Not every viewer is going to jump to all of the same conclusions and know what all the consequences and all the moral balances that go into the situation that Walt has to consider before he makes his decision. You have to give the characters time to spell out what all the problems and consequences would be of his limbo-like situations that he was putting himself in the whole show. They have to ask Walt all of the questions that the audience is asking themselves. all chime in with their commentary of the situation. Something happens to Walt, and you have to have multiple scenes where Skylar, Jesse, Saul, Gus, etc. You do tend to find that shows and movies have a specific formula.
This is the problem with watching a lot of tv or even if you studied things about film in college or something. Why does Gus do what he does? Does he have a family? What caused him to act all robotic and ruthlessly? What was he like in Chile? What was his relationship like with the "hermano" that the Cartel killed? Why? After Tuco's brilliant and temporary tenure, Gus was just an underwhelming attempt at "mysterious" and was totally unexplained, which was super annoying. What is Mikes motivation, what happened, who is his daughter? What happened at Grey Matter? Anything meaningful about Walt's past.ĥ. It lacked subtlety, and without subtlety there is no complexity.Ĥ. Scenes are always screaming at you (This guy is a jerk! Look at how jerky he is! did you notice!! Oh, Look at how angry this character is!!! LOOK!!! CAN YOU SEE? The show assumes the viewer is retarded and just highlights everything to the point of silliness. The lack of Intellectualism Besides some "smart" references (Levoisier, some chemistry tidbits) there is nothing smart about the show. The show just drags on, and intense episodes are a rarity.ģ. Also, there is very little good dialogue, it's usually just expository and rarely characterizes the characters beyond their initial caricature-izations. Throw some "artistic" shots of NM fauna, awkward breakfast scenes, expository dialogue, and you've got a seasons 2-4. "Jesse, we need 2 cook" -> someone makes an unrealistically stupid mistake that puts the boys in trouble -> buddy hijinks galore -> "Chemistry Bitch!!!! haha" -> walt has lie to skyler. The Pacing After the very good first season, the show starts rinsing and repeating the same formula: There's a constant revolving door of characters because, hey, half of the non-essential characters were killed last season for shock value.Ģ. Contrast this with Ben Linus from LOST who plays a similar character, except way more believably and to far better results. Gus is just silent/ruthless, so underdeveloped for the sake of "mystery". The coolest bad guy, Tuco, dies way too early. Jesse's friends are just stereotypical meth-heads, zero depth.
He's always scared for his life, answering to bigger dogs.
Yet the argument for the lust for power isn't supported by the actual show, since there aren't many examples of Walt feeling powerful, or becoming empowered by making meth. The "why" for Walt's actions disappears after season 1, and then is only given in season 5 as a fan-service by regurgitating what forums/reviewers mentioned as a sort of "yeah, that's what we meant all along". Most supporting characters are one-dimensional. Seasons 1-4 he's a bumbling, nerdy, sympathetic character and then season 5 he turns into a "monster" because the show demands it. The show tries to hard to make him look stupid, which prevents him from ever saying anything meaningful or deep.
Jesse is made out to be overly stupid and simplistic, with random emotional outbursts used to cheaply propel the otherwise stagnant plot points. Skyler is an unrealistically bitchy/antagonistic wife. Here are my major gripes with the show:Ĭharacters IMO the most important aspect of a show, and BB does not have many interesting or well developed characters. There were very few stellar moments, and most of those were in the first season. I finally finished the show, and I can't express how disappointed I am. So I watched the first season, but then stopped just before the third season out of boredom. I was constantly told how smart and good of a show it was by friends, family and media.