Television Breaking Bad rewatch after 11 years.

[GearSolidMetal]

I've hailed Breaking Bad as the #1 GOAT series, and although I rewatched seasons of the show while the show was still on... I've almost avoided rewatching it for fear it may not be as good years afterward. And after 11 years after the finale has aired I thought this would be a good time to watch it again.

This series has aged like fine wine.
Only one occuring 'flaw' that reared its head could be viewed is it has a sense of 'heightened reality' which would be negatively interpreted as 'plot convenience.' But its not just present within the plot but also within the dark comedy, and the dark comedy is so good it makes it consistent, and forgivable, within the plot.
Its the style of storytelling - both drama and comedy - that is consistently present from the pilot to the finale.

A few friends I've recommended the series to have told me the 1st season was tough to get through, and upon rewatching it I'm a bit more sympathetic towards that perspective if you're expecting what I've hyped it up as 'the #1 GOAT show.' To me it was some new show about to release their second season, and I was surprised I marathoned all 7 episodes of the first season in one sitting. Breaking Bad was AMC's first series (Before Walking Dead or Mad Men) so they didn't give them much of a budget for seven episodes and no one knew if a second series would be greenlit. So I'm sympathetic to the writers and producers and forgive the perception of flaws that they were trying to work out the style of the show within the first weeks on set.

IMHO, the pilot is the GOAT of pilots, and it should be studied in film school for getting to the point and establishing the quality of the show in every aspect, especially script-writing.

Season 1 doesn't really have a finale and leads directly into Season 2 which is 13 episodes, so I prefer to view the first 20 episodes as the 'Krystal Ship Era' of Breaking Bad because the RV was iconic.

Season 3&4 is the 'Gus Fring era.' Total 26 episodes. Good luck finding a more intimidating antagonist that's 5'8". I could write about this character for paragraphs, but I have a feeling this review would drone on for too long. In discussions of the best season of the series its usually a debate between 'Season 3 or 4' although Seasons 2 & 5 aren't far off.

When it was announced the final season of the series would be split in half and eight episodes each I thought 'I have a bad feeling about this.'

Introducing and developing a new antagonist to be on the same level as Gus Fring? Impossible. After watching the final season 11 years ago I thought the new antagonists - 'Todd, his uncle, and the gang of Nazis' - filled Gus's shoes pretty well. But upon rewatching the series I realized they weren't the true antagonist of the final season.

Its Heisenberg.

Part 1 & 2 of Season 5 are 'The Heisenbeg Era.'

And Walt returns in the series finale.



Its difficult to decide what to include and exclude in reviewing a 62 episode series and not make this OP several pages long, so let me get to the TLDR for why everyone who haven't watched it to watch it, and everyone who hasn't watched it in a long while to rewatch it.

*Best TV series ever.
*Best Pilot ever.
*Best single episode of TV ever (Season 5 Episode 6).
*Best series finale ever.
*Best acting performance by a lead actor (Bryan Cranston) ever - don't believe me, believe Anthony Hopkins.
“Your performance as Walter White was the best acting I have seen—ever.”

Spoiler

*And the entire cast's performance match Cranston's dedication to his craft. At no point in the entire 62 episodes did I ever get the feeling that someone didn't belong in their role, and they could have found a better actor for a role, or someone was having an off-day and wasn't performing up to the show's standard.
*There's literally two episodes throughout the entire series I thought the scripts could have been better. 2 out of 62... good luck finding a series with a higher percentage of quality than that, and even then those two episodes are just 'very good' in comparison to the average TV series writing quality.

Edit - Just finished 'El Camino,' the Netflix-exclusive epilogue to Breaking Bad.

The only flaw with this as a epilogue is since this was filmed in 2018, 5 years after the finale, all of the actors had noticably aged since their last appearance in the canon... and its inpossible to not notice each and every one of them.

Jessie looks only slightly older, which was very forgivable... but the actor who plays Todd (AKA Meth Damon) literally gained 70 pounds in the years between the filming of Season 5 and El Camino.

Besides that glaring flaw, this absolutely serves perfectly as an epilogue to Jessie's character and its awesome to see so many great characters from the series back together again in both unseen flashbacks from throughout the series to within the post-series-finale storyline.

Highly recommended for those who just finished the Breaking Bad series to immediately watch El Camino.

 

[Mujeriego]

I've hailed Breaking Bad as the #1 GOAT series, and although I rewatched seasons of the show while the show was still on... I've almost avoided rewatching it for fear it may not be as good years afterward. And after 11 years after the finale has aired I thought this would be a good time to watch it again.

This series has aged like fine wine.
Only one occuring 'flaw' that reared its head could be viewed is it has a sense of 'heightened reality' which would be negatively interpreted as 'plot convenience.' But its not just present within the plot but also within the dark comedy, and the dark comedy is so good it makes it consistent, and forgivable, within the plot.
Its the style of storytelling - both drama and comedy - that is consistently present from the pilot to the finale.

A few friends I've recommended the series to have told me the 1st season was tough to get through, and upon rewatching it I'm a bit more sympathetic towards that perspective if you're expecting what I've hyped it up as 'the #1 GOAT show.' To me it was some new show about to release their second season, and I was surprised I marathoned all 7 episodes of the first season in one sitting. Breaking Bad was AMC's first series (Before Walking Dead or Mad Men) so they didn't give them much of a budget for seven episodes and no one knew if a second series would be greenlit. So I'm sympathetic to the writers and producers and forgive the perception of flaws that they were trying to work out the style of the show within the first weeks on set.

IMHO, the pilot is the GOAT of pilots, and it should be studied in film school for getting to the point and establishing the quality of the show in every aspect, especially script-writing.

Season 1 doesn't really have a finale and leads directly into Season 2 which is 13 episodes, so I prefer to view the first 20 episodes as the 'Krystal Ship Era' of Breaking Bad because the RV was iconic.

Season 3&4 is the 'Gus Fring era.' Total 26 episodes. Good luck finding a more intimidating antagonist that's 5'8". I could write about this character for paragraphs, but I have a feeling this review would drone on for too long. In discussions of the best season of the series its usually a debate between 'Season 3 or 4' although Seasons 2 & 5 aren't far off.

When it was announced the final season of the series would be split in half and eight episodes each I thought 'I have a bad feeling about this.'

Introducing and developing a new antagonist to be on the same level as Gus Fring? Impossible. After watching the final season 11 years ago I thought the new antagonists - 'Todd, his uncle, and the gang of Nazis' - filled Gus's shoes pretty well. But upon rewatching the series I realized they weren't the true antagonist of the final season.

Its Heisenberg.

Part 1 & 2 of Season 5 are 'The Heisenbeg Era.'

And Walt returns in the series finale.



Its difficult to decide what to include and exclude in reviewing a 62 episode series and not make this OP several pages long, so let me get to the TLDR for why everyone who haven't watched it to watch it, and everyone who hasn't watched it in a long while to rewatch it.

*Best TV series ever.
*Best Pilot ever.
*Best single episode of TV ever (Season 5 Episode 6).
*Best series finale ever.
*Best acting performance by a lead actor (Bryan Cranston) ever - don't believe me, believe Anthony Hopkins.
“Your performance as Walter White was the best acting I have seen—ever.”

Spoiler

*And the entire cast's performance match Cranston's dedication to his craft. At no point in the entire 62 episodes did I ever get the feeling that someone didn't belong in their role, and they could have found a better actor for a role, or someone was having an off-day and wasn't performing up to the show's standard.
*There's literally two episodes throughout the entire series I thought the scripts could have been better. 2 out of 62... good luck finding a series with a higher perfectage of quality than that, and even then those two episodes are just 'very good' in comparison to the average TV series writing quality.

Show fuckin sucked.

 

[ChickenBrother]

Show fuckin sucked.

 

[Rozko]

I've hailed Breaking Bad as the #1 GOAT series, and although I rewatched seasons of the show while the show was still on... I've almost avoided rewatching it for fear it may not be as good years afterward. And after 11 years after the finale has aired I thought this would be a good time to watch it again.

This series has aged like fine wine.
Only one occuring 'flaw' that reared its head could be viewed is it has a sense of 'heightened reality' which would be negatively interpreted as 'plot convenience.' But its not just present within the plot but also within the dark comedy, and the dark comedy is so good it makes it consistent, and forgivable, within the plot.
Its the style of storytelling - both drama and comedy - that is consistently present from the pilot to the finale.

A few friends I've recommended the series to have told me the 1st season was tough to get through, and upon rewatching it I'm a bit more sympathetic towards that perspective if you're expecting what I've hyped it up as 'the #1 GOAT show.' To me it was some new show about to release their second season, and I was surprised I marathoned all 7 episodes of the first season in one sitting. Breaking Bad was AMC's first series (Before Walking Dead or Mad Men) so they didn't give them much of a budget for seven episodes and no one knew if a second series would be greenlit. So I'm sympathetic to the writers and producers and forgive the perception of flaws that they were trying to work out the style of the show within the first weeks on set.

IMHO, the pilot is the GOAT of pilots, and it should be studied in film school for getting to the point and establishing the quality of the show in every aspect, especially script-writing.

Season 1 doesn't really have a finale and leads directly into Season 2 which is 13 episodes, so I prefer to view the first 20 episodes as the 'Krystal Ship Era' of Breaking Bad because the RV was iconic.

Season 3&4 is the 'Gus Fring era.' Total 26 episodes. Good luck finding a more intimidating antagonist that's 5'8". I could write about this character for paragraphs, but I have a feeling this review would drone on for too long. In discussions of the best season of the series its usually a debate between 'Season 3 or 4' although Seasons 2 & 5 aren't far off.

When it was announced the final season of the series would be split in half and eight episodes each I thought 'I have a bad feeling about this.'

Introducing and developing a new antagonist to be on the same level as Gus Fring? Impossible. After watching the final season 11 years ago I thought the new antagonists - 'Todd, his uncle, and the gang of Nazis' - filled Gus's shoes pretty well. But upon rewatching the series I realized they weren't the true antagonist of the final season.

Its Heisenberg.

Part 1 & 2 of Season 5 are 'The Heisenbeg Era.'

And Walt returns in the series finale.



Its difficult to decide what to include and exclude in reviewing a 62 episode series and not make this OP several pages long, so let me get to the TLDR for why everyone who haven't watched it to watch it, and everyone who hasn't watched it in a long while to rewatch it.

*Best TV series ever.
*Best Pilot ever.
*Best single episode of TV ever (Season 5 Episode 6).
*Best series finale ever.
*Best acting performance by a lead actor (Bryan Cranston) ever - don't believe me, believe Anthony Hopkins.
“Your performance as Walter White was the best acting I have seen—ever.”

Spoiler

*And the entire cast's performance match Cranston's dedication to his craft. At no point in the entire 62 episodes did I ever get the feeling that someone didn't belong in their role, and they could have found a better actor for a role, or someone was having an off-day and wasn't performing up to the show's standard.
*There's literally two episodes throughout the entire series I thought the scripts could have been better. 2 out of 62... good luck finding a series with a higher percentage of quality than that, and even then those two episodes are just 'very good' in comparison to the average TV series writing quality.

Great show. It is one of my favorites. Walter is a top tier villain.

1. Rome
2. Deadwood
3. Breaking Bad
4. Justified
5. The Shield

Is my top five tv shows. Walt is probably my favorite antagonists because of the character arch from season 1 to season 6 and Cranston did a great job of making every period of the characters journey believable. Swearengen is my #2 villain.

My favorite line from all of those shows.

 

[Shane-O-Mac]

watched it countless times, ahh yes the good ole' days when meth was all we had to worry about

 

[Thepaintbucket]

In my opinion very few shows will start strong and finish just as strong by the end. Breaking bad is one of those exceptions

 

[Grassshoppa]

I tried watching this show a few times but could never get into it. Liked all the other classics like The Wire, Sons of Anarchy, Vikings, The Walking Dead, etc.

 

[Wilmer Digreux]

Only thing I'd change is taking out all those dinner table scenes. There were so many and mosy of them were boring.

Other than that the show is tight. Tighttight.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

I tried watching this show a few times but could never get into it. Liked all the other classics like The Wire, Sons of Anarchy, Vikings, The Walking Dead, etc.

Its kinda ironic you say you couldn't get into BB, but you could get into The Wire... which many on Sherdog it higher than BB.

I have the same problem with The Wire.
I tried three times to get into it and on my final attempt basically forced myself to watch to the end of the first season.

It simply didn't 'hook' me.
And by 'hook' I mean an part of the narrative, but sometimes an event, that made me genuinely invested in learning what happens next.
Sometimes it happens in the first episode, or a few episodes in, and sometimes near the end of the first season.

The first time I watched GoT the 'hook' for me was the end of the 1st season when it was revealed anyone could get killed off at any time.

For Breaking Bad it was the pilot.

But I prefer to avoid situations like when I watched The Sopranos for three entire seasons, and at no point did I ever get 'hooked.'

My point being... we all crave that 'hook' and just because someone says "This really *hooked* me" doesn't necessarily mean it will hook you.

 

[IDGETKTFO]

I have actually never watched this show. Not into shows about meth cooking/dealers. Ive been around that in real life, no thanks.

 

[Yoel Bromero]

Super far fetched but filled with great characters and amazing acting.

Funny and dark at the same time.

I watched it weekly with the gf at the time, took me until somewhere near end of season 2 to be hooked in. Glad I stuck with it.

 

[Mujeriego]

I have actually never watched this show. Not into shows about meth cooking/dealers. Ive been around that in real life, no thanks.

Settle down.

 

[Mujeriego]

I tried watching this show a few times but could never get into it. Liked all the other classics like The Wire, Sons of Anarchy, Vikings, The Walking Dead, etc.

You shouldve just wrote "When people like TV Shows, I say I dont like them to sound different"

 

[IDGETKTFO]

Settle down.

I did settle down. Thats why im not in jail, or dead. But go ahead, live your fantasy life, like that shit is cool.

 

[5crew]

I asked for TV series recommendation a few months ago and BB is one of the suggestion Mayberrian gave.

I watched it the first time 6 weeks ago. It was very good indeed. I immediately went to watch BCS and tbh, I found it to be even better. Almost all the characters in BCS is better written imho, and like BB, the character do "bad things" but we are supposed to like them because are following them as protagonist.

I really disliked characters like Jeese and Saylor in BB, both while written very well, are whiny as hell. Chuck was an asshole in BCS, but I actually like his character.

 

[Cole train]

Liked BCS better

 

[Stump]

Quite liked it when I first saw it and tried to watch it again with my girlfrtiend who hadnt seen it. We both failed to get hooked by it.

I saw Gus Fring actor, whatever his name is, on an instagram video saying that it would be great to have never seen BB or BCS because you could watch BCS first and then watch BB for the ultimate narrative experience.

I think I'll try that with the girlfriend. We could use a good long chunk of brain candy to chew through.

 

[MLarson]

I've hailed Breaking Bad as the #1 GOAT series, and although I rewatched seasons of the show while the show was still on... I've almost avoided rewatching it for fear it may not be as good years afterward. And after 11 years after the finale has aired I thought this would be a good time to watch it again.

This series has aged like fine wine.
Only one occuring 'flaw' that reared its head could be viewed is it has a sense of 'heightened reality' which would be negatively interpreted as 'plot convenience.' But its not just present within the plot but also within the dark comedy, and the dark comedy is so good it makes it consistent, and forgivable, within the plot.
Its the style of storytelling - both drama and comedy - that is consistently present from the pilot to the finale.

A few friends I've recommended the series to have told me the 1st season was tough to get through, and upon rewatching it I'm a bit more sympathetic towards that perspective if you're expecting what I've hyped it up as 'the #1 GOAT show.' To me it was some new show about to release their second season, and I was surprised I marathoned all 7 episodes of the first season in one sitting. Breaking Bad was AMC's first series (Before Walking Dead or Mad Men) so they didn't give them much of a budget for seven episodes and no one knew if a second series would be greenlit. So I'm sympathetic to the writers and producers and forgive the perception of flaws that they were trying to work out the style of the show within the first weeks on set.

IMHO, the pilot is the GOAT of pilots, and it should be studied in film school for getting to the point and establishing the quality of the show in every aspect, especially script-writing.

Season 1 doesn't really have a finale and leads directly into Season 2 which is 13 episodes, so I prefer to view the first 20 episodes as the 'Krystal Ship Era' of Breaking Bad because the RV was iconic.

Season 3&4 is the 'Gus Fring era.' Total 26 episodes. Good luck finding a more intimidating antagonist that's 5'8". I could write about this character for paragraphs, but I have a feeling this review would drone on for too long. In discussions of the best season of the series its usually a debate between 'Season 3 or 4' although Seasons 2 & 5 aren't far off.

When it was announced the final season of the series would be split in half and eight episodes each I thought 'I have a bad feeling about this.'

Introducing and developing a new antagonist to be on the same level as Gus Fring? Impossible. After watching the final season 11 years ago I thought the new antagonists - 'Todd, his uncle, and the gang of Nazis' - filled Gus's shoes pretty well. But upon rewatching the series I realized they weren't the true antagonist of the final season.

Its Heisenberg.

Part 1 & 2 of Season 5 are 'The Heisenbeg Era.'

And Walt returns in the series finale.



Its difficult to decide what to include and exclude in reviewing a 62 episode series and not make this OP several pages long, so let me get to the TLDR for why everyone who haven't watched it to watch it, and everyone who hasn't watched it in a long while to rewatch it.

*Best TV series ever.
*Best Pilot ever.
*Best single episode of TV ever (Season 5 Episode 6).
*Best series finale ever.
*Best acting performance by a lead actor (Bryan Cranston) ever - don't believe me, believe Anthony Hopkins.
“Your performance as Walter White was the best acting I have seen—ever.”

Spoiler

*And the entire cast's performance match Cranston's dedication to his craft. At no point in the entire 62 episodes did I ever get the feeling that someone didn't belong in their role, and they could have found a better actor for a role, or someone was having an off-day and wasn't performing up to the show's standard.
*There's literally two episodes throughout the entire series I thought the scripts could have been better. 2 out of 62... good luck finding a series with a higher percentage of quality than that, and even then those two episodes are just 'very good' in comparison to the average TV series writing quality.

It's great show for sure and I regret not watching it when ran .

Agree with most people that the first two seasons could boring but the third season changed that. 9/10 for me.

 

[MLarson]

It's crazy to think there used to be shows worth watching on TV but sadly no more, yes there is streaming but no really talks about these shows except a few exceptions.

 

[elreece]

Show fuckin sucked.