Breaking Bad Season 1

[bop_radar]

So I watched Season 1 of Breaking Bad. My watching journey was something like this:

Bored, bored, ewwwwwwwwwwwwww ewwwwww ewwwww, still bored, ewwwww, bored, bored, ewww, ewwww, ewwwwwwwwwwaghhhhheewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, bored, bored, not so bored, ew, bored, ew, hmm... bored, hmm... STRANGELY HOOKED IN BUT DON'T REALLY KNOW WHY.

The narrative traction picked up considerably once Tuco came into the picture. I think the first time I felt at all interested in the main character was in his stand-off with Tuco after Jesse got beat up.

I am very glad I'm mainlining it - no WAY would I have continued with this show after any of the first three eps, week by week - boring dude kills people in hideously violent and grotesque way for no perceivably understandable reason? UGH NO. But once that was over with, the fact that Jesse and Walt have these deaths between/behind them I found seeing what they would do now to be more interesting.

Struggled to find any characters to like but I'm not sure it's the kind of show where you like anyone? I at least am finding that I'm intellectually interested in what happens to Jesse and Walt. Walt is a lot harder to understand, naturally. The son is ok, but we don't see much of him. The women are hideous but that tiara was grotesque so I had a bleep of sympathy for Skyler there. Skyler is probably only slightly less of an enigma than Walt to me, but will be interesting to see how things go.

Plot-wise I am now well motivated to continue.

Comments

[squirrelhaven]

Interesting. I tried Breaking Bad a couple years ago, during a period when I was ridiculously stressed out and somewhat depressed, and gave up after the first few episodes, because I found them stressful and depressing, exactly what I didn't want from my entertainment at that time. But even while they exhausted me, I thought they were well done, and keep thinking that I should try it again at some point when my life is more relaxing. I know plenty of people who love it. I'm just waiting until I've got a strong enough stomach for it, I guess.

Meanwhile I've just inhaled season 1 of Game of Thrones in the last week, and was dubious of it at the beginning but wound up totally enthralled, and can't wait to see season 2.

[bop_radar]

Oh yeah, I *could not* have taken it some months back. And to be honest I don't think I'd handle it all that well now if it was the only thing I was watching. I need to balance my bleak/grotesque with some warmth. I guess I waited for my 'strong stomach' to return too. ;)

Game of Thrones: Have you read the books? My relationship with the show is skewed because I have. I have a love-hate-ness for it, but I do admire a LOT of things the show has done. I had to stop watching for a while but I'll return to it - I have curiosity at the very least.

[squirrelhaven]

I have not read the books. My husband tried the books ages ago but found it impossible to follow who was who; now that he knows the characters, he's curious to try them again. I don't tend to read a lot of fantasy, but at this point I'm so invested in the story that if he gets the books and enjoys them, I'll probably give them a try.

[bop_radar]

It's true the character list is CRAZY long! At least the TV show, having cut down on minor characters, allows you to know quickly who the really important people are. ;) It seems a lot of people are getting into the books retrospectively now. I read a lot of fantasy as a teenager: now I tend to only read the cream of the genre, but Martin's definitely up there - his worldbuilding is staggering. I have issues with the books, especially later in the series, though. Will be interesting to see how TV series handles some things - they've already made some decisions I think were very wise (though in some other ways they took an angle I didn't appreciate so much with some characters).