Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Breaking Bad

I heard so much buzz on the internet about the AMC show, "Breaking Bad" that I dove into season one this weekend.  Needless to say, I was back at Barnes & Noble on Labor Day buying seasons two and three on Blu-ray.  This show is absolutely riveting.

Breaking Bad follows the story of a brilliant chemist who, at the age of 50, doesn't have a whole lot going on in his life.  He chose to teach high school but many of his students are portrayed as ungrateful good-for-nothings who drive rich cars and just want to hook up with each other.  Meanwhile Walter White (the protagonist) at age 50 has got a younger wife who is pregnant, and a handicapped son that gets teased a lot in high school.  He has a second job working at the car wash where he scrubs tires on the sports cars that some of his students drive and they take demeaning pictures of him on their cell phones to talk about him with each other.

This is Aaron in the persona of the meth junkie Jesse
Pinkman.  They really do a number on his appearance.
So into all of this, Mr. White gets terminal lung cancer. The doctors tell him he only has nine months or so to live.  The chemotherapy that might save his life costs $90,000 and his insurance won't cover it. Plus he'll be leaving his wife and only son with a mountain of medical bills for fighting his cancer (not to mention) a newborn daughter.  So what does the brilliant Mr. White do?

Well he seizes a unique opportunity.  His friend works at the D.E.A. and takes him along to observe a drug bust on a meth lab and he notices one of his former students escape from just having banged a woman in the house next door.  He says nothing.  He follows the former student home and points out that his partner (the cook for the meth lab) has been arrested thereby destroying his livelihood.  He offers to cook meth for the kid if he'll make him a partner in the business.  The kid agrees...flabbergasted that the teacher that flunked him wants to "Break Bad".


This is Aaron in real life. Big
difference as you can tell.
So Mr. White ends up cooking the purest meth ever.  And the crap that these two go through in episode after episode as they deal with cartel enforcers, drug distributors, and hide from the D.E.A. is unbelievable. I can't pull my eyes away.  Also Mr. White's partner, played by Aaron Paul, is a really good-lookin' fella that they have to dirty up for the show.  It's interesting because in some scenes he looks completely strung out but in others (like when he tries to go clean and actually get a job) he looks good but his education makes it impossible for him to earn a living with any dignity.

Things I saw in the first season that surprised me:

1) Lots of meth manufacturing.

2) Nudity.

3) Drug dealers not only killed, but dissolved in hydrofluoric acid that eats through a bathtub and crashes through a floor in a house. They literally have to scoop up the bloody soup of human body with a dustpan and brushes.

4) Incredible cleverness on behalf of the protagonist (and resourcefulness).  Jesse gets almost beaten to death and Mr. White faces off with a huge drug distributor and demands $50,000 from Tuco and manages to get it. I won't spoil how but it is mind-blowing. On top of that, Mr. White gets a deal to sell four pounds of meth to this guy a week.

5) The sheer destruction of a good man like Mr. White as he descends into a world of absolute filth. Yet he is protective of Jesse (sometimes) and it's clear that he doesn't want the boy to come to harm but he certainly doesn't go easy on him at all.  Sometimes Mr. White pushes him to murder which he is growing more comfortable with as the series progresses (the first time he murdered someone was really really hard for him).  But the other aspect that is amazing about this show is Mr. White's intellect. He is far beyond the primitive minds of the drug dealers that he has to do business with and because he knows his life is almost over, the risks he is willing to take are incredible.  And of course his marriage is falling apart because the life he is choosing to lead to cushion his wife and children with money is a secret one...and the secrets are pushing all of his loved ones away.

6) The acting in this show is Academy Award level. It seriously is that good.

This isn't a show for the young adult, smurf-loving, middle-grade fiction crowd. It's a show for adults. I'm an adult...I write adult fiction...and this adult show is absolutely amazing.  If you think of yourself as having adult tastes...you need to watch!

33 comments:

  1. Yeah, I'm hooked. Almost caught up on the newest season - it's so good! And I agree - the actors are awesome.

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  2. These days, I'm complaining about the lack of my time but honestly when I find time, I directly go to the blogger.com and then open my laptop to watch The Vampire Diaries.
    Yeah, my friends are talking about Breaking Bad whole day, and I'm still addicted to The Vampire diaries :)

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  3. Breaking Bad is the show to watch at the moment. It actually gets even better after season one, so you've got lots to look forward to.

    mood

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  4. I am utterly hooked on this show. The writing and the acting blows me away. I love the way they show the motivation of characters, although not always when you expect it. There's an episode in the current season that shows one character in a completely different light, and my whole opinion of him just completely flip-flopped.

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  5. I'm going to try this show. It sounds great.

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  6. Oh, man - more temptation for me!! Sounds like a good one. :-)

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  7. My husband would enjoy this show. I'll mention it to him. Thanks for sharing this.

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  8. He has 9 months to live and yet they're on Season 4. So I guess the cancer must go into remission. Or they're doing like MASH where time never really mattered and a three year conflict became 11 years.

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  9. The most amazing thing about Breaking Bad is how it has shown the slow descent of the main characters into the world of drugs and their gradual acceptance of things that would have been unthinkable in Season 1. The viewers join them and you can't help but root for someone who is undoubtedly ruining thousands of lives. My favorite scene of this season (minor spoilers but not much even if you've never seen the show):

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMEq1mGpP5A

    The writers love to do the unexpected and and the look on his wife's face after Walter's speech is just priceless.

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  10. A number of friends have encouraged me to watch BB. Your review may just be the thing that finally gets me going on this show.

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  11. I've really been trying to get into this show, because I've heard great things too, but the only episodes I can get my DVR to record are from the middle of the season. I've watched two of them, and really liked the show, but I want to start at the beginning.

    I need to check if it's on NetFlix.

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  12. Best show I've ever seen on television, along with THE WIRE and yeah, both are extremely different. BREAKING BAD is absolute noir, like it should be written. The constant transformation of Walter White is amazing to me because he's getting darker and darker, but he's also getting to be so much more than he was. It's like he sold his soul, because he figured out he was doomed anyway.

    I'm at the end of season two right now (episode 11). Amazing series, glad you love it. And yes, it's strictly for adults.

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  13. I watched the first episode and could never sit down to watch another...why? Because it is TOO REAL. As someone who was in that world (I am a recovering addict, clean and sober since August 27, 1995) it just hit too many buttons; but I can see how adults who have never been there would be captivated by the realism.

    Kudos to you, once again, on an amazing review - you are thorough and your writing is captivating. I'm not sorry I found your blog through the campaign! :)

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  14. Sigh, I might have to succumb to this. It does sound amazingly good.

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  15. I'm not sure if I really want to watch this show because of the sheer violence in it. (Am sensitive to that.) But I have heard really good things about it, so maybe someday I'll give it a go.

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  16. I love this show. I love all the fuzzy lines--right versus wrong, stupid versus smart--and where people will go when they are truly desperate. i've only seen the first season, as it's what my library has (and I don't have money for more)--I should probably see what Netflix has.

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  17. I am not sure if we get AMC. If we do I will watch it with my husband. He likes stuff like this.

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  18. This has been on my Christmas wishlist for some time. I'm not sure if Mr. G will like it, so it will probably be my guilty pleasure!

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  19. Wife and I just finished Season 3. I do enjoy it, but, for me, the story arc has spiraled into a cyclical soap opera. We might try Season 4.

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  20. My husband loves this show. He's been watching it since the first season. Each time a season ends, he hates the wait (like I used to be for the last few Harry Potter books).

    I don't understand the wife in this show. We can talk when you're caught up. I don't want to give anything away. Although I don't watch the show faithfully, I keep up a little.

    The main character also played Hal on Malcolm in the Middle. When you compare him in both roles, he's very good and very versatile.

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  21. My husband has watched the series and he agrees, it's really good.

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  22. I've been meaning to watch this show because I've heard absolutely nothing but good things about it. It sounds like I really need to get on that.

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  23. Not to derail your post, but, because I haven't seen this one, yet (although I just stuck it in my netflix list), have you seen Justified? You should try it out. I was completely surprised by how good it ended up being.

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  24. I haven't seen this yet, but will make it a point now. Yea, for adult programming / entertainment.

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  25. Not really my kind of show. My father loves it, though. Every time I talk to him, he urges me to check it out.

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  26. Sound terrific. I don't want to watch yet another show now... they just ruin my life. I will put it on my bucket list of shows to watch though. Promise.

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  27. Sorry, I've never watched it. Not really my type of show.

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  28. Oh my gosh, I need to watch this! How come I never heard of it? O.o It sounds amazing, and right down my alley.

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  29. Amc is doing the best stuff out there. I can't watch this show but I watch Madmen and Walking Dead and LOVE THEM and they are like you described-- the acting is awesome and the writing is topnotch and it's for adults. Things happen that you don't see on regular television. Great stuff and I will probably get my cable turned back on for the MAdmen premier in March- it's that good.

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  31. A friend lent me season one a few weeks ago but I haven't got around to watching it yet. I think I'll pit it off a while longer since I'm sure I'll be hooked once I start and I just don't have the time right now.

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  32. This show sounds a bit grown up for me. I still like my YA stuff and Disney movies. :)

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  33. I may need to come and watch some of these with you. It sounds like a show I might really enjoy.

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