Ready for the Breaking Bad Finale?
Breaking Bad, the second of AMC's original series, wraps its first season on Sunday. The arc of season one has followed chemistry teacher Walter White's foray into the crystal meth trade following his fatal lung cancer diagnosis.
Although it hasn't made quite the critical splash that Mad Men did, Breaking Bad has held its own in terms of ratings and reviews. It bodes well for AMC that both series have done well despite being so different. Mad Men is as glossy and slick as a fancy magazine ad. If the story weren't so compelling, I might still watch just because it's pretty. Breaking Bad, on the other hand, is the very epitome of gritty. Set in Albuquerque, the dust of the desert seems to permeate every frame. The opening of the third episode featured the grossest thing I have ever seen on TV. Or ever. If you watch the show, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If not, well, just imagine what might happen if a chemist needed to dispose of a body, then delegated the task to a less experienced partner in crime who botched the job.
Ever since I was treated to that lovely vision, I delegated Breaking Bad to the "do not watch while eating dinner" section of my TiVo list. I fell behind a bit, but caught up on the latest episodes last night. The past two episodes really crystallized (okay, yes, pun intended) the major elements of the story arc. Walt told his family about his cancer, but was still reluctant to get treatment. An intervention staged by his wife was one of the best scenes of the series so far. Love for his family convinced Walt to go ahead and suffer through the expensive treatment. Meanwhile, Pinkman had been trying to cook his own meth, but couldn't manage to make one as perfect as the batch he made with Walt. In order to pay for the treatment, Walt agreed to work with Pinkman again. Another fantastic scene came when Pinkman recognized Walt's cancer symptoms and made him admit to his illness.
Although they had the cooking part down, Walt and Pinkman still had the matter of distribution to iron out. You know, since Walt strangled their last connection with a bike lock. Their efforts to hook up with Tuco, the next guy up on the totem pole, landed Pinkman in the hospital, but Walt used his chemistry know-how to intimidate Tuco into paying him. He's like MacGyver! (Well, minus the mullet and plus some illegal substances.)
In the season finale, Walt and Pinkman get in deeper with Tuco, as Walt's DEA agent brother-in-law appears to be getting closer to discovering the truth about Walt.
Although I haven't been able to find official word of season two, I did see a rumor that filming will begin in June, which means we might see new episodes as early as next summer.
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Amy Kane spends as much quality time with her television as possible, when she's not busy at her day job as a cube dweller.
