio and Krazy 8, and Emilio dies as a result, but Krazy 8 survives. Walt and Jesse then hold Krazy 8 prisoner in Jesse's basement, and Jesse tries to persuade Walt to kill Krazy 8, but Walt refuses to do so. Walt instead feeds and waters Krazy 8, who they have chained to a post with a bicycle lock around his neck. However as Walt starts to befriend Krazy 8 and decide to let him loose, just he is about to release him, he twigs that Krazy 8 is about to stab him with a makeshift weapon and strangles him to death with the bicycle lock. After this Walt decides to finally tell his family about the cancer and from here he decides to keep his meth making a secret, and Walt starts a program of chemotherapy.
After a brief hiatus Walt decides to return to cooking Meth with Jesse, but he grows impatient with Jesse's small deals and insists they try and find a distributor. So Jesse approaches a local drug kingpin, Tuco Salamanco (Raymond Cruz) and gives him a bag of their meth, which Tuco agrees to buy, however when Jesse asks for cash upfront, Tuco becomes enraged beats Jesse senseless, which results in him being hospitalised (Jesse that is). As a result, Walt decides to confront Tuco, shaving off his hair (which was begining to fall out due to the chemo) and turns up with a bag of what appears to be crystal meth, and Walt demands that they do business together and also compensate Jesse for his injuries and Walt instead gives an alias "Heisenberg" instead of his real name. As Tuco becomes angry at Walt, Walt throws one of pieces from the bag which causes a big explosion in Tuco's office, but Tuco admires Walt's courage and decides to deal with him, which eventually goes sour. And from here Walt and Jesse's partnership deepens as they work with other dealers and expand their business. And all the time Walt tries to keep his drug dealing life apart from his personal life as well as dealing with his own personal demons and struggling with his health, but at the same time his first desire to provide for his family is soon replaced with feelings of vanity, greed and power as he begins to build his drug empire.
There's not much doubt that Breaking Bad really deserves the critical acclaim it is gathered over its five year run as it is a gripping as American drama can get. And the characters are what make the series work so well and its central character, Walter White is a fascinating and complex character who is at once both sympathetic yet at times quite loathsome, as the series progresses Walt begins far more self centred and greedy as he expands his drug business. And its Walt's journey as his character is single handedly the most gripping aspect of the show in watching a mild mannered chemistry teacher become a narcissistic, power hungry, ruthless drug manufacturer/dealer. But despite his drawbacks Walt also does do what he does for his family initally although he later admits "I did it for me" and he largely shows loyalty to his partner in crime (literally) Jesse Pinkman. But there are times of course where Walt's behaviour verges on the sociopathic and some of his tragedies are very much self inflicted.
And Walt's alter ego Heisenberg, named after a German scientist, from the era of WWII who was also diagnosed with cancer, shows Walt's dark side and there many moments in the show where Walt flicks a switch and goes from the family man to Heisenberg. And as Heisenberg, Walt shows how intimidating he can, as we first see his alias in "Crazy handful of nothing" and uses a piece of mercury to nearly destroy Tuco's office. Another example is in the episode "Mandala" where Walk notices an amateur dealer buy items to make meth in a DIY store and he goes out and eyeballs the dealer and his partner and warns him by saying "Stay out of my territory!". Walt however also shows he almost has a clumsy and amusing side and in season three he tries to make amends with Skyler as he eventually tries to work his way back into her life, after she decides to separate from him. Walt also amusingly tries to confront Skyler's man on the side, Ted, at his office, where he tries to use a pot planet to smash through Ted's office window and he ends up being arrested. In these moments Walt is pathetically quite amusing and another example is in the episode "Fly" one of my favourites, where Walt tries to swat a fly that somehow has found its way into his meth lab and he ends up going half mad and injuring himself in trying to kill it.
But there are also moments where Walt is quite a heartbreaking figure where you realise how tragic he can be, such as when he forced out of his house by Skyler in the second series and also where he tries to convince her to leave with him in the fifth season and she refuses to go and they have a fight, which get's out of hand. Walt's cancer is also the central bame of all things in his life and in the end it has alot to answer for, but without it, it would be a very boring series. So Walt is definitely one of most complex and intruiging characters in television and Bryan Cranston's performance is simply superb as shows just about every emotion imaginable in his potrayal of a man who constantly lives his life on the edge.
Walt also in the series delivers many affecting monologues and also cynical ones, and one of the funniest in an unintentional way is when he addresses his school about the tragedy of the plane crash over Albuquerqe as a result of Jane's father, who after her death went back to work, as an air traffic controller, not fit to do his work he caused the crash. And Walt speaks to the students of the school and says "Well no one on the ground was hurt that's the main thing and the planes weren't even full, maybe two thirds full??? And if you look at it this was only the 50th worst crash in American history, and there were 50 more worse crashes than this one!". And a bit later on Walt loses his job at the school after he comes on to the principal teacher, Carmen Molina he is suspended from his job and put on temporary leave. This again shows Walt's hidden desires but the funny thing about the show is the only person Walt engages in sexual activity with is Skyler and given his thirst for power and money, he's never unfaithful despite that one little slip, which is very mild in comparison to Skyler's affair with her boss, Ted Beneke.
Walt also in the series delivers many affecting monologues and also cynical ones, and one of the funniest in an unintentional way is when he addresses his school about the tragedy of the plane crash over Albuquerqe as a result of Jane's father, who after her death went back to work, as an air traffic controller, not fit to do his work he caused the crash. And Walt speaks to the students of the school and says "Well no one on the ground was hurt that's the main thing and the planes weren't even full, maybe two thirds full??? And if you look at it this was only the 50th worst crash in American history, and there were 50 more worse crashes than this one!". And a bit later on Walt loses his job at the school after he comes on to the principal teacher, Carmen Molina he is suspended from his job and put on temporary leave. This again shows Walt's hidden desires but the funny thing about the show is the only person Walt engages in sexual activity with is Skyler and given his thirst for power and money, he's never unfaithful despite that one little slip, which is very mild in comparison to Skyler's affair with her boss, Ted Beneke.
Walt frequently also shows he has a short fuse and quite a temper at times even as early on as the pilot episode where he sees some kids in a clothes store mock Walter Jr because of cerebral palsy. And Walt walks out the store quietly and shortly after storms back in and kicks one of the kids to the floor and he digs his foot into the boy's leg and he says "What's the matter, chief?! You having trouble walking?! You want to hit me take your best shot!". Also later on in the first series in episode 6 "Crazy handful of nothin" where he complains to Jesse about how he is pedalling too little of the meth at once and insists they try and find a distributor, which Jesse is reluctant to do and Walt suddenly explodes yelling "Oh come on! Jesus! Just grow some fucking balls!" leaving Jesse stunned. Of course later Walt has quite a few fallouts with Jesse and they on a couple of occassions they even have fisticuffs, which actaully saw Walk coming out on the losing side of both encounters. Walt at times also likes to belittle those around him as he loves to bask in the glow of his achievements of his creation of the purest drug on the market and often puts Jesse in his place as his lackey and at first insults Jesse's attempts at making meth, although that later changes and he calls Jesse and himself "the two best meth cooks in America". In the same episode called "Say my name" Wat also makes a prospective buyer to say his name and he hints to the buyer whom he is and Walt says "Go ahead, you know me. Say my name" and the buyer finally says "Heisenberg" and Walt says "You're goddamn right!". It shows how fickle Walt can be but what is clear is his relationship with Jesse is core to the serious success and despite it all for the most part they trust one another (despite a few lapses!).
As for Jesse Pinkman starts off as a rather obnoxious and unsympathetic character, but as the series progresses his humanity starts to come to the fore. And Aaron Paul is also terrific in the role as a troubled, sympatheitc, amusing and complex character, who is very much like an adopted son to Walt. Jesse's background of course saw him grow up as an underachiever and his parents never really cared for him as he dropped out of school. However Jesse did prove to have good understanding of chemistry which lead to his career in drug dealing, although Jesse is a small time distributor when he meets Walt that's when they slowly start to expand their business together.
Jesse unlike Walt however is not willing to resort to murder and he has a stronger moral compass and he also is very protective of children as he shows strong concern for a young boy, who's parents are drug addicts, in the episode "Peekaboo" and he ends up phoning the police so the child can be taken from them, especially after the boy's mother kills her husband in a heated argument and he lives the boy on the porch saying "Stay here, don't go back inside, and have a good rest of your life, kid". Another example of this is in the first series where Jesse takes the rap for his younger brother when his parents find marijuana in the house and they assume its his. And when Jesse finally is forced to commit murder, he feels tremendous guilt after shooting the meth chemist, Gale Botticher and spends time in limbo where he invites drugies and lowlifes to live in his apartment.
Jesse however is also shown to be quite naive and foolish at times, which is well highlighted in the episode "Four days out" when Walt and Jess cook a big batch out in the desert and Jesse leaves the keys in the RV's ignition for two days, leaving the battery flat! Another example is when Jesse has to "disappear" the corpse of Emilio and he uses a potent acid upstairs in his bathtub, but the acid is so potent is melt through the floor bringing down the remains of Emilio with it! Jesse always says "bitch!" alot, quite often to exclaim or make a point, as well as "that is the bomb, yo!!" which shows Jesse's street lingo and the time he spent on the streets with his fellow drug dealing buddies, Badger (who talks alot about Babylon 5 and other sci-fi series!) and Skinny Pete (who looks pale and gaunt and apparently was tight with Tuco, and Jesse asked him how tight, and Skinny says "Like two nuts in a ballsac yo!" and they both provide some comic relief in the show. And one of Jesse's best "bitch" lines comes in the fifth season where Walt, Jesse and Mike come along the idea to destroy incriminating evidence taken by the police by using a powerful magnet. And when the men test power a magnet on a laptop, which is destroyed, Jesse yells "Yeah, bitch! MAGNETS!". But the best one of all comes in the episode "Sunset" in series 3 when Hank follows Jesse to his RV and with Walt already there having received a call from Hank beforehand and Jesse get's in the RV with Walt. And Walt quietly tells Jesse what to say to Hank "this is my own private domicile and I will not be harrassed" and Jesse repeats it "This is my own private domicile and I will not be harrassed.....bitch!!".
Jesse's uneducated street wise nature also provides some moments of amusement such the scene in the penultimate episode of the second series where Jane says to him when Jesse receives his money that they could go to New Zealand. And Jesse says "New Zealand is that like a part of Australia??!" and Jane says "No New Zealand IS New Zealand!" and Jesse says "Oh yeah that's where they made Lord of the Rings! Yeah we could go there!". And it has to be said that Jesse is by far a more sympathetic character than Walt given that his compassion for children and being protective of them and basically he isn't a bad guy, despite his dealings, he just fell into the wrong business. Jesse also bears a great deal of guilt over certain incidents in the series and you feel that Walt really at times has dealt Jesse some real psychological and physical blows, such as his brutal beating by Tuco, the death of his ex-girlfriend Jane and also forcing him into the position where he had to kill the chemist Gale Botticher. Jesse was even shunted aside by Walt in the third season when Walt started working for Gus simply because Walt was furious that Jesse had been cooking Walt's meth formula whilst Walt had taken a hiatus from the business. Jesse also has some righetous moments of anger such as the scene where he was beaten to a pulp by Hank in the 3rd season and he is hospitalised as a result. And Jesse says to Walt and Saul in hospital regarding Hank that "Your scumbag brother-in-law is finished! Done. When this is over I will own him. Every cent he earns, every cent his wife earns is mine. Any place he goes, anywhere he turns, I'm gonna be there grabbing his share!" and he goes to say that he will use Walk "You are my free pass, bitch!".
Jesse however is also shown to be quite naive and foolish at times, which is well highlighted in the episode "Four days out" when Walt and Jess cook a big batch out in the desert and Jesse leaves the keys in the RV's ignition for two days, leaving the battery flat! Another example is when Jesse has to "disappear" the corpse of Emilio and he uses a potent acid upstairs in his bathtub, but the acid is so potent is melt through the floor bringing down the remains of Emilio with it! Jesse always says "bitch!" alot, quite often to exclaim or make a point, as well as "that is the bomb, yo!!" which shows Jesse's street lingo and the time he spent on the streets with his fellow drug dealing buddies, Badger (who talks alot about Babylon 5 and other sci-fi series!) and Skinny Pete (who looks pale and gaunt and apparently was tight with Tuco, and Jesse asked him how tight, and Skinny says "Like two nuts in a ballsac yo!" and they both provide some comic relief in the show. And one of Jesse's best "bitch" lines comes in the fifth season where Walt, Jesse and Mike come along the idea to destroy incriminating evidence taken by the police by using a powerful magnet. And when the men test power a magnet on a laptop, which is destroyed, Jesse yells "Yeah, bitch! MAGNETS!". But the best one of all comes in the episode "Sunset" in series 3 when Hank follows Jesse to his RV and with Walt already there having received a call from Hank beforehand and Jesse get's in the RV with Walt. And Walt quietly tells Jesse what to say to Hank "this is my own private domicile and I will not be harrassed" and Jesse repeats it "This is my own private domicile and I will not be harrassed.....bitch!!".
Jesse's uneducated street wise nature also provides some moments of amusement such the scene in the penultimate episode of the second series where Jane says to him when Jesse receives his money that they could go to New Zealand. And Jesse says "New Zealand is that like a part of Australia??!" and Jane says "No New Zealand IS New Zealand!" and Jesse says "Oh yeah that's where they made Lord of the Rings! Yeah we could go there!". And it has to be said that Jesse is by far a more sympathetic character than Walt given that his compassion for children and being protective of them and basically he isn't a bad guy, despite his dealings, he just fell into the wrong business. Jesse also bears a great deal of guilt over certain incidents in the series and you feel that Walt really at times has dealt Jesse some real psychological and physical blows, such as his brutal beating by Tuco, the death of his ex-girlfriend Jane and also forcing him into the position where he had to kill the chemist Gale Botticher. Jesse was even shunted aside by Walt in the third season when Walt started working for Gus simply because Walt was furious that Jesse had been cooking Walt's meth formula whilst Walt had taken a hiatus from the business. Jesse also has some righetous moments of anger such as the scene where he was beaten to a pulp by Hank in the 3rd season and he is hospitalised as a result. And Jesse says to Walt and Saul in hospital regarding Hank that "Your scumbag brother-in-law is finished! Done. When this is over I will own him. Every cent he earns, every cent his wife earns is mine. Any place he goes, anywhere he turns, I'm gonna be there grabbing his share!" and he goes to say that he will use Walk "You are my free pass, bitch!".
Skyler White however has to be one of the more tedious characters in Breaking Bad as her incessant whining and eventual scheming and manipulation can become quite tiresome. Regardless of that though Anna Gunn is excellent in the role as well and she plays Skyler at first as a decent, compassionate woman, yet as time goes on she get's drawn into Walt's dealings as they later buy a carwash firm together and she launders the money Walt gives her. Skyler also after learning of Walt's criminal life reluctantly decides to keep quiet about it but she kicks him out of the house and she has an affair with her boss, Ted Beneke, where she works as a book keeper. Later on Skyler reconciles with Walt but becomes increasingly frightened of his behaviour and his dealings when she learns how far Walt is prepared to go to protect his interests and his family.
Skyler can also show her manipulative side as well as she in one episode feigns going into labour to get out of being questioned by the police albeit for taking the rap for her sister Marie's shoplifting as she is a kleptomaniac. Skyler also uses Walt's shady lawyer, Saul Goodman (Bob Odendirk) to work on their money laundering and also figure out angles on taking over the car wash business and she chooses the car wash Walt use to work at where the owner use to push and bully Walt around and uses Saul's shady legmen to take the business over. In the end Skyler tries her best to protect her son, Walter Jr, and young baby daughter Holly yet also keep silent for Walt's sake even as the pressure is ramped up to boiling point near the end of the series.
As for the other characters there is Hank Schrader, played by Dean Norris, who is married to Skyler's sister, Marie, who is a cocky DEA agent, who at first comes across as bit of an arse and a hothead. But as the series progresses Hank becomes a very strong moral character and he also shows his vulnerabilities as well desite putting on a tough front. Norris is great in the part as well and he provides some comic relief in the series too with his wisecracks. And as a few examples Hank in the episode "Cancer man" in the first series, says to young Walter Jr who says he wants a beer, he replies "And I want Shania Twain to give me a tuggy. And guess what that ain't happenin either!". Also later in the same episode where Hanks goes to pay Walt a visit at his school where he is shown in by the headmistress, and Hank watches her nice bum wiggle as she leaves the room and he says "Chick's got an ass like an onion... makes me wanna cry!". Another is when Saul Goodman turns up to represent Badger who is arrested in the episode "Negro Y Azul" and Saul says "Anything you care to share with me?" and Hank says "Sure. Your commercials suck ass! I've seen better acting in an epileptic whorehouse!".
Hank also as he edges closer to discovering that Walt is Heisenberg in the episode "Open house" as he the police found Gale's diary from his apartment from the scene of Gale's murder, and he shows it to Walt while they are having dinner one night. And Hanks reads the page inside "To W.W, my star, my perfect silence. I mean who do you figure that is? Woodrow Wilson? Willy Wonka? Walter White?" and at this point Walt laughs nervously and puts his hands up saying "You got me!". Hank however also suffers from post traumatic stress as well, which he tries to conceal from his co-workers at the DEA, which was the result of his shootout with Tuco. Hank also later in the series narrowly survives an attempt on his life by Tuco's cousins who are given the go ahead to kill him, which leads into a long rehab process for him. Norris who had largely played smaller roles in Hollywood films really does a great job here and with Hank's character he really had something to get his teeth into and no doubt will be his most memorable role.
Right so this is enough for Part 1 of my look at Breaking Bad, its quite big so its going to come in two parts and Part 2 is coming up....
Back soon.
Right so this is enough for Part 1 of my look at Breaking Bad, its quite big so its going to come in two parts and Part 2 is coming up....
Back soon.
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