Breaking Down ''Breaking Bad''

I usually am very punctual for a party. I either arrive on time or under an hour after the shindig has begun. I pride myself on a good party and having fun at such. So, it is with a twinge of shame that I admit that I almost missed this particular party. The TV show from AMC called ''Breaking Bad''. I hang my head in shame....... This cult show has a strong following in where I work. My buddy, Mike Hofland, is one of the football coaches at the school I work at. Throughout the spring, he and the other coaches have become rabid fans of this show. Mike, as only a good friend does, strongly urged that I join the fun and become a viewer. He sealed his acclaim for the show by stating something that he knew would snap me to attention. He said he has not been this excited by a TV since ''The Sopranos''...... This is high praise, indeed. ''The Sopranos'' still is the gold standard for all excellence in broadcasting. This type of edge-of-your-seat suspense and drama has been sadly missing from the television landscape ever since this Mount Everest of acting had gone off the air in 2007. But, Mike, called attention to the fact that ''Breaking Bad'' might be a worthy successor. I had heard of the show. Various friends and relatives of mine had sung its praises to me and urged my viewing habits be directed towards the show. I hesitated, for reasons that I really do not know, to jump on board. However, curiosity finally got to me and I rented the first season with an open mind. I wanted to be blown away........ I was, somewhat. I had been fed with the knowledge that the show starts off slowly. It is a five season [ the last season broken in two different parts, ala ''The Sopranos''] drama. The first two, I was warned, dipped and peaked in quality. This was true. Some shows were almost too painful to watch because of clichés and obvious plot choices. There was a touch of soap opera drama that made me uneasy. The housewife actually had an affair with her boss!! [shades of the worst of Harlequin novels]. Still, I stuck with it. I overlooked some preposterous scenes [ most notably, the lead character going into the drug headquarters of his rivals and contriving to blow it up ] and held firm. I was anxiously trying to get through these first two seasons, like a soldier going through bootcamp, to get to the nitty gritty of the series........ Came season three and the rewards of perseverance came to fruition. There was the tension that was promised to me. There were plot twists that were plausible and most gripping. And, there was the unveiling of juicy supporting players to carry the action. Truth be told, I found the supporting characters much more interesting than the main character. Each episode flowed effortlessly into the next [ it takes a lot of effort to make something looked effortlessly]. The ending of each season, the cliffhanger, justified a return for the next....... The plot line is simple. Walter White, played by Bryon Cranston, is given a death sentence in the very first episode. He is told he has cancer and probably does not have much time left. He has a wife, Skylar, played by Anna Gunn, and a son with Celebral Palsy, played by a real-life actor with the affliction, RJ Mitte. Skylar is also pregnant with another baby. The fact he is a poorly paid school teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico, does not help his case. At the age of fifty, with his death near, Walter wants to leave his family some money after he is gone. He knows his cancer treatments are gonna be costly, but, his insurance will not pay for it. Therefore, he is at an emotional and financial crossroads...... One day, for a lark, he goes out on ride-along with his brother-in-law, Hank,  who is a DEA agent busting drug cartels. Hank is played by Dean Norris. Hank has a neurotic and unstable wife, who is the sister of Skylar. She is played by Betsy Brandt. During this ride-along, Walter observes one of his former students escaping from the law. Jesse Pinkman is his name and he is played by Aaron Paul. When Walter hears the stories about all of the money that these people make, he decides that this is the only way he can make his family financially sound. Being a science teacher, he is familiar with the skills and techniques needed to make Crystal Meth. Soon, he forms a partnership with the Pinkman kid and they become partners in drug making and distribution of Crystal Meth. That is what is pretty much spelled out in the first season. I will go no further with plot twists for those who have not seen the show........ Bryon Cranston does a sound job of playing Walter White. He takes, at the beginning, a good man, and through life's unexpected twists of fate, turns White into a darker and more seedy character. This is when Cranston shines in the role. But, the show-stopping acting jobs are done by the supporting cast......... Aaron Paul and Dean Norris steal the show with their career-making performances. Paul has the tougher assignment. He has a street punk, who loves to talk the jive of the hip-hop crowd, and, yet, manages to pull a compelling and, strangely, poignant portrayal, of this young man. Aaron Paul shines through season after season because, as all of the other characters around him are getting more and more sinister, his Jesse role is the only decent human being among the principals. He takes killings to heart, and also shows his tender side when children are involved. It is a top-notch performance by Aaron Paul......... Dean Norris also is similarly strong. His role as a DEA agent demands that he act all over the place, a larger-than-life performance. And, he pulls it out like gangbusters. At first, he is just doing his job but as time marches on in the show you realize that he relishes the idea of bringing down the scumbags he is pursuing. He becomes fascinated by the cat-and-mouse game being played. His job is his drug. In any high stakes game between criminal and cop, there is a strange bond that develops. They are both in the same arena, living parallel lives. Only, one is the bad guy and one is the good guy. ''Breaking Bad'' shrewdly splits the difference between the characters. Not all bad guys are bad. And, sometimes, the good guys break bad....... My favorite two characters are Saul Goodman, the corrupt lawyer, and, Mike, the ''fix-it'' man. Saul is played by comedian Bob Odenkirk, in a fearless performance. Saul is quick with the quip and knows all of the angles because he has seen every type of dirtball in the world come through his office door. Saul gathers his forces well when Walter and Jesse are in need of his services. Odenkirk, perhaps because he is a comedian, brings a welcome comic relief to the show. His lines of dialogue are laugh-out-loud funny. But, Odenkirk wisely plays him straight and some episodes he steals the show with his acting........ Jonathan Banks, who plays Mike, the ''fix-it'' man, also is fun to watch. He is a cold-blooded killer, who, through his history, can never be shaken by anything that goes on around him. He calmly goes about his job taking care of things. His eyes do the acting. They are dead eyes, with no human feeling in them--- except, when he is with his granddaughter. Banks is good because, like Odenkirk, the show wisely takes him in small increments. If he was the focus of show after show, his character would become tiresome and lose the emotional level needed. No, he is there in the background, like a snake, awaiting to spring up and strike...... All of these characters, along with some other juicy performances by a cast of strong supporting actors, make up a fine show. ''Breaking Bad'' may not be in the same league as ''The Sopranos'' but, then again, no shows are. But, ''Breaking Bad'' does do its job very well of entertaining on a high quality level. I recommend the show for those who have never seen it. It is compelling TV. In a sad wasteland of ''reality'' shows and silly, unfunny sitcoms, when a good show does come along, it deserves all of the buzz it can get....... Thanks to Brother Mike for the suggestion........