Breaking Bad: Season 4 Review

This review is simple: We loved it. Everyone loved it. Fans loved it. Newcomers loved it. My mom loved it. Everyone I know who watched Season 4 couldn't stop talking about it; about where the show was going and the possibilities of what was to come. Season 4 of Breaking Bad was absolutely the height of television and planted Breaking Bad firmly in the Best Current TV Show category.

The details are complex and beautiful, with a few minor flaws.

The beginning of the season was slow. A lot of plot threads needed to be fixed or cleaned up before the season actually started. I know I'm in the minority on this one, but I'm still not OK with one of those plot threads. Pushing Jesse over the edge to finally kill Gale seemed to have one possible ending for a sensitive young man like Jesse and the writers chose a way out that, though it kept Jesse alive, didn't seem to jibe with the rest of the series. For a show that prides itself on storytelling over realism, this was storytelling taking a back seat to ... I'm not sure what. It was the same thing with Skyler and the way she left at the end of Season 2.

On the other hand, the rest of Season 4 more than made up for it. A slow start progressed to an engaging middle and a tense, jarring, nail-biting ending that soothed the jangled nerves of those of us watching all season. Season 4 was heavy on resolution and symbolism and it was superb. Creator Vince Gilligan took time to point out each and every detail he and the writers plotted, from the skull in the opening shot of Season 4 to the spinning gun landing on Lily of the Valley. So much thought was put into the details it's hard to not be impressed.

And then there was everything else. Beautiful shots abound this season, especially time-lapse shots. Even the smallest shots were unique and memorable. My mind keeps going back to that one of the gun spinning on the table, the discordant guitar riffs playing in the background, the cut-to shots of DEA agents protecting Hank and Marie's house. The exposition was neat and tight, showing a lot more than telling and leaving the viewer to put together the clues. It's not often that a show as complex as this can survive without narration and all credit goes to the direction and writing on that one.

There were bell *dings* thrown around everywhere, one in particular that defined the power struggle between Hector Salamanca and Gus (the elevator scene). There was utter chaos brought to order and thrown back into chaos by the most stable character of the bunch. There were so many little hints of future events, some viewers were seeing things that weren't there—and still loving every moment of it.

There were beautiful color schemes, from the clothing of each character to the inside of an air conditioned 18-wheeler trailer. There was wonderful acting and man did they let the actors loose this season. Just the scenes off the top of my head: Aaron Paul in the Narcotics Anonymous meeting; Giancarlo Esposito when Gus met with Salamanca in the old folks home the first time; Esposito reacting to Gus' friend/partner getting shot; Dean Norris early on in the season, as Hank reacted angrily over Marie getting the Fritos instead of the Cheetos; Betsy Brandt's reaction in the police station after Marie got caught for stealing the little spoon; and so on. And who could forget Bryan Cranston's "I am the one who knocks" speech.

Season 4 was the perfect storm of everything working together, from the writers to the directors to the actors to the producers to the cinematographers to the freaking costume designers. It blended reality with good TV and once it got going, it was impossible to disengage. Each episode was a potato chip and viewers couldn't put down the bag. Even when it was at least a bit predictable, we were still on the edge of our seat.

And maybe the best part going forward is the writers have a cafeteria of topics to pick up in Season 5 rather than a bunch of topics they have to repair. The slate is blank because Season 4 ended with so few loose threads. That's why I think the best is yet to come; we're at zero hour. And when we look back on the series, Season 4 will be its set up and Season 5 will be its punch. We're going to miss Gus, but I can't imagine Season 5 being any less worthy of the pedigree of the series. Matt Fowler said it in the Channel Surfing podcast we did about Breaking Bad: not only has this show proven to be one of the best series on TV, but it's gotten better with each passing season.

Gilligan said in one of his post-season interviews, quoting Billy Wilder (man does he have a wide range of TV and movie knowledge) that if you create 2 plus 2 and let the audience come up with 4, they'll love you forever. If Gilligan's done anything in Season 4, it's prove Wilder right.

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