Breaking Bad - SPOILERS

Journal stoolpigeon's Journal: Breaking Bad - SPOILERS 2

Journal by stoolpigeon on Thursday October 04, 2012 @04:19AM

I haven't said anything earlier because I didn't want anyone posting replies that contained spoilers. I'd heard a lot about the television show Breaking Bad that intrigued me, and I think Bryan Cranston is a good actor - so when I saw that the first 4 seasons were on Netflix, I decided to check it out.

I got sucked right in, though at times it felt like looking at a car wreck. I wanted to look away but I couldn't, though I did shift to peripheral vision a time or two. The series has done so many things so well that I'm really impressed by the story. I realize that they've had a lot longer, but I can't help but think the people who wrote this show should have been brought in on the Star Wars prequels. I can see how Walter White got from point A to point B and it makes a lot more sense than Anakin's little trip to the dark side. And I'm including the Clone Wars material here. None of it is as smooth or as believable as the descent of Walter White from good guy to bad guy.

I love the themes explored, hubris of course is a biggie. I love how the writers gave Walter multiple outs but it's his pride more than anything else that has kept him on the path he chooses. He justifies things regularly with an explanation that he had no choice, but that's almost never true if one steps back and takes a bigger look than the immediate circumstances. I think this is clearest when he shoots Mike - and then as he talks to Mike by the river he realizes he didn't have to do it at all. Though I think it was his intent from at least the moment he saw the gun in the bag.

The first episode of season 5 shows Walter's purchase of a machine gun - and I think, though they've surprised me many times, that this is going to involve a showdown with Chileans. This brings up another thing I have really enjoyed. The episodes that start with some event and then jump back and show what lead up to that event - they use the device very well. When they kept revealing a little more of the plane crash over multiple episodes, it had me guessing all kinds of things but not what would happen. How they tied it all in to the story was crazy and it was, I thought, awesome how they gave Walter a little monologue to discuss the unlikelihood of it all. Which I think actually made it more believable in a weird way. They don't do it all the time, but I look forward to how it will play out when they do (showing glimpses of the 'future'). In most shows/movies I think this is usually handled poorly but in this show they use it to great effect.

Anna Gun's character Skyler is also written really well. They didn't just have her slide along with Walt and fall in line. I really love that. She's incredibly smart and incredibly stupid at the same time and it's her emotions that really mess her up. Pretty much like we all do. I've enjoyed that they've given her a lot of depth and I can buy into her actions because she doesn't just hop on board with the whole drug lord program. While the whole show is rather far fetched - she's written as a very believable person if such a thing did take place.

Well - maybe I'll share more opinions as I think about it, that's enough for now. I caught up completely yesterday and now I'm just waiting for next summer like everyone else. I'm really looking forward to those last 8 episodes. I'll need to watch them right away. I was reading a discussion on reddit weeks ago - I don't remember what it was about but it had nothing to do with Breaking Bad - and someone said "It's like when Hank figures out Walt is Heisenberg." I was so ticked - I hadn't finished season 3 yet - and just kept waiting for it to happen. It didn't ruin the show but I'd much rather have seen that scene play out yesterday thinking "Oh crap!" instead of "Oh, finally - here it is".

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