Breaking Bad

One day out of the blue we started receiving copies of Rolling Stone in the mail. Not just one, but several, every week...never mind that we didn't subscribe or could care less what song Taylor Swift sang the CMA Awards. Instead of throwing it away, the magazine has become free bathroom reading material, along with ZOONOOZ and Gene's homebrewing catalogs.

Despite our general lack of interest in mainstream American entertainment, the rag does feature some good things. Example: Walter White of Breaking Bad, a show on AMC, was mentioned in a list of interesting TV characters. An underachieving high school chemistry teacher who finds out he has terminal lung cancer, "Mr. White" teams up with a delinquent ex-student to cook methamphetamine for profit.

Intrigued, I started researching the show. Called ""the best show on TV" and the recipient of numerous awards, I had a feeling it might be worth watching. When I discovered Bob Odenkirk (co-creator of the quirky, amazingly funny '90s sketch comedy show Mr. Show) plays a corrupt lawyer in seasons 2 and 3, I knew we had to watch.

More than just a show about drugs, Breaking Bad is about a family stretched to the brink emotionally and financially, the absurdity of the drug war and what a man can bring himself do when he has nothing to lose. Brilliantly written and shot, Breaking Bad uses juxtaposition to compare the two worlds in which Walter White simultaneously resides. Case in point: in one episode Walter is at home with his family in his clean, middle-class Albuquerque home while his partner Jessie lies in wait at the squalid home of two dirty, toothless meth addicts who robbed one of his dealers. At home, Walter's wife is expecting a baby girl and the family has lovingly painted and decorated the back room in preparation for her arrival. At the meth den, Jessie passes the time waiting for meth addicts by playing peek-a-boo with a dirty, mostly-silent young boy left to fend for himself in the filth.

Another episode finds Badger, a member of Walter and Jessie's crew, arrested for "slinging" meth to an undercover cop (played by DJ Qualls of Road Trip fame). Unfortunately for them, their compatriot will be forced to give them up, or else spend years in prison. When it seems the only alternative is to kill Badger, or go to jail themselves, White and Jessie look to crooked lawyer Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) for an alternative. In the end, the pair shells out 80 grand (a large portion of their earnings) and a pound of meth for a plan that will get Badger out of jail and send a patsy to prison in their stead. When Walter balks at the price, Saul quips, "Conscience gets expensive, doesn't it?"

If you like a good story with unexpected plot twists, just enough realism to make you squirm and a sprinkle of humor to balance out the violence, Breaking Bad could be your new favorite show. Seasons 1 through 3 are available on DVD, or via torrents if you so please. Season 4 starts July 2011!