BREAKING BAD - Season 4 [2011]

"I am not in danger.

...I am the danger."

After the devastating, jaw-dropping finale of the the third season, Vince Gilligan's neo-noir/modern Western Breaking Bad had nowhere to go but down some immensely dark passages in it's fourth year. 

Like a twisted chess game, with lives at stake, the year starts off fairly slow, with the exception of the intense season premiere, enthrals in the middle and puts you at the edge of your seat with it's explosive finale.  Riddled with symbolism and a determination to drive forward, it's difficult not to be in awe of Gilligan and Co.'s attention to detail and character arcs.  The color schemes of both the costume and set designs are particularly impressive this year, as they compliment the beautifully, unique photography both dramatic and expositionary.  Dave Porter's ambient score broods and ticks like a time bomb waiting to go off with precision and dread, while the mostly Latino source songs slip into the setting with comfortable ease. 

Lastly, I know everybody says it but I can't say enough about Bryan Cranston's brilliantly intimidating performance.  Having never seen the show, my brother was comparing the DVD covers of Season One and Season Four and laughed “what happened to him?”  By the end of the fourth season, sweet old high school teacher, Walter White has finally become the monster he pretended to be in it's first year.

No more Mr. Nice Guy indeed. 

13 Episodes. 47 minutes each.

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

4 ½ Walking Dead's out of 5

Breaking Bad Season 3 (2010)

 

I chose a half measure when I should have gone all the way... 
No more half measures.

Season 2 expanded the scope of the show and revealed that Walt's actions can have consequences that affect people other than himself. Season 3 sees him and Jesse dealing with the fallout. Jesse does so with rehab and Walt does less successfully by trying to reconnect with his now estranged family. Jesse learns to accept he is a bad guy while Walt chooses to end his criminal activity as it has cost him the reason he began in the first place, but both of those decisions may be premature. Meanwhile 2 Hispanic assassins cross the Mexican border in search of Walt and the stress and frustration of Hank's job begin to affect his mental health.

Like the above quote, the show isn't going by halves now. Everything has higher stakes. The transformation of the two main characters has begun in earnest now as they waffle between two extremes.  The excellent recurring characters have become regulars and there is more tension that is so palpable that it feels all the better when it is relieved in spectacular fashion. Slower burn leads to a more delicious steak. The subplots involving anyone other than the main players can still be irritating and feel like they are only there out of necessity (looking at you again, Skylar) and the black comedy moments have all but disappeared. Quite an enhanced season that felt the tiniest bit janky at some points.

Episodes to See:
One Minute - One of those aforementioned tension relievers.
Half Measures - And another with some excellent performances all around including new regular Jonathan Banks.

Buyer's Guide:
Available in both DVD and Blu Ray box sets. Also available from iTunes, Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.

4½ Homemade flyswatters  out of 5

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

Breaking Bad Season 1 (2008)

This line of work doesn't suit you.

Walter White is a typical suburban family man living a bland existence teaching high school chemistry when a sudden diagnosis of cancer forces him to start cooking meth in the hopes of leaving his family some financial security when he is gone. With the help of a former student he makes a foray into the criminal underworld of New Mexico.

Bryan Cranston gives an award-winning and typecast-breaking  performance as most people know him as the goofy dad from Malcolm in the Middle, but here proves drama is well within his range as he portrays all of the moods of anger and frustration at the state of his life and still maintain a sympathetic family man with great believability and chemistry with the other actors. His intelligent, but amateur criminal Walt meshes very well with Aaron Paul's portrayal of the former student Jesse Pinkman who is the career criminal of the two despite being incredibly inept at it most of the time. The characters show great depth and development such as Walt's reluctance to do criminal acts at first, but proves he is actually very good at it while Jesse may be a criminal, but is shown to be somewhat of a softie especially when it comes to kids. They are both very alike and very different.

No show does suspense as well as Breaking Bad which can make even quiet scenes of characters talking over drinks that are layered with moral quandaries and violent subtext in addition to some action scenes involving great acts of violence involving crooks and cops alike (and at least one douchebag in a sporty car) with just a dash of comedy for flavor. Top-notch writing and cinematography round out what has been a major hit for AMC and creator Vince Gilligan despite the writer's strike truncation to just 7 episodes.

Episodes to See:
Ep. 3 - …And the Bag's in the River - at the center of Walter's moral dilemmas and reluctance to commit fully to the criminal lifestyle with an excellent guest star performance from Maximino Arciniega.
Ep. 6 - Crazy Handful of Nothin - Walt just being a badass.

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

4½ Acid-induced home repair projects out of 5