TV Show Review: Breaking Bad

Before I begin, I want to thank all of my followers for sticking with me for more than a year. I’m glad that you enjoy my content, and I hope that I never bore you in the future. In celebration of a year’s worth of book, anime, and movie reviews, here’s something that most probably didn’t expect: a review of an American live-action TV show. Let’s start!

I’m normally not one for watching American television. Sure, I watch the occasional sitcom or cartoon, but for the most part this medium isn’t the most interesting to me. The episodes are normally too long for my taste, and I normally don’t have the time or the patience to sit through five or more seasons of 13-26 44-minute long episodes. This is mainly why I prefer anime: the episodes and seasons are short, and my attention span is worse than that of a goldfish’s. However, just like with movies, anime, and books, there exists this tiny little sect of TV shows referred to as “cultural phenomena”, or, in other words, something that shouldn’t be missed under any circumstances. For example, in anime there’s Cowboy Bebop and Evangelion; in books there’s The Great Gatsby and The Odyssey; and in movies there’s Citizen Kane, Psycho, and The Godfather. The only American TV show to really hit the mark in this category would be the topic of this review: Breaking Bad. It swept the country off its feet and many claim it to be the greatest TV Show of all time. So, I decided to watch it due to its incredible status in the television community. Is this praise deserved, or does Breaking Bad fall flat? Sit back, relax, and read on as I review the cultural phenomenon, Breaking Bad. 

The Setup:

The TV show is set in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and follows a brilliant high school chemistry teacher named Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston). He’s kind of awkward and not the best at communicating with his students, but he manages to live a decent life. He has a wife named Skylar (Anna Gunn), a sixteen-year-old son named Walter Jr. (R.J. Mitte) who unfortunately has cerebral palsy (a physical disability that prevents movements of certain parts of or the entire body), and an unexpected baby on the way. Skylar also has a kleptomaniac sister named Marie (Betsy Brandt), who’s married to a very friendly DEA agent named Hank Schrader (Dean Norris). On his fiftieth birthday (or at least, around that time), Walter is diagnosed with Stage IIIA lung cancer, which by this point is basically a death sentence. Panicked by the prospect of leaving his family alone, he teams up with former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) to cook meth and “provide for the family”. This is where the story truly begins, and boy does it begin!

Walter White (right) gets diagnosed with terminal cancer, and teams up with former student Jesse Pinkman to cook meth

The Characters:

The strongest aspects of this show are the characters, by far. Let’s begin with Walter White. Bryan Cranston brings forth one of the best acting performances that I’ve ever seen when portraying this character. Walter does kind of fall into the cliché as the “good character that turns into an anti-hero” archetype, but at the same time you kind of get the sense that he wasn’t truly a great person to begin with. There are no spoilers here, but everything about Walter’s character makes sense with his development progressing at a perfect pace. I would say that Walter definitely falls into the category of a “tragic hero”, despite the fact that he didn’t die due to a fatal flaw. Sure, he has quite a few potentially fatal flaws, like hamartia (intense pride), doing anything and everything for the family, selfishness, and being overprotective, but he never dies because of them. If anything, these traits sometimes save him from danger. Then there’s his brilliance as a chemist, and am I glad to see this done correctly. Chemistry is all about problem solving (this is coming from someone who’s taking AP Chemistry right now), so therefore, chemists are very good problem solvers. I loved how accurate Walter’s skill of getting himself out of unfavorable situations is due to this, because it makes soooo much sense, unlike with most genius characters that are just smart because the show says they are. Overall, Walter White is very complex, very interesting, and shockingly relatable considering his actions later on in the series. Next, there’s Jesse Pinkman, played by Aaron Paul. Boy, does he go through some difficult moments in this show. Jesse is the most sympathetic character in this show, and probably the most likable. Sure, he was a drug addict and not incredibly intelligent (“Yeah, science!”), but you can always tell that he has a heart of gold. I know that sounds incredibly cheesy, but it’s kind of true. In other words, he’s one of the only characters to ever have a true grasp on his humanity, which is ironic considering how he’s technically a criminal and the youngest character besides Walter Junior. This is shown through his sensitivity towards children and those he cares about. It is also worth noting that his relationship with Walter is kind of a hierarchy. I don’t want to spoil how, but when you watch the show you’ll see why. Next, there’s Skylar White, played by Anna Gunn. She’s a character who gradually went from tolerable to pretty annoying. She’s a perfectionist, very uptight, and astoundingly vain, always being concerned with the finer points of every action to make sure that her image remains favorable. I will give her credit, as Anna Gunn’s performance is exceptional and she was pretty sympathetic when Walter was pretty much abandoning her and the family due to his business, but later on it just got really irritating. She’s not a bad character by any stretch; she’s just an unlikable one. If you want to know the worst character of Breaking Bad, that would be Lydia in Season 5, but that’s spoiler territory and this section would turn into a rant if I began discussing her. Anyway, next there’s Hank Schrader, played by Dean Norris. He’s friendly, but whenever he’s not motivated by something his demeanor takes a huge turn for the worse. Let’s just say that he goes through a lot. Then there’s his wife Marie, played by Betsy Brandt, who was my least favorite character for a while but eventually grew on me. This is because, despite being unpleasant, she is shown to do anything for her family no matter the cost, even if it means separating her sister from Walter. That is something that I can respect. Okay, the character section is really long, so I think I’m going to wrap up this section by discussing a character named Gus Fring, played by Giancarlo Esposito. He is probably the most famous villain in the entire show, up there with Tuco and those lethal Cartel twins. I honestly have no idea what to think of him. He’s so terrifying, yet so calm. He’s so interesting, yet so morally repulsive. He’s awesome, but also appears to be so ordinary. All I can say without spoiling his character is that Mr. Espositio’s performance is one of the best acting performances that I’ve ever seen period, even more so than Bryan Cranston…which is saying something.

From left to right, top to bottom: Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, Skylar White, Gus Fring. Saul Goodman, Hank Schrader, Marie Schrader, Mike Armentrout (some were not mentioned due to spoilers)

The Story:

This is unfortunately where some problems appear, and not all are tiny little nitpicks that can just be shaken off. The main issue that I had with this show was it’s pacing. This is entirely due to my own tastes, but the forty-five to sixty minute run-times of the episodes were sometimes pretty taxing to sit through, especially when there wasn’t much going on. And unfortunately there is a lot of dead space in this show as well. I can understand why this can be interpreted as a good thing, as in reality there’s always a separation between the intense and the not-so intense, and it always leans towards the not-so intense, but the not-so intense moments weren’t incredibly entertaining to watch. A lot of it was discussing business or covering up the characters’ tracks, which did get repetitive, but I was able to sit through it because when this show hits the mark…oh, wow, is it phenomenal. The intensity used in the powerful scenes is unlike anything I’ve seen before, and always had me glued to the screen. This show kept on throwing me off, and its atmosphere is incredible. These scenes work so well because of how good the characters are, and how much you want to see them achieve their goals regardless of the moral consequences. However, my favorite episode has nothing to do with drug lords, guns, explosions, or anything of the like: my favorite episode was Season 2 Episode 9, “Four Days Out”. It focused on Walter and Jesse as they were trapped in the desert, and I loved every minute of it due to the interaction between the two of them. The story is so on-point when it’s good that most of the bad can be forgiven, and that final episode was perfect.

The story has some pacing issues, but overall is fantastic

The Themes:

I normally don’t include a section that strictly discusses themes (though I may begin to include this regularly; I’ll let you know if that happens, and if it does, this won’t be included in the ScoreCard), but in Breaking Bad’s case, there are so many interesting messages to talk about and is too important to just be a simple annotation in the story section. Breaking Bad talks about and explores themes of family, loyalty, morality, lying, justice, and vanity, all of which are very important to anyone’s life. The most important theme out of those listed, however, is family, and how far are you willing to go for their sake. Are you able to break the law? Is every terrible action you commit worthwhile as long as it’s for a good cause? Should you arrest your family because of their crimes, while at the same time risking your own position as a police officer? Should you even let your family know about your actions, for fear that you’ll lose their respect? How far are you willing to go for your family? Are you willing to break the law, kill, lie, cheat, or perform other illegalities? Should you be willing to take that risk? Breaking Bad does answer these questions, but at the same time leaves them open-ended enough for the audience to answer them by themselves, as themes should. The show also brings up how lies can fester when not revealed early on, and could lead to huge consequences later on. Actually, that’s another huge theme: consequence. No matter what you do, no matter how you try to prevent them, consequences will arise, and you must be prepared for them. These themes, topped off with fantastic acting, are what makes the show a near masterpiece, at least in my opinion. Never before have I seen something that so seamlessly incorporates this many themes, makes them easy to interpret to the common watcher, and leaves them ambiguous enough due to powerful and convincing performances from the actors present. Bravo, Breaking Bad; bravo. 

The show's themes focus on the family, and how far Walter is willing to go for them

The Presentation:

The presentation of Breaking Bad is also really good, but what else can you expect by this point? Firstly, I really liked how the color scheme changed as the show got darker. In the beginning, the colors always leaned more towards white, though nothing was ever bright per say. In later seasons, everything looked a lot harsher, leaning towards black. The only color to ever stand out would be the blue meth, but I’m not going to spend any more time interpreting why. The usage of visual metaphors is also rather apparent, but not too in-your-face to be annoying. For example, in the beginning of the show, whenever Walter made his transition to become Heisenburg, he’d always walk through a door. However, when Walter and Heisenburg began to become the same person, the door metaphor was used less and less. I’m not entirely sure if this is accurate, but this is just my opinion, so…yeah. The music, when it’s used, is also really good. It’s only really evident during intense scenes or montages, which in my opinion made them more memorable, but there’s nothing that I would listen to outside of the show except for the theme. Oh, how I love the Breaking Bad theme that’s played at the beginning of each episode. It will never get old.

The show becomes sharper and grungier as the seasons pass

Final Judgment:

Despite popular belief, Breaking Bad isn’t perfect; but it’s pretty darn close. The story is a bit problematic, but the phenomenal characters, themes, and presentation more than make up for its issues. I give Breaking Bad a 4.75 out of 5, and a recommendation to watch it regardless of its impact on the television community. It’s dubbed the best television show for a reason. But, like always, it’s up to you to decide your own opinions.