I have been an avid TV Series viewer. I have watched dozen of TV Series before. The one that is been cancelled, the one that took my breath away, or the one that bore you after 3 seasons (I am talking about you, Revenge). For me, there is few series that I like a lot. The one that entertained me for its brilliant lines, like How I Met Your Mother, 2 Broke Girls, The Newsroom, etc. The one that makes me want to write about it because its depth and how interesting it is to be discussed. Sherlock, The Simpsons, and Game of Thrones are fitted for the criteria. And there is few that so undeniably beautiful and you can’t stop thinking about it. For me the first one is LOST and then this, Breaking Bad.
Okay, the premise of Breaking Bad is already interesting enough. A high school chemistry teacher turns drugs kingpin by cooking crystal methamphetamine (shortly meth) after he diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer in order to provide for his family after he is gone. Partnered up with his junkie former student, they take on the ride to journey they have never expected before.
I haven’t watched any episodes of this drama series until the last month of 2013. The show itself already started 6 years ago at 2008 on AMC, gained strong fan base ever since and suddenly become everybody’s favorite TV show (including Barack Obama and Warren Buffet). It is like a snowball effect. Everybody is telling how good the show is, and new fans arise, trying to catch up with its latest episode. Breaking Bad aired its episode finale on September 2013. The mind blowing fact here, the show has 62 episodes. Try to guess the 62nd element on periodic table. It is Samarium, which is essential in the treatment of bone pain with lung cancer.
If you asked me what one thing that makes such phenomenon, you can read here. The article pretty much listed all possible answers on why people love Breaking Bad. But for me, it is more than that.
Honestly, I can’t even define it. I don’t have any resembles with any character on the show. I even don’t know any of the cast before (I end up watching all interview of Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul on YouTube after finishing the series, from Kimmel to Fallon, Leno to O’Brien). I even barely know who Vince Gilligan is (but surely excited to wait his next work). At the end of season 1, we know that the series is going to be a good show. It is funny and brutal at the same time. It teaches us how mercury fulminate can blows up a room and how you can dissolve a body with sulfuric acid (which turned out to be busted on Mythbuster special episode of Breaking Bad, but we all forgive it). Turns out, Breaking Bad catches me off guard on how the show can be so menacingly dark and, like the blue meth Walt and Jesse cook, addicting.
Breaking Bad is a series of bad decision, bad turns, but not about bad people (or at least we are the one who say so). You know, I have been making movies since high school, I know how such well written story always turns good on screen. But a bad story won’t end up special even if you have good cast, good camera, good editing, or so on. This is I think, when the brilliance of Gilligan shine trough. All the script is executed really well. For one point, we always guess something is on, but we can’t exactly sure what it is. On few episodes later, you realized something is really on then. Every scene always has reason that is what makes the show so good.
The series is so brilliantly well written that everything comes falls into place, creating one beautiful masterpiece. The story, the cast, the lines, the character development, the incredible montage, the time lapse, the song, the scattered timeline, everything. It is almost impossible to stop on an episode if you decided to go on watching marathon. The best advice according to article above is you need to stop on the middle of an episode :)) Every episode always gives you a cliffhanger in the end, forced you to play another episode, until of course, you realized it is already 3.30 in the morning.
Season 5 of Breaking Bad however, is the perfect season finale I have ever watched. It is ended where it should be ended. The whole season feels like closing all the loopholes and loose ends, things that is rarely seen on TV series that have more than 3 seasons. So kudos to that.
One thing that I also need to highlighted is the character development and how the cast playing them so brilliantly. Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, and all the gang delivered such hell of performance that is so believable. They take us on a roller coaster ride of emotion with them. Anna Gunn portrayed the hateful Skyler White so good that she deserved an Emmy. Not to mention that Aaron got 2 times Emmy on 2010 and 2012, and well Bryan, got a hat-trick. He got three consecutive Emmy wins from 2008-2010. Now, the two lead casts are on the run for 2014 Golden Globe, along with the nomination for Best Drama Series.
But well, let’s discuss about the two lead casts.
Jesse Pinkman is my personal favorite. His famous line “Yo, bitch!” becomes such a hit that everybody wanted to be called bitch by Aaron. And watching this Pinkman’s Bitch Compilation video on Youtube always made my day.
At earlier seasons, Jesse delivered comical side of the series with his dumb comments (remember when he thinks wire is an element?) and how he kept beaten up by everybody else. It is ironic how at the 2nd episode, Skyler warned Jesse to stay away from Walt before he become one sorry individual. And yeah, we could conclude that he is one sorry individual. A lost soul, an innocent, a guilty one, a pitiful person that seen his loved one died before his eyes. It is interesting seeing Jesse switched place with Walt as a character that we’re all rooting for, that we sympathized for. We’ve seen how Jesse grew up and fell for. No matter how bad ass Heisenberg is, we are all sorry for Pinkman and felt his guilt.
His last glance with Walt, at my point of view, is a realization. Aside of his anger, he knew how deep his relationship with Walt. I like how Gilligan doesn’t make them hugs or smile or anything as they parted. They just shared one last nod, and everything is suddenly perfect. We know their relationship is more than father and son, more than teacher and student, way more than 50:50 partner. It is a destined good bye. At the end of Season 5, we know that Jesse is finally free. Free from all bad things that chained him up all those time. I really do hope he will really reach Alaska. Walt is maybe the brain of Breaking Bad, but Jesse is always been the heart.
It is such great delusion that you think the character is a real person. You watched such a boring pitiful man becoming an egocentric, greedy and gruel some villain. It is amazing how my feeling develop towards how a character develops. I grow hatred as Heisenberg rises out of Walter White. I remember many moments that I can’t get off of my mind. The moment he passed out at bathroom floor, the moment he shaved his hair because of the chemotherapy, the moment he put on the Heisenberg hat, the moment he show 1.2 million dollar to baby Holly, the moment he called Walt Jr. by Jesse, the moment he put on the Heisenberg hat once more, the moment he called himself danger. Like Walt said on earlier episode, Chemistry is about change and transformation. It is true, I’ve seen that from 5 bad ass seasons.
I love Walt on earlier series, I hate him after that, then he got me again at the finale. He got me again when he redeemed all bad things he had done. One last pat to Holly, one last look at Walter Jr, one last threat for Gretchen and Elliot, one last confession to Skyler, one last nod to Jesse, one last smile to his precious. The last conversation between Walt and Skyler, punched me harder than any lines ever written.
“I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it and I was… really… I was alive.”
Yes, I always think we’ve done all of our actions for ourselves. We are not doing anything for anyone else. You don’t choose something for your family or your loved ones. Because it is eventually affects you, then you choose it. It resonates well with my definition of happiness. We can feel unhappy even if we are surrounded by our family, we can still be unhappy even if we have a loved one, we can still be unhappy even if we have all things in the world. You are responsible for your happiness. If you think other people fill in the gap and making you happy, well that is because you let other people slipped in there to fill those gaps. It is your decision to let them there, to actually share that happiness to others. If you feel happy when other people are happy, obviously you did it because it makes you happy. In the end, you make yourself happy by being happy.
Breaking Bad is a well written story. The show is pretty much bringing storytelling to a whole new level of awesomeness. It takes me on a ride, it takes me deeper in a journey of life. It develops a character so well and believable. It makes me understand every action all the character takes later or earlier. In the end, I still can’t define why I love the show. But I know a good show when I can feel the same emotion as the story wanted you to feel. And it does.
PS:
Watched another personal favorite of The Simpsons did Couch Gag of Breaking Bad and the original Breaking Bad montage using Crystal Blue Persuasion song. Gold.
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