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Assuming you’ve done The Wire – and come on, you have watched The Wire by now, right? – then there’s no easy answer, but one strong contender is another charming little story about drug-dealing, also originally picked up by FX in Britain but soon to switch to the equally obscure environ of Five USA: Breaking Bad.
It’s an age-old story, but don’t let the lack of originality turn you off: chemistry teacher teaches chemistry; chemistry teacher is diagnosed with inoperable, terminal cancer; chemistry teacher realises that his wages as a chemistry teacher won’t pay the chemo bills, nor will they leave much behind when he dies; chemistry teacher uses his knowledge to cook a load of extraordinarily pure crystal meth, and becomes a drug baron.
This suburban slinging may actually be a little familiar to fans of Weeds, which depicts the milfy Mary-Louise Parker’s marijuana-dealing shenanigans. However, Breaking Bad shuns light humour in favour of wicked comedy as dark as the stains on meth-addicts’ teeth, and frequent bursts of pulsating tension.
The show’s star, Bryan Cranston, may not be quite as sexy as Parker, but he certainly is a strong lead: instantly recognisable as the patriarch from the gentle sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, he plays our aforementioned chemistry teacher, Walter White, and the role gives far more opportunities for Cranston to show his excellent range.
White flickers in each episode from cool-headed entrepreneur to embattled husband, hardened negotiator to exhausted outpatient, and Cranston was a worthy winner of the 2008 Emmy for Lead Actor in a Drama Series, beating out Dr House, Dexter Morgan and Don Draper in the process.
White’s relationships are central to the success of the show, with his immediate acquaintances also strongly fleshed out. His wife struggles to deal with her position as the wife of a dying man growing both weaker and less emotionally responsive. White’s son, Walter Jnr, has cerebral palsy (as does the character’s actor, RJ Mitte), adding an extra layer of complexity to White’s decision-making process: as he becomes mired in the murky world of drugs, he wholly accepts his futureless fate while all those around him, especially his son, yearn to see him fight to the last.
The family network extends to White’s sister-in-law and her home-brewing husband Hank, arguably the finest supporting character who, for yet more added spice, works as a DEA agent and is soon tasked with tracking down the source of his town’s superb new supply.
However, White shares most of his screen time with his business partner and former student, Jesse Pinkman. Pinkman’s disdain for the easily riled educator subsides when he sees the quality of crystal meth White is able to produce, and the requisite entertaining antics ensue as suburbia meets the streets. White’s transition from mild-mannered teacher to meth magician sees him swap his social circle for a far less salubrious section of society, with snorting, snarling psychopaths aiding and aggressing White and Pinkman in equal measure.
The conclusions to these dealings are usually violent and bloody, yet while the grim reaper’s presence over White is constant and oppressive – the very first episode serves White his death sentence, a fact we are frequently reminded of with his spluttering coughs and physical deterioration – death in Breaking Bad also involves moments of abrupt ludicrousness. Some of the show’s greatest set-pieces present combinations of physical comedy and explosive gore, rather like if somebody tried to shoot the next instalment of the Saw series in the style of Charlie Chaplin.
Unsavoury characters receive undignified ends with pleasing regularity, but the driving forces behind Breaking Bad – the deceitful actions of White and the destructive drug he peddles – preclude it from dissolving into a raucous farce without properly considering the dramatic implications of White’s moonlighting.
These scenes have again become a staple in these sorts of series, just as Tony Soprano endured the mundane squabbles with his therapist and his wife after a day of hard mafia grafting, but while molls are generally complicit in their mobsters’ activities, the cloak of secrecy clutched tightly by White puts an incredible strain on his relationships with the very people he was attempting to help in the first place. Contrasted with such dark comedy, Breaking Bad’s family affairs are all the more affecting.
In a post-Wire world, the phrase ‘critically acclaimed but commercially overlooked’ should set off more warning signs than a shifty looking junkie meeting in a caravan with a middle-aged science teacher. There are twists, shocks, and a number of incredibly funny skits dotted throughout the two seasons already shot. Season one is already available on DVD, with season two soon to arrive on Five USA later this year; It’s worth hunting through the schedules for.
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