When a series announces its end date, the rules go out the window. BREAKING BAD always earned its reputation as a show in which anything could happen, but with only 16 episodes left to go, the air of unpredictability multiplies exponentially. The show has cultivated an aura of tension like few before it; protagonist Walter White has been running from something (police, his family, death) since the pilot, and as the stakes have raised, so has the crushing sense of dread that creator Vince Gilligan spreads so thick. Not since the final season of THE SOPRANOS has a viewer been required to spend so much time on the seat’s very edge.
As the show’s final run has been split into a two part final season, rather than separate seasons 5 and 6, this initial collection of 8 episodes can’t help but feel a little incomplete. The decision to cut the season in half most likely stems primarily from a business perspective with which we laymen need not trouble ourselves, but it does make a creative difference as well: witness the two part final season of THE SOPRANOS, which does function as a whole when viewed as such (without spoiling anything: characters are offered final chances to make different decisions, and react as the characters of THE SOPRANOS are wont to do). We open the season with a tantalising flash-forward: Walter, with a full head of hair, purchasing heavy artillery for reasons unknown. The savvy viewer suspects that the motives behind this dramatic move will not be revealed in this initial batch of 8 episodes, but in one cold open, Gilligan snares us for the following 16 hours.
If this semi-season is a little unsatisfying compared to the previous 13 episodes’ enthralling cat and mouse battle between Walter and Gustavo Fring, then, it is by necessity. But that’s not to say season 5.1 does not dole out BREAKING BAD’s full menu of brilliantly acted character moments, genuine shocks, tension breaking laughs and startling violence. Bryan Cranston, in particular, gets his best showcase in a while, the desperate survivor of season 4 now the kingpin of Albuquerque. Equally adept at grandiose soliloquising and silent contemplation, he controls this season with little more than a steely gaze, barely raising his voice. Just as vital to the season is Jonathan Banks as weary hit man Mike Ehrmantraut, whose welcome increased screen time allows him to fully flesh out an intriguing character, a surprisingly sympathetic presence in the wake of Walter’s monomania. Anna Gunn is also allowed to display additional faucets as Skyler White, perhaps the most direct victim of Walter’s criminal empire. New additions to the cast also fit in well, particularly FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS’ great Jesse Plemons as Todd, a worryingly malleable new protege to Walter. Disappointingly, Aaron Paul as Jesse is often left somewhat to the side – the heart and soul of the show perhaps has less purpose when its main character increasingly loses his own – but makes good with what time he has as always, and will doubtlessly play a major part in the show’s end game.
The show’s major moments and set pieces are breathtaking as ever. A magnificent train heist, shot like a western, and a prison montage in the finale episode are as adrenaline pumping as any action cinema you could imagine. Indeed, this season makes perhaps BREAKING BAD’s strongest case for the title of Best Looking Show On TV, with its spectacular desert photography, flashiness that’s often just for the sake of it but works so well as part of the show’s style, and willingness to maintain long, close shots of faces. It’s the exterior business that gives it the edge over MAD MEN, another contender; the train heist episode in particular is reminiscent of THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD, one of the past decade’s best-shot films. The sound design, too, is another tool for tension raising, used to particularly great effect in a scene with Mike and his Granddaughter, equal parts mournful and scary.
But the bottom line is, these eight episodes are a prologue, a build up to a finale that, by all rights, should be one of the greatest in many a year. Which brings us to the ending. If there’s one thing Gilligan knows how to get just right, it’s a closing scene, and this one’s a peach. Even if you hated season 5.1 for its slightly relaxed pace and focus on inner turmoil and fan punching bag Skyler White, the ending is guaranteed to have you right back in front of the screen for the final stretch. There are arguments to be made that the final cliffhanger is a little (or a lot) convenient. But the execution of the scene, down to every last edit, is so well done, so cathartic, and most of all so exciting that the final eight episodes can’t come soon enough. There are a dozen ways this show could end. Whatever Vince Gilligan and co. go for will surely be spectacular.
BREAKING BAD SEASON 5 is released on DVD and Blu-ray 3rd June
