Breaking Bad

How many of you are watching the series on ABC2 called "Breaking Bad"?  I've managed to catch every episode so far, and have been amply rewarded.

It is the story of Walt White who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and has been a high school chemistry teacher.  It seems he has missed the boat and wound up in this not so glamorous job, whereas some of his colleagues have done a bit better.

Seeing his brother-in-law, who is a DEA (drug enforcement agency) operative at work, Walt begs him to ride-along on a raid to see the guys cooking meth-amphetamine.  With Walt's chemistry background he is interested in cooking crystal meth as by doing so he can raise a lot of money in a short time and leave a lasting legacy for his family.  After he dies, Walt knows they will be lumbered with debt and have a really hard time of it.  His wife is newly pregnant, and his older teenage son has cerebral palsy, and thus needs constant care.  He teams up with a former student, Jesse Pinkman who has been cooking meth before, but nowhere near as good as the stuff Walt can produce.  (By conicidence, Jesse was actually at the place raided by Walt's brother-in-law in the ride-along, but manages to slip away unnoticed by everyone except Walt who is under strict instructions to wait in the car).

You've read the above paragraph and if you haven't seen the show you're reckoning it's pretty heavy going.  Well, I forgot to mention.  It is a comedy.  The second episode was an absolute hilarity where they tried to dissolve a body of a rival crystal-meth dealer who tried to kill them (it was self defence) in a bath of hydrofluoric acid.  Walt had told Jesse to get a polyethylene container at the hardware store, but Jesse couldn't find one big enough and reckoned the bath would be good enough...  Hydrofluoric acid eats through just about everything, including enamel-steel baths and wooden floors.  With the bath on the upper storey and Jesee and Walt below in the sitting room, a very interesting entrance is made by a partially dissolved body!  What a mess, and what a laugh-out-loud situation!

The ludicrousness of the situation is amply shown, in a very black and laid-back manner.  I've been having a look at the US website (see link up the top) and have had to stop reading.  We are up to Season 1 Show 5 in Australia.  There are 2 more episodes in Season 1, plus another 13 made in Season 2, and they've just proudly announced the starting of the making of Season 3.  Great to hear, but a lot of spoilers on that website, no doubt!

Anyway, it's on ABC2 on Friday Nights at 9:30pm for at least another 2 shows.  Let's hope Season 2 shows have been bought and can be played straight onwards.