Breaking Bad Season 1 & 2 (AMC, 2008-2009)

[ayaa1977]

Walter White is a chemistry teacher in a high school in albakerky New Mexico. He also has to work a second job as a store clerk so he can provides for his family, a pregnant stay at home wife, and a handicapped teenage son.

One day he discovers he has a lung cancer in an advanced stage, and that his insurance doesn't fully covers the treatment.
Struggling with his situation, he discovers a way, he teams up with a former student of his to start a methamphetamine lab, using his vast knowledge of chemistry and his student  Jessie's connections to take over the drug business in town.
Little they know that the authorities are in their trails, Walter's brother-in-law is with drug enforcement police, and the brutal drug gangs also aren't happy with their presence.

A complicated tale of entanglements that portraits the ugly deglamorised face of drug manufacturing and trade. A social commentary on how far a human could go in to face economical hardship and lack of health insurance coverage.
In his way of leaving his family with enough resources after his death, we watch Walter sinks deeper in his ill-fated actions and their consequences on his family, society, and the toll it takes on his soul.

This show is one of the most brilliant shows on TV now. Not since "The Wire" did a series went this honest and realistic in portraying the drug dealing life.
Bryan Cranston (Hal in Malcolm in the Middle, Dr. Tim Whatley in Seinfeld) is brilliant in the role of Walter, he is just magnificent. He won last year's Emmy Award for Best Leading Actor in Drama Series, even though the first season was only 7 episodes.
It is a excellent MUST SEE TV. My favorite AMC show, even ahead of Mad Men. Its second season is currently airing in America, and its first season is in rerun on Showtime now.     

[kaytee]

Sounds interesting...

[ayaa1977]

Sounds interesting...

It is very interesting, for many reasons, such as:

1.   The first scene of first episode it gives you a glimpse of how messy the situation is and how high are the stakes. Then it works its way backward to show you what led to that. That applies for many episodes.
2.   It is a Basic Cable show, so naturally, it has no filler episodes, and the show is fast based anyway. It is also more thrilling than many thriller films let alone TV shows.
3.   Acting is realistic and good, despite the fact that you will see a few faces that you will recognize. Only Bryan Cranston is the big TV name in this show.
4.   With the progression of the series you will find that you have less and less sympathetic for the terminally ill cancer patient Walter White, because you can see how he uses his illness as an excuse to lie, manipulate and do despicable acts. The goals justify the means for him. Providing a good life to his family after his death is everything even if it means turning into a monster and destructive force in the society. He feels the society abandoned him and that opened the door for the cynic inside him to take over. It is a fascinating journey to the darkest side of the human psyche.
5.   There is a cool opening for the seventh episode of the second season. It serves as a teaser trailer for what is coming. I found it inventive and really cool. I Looked it up on youtube, wacth it will not spoil the show.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/1L1rWWWZnxs&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/1L1rWWWZnxs&rel=1</a>

Notice that I have spoiled nothing to you guys, because I truly hope that some of you will watch this great TV show. It is currently in it is eighth episode of the second season, which means with the 7 episodes that comprise the first season, the number adds up to 15 episodes so far, which makes it easier to follow.

[madali]

Breaking Bad [Season 1 & 2] (AMC, 2008-2009)
IMDB Link

In “Weeds”, a mother in a suburban life has financial difficulties and turns to drug dealing to make ends meet. In that show, the drug was marijuana, and that particular drug has always had less negative connotations attached to it, so the show was a bit light.

But “Breaking Bad” is a complete different monster. Brought to us from the network that brought us the excellent “Mad Men”, this show also has a normal, everyday person, in a suburban life, turning to drug dealing due to financial difficulties. But in this show the drug is meth and meth is a much harder drug than lighting up some weed. This means that the show moves in a much darker path.

And IT IS DARK. The writers do not take short cuts in trying to make everyone involved very sympathetic with carefully structured events. Not at all. The main character is Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a high school chemistry teacher that has recently been diagnosed with lung cancer. Walter’s friend and family love him and he has always been a quiet, decent, hard-working man. The news of his lung cancer, combined with the need for additional money to support his treatments, makes him turn to partnering with a young drug dealer, Jesse (Aaron Paul), to make and sell drugs. It is not an easy profession, with high returns, but also high risk.

It feels like the writers have done their research, as Walter and Jesse face obstacles that we generally do not think of. Making meth seems to be the easy part of the process, everything that comes after that seems to be the real challenge.

I mentioned this earlier, about how the writers do not take the easy route of making the characters sympathetic, and I will mention it now again in more detail. A premise like this would be very easy for the writers to create scenarios that make the characters make difficult decisions for the best, most morale reasons. Imagine how easy it would have been to make Walter doing it for purely, unselfish reason? It feels that way at first, Walter needs the money and does not want his family to fall in debt. But soon, we realize that Walter’s decency is a sort of front. He LIKES being involved in the business. He lies to his family, he is occasionally cruel to his partner, and soon, he becomes the driving force in the partnership to take their business into more dangerous territory.

The show’s brilliance, which I find some viewers are not noticing, is that Walter is not selling drugs because he has to do, but because he likes to.

4/5 

[ayaa1977]

Finally you caved in and got to this show. I am glad that you liked it, and it is what you said and more. It is a brilliant show. What is amazing about it is how the roles are switched between Jesse and Walter. Jesse started as the fucked up druggy only to ends up to be the more conscientious guilt ridden and sympathetic character especially in the second season, while Walter who is terminally ill is the darker character who makes devastating decisions. The choice he made in the penultimate episode of the second season was just the straw that broke the camel's back. A deliberate decision that was purely selfish effected a person's life and led to a bigger tragedy later on. This was the moment of truth for the viewers whether we lose our innocence about this character and know him for what he is: a knifing mastermind who became a criminal by his choice, not a desperate person in need who was forced to do bad things.

I really urge everyone to watch this excellent show, and the reward is huge.     

[madali]

I really feel for Jesse.

[ayaa1977]

I really feel for Jesse.

Right now he is one of the best in terms of character development. I really see no way but south from there for Walter and everyone else.

By the way, what did you think about the song that episode 7 in the 2nd season opened with? The one I linked to a few months ago.   

[madali]

Thought it was stupid

[ayaa1977]

Thought it was stupid

Really! I thought it was an inventive way to setup the story to come, although it didn't payoff yet.

[madali]

The song was stupid, it did not fit in the tone of the show, and  it was not a foresight for the events to be transcribed in season two.

[ayaa1977]

The song was stupid, it did not fit in the tone of the show, and  it was not a foresight for the events to be transcribed in season two.

It turned out to be a great foresight for what happened not only in season2, but all the way to season3. That is why I love this show so much.