When I finally got around to watching the first season of this show I did have to make an effort to put aside any hype I had heard and not take any weight of expectations in with me based on people throwing around praise for it. I mostly achieved this because it is unfair on the show and also risks me not liking it on terms I have in my head rather than on its own. Anyway, I generally felt that the first season came over like a long pilot – it seemed not totally sure of itself and the pacing and tone was not quite as consistent or strong as I would have liked; it showed plenty of potential and did more than enough to engage and interest me, but it did feel like a pilot season.
The second season opens with much more of a sense of confidence about it and while it is the same it definitely feels like it knows itself a bit better. The overall sweep of the season was much better paced and got the mix of content and the tone really good. I had worries at the start of the season because I felt that almost too much was happening too quickly; we pick right up after the end of the first season and within the very two episodes not very much time has passed but a LOT has happened (and a lot of very "big" stuff as well). This worried me because I didn't think it would be a good idea to keep it up at this rate – this is not 24 and the action was almost too rapid and too dramatic. Fortunately the show does slow down after these opening episodes and from there we do continue to have ongoing events and twists and turns, but they vary in nature, in focus and in scale so that I didn't feel I was being rushed or bombarded with overly intense drama.
Instead we have personal drama infused with the drama of the business of drug dealing. We have comic realities of the business constantly being taught to Walt in the school of hard-knocks and we have his constant battle to do right by his family while also deceiving them and changing from the man they love into the man he needs to be to look after them. Indeed it is this personal battle within Walt that is the best part of the season and it is brought to the fore really well. Of course it helps that Cranston is terrific across the show – he gets his character totally and he convinces in every mode, he has moments of doubt but his focus and determination takes him down roads that he only seems to morally consider later – and this is where his personal battle is, often played silently on his face and just behind his eyes. He is equally well supported by Paul (albeit his character is simpler) and of course Gunn and Norris (the latter doing good work with more material this time).
It isn't all perfect though and I did find the last few episodes to be a little disappointing. In particular I found some of the plotting devices to be really quite contrived and not fitting the rest of the show. So I just about went along with Walt meeting Jane's father at random in a bar to unknowingly discuss the same situation (that was a nice tragic moment that was good enough for me to overlook the way it came about), but for the "build-up" of the bear in the pool and the crime-scene at Walt's house to then be caused by a plane crash directly above the house caused by Jane's father, just seemed to silly and too contrived for it to work on me as much as I would have liked – if anything it did make me feel a little disappointed that this had been the thing "teased" through the season only for it to be one of the weakest of all the many events through the season. It wasn't a deal-breaker for me because I did love the rest of the season a great deal, it just seemed out of character for the show and disappointingly random.
The second season of this show really did please me. It provided plenty of big moments of intensity and drama but it balanced these well with just as many character-driven moments and in particular seemed much more confident in regards the character of Walt- who is the heart of the show. The things I was disappointed in did bug me, but they were the minority of the show – the majority of it was stronger and improved from the first season, all moving in the right direction to make a very enjoyable and engaging season. I suspect it will not be very long before I am starting on the third season.
The second season opens with much more of a sense of confidence about it and while it is the same it definitely feels like it knows itself a bit better. The overall sweep of the season was much better paced and got the mix of content and the tone really good. I had worries at the start of the season because I felt that almost too much was happening too quickly; we pick right up after the end of the first season and within the very two episodes not very much time has passed but a LOT has happened (and a lot of very "big" stuff as well). This worried me because I didn't think it would be a good idea to keep it up at this rate – this is not 24 and the action was almost too rapid and too dramatic. Fortunately the show does slow down after these opening episodes and from there we do continue to have ongoing events and twists and turns, but they vary in nature, in focus and in scale so that I didn't feel I was being rushed or bombarded with overly intense drama.
Instead we have personal drama infused with the drama of the business of drug dealing. We have comic realities of the business constantly being taught to Walt in the school of hard-knocks and we have his constant battle to do right by his family while also deceiving them and changing from the man they love into the man he needs to be to look after them. Indeed it is this personal battle within Walt that is the best part of the season and it is brought to the fore really well. Of course it helps that Cranston is terrific across the show – he gets his character totally and he convinces in every mode, he has moments of doubt but his focus and determination takes him down roads that he only seems to morally consider later – and this is where his personal battle is, often played silently on his face and just behind his eyes. He is equally well supported by Paul (albeit his character is simpler) and of course Gunn and Norris (the latter doing good work with more material this time).
It isn't all perfect though and I did find the last few episodes to be a little disappointing. In particular I found some of the plotting devices to be really quite contrived and not fitting the rest of the show. So I just about went along with Walt meeting Jane's father at random in a bar to unknowingly discuss the same situation (that was a nice tragic moment that was good enough for me to overlook the way it came about), but for the "build-up" of the bear in the pool and the crime-scene at Walt's house to then be caused by a plane crash directly above the house caused by Jane's father, just seemed to silly and too contrived for it to work on me as much as I would have liked – if anything it did make me feel a little disappointed that this had been the thing "teased" through the season only for it to be one of the weakest of all the many events through the season. It wasn't a deal-breaker for me because I did love the rest of the season a great deal, it just seemed out of character for the show and disappointingly random.
The second season of this show really did please me. It provided plenty of big moments of intensity and drama but it balanced these well with just as many character-driven moments and in particular seemed much more confident in regards the character of Walt- who is the heart of the show. The things I was disappointed in did bug me, but they were the minority of the show – the majority of it was stronger and improved from the first season, all moving in the right direction to make a very enjoyable and engaging season. I suspect it will not be very long before I am starting on the third season.