I haven't forgotten about my series countdowns, just trying to figure out what I want to say about the rest of them. In the meantime, I did have some thoughts I wanted to share about two great TV shows I've watched/am watching; The Wire and Breaking Bad.
I've seen all five seasons of "The Wire" and I've seen all current seasons of "Breaking Bad" up to and including S4E11 "Crawl Space" which is the most recent episode aired at time of this posting.
"The Wire" is the greatest TV show ever created, thus far. It's probable that no other TV series will be able to reach its level. I have no disagreement with that.
However, it can be argued that it's not necessarily BETTER than "Breaking Bad." I personally wouldn't agree with that argument, but I acknowledge that the argument can be made, and I wouldn't ridicule the one who made the argument, as long as he/she gives "The Wire" its props. It reminds me of a review I once read that compared "Huck Finn" to "Tom Sawyer", saying that "Huck Finn" was a greater book than "Tom Sawyer" (deeper themes, more pointed commentary on social issues) but not necessarily a better book (more entertaining, vibrant, etc). "The Wire" = "Huck Finn" , "BB" = "Tom Sawyer."
I would not compare what "The Wire" is trying to be to what "Breaking Bad" is trying to be. "The Wire" set out to show what was broken in the American city systems. This is a very ambitious and encompassing goal, and David Simon's genius was able to accomplish most of that (newspaper angle in S5 wasn't really all that). "Breaking Bad" has a very simple goal: Take Mr. Chibs, and turn him into Scarface. On the surface it sounds simple, but the beauty of that trip is in the journey, and the crazy turns and twists that Vince Gilligan has taken in that journey thus far are mind-blowing and tension-inducing. I would not denigrate any of the lead acting on "Breaking Bad"; Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul deserve the Emmys they've gotten, and all of the other actors are exceedingly good as well. As evidence, I post this clip of the end of "Crawl Space." It can be considered a spoiler, but the scene doesn't talk about the events that lead up to it. I think you can view it even if you've never seen BB before; just be sure to watch the entire season to find out what leads up to this scene :D
I admit that it took me a while to get into BB, as I started watching the first season and paused my watching sometime into S1 episode 3 when I realized that I would like the series but wasn't in the frame of mind to continue at that point. Once I was able to start watching again and go up to episode 5 and 6, I got sucked in, especially once Heisenberg appeared :-D Season 2 was really good, and from Season 3 till now, I've been convinced that this show has earned its place on the pantheon just below The Wire, and alongside Ron Moore's Battlestar Galactica. In the same way that you have to get through the first three episodes of "The Wire" Season 1 to get hooked, it's similar to this.
If you love "The Wire" you owe it to yourself to watch "Breaking Bad." You're totally missing out if you don't.
No comments:
Post a Comment