Then there’s the ending, which had an intensity about it that frankly feels unprecendented on this kind of television programme. There were two instances of game-changing escalation in Crawl Space – the first came when Gus made his first direct threat to Walt’s family, culminating in his chillingly whispered, “I will kill your infant daughter.” While Walt’s family being in danger has certainly been a possibility throughout the series, the threat has never been as clear as it was here. Each week it seems that things can’t get any worse or more dangerous for Walt, but somehow the writers keep finding a way to turn the screw. The most important thing in any kind of dramatic writing (besides characters you can invest in) is making the audience buy into the stakes – why do they need to see this story is resolved? The way to do it is to raise the stakes – make the adversity the characters encounter feel as real and as palpable as possible.Īs I alluded to in an earlier review, there has never been a show as good at continually upping the ante as Breaking Bad, and everything builds exponentially on what has come before it. The reason Breaking Bad should be taught as some kind of definitive ur-text in television screenwriting classes from now on is down to how expertly it manages to raise the stakes each week.
It’s exactly because of the deliberate build up in the first half of the season that we’re able to have these exquisite payoffs, and it’s incredibly satisfying to see in action.
Let’s give it a go-around though, since you’re here.įirst off, where are all the people who said the fourth series was boring compared to previous ones now? Feeling pretty silly somewhere, I’ll wager.
This is my problem with these reviews: turning the same singular thought at the end of every episode of Breaking Bad – “Shiiiiiiiiit” – into a thousand words of analysis.