“Smoking marijuana, eating Cheetos, and masturbating do not constitute ‘plans’ in my book.” -Walter White
Sorry. I know that by now you’re probably sick of hearing about Breaking Bad. To be fair, even the people who watched the show are probably sick of hearing about it. But I’d like to get a few more words in before we close the cookbook on this magnificent TV show.
I can’t remember why I started watching Breaking Bad, but I can remember when. I jumped in somewhere during the hiatus between the third and fourth seasons, and I actually had some difficulty getting into it. So the guy with cancer cooks meth and the younger guy says “bitch” a lot? Wasn’t exactly an enticing arrangement for my television hours, and to be honest I think I was still more interested in crap like Smallville at the time.
But I eventually climbed back on that viewer bandwagon and rode it down the trails of seasons four, five, and all the way to this painstakingly dispersed final season.
For those who for some stupid reason still haven’t watched Breaking Bad, I often find myself deflecting comments of insult. “Oh, it can’t be that good!” “What’s the big deal? Doesn’t he just cook meth?” The best comparison I’ve been able to come up with is this: Breaking Bad for me is what hockey is for other people. I’d get giddy when I remembered a new episode was on that night; if you were up to date on the current season, we were best friends just waiting to happen; and my friend even had us all over to watch the finale—or in this comparison, “the game.” Heck, if bars had shown Breaking Bad on their big screens instead of hockey then maybe I would’ve gone there to watch it. If I ever tried to explain the latest plot-bomb dropped to a non-viewer, it was like throwing raw spaghetti against a fridge and expecting it to somehow stick.
So what drew me to this miserable band of meth-pedddling misfortunates? I hate list articles and I’m rambling a bit, so I’m going to avoid a bullet by bullet breakdown here, but I have no problem saying it is one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
I’m not a Breaking Bad fanatic like some people, but I already miss it like crystal misses meth. This Sunday was the first Sunday in a long time where I knew Breaking Bad wouldn’t be on and that there weren’t any more coming in the future. If we’re going by the five stages of grief, I’d say I skipped the middle three and went straight from denial to acceptance. My life knew shows before Breaking Bad (go home, Smallville) and my life will know shows after it (what’s up, Justified?), but that doesn’t make our time together any less special.
For those of you who did watch the finale, I hope you found it to be a satisfying conclusion and I wish you luck in accepting this loss like I have. For those of you who haven’t watched the show, I cannot recommend it enough. Fire up that Netflix account and call in sick to work because you’re in for something special.
So it goes,
Jacey Gibb
Editor-in-chief
