Laughs in Mictlampa
Breaking Bad - Season 2 (2009)
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
Breaking Bad - Season 3 (2010)
rating: 4 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Carnegie Library and Netflix
When people talk about how good Breaking Bad is, brother, they're talking about Season 3. It isn't the plot, at least to the degree that Walt's cancer, his treatment, or his divorce are concerned. What makes the grade and aces it - and ices it! - is the influx and proliferation of guest stars who play really well at crime. Not that Jesse can't be sweet in a car with Jane outside a gallery, or Walt can't wear that winning look of exasperation, but anger and pride aren't worth much on their own. Not nearly as much as Leonel and Marco Salamanca crawling on their hands and knees towards a shrine to Saint Death, anyway. Regret sometimes exists simply so that a man like Walt can move past it, and start deciding what to do when a pair of Mexican gunslingers shows up thirsty for blood.
Without Gus, Saul, and Mike, Breaking Bad piles contrivance (Walt and Jane and Q) on contrivance (Epyck from Friday Night Lights just happens to be the sister of Combo's killer?) willy-nilly, with no discernible payoff for lost time. Saul might not have as much to say about health care in the United States as Marie does, and Gus and Mike might not argue at exactly the same tenor as Skyler and Walt, but they all know that delivery and the right face can do nearly as much as words in a preachy show that could stand to hold its tongue from time to time.
Needless to say, the shoot-out with Hank is a good example of the gifts of silence, but for me, the beauty of season 3 is epitomized in the flashback with Jesse and his gang on the night that Walt first gives Jesse money with which to buy an RV. The names of Jesse's friends were always cute - Combo, Badger, Skinny Pete - but we only ever saw them when they were slinging meth on the streets or else high to the skies at Jesse's house. Drug use is depressing, sure, but it's fun, so to finally see the four of them blowing through Walt's cash at a strip club reminded me that friendships based on addictions have some pretty good moments between the lows. Life can be sad enough without TV to say so; "sad" should be a set-up for a joke down the road.
I always wanted to watch Breaking Bad instead of Weeds because Weeds isn't filmed in Albuquerque, a city I love. If Season 3 is great for the same reason that The Sopranos was great - nothing says crime like comedy - then it isn't as original as people want it to be, regardless of whether or not Walter White "changes" as a person. But original is overrated. I love genre storytelling and Breaking Bad tells its story well, just as soon as everyone behind the scenes agrees on the entertainment value - and its priority over "lesson" - of one man's war against two North American drug cartels.
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
Breaking Bad - Season 3 (2010)
rating: 4 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Carnegie Library and Netflix
When people talk about how good Breaking Bad is, brother, they're talking about Season 3. It isn't the plot, at least to the degree that Walt's cancer, his treatment, or his divorce are concerned. What makes the grade and aces it - and ices it! - is the influx and proliferation of guest stars who play really well at crime. Not that Jesse can't be sweet in a car with Jane outside a gallery, or Walt can't wear that winning look of exasperation, but anger and pride aren't worth much on their own. Not nearly as much as Leonel and Marco Salamanca crawling on their hands and knees towards a shrine to Saint Death, anyway. Regret sometimes exists simply so that a man like Walt can move past it, and start deciding what to do when a pair of Mexican gunslingers shows up thirsty for blood.
Without Gus, Saul, and Mike, Breaking Bad piles contrivance (Walt and Jane and Q) on contrivance (Epyck from Friday Night Lights just happens to be the sister of Combo's killer?) willy-nilly, with no discernible payoff for lost time. Saul might not have as much to say about health care in the United States as Marie does, and Gus and Mike might not argue at exactly the same tenor as Skyler and Walt, but they all know that delivery and the right face can do nearly as much as words in a preachy show that could stand to hold its tongue from time to time.
Needless to say, the shoot-out with Hank is a good example of the gifts of silence, but for me, the beauty of season 3 is epitomized in the flashback with Jesse and his gang on the night that Walt first gives Jesse money with which to buy an RV. The names of Jesse's friends were always cute - Combo, Badger, Skinny Pete - but we only ever saw them when they were slinging meth on the streets or else high to the skies at Jesse's house. Drug use is depressing, sure, but it's fun, so to finally see the four of them blowing through Walt's cash at a strip club reminded me that friendships based on addictions have some pretty good moments between the lows. Life can be sad enough without TV to say so; "sad" should be a set-up for a joke down the road.
I always wanted to watch Breaking Bad instead of Weeds because Weeds isn't filmed in Albuquerque, a city I love. If Season 3 is great for the same reason that The Sopranos was great - nothing says crime like comedy - then it isn't as original as people want it to be, regardless of whether or not Walter White "changes" as a person. But original is overrated. I love genre storytelling and Breaking Bad tells its story well, just as soon as everyone behind the scenes agrees on the entertainment value - and its priority over "lesson" - of one man's war against two North American drug cartels.
posted by NPK at 5:04 AM
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