The Dirtywhirl Tips Its Cap To... Breaking Bad

I watch a lot of television (some would possibly replace the words "a lot" with "an obscene amount" and they wouldn't be wrong) so it's no small measure of praise for me to say that Breaking Bad just finished one of the all-time great seasons that a television show has ever had. AMC's original drama slate right now consists of Mad Men and Breaking Bad (with a few more in the pipeline) and while Mad Men deservedly gets an immense amount of critical acclaim and Emmy love for being artfully executed, Breaking Bad just crushed any season of Mad Men hands down with its own third season. A series that once seemed very closed in due to its premise of a high school chemistry teacher who turns to cooking meth in order to provide a nest egg for his family after he's diagnosed with terminal lung cancer has opened up into an even darker examination of the toll that the drug trade takes on a man's choices, soul, and psyche. Each of its three seasons has topped the previous one with season three being far and beyond anything the series has done to date. There are no less than four or five jaw-dropping moments throughout the course of its 13 episodes, one moment in particular that had me just saying, "Wow!" over and over to Mrs. Dirtywhirl over the course of a five to ten minute span. We're keeping this as spoiler-free as possible for the uninitiated because the shocks are part of the enjoyment of watching Breaking Bad (along with the expertise of its acting and writing) but believe me when I say that there is no wasted member of its ensemble cast. Bryan Cranston is every bit deserving of his two (and soon to be three) Emmys for his portrayal of Walter White, a man becoming addicted to the power provided by a world that he had no intentions of living in, but this season saw both Aaron Paul (as White's partner and former chemistry student Jesse Pinkman) and Dean Norris (as White's DEA agent brother-in-law who's unaware that the elusive "Heisenberg" drug dealer that he's been tracking is actually family) step up to the plate and absolutely nail the material they were given. Come December, I'd be very, very surprised if any show has a stronger season than this. It really isn't often that a year like this one comes along for a single series so if you're a fan of quality television at all, you owe it to yourself to check Breaking Bad out.