This is the fourth post of Operation AMC, my ongoing project to watch every episode of the AMC series Breaking Bad and Mad Men, often called two of the best shows on television. This post covers the third season of Breaking Bad.
SOME SPOILERS AWAIT YE, ALL WHO ENTER HERE
I’m cheating a bit here, but I don’t care. When I started this I intended to bounce back and forth between seasons of Breaking Bad and Mad Men so that I wouldn’t do the same show twice. Well, that’s out the window now. As much as I liked the first season of Mad Men, when the credits rolled at the end of “ABQ”, Breaking Bad’s second season finale, there was no way I was going to stop there. Within the next week I was neck deep in season three, and now that it’s over I feel the same way. Sadly, there are no episodes left to satisfy me, so I must either wait or write fan fiction. For now, I’m sticking with the former, but it will be a struggle.
Where the second season depicted a man tempted by his darker side, in the third season he just straight up gives in. The full transition of Walter White is best described in the titles of the final two episodes of the season: “Half Measures” and “Full Measure”. Most of Walter’s decisions up until this season erred on the side of not doing anything. When he watched Jane suffocate at the end of season two, he killed her by not helping. At season three’s end, he’s no longer one to stand by and let the chips fall where they may. Now he’s going to be the one pulling the trigger.
Also taking action: the wife. Skyler, for a while, was merely annoyed by Walt’s incessant absence from the household. She would never act on her frustrations, until she dug up the whole truth. At the end of season two she kicked Walt out of the house because she knew his lying had gone too far. Not only that, but it’s revealed at the beginning of season three that she knows exactly what Walt’s new trade was: drug dealing. (or is it drug manufacturing?) She tells him to stay away from the house or she’ll tell the police everything. Walt’s not so keen on keeping his distance.
As if the family drama wasn’t enough, there are a couple of Mexican cousins coming up to Albuquerque to introduce Walt to the other end of their shiny new ax. This is not what Gus Fring, local kingpin of both meth and fried chicken, wants. Walter has become far too valuable to the operation, and it is in the interest of no one to kill him. Fring’s strategy to get the cousins out of his hair is something to behold.
Now, all this right here sounds like enough plot to eat up an entire season of television, but hold your horses. The cousins are dead seven episodes in to a thirteen episode season. The relationship between Walt and Skyler goes from one of animosity, to acceptance, and even cordial disagreement. It wouldn’t surprise me if soon they become close again, though Skyler still seems resistant to Walt’s assertions that he’s only had his family in mind.
The question remains, does he only have his family in mind anymore? It’s clear he did at first, though he’s now reached a point where 1) he no longer is in danger of imminent death, and 2) he now has more than enough money to last for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, Walt has found himself a career that he’s really quite good at. Not only is he good at making the stuff, but he’s learned what it takes to become powerful and important in the “industry.” Sadly, what he must do is not pretty. The final two episodes of Breaking Bad’s third season pack a punch to rival the West Wing episode “Two Cathedrals,” as both show us the main characters facing one of the biggest decisions they’ll make in their life. In “Two Cathedrals”, President Bartlet was forced to choose whether he would run for re-election in the wake of his admission of multiple sclerosis. In Breaking Bad, Walt and Jesse must choose between giving up everything they’ve worked for in the meth business for the sake of the greater good, or taking harsh “full measures” which would commit them to the lifestyle permanently. The final shot, of Jesse nervously pointing a gun in the face of an innocent man and pulling the trigger, is gut-wrenching.
Very recently The A.V. Club chose Breaking Bad as the best television series of the year, followed by Community, Parks and Recreation, Louie and Mad Men. (There are 20 more after that, but you get the idea.) I have no quarrel with this, and based on what I’ve seen I would agree that Breaking Bad is one of the best television shows I have ever seen, and this third season was one of the most consistently great seasons of television I’ve ever seen. It began as a simple premise with a great number of possibilities: What if a simple, well-meaning high school teacher was diagnosed with cancer and chose to manufacture and sell meth? Breaking Bad took this premise and created something beautiful and haunting. Walt and Jesse are no longer in this business by choice. They’re stuck.
The third season is set to premiere in July. Until then, let’s all try to avoid writing fan fiction together.
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