My point in bringing this up is that for some reason I had this idea in my head that Season 4 was head and shoulders above the rest of the seasons. I don't know if this was an unconscious thought of mine or if it was a recency effect (I've seen Season 5 only when it aired - I've since seen Season 4 on Netflix multiple times) or something else, but it definitely was there. Because each season I've been surprised at just how good the season really was. This is weird to me because I have already acknowledged this show as my second best show of all time.
It's obvious this show will somehow come back to Walt and Jesse working together no matter how they feel about each other - especially in retrospect otherwise Jesse is kind of a pointless character. But what the writers of Breaking Bad are able to do - and this is no easy feat - is create a situation that doesn't feel contrived by the writers, that feels character-based, and feels like that's what they would actually do.
For example, in this season Jesse decides to make "blue meth" on his own after he finds out that Walter has retired. Well of course Walt gets pissed at this and pisses Jesse off to the point where Jesse would happily turn Heisenberg into the police, because he's done with Walt. Just think about what has to happen to get them back together.
Hank needs to be on Jesse's tail - a natural progression that can be traced back to his killing of Tuco. (More on Hank later) Hank needs to beat the shit out of Jesse after Walt and Jesse get out of an impossible situation by saying Hank's wife is in the hospital. (Also, very logical character reaction at that point in Hank's life.) Jesse needs to be pissed at Walt and Hank and want to take Hank for everything he has. (Seeing as Walt has an ego and said Jesse's product was inferior and insulting his character and you know Hank beat him up, not a big stretch.) And finally Walter needs to believe that Jesse will turn him in when he gets the chance (effectively conveyed by the acting of Aaron Paul) so he takes matters into his own hands and basically offers Jesse $1.5 million to not file suit. That doesn't feel contrived at all, it just feels like brilliant writing.
What Breaking Bad does is make both the criminals and the law enforcement agents smart. The Wire is the only other show that has done this effectively. The only comparable show - a seemingly normal guy who is actually an insane killer, Dexter - makes Miami Metro have the mental capacity of a toddler. (This is more of a later seasons problem - Doakes presented an effective believable detective earlier on)
The most sympathetic character in Season 1 is Walter White. The most sympathetic character in Season 2 is Jesse Pinkman. Season 3? Hank Schrader. I think the first two seasons are debatable, but this season is not. Shall I run down the list of what he goes through? First of all, he's toughing it out despite having what appears to be post traumatic stress disorder. Then, he's forced into a position he doesn't want to be in when he gets the promotion.
The appearance of blue meth gives him the excuse he needs to stay. I think he knows deep down that he is not going to El Paso because he is afraid. However, he aggressively tries to find Heisenberg to ignore that. He wants to believe that he is avoiding El Paso, because he can find Heisenberg in ABQ. He relentlessly follows every lead imaginable which lands him at Jesse. He follows Jesse to a site where he finally has his RV.
He NEEDS to look inside and find out his evidence. Through some nifty knowledge of the law, he is prevented from it for the time being. No problem, he'll just wait until he gets his warrant. Except he gets a call from the hospital telling him his wife was just in a major accident. Hell, they tell him she's being flown in. I can't even imagine what went through his mind. And then pure anger that went through him as he found out he was duped. The anger surpassed any logical thought and he knew he was just going to destroy Jesse.
Then he gets in trouble, and he finds out the charges are dropped. He seems to have picked up who he used to be. And then he gets shot four times. That kind of psychological turmoil is unimaginable and horrible to even think about. I fear for Hank in the fifth season, because nothing but bad things happen to people who find out who Heisenberg is and Hank is one of the only good characters to root for on the show. (Then again, I can't imagine anybody having a happy ending to this series)
Here's something I forgot about the third season. Jesse turns pretty unlikable. I forgot he reached a point where he actively embraced being bad. He didn't lose all of his sympathy in this season, but he certainly pushed it. From rehab, he comes to the conclusion that you are supposed to accept who you are and he thinks he's the bad guy. This is mostly due to the fact that he thinks he is in some way responsible for Jane's death. (Technically, I suppose he is)
He really reaches his low point probably of the entire series when he goes to a meeting and tries to get recovering addicts back on meth. I remember him doing it at some point later too I believe. He never does anything worse than that. Sure, he killed Gale, but that was arguably justifiable for all the times Walter has saved his life. (Tuco, getting him to go to rehab, and running over the dealers with his car for starters)
In typical Breaking Bad style however, Jesse begins to gain his humanity back when he falls for Andrea. Sure, his original intention was to get her hooked on crystal meth - somehow that seems worse than killing on this show - but when she sees he has a kid, he ditches that plan. And dammit that he had to find out who Combo's killers were, because he really seemed to be going in the right direction. This leads him down a road where he actually is forced to kill a mostly innocent person after he's accepted he's not a murderer. So Jesse's path was the realization that he's a bad guy, to gaining humanity, to becoming a murderer.
Strangely, this might be the season where Walter has the least amount to do. He's mostly on the sidelines while everybody else is doing the action. I'm vastly over exaggerating this, but essentially over the first 10 episodes, he decides to cook meth thanks to Gus' persuasion and $3 million and brings Jesse into the fold to save his own skin and Hank's. He's also dishonest with himself still holding to that thought that he's only doing it for his family. That's pretty much it. He's satisfied with his situation and wants it to remain that way.
However, after Mike does his half measures speech, he realizes he's not fully committed to this. I think this is the moment where he stops lying to himself and accepts that he's a criminal. He's not going to be convincing himself he's doing it for his family anymore. Also, though not in this season, it allows him to accept his wife's request that she be brought into this. Walt was never given the chance to kill Gale, but I am certain he would do it. Because at this point in his life, he's in it for himself.
See, the writers knew that if Walt killed Gale, it wouldn't really advance anything because we the audience know he would do it. Walt killing Gale would have been a perfectly acceptable season finale, but the writers are more ambitious. Instead, for the price of his life, Walter is not only responsible for the death of an innocent person, but destroying the moral compass of who he thinks of as a son and who's life he just saved. Would allowing Jesse to die in Half Measures have been a better fate? So essentially, they managed to one-up last season's finale in terms of the deteriorating morality of Walter by having him take down Jesse with him.
The other character whose moral compass is slowly crumbling? At the end of last season, Skylar tells Walt to leave. Well he doesn't exactly listen which leads to "I fucked Ted," which may have sounded good at the time, but actually was really stupid. Not so much the affair but telling Walt. She's thinking way ahead though and when Walt agrees to a divorce, she doesn't file it because she doesn't want to testify against her husband.
Then she has the intuition to realize that somehow Walt is to blame for Hank's shootout. So she comes up with this elaborate lie to allow Marie to accept money from Walt and also explain the divide between her and Walt. Earlier in the series, there was a comment about how Skylar was a writer at some point so she knows how to concoct a story. So because of Walt, she has an affair and agrees to participate in a money laundering scheme. Walt really knows how to destroy the people he loves.
As far as the side characters, Gus is still a mostly terrifying, distant evil villain. Developing him as a character is still to come. He'd be a much less compelling character if not for the great performance of Giancarlo Esposito, who deserved at least one Emmy. Mike is an awesome character who we find out was an ex-cop, is very good at what he does, and doesn't fuck around. Almost every scene with Mike in the last few episodes is golden.
You know what's pretty difficult? To create two shocking endings to episodes to finish the season without killing off a major character or a semi-major supporting character (Gus, Mike). The first one was shocking because we didn't expect Walter to intervene and certainly not to RUN OVER THE BAD GUYS WITH A FUCKING CAR. Then in the finale a character gets shot who was in three episodes at the time and it's shocking because of who pulled the trigger. For as many murders that occur on the show, it seems to convey the magnitude of a murder pretty effectively.
Walter White Kill Count: 3 + 2 (Two drug dealers who killed Tomas - Gale basically counts but he didn't pull the trigger)
Walter White Death Count: 170 + 2 (Tomas and Gale; arguably the Cousins, but he was unaware they existed most of the time)
Walter White Badass Count: 7 + 1 (Since he's on the sidelines for most of the season, I consider him running over two dealers the only badass moment)
Audience View of Walter White: In reality, I still think audience rooted for him; theoretically, he is now bringing others down with him so we shouldn't.
Playlist (Best of Breaking Bad Season 3)
1. "A Horse with No Name" - America
2. Magic Arrow - Timbre Timbre
3. Tush - ZZ Top
4. Sun Shine on Me - Buddy Stuart
5. Ginza Samba - Vince Guaraldi & Bola Sete
6. Shimmy Shimmy Ya - Prince Fatty ft. Horseman
7. Windy - The Association
He really reaches his low point probably of the entire series when he goes to a meeting and tries to get recovering addicts back on meth. I remember him doing it at some point later too I believe. He never does anything worse than that. Sure, he killed Gale, but that was arguably justifiable for all the times Walter has saved his life. (Tuco, getting him to go to rehab, and running over the dealers with his car for starters)
In typical Breaking Bad style however, Jesse begins to gain his humanity back when he falls for Andrea. Sure, his original intention was to get her hooked on crystal meth - somehow that seems worse than killing on this show - but when she sees he has a kid, he ditches that plan. And dammit that he had to find out who Combo's killers were, because he really seemed to be going in the right direction. This leads him down a road where he actually is forced to kill a mostly innocent person after he's accepted he's not a murderer. So Jesse's path was the realization that he's a bad guy, to gaining humanity, to becoming a murderer.
Strangely, this might be the season where Walter has the least amount to do. He's mostly on the sidelines while everybody else is doing the action. I'm vastly over exaggerating this, but essentially over the first 10 episodes, he decides to cook meth thanks to Gus' persuasion and $3 million and brings Jesse into the fold to save his own skin and Hank's. He's also dishonest with himself still holding to that thought that he's only doing it for his family. That's pretty much it. He's satisfied with his situation and wants it to remain that way.
However, after Mike does his half measures speech, he realizes he's not fully committed to this. I think this is the moment where he stops lying to himself and accepts that he's a criminal. He's not going to be convincing himself he's doing it for his family anymore. Also, though not in this season, it allows him to accept his wife's request that she be brought into this. Walt was never given the chance to kill Gale, but I am certain he would do it. Because at this point in his life, he's in it for himself.
See, the writers knew that if Walt killed Gale, it wouldn't really advance anything because we the audience know he would do it. Walt killing Gale would have been a perfectly acceptable season finale, but the writers are more ambitious. Instead, for the price of his life, Walter is not only responsible for the death of an innocent person, but destroying the moral compass of who he thinks of as a son and who's life he just saved. Would allowing Jesse to die in Half Measures have been a better fate? So essentially, they managed to one-up last season's finale in terms of the deteriorating morality of Walter by having him take down Jesse with him.
The other character whose moral compass is slowly crumbling? At the end of last season, Skylar tells Walt to leave. Well he doesn't exactly listen which leads to "I fucked Ted," which may have sounded good at the time, but actually was really stupid. Not so much the affair but telling Walt. She's thinking way ahead though and when Walt agrees to a divorce, she doesn't file it because she doesn't want to testify against her husband.
Then she has the intuition to realize that somehow Walt is to blame for Hank's shootout. So she comes up with this elaborate lie to allow Marie to accept money from Walt and also explain the divide between her and Walt. Earlier in the series, there was a comment about how Skylar was a writer at some point so she knows how to concoct a story. So because of Walt, she has an affair and agrees to participate in a money laundering scheme. Walt really knows how to destroy the people he loves.
As far as the side characters, Gus is still a mostly terrifying, distant evil villain. Developing him as a character is still to come. He'd be a much less compelling character if not for the great performance of Giancarlo Esposito, who deserved at least one Emmy. Mike is an awesome character who we find out was an ex-cop, is very good at what he does, and doesn't fuck around. Almost every scene with Mike in the last few episodes is golden.
You know what's pretty difficult? To create two shocking endings to episodes to finish the season without killing off a major character or a semi-major supporting character (Gus, Mike). The first one was shocking because we didn't expect Walter to intervene and certainly not to RUN OVER THE BAD GUYS WITH A FUCKING CAR. Then in the finale a character gets shot who was in three episodes at the time and it's shocking because of who pulled the trigger. For as many murders that occur on the show, it seems to convey the magnitude of a murder pretty effectively.
Walter White Kill Count: 3 + 2 (Two drug dealers who killed Tomas - Gale basically counts but he didn't pull the trigger)
Walter White Death Count: 170 + 2 (Tomas and Gale; arguably the Cousins, but he was unaware they existed most of the time)
Walter White Badass Count: 7 + 1 (Since he's on the sidelines for most of the season, I consider him running over two dealers the only badass moment)
Audience View of Walter White: In reality, I still think audience rooted for him; theoretically, he is now bringing others down with him so we shouldn't.
Playlist (Best of Breaking Bad Season 3)
1. "A Horse with No Name" - America
2. Magic Arrow - Timbre Timbre
3. Tush - ZZ Top
4. Sun Shine on Me - Buddy Stuart
5. Ginza Samba - Vince Guaraldi & Bola Sete
6. Shimmy Shimmy Ya - Prince Fatty ft. Horseman
7. Windy - The Association
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