"Breaking Bad" (2008) TV series

User Rating:

9.0/10   

Creator:

Vince Gilligan

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3

Release Date:

January 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

The end justifies the extreme.

Plot:

A drama about a high school chemistry teacher who's suffering from the world's worst case of mid-life crisis and becomes a criminal.

Plot Keywords:

Pregnancy | Motor Home | Controversy | Camper | Marital Relations

Awards:

Won 4 Primetime Emmys. Another 5 wins & 12 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Mon. Nov. 9

12:02 AM

AMC

ABQ

#2.13

Cast

Bryan Cranston	...	Walter H. White (20 episodes, 2008-2009)
Anna Gunn	...	Skyler White (20 episodes, 2008-2009)
Aaron Paul	...	Jesse Pinkman (20 episodes, 2008-2009)
Dean Norris	...	Hank (20 episodes, 2008-2009)
Betsy Brandt	...	Marie (20 episodes, 2008-2009)
RJ Mitte	...	Walter White Jr. / ... (20 episodes, 2008-2009)
Steven Michael Quezada	...	Gomez / ... (12 episodes, 2008-2009)

Runtime:

45 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

USA:TV-14 | New Zealand:R16 (season 1) | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque Studios - 5650 University Boulevard SE, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Sony Pictures Television

Trivia:

Just like Walter wears something green in every episode, Jesse wears something with red in it every episode.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Soup: (2009-03-13)" (2009)

Brilliant, quirky dark comedy with expert performance by Bryan Cranston...

BREAKING BAD is a seriocomic study of a middle-aged man, a high school chemist teacher, on the brink of losing it over a financially poor marriage and the fact that he's leading a double life that his wife knows nothing about. As the harried man, BRYAN CRANSTON delivers a solid performance, full of realistic touches--laced with bitter humor and honesty--his superb work holding the whole episode together.

Seems the need for cash sets up the idea for him to consider partnership with an ex-student who deals in drug sales. After viewing a newscast showing stacks of easy money from a drug bust, Cranston gets the idea to ask his brother-in-law, a DEA agent, if he can accompany him on one of the busts. While there, he spots an ex-student escaping from the scene and hooks up with him later to propose a partnership wherein he'll make the drugs and the student will sell them.

Meanwhile, a visit to the doctor because of a dry cough reveals that he has lung cancer, something he doesn't want to tell his wife because she's expecting a baby. Desperate for "easy money", he gets heavily involved with the ex-student (another brilliant performance by AARON PAUL), and together they find themselves caught up in drastic circumstances with two bodies to get rid of as soon as their drug activities go awry. The sequence where Cranston lets the phosphine gas (while mixing ingredients) do the job of ridding himself of the two men in the van, is a model of suspense.

There's a payoff in virtually every scene, full of unexpected twists that seem credible and always true to the characters. The suspense is almost non-stop, the action scenes are briskly handled, the humor is diabolic, and the dialog is always sharp as a knife. In an amusing breakfast scene, with the wife buying things on the cheap and making substitutions, the son remarks: "This bacon tastes like band-aids." It's as dark as a black comedy can get, but played so earnestly by BRYAN CRANSTON and the cast that the viewer is immediately hooked into the story which begins with a bang.