[Breaking Bad] Fandom Pimp | "take a bath in my blood, get to know me..."
(Written for smallfandomfest's fandom pimp challenge...)
Meet: Walter White (Bryan Cranston). Staid. Unassuming. Fond of tighty-whiteys. NOT fond of fake-bacon. Mid-50s. High school chemistry teacher. Car wash attendant. Married to Skyler White. Father of Walter Junior, with another one on the way. Oh, also, terminal lung cancer. There is also that.
And being the devoted father and husband that he is, instead of, you know, telling his wife and child about his impending doom, he decides to surreptitiously hit up DEA cop and brother-in-law Hank Schrader for the low down on the (apparently booming) crystal methamphetamine trade in Alberqueque, and subsequently chucks in detailing cars (in a very, VERY awesome scene that does [SPOILER ALERT] involve groin clutching and hip thrusting [true story]) to become New Mexico’s answer to, well, insert some other drug chef extraordinaire figure for comparison here.
Enter: Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). Naïve. Addict. Ex-student of Walt’s. Big brother. Devoted nephew. Tendency to get the crap beaten out of him. Not his mother’s favourite person. RIDICULOUS car. Small time crystal meth. cook who likes to add a little chilli powder to his creation. His ‘signature’. Apparently. Also, cute. Super cute. HAI THAR, JESSE! *waves*
Walt finds Jesse fleeing the scene of a DEA bust and, upon recognising him as his ex-student, blackmails him into being his partner.
The result? Um, EXTREMELY MINDBLOWING AWESOMENESS?
Too vague?
Pfft. Fine.
The Actual Result: The pilot episode of, quite possibly most definitely, the best television show I have ever been fortunate enough to stumble upon, imaginatively titled, Pilot. If the opening sequence of this very first episode doesn’t hook you in straight away then there is probably something actually wrong with you and you should seek help immediately WATCH IT AGAIN AND REACT MORE APPROPRIATELY THIS TIME!
I don’t think I’ve ever watched an opening that more perfectly sets up what the whole premise of the series is about. Darkly (VERY DARKLY) comedic at times, Breaking Bad creator, Vince Gilligan, has woven together SUPREME acting talent (hello there, nice, neat row of Emmys!), stunning cinematography (thanks, largely, to the white-washed New Mexico vistas that paint its eerie backdrop), perfectly tuned soundtracks, compelling storylines that build and have purpose and are clever and shocking and horrifically gruesome in ways that are never, ever gratuitous, and a cast of supporting characters that have meaning and significance and depth, every single, last one of them.
While there are many relationships, professional, romantic and platonic, featured over the course of the current four seasons, it is the tenuous bond that exists between Walter and Jesse that remains front and centre. Built on a (shaky) foundation of criminality, lop-sided power imbalances, lies, lies, more lies and deception, it is nonetheless held together by a fierce (and oft times unacknowledged) willingness to protect each other, no matter the cost. And trust me, sometimes those costs are very, very high.
With a cast of blood numbing villains that would put your average horror show to shame, tied seamlessly to those just wanting to do what’s best, what’s right, the show is not afraid to push against (and even well and truly past) moral boundaries. The portrait it paints of the New Mexico drug scene is not pretty. It has not been glamorised. It’s dirty. It’s raw. It’s sad (eg: peekaboo. You’ll know what I mean when you see it). It’s violent. It’s desperate. It’s horrifying. It’s REAL.
I don’t want to give too much away, but seriously, the careful precision that has gone into the utter deconstruction of the characters of Walter and Jesse over the undulating course of four seasons is alone a spectacle to behold. And season two? Oh, Season Two. There’s a storyline arc in season two that is hinted at in every episode but isn’t fully revealed until the season finale. AND IT’S SO MINDBLOWINGLY CLEVER I flap my hands at the mere thought of it.
If you like constantly warring with your own moral code and questioning how you can cheer people on when they’re so heavily invested in the business of ruining/ending other people’s lives, then Breaking Bad is the show for you! If you want light-hearted drama with a touch of comedy, then, it’s really, really not! Though, I will just mention that there are moments of sheer, laugh out loud hilarity interspersed between all the edge-of-your-seat epic. I’m pretty sure it’s there to remind you to breeeeeathe, as it can be pretty easy to forget at times…
Barring a miracle, stumps will be pulled at the end of season five. Sony Television suggested selling the rights to a rival cable network that would be unlikely to give Gilligan the free reign he is currently afforded after AMC announced it was only willing to back 6-8 more episodes. Sony/Gilligan eventually persuaded AMC to give them 16 more (perhaps split over two 8 episode seasons) and while I’m disappointed there are only 16 more episodes to come, I honestly believe the move is a clever one. And will guarantee Breaking Bad maintains its cult status.
Tl;dr? WATCH THIS SHOW, RIGHT NAOW! I mean, there's a whole (epically brilliant) episode based on the existence of a common house fly. You need to watch it for that alone...!
[for official stuff, go here: breaking_bad | for fannish creations, go here: breakingbad_art]
Meet: Walter White (Bryan Cranston). Staid. Unassuming. Fond of tighty-whiteys. NOT fond of fake-bacon. Mid-50s. High school chemistry teacher. Car wash attendant. Married to Skyler White. Father of Walter Junior, with another one on the way. Oh, also, terminal lung cancer. There is also that.
And being the devoted father and husband that he is, instead of, you know, telling his wife and child about his impending doom, he decides to surreptitiously hit up DEA cop and brother-in-law Hank Schrader for the low down on the (apparently booming) crystal methamphetamine trade in Alberqueque, and subsequently chucks in detailing cars (in a very, VERY awesome scene that does [SPOILER ALERT] involve groin clutching and hip thrusting [true story]) to become New Mexico’s answer to, well, insert some other drug chef extraordinaire figure for comparison here.
Enter: Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). Naïve. Addict. Ex-student of Walt’s. Big brother. Devoted nephew. Tendency to get the crap beaten out of him. Not his mother’s favourite person. RIDICULOUS car. Small time crystal meth. cook who likes to add a little chilli powder to his creation. His ‘signature’. Apparently. Also, cute. Super cute. HAI THAR, JESSE! *waves*
Walt finds Jesse fleeing the scene of a DEA bust and, upon recognising him as his ex-student, blackmails him into being his partner.
The result? Um, EXTREMELY MINDBLOWING AWESOMENESS?
Too vague?
Pfft. Fine.
The Actual Result: The pilot episode of, quite possibly most definitely, the best television show I have ever been fortunate enough to stumble upon, imaginatively titled, Pilot. If the opening sequence of this very first episode doesn’t hook you in straight away then there is probably something actually wrong with you and you should seek help immediately WATCH IT AGAIN AND REACT MORE APPROPRIATELY THIS TIME!
I don’t think I’ve ever watched an opening that more perfectly sets up what the whole premise of the series is about. Darkly (VERY DARKLY) comedic at times, Breaking Bad creator, Vince Gilligan, has woven together SUPREME acting talent (hello there, nice, neat row of Emmys!), stunning cinematography (thanks, largely, to the white-washed New Mexico vistas that paint its eerie backdrop), perfectly tuned soundtracks, compelling storylines that build and have purpose and are clever and shocking and horrifically gruesome in ways that are never, ever gratuitous, and a cast of supporting characters that have meaning and significance and depth, every single, last one of them.
While there are many relationships, professional, romantic and platonic, featured over the course of the current four seasons, it is the tenuous bond that exists between Walter and Jesse that remains front and centre. Built on a (shaky) foundation of criminality, lop-sided power imbalances, lies, lies, more lies and deception, it is nonetheless held together by a fierce (and oft times unacknowledged) willingness to protect each other, no matter the cost. And trust me, sometimes those costs are very, very high.
With a cast of blood numbing villains that would put your average horror show to shame, tied seamlessly to those just wanting to do what’s best, what’s right, the show is not afraid to push against (and even well and truly past) moral boundaries. The portrait it paints of the New Mexico drug scene is not pretty. It has not been glamorised. It’s dirty. It’s raw. It’s sad (eg: peekaboo. You’ll know what I mean when you see it). It’s violent. It’s desperate. It’s horrifying. It’s REAL.
I don’t want to give too much away, but seriously, the careful precision that has gone into the utter deconstruction of the characters of Walter and Jesse over the undulating course of four seasons is alone a spectacle to behold. And season two? Oh, Season Two. There’s a storyline arc in season two that is hinted at in every episode but isn’t fully revealed until the season finale. AND IT’S SO MINDBLOWINGLY CLEVER I flap my hands at the mere thought of it.
If you like constantly warring with your own moral code and questioning how you can cheer people on when they’re so heavily invested in the business of ruining/ending other people’s lives, then Breaking Bad is the show for you! If you want light-hearted drama with a touch of comedy, then, it’s really, really not! Though, I will just mention that there are moments of sheer, laugh out loud hilarity interspersed between all the edge-of-your-seat epic. I’m pretty sure it’s there to remind you to breeeeeathe, as it can be pretty easy to forget at times…
Barring a miracle, stumps will be pulled at the end of season five. Sony Television suggested selling the rights to a rival cable network that would be unlikely to give Gilligan the free reign he is currently afforded after AMC announced it was only willing to back 6-8 more episodes. Sony/Gilligan eventually persuaded AMC to give them 16 more (perhaps split over two 8 episode seasons) and while I’m disappointed there are only 16 more episodes to come, I honestly believe the move is a clever one. And will guarantee Breaking Bad maintains its cult status.
Tl;dr? WATCH THIS SHOW, RIGHT NAOW! I mean, there's a whole (epically brilliant) episode based on the existence of a common house fly. You need to watch it for that alone...!
[for official stuff, go here: breaking_bad | for fannish creations, go here: breakingbad_art]