The Liz Smith Column | 06/07/2009 11:00 pm
Liz Smith: 'Breaking Bad' – Am I the Only One Watching This Great Show?!
Our Gossip Girl clues you in to the best show you’re not watching.
Image courtesy of AMC
"After having its maiden run shortened by the writers’ strike, ‘Breaking Bad’ recently capped a breathtaking second season that delved deeper into the show’s world of moral ambiguity and unintended consequences," writes Variety’s pundit Brian Lowry. He was talking about that unusual thing – quality television!
***
Well, I usually don’t accept expensive bribes and thank yous from people in showbiz. But I am sitting here proudly wearing my "Breaking Bad" wristwatch, which came from the show’s lead actor – the talented Bryan Cranston – with this delightful note: "How dare you write such terrific things about our show!" I am really proud of this watch, which says "Breaking Bad" right on the face.
***
What has bugged me since this TV show started on AMC is the fact that nobody I ever mentioned it to seemed to know what I was talking about. Because I have seldom seen such an engaging, shocking, surprising, violent and adult drama on television, I keep touting "Breaking Bad" as if I am an evangelical TV watcher. (It’s right up there with my other enthusiasms, which are for AMC’s "Mad Men" – I had better luck pushing that one – and for HBO’s "Big Love," about a Mormon household trying to hide its polygamy.)
***
Briefly, and not to ruin "Breaking Bad" for you if you’ve never seen it, this TV drama tells the story of an Arizona high-school chemistry professor in love with his wonderful wife and expecting a baby. He discovers he has lung cancer and sets out in a desperate way to earn big bucks against the eventuality of his death. (The professor’s family also has an appealing young son who has been crippled by cerebral palsy and his brother-in-law, who just happens to be a big-deal, loud-mouth DEA agent.)
I suppose you can guess somehow what our run-of-the-mill hero does to make money, but I won’t get into plot here. I am hoping you’ll now go to your local store and buy the DVDs of the first season episodes of "Breaking Bad." Or go to the trouble to download seasons one and two from iTunes.
***
The show ended its second season the other night with happenings so dramatic, unbelievable and yet unhappily believable that they defy TV expectations. (Talk about the law of unintended consequences! Let’s just say your heart in your mouth won’t be a bad description.) I leave it up to you to figure out your reaction to the singed one-eyed teddy bear in the swimming pool.
The acting of Bryan Cranston … his wife, played by an appealing truth-loving Anna Gunn … the son – a sympathetic R.J. Mitte … the in-law cop Dean Norris and his dizzy klepto wife, Betsy Brandt, is all above and beyond first rate. You start living the lives of these people. And let me not forget the catalyst young actor Aaron Paul as Cranston’s choice "helper" in his money-making attempt. (It is already established that Aaron Paul will be whatever kind of big-deal acting star that real life and this series intends him to be. He is fabulous.)
The cast of ‘Breaking Bad’/Image courtesy of AMC
To give you an idea, the behind-the-scenes villain and one of many haut criminals involved in drug trafficking is seen here in season two as the innocuous head of a local chain of Taco Bells and performs as an upstanding citizen! That’s just a peek into "Breaking Bad." Maybe you don’t have to find seasons one and two and can just join the fray with season three, but, ye gods, you’ll be missing two seasons of the best TV I’ve ever seen. (If it were a movie, I’d compare it to "Chinatown." Only it is even better than that! )
***
Well, I usually don’t accept expensive bribes and thank yous from people in showbiz. But I am sitting here proudly wearing my "Breaking Bad" wristwatch, which came from the show’s lead actor – the talented Bryan Cranston – with this delightful note: "How dare you write such terrific things about our show!" I am really proud of this watch, which says "Breaking Bad" right on the face.
***
What has bugged me since this TV show started on AMC is the fact that nobody I ever mentioned it to seemed to know what I was talking about. Because I have seldom seen such an engaging, shocking, surprising, violent and adult drama on television, I keep touting "Breaking Bad" as if I am an evangelical TV watcher. (It’s right up there with my other enthusiasms, which are for AMC’s "Mad Men" – I had better luck pushing that one – and for HBO’s "Big Love," about a Mormon household trying to hide its polygamy.)
***
Briefly, and not to ruin "Breaking Bad" for you if you’ve never seen it, this TV drama tells the story of an Arizona high-school chemistry professor in love with his wonderful wife and expecting a baby. He discovers he has lung cancer and sets out in a desperate way to earn big bucks against the eventuality of his death. (The professor’s family also has an appealing young son who has been crippled by cerebral palsy and his brother-in-law, who just happens to be a big-deal, loud-mouth DEA agent.)
I suppose you can guess somehow what our run-of-the-mill hero does to make money, but I won’t get into plot here. I am hoping you’ll now go to your local store and buy the DVDs of the first season episodes of "Breaking Bad." Or go to the trouble to download seasons one and two from iTunes.
***
The show ended its second season the other night with happenings so dramatic, unbelievable and yet unhappily believable that they defy TV expectations. (Talk about the law of unintended consequences! Let’s just say your heart in your mouth won’t be a bad description.) I leave it up to you to figure out your reaction to the singed one-eyed teddy bear in the swimming pool.
The acting of Bryan Cranston … his wife, played by an appealing truth-loving Anna Gunn … the son – a sympathetic R.J. Mitte … the in-law cop Dean Norris and his dizzy klepto wife, Betsy Brandt, is all above and beyond first rate. You start living the lives of these people. And let me not forget the catalyst young actor Aaron Paul as Cranston’s choice "helper" in his money-making attempt. (It is already established that Aaron Paul will be whatever kind of big-deal acting star that real life and this series intends him to be. He is fabulous.)
The cast of ‘Breaking Bad’/Image courtesy of AMC
To give you an idea, the behind-the-scenes villain and one of many haut criminals involved in drug trafficking is seen here in season two as the innocuous head of a local chain of Taco Bells and performs as an upstanding citizen! That’s just a peek into "Breaking Bad." Maybe you don’t have to find seasons one and two and can just join the fray with season three, but, ye gods, you’ll be missing two seasons of the best TV I’ve ever seen. (If it were a movie, I’d compare it to "Chinatown." Only it is even better than that! )
Read more about: Aaron Paul, Adam Lambert, AMC, Anna Gunn, Betsy Brandt, Breaking Bad, Brian Lowry, Bryan Cranston, Dean Norris, Liz Smith, Lynne Willingham, Mad Men, News, R.J. Mitte, Television, The Liz Smith Column, Variety, Vince Gilligan
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22 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment
I’ve never even heard of this show and I live in Arizona so one would think it should have come up in conversation somewhere? Surprising…but now I know. Thanks for the heads up, Liz!
You should watch the finale episode. Trust me, just do. And I think Walt’s actions with Jesse’s GF do in fact jibe with a man who’s out of his depth and is trying to protect himself and his family, which now basically includes Jesse for better or worse. Besides blackmailing Walt, he felt Jesse’s GF was ruining Jesse’s life and leading him down a path of self-destruction. Remember, the main reason he didn’t want to give Jesse his cut of the money all at once was that he was convinced Jesse would shoot it all in his arm and die of an OD. So Walt’s decision to do (or not do) what he did with the GF wasn’t based merely on greed- misguided as it was, he wanted her out of the picture for Jesse’s sake. And let’s just say there were some major unintended, almost biblical consequences at the very end of the finale.