Breaking Bad - Season 4 Review

I have always been a big fan of Quentin Tarantino. His films have some problems but he has such a unique and distinct style that when I see a movie of his I am always overwhelmed by how fresh it feels. During this season of Breaking Bad I realized that this is what a Tarantino television series would feel like and is probably one of the reasons that I love the show so much. I didn’t watch the show when it first came out. I thought it was going to be light hearted or just completely devoted to action sequences. Boy was I wrong. This season of Breaking Bad had more plot, characterization and development than almost anything else on television.

Season 4 focuses on Walt and Jesse’s labor dispute with their employer Gus Fring. Over the course of the season this dispute brought on several changes for our characters. Walt essentially went crazy and by the end of the season truly broke bad, Jesse completely submitted to his old lifestyle before being brought out of it by Gus and grew into a better person and Skylar immersed herself further into the “family” business and learned that she would go far to protect her family. But in reality the season focused on two things the relationship between Jesse and Walt, and the character of Gustavo Fring.

Throughout the series the relationship between Walter and Jesse has grown as the two have worked together. In many instances Walt has referred to Jesse as a son. During this season there was a change. In one of the bigger moments of the series the two of them finally went at each other. After this confrontation the status quo changed. Jesse was the one on the high ground with Walter being the more criminal. I’m not saying that Jesse is a saint now, but he demonstrated loyalty to Gus and even more loyalty to Walt after the fight. He also became more involved in the life of his girlfriend and child. Walt went freaking nuts. He became overly paranoid to the point that he took a risk and poisoned a child to get at Gus. By the end of the season Walt had turned into a character that we almost cannot sympathize with. It will be interesting to see where this goes next season, with Gus out of the way, will Walt take his place? Will he go back to cooking meth or is his criminal past behind him?

The rest of the season focused on Gus. We learned pieces of his past and how he works with his employees. In developing the character the show writers have created one of the most complete villains to ever be on a television series. The actor playing Gus was able to convey an entire conversation without ever speaking. Everything about him said something. The color suit he wore, the look in his eyes. He was a complete character. Due to the fact the show is about Walt, we knew that by the end of the season that Gus had to die. Which is what is great about this series, any other show would have kept him alive, but the writers on Breaking Bad want to keep the narrative moving, the only way it could move any further is if Gus was dead. Their several instances throughout the season though that I think were purposely done just to get a specific reaction out of the final shot of Gus. He walked into the line of fire of a sniper, poisoned himself and somehow knew about a car bomb. When he stepped out of the room after the explosion there was half a second where I thought he might actually be invincible. If it weren’t for what happened the rest of the season I wouldn’t have had that great reaction to his death.

Breaking Bad had its best season this year. The previous season contained great acting and so did this one, but this year it just had something a little extra. The only show on television right now that I watch that can compete with this is Mad Men. I am interested to see if that show can still keep up with Breaking Bad when it comes back in 2012. And of course this season of Breaking Bad gets 5 out of 5 stars. If you’re not watching it, do yourself a favor and start.