Breaking Bad

Living the American Dream via the periodic table and Heisenberg’s principle of equivocality which is not black-and-white, but that doesn’t mean that it contains no black or white. When a middle-age crisis hits an over-qualified, kind chemistry teacher with a complex, whose prizes family above all else (his wife is an accountant against her will and also an unsuccessful writer with a few published stories, his son has polio and is going through a rough puberty and there’s even an unplanned kid on the way); this is already a powerful theme in itself. And when you add a trick of fate in the form of advanced cancer, this is doubly powerful. It is clear that here we will get a combination of satire and drama with a precisely dosed admixture of black humor. And what if, to provide for his family, this hen-pecked chemistry teacher decides to “kick off the hen and declare a vendetta on fate"; in other words once and for all (and for the last time) to take his life into his own hands... So he sets out on the slippery slope of crime as a “Meth Cook", with a former pupil who was one of the laziest and most useless in the class, Jesse; which forms the recipe of an uncompromising, raw, cynical crime series where you find yourself breathing in the rhythm dictated by the creators, not by your own body. The only respite (which is no criticism - it fits here) occurs at the beginning of season three when the creators give the characters the opportunity to get off the careering train and return to their original, “non-criminal" routine. But if this seems like a disparate mixture of genres and themes, the truth is in exact opposite. Unusually well written (both characters and story; just a shame about the exceptions proving the rule in the Lost-style intertwining of fates during the final of season two) and presented (nobody else has yet come near to the prologs to each episode) and also never losing its worrying, chilling tone and very movie-like guise (it is markedly Coen-McCarthy-esque); and not just in TV production terms. But there is one snag. It definitely isn’t for people who need to identify with one of the characters. Of course, you understand (but may not approve of) the characters and their behavior in all situations, but the more this pedantic teacher Walt who you would trust with your wallet “becomes" Heisenberg, who commands respect and fills you with pure fear (If that's true, if you don't know who I am, then maybe your best course would be to tread lightly.), the more clear it becomes that you can’t root for him because he starts not seeing the wood for the trees, which means he not only harms his surroundings, but also his nearest and dearest. And mainly he is never under any circumstances the victim of circumstances or screenwriters, but is always fully responsible for everything that happens to him. And so it is with everything. In any case, if you get into the vibe of the series, you have a good chance that you will find a hot favorite for your most favorite episode of all existing series (there are countless candidates for this in all seasons, but the clear winner is Ozymandias), for the award for best scene of all existing series (there are more candidates for this than for the episode prize, but the clear winner here is Crawl Space) and of course for the award for best series of all top series. PS: And like the very end held no disappointment at all, it seems like, in spite of all the horrors experienced by others, Walt got off lightly in comparison. The very end lacks a certain hidden uncompromising streak which for instance raises The Shield onto the highest pedestal for the best and most memorable finale ever. (01/27/2012) (less) (more)