Breaking Bad Season 5

Liana Gharzeddine

Personal Rating: 9/10

IMDB Rating: 9.5/10 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903747/?ref_=nv_sr_1) 

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 100% (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/breaking-bad/) 

 "I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was really -- I was alive." 

-Walter White, Season 5 Finale

AMC’s Breaking Bad is the highest rated television show of this year, as recorded in the Guinness World Records of 2014. It revolves around an ex-chemistry teacher who was diagnosed with cancer. In fear of leaving his family with no support, Walter White (Bryan Cranston), teams up with Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), an ex-student, to produce and sell crystal meth. Of course, that was just the beginning. Five seasons and ten Emmys later, the show is coming to a sad end. Unfortunately, it has to end sometime, especially if your main character is a ticking time-bomb. 

I think it’s safe to say that the second half of the fifth and final season of Breaking Bad held the most stressful and intense episodes of the show. Just as always, the show has separated itself from the norm of how television shows are usually made. When it comes to camera angles, background music, make-up, or plot line, Breaking Bad has always been different. The show doesn’t busy itself with dramatic misplaced close-ups or typical background tunes. There have been some who say that the show is very heavy and hard to follow because the filming is not what they’re used to. Breaking Bad is full of single shots of the characters without switching through camera perspectives. The sound effects played during the dramatic climaxes are simple single-noted beats to get your heart thumping in rhythm. Also, the make-up and the physical portrayal of the characters are other factors as to why Breaking Bad is unique. In this show, it’s very rare to find a character looking their best. Unlike most Hollywood productions, the characters hair, face make-up and clothes, accurately portray the severity of the situations they’re in. In the big picture, the creators do their best to make the show look realistic and not very Hollywood.

There have been many arguments as to how the plot line is controversial by romanticizing a drug lord and his life. I, however, disagree. The show does quite the opposite. It doesn’t illustrate Walter White as living an easy, rich, life without consequences. It actually shows the severity and horror behind dealing with drugs and crime. Personally, I think the show is giving off the right message because despite Walter’s millions, I would not trade lives with him for even a second.

With one more week and one finale left, the whole Breaking Bad fanbase is on edge. Will they let Walter’s cancer get the best of him, or will they make his drug past come back and bite him in the behind? Or, just maybe, they’ll let him live? Personally, I’m more concerned about Jesse, many’s favorite character. How will the show leave the kind-hearted, innocent, pressured young man in the end?

I guess we’ll have to wait a week to find out.

(September 23, 2013)