Breaking Bad-New Best Show on Television

Breaking Bad Commentary

I have watched a lot of TV pilots recently in a bid to familiarize myself more with the current tv landscape. Here’s a little rundown.

Kings

Southland

Dollhouse

Mad Men

None of the above shows have grabbed me like my all-time favorite, FX’s The Shield, did. None of those shows inspired in me the quasi-religious loyalty necessary to take the time to watch more episodes of them.

Personally, I find the current TV landscape a bit grim. There’s some funny stuff happening at CBS like The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men, but that’s not appointment television.

And yeah, House is usually pretty solid, but it doesn’t have the strong serial plotting that rewards loyal viewership, at least in my experience (the caveat that applies to all the above and below tv commentary, obviously I haven’t watched every episode of these shows, far from it).

Frankly Lost is so often annoying I rarely have the patience to make it through the season, and once again find myself needed to catch up on the ENTIRE season over the summer. Heroes burned out for me a long time ago as well.

What’s left to watch?

Well, let’s talk about those pilots I mentioned.

Mad Men

The pilot is literally a jaw-droppingly good piece of writing, but honestly I find the series a little tough to connect with and honestly a bit slow. I lost interest by episode two. Is that fair? Maybe not, but a good show should hook you in the pilot.

Southland

I actually wrote a review of the pilot, which was perfectly decent but just not surprising enough. It’s tough to stand out from the crowd with cop shows.

Kings

I sort of enjoyed Kings‘s first episode, but found it quickly dragging in the second. Nice to see Ian McShane getting some work, but this show didn’t really grab me either.

Dollhouse

Ditto, especially considering the conceptual necessity of basically not allowing the protagonist (whose personality changes frequently in the show) a core personality in the pilot.

Which all brings me back around to….

Breaking Bad

I was completely hooked by the first episode of this show. Bryan Cranston instantly convinces, leaving no trace of his Malcolm in the Middle persona, as this quietly desperate chemistry teacher driven over the edge by news he is dying of cancer. An absolutely terrific ending demanded future attention, as simply trying to figure out what this in-over-his-head chemistry teacher turned meth cooker would do next was too engaging to pass up.

The first 3 episodes are all excellent but I was particularly touched and impressed by the third one.

Our teacher protagonist and his streetwise partner are surprised to discover one of the gangsters they thought they killed (or more specifically, thought the teacher Walt killed) is still alive.

Walt is given the task of disposing of the guy, and anguishes over it. He makes a list of pros and cons. He brings the guy food, even cutting the crust off for him at one point, as well as hand sanitizer! They have a nice conversation for what seems like an amazingly long time about life over some beer. It’s all very touching but the story is clearly written into a corner here, and the way Vince Gilligan and Co. get out of it is very clever and surprising.

I think the key thing here is Walt as the moral center. He really is a pretty nice guy, just troubled and desperate. At the end of the pilot he returns home after a disastrous day involving him and some gangsters, a day which most likely was the worst day of his life and passionately has sex with his wife.

Now earlier in the episode he suffered from a limp penis as that same wife gave him a handjob while doing an Ebay auction. So it’s a really interesting case where obviously these changes in Walt’s life are tearing him up, but at the same time they are revitalizing him.

I really enjoyed the first 3 episodes of this show and can’t wait to get up to speed with the whole series. This is the first show that’s excited me since The Shield.

-Dan Benamor