What makes Breaking Bad a show that stands out against one of its peers in the "Bad Man Does Bad Things" genre that has become so popular since Tony Soprano first drove across the Hudson from Manhattan is that it really doesn't have a heart. At least not anymore.
When it first began, Walter White (Bryan Cranston) started his meth business as a way to provide for his family after he inevitably succumbed to the cancer that was destroying his lungs. But then a crazy thing happened near the end of Season Two: he went into remission. Not only that, Walt had just made a huge sale to local meth/chicken kingpin, Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito). He had his health and he had more than enough money to take care of his family if it ever took a turn for the worst again. He didn't need to make his poison anymore.
But then he just kept making it. His wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn), found out and disowned him for it, but he kept making it. His actions indirectly caused the deaths of dozens of people in the Wayfarer plane crash over Albuquerque, but he kept making it. He let an innocent girl die and allowed his partner, Jesse (Aaron Paul), believe that her death was Jesse's own fault, but he kept making it. He had every opportunity in the world to quit making methamphetamine, but he kept making it.
And not only did he continue, he took it to a whole new level, working for Gus full-time. But that partnership didn't begin immediately as the season began. His first big dilemma was dealing with the emergence of two new characters: The Cousins (Luis and Daniel Moncada). Mexican cartel hitmen and relatives of the deceased Tuco Salamanca, the Cousins were sent to New Mexico to whack Walt for his part in Tuco's death... whack him with a shiny, shiny axe.
But Gus has his own business connections with the cartel and is able to push the blame for Tuco's death from Walt to Walt's brother-in-law/DEA Agent Hank (Dean Norris). Hank is going through his own trauma following the "Tortuga Severed Head Explosion Incident" and begins to experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Lucky for Hank, though, his issues don't effect his quickness as he is able to fend of the attack by the Cousins in a crowded parking lot and dispatch them before getting shot several times himself.
Walt begins to work with Gus full-time, and after briefly partnering with a dedicated chemistry/money enthusiast named Gale, Walt eventually wants Jesse back in the picture (for a multitude of reasons, but mostly to keep Jesse from going after Hank). But when Jesse learns that Gus' employees killed the son of a girl Jesse has been dating from his narcotics anonymous meeting, he wants to kill said employees. Walt tries to warn him to leave it alone, but Jesse breaks his sobriety and slowly approaches the drug dealers with a gun when suddenly Walt shows up and runs the dealers down in his Pontiac Aztek and blows the brains out of the surviving dealer.
That, my friends, was the best, most shocking moment of television in 2010. And it wasn't even the season finale, which had it's own great twists and turns. But, in that penultimate episode ("Half Measures"), Breaking Bad transitioned from one of the darkest shows on television to the darkest show on television.
There is no better program that pushes its characters into the most unescapable of situations and then just lets the story progress from there. I have no idea where creator Vince Gilligan and company will take Breaking Bad into its fourth season (which sadly doesn't start until July), but after the two best seasons of television I've ever seen, I can't wait to come along for the ride.
Video: Best TV Shows 2010: Breaking Bad
Check out a quick recap of Season Three from AMC called Breaking Bad: A Look Ahead:
Couldn't agree more across the board Mike, and a fantastic concise wrap on a season where there was a lot going on to say the least !
I'd only add that on top of being the darkest show on television, it also manages to be just about the most suspenseful show on the air (the scene where Hank fends off The Cousins in the parking lot is flat out one of the best action sequences I've ever seen in my life, period) and manages to be hilarious at moments, undercutting the tension with much needed comedic bits here and there (many thanks to Bob Odenkirk, who is nothing less than a revelation).