Head Tale

I’m not one of those “I don’t own a TV and will now tell you about why” people.  But after being a pretty major TV addict for most of my life (hell, I had a job selling cable TV throughout the summers I was in undergrad that I kicked ass at!), the Internet has all but replaced TV as the place where I waste my time.

I watch “The Daily Show”, some CFL and NHL games and maybe the odd other show but that’s really about it for my TV watching.  I can’t think of the last hour-long episodic drama I’ve watched on a regular basis.  But on the recommendation of a co-worker, I started watching “Breaking Bad” and I’ve got to say, I’m with the many critics who say this might be the best show on TV right now.

There are numerous reasons why this is the case – the acting, the writing, the cinematography, the many themes – but there’s also the unique story arc that has perhaps never been done on TV before – taking a character who is extremely sympathetic and incrementally turning him evil with no sign of redemption anywhere to be found.

[The show] is about a lot of things. The meth epidemic. The American Southwest. The trials of middle-class manhood. The failings of our health-care system. The various ways to shatter the windshield of a Pontiac Aztek. But at its core, it’s really about something more human, and more universal, than all that: the mysterious, all-too-common transformation…how people become dangerous.

Shea and I came to the show late but via the magic of Bit Torrent, were able to download the first three and a half seasons and watch them in fairly short order (one of the great ironies of the show is that it is as addictive as the crystal meth that underpins all of the show’s action and development.)