Breaking Bad: Season 4

Upon further review, I can say definitively that Season 4 is not the clear best season.  It's a very different kind of good than anything Breaking Bad ever did.  The string of episodes that end on a "HOLY SHIT" note is impressive, but I can't say that makes it the best season.  It just makes it the most exciting and shocking season.  To be clear, those are very different things.

It'd be easier to count the episodes that didn't have a "HOLY SHIT" moment, but I'll go through the list anyway.  Below I have each of the episodes of Season 4 and the "HOLY SHIT" moment - the moment where you sort of spend the next ten minutes after the episode saying "HOLY SHIT" repeatedly.

Box Cutter: Gus killing Victor with a box cutter
Cornered: "I am the one who knocks" (Maybe a stretch)
Hermanos: Max (Gus' "hermano") getting shot in a flashback
Bug: Walt and Jesse fight; Also, Gus with "Come at me, bro"
Salud: Gus killing the cartel
Crawl Space: The ending, oh God, that ending. (Walt laughing maniacally)
Face Off: Gus walking out after the explosion and adjusting his tie; also Lily of the Valley

That's more than half of the episodes.  I might be missing some only because they seem less shocking in hindsight or because I don't find them as shocking on multiple viewings.  Still, that's a lot of shocking moments.

This season seemed a bit more plot-based and not as character-based as the show usually does.  For example, the last five or so episodes are almost all plot.  I'm not saying it's a bad thing, because it's still well-written, it's just a different kind of good.  I almost don't want to compare this season to the others because it's almost a different show.

Hard to top, but Walt's descent into evilness goes even further.  It's really hard to top letting an innocent person die (Jane in Season 2), but then they did top that when he took Jesse to his level by telling him to kill Gale (in Season 3).  So how do you top letting an innocent person die and then destroying the moral compass of the people you love?  Well you give a kid poison knowing full well they could die from it.

Like I said in my Season 3 review, Breaking Bad could have went the easy way and had Walt kill Gale, but they made Jesse do it to elevate the show to something else.  Similarly, they could have just had Gus poison Brock, which would have actually been semi-plausible enough.  But instead they elevate the show and have Walt poison him, which makes more sense really and shows how far he's dropped.

So at the end of the season, Walt says "I won" after he's defeated Gus.  This means he takes no moral lesson from what he went through, what he put his family through, and it's simply vindication that he could now be the new kingpin.  Whereas most people might take this as a sign of good luck, Walter feels invincible, and he feels greed and power.

Jesse's transformation in Season 4 is one of the highlights.  He starts off the season as a depressed party animal, desperate to avoid any and all moments where he has to think about what he did.  Then Gus kind of manipulates him into thinking he's wanted and needed and valuable.  Then he proves his worth (I don't mean the fake robbery scene either)  His loyalty slowly switches from Walt to Gus until they fight in Bug and he fully separates himself from Walt.  He has a triumphant moment in Salud when he does his best Walter White impression in Mexico.

This show does not like it when things start going Jesse's way however.  Anytime anything looks promising for Jesse, the show does something to destroy it quickly.  In this case, he's manipulated by Walt into teaming up with him and trying to kill Gus.  It's a shame almost every Jesse action in this season is in some way manipulated by someone else.

Hank begins this season as a lost soul, picks it back up when he has a new target in Gus Fring, and really spends the rest of the season trying to find evidence on Fring.  He also collects rocks - sorry MINERALS - something that was depressing but never not funny.  The great thing about Hank is that he's really smart and is figuring this out due to persistence.  Like I said before, the law enforcement agents are actually smart in this show.

As far as the other main characters, Skylar spends the first half trying to run the car wash and the second half trying to shut up Ted.  There's not much character stuff, mostly plot stuff, but Skylar "breaks bad" even more this season.  Marie is shown struggling to get Hank motivated and happy and resorts to stealing.  That's pretty much all she does.  Walter Jr. gets a car, eats breakfast, and has a genuinely touching moment when he visits his Dad during his birthday after Walt got beat up by Jesse.  RJ Mitte is underutilized as he knocks the few meaningful scenes he's given.

Onto the interesting characters, we find out how ruthless Gus is in the first episode, we see why he's so ruthless in Hermanos, and we see his brilliant ploy to get Jesse on his side.  His downfall was his need for revenge on Hector Salamanca, which made him blind to his usual pragmatic and fastidious behavior.  I think it's ironic that his rise in power was made possible by Hector, but his downfall was also Hector.

Mike begins his father-son like relationship with Jesse.  He slowly comes to care about the kid even if he won't show it.  Jesse's apparent need for a father figure is a recurring theme in this show.  It's delightfully convenient that Mike needs a week to recover from his wounds, enough time to avoid getting killed.

I have less to say about this season mostly because it's more plot-based.  I think Season 4 is a season that is more instantly gratifying than the other seasons, but it's not better.  It definitely still lives up to the "greatest" show currently airing however.

Walter White Kill Count: 5 + 5 (I'm counting Hector's suicide murder of Gus and Tyrus; also two guards to release Jesse at end)
Walter White Death Count: 172 + 1 (I'm only counting one indirect death - Victor in Box Cutter)
Walter White Badass Count: 8 + 3 ('I am the one who knocks,' daring Jesse to shoot him, "I won")
Audience View of Walter White: I'm sorry I can't judge this because of HOW AWESOME THAT FINALE WAS - is most likely their view of Walter white.

Playlist (Best of Breaking Bad Season 4)
1. Truth - Alexander
2. Digital Animal - Honey Claws
3. If I Had a Heart - Fever Ray
4. 1977 - Ana Tijoux
5. Boots of Chinese Plastic - The Pretenders
6. Tidal Wave - Thee Oh Seas
7. Freestyle - Taalbi Brothers
8. Black - Danger Mouse & Danielle Luppi feat. Norah Jones
9. Goodbye (with Soap & Skin) - Apparat