** Please note that whilst the following post may be long and indulgent, it is specifically free of spoilers so any non fans can read it and understand why they should be watching the show without ruining the experience for themselves. If you are one of these people please read on. Or better yet, stop reading and just go and watch the show. Now! **
Tonight marks a bitter
sweet moment for me. It will be a moment that I personally won't get
to experience until tomorrow night, or possibly Tuesday, potentially
beyond even that. It will have happened though. For better or worse,
in triumph, in desolation, or most likely in triumphant desolation.
Breaking Bad will air
its final episode and resign itself to history.
Breaking Bad is, in my
opinion, the greatest television drama of all time. Certainly that I
have seen. Note that I say drama as opposed to show because there is
no way you can compare it with, for example, the creative pique of
The Simpsons. They are different beasts entirely and to judge one
against the merits of the other would be to do both a disservice.
Although anyone who found joy in the image of Sideshow Bob walking in
to a rake would find plenty to savour in Breaking Bad. When it comes
to serialised drama though, I consider it to be unsurpassed. This is
of course just my humble opinion, but for what its worth, I watch a
lot of television.
I still remember where
I was when I first decided I needed to start watching this show. At
the home of a friend who had Sky TV (read: Cable TV for want of a
basic American translation), we were watching The Legend of Zorro,
simply because it happened to be on. During the advert break the
channel airing it, FX, showed a brief trailer for a new American show
they had picked up for UK distribution. There were two things that
immediately grabbed from this trailer. Firstly it looked like a more
action packed version of another show that I was a fan of, Weeds, in
which a cash strapped 'single mom' in an upper class suburban
community became a weed dealer in order to maintain her way of life.
Secondly it starred the guy who played the dad in Malcolm in the
Middle, for my money the funniest performer in one of the funniest
shows I knew. These two factors made this show an immediate priority
for my future viewing schedule. They also, in no way prepared me for
what I would experience through the show over the ensuing 5 seasons
and 6 years.
Given its current level
of public adulation and seeming omnipresence in current pop culture
discourse it would be easy to bask in smug satisfaction over being
there first and liking it before it was big. Well, to be fair, I was
and I did. It didn't come easy though and I would be lying if I
claimed to have grasped then the genius for which it is so widely
acknowledged today. Truth be told for the first three seasons I
carried on a strange viewing ritual whereby I would watch half the
episodes, get distracted for a week or so and then not get round to
catching up until I started seeing online promotion for the next
season and remember how far I was lagging behind.
It was never a question
of doubting the quality, far from it, the writing, directing and of
course, performances have never been less than compelling. The
problem was, as you might imagine with a show chronicling the plight
of a cancer stricken chemistry teacher who uses his scientific know
how to cook crystal meth with a former student in order to provide
for his family when he passes, it was kinda bleak. Where Weeds had
been a light and frothy distraction with the humour at its forefront,
Breaking Bad was a torrid trudge through the physical and moral
degradation of a good man, blind to the destruction he wreaked upon
all that he was trying to preserve. Sure there has always been a
wonderfully measured seam of truly black humour underpinning the
whole endeavour but you would be right in thinking it does not sound
like a laugh a minute. If anyone ever doubted that the production and
distribution of class A narcotics was a dirty business, this is the
show that would help them see clearly.
The moment that then
show truly took hold of me was the start of the fourth season. I was
not alone in feeling this. Whilst the show had been award winning and
critically acclaimed for some time, it was the start of the fourth
season it started to take more of a focus in the public
consciousness. This was helped in part by the spectacular and
devastating conclusion to the third season. For a show that has
always been notorious for the dark acts it pushes its protagonists
towards, the closing moments of the third season really stepped up
the potential of what our 'heroes' were capable of. This meant that
the steady stream of viewers that had been trickling in to the show
over its three season run had great cause to go out and tell all
their friends what they were missing out on as well as giving the
press perfect grounds to call out to anyone not yet in the know that
this was the point to jump on board.
It also helped that the
fourth season was phenomenal. Truly phenomenal.
Anyone that knows me
and has heard me talk about television, especially about this show,
will no doubt be sick of me saying the following statement, but I
will say it again because I still hold it out to be true, even after
years of consideration. The fourth season of Breaking Bad is the
single greatest individual season of a televised drama ever produced.
Bar none. After years of establishing the characters, giving their
lives gravitas, sewing their circumstances with significance,
cranking up an ever tense accumulation of extreme actions and dire
consequences, the fourth season was the point in which the show truly
brought everything together to demonstrate what it was made of.
In terms of where the
writers were prepared to take the characters and what the performers
were prepared to give them, this was the moment in which, from my
perspective at least, it transcended from simply being another
fantastic drama amongst the many in 'Televisions New Golden Age ™ '
to being a uniquely magnificent and compelling viewing experience.
The sheer unpredictability of its machinations combined with the deep
affection it had instilled in the audience towards the central
players meant that it redefined the notion of finding it hard to look
yet impossible to look away. It took an already tense situation and
somehow found new screws to tighten.
It stepped up the scale
of the action whilst also crystallising (no pun
intended...well...maybe slightly) the minutiae of the characters
motivations providing each episode with endlessly quotable
significant dialogue and spectacle that still proves unforgettable.
The most amazing thing about it was that it managed to orchestrate a
dramatic crescendo across the episodes and still manage to provide a
climax to events that in many viewers minds, mine included, proved
even more satisfying than had been hoped for or indeed expected. The
experience of watching the final three episodes of this season, right
up to its last frame, is something that has stayed with me ever since
and I can never see myself forgetting.
This is by no means to
say that the action in the following season is inferior, far from it.
The show maintains its ability to simultaneously shock and inspire
with commendable gusto. It was more the experience of discovering
what the show was truly capable of. It is a shame that to some people
Breaking Bad has become a lazy by-term used to dismiss quality drama
simply due to the level of attention and hype it receives. They
perceive someone laying acclaim upon shows of this nature to be
little more than a self serving statement of bandwagon jumping. If
proselytising over the virtues of Breaking Bad is a crime, it is
certainly one I have just proven myself to be more than guilty of.
Thankfully the perspective of others simply does not matter. No
opinion whether positive or negative will ever dampen the visceral
pleasure I have received week in, week out anticipating, devouring
and digesting each new episode.
As much as I have been
looking forward to it's imminent conclusion, the thought of living in
a world in which I will never again have a new episode to look
forward to is a sad one. The misadventures of Walter White and Jesse
Pinkman have genuinely enriched any moment of my life that they have
been a part of. Whilst I may take this moment to thank the shows
creators for this creative gift they have bestowed upon an
international audience, it is also necessary to of course acknowledge
the inevitable fact this very last hurrah could turn out to be a
massive disappointment. How could it not after all this time? How
could it ever truly satisfy every juicy plot point that has
tantalised the fan base for all these hours? Well if there is one
thing I have garnered over the years it is to not simply expect the
unexpected but rather to not expect anything at all. Leave all
expectations at the door because underestimating the shows creators,
just like underestimating Walter White himself is something to be
done at your peril. If you think you know what is coming next, you
have learned nothing at all.
I can't wait.
