Jumping straight to the point: is Breaking Bad the greatest television show on air right now? An emphatic yes. I just saw the one of the finest episodes in the show's history. Had an episode of this quality been part of any other show, it would have been their best ever. But this show, especially the first part of the final season, has been so consistently epic that it hurts. There is only one word to describe how I felt during the last 50 minutes: fear. Fear of the obvious, fear of the unexpected. For a show which spread a year in the life of its characters across 5 seasons, it took the biggest time jump in this episode using a terrific montage. It's like those Rajnikanth songs where he becomes a zillionaire before the song ends. I always get a kick out of those. I sat with a knot in my chest, constantly dreading what was coming. This doesn't happen as often with any other show.
Let's compare it with Mad Men - its most formidable competition. It's a classic apples and oranges scenario but I will collate them on the basis of what they mean to me. Both the shows air on AMC, and started six months apart with Mad Men being first. We have absolutely no idea which direction Mad Men would take. It has the liberty to choose and work around any major event or product of the 60s. We know for certain it will be on for at least two more seasons. Breaking Bad has always been heading towards one singular conclusion right from the moment Walt and Jesse cooked their first batch of Blue Meth. You look at the way things have turned out in the first 8 episodes of this season, you can tell they are trying to tie up all the loose ends. But it has enough methylamine in its tank to keep cooking many more batches. The same can be said for Dexter, a show I loathe right now, as getting caught in the end is imminent. I didn't bother to watch the recent most season but ranking the rest in terms of quality: 4>1>2>3>5. Breaking Bad's trajectory has been spectacular, getting better with each passing season. Mad Men has been great too and I cannot hold this against it. I cannot complain about its linearity as Draper's past has quite often come back to bite him. But here, the shit has hit the ceiling already; we are now walking through an uncharted territory.
Splitting the final installment into two has become the new fad in Hollywood, where movies like Harry Potter have made twice the money by doing this. It's not the same with Breaking Bad. I could not have taken anymore of it in such quick succession. I have been overwhelmed episode after another, hitting every single elements of my emotional periodic table. Too much of a good thing only leads to OD. I look at how Walter has changed over the last few months and want him to get what's coming to him. Yet in the final minutes of the last episode, the promise of his new life made me want to overlook his actions. I was willing to forgive him for everything. After all, we have spent such a long time with him and once rooted for this underdog. If that's the kind of closure you yearn for, I recommend you turn off the video a minute before the end. Which is exactly why the split is truly a work of genius. There's so much to love here. I cannot wait for the ninth episode.