Review: _Beaking Bad, Season Two:_ Accelerating on the Road to Hell

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When I sat down and watched the first season of Breaking Bad, I was blown away. Set in modern Albuquerque, New Mexico, we discover the hidden life of Walter White, a well-respected high school teacher who is gifted in chemistry, and grossly overqualified for his job. When lung cancer hits, he has to find a way to get his treatments paid for -- and with the help of a former student, Jesse Pinkman, he learns the fine art of cooking crystal methamphetimine. Indeed, Walter is so good at doing it he's soon cooking the best stuff in town. With his wife Skyler pregnant and his son Walt jr. disabled, Walter is desperate to find a way to keep his family solvent -- and this drags him down into the unpleasant underworld of drug dealers and forces far beyond his control. Seven-Thirty-Seven The opening of the second season has a surreal moment as we see a sphere floating in a pool while sirens wail in the distance. There is also a brief recap of the ending of the first season, with Tuco (Raymond Cruz) meeting with Walter (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse (Aaron Paul). And a moment later, the story gets very complicated very fast as the victim of Tuco's beating has taken too much damage and died. This brutality has left both Walter and Jesse a bit on the paranoid side, especially after Walter suspects someone is stalking him. On the home front, Skyler (Anna Gunn) is having to cope with her sister Marie's (Betsy Brandt) shoplifting. At the baby shower, Marie gave Skyler a little baby tiara, thoroughly useless given the Whites' precarious finances -- and when Skyler tries to return it to the shop to exchange it, she's the one who takes the fall for Marie's stealing. Too, Walter's disappearances is creating a real rift between him and Skyler. Grilled Things go south in a hurry when Tuco (Raymond Cruz) shows up in Jesse's car and holding Jesse hostage. Walter is along for the ride, and Tuco takes them both out in a long way into the desert. Given Tuco's volatile personality, this could be a problem. Seems that most of Tuco's crew have been busted, and he's looking for the person who ratted him out to the DEA. In the shack is Tio Salamanca (Mark Margolis), the wheelchair bound, silent uncle who communicates by ringing his bell. As we quickly discover, Tio's no fool -- and Walter knows it. But rescue is coming from an unlikely source. Bit by a Dead Bee With Tuco now out of the picture, there's one problem solved, but Walter and Jesse need to hide it from Hank (Dean Norris). Jesse doesn't have to make up an alibi, but Walter certainly does. Which he does in a creative fashion -- he walks into a supermarket stark naked and standing in front of a open freezer. Naturally, everyone freaks out over it, with Walt claiming amnesia and Skyler furious. As for Hank, he gets more than he bargained for with Tuco getting taken down. Down In a futile attempt to get him to clean up his act, Jesse's parents take away his home, and Jesse is now homeless. Really homeless, and his luck keeps going sour as he tries to get something settled. It's both pathetic and funny to watch. As for Walter, Skyler keeps leaving home early in the morning and not talking to him, which isn't helping matters any. Breakage To make more money, Walter turns the distribution completely over to Jesse, who in turn enlists his three friends, Skinny Pete (Charles Baker), Combo (Rodney Rush) and Badger (Matt Jones). Skinny is a long time meth-head, and Combo at least knows the streets, but Badger is a complete idiot. All Badger wants to do is get high and stay high, traits that don't exactly make him good for being a dealer. Hank is going through his own private little hell after his encounter with Tuco and full-blown PTSD. And Walt and Skyler's relationship isn't improving. Peekaboo Skinny Pete gets ripped off, both drugs and money, and when Jesse turns to Walter to fix it, Walt tells him to fix it himself and hands him a gun. Jesse isn't a violent sort, and after finding out who ambushed Skinny Pete, Jesse goes hunting. Unfortunately, that lands him in the home of two of the craziest dope fiends ever: Spooge (David Ury) and his woman (Dale Dickey). This husband-and-wife team are downright crazy, living in a filthy, falling down building, and to make it worse, there's a child involved. This was one of the more harrowing episodes that I've seen, and it's a real wakeup for anyone who thinks that drug abusers just damage themselves. Negro y Azul One great part of this episode is the opening, featuring the band Cuates de Sinaloa singing a song about 'a gringo boss named Heisenberg' has dissed the Mexican cartels and things will not end well for him. Seeking to up the revenue from his premium product, Walter uses the grisly death of one of the ambushers to expand his customer base, while Jesse tries to instill some fear into his associates. As we find out, sometimes things don't work out that way. Hank gets a sideways promotion to a new assignment in El Paso. And Hank is now way over his head, and out of his league, as he finds out. Better Call Saul Badger gets busted by the DEA, and everything is about to blow up in Jesse and Walter's faces. Which naturally turns to a lawyer. Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) is the best in town, and more than a little crooked himself. Poor Badger is about to be sacrificed, and it's not looking good for anyone. 4 Days Out Walter interpets a recent scan as a sign that he's running out of time, and decides to increase production. He spins a slight yarn to Jesse and the two of them head out into the desert in the RV to cook more meth. Unfortunately, disaster strikes when the RV starts to break down, they run out of juice for the battery, and things go from bad to worse. On the upside, at least Jesse has a place to live, and his new landlady Jane (Krysten Ritter) is a hot young thing. Over Things are not as bad as they seem for Walter, and not only has the cancer improved, he looks to be in remission. A party is thrown, and when Walt sees his son, Walt Jr. (RJ Mitte) aka Flynn, getting more chummy with Hank, Walt looses it big time, setting Skyler off once again. Now everyone is angry with everyone else, and it's getting ugly. Jesse, meanwhile, is trying to get closer to Jane and tries to use her father Don Margolis (Jon de Lancie) as a way in. However Jane isn't too thrilled about that. Mandala Despite the initial success of Jesse's gang, things take a bad turn when Combo gets gunned down, Badger is in jail, and Skinny Pete decides that this game is too hot for him. With more than forty pounds (yes, pounds) of meth to move, Walter turns to Saul for some help. Saul says he'll do it, and at first, it looks to be another failure. But things take another turn when Skyler goes into labour at her new job. Phoenix Jane has introduced Jesse to the delights of heroin, a very dangerous mix. Jesse is, as they say, gaga for the girl, and starts down his bad old habits of staying stoned. Given that Walt hasn't told his family that the meth business is paying off, Walt Jr creates a website to seek donations for the cancer treatments. Bonding with his new daughter, Walter needs to find a way of laundering a big payoff. But as viewers have learned, not everything goes well, especially when Walter decides that Jesse isn't going to get his share all at once in cash. He knows all too well that Jesse will just get high, and stay high until the money is all gone. But Jane has other plans and turns the tables on them both. ABQ All I am going to say is that this proves the law of unintended consequences and it's a doosey. Not only did I get to revisit my old stomping grounds of the Southwest, I loved the fact that the series is filmed on location in Albuquerque, and that the cast is top notch. The psychological drama here is high pitched and intense. For of course, this isn't about just drug abuse, but more about choices and intentions. Walter, a decent human being at heart, is constantly having to lie and slide down that slippery road to hell with every decision, and it is enough to make him loose his happiness with his wife and children. This was one of the more intense seasons, especially the last episode when the unthinkable happens and chaos erupts. A variety of directors took the helm on these, along with the creator Vince Gilligan overseeing it all. The pacing slows at times, but never lets the grip loosen, and all of the dangling threads get mostly tied up by the end. Dave Porter provides the edgy soundtrack, and it's pretty good, appearing in several different variations throughout. Parents be warned that there is implied sex, plenty of violence, including one sickening episode with Danny Trejo in a cameo, and other objectional things. This is not for children of any age and most adults would have problems with this. But if you don't mind a very dark tone to your entertainment, this one is well worth it. Each episode is about forty-five minutes long, and can be watched on several streaming services. This is unrated, and for good reason. I give it four and a half stars rounded up to five.