episode 2

I take back some of what I wrote iin the last episode. Wow. Only the second episode and I've never seen anything so nuts. Two guys that were supposed to die and one stays alive. The entire episode is dedicated to the brutally comic situation of what to do with them, very untraditional for a prime time tv show.. I especially liked the guy eating the sandwich and the bike chain clinking behind him. "Oh you don't like the crust was a little overdone though, like they were trying too hard to be tarantino.".

Breaking Bad Pilot

Way too obviously nonformualicly formualic tries to be insane and bad ass and crazy but really the plot is still too predictable and linear and smacks of basic cable. AMC  has supposedly made HBO quality shows recently but I completely dont buy into the hype. This show follows in the footsteps of Sopranos and Sons of Anarchy in that we root for an antihero but I dont like the cheap shots and it lacks moral grey areas upon closer inspection. Holy shit he makes meth but well really we have to sympathize with him, he has lung cancer and his son has some sort of dsorder that makes him talk funny. It was a really cheesy scene when he chases away the bullies that make fun of his son, to get some cheap affection from the audience who are happy they got what they deserved. Thats as far from grey morality as it gets, thats a cheap black and white set up. I didn't like the "stoic native american" who provided comic relief when he didnt say anything. That reflects poorly both on native americans, and it was also blatantly stolen from the chief character in one flew over a cuckoos nest. I didn't like the stupidity of the plot, the meth dealer with a pitbull isn't the least bit convincing as someone tough, and what a dumb turn of events that they decide to kill him but he says wait ill show you my bad ass recipe and they go with him to check it out. This tries to be as morbidly absurd as the coen brothers but fails miserably, as they are masters and perfectionists and every detail is thought of. Finally the chemical knowledge was used either as comic relief (as in haha the dumbass doesn't get what the bright chemistry teacher is talking about) or as a plot twist a la macgyver (holy shit he killed them with a sneaky chemical reaction). I would love a show done in a style like the wire, where we get to be immersed in the world of chemical reactions and we could learn something about it in the process. And if we didn't get it we could look it up on wikipedia and be a smidgeon smarter. Instead the entire reaction is done with a stylistically sped up camera shot with hyper kinetic electronic music playing in the background.

The only thing I really did like about this show is how nimbly it flowed. It went nicely at its own pace and everything was interesting for the most part and I was really curious to see what would happen next. I enjoyed the world weary seamlessness that get Walter to get into such a dagnerous trade in such a radical shift (Job sucks, sons sick, no money, boss is a dick, students suck at my second job oh shit im diagnosed with lung cancer, over the top obnoxious dea agent brother in law shows him a meth lab bust, ok meth time). A lesser show wouldn't have pulled all of that off so effortlessly but the pilot episode at least was able to. Good enough to watch the rest of the season, and we'll see how slick the show gets from there. Fun, easy viewing, but nothing crazy scary or revolutionary. 

6/10