Mini reviews of Television seasons old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. Occasional bunnies.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

BREAKING BAD - Season Two [2009]

How can you suggest that we kill a man,
and you can't even open the gun?

After a bumpy, yet compelling, first season, X-files vet, Vince Gilligan’s darkly comical crime thriller Breaking Bad comes completely into it's own during it's sophomore year.  Season one laid out the basic outlandish premise of the series, while delicately setting it in a world all too real to allow the viewer to truly believe in it.  We greeted the characters into our lives and became familiar with the meshing of science and violence, while realizing the potential danger such a situation beholds.  It still had it's fair share of hits and misses and that's where in it's second year Gilligan and the gang iron out the creases and hit every note with skillfully balanced perfection.   This might be because they had the entire run of 13 episodes planned from beginning to end before they even started filming.  Something Gilligan has said paid off quite well but would never want to do again due to pressuring time restraints. 

Season two picks up directly where one left off and runs with it, without ever turning back while never fully breaking out into action pieces or melodrama which most television series revert to all too often.  Instead the tension of the series, is built around the luxury of being able to linger on long, drawn out scenes of seemingly nothing.  With a little thought, you'll figure out everything is done for a reason and no frame is ever wasted.

The second year delivers on the surprises and twists just enough to never become ridiculously unbelievable or expected.  To compliment Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, Aaron Paul and Dean Norris’ flawless performances, there's a slew of noteworthy work from guest stars like Bob Odenkirk, Giancarlo Esposito, Mark Margolis, Krysten Ritter, John De Lancie and Danny Trejo.

Like a Hitchcockian character driven Western/noir adapted for television by The Coen Brothers, Breaking Bad Season Two is the perfect chapter to really get the ball rolling into the nightmare that it's soon to become. 

13 Episodes.  47 minutes each.

Buyer's Guide:
Available in both DVD and Blu-Ray sets and on iTunes, Netflix and Amazon.

5 one-eyed burn victim teddy bears out of 5

2 comments:

Impudent Urinal said...

Glad the the shoplifting story was mostly dropped. Odenkirk is so friggin great as a scum lawyer which is ironic that it makes him so likeable. Krysten Ritter is a jewel as well as something other than some other chick's best friend.

5 really heavy ATMs out of 5.

cuckoo said...

I still think it's my favorite season.

Although going through 4 again makes a decent watch too.

Feck. Gus.