Breaking Bad: Season 5 (Part 1, TV Review)

Today, I look at the first half of the final season of one of the most brilliant television shows of all time. (Contains spoilers for season 4.)

Breaking Bad, Season Five (Part One, or Season Five: A)
Walter White continues to cook his meth with his business partners Jesse Pinkman and Mike Ehrmantraut. Walt is now the meth kingpin of New Mexico after he kills off his nemesis and former boss Gus Fring. Mike begins to distrust and dislike their methylamine distributor, Lydia Rodarte-Quayle, who is a higher-up of Madrigal Corporation, the company who owned the Los Pollos Hermanos food chain (the chain Gus Fring managed). Saul Goodman sets up a fake pest control company (Vamanos Pest). Walt and Jesse use the fumigation tents as mobile laboratories. Walt's personal life slowly starts to fall apart. Bryan Cranston is at his best this season, and Walter White has gone from sympathetic antihero to villainous drug lord. Aaron Paul also shows off his excellent acting skills, and shows his range, as Jesse is far more mature in this season, but also has many more problems this time around. Anna Gunn, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt, RJ Mitte, Bob Odenkirk, and Jonathan Banks return from the previous season, and all, again, give perfect performances. Norris is fantastic in this season, and the character of Hank has really grown from a boisterous and kind of douchey brother-in-law to a hard-edged DEA hero. Banks is one of the best parts of this season, and the character of Mike is more sympathetic this time around. Other actors who return from the previous seasons include Steven Michael Quezada, Lavell Crawford, stand-up comic Bill Burr, Charles Baker, Matt L. Jones, Michael Shamus Wiles, Larry Hankin, Christopher Cousins, and Emily Rios. Newcomers include Jesse Plemons (who plays Todd Alquist, a new employee of Walt), Laura Frasier (who plays Lydia), Michael Bowen (who plays Jack Welker, Todd's White Supremacist/mercenary uncle), Kevin Rankin (who plays Kenny, a lieutenant in Jack's gang, who also played a white supremacist in White House Down), and Louis Ferreira (who plays Declan, a new associate of Walter). This half-season slows down a bit, and features more drama and less action than the previous. But towards the end, it does get pretty intense, especially in the episodes "Dead Freight" and "Say My Name". It ends on a crazy cliffhanger that leaves you wanting more from the second half of the season. The new characters don't do much in this half of the season, but they are important in the whole scheme of things, and they all are portrayed really well, despite only being in one season. Breaking Bad: Season Five (Part One) is an intelligent, provocative, and well-written half-season, that does a great job setting up fro the grand finale. 4/5 stars.

Episode List:
One- "Live Free or Die"
Two- "Madrigal"
Three- "Hazard Pay"
Four- "Fifty-One"
Five- "Dead Freight"
Six- "Buyout"
Seven- "Say My Name"
Eight- "Gliding Over All"

 (Image: breakingbadwikia.com)