# The Key To Breaking Bad's Überness **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 6, 2013, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499 "2013-10-06T10:43:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/21 "2013-10-06T19:22:32Z")
Comparing Breaking Bad and The Wire is like comparing Michael Jackson and Prince. Both effeminate black men with kick-ass songs. But very different people who should be evaluated individually, not compared. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/22 "2013-10-06T21:47:21Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > I agree. It’s why I don’t like the Breaking Bad vs The Wire arguments. They don’t make sense as they are totally different in almost every way. > > I would put the UK version of The Office up against Breaking Bad (and it would be a tight race) before I compare The Wire and Breaking Bad. Of course it makes sense, that’s exactly why the two show up in the same sentences all the time: they are widely viewed as the two top contenders for Greatest Televsion Series Of All Time, both formally (see Guinness Book of World Records, virtually every television critic in the English-Speaking world) and informally (visit the water cooler). The naysayers to either as top contenders are so few that it is fair to say that a consensus has been reached about both. Sorta like the Beatles vs. Stones of television. It doesn’t mean that they are everybody’s personal favorites, of course. They are not to everyone’s taste. But just as with the Beatles, you cannot deny the excellence, even if it is not your _personal_ cup of tea. And that is why I said what I said in my OP; I believe that Breaking Bad IS the number one because it is as close to flawless as it gets: every other great show has noticeable, identifiable, widely-agreed-upon flaws and missteps in one form or another. While there are a few lone contrary voices claiming to find Breaking Bad entirely unworthy of the ranking, and a few quibbles here and there about very small matters which are usually offered apologetically as mere personal preferences and quickly brushed aside, the one thing I have _not_ found is any noticeable agreement about any particular flaw in an otherwise amazing show. The same cannot be said of the Wire, or the Sopranos, or Deadwood, or Seinfeld or All in The Family or I Love Lucy or Mad Men or Six Feet Under or any other television series ever. While writing this post, I did a Google search to find some shows that are considered the greatest of all time and my search was simply “greatest television show of all time” and clearly it’s between the wire and’s breaking bad. And if you do the search yourself read the Hollywood reporter peace that comes up in the first 10 results… The writer makes basically exactly the points I am making although he comes down on on the side of the wire, he wrote it before the final seven episodes of breaking bad. I’ll have to see if he’s written anything since then… ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/23 "2013-10-06T22:31:03Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > And that is why I said what I said in my OP; I believe that Breaking Bad IS the number one because it is as close to flawless as it gets: every other great show has noticeable, identifiable, widely-agreed-upon flaws and missteps in one form or another. What keeps BB from being flawless (for me) are the contrivances, all those nick of time scenes. There was never a time watching **The Wire** when I had to suspend disbelief. Flaws and missteps in **The Wire**? The main complaint I’ve heard about **The Wire** was what Freamon and McNulty did in S5, but if you watch without gaps, from the beginning, you see that what they did was in their nature. They were both renegades. So based on that, I put **The Wire** as #1 for realism, depth of character, cultural insight, and BB #1 for the story of one man’s descent and near-redemption. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/24 "2013-10-06T23:00:22Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > What keeps BB from being flawless (for me) are the contrivances, all those nick of time scenes. There was never a time watching **The Wire** when I had to suspend disbelief. > > Flaws and missteps in **The Wire**? The main complaint I’ve heard about **The Wire** was what Freamon and McNulty did in S5, but if you watch without gaps, from the beginning, you see that what they did was in their nature. They were both renegades. > > So based on that, I put **The Wire** as #1 for realism, depth of character, cultural insight, and BB #1 for the story of one man’s descent and near-redemption. I understand the argument, on both sides. Again…Beatles/Stones. As far as the specifics, what I have always felt about Breaking Bad is that the writers do, or did, an astonishing job of making inherently unbelievable plots extremely believable. All fiction, if it’s watchable at all, requires some suspension of disbelief, because it requires some leaps of logic, some time compression (if Legal shows worked in real time none of them would be on the air for longer than a month), but in my opinion Vince and Company did an unusually excellent job of plugging holes that other writers would’ve left gaping. (Recently I’ve been hearing people complain a little bit about the contrivance of Walt seeing Elliot and Gretchen on television while he was at the bar… But I thought that was handled well because the bar wasn’t watching Charlie Rose they were just flipping channels… A far worse contrivance in my estimation, one of the “stumbles” on my personal list, was the contrivance of Walt stopping for a drink when he was supposed to be getting diapers and had already wasted tons of time going to Jessie’s house, all so he could run into Jane’s father.) On the other hand, while I think the wire was brilliant through season four, I think that season five fell apart almost completely. McNultys actions weren’t renegade they were insane. But to each his own… ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/25 "2013-10-06T23:02:15Z")
Hmm. Maybe I should look into watching this “Breaking Bad” show after all… ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/26 "2013-10-06T23:08:21Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Of course it makes sense, that’s exactly why the two show up in the same sentences all the time: they are widely viewed as the two top contenders for Greatest Televsion Series Of All Time, both formally (see Guinness Book of World Records, virtually every television critic in the English-Speaking world) and informally (visit the water cooler). The naysayers to either as top contenders are so few that it is fair to say that a consensus has been reached about both. Sorta like the Beatles vs. Stones of television. > > It doesn’t mean that they are everybody’s personal favorites, of course. They are not to everyone’s taste. But just as with the Beatles, you cannot deny the excellence, even if it is not your _personal_ cup of tea. > > And that is why I said what I said in my OP; I believe that Breaking Bad IS the number one because it is as close to flawless as it gets: every other great show has noticeable, identifiable, widely-agreed-upon flaws and missteps in one form or another. > > While there are a few lone contrary voices claiming to find Breaking Bad entirely unworthy of the ranking, and a few quibbles here and there about very small matters which are usually offered apologetically as mere personal preferences and quickly brushed aside, the one thing I have _not_ found is any noticeable agreement about any particular flaw in an otherwise amazing show. > > The same cannot be said of the Wire, or the Sopranos, or Deadwood, or Seinfeld or All in The Family or I Love Lucy or Mad Men or Six Feet Under or any other television series ever. > > While writing this post, I did a Google search to find some shows that are considered the greatest of all time and my search was simply “greatest television show of all time” and clearly it’s between the wire and’s breaking bad. And if you do the search yourself read the Hollywood reporter peace that comes up in the first 10 results… The writer makes basically exactly the points I am making although he comes down on on the side of the wire, he wrote it before the final seven episodes of breaking bad. I’ll have to see if he’s written anything since then… We will agree to disagree. I will also not compare Huck Finn with Ulysses, though they are also top contenders for best English language novel ever they have so little in common as to make them almost totally different art forms. The Wire and Breaking Bad are the same. One is epic in scope the other is narrowly focused on a single character. One deals with a hyper realistic world the other in a fantastical world where a person can go from joe shmoe to the worlds greatest drug kingpin in about nine months, less if you assume he was a legend by the time the cartel was trying to get him.(and if I have to pick a flaw in BB it’s the totally implausible timeline.) Breaking Bad is great. I would put it up there with the all time greats. It is totally in my top five. Somewhere up there also is the UK version of _The Office_, _MASH_, \*The Wire \*and very probably _Louie_. None of these are similar enough to the other for me to make a real comparison. The Office was as narrowly focused as BB, but it’s a comedy where the joke is the lack of change while BB is almost the opposite. Louis is playing with the idea of what TV sitcoms even are, MASH was the perfection of the Sitcom…saying one is better than the other is missing the point that TV can be more than just one thing. Why can’t Breaking Bad be great without having to be THE BEST EVER? If it has to be THE BEST EVER, then it has to be compared to things that are similar and working within the same for with the same ends. So, the greatest character arch focused serial TV drama ever? Sure, I’ll give you that. But then your definition of what makes it great is also the definition of the genre, so you have to figure out a better reason why. ---
**Author:** ![Glazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e57/32.png) [@Glazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glazer)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/27 "2013-10-06T23:31:11Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > Hmm. Maybe I should look into watching this “Breaking Bad” show after all… You really should. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/28 "2013-10-06T23:47:52Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > Why can’t Breaking Bad be great without having to be THE BEST EVER? If it has to be THE BEST EVER, then it has to be compared to things that are similar and working within the same for with the same ends. So, the greatest character arch focused serial TV drama ever? Sure, I’ll give you that. But then your definition of what makes it great is also the definition of the genre, so you have to figure out a better reason why. Indeed. In fact, I find it a bit strange that the OP’s argument for “X is the Greatest Ever instance of Genre Y” is that X is the most like Genre Z. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/29 "2013-10-06T23:55:39Z")
> [@austerity](#): > > The problem with shows like Breaking Bad is that if you miss one episode, you might as well give up. > > I don’t see how this show got so popular. You HAVE to start from the very beginning or else NOTHING makes sense. The numbers of viewers should decrease from episode to episode because it can’t gain the casual viewer, and if a longtime viewer misses an episode then he/she can’t watch the next episode anymore without being lost. Yes, you can hunt down the missed episode online or wait for the rerun at some unknown hour, but that takes a lot of effort that I’m sure people are not going to expend for casual entertainment. > > I tried watching a random episode and I had no clue at all what was going on at all. It was like turning to a random page in a 1000 page novel and starting from there, and expecting me to know every minor character, storyline, and history without any explanation. > > The only way a show like this makes sense to the casual fan is to release it all at once on dvd, which is then essentially a long movie like the OP says. They have shows on TV like this…they’re called SITCOMS. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/30 "2013-10-06T23:59:05Z")
I think you could make an argument that _The Shield_ was one long story arc. Vic Mackey sealed his fate in the first episode by committing an unforgivable act. The rest of the series was about how it led to his fall. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/31 "2013-10-07T00:14:02Z")
BB might have the most annoying family-we’re-supposed-to-care-about of all time. Though The Sopranos gives it a run for its money. I can see Tony and Walt getting together over drinks to complain about their useless wives and sons. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think you could make an argument that _The Shield_ was one long story arc. Vic Mackey sealed his fate in the first episode by committing an unforgivable act. The rest of the series was about how it led to his fall. BB defenders would say The Shield isn’t as interesting because in BB we watch Walt deteriorate whereas Vic probably did his worst act right off the bat, everything else was just clean up and he’s just a giant irredeemable asshole the whole time. I seem to be the opposite of 90% of people because I liked the Sopranos ending (or at least, didn’t hate it) and thought the Shield’s ending was an unbelievable copout. I know what they were going for, but just…really? Talk about taking the third way. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/32 "2013-10-07T01:22:28Z")
When I compare Breaking Bad to The Sopranos, which is certainly comparable in many ways, being a serialized story about an anti-hero, super-highly-regarded, etc., the big difference to me, and the reason I think BB comes out way ahead, is that BB has a single series-long arc. Walter White gets cancer, starts selling meth, how’s it going to turn out? Individual episodes and seasons certainly have their own plots, but BB as a series is clearly telling one single contained story from Walter’s life. I watched all of The Sopranos, albeit a while ago, and I remember it seeming much more like “well, here’s this interesting guy who lives an interesting life, and is having a midlife crisis. Well, we’ll spend some time watching him and see what happens”. And interesting things happened, and it was certainly extremely well written and acted. But it was missing the overarching story that gave Breaking Bad its momentum. I remember thinking back on The Sopranos fairly shortly after it ended and all of the seasons just running together. One of them had Steve Buscemi as a guest star, right? ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/33 "2013-10-07T02:33:27Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > Why can’t Breaking Bad be great without having to be THE BEST EVER? If it has to be THE BEST EVER, then it has to be compared to things that are similar and working within the same for with the same ends. So, the greatest character arch focused serial TV drama ever? Sure, I’ll give you that. But then your definition of what makes it great is also the definition of the genre, so you have to figure out a better reason why. I have lots of reasons, I just posted the one extra thing it had going for it that none of the other shows has ever had, something which gave it the momentum, as Max put it. And it’s about execution, not the details of the story. If “The Wire” hadn’t fallen on its face in Season 5, I’d almost call it a draw. But it did. It blew it. Breaking Bad never did. [Time Goodman in the Hollywood Reporter](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/bastard-machine/breaking-bad-legacy-does-stand-639177?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thr%2Fnews+(The+Hollywood+Reporter+-+Top+Stories)) sums up _ **exactly** _ why BB is the best in this perfect bit of prose that _nails_ it (even though he gives #1 to The Wire because he doesn’t penalize S5 as heavily and he scores points for the ambition of The Wire): > [@](#): > > I would put Breaking Bad in the No. 2 slot of the top five dramas of all time. > …snip… > > **The Wire:** This remains my pick for the undisputed No. 1. > Since only one other top four series I’ve listed completed exactly five seasons, it makes sense to compare Breaking Bad to The Wire. This turns out to serve Breaking Bad very well. Why? Breaking Bad has never had a subpar season. > … > > But despite that, what keeps The Wire ahead of any other series is the scope of its ambition. > … > And no matter how flat-out brilliant Breaking Bad was, Walter White’s journey from Mr. Chips to Scarface and the fallout on his family will not equal, in ambition, what The Wire accomplished. > > And yet what’s so remarkable about Breaking Bad is that it arguably had fewer creative stumbles than any other series and reached greatness faster than any other series (I would put the first 20 episodes of Breaking Bad – a strike-shortened number as seven from the first season met 13 in the second season – up against the first 20 of any other series, including The Wire). Seriously, if you watch all 20 – over and over again is the suggestion here – **they are cumulatively a tour de force of character development; darkness offset by comedy; heartbreaking choices of fundamentally good people that will forever change them (though, at that point, we don’t know exactly to what extent); directing and cinematography of the highest order; a spectacular yet restrained use of sound that probably no series on television has equaled; unparalleled attention to detail, from character color palette to when to use pop music in a scene; frenetic use of camera angle and position that calls attention to itself but is always successfully deployed, creating a signature style; immaculate and refined dialogue, which seems almost ridiculous to point out for any of these series; and a combination of audacity and cinematic punch that reverberates equally impressively on the meters of entertainment and rarified quality.** > > Put more simply, the sprint Breaking Bad took through five full seasons made it Usain Bolt; every other series in the top four would have to be represented by, say, some other fast athlete not from the world of track and field. That’s the point of distinction here. It’s not minimizing the greatness of the first five seasons of other series. It’s merely putting an exclamation point on how startling and magnificent this five-season run of Breaking Bad truly was, and what purity of vision and relentless daring fueled Vince Gilligan along the way. > > Let’s take a small sidestep here, just to make something clear: Creating great television for five seasons is ridiculously hard. Unlike film, television is a continuous story. It’s not contained by two hours. It lives and breathes as a story through 13 episodes and then takes many of those story strands beyond that first season and sometimes through to the last. That’s a risk. Plus, ongoing and nuanced character development is another dangerous hurdle. > > And think about the psychic toll it takes on series creators who do something rare – like make a superb season of top-tier television – and are then asked to do it again. And if they pull off that impractical exploit, what then? They are asked, inconceivably, to do it yet again. And by the third season, all the doubters are out in force, just waiting for a stumble. A fourth season of greatness is nothing short of a miracle. And, let’s be honest, by the fifth season it’s almost as if some critics are actively rooting against you. That’s why I give it to BB and have zero problem comparing it directly to the Wire or any other show… _ **the execution was superb in every particular** _, from the first episode to the last, above and below the line. > [@NAF1138](#): > > Louis is playing with the idea of what TV sitcoms even are I introduced my non-watching roommate to BB only six weeks ago, he loved it. Then I introduced him to Louie, and I told him it was kinda the BB of sitcoms. He agrees. I adore _Louie_…I don’t think of it as a sitcom at all, I think of it as a funny artist making his art. > [@MaxTheVool](#): > > When I compare Breaking Bad to The Sopranos, which is certainly comparable in many ways, being a serialized story about an anti-hero, super-highly-regarded, etc., the big difference to me, and the reason I think BB comes out way ahead, is that BB has a single series-long arc. Walter White gets cancer, starts selling meth, how’s it going to turn out? Individual episodes and seasons certainly have their own plots, but BB as a series is clearly telling one single contained story from Walter’s life. I watched all of The Sopranos, albeit a while ago, and I remember it seeming much more like “well, here’s this interesting guy who lives an interesting life, and is having a midlife crisis. Well, we’ll spend some time watching him and see what happens”. And interesting things happened, and it was certainly extremely well written and acted. But it was missing the overarching story that gave Breaking Bad its momentum. I remember thinking back on The Sopranos fairly shortly after it ended and all of the seasons just running together. 'zackly. I barely remember anything outside Big Pussy getting it, and Carmela bringing a ricotta pie to the woman at the school, then throwing her Mob Wife weight around. (and pronouncing it “ricoat”, which was interesting…) Same goes for Six Feet Under. LOVED IT… but apart from a few particular scenes that really resonated with me, including of course the amazing last five minutes, I don’t remember it especially well. By contrast, Walter White’s story is etched on my brain. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/34 "2013-10-07T03:58:35Z")
> [@austerity](#): > > …because it can’t gain the casual viewer Even if this were true—and, as others have pointed out, the advent of Netflix and other options means that it’s not—why would that be a bad thing? Someone asked David Simon about this issue in an interview he gave about _The Wire_, and his response was perfect. He said, “You know what? Fuck the casual viewer.” ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/35 "2013-10-07T18:31:05Z")
> [@Glazer](#): > > You really should. I might if I ever get time to watch TV again. Maybe in a few years, when my son starts school. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/36 "2013-10-07T19:21:07Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > I figured it out, why Breaking Bad IS The Greatest Television Show in The History of The Universe, what that “thing” is, that extra something that allowed _this_ particular group of outstanding writers, actors, directors, and other wonderfully talented people to rise above all the other outstanding teams who created terrific television (Sopranos, Wire, Six Feet Under, etc. etc.) and create a show that is probably as close to flawless as we’re ever likely to see. > > It’s because, unlike any other TV series that lasted longer than a single season, this is the only one that, over many years and seasons, was always and only about one very particular, specific story. A story with a very clear, uncluttered beginning, middle, and end. For all intents and purposes, Breaking Bad was really the world’s longest movie. > > No other show has ever done that. There are always side stories, detours, filler, shifts in focus. And because of that, even great shows have some sucktastic moments, episodes, even whole seasons. (I’m looking at you, Wire Season 5) But Breaking Bad was excellent throughout. Rather than stumbling, its footing got firmer all the time. > > The amazing team was able to capture the lightening in the bottle because they were able to totally _focus_ on this one story of one man’s spectacular journey. And as a result, we got something amazing. > > Whaddya think? I would go further with this thought. I was discussing exactly this with my wife the other day, and she asked "what makes Breaking Bad different from a mini-series? " That was a bit of a poser. What I thought was, in essence, a mini-series is like a long movie, only chopped up into TV-episode sized bits. Breaking Bad wasn’t like that. I think what makes in different is that, _in addition_ to having a tight and focussed “overall plot”, _each episode_ had a plot with a clear beginning, middle and end. It wasn’t as if each episode was just “part 25” of a mini-series. Further, _each season_ had a beginning, middle and end! So what you got was a set of nested stories - each episode, each season, and overall. It is being able to juggle all of those, without losing focus or paining themselves in a corner, that makes it a truly great TV drama series. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/37 "2013-10-07T19:32:02Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > For all intents and purposes, Breaking Bad was really the world’s longest movie. Clearly you are unfamiliar with the Directors cut of _Das Boot._ ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/38 "2013-10-07T19:53:43Z")
There’s a fair amount of exaggeration going on here in that Breaking Bad did take diversions from time to time. I think _Fly_ is an awesome episode and I didn’t know until recently that some fans feel differently, but that’s the easy example. Until the last season Jesse always had his own side story going on. It also had a strong cast and some of the coolest moments didn’t have Walt in them: everybody seemed pretty captivated by Jesse’s detour to Mexico and Gus’ story, for example. Saul, especially early on, was hilarious almost every time he showed up. But the show was strongly focused on Walt and his choices and their consequences, and a lot of the other characters mirrored what he was doing in different ways. When Skyler got involved with her boss and found out he was committing fraud it was a really crushing moment and it said something about a different kind of corruption. Jesse paid the price for a lot of Walt’s crimes and showed what Walt might’ve been experiencing if he hadn’t suppressed his conscience. Gus was like Walt but a smarter criminal, more calculating and efficient. Mike was similar to Walt except he was honest with himself about who he was and what he was doing. The Nazis were ruthless criminals like Walt but they lacked his sentimentality and the rules he made up to protect his family. I think that kind of stuff made everything _about_ Walt even though we weren’t always seeing him. The characters and different stories all helped shed light on what he was doing. The show did have a smaller cast and way less running time than the HBO dramas. I think that contributes to the tightness of the show, and the Sopranos did sometimes lose itself with diversions and dream sequences and things. (Every episode of Breaking Bad was about 25% shorter than an hourlong HBO drama.) And because of the premise of the show - Walt’s cancer diagnosis and his conversion to “bad guy” - it felt like things were building toward a defined conclusion even though the writers didn’t know the ending until they decided this season would be the last one and started figuring out the end. That last part was great for the show but bad news for the network, by the way. Breaking Bad went out on a huge high note and now AMC doesn’t know what to do for a replacement. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/39 "2013-10-07T20:12:00Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > There’s a fair amount of exaggeration going on here in that Breaking Bad did take diversions from time to time. I think _Fly_ is an awesome episode and I didn’t know until recently that some fans feel differently, but that’s the easy example. Until the last season Jesse always had his own side story going on. It also had a strong cast and some of the coolest moments didn’t have Walt in them: everybody seemed pretty captivated by Jesse’s detour to Mexico and Gus’ story, for example. Saul, especially early on, was hilarious almost every time he showed up. I didn’t intend it to be understood as the show only being about Walter White being onscreen… but everything that happened only happened as a result of Walter White’s decision to cook meth. There was no Jesse story that existed apart from the influence of that, and certainly no Gus, Skylar, Mike, Gale, Saul, Hank, Marie… like I said earlier, if you were to remove Walt’s decision and following actions from the story, the only thing that would remain untouched would be Marie stealing the tiara for the shower gift, Walt. Jr. obsessing about breakfast and hot water, and Skylar ultimately giving birth while Hank made Schraderbrau. Even Jesse’s interactions with his family were drenched in Walt. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499/40 "2013-10-07T20:57:38Z")
And Skyler’s job with Beneke. That was a big subplot for a while and Walt didn’t make it happen. We’re agreed that Walt set everything in motion, but there wasn’t only one story. One story dominated, but especially early on, other things happened. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-key-to-breaking-bads-uberness/670499.md?page=3)