Why aren’t you watching Breaking Bad?

As someone who’s wont to spend summer evenings on patios with friends talking about subject both great and small, there are topics that come up again and again.  One that seems to be recurring more frequently these days is that television has evolved to the point where it may have surpassed film.  The early 1990’s seem to be a key turning point, at least to our Guinness soaked musings.  Three of the key shows from that era that exemplify this would be Twin Peaks, The X-Files and Babylon 5 (and a shout out to Buffy though it didn’t really find that pacing until season 2).  While of varying critical and commercial success, each represents the beginning of the era of the longform story in television.  By combining the ongoing narrative format that soap operas used, along with pre-planned season long arcs, the tight box of the episodic adventure was shattered.

Now over nearing the end of its fourth season, it was announced that Breaking Bad will return for a fifth and final 16 episode season.  If you’re not already watching what the fans call BrBa, I can’t recommend it highly enough.  At the very least, it’s an amazing character study, and the progression of the story is impeccable .

Originall billed as a dark comedy/drama about Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a high school chemistry teacher, who after finding out he has a rare form of lung cancer that’s not covered by his medical plan, happens to end up making crystal meth to pay the bills.  Walt’s juggling of his new business venture, while keeping it hidden from his home life, makes for great tension, and unexpected comedy.  Now half way through its fourth and penultimate season, the series has evolved well beyond that premise, even while staying true to the characters, and their natural evolution.  One of the best examples has to be the character of Jesse (Aaron Paul), a small time drug dealer who gets Walter into the meth game.  Jesse was originally supposed to be killed off by the end of the first season, but Paul’s performance was so good they decided to keep him on.  Not only did they keep the character, but the relationship between Walter and Jesse, while not related, has become one of the most complex and real father/son relationships ever put to moving pictures. 

While the writers are flexible, they also know where they’re going well in advance.  The show is loaded with foreshadowing, sometimes laying down groundwork that doesn’t pay off until almost a season later.  In season two, a number of episodes start off with ominous black and white scenes of something bad happening at the White household, but we’re not sure exactly what.  All we know is that in these flash forwards, people in hazmat suits are at the White residence, along with filled body bags, as a half burned teddy bear floats in Walt’s pool.  Viewers are left to guess what’s going on, who’s dead and what brought the story to this point, but don’t find out until the end of the season.

For those fans who would obsess over details in Lost, the clues are there.  When the titles of the episodes with the black and white scenes are strung together, it basically tells the viewer what that is.  Even that seemingly deus ex machina event ends up being intimately tied to Walt and his decisions.  All this meticulous attention to the larger story, while remaining cohesive may have to do with series creator Vince Gilligan’s previous experience with The X-Files, a show that similarly set up a huge arc, but came unglued in the end.

There’s very little I want to say about specifics though, as this show is unlike anything else that has aired, and may be, in my humble opinion, the greatest thing ever filmed.  It’s a show that is immediately gratifying, while the craftsmanship leaves you wanting to view it again.  Even the colour of clothing plays a role in determining character moods, and can give the aware viewer a tip off as to how they’ll react to something.  While it seems insignificant, in one exchange between Walt and his wife Skylar (Anna Gunn), there’s a moment when they’re arguing as Walt’s returning from the meth lab.  As they argue, and he removes his button up shirt to reveal a similarly red coloured undershirt, the wary viewer will know to expect not the meek school teacher to respond, but the nascent drug lord.

With the first 3 seasons available on DVD and BluRay, and the series available on a number of streamign services, it shouldn’t be too difficult to track it down from the beginning, and it’s certainly a show that you’ll want to see from the top.