Breaking Bad review
9.5 / 10 — CineScope score
Overview
A high-school chemistry teacher with a terminal diagnosis starts cooking methamphetamine to leave his family secure. Five seasons later, the diagnosis is almost beside the point.
The short verdict
Television's most disciplined character study — a five-season descent that never once cheats on its own logic.
Story
The genius is the escalator: every season forces Walter to justify one more compromise, and each justification is a little more comfortable than the last.
Direction
Vince Gilligan and his directors shoot Albuquerque as a bleached, hostile place, with the desert used like a stage for moments of enormous consequence.
Performance
Bryan Cranston's transformation is the most documented in modern TV for good reason; Aaron Paul's Jesse is the show's conscience and its casualty.
Cinematography
Michael Slovis' photography is feature-quality: colour temperature does the storytelling, from Walter's khakis to the lab's clinical white.
Music
Dave Porter's score is sparse and dissonant, and the show's use of needle drops is consistently exact.
Pros and cons
What works
- A five-season arc with no wasted episode
- Cranston and Paul
- Ending that knows when to stop
What does not
- Early pacing is slow for some
- Occasionally leans on coincidence
Final verdict
The show that proved a character can be the entire plot. Still the high-water mark for prestige television.
9.5/ 10