Earlier this month AMC’s critically acclaimed drama Breaking Bad concluded its fourth and, if you believe its creators, second-to-last season. As many viewers have grown accustomed, the characters were pushed to their limits and the stakes were upped about as high as they can go. Both in its content and its reception, Breaking Bad appears to have finally bridged the gap between its super fans and the more casual TV viewer.
Now, with such critical and commercial success, one has to wonder how a show like Breaking Bad is going to be viewed alongside classic contemporaries like Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, Mad Men and, of course, The Wire.
I’ve heard people say that Breaking Bad is the best show on television, and that may be true, but there’s certainly a lot to measure it up against. Because of the subject matter and overall grim tone to the show, it’s most often likened to the aforementioned Baltimore-based crime drama The Wire, a show that has received just about every kind of critical praise imaginable in the few years since its conclusion.
On one hand you’ve got your Breaking Bad, a show about Bryan Cranston’s character Walter White and his journey from high school chemistry teacher to key cog in a multi-million dollar drug trade. I think it’s fair to say there isn’t a single episode in the four-season run in which it’s not totally plausible that characters will die in sudden, jarring fashion.
The Wire, on the other hand, almost invented the whole anyone-can-die-at-any-moment kind of tension that Breaking Bad thrives within. If AMC’s show is a study in character development, then The Wire is much more of an ensemble drama; there are several constants but for the most part actors drift in and out of the scenery as the plot sees fit. The story follows both sides of the Baltimore drug war, the Baltimore police department, and the gang families who control the slums of the city.
The high points
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Road trip with Tuco (Breaking Bad) — Tuco served as one of the first kingpins Walter and Jesse encountered in the series. The relationship between the three was always volatile, but when Tuco took Walt and Jesse hostage in a violent, drug addled haze it was clear anything could happen. Here viewers were also introduced to pivotal character Hector Salamanca.
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Carcetti for mayor (The Wire) — Who would’ve thought that in the middle of a drug war the race for mayor of Baltimore would be such a compelling story arc. David Simon and company managed to stage everything in such a way that no matter who won there was sure to be consequences for many of the show’s characters.
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The heroin overdose (Breaking Bad) — Over the course of the show Cranston’s character Walt always seems to be evolving and adapting to survive the context of his lifestyle. When Walt witnesses a heroin junky overdosing and refuses to help, however, we know there is something truly dark happening within his psyche; the identity of the mild mannered chemistry teacher is slowly fading into obscurity.
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Omar goes to prison (The Wire) — Ask ten people who their favourite character is from The Wire and odds are the majority will tell you Omar Little. Omar is like a modern day Robin Hood, only he steals exclusively from drug pushers and doesn’t exactly give back to the poor. In season four Omar’s notoriety eventually lands him in prison for a stay and just about every drug runner in Baltimore has someone on the inside waiting to take him out. An incredibly tense story arc for a beloved character.
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The poisoned cigarette (Breaking Bad) — The proverbial hanging sword that dangled for most of season four turned out to be a red herring of sorts, but there were so many issues tied to this inanimate object. Walt’s desperation, Jesse’s allegiance, the constant threat of Gus’s vengeance — it was almost as if by simple fact that the cigarette existed, viewers were promised someone would meet their demise by season’s end.
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Michael one step ahead of Marlow (The Wire) — There are so many ways the story of the corner kids pays off in The Wire. You could point to Dukie’s last visit with Pryzbylewski or Bunny’s adopting of Namond as particularly poignant moments, but Michael getting the drop on Snoop and Marlow’s crew really shows how fast these kids have to grow up in the towers of Baltimore.
The Low points
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The fake serial killer (The Wire) — This one stinks because, even though it’s within the realm of possibility, it seemed like a real leap of faith for a show that prided itself in being brutally realistic. More often than not, stories on The Wire don’t get full conclusions because that’s the way life works; it’s more about the journey than the destination. Having said that, viewers had to watch the fake serial killer storyline play out for an entire season all the while asking, “Really, is no one from the BPD going to call them on their shit?”
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The cartel cousins (Breaking Bad) — Very similar to The Wire’s low point, Breaking Bad loses control of itself when it suspends reality to the point of trivializing previous events. Nearly every time the Salamanca cousins appear on screen something ridiculous happens. It’s not enough that the two share the exact same unique look and rarely ever say a single word, but we’re also expected to believe they’re the kind of people who will explode a truck without even looking at the wreckage. Cool guys don’t look at explosions?
