Breaking Bad: Season 3

A good friend of mine recently got into Breaking Bad and asked if he could borrow the third season from me sometime after Christmas. I consented in a heartbeat - the gift of Season 3 of Breaking Bad beats most other things you can give or get for the holidays. The only problem, which wasn't really a problem but more of an interesting wrinkle, is that I myself had not yet sat down and watched Season 3 on DVD. I'd seen it when it aired back in the spring of 2010, and I'd watched most of it a second time when my girlfriend was DVRing repeats trying to catch up in time for Season 4. At any rate, I decided it was high time for a third go-round with Walt and Jesse's big third year and I began watching the season about a week and a half ago. Having seen Season 4 in the time since I last saw Season 3, I was surprised to find just how far back down the chain of action Season 3's premiere was. It'd be spoiler-ific to point out any specific big changes that would occur over the course of Seasons 3 and 4, but suffice it to say that shit happens. A whole lot of shit happens, and most of it isn't good. This is the season that Aaron Paul finally won an Emmy for, and it wasn't without merit. Bryan Cranston has yet to fail to win an Emmy for his work on Breaking Bad, and he was excellent here, too. But this dynamic duo wasn't alone in making this season a memorably outstanding one; perhaps the most gripping scene of the season occurred when an all-bark little-bite DEA agent faced off against two assassin brothers in a parking lot. And the season's biggest badass was easily Mike, a new character who, in one scene, managed to take out four armed guards with a bunch of balloons, a pistol, and a woman's shoe. Drug lord Gus remained elegantly powerful, and of course it was easy as always to appreciate corrupt lawyer Saul. This really is such an exceptional TV show where stakes keep growing, morality keeps eroding, and the end keeps drawing nearer and nearer for our antagonistic hero. Watch it! And watch it now!