Season by Season Review - Breaking Bad

Season Review no. 4: Season 4

★★★★☆

5 word summary:

Shit’s starting to get real.

5 sentence review:

I have a confession to make, and this may account for the slightly lower mark for this season than that last…I watch breaking bad while either scrolling through Tumblr or playing random apps on my phone.

This season had a lot of talking, serious talking, a lot of which was also in unsubtitled Spanish (which is probably because I’m not watching this on DVD or TV…) but with such intense conversations either being incomprehensible to this monolingual girl or requiring my full attention, I didn’t get a lot of what was going on.

This season decided to focus on a lot of plotting, it seemed every character was scheming, even Skyler was getting in on the action, and this was enjoyable however it was also confusing because sometimes I didn’t know how much I was meant to know and whether I was only confused because I hadn’t been listening properly.

Everything seemed more devoted to tension and increasing the danger for these characters (which worries me because only one season to go and I’m expecting a lot of deaths) but I miss the old ‘funner’ days with Walt and Jesse, I’m sure this is an intentional affect, because they want the audience to realise that the two have gotten in over their heads, but that doesn’t mean that I still want it to go back to the original set-up.

Another unfortunate thing is that I knew what was going to be the climax of this season, which meant that I was just waiting for it to happen and was not overly interested in anything else going on in the episode because I knew where everything was leading too, this is the main problem with watching an incredibly popular show after it has finished – spoilers everywhere!

5 good things:

1. Jesse being paternal.

2. The final episode (although not a surprise).

3. Skyler being really intelligent and helpful.

4. Hank getting so close to the truth.

5. Giving Gus more of a back story.

5 bad thing:

1. Trying to drag up interest in Marie by having her nick things again.

2. Ted being annoying and Skyler falling for it.

3. Walter Jr. having all sorts of car troubles.

4. Walt sabotaging Hank’s investigations (let the poor guy do his job).

5. A lot of the scenes being in Spanish and yet none of them subtitled (my fault but still annoying).

Season by Season Review - Breaking Bad
Season Review no. 3: Season 3

★★★★★

5 word summary:
Getting better with every season!

5 sentence review:
The threat of the underworld is becoming more present for the characters and there were several moments when you worry about each character, which is brilliant because the best shows are the ones where you have no idea who is going to die.
The changes of Walt and Jesse's involvement in the meth industry is really interesting because they have been elevated to an industrial level, with the help of the sinister Gus, and this means that we see a very different working dynamic between the two compared to when they worked in the RV.
A few characters are being developed more, mostly Hank, Skyler and Marie, but this isn't necessarily a good thing because Hank is obsessive, Skyler is still unforgiving despite being willing to accept the drug money when it suits her and Marie is really horrible to everyone when Hank is in hospital.
A lot of these behaviours can be explained away, and the imperfection of these characters makes the show more believable, however this isn't a documentary, you can write unbelievable but likeable characters.
Overall the narrative progression is drawing me into the plot and I'm fascinated to see where the next 2 seasons take all these characters.

5 good things:
1. Fly episode (made me laugh, made me cry).
2. Badger and Skinny Pete being in it more.
3. Jesse messing around in the industrial meth lab.
4. Saul not being completely spineless and helping Walt and Jesse.
5. Showing rehab as positive and Badger and Skinny Pete not wanting to corrupt them.

5 bad thing:
1. The annoying 'threatening' Moncada silent brothers.
2. Odd drawing of Heisenberg which I don't think was explained (yet?).

3. Odd crawling scene which I don't think was explained (yet?).

4. 'Family is everything' drowning scene...necessary? Or just for shock factor?
5....