Lives Up to the Hype
Summary
Breaking Bad is more drama than action, but it still has plenty of explosions, violence and shoot-outs to keep the pacing going. The performances are incredible and it’s the final season that really elevates this to iconic status. Unlike Game of Thrones this knew how to stick the landing with a near perfect finale that gives all the characters an amazing send off. I’m glad I finally watched it and I may now start Better Call Saul…
Plot: Mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher Walter White thinks his life can’t get much worse. His salary barely makes ends meet, a situation not likely to improve once his pregnant wife gives birth, and their teenage son is battling cerebral palsy. But Walter is dumbstruck when he learns he has terminal cancer. Realizing that his illness probably will ruin his family financially, Walter makes a desperate bid to earn as much money as he can in the time he has left by turning an old RV into a meth lab on wheels.
Review: I started watching Breaking Bad when it first came out back in 2008 however, a member of my family had to undergo cancer treatment, so I stopped watching it as it was a bit too close to home. Enough time has passed now, and I started the show again and finally finished it along with the El Camino movie. It’s nice to watch it after the hype (like I did with Game of Thrones) so I was able to just enjoy the show without massive expectations.
Breaking Bad is more of a character drama than an action show however, there are still plentiful shoot-outs, explosions, beatdowns and violent deaths to keep things moving.
The story involves chemistry teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston) who is diagnosed with terminal cancer; struggling for money and leaving nothing for his family, Walter goes to his former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) to start cooking meth. He wants to make some extra cash so he can pay his medical bills while leaving something behind for his family.
At the start Walter’s life is rather dull and he struggles to be intimate with his wife Skyler (Anna Gunn); once he starts cooking meth it gives him a feeling of being alive again. His relationship with Jesse is as volatile as the chemicals they work with as Jesse is more reckless than Walter. It’s funny watching how the characters change over the seasons and by the end they have all been through Hell together. Walter goes from mild mannered teacher to supervillain while Jesse is a broken shell barely able to speak by the time the series comes to its finale.
The first season may start off a little slow and talky, but it is setting everything up and it has arguably my favourite scene of the entire show. Walter’s son Walter Jr. AKA Flynn (R.J. Mitte) has cerebral palsy and in one scene they are out buying clothes and there are some jock assholes making fun of Walter Jr. in the store. Seeing this, Walter goes out the back door of the shop then storms into the front door and stamps on the main jock’s leg so now he has a limp. It’s incredibly satisfying and not only shows Walter’s dedication to his family but also the great anger he has under the surface. Walter is frustrated that at 50 years old he hasn’t achieved enough in his life and now seeing that his time is running out he decides that becoming a meth dealer is the best idea.
There are so many wonderful supporting characters in the show that I’m sure I’ll forget some, but Hank (Dean Norris) is great starting off as a good-natured DEA Agent supported by his (rather annoying wife) Marie. Hank becomes obsessed with catching the mysterious meth dealer known as Heisenberg (Walter) and as the seasons go on he gets closer and closer to finding him.
Marie is Skyler’s sister and is also a kleptomaniac where she can’t help stealing things, so Hank has to come to her rescue. She remains my least favourite character of the show and wasn’t someone I ever sympathized with… until the final season.
At first, I could totally understand why Skyler acted the way she did towards Walt, but when she has the affair and then by season 4 when she wanted into the business I found her mostly insufferable.
My favourite side characters have to be Badger and Skinny Pete who provide some of the laughs, but are also totally loyal to Jesse and will do anything for him. I also enjoyed Huell (Lavell Crawford) and Kuby (Bill Burr with hair!) who are always helping out the awesome Saul (Bob Odenkirk) when Jesse/Walt need his assistance. I’m sure everyone will now say “You need to watch Better Call Saul as it’s soo much better”. I might, so shut up.
Anyway, the acting is faultless throughout and despite Walter becoming an absolute monster you still kind of root for him even though you know he’s the Devil. Walter is a master manipulator and by the end you realize he has destroyed so many lives purely due to his own ego. His family is in ruins, and he is responsible for countless deaths.
On the antagonist front there are some awesome characters like the Salamanca twins, the psychotic Tuco (Raymond Cruz) and of course Gus Fring played to perfection by Giancarlo Esposito. He is controlled, stoic and always in charge, never losing his cool. Like Walter he is also a monster, but so charismatic that you kinda like him too. Jonathan Banks excels as Mike, Gus’s world weary enforcer who seems to have seen it all and yet will do anything for his granddaughter. His scenes with Jesse are some of the show’s many highlights. I also love when he beats the crap out of Walter for suggesting he turn of Gus.
For the first 4 seasons I was going to give this show 4 stars as I didn’t quite see what all the fuss was about; then I watched the final season, and it blew me away ending in such a satisfying fashion that everything was wrapped up nicely. There were so many twists, shocks and surprises that I thankfully never had spoiled before. I had an idea in my head how it was going to end and I was way off and quite pleased about it.
After Breaking Bad ends there was a movie called El Camino which is what happens to Jesse after the series; we see him trying to recover from the trauma of being forced to work for Jack (Michael Bowen) and Todd (the always unsettling Jesse Plemons) creating Meth for them. He lives in a cage and is scarred mentally and physically which will likely take him years to get over. El Camino wraps up Jesse’s story and actually ends with a sense of hope which was refreshing after all the awfulness he had to endure over the years.
What I got from Breaking Bad is it’s probably not the best idea to be a drug dealer as it ruins lives and doesn’t end well for anyone so say no to drugs, kids!
Overall, Breaking Bad is one of the few shows that lived up to the hype; it takes a while for things to get going and is more of a drama than an all-out action series, but there are some great shoot-outs and explosions with incredible performances by the entire cast. Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul are at their absolute peak here and yes, before anyone says it I probably will now watch Better Call Saul.