An archive of articles about US television programmes and production.
US TV
Review: Breaking Bad 2×1
In the US: Sundays, 10pm/9c, AMC
In the UK: Probably FX again
Breaking Bad is one of those TV shows that no matter how hard you try to describe it properly, no amount of description really gives it justice.
Essentially, the plot is this: a brilliant high school chemistry teacher (Walter White, played by Bryan Cranston, the dad in Malcolm in the Middle, here almost unrecognisable) discovers he has cancer and that even if he survives the disease, the medical bills will mortgage his family’s future. So, despite the fact his brother is a DEA agent, he decides to get into the lucrative crystal meth business, making the purest, best crystal meth on the market using his advanced geek skills to safeguard his family’s future.
See? Doesn’t sound promising, does it..
Yet the show, now starting its second season, is one of those quality shows that’s allowing AMC to make a mark in drama after years of re-runs and cowboy movies. It looks at issues like the state of healthcare in the US, High Schools and indeed the drugs trade, giving the probably quite comfortable viewer a glimpse of the scary side of the drugs business, without the insulation from reality, make-believe and training the characters get in other shows – what would you do if you were trying to sell drugs, how long would it be before you got killed or had to kill, and what effect would it have on you, your loved ones and your relationships?
Now season two’s here after the first season was curtailed by the writers’ strike, and things are even darker than before, if that’s even possible.
