Debriefing Breaking

Breaking Bad's fourth season was its biggest yet. More watched than ever and its fans are the most involved.  And yet, I thought season four was its weakest.  In the first three seasons, Walt and Jesse, even as they went up the chain, were small-timers. They operated below the radar, so whenever they'd try something bigger, it was likely they'd get their heads cut off.

This meant slow progress, but it also meant quick payoffs.  They need a big meth distributor, so Jesse gets a meeting with Tuco.  He gets beat up by the psycho so bad he's put in the hospital.  Walter responds by getting his own meeting and blowing up Tuco's place (utilizing his mad chemistry skills).  They start working with Tuco, who kills an employee (by mistake--compare to Gus, who does nothing by chance) in front of them.  Then he gets paranoid (even more than usual) and kidnaps the two.  So they have an intense confrontation out in the desert where Tuco doesn't make it and the two escape.  All that Tuco action took four episodes.  Because that's how it works.  Even if Walt has a long-range plan, violence pops up quickly.

Not that every episode was bulging with action.  But even a "Gray Matter" or "Peekaboo" or "I.F.T." has plenty to think about, and decent payoffs.  Walt and Jesse are trying to build something, but it's a house of cards that can fall any second.

But season four was one single chess match between Walt and Gus, with Walt outmatched most of the way.  Even this could work, except now Walt and Jesse were playing at the top, and everything was out in the open.  No one's flying below the radar any more.  Worse, after the great season 3 finale, all the cards were on the table.  Gus was going to kill Walt as soon as he could, but until then, Walt had to keep working for him. (And you also had to wonder just how much was Gus going to put up with.  Was it that hard to find an acceptable cook?) It's hard to keep the show as taut when everyone knows too much. (It's comparable, in an odd way, to Battlestar Galactica.  When the Cylons were scary, unknown figures who could kill the humans any second, the series had momentum, but the more familar they got, the less exciting the show was.)

Also, since Jesse and Walt were now in the big leagues, the action had to get bigger--at least that's how Vince Gilligan played it.  Before, things were usually improvised.  Walt figures out on the spot how to kill Emilio, or Jesse and Walt try their best to take care of Tuco after they've been kidnaped.  When Gus is turning on the heat in season three, Walt killing the street dealers comes as a shock, as does the final plan to take out Gale.  But Walt versus Gus is an epic, season-long struggle, and Gus has to be made into an almost omniscient villain (or hero--some rooted for him), while Walt eventually has to fight back with equal bravery, foresight and intelligence.  The bigger the action gets, the less a human element is in it, and the harder it can be to relate to.

Don't get me wrong. I still love the show. Probably the best thing on TV.  And season four was amazing in how dark it was willing to get.  But in getting too big, even with all the action and violence, the show has lost some of its power.