Breaking Bad – Season 2

As a celebration of the 'best' of TV, the Emmy Awards usually throw few surprises. Voted for by Hollywood, for Hollywood, some nominees may be questionable in terms of their quality, but almost all show evidence of either huge viewership or notable Hollywood-pleasing. Combining all of this, it's easy to see why critical successes such as The Wire, Friday Night Lights and Battlestar Galactica have all been snubbed in recent years, attracting as they do poor viewing figures and being filmed far away from the attentions of Hollywood. So it's noteworthy whenever one such show manages to catch their eye, and the Albequerque, New Mexico-set Breaking Bad has certainly done that, with not only a repeated nod for the surprisingly intense Bryan Cranston, but also for overall best drama and a well-deserved supporting actor nod for Aaron Paul, who did great work this season. It's nice for a darkly surreal show such as this to get some recognition, and may it continue. But why's it good?

My answer to that was a whole lot different a year ago. If the strike-shortened first season was all about the set up, complete with the requisite cool-moments factor to get the viewer interested, then the second season was much more of a character study of its two tragic protagonists, cancer-suffering wannabe druglord Walt and his streetwise-but-unfortunate accomplice Jesse. It's cool that the show, whilst obviously advancing plot when necessary, could take the time to really delve into these characters' minds and motives. And yes, this did mean an even slower, less exciting pace than the first season introduced us to. In fact, it wasn't until very late in the season that I realised just how intentional that might have been, for as a whole, the second season was just as powerful as the first, if not moreso. Fortunately, there were still a few liberal sprinklings of grisly/surreal moments present to keep everyone happy. If you've seen this season, you'll know what I mean if I mention the words 'tortuga', 'ATM' or 'pink bear'.

It's hard to describe why the season was so effective without going into spoilerific detail, but suffice it to say that over the course of the season both Walt and Jesse's moral compasses and most viewers' impressions of each man's integrity go through some drastic changes. This is certainly spurred on by some major situational advancements (one huge game-changer for Walt, and several medium-sized occurrences to Jesse), but the writers and actors manage to deliver on all fronts to show what's really making these guys tick as time goes by.

Of course, one might argue that this isn't too difficult to do for a show focussing on just two characters. And there's truth to that. Despite strong performances from the rest of the small ensemble, they really do feel rather underused, a complaint I held from the get go. The start of the season indicated that Hank and Marie would have much more of a presence on the show, but they both seem to shy away from the limelight after just a few episodes. Meanwhile, Walt's wife Skyler does get a bit more storyline this year, but it has so far fallen into untypically clichéd territory for this show.

Still, a strong second season from a show that hasn't yet rested on its laurels, and continues to subvert the viewer's expectations at every turn. Whilst the finale certainly had a surprising climax, it's hard to tell how much immediate impact it might have on the show's third season. I'll be watching, and eagerly waiting to see what strange directions the show will go in next. Oh, and that trick they pulled with the episode titles? Nice!