Breaking Bad

Brian Cranston is being credited with making the show "cook". Yep, he does on screen, but I'd say equally the writing is most superb behind the scenes. It's the story itself that pops, so I'm giving 50% to that and 50 to Brian.

If you've read your Shakespeare then you'll understand this tragedy as it unfolds. Many a squeamish folk ask the question of "why" when it comes to tragedy, or entertainment of this kind. There are many reasons, chief among them self-reflection, so that we do not fall into the same pit. There is also the cautionary tale, the same thing as self-reflection, and closely related is also the social commentary that holds itself up to us as a mirror and allows a reflective look into the soul of what is making us tick as a people group. This is all of those, and more.

The MORE would be the look at Middle Age. No, not the Scotts vs. the Brits, and Joan of Arc; MIDDLE AGE, meaning my age, like between 30 and 50 somewhere, where a person gets all old feeling and starts looking back with regrets and longings and tries to revisit his/her youth, OR make up for something that is currently missing that we didn't feel like we got right, or enough of. That's definitely the camp where our High School chemistry teacher fits in. The layers that Dr. White goes through and are on display in the show are phenomenal. But you also could not get a better side crew than Aaron Paul, who plays Jesse, and the wife, Skyler, who is played by Anna Gunn. The new-to-acting yet also brilliantly played son of Dr. White is RJ Mitte, playing Walter Jr. The character has CP, but so does Mitte in RL, so he understands that role from the inside.

This twisting plot is very much from the pages of Shakespeare, as admits Producer Vince Gilligan. There is also a very interesting insider podcast you can download if you want to get all the inside scoop, and it's actually very good, mostly because the podcast is done by those actually producing, writing, acting, and directing the show. That always helps.

But just past season 2 now it still remains to be seen to what depths the actions of our Dr. White will take him. You wonder just how much BADDER it can get than what we ended up with in the last episode. This is the only show I've actually purchased in DVD format. That says something about the way I feel about it, since I'm difficult to part with my cash. I say explore this show, but it is not for the squeamish. Enjoy.

Uh.....I think enjoy might be the right word.

Agitatus