After 5 years of delivering consistently great drama, Vince Gilligan and co. brought Breaking Bad to end this summer with eight, beautifully structured high-octane episodes. Whether or not the series finale lived up to the onslaught of nerve-shredding tension and narrative uncertainty delivered by the preceding 7 episodes is something that will be debated over a long stretch of time. For now, it is simply for us to reflect on how brilliantly this final season brought one of the greatest shows of all time to its conclusion and the legacy that Breaking Bad will leave behind. And it has been a brilliant ride. The show has always been deft at never revealing its hand at once, allowing for episodes that fly by but develop the plot at a cleverly deliberate pace. This enabled for some blistering character moments that are up there with the show’s best.
Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn are all absolutely brilliant, as we have come to expect them to be. Cranston in particular perfectly mediates his performance as we see the disparate elements of his persona: family man and Heisenberg, dangerously morphing together. However, the biggest revelation this season was the depth and richness that Dean Norris was able to bring to Hank, who now has to come to terms with the fact that his brother-in-law is the meth kingpin he’s been chasing all this time. We finally saw Hank really come into his own in this season, and the confrontations between him and Walt delivered the season’s most enjoyable, heartbreaking and nail biting scenes.
Breaking Bad is a show for the ages and one that will likely not be forgotten. As we continue to move further away from it, its legendary status is only further cemented. In the years to come, Breaking Bad will be the cultural cornerstone for this decade, a perfect piece of art that defied all expectations and one to stand alongside the storytelling greats of not only television but also film and literature. Sublime.
If you haven’t done so already, be sure to check out JoBlo’s fantastic tribute to the show below.