The king is dead, long live the king!
When we last saw Walter White he’d finally brought about the demise of crystal meth kingpin Gustavo Fring, but in doing so he had to sink to some pretty despicable moral depths. “I won,” he told Skyler in the Season Four finale, and with that his personal and professional life was irrevocably changed. That was a season in which our protagonist (Walter White stopped being a hero, or even an antihero a long time ago) was dealing with being powerless. He was just another cog in a larger machine, and a cog that sooner or later would be replaced. So when he turned the tables in those final few episodes, Season 5 was set up to be one in which powerlessness gave way to a naked pursuit of attainable power. Fring’s death has left a vacuum, and Walter White will be damned if anyone else is going to fill it. So here are eight episodes, the first half of Season Five, telling the story of the ascendance of Heisenberg.
The premiere’s cold open sets the show’s end game in motion. In a little over a year’s time Walter will be sat in a diner celebrating his fifty-second birthday with a full head of hair, a false identity, and a serious piece of weaponry. Has he been ousted from power? Is this a last ditch attempt to hold onto his crown? Is he back for revenge? Quite how or why he’ll get there we don’t yet know, but in the present, there are a still a number of obstacles to overcome and loose ends to tie up if he’s going to get hold of any semblance of power in the first place. And despite his unwavering self-confidence, it doesn’t always seem likely that he’ll be able to pull it off. That only makes the ascent all the more compelling.
By now it could be easy to take some of the things that make Breaking Bad one of the best shows on television for granted. Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul are still delivering phenomenal, affecting performances on a weekly basis, and the delicacy with which they’ve been able to portray their transformations into their current iterations is a huge credit to both them and the writing staff. Paul seems destined for huge stardom after Breaking Bad, and in the hands of a lesser actor Jessie would never have been able to rise above the clichés and become the moral centre of the show that he has. And as for Cranston, remember when we were all stunned that Malcolm in the Middle’s Hal was delivering this kind of performance? We’re well beyond that now, Cranston’s shown that it’s not just brilliant range, its brilliant acting. It’s thanks to him that we still care about Walt, even as he becomes increasingly irredeemable from scene to scene. Of course, there’s also a down side, and amongst a terrific ensemble cast Anna Gunn still remains a weak link. The opening few episodes, in the wake of discovering the true extent of her husband’s criminal activity, require an awful lot from Gunn, but she just isn’t up to the task.
Depending on your perspective on Walter himself, this arc also feels like it’s lacking a villain, or at least some sort of tangible threat. There are hurdles to leap and barriers to overcome, but there’s no one like Fring, Tuco or The Cousins lurking in the background. There’s Hank and the DEA, but they always seem a step behind. Instead of watching our protagonists fight tooth and nail to stay alive, we’re instead asked to bask in the genius of Walter White as he thinks his way out of every difficult situation, his virtuoso manipulation of those around him never ceasing to amaze. And with a little help from Jesse, he thinks his way around big problems too. Their attack on a police evidence room (“yeah bitch, magnets!”) and a preposterously well-executed train heist sequence are magnificent ways to keep the tension high and give the show’s top-notch directors something bigger to play with.
But much like Walter’s meth (which clocks in at a 99.1% purity) there are still minor imperfections in his empire, and that’s put into sharp focus in the final scene. Over eight episodes that never take a dip in quality, every scene moves with a purpose and every single detail is been made to feel important. Vince Gilligan’s storytelling is as unpredictably paced and brilliantly executed as ever, and he delivers the season’s game-changing final scene in typically idiosyncratic fashion. One vital, minute detail pays off, and with that the anticipation of the second half of this final season is dialled up to fever pitch. Breaking Bad’s a show that you can’t look away from for a moment… but why would you want to? After eight more episodes we’re all going to have to go cold turkey, so let’s cherish every moment.
Extras:
Every episode comes with a commentary and accompanying mini-featurettes, ‘Inside Breaking Bad’. There’s also a new, exclusive scene (a compulsory watch for any completist) made specifically for the DVD release that could slot into episode 8, which also comes with its own making-of. Three episodes come with ‘uncensored editions’ and there are deleted and extended scenes for each episode too. The rest of the featurettes range from fascinating (‘Writers Room Timelapse’ & ‘Nothing Stops This Train’), to entertaining (‘Chris Hardwick’s All-Star Celebrity Bowling’), to throwaway (the gag reel and audition footage). There’s a lovely feature focusing specifically on Mike the Cleaner, and two Blu-ray exclusive features which would be a shame to miss out on by plumping for the DVD.
It also bears mentioning that this is the first season of Breaking Bad to be released on Blu-ray in the UK (with the previous four being made available alongside it), and for anyone who has watched the show to date on a streaming service, the hi-def image will be a revelation. Who knew globs of different flavoured sauces could look so good? Breaking Bad has to be one of the most stunningly shot programmes on TV, and after seeing crystal meth cooked at 1080p, you’ll be kicking yourself for ever getting your fix in any other way.
