IS BREAKING BAD THE BEST SHOW EVER?
As the sequel movie drops on Netflix, we look at the TV drama phenomenon
Last Friday, one of the most highly anticipated shows finally arrived on Netflix: El Camino, the one-off sequel to Breaking Bad, the US TV drama that aired its finale back in 2013.
In the six years since, the already highly acclaimed show’s reputation has soared. Now, when critics are asked what the best TV drama of all time is, they generally mention Breaking Bad, alongside the likes of The Sopranos, The Wire and The West Wing. The series was voted the number two show ever just last year by Empire magazine, and in 2013, Breaking Bad was officially rated the most critically acclaimed show of all time by the Guinness Book Of World Records, no less. So, what’s the secret behind all this praise, and is it really the greatest TV show ever made?
ORIGINS STORY
Breaking Bad was created by Vince Gilligan, then most famous for his work on The X-files. He wanted to tell a story built round a character who started out good and ended up bad, or at least, morally questionable. He hit upon the idea of taking a family man and finding out what desperate measures he would turn to if he was suddenly diagnosed with a terminal disease (in this case lung cancer) and had to find the money to look after his wife and son once he was gone. So, he created Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a decent high-school chemistry teacher who ends up making and dealing crystal meth.
The whole idea of having a flawed anti-hero at the centre of the story is one key element the series shares with fellow examples of “Peak TV”, from troubled gangster Tony in The Sopranos to lying, cheating Don Draper in Mad Men. In fact, like Draper, Breaking Bad’s central character Walter also has an alter ego – named Heisenberg – to keep his drug kingpin persona separate from his life in the straight world.
PEERLESS CASTING
Of course, we’ve seen plenty of anti-hero stories down the years, but what made this one so special, pretty much from the very first episode, was its unique tone. Despite telling a story set in New Mexico and being riddled with drugs, cartels, cops and smalltime crims, the show never felt like a traditional gangster saga, or, in fact, like anything else on TV. It helped that Gilligan cast two deeply likeable actors as his leads. Up until this show, Bryan Cranston was mostly famous for being the kooky dad in longrunning TV comedy Malcolm In The Middle, while his character’s ex-student drug-making sidekick Jesse Pinkman was played by relative newcomer Aaron Paul, known for a supporting role in HBO’S Big Love. Matching the theme of the show, Cranston and Paul had instant chemistry, bouncing off each other in a superbly funny yet authentic style – the coolly determined teacher and his bright-eyed, eager pupil. The show also turned out to be as addictive as the meth that Walt and Jesse made...
STUNNING STORYTELLING
Gilligan made sure the plotting for Breaking Bad was as gripping as any movie thriller, even though it was a slow-burning drama series
playing out over five 13-episode seasons. As well as Walt, Jesse and the entirely rounded characters of Walt’s wife and son, the writer planted the key figure of Hank Schrader (played indelibly by Dean Norris), a local DEA agent who happens to be Walt’s brother-in-law. A bit of a doofus, Hank nevertheless becomes a key figure, always on the verge of discovering Walt’s burgeoning drug empire. And there was Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman, the ultimate small-time dodgy lawyer – a character so funny and intriguing, he became the focus of the superb spin-off prequel series Better Call Saul, a fifth season of which is on the way. But the secret of Breaking Bad’s brilliance is really in the way it built this cast of believable characters – with a whole array of other supporting roles too numerous to mention – and embroiled them in an epic, multi-tentacled story, in which each episode was like a perfectly formed, intense indie movie.
Now we have the new sequel film, which repeats the trick, and reminds us all over again just why Breaking Bad really is a contender for Best TV Drama Of Them All. ■