Breaking Bad - Season 1-3 [DVD] [2017]

This is the review I posted on my website http://andyflavoured.co.uk (copyright)This is the one they’ve all raved about, the series that won award after award, the not that started good and got better. I mean, that’s defying the laws of gravity. It just doesn’t happen that TV series can keep on improving time after time… or does it? Well, being all things to all people probably helps, and the Wikipedia page for Breaking Bad goes the whole hog by categorising this series as crime drama, thriller, “contemporary western” (whatever that means) AND black comedy – though it’s still rock and roll to me.However, this drama is no different to any other in one key respect: it follows the formula by starting with a pilot that sets up the scenario, then each episode with several enigmatic images, then uses a quality cast to unpeeled layers of the onion. Gradually it explores the outer reaches of its protagonist’s world while subtly moving the game forward, much as was done with House, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Dexter, any number of dramas coming out of the USA.Here Walt White, chemistry teacher, husband to Skyler (she of the ferocious jaw line, ready to crack open a skull as if it were cardboard) and father to Walt jr (who has mild CP and acts as a very positive role model for actors with disabilities) and an initially unborn daughter (Holly), discovers he has stage 3A lung cancer and decides to hook up with a former student to cook crystal meth to pay for treatment and leave his family secure. Of course the path to true druggy heaven does not run true so there are obstacles along the way, without which there would not be a series. You’d expect some really evil dealer sons of bitches on one side of the fence, but then you also get the family drama, the cancer stuff and a few moral dilemmas thrown in for good measure. The execs must have creamed themselves in delight to find a series ticking so many boxes in one hit, as it were.Caricatures-Breaking-Bad-8Breaking-Bad-top-moments-and-episode-quotesBB-explore-S1-980x551-cleanBB1breaking-bad-all-charactersBreaking-Bad-Periodic-TableBreakingBadBreaking Bad: Jesse Pinkman and Walter White2013-06-28-06.37.16BBbreaking-bad-toutsPhoto Credit: Ben Leuner/AMCBut mostly it’s the cast that makes this one hit the high spots, just as Hugh Laurie made House, the late James Gandolfini made The Sopranos and Michael C Hall made Dexter – and Six Feet Under. Bryan Cranston cut his teeth on movies was a fine screen actor with a notable pedigree without becoming a household name, lacking the teen idol looks but never less than competent (see Argo.) He hit the big time in the TV series Malcolm in the Middle – about which I can say nothing, since I’ve never watched it before graduating to the starring role in BB. He makes Walt White his own, as you would expect of an accomplished character actor. He is not especially attractive or remarkable to behold but goes about his business as a man taken outside his comfort zone and surviving the only way he can and making it both credible and charismatic in the process – which is to say making the audience believe in him and feel empathy. That is the skill of the character actor, as opposed to the star name.Oh yes, the other thing about the formula is that you always need a cheese character for the chalk hero to bounce off, often stacks of them. Here his main sparring partner is Aaron Paul‘s Jesse Pinkman – dude, dealer and ex-chemistry student at Walt’s High School, the guy with whom he saddles up to cook and sell pure meth in series 1. There is the sceptical pregnant wife whose character American audiences apparently dislike with a passion (Anna Gunn) and the persistent DEA agent brother-in-law (Dean Norris) and a number of other spiky and sadistic hombres who fade in and out as guest stars, all of whom add moments of conflict and feeling for added depth.But for all these great ingredients you need more to sustain a drama series, let alone the spring-heeled effect that sees each series of that drama surpass the last without becoming tacky or melodramatic. The hook here is that in spite of everything, it charts the continued rise and rise of this mild-mannered teacher and family man with cancer into an unlikely but fully fledged drug baron.Of course, there is drama in every episode and many minor and major story lines along the way, exposing with subtlety the horns of many a moral and social dilemma, and in turn demonstrating the very many excellent qualities of TV drama and acting at their respective best - but the real deal is definitely the helicopter view. Along the way there is a marital crisis and children issues, Hank’s DEA trials and tribulations, drug lords and the cartel, the sad tale of Jesse’s girlfriend, plenty of moments to shock and awe.But best of all, it is at once awful yet fascinating to watch the gradual transformation from a self-effacing guy who could die any time, one with whom our sympathies are carefully aligned, become ever more ruthless. If ever Walt had a problem with self-confidence, getting into the drugs trade and committing the odd murder of low-lifes (once the moral imperative is established) sure cures that issue. At first you expect the man to die with a knife in his back any moment but he defies your every expectation. This is a master class in overcoming adversity!House is always House, Tony is Tony, Dexter is as Dexter does, but Walt goes through a metamorphosis from mundane caterpillar into a terrifying butterfly. He slowly shakes off the manifestations of his old life and blossoms forth into his inner tough guy, something most middle-aged men only dream of. Walt starts out looking like Michael Palin‘s version of an accountant in Monty Python, cut out for anything but dealing in the dangerous world of drugs, but when the process is complete he terrifies. Now bald following chemo but complete with goatee beard (the change in facial hair is significant), he adopts shades to replace the round grandad specs, cool gear to replace drab clothes and Y-fronts, and acquires an attitude to match, one he never knew he possessed. A complex character then – and a few insights available too into why Cranston is secretly scary (see here.)In short, Walt becomes the anti-hero of his age, the good boy made bad ass that every middle-aged dad would secretly like to be. But if so then Jesse is the small-time dude gone off the rails who finds himself increasingly ill at ease with the pace with which the partnership heads from minor misdemeanours to major league criminality, revealing a moral streak counterbalancing Walt’s descent into moral purgatory. I know Paul also won awards for his performance though to me it seems strangely less credible, strangely because he looks and sounds the part. It’s not that he does anything badly, but somehow I Maybe his transition is the harder one to perform?Talking of moral purgatory, it’s a touch ironic that a country apparently intolerant of those deviating from the norm and governed by those who profess christian morals should make such a huge success of TV series and movies dealing with characters living, by choice or necessity, on the outer fringes of respectable society. Maybe it’s a fantasy thing but Americans want to see those who push boundaries – but then for the most part stay safely within their own.So then, a finely honed drama with twists. How could you possibly resist? For its genre (which to my mind is human drama and how far in a crisis the human mind can be pushed), it sits alongside the very best, so credit to Vince Gilligan and team.

I bought this as a gift and it arrived quickly and on time. It was neatly packaged. I would strongly recommend.Unless you've been living under a rock for the last few years, you will have, at least, heard of Breaking Bad. For you rock dwellers, Breaking Bad is the story of a hardworking teacher (Walter White, aka Heisenberg) who, throughout his life, has always been the underdog. Despite being a chemistry wiz, he lost out on the opportunity to make millions out of his own discoveries, and whilst his friends became unimaginably wealthy from his ideas, he 'Broke Good' and taught secondary school chemistry. Not only that, but in doing so, he ended up losing his first love to the said friend who makes millions from his ideas. Walter always was the good guy; that is, until he discovers he has Stage IIIA lung cancer and is unable to pay for his treatment. Being unwilling to take any form of charity, even from his wealthiest friends, Walter White ends up between a rock and a hard place: accept his mortality or fight against it. In choosing to fight against it, Walter realises that, as a teacher without medical insurance, and by refusing to take charity, his only option financially is 'breaking bad' and turning his chemistry know-how into cooking the purest Methamphetamine the State had seen. He enters into business with his previous student, Jessie Pinkman, who is able to use his 'low level' criminal contacts to gradually market his new product.The product quickly becomes highly in demand, as Walter and Jessie begin to rise through the criminal hierarchy, they begin to make many enemies in the criminal underworld. As their criminal empire grows throughout the seasons, Walter's moral dilemma of his criminal behaviour becomes more and more emphasised: his motive changes from simply raising money to pay for his chemotherapy to leaving his family 'something' behind after he's gone. As his morality 'breaks bad', this is reflected in the imagery surrounding Walter (the locations, his clothing, his behaviour and his treatment of others, including his family becomes increasingly darker and more aggressive. The problem is that the something Walter wishes to leave behind ($$$) gets bigger and bigger as Walter becomes more and more embroiled in the criminal underworld. So big, in fact, he has to make excuses to his friends and family about where his sudden wealth is coming from, and moreover, how to launder it into 'clean money'. This is where the crooked lawyers come in, Saul Goodman. This is all happening under the nose of his brother in law, Hank Schrader, a highly thought of police officer in the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). Hank is in charge of identifying the elusive 'Heisenburg' (i.e. Walter) and as the seasons progress, Hank's suspicions get closer and closer to identifying his brother in law, Walter. This cat and mouse chase is quite literally unbearably exciting - So much that I ploughed through whole Seasons in a matter of days.The show is most famous for its excellent script writing. Its use of imagery, music, and psychological games adds to what is, undoubtedly, the best show of the last decade. Whilst I personally felt the show became slower (some even say lost its way) between seasons 3-4, it is still a great show. It is simply that compared with the dramatic decent into the criminal underworld in Seasons 1-2, seasons 3-4 would undoubtedly be slower as Walter becomes more and more complacent. Walter's hubrism builds to an explosive (quite literally) ending in Season 5. In this sense, ending at 5 seasons is quite refreshing because the show didn't "sell itself out" by chasing profits. Instead of potentially making many more millions over 10 seasons, it righly maintains its artistic standards and 'bows out early'.Ever wondered why you struggle through your 9-5 monotonous job on a daily basis, and wondered about more illicit means of making your millions? First watch Breaking Bad!

I didn't watch breaking bad when it was on tv, but was recommended by loads of family and friends and many people felt it was the type of show I would enjoy (I was big into the sopranos, the walking dead, mad men, boardwalk empire, homeland - they're my favourites). I had heard a lot of good things about the show, which was surprising considering the subject matter. We quickly started watching it and instantly fell in love with it. Walter White is loveable, even considering he should be the "bad guy". Its another one of those shows where you are rooting for the bad guy and the good guy is the enemy! Great story lines and overall very exciting. Can't wait to see the rest of it! I don't want to give away any of the storyline, but if you like shows like I had listed above, I think you'd like it. Its not for the faint hearted and is very grown up and dark, but great writing and film making. I'd recommend! Great price for the box set as well at 17 quid when you consider the first series alone is nearly 13 on its own!