This is my plea to get those who are not watching Breaking Bad to take the opportunity to start.
AMC is going to systematically start replaying the entire series during the overnight, DVR friendly, hours starting this Friday.
Here are 3 reasons, I could list more, but I don't feel like writing (and know you don't want to read) too long of an essay.
#1 Bryan Cranston
He's the actor that plays the lead role of Walter White. But if you haven't seen the show you probably have the narrow minded perception of The Dad from Malcolm in the Middle. In an
unfortunate coincidence, the first 3 minutes of the show's first episode (embedded below***) features Cranston in tight white underwear briefs not unlike the kind he wore in the former Fox sitcom's opening title sequence. The comparisons, in character and every way imaginable, end there. Bryan Cranston is the three time defending Emmy winner for Best Actor in a Drama Series for this role. If you are someone who loves Jon Hamm in Mad Men, Hugh Laurie in House or Michael C. Hall in Dexter - know that Cranston has beat them all three years in a row. It's not a fluke. It's real. (side note: Aaron Paul won the Best Supporting Actor Emmy this year to complete the Actor sweep for Breaking Bad)#2 There are stories of good people doing bad things and bad people doing good things - but this show is neither.
Breaking Bad is a perfect name for a show that shows deconstruction. The story is of a man becoming something new, something worse, and the journey that leads to piece after piece falling apart to the detriment to himself and all that come into his association. It's haunting in its reality. Breaking Bad is not a comedy. Although there are traces of tension relieving black humor from time to time, this show is not positioned as a distant comedy like Weeds (a show that, as its poor timing circumstances must hurt, also has suburban domestic drug dealing as a main plot driver).
#3. The cold opening sequences
Every episode of Breaking Bad contains a bonus short film that happens to air immediately before the opening credits, or at least that's what it feels like to me. Instead of describing this point further, here is how the show began it's first*** episode...
***2013 UPDATE:
The original YouTube video doesn't exist anymore - I was only able to find a French dubbed version, which if you are like me and have seen it enough times it doesn't matter... But if you haven't seen it, I hope it makes you want to watch the real version more (since it seems especially daunting not knowing what Walter is saying!)
I sincerely hope you'll want to continue watching after this tease and set your recording devices. It's going to be a wonderful trip for yours truly - as I've only seen these episodes a few times and can't wait to pick up on the nuances I have certainly missed.
