Stuff I Like: Breaking Bad

Allow me to introduce what I hope will become a regular feature on this blog – the only obstacle being my short attention span. "Stuff I Like" will feature, ummm . . . how to explain this . . . stuff I like. Media – movies, TV, music – will be the primary subject matter.
I wouldn't call myself an expert in terms of movies and TV, and though I am a classically trained musician, I'm not necessarily a music nut who has all the latest and greatest albums. My conceit, though, is that I believe I have very good taste. I know what I like. And I like cool stuff.
For my first foray into this realm, I can think of no better piece of media to recommend than "Breaking Bad". Now I'm as big a fan of "Mad Men" as anybody, but for my money, its AMC cousin "Breaking Bad" is the best show on TV.
I believe we live in a golden age of television drama, and "Breaking Bad" represents all the best elements of the medium at the moment. The production values are more in line with what you'd see in a movie, but when you give a talented writer/producer like Vince Gilligan the freedom to tell a story over multiple 13-episode seasons, the end result is delicious. Movies tend to be like fast food; great TV shows like "Breaking Bad" are slow-cooked to perfection.
I was late hopping on the "Breaking Bad" bandwagon, to be perfectly honest. Based on the promo commercials, the premise didn't grab me right away. High school chemistry teacher Walter White, played by Bryan Cranston – best known at the time for his role as the dad on Malcolm in the Middle – has been diagnosed with lung cancer, so he decides to cook crystal meth as a means for providing for his family. It just didn't seem like a barrel of laughs.
I happened to stumble across a couple episodes midway through Season 2, and the show gradually started to burrow its way into my cranium. I watched Season 3 in its entirety, then went back and bought the first two seasons on DVD and caught up on all the episodes I've missed.
Season 4 is set to debut on AMC on Sunday, July 17, and I'm positively giddy. "Breaking Bad" is what I imagine it would be like if the Coen brothers made a TV show, with a little dash of Tarantino in the mix.
The show is dark, no doubt about it, and it isn't for everyone. But it is undeniably brilliant. Cranston has been full value for his three Emmy awards as outstanding lead actor in a drama series, and his wingman Aaron Paul (playing Jesse Pinkman, Walter White's junkie-with-a-heart-of-gold partner in crime) really came into his own in Season 3. He won he Emmy for best supporting actor last year. Their complex father/son-type relationship is the heart of the show.
White's unlikely journey from bland family man to drug kingpin is a fascinating one, and it's written and presented in logical way, as much as such an unlikely scenario could be.
The show is darkly hilarious at times, and the supporting characters are well-conceived. My favourites are Hank Schrader, White's macho brother-in-law who happens to be a DEA agent, and Walter Jr., White's son who suffers from cerebral palsy.
If you're not sold on "Breaking Bad" just yet, there was an excellent feature in Newsweek analyzing the success of the show, and previewing the upcoming fourth season. You can check it out by clicking right here.