Breaking Bad Closes Its Third Season

Breaking Bad’s Under Use of Their Villains

I have been a fan of  AMC’s hit series Breaking Bad since the first episode and have come to love this series, but I must confess that it has a serious flaw. I suspected this in the first season, developed an opinion during the second season, and have come to a definitive conclusion in the third season. Breaking Bad kills off their villains way too early.

Unlike the Showtime hit series Dexter, which drags out their villains to the season’s end like last year with the wonderful Trinity Killer played by John Lithgow, Breaking Bad tends to off its villains before we have had a real chance to understand them.

Take the first season for example. In that season we were introduced to Krazy 8 ( played by Max Arciniega ) and the demonically high Tuco Salamanca ( Raymond Cruz ). While Krazy 8 met his demise in the first couple of episodes, Tuco came in at the end of the first season and spilled over barely into the second. Krazy 8 did die at the appropriate time, but Tuco’s end came too early. This was a character that could have ran the duration of Season Two and could have been the more natural villain to end Combo’s life, leaving us with a deeper look into the street element of Walt’s business. Breaking Bad jumped too fast from the street hustle of Heisenberg to the big business of Gus and the Chicken Brothers. While Gustavo Fring ( Giancarlo Esposito ) is a competent villain, I believe we saw this character too early in the development of the series and has left Breaking Bad very little room to grow.

As we moved into the third season, we were given the apocalyptic vision of the Cousins from Juarez. These villains seemed over the top and made me feel that Breaking Bad was about to jump the shark into a high octane battle between the Salamanca cartel, the DEA, and Walt’s family caught in the middle. Instead, the Cousins barely lasted until mid season and were taken out by Hank due to the manipulations by Gus. If this had been the end of Season Three, it would have been a great finale, but the show has petered on since then and we have been caught in a hovering mode dealing with the dramas of Walt, Gus, Hank, and Jesse’s personal relationships.

An Unsatisfying Conclusion To Season Three of Breaking Bad

Since all the villains are gone except Gus, Breaking bad had no place to go but inward. We are drawn back into the element’s that led up to Combo’s death and a rehash of elements of Season Two with Jesse’s dead girlfriend. As many noticed in the flashback to the museum trip with Jesse, this event never happened as Jesse was out in the desert with Walter and before his girlfriend died, he agreed to go to the museum with her. Many feel that this is a sign of lazy writing and I have to agree with them. This show started as an edgy show with real consequences and now has the growing pains of a successful series that has grown away from its roots. Unless major characters start dying, unless this show stops killing its villains early, then Breaking Bad has no choice to keep jumping the shark until it gets cancelled.

I hope in this weeks finale of Season Three of Breaking Bad that we see some realistic conclusion to the current storyline. Gus cannot let Jesse live, if only to teach Walt a valuable lesson. Walt can’t keep making deals with Gus for protection, over and over again. Something has to happen for this show to succeed in the next season.

The Direction For Breaking Bad for Season Four

If anyone who watched the end of Dexter’s Season Four, we know when a series knows what it takes to satisfy viewers. Rita’s death was the accumulation of everything that Dexter had done by choosing Trinity over his family. With Walter White, we must see the same sort of situation. Walt must see that his actions have a closer consequence other than planes dropping in his driveway.

With shows like Dexter, Sopranos, and Breaking bad, there is always the eternal dilemma of making your main character a sympathetic criminal. In the end, crime does not pay and you must face the music. With Hank now out of the game, with Walt now a nine-to-five drug manufacturer, and Gus, the best boss to work for, Breaking Bad have no choice to step the story backward in order to succeed, and are viewers ready to go back to square one with this show.

Breaking Bad commited several sins by rushing the growth of the series, by killing off villains, and allowing characters to live beyond their use.

Hank should have died, Walt Jr. should be dead, Skyler should have run off with his money, and Jesse Pinkman has outlived his usefulness, unless Walt chooses Jesse over his family. It seems he must in order for this show to survive.

Season Four has to end the series or take it up a notch. Instead of a villain, we need a new DEA agent to come in and pursue the blue meth, Walt must deal with the death of a loved one, Jesse has too sink deeper into the darkness while Walt must sink into Heisenberg. Season Four needs to keep Gus til the end with the DEA agent drawing in on a showdown at the Chicken Brothers factory, with ending of relations with Saul taking everything, Walt Jr dying, and Walt back at square one, broke, tragic, and his cancer returning.

He must understand the consequences for Breaking Bad.