Breaking Bad

There are only a couple television shows I've fallen in love with within the first couple minutes of watching. Six Feet Under was one of them. Breaking Bad is the other. I know I'm slow to the game (no tv means I have no idea what shows are on these days), but Tom and I just ripped through season 1 and 2 on dvd these past couple weeks.

In case you don't know, the show is about a middle aged, high school chemistry teacher who finds out he has terminal lung cancer. In order to make sure his family has money after he dies, he decides to become a crystal meth dealer as a sort of "side job." The show deals with this good guy who makes terrible choices, the awful consequences of his actions, and the evolution of his character as he turns into a druglord. I'm blown away by the acting of Bryan Cranston. I mean, this is the guy who played the dad in Malcolm in the Middle. But whoa, can this man act in drama! I guess that's why he's a three-peat emmy winner now.

Created by Vince Gilligan, Breaking Bad is a show that really gets into your head. If Tarantino and the Coen Brothers had a tv-show love child together, it would be this. The cinematography is stunning, with creative camera shots from a lower perspective to sweeping wide angle, time lapse shots of the New Mexico desert. The sets are awesome too. They really know how to make a filthy meth house.

And the characters are all so... real. The storylines of the various characters are well done.

And the writing is brilliant. It's heavy, dark, yet there are those moments that are absolutely comic, giving you a chance to breath and take it all in.

I seriously love this show.

Watch the Pilot episode free here.