Breaking Bad

One of the best shows on TV right now is Breaking Bad. I feel like they kinda tricked me into watching this by promoting it as "Bryan Cranston cooks meth" when in reality its really more about "Bryan Cranston deals with cancer." But I'm glad they baited and switched me into watching this because the show is constantly surprising me and is one of the most original things I've seen in the television medium in a long while.

One of the strongest aspects of this show is its amazing physicality. Not only does it depict the psychology and tone of humans who live in a desert, but it also depicts complex carbon based lifeforms and how they interact with each other and with the environment. The physicality of existence is of course evident in the crystal meth aspect of the show, but the real power of the show is in the transformation of everyday objects and elements into new experiences. It illustrates the magic of the world around us that is revealed if you use your knowledge of how things work and react. Using a bike lock to restrain a character against a metal pole is an example of this. Another example is when the main character uses a windshield squeegee and a car battery to produce a spectacular, cathartic explosion. A bathtub, a broken plate, all of these objects shrug off their pedestrian aspects to become something much more potent in this show.

This catharsis and more generally, change is the driving theme of the show. "Chemistry is the study of change, of death, rebirth and transformation" proclaims the protagonist in the pilot episode. And this theme of change could easily have devolved into cliche in less capable hands. Instead, coupled with harsh physicality and a unique environment it makes for a riveting and unpredictable new kind of storytelling.

I've long been a fan of Bryan Cranston and had high hopes for this show when I first heard about it. My hopes have been happily surpassed and I'll be sticking around for many more episodes to come.