Breaking Bad
Review: Glen Downey
Family-man and genius chemist Walt White, played almost unrecognisably by Malcolm in the Middle's Dad, finds himself as an Albuquerque high school chemistry teacher and part time car-wash attendant going nowhere fast. Struck down with lung-cancer and with a pregnant wife and disabled son to support, Walt turns his talents to cooking Ice for profit. While this might make it sound like Weeds on Speed, Breaking Bad avoids the light hearted-irreverence that Weeds made its name from. Instead it weaves the kind of relentlessly confronting and sordid drama that you might expect from a meeting between HBO, Tarantino and the Coen brothers. The world of crystal meth isn't a pretty one but, if you can deal with it, Breaking Bad is one of the more brilliantly conceived dramas you'll see.
