Best season of AMC's Breaking Bad

3 all the way. the conclusion of 3 is the peak of the show imo. incredible drama.

I'm going to need some time.

Feel like Season 1 is just so very slight in comparison, mostly because it was shortened by the writer's strike, but it was still a quality season.

Season 2 is where it began hitting its stride, but late Season 2 - Season 4, with the introduction of Gus Fring, is where the show was most interesting to me.

5b gave it a run for its money, but I've never been as obsessed with a television show as I was when I was firing through eps of Season 4.

yeah the conclusion of 3 must have been much more difficult for those watching it in real time. Obviously you were fairly sure he'd be dead, but it wasn't certain, and so much left hanging.

we should really poll each individual episode of each season, and then poll the five winners, and then we can poll each minute of the winning episode

bro this is a Neuname free zone

5b. Stuff happened. There were stretches in the first 3 that I found pretty interminable.

we should really poll each individual episode of each season, and then poll the five winners, and then we can poll each minute of the winning episode

you should poll your face

The first two were the only ones I didn't watch in real time, and I just wolfed down 2 and was astonished by the leap in quality. Such a relentless piece of storytelling. So 2 gets my vote.

I mean Season 1 can be summarized as:

"I'M COOKING!"
"I'm done, that's it, don't try and talk me out of retirement."
"Hey Jesse, about what I said yesterday...."
"No, under no circumstances will I coo...*reads bill*....y'know what, scratch that"

3 > 5b > 2 > 4 > 5a > 1

Or something like that.

lol whiney

Loved 2. The whole Tucco situation was when it really hit its stride and while there've been great bits since, I didn't let out quite as big a 'woohoo!' as when Walt admits he tried to poison Tucco.

Season 4 had "Salud" (tequila de muerte) and "Face off" (Tio's revenge), but suffered a bit with Hank's recovery (mineral obsession etc).
As much as I liked the Salamanca Cousins in 3rd, the stakes just felt higher during 4.
Loved the Jane arc in 2nd, but all the damn flashforwards to the Wayfarer 515 crash were vexing.

So, 4 > 3 > 5b > 2 > 5a > 1

3 all the way. the conclusion of 3 is the peak of the show imo. incredible drama.

OTM

5b had Ozymandias & the garage door closing on Walt 'n' Hank & the final kitchen scene w/Walt & Skylar so 5b it is

3>5b>2>4>5a>1 but 3 and 1 are the only ones i'm sure about there, the others could be in any order.

3>2>4>5>1

season 2 has my two fav episodes back to back, but 3 probably has the best blend of tension & yuks. like em all pretty close to equally though. except for 5a5b which feel sorta separate from the rest of the series to me, makes them tough to evaluate

ending of 3 is definitely the moment where i was all "OMG THANK GOD I'M WATCHING THIS ON NETFLIX, HOW DID PEOPLE WAIT AN ENTIRE YEAR FOR SEASON 4" but I refuse to vote out of principle. TOO SOON.

Season 4 for me. It had to be 3 or 4 because Gus Fring is the best and most thrilling character imo.. Season 4 has Box Cutter, Walt burning donuts, Salud, Crawl Space and Face Off. So season 4 takes it.

oh yeah and "i am the one who knocks" is season 4 too.

S2 thru S4 is the sweet spot obv, here's how I break it down to an extent

maybe some BB heresy here y'all but the walt/gus showdown in S4 kinda pushed the limits of credulity for me - gus taking on these mythical superhuman qualities made him less interesting as a character. similarly the plane crash at the end of S2 was a bit of a groaner and the six degrees of jane to get us there, eh. but S3 wrapped things up in as tightly plotted and as profound a way as this series is capable of getting (which is pretty f'kn tight tbh), and it did so without big flashy moves, just a bunch of real ppl locked in a power struggle with the balance flipping from minute to minute (ok ok so the cousins are a total pulp confection but they're out of commission halfway thru the season, and you know they would've been the deus ex ne plus ultra of any other show).

so S2/S3/S4 all have ups and downs, classics eps strewn about here and there (and great memorable moments trapped in blase eps), but I gotta go with overall story arc and finale. so yeah, S3.

the two greatest moments in the show for me were "run" and Hank's shootout with the cousins so 3 it is

3 just had so many of the moments that made the show, and the blend of amazing acting and character creation and story-telling that you get from "no half measures" to "full measure", I don't think any show ever thrilled me as much as it did then, there was no way they could ever reach that level again, tho 5b did go pretty big.

Also the final scene in 3, with Walt saying "23 wantabo.... YEAH" was incredible.

Last night's machine gun moment did have a little touch of that but I've never minded knowing that they couldn't top the end of 3, it was pure alchemy.

Really hard to pick, because other than 5a and 5b we watched them all at a gallop on DVD, so they kind of blur into each other in some respects. Having looked through synopses briefly, and this thread, I'm tempted to say season 3, but 5a probably had my favourite episode (train heist), and it felt amazing to watch it unfold as proper scheduled (sort of) television (on demand) (rather than 4-episodes in a sitting via DVD).

I'd be interested to see how people would react if this poll had rolled 5a and 5b in together as one option.

The final stretch of 3 is pretty much the most exciting TV I have ever seen, so it has to be that.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Having just finished 5a, I'd vote 5a. That moment, finally, at the end of 5a ep 8 with Hank revisiting Leaves of Grass was the apex thus far for me.

You're so lucky you don't have to wait a year to find out what happens next!

yeah man you'll feel much better not having to wait a year to find out that Jesse dies in a terrible gas explosion.

o wate

I think I accidentally heard what happens to Jesse but I'm pretending I didn't

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

this sort of sucks through 2 seasons. i guess it gets better?

Nah, bail out now if you truly believe that.

Seasons 1-3 > Seasons 4&5

^yep

seasons 2-5 > season 1. they each had their moments, though i think the last half of 4 was probably the peak of the peaks.

i went through the entire show just month or two ago. probably my fav show of all time. that reminds me, i really wanted to make a shirt that's a close-up of walt yelling "JESSE!" in that certain way that he does about 500 times on this show

When the show became the Walt-vs-Gus show is when it lost at least partial sight of what made it so great, though of course it still remained a pretty great show anyway.

Anyway, the right season won this poll.

2-3 probably the best, before Walt became the unstoppable Meth Terminator. I don't see ever wanting to rewatching this or caring about it the way I still do with the Wire/Deadwood. Jesse aside, it didn't leave much room for characters to breathe or be interesting.

walt and jesse's relationship is pretty boring. can't really bring myself to care about any of the characters really, though hank is pretty funny. and i don't think cranston is good at all in this, the guy doesn't really have a lot of depth. he wears the same face every scene it seems

most of all though what bugs me is all the escapes and implausible shit walt and jesse seem to pull off. judging by the crazed reactions to all of the more recent episodes, i'm guessing the plots get more and more garish and implausible as it goes on

also, the fact that walt turned down elliott's money -- like i know your career sucks and you used to sleep with his wife, but the decision to enter the meth business seemed so rushed and ridiculous to me, given the much easier alternative

Nah, bail out now if you truly believe that.

― Eric H., Monday, March 24, 2014 2:01 PM (9 minutes ago)

i also figured there would be a lot more science in the show, but it's mostly like, yeah this guy teaches high school chem and knows how to
make meth without sudafed. the show-to-tell ratio is kind of low

it seems like this show would have been 100 times better as a 2 hour coen brothers movie

Yeah but every show would be better as a Coen Brothers movie.

When the show became the Walt-vs-Gus show is when it lost at least partial sight of what made it so great, though of course it still remained a pretty great show anyway.

― Eric H., Monday, March 24, 2014 3:06 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

without spoiling anything past season 2, what made it great to you?

basically everything you're wrong about m/l

walt/jesse relationship is great
cranston is great
the implausible shit they pull off is great
his arrogance @ turning down free money in favor of making his own is great

oh

hank seems like the most interesting character to me so far, he's not one-dimensional like everyone else in the show. his relationship with walt jr and his wife are a nice contrast to his meathead day job. and he's funny as hell. the actress who plays skyler is ok too but the character is boring

wtf Hank was MOST one-dimensional character until the last season or two

either season 1 or the second half of season 5 is the weakest imo.

gr8080 is gr8

I can see how some people might not like this show but basically everything k3vin k. is saying makes zero sense to me. The fact that Walt turns down Elliott's money is such a fundamental aspect of what makes the Walter White character interesting to watch. He's arrogant to the degree that he will put his whole family in danger just to prove the point the he can do it his way.

The implausible plans are great because the fact that he constantly just barely escapes being caught/killed helps maintain a level of tension throughout a lot of the series which is unlike anything I've ever seen on television.

Anyway, maybe this show just isn't for you.

gr80 is otm k3v. just stop watching, you don't like this show, that's cool not everybody has to like everything

i'm sort of entering the shipley zone of having watched enough of the show that i want to keep watching it, despite my problems with it. it's a decent watch, i just am not seeing the comparisons to the wire/sopranos-level storytelling yet

Whereas I, tackling The Wire now for the first time after having been exposed to so many of its descendants near and far, was not prepared for something so focused on the long game as opposed to the payoffs nearly every episode of BB offered.

this is pretty good, sometimes really good, but it's nowhere near as good as the sopranos.

This was a weird and unbalanced show, I don't get the cultural obsession with Walter White, certainly don't get why this show is considered even close to the level of The Wire or Sopranos (or ten other shows) but the highs of S3 were so high that k3v I'd say to see the third season through

and i don't think cranston is good at all in this, the guy doesn't really have a lot of depth. he wears the same face every scene it seems

if you really believe it, sorry dude, this show is not for you and you're really not going to enjoy it. the show gets better, but i don't think it'll fundamentally change enough for you to start liking it. gr8080/aero otm

I agree that the superhero battle of season 4 between Walt and Gus went a bit too far in overwhelming the other interesting aspects of the show, but anyone who complains about the "implausibility" of the plot twists is clearly expecting BB to be a sort of a show it never really was. Any expectations of plausibility or realism should've been dropped by season 1, episode 7, when Walt blows up Tuco's headquarters and walks away like a Tarantino character.

i think part of what makes BB so loveable is that it's antihero is someone a lot closer to its audience than characters from other shows.

sopranos & wire are incredible storytelling but they're ultimately set in mob/inner city crime worlds; might as well be 7 kingdoms of westros

WW starts out as a disenchanted immaculated suburban guy working a job he's overqualified for while confronted with very real 21st c problems & ends up takes this really wild ride

taking*

exactly

If you find yourself entering a thread about a much loved show with "sort of sucks" and back pedaling to "a decent watch, but its no wire" you're probably chafing against hype more than the show itself. But just like a guy going "omg Dylan's voice is so bad, why do you people think he's a genius" you should just leave it alone until you aren't sweating the hype.

that's definitely part of it, i admit

But just like a guy going "omg Dylan's voice is so bad, why do you people think he's a genius"

Haha I have literally been this guy.

I don't see ever wanting to rewatching this or caring about it the way I still do with the Wire

― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Monday, March 24, 2014 3:09 PM (three years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ya i have been rewatching this a little and it is entertaining but without the plot anticipation of a first pass i think maybe 80% of this show's appeal is gone

my problem w/the show is it's such a tightly wound story plotwise that you feel like the characters are trapped in it in a particularly claustrophobic way without any chance for escape. that's the point i realize but i don't think it's as satisfying as other people might. also towards the end especially it gets into that cable prestige series thing of being sadistic feel-bad television for the sake of being feel-bad television. lots of what happens doesn't feel earned as anything other than a particularly nasty plot twist.

I find the intricate tight plotting to be incredibly satisfying and exhilirating, and will always enjoy rewatching in a more analytical way. But if you're not as into that I can see why it would be serious diminishing returns. Walt and Jesse are the only characters with a huge ammount of depth to them.

I feel like BCS is a course-correction from BB's various faults

a great female lead, more character driven, less dependent on cliffhangers etc

episode at tuco's place in the desert has to be one of the best huh

i need to watch better call saul but something about a spinoff series isn't appealing. is it worth it?

dude! get on that

I think I can safely say that everyone I know into BCS thinks it's better than BB

BCS>>>>>>>>>

ok cool i will watch it

BCS is an amazing show that stands on its own.

that too

And it's different enough that I would recommend it to people who weren't particularly into BB.

& I say that as someone who loved breaking bad & thinks skyler white is a great character (s2 onward at least) & not at all underwritten, if a little underused

JUst rewatching the series and finding season 5a seems to slump heavily. Wondering if that's something other people noticed.
JUst feeling something is missing, the touch or something.
Seems heavy handed and verging on moralistic. Maybe 5b will pick up again.

it does. but i think most of the seasons start slow and ramp up to the finale

the only real highlight of 5a is the fifth ep iirc

The season cliffhanger is so well done.

guys idk if youve heard of this show its really good imo

it’s no crocodile shoes tho tbf

I bought the whole thing at a flea market a few weeks ago, $10 a season on Blu-Ray (and believe I ended up buying the final season twice--we had some confusion in the store as to whether there were five or six seasons). With The Americans starting up again in a couple of weeks, I think I'll hold off till the summer.