Bryan Cranston rocks my socks
The fourth season of Breaking Bad is upon us. I feel it’s my duty to make sure everyone is watching this show.
Walter White (Bryan Cranston) is a brilliant scientist. He’s married to Skyler (Anna Gunn) and they have a teenage son with cerebral palsy. They also have an unplanned baby on the way. Walter’s broke and underemployed. He teaches bratty teens full time and works part-time at a car wash. As if his life isn’t shitty enough, he finds out that he has terminal cancer. His conclusion: he must start cooking meth to raise cash for his family. But he’s not going to cook just any hillbilly crack. He’ll cook the purest meth a tweaker can buy.
He enlists the help of burn-out and former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). He recruits Pinkman as his lab assistant, but more importantly the salesman, so his face won’t have to be associated with the dirty business. Walter and Jesse have a tense relationship that borders on mutual hatred, yet sometimes has familial qualities.
Walter’s wife knows something’s up with him and there’s his DEA agent brother-in-law (Dean Norris) who shows up unannounced sometimes. There’s also the nasty element that the drug business draws out. Walter is officially in over his head, but refuses to change his plans. This is all before things get really jacked up.
The thing I love the most about this show is the constant change. The first season flows like a family drama with excess baggage. You feel bad for Walter, but hate what he’s doing. Things rev up in season two, and by season three, you almost need a Xanax to watch an entire episode. The evolution of this series has been amazing and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Walter’s mission to provide for his family slowly changes to a quest to survive in the criminal underworld. The premise draws comparisons to Weeds, another great show. Breaking Bad is much grittier than Weeds, with a larger dose of reality and much darker turns.
Walter White couldn’t be any further removed from the father on Malcolm in the Middle. Bryan Cranston is no longer the dad with monkey-antics and a severe lack of intelligence. Cranston has won three Emmys for Breaking Bad. His ability to avoid type-casting has paid off in a major way.
If you haven’t seen the show, you must start with season one. That’s the only way to truly appreciate how far the science teacher Mr. White has come. If you’re already a fan, don’t forget that the season premier is this Sunday on AMC.
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I have heard nothing but good things about this show, but I prefer my violence and drama as far removed from gritty realism as possible. I bet Mel would love this show, though. Matt, too.
You’re like the seventh person to tell me I need to be watching this show! SEVEN TIMES IS THE CHARM, COUNT ME IN.
Do it- and stick with it. For a few episodes of the first season, I was all ‘do I like this? should I keep watching?’ It’s totally worth watching the family drama unfold to get to the good cartel violence. You’ll soon be hooked.