A chemistry teacher gone bad. (Breaking Bad)

Member Name: Hexxen

Product:	Breaking Bad
Date:	18/03/09 (46 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Acting, Setting, Characters, Story, all fantastic

Disadvantages: Only 9 episodes in the first season!

Walter White is just like any other, a normal man who faces the troubles and tribulations of every day life until he has a very strong culture shock in contracting "stage three" Lung cancer and this is his very varied tale of trying to do something while he feels he still can to ensure his families futures.

Walter is an extremely proficient scientist and works at a high school as a chemistry teacher whilst holding down a second job at a car wash to help pay for his home life. At home he has a very loving family between his son Walter Jnr (who has Cerebral Palsy) and his wife Skyler (who is pregnant with their second child) who upon finding out about Walter's illness are ready to support him in whatever avenue of treatment he wishes to consider.

The story is very centered on the legacy that Walter wants to leave and the lengths he will go to to provide for his family after he imagines he will die a few months down the line. You find out very quickly that the lines for Walter get blurred as he approaches a drop out former student of his Jesse who has now become a drug dealer, about getting into the business after he see's just what this line of work is capable of producing in cashflow on a drive-along raid with Skyler's brother Hank (DEA Agent).

Bryan Cranston (of Malcolm in the Middle "Hal" fame) is fantastic in this role and that is really worth emphasising, i eagerly followed the entire first series after watching the many intriguing adverts on TV. Not only did it turn out to be more than worth the wait, it has turned out to be one of the most original and gripping series i have watched for a very long time. Superb acting and flow of the story, an extremely well crafted piece of television in this world of Lost, House and these other massively followed serial shows.

For anyone who enjoys a Drama with a twist of Black Comedy on top this is definitely a show to look out for and pick up on DVD. The second series has just kicked off again in the US a couple weeks ago so we can only hope that one of our digital channels picks this up swiftly because it deserves a lot more hype and a bigger fan base than it has.

The first series only consisted of 9 episodes all sitting at just over 45 mins long (standard fair of a TV show). Bryan Cranston also won an Emmy for Best Actor for his portrail of Walter White in the first series, something that was extremely well deserved.

I would really recommend to anyone to hunt down the first episode, try and stick it on your sky+ boxes (the first series was fully shown on the FX channel), hunt down the DVD (which as far as i know is only available internationally right now unfortunately) and be ready to really watch some fantastic acting in a very superb setting complete with memorable characters, scenes and bathtub's!

Summary: a Drama definitely not to be missed.