11.) Breaking Bad Season 1
It's really hard to rank a 7-episode season that spends its first three installments on one plot. During its initial run, people remember those three episodes as a show that hadn't really found itself yet, but looking back, it was the same show. Breaking Bad already knew itself back then, with the first 7 episodes showcasing the exacting detail the show would go to, the mountain of humor the show would mine from Jesse and Walt interacting, and the gorgeous photography of New Mexico. However, something has to be last, and a 7-episode sprint with a few severely underdeveloped characters (Marie is the worst, but Hank/Gomez/Walt Jr. are also drawn out poorly in the beginning) is the easiest candidate. This works better as a prelude than anything else.
10.) Breaking Bad Season 5.1
If it was connected to Season 5.2 in one 16-episode season, I may be more forgiving towards Season 5.1, but it really wasn't Breaking Bad at its greatest. It was a notably slower departure from the ridiculous tension that was most of Seasons 3-4. In a way, it was a return to Season 2's slower, deliberate and humored pacing, but without the early show gleam still on it. I was not of fan of either the Lydia character or Todd and his Uncle's Gang of Nazis, but enjoyed the Vamanos Pest scenes, and looking back the last real 'buddy-cop drama' scenes with Walt and Jesse ("Magnets, Bitch!"). Mike also had a great character arc concluded in this Season as well. Overall, the first half of a great final season set in motion a lot of what was to come, but was a step down from utter brilliance.
9.) The Wire Season 5
The last of the Three Exception Seasons, as all of these three seasons were worse than any of the other seasons in each show's run, and the following 8 are all stellar (and were incredibly hard to rank), is The Wire's final season. It is basically universally considered as the weakest of the show's five seasons. It says a lot about the previous four when the final season of the show being just merely good doesn't ruin its overall repuation at all. Anyway, this season had the series' worst arc with the fake serial killer storyline, a misguided mistake by a show that made so few. Also, the new department that the show investigated created some concern. Creator David Simon came from the newspaper business, so there are definitely questions of whether his portrayal of the Baltimore Sun in the show was fair. The characters from the Sun definitely seemed more black or white than almost all of the characters before it. The final season did contain a pretty perfect final episode, though. The Wire may have not have had the best final season, but for Final Episodes, it is right up there.
8.) Breaking Bad Season 2
Honestly, ranking these eight seasons are really tough. I was surprised how well I found Breaking Bad comparing to The Wire. Breaking Bad Season 2 is actually a really great season of TV. It was the largest the Breaking Bad story ever got, as it was the only season I can think of that gave each character a really nice storyline. Hank got his exposure to the El Paso office, and his PTSD from being the sole unhurt person from La Tortuga's exploding head. Skylar started her distrust and loss of Walt. Walter himself had to mix both cancer and meth-making, and Jesse found love in Jane. What hurts the Season when comparing it to the three Breaking Bad seasons (and the 4 Wire seasons) ahead of it are the lack of stakes. There were few life-threatening situations in this season apart from the premier with everyone stuck at Tuco's. Breaking Bad depended so much on drama and tension, and mined those wells brilliantly. Season 2 just didn't have those heights.
7.) The Wire Season 2
I feel bad ranking Season 2 of The Wire as my 4th favorite Wire season, because it is generally considered negatively to the other three above it, but I feel like it is definitely underrated. A large part of the discussion on Season 2 surrounds the decision to focus on, let's be honest, white people. It was a jarring change of pace to focus about 50% of screen time of Season 2 on the dockworkers (who, it should be stated, aren't 100% a white community) and the decline of 'Blue-Collar America', and only made more jarring by never revisiting those people again. Of course, I thought it was brilliant. The storyline was artfully constructed, and connected well to the drug world the show investigated in Season 1. I personally thought the two directly related Sobotka's (Frank & Ziggy) were excellently constructed characters. This was also the shows only time delving into the prison system, which led to some interesting moments about the idiocy of the prison system in America. In the end, saying that this was a jarring departure of the season before it and the two after it is more a testament to how damn good The Wire is than an indictment on Season 2.
6.) Breaking Bad Season 4
Everyone loves to remember the lasting image of Gus, with his face half-off, fixing his tie before falling to his final death. And why not? That is the best image from the show's run. In a way, that image kind of enhances the memory of Season 4 and underserves so much great work that season before that fateful moment. We had Hank getting as close as he ever got on his own to figuring out Walt was Heisenberg. We got some great backstory into Gus Fring, with a few trips South of the Border. The final three episodes of Season 4 were about as fast-paced and tension-filled as any in the shows run, started off with Walt maniacally laughing realizing that Skyler had given most of his money to Ted. If anything, Season 4 had some of the best shot sequences I've seen, with everything that went on in Don Eladio's estate, to Gus using the box-cutter to end a life, to Walt spinning the gun and landing on Lily of the Valley. Just great work in the show at its most tense.
5.) Breaking Bad Season 5.2
It is hard to really judge something I have just seen, but I will say that the season seemed a bit overrated, and most of this comes down to the Final episode. Breaking Bad was the opposite of The Wire, where it had, overall, an excellent final season but a less-than-stellar final episode. After having a season that detailed the collapse of Walt's empire, started with him finally being found out to him losing his position to the nazis. They literally named an episode 'Ozymandias', which was an Egyptian story of a King's empire falling within itself. They partially undermined a lot of that by making the finale into a quasi-Walt redemption story. Also, I was never a fan of Uncle Todd and the Neo-Nazi's, a clear dues-ex-machina installed to show the pure evil of the meth empire. Of course, Uncle Todd was never part of the meth empire. He had no connection to the meth business. Anyway, I thought all of their work with Hank/Marie vs. Walt/Skyler was perfect, and 'Ozymandias' might have been one of the best episodes of television ever.
4.) The Wire Season 3
Season 3 of The Wire works more as a companion piece to Season 4, but on its own it holds up really, really well. Season 3 was the first time the show really went outside the Cops vs. Drugs set-up they had perfected in Season 1 and slightly altered in Season 2. Here they added the government, showing how at the highest level in Baltimore, the city was corrupt and broken, and that is partially why the drug world exists as it does. The season introduced two notable characters that would dominate Season 4-5, in Tommy Carchetti and Marlo Stanfield, both casted well (even if I never loved Marlo's character). It instituted one of the best social experiments ever in Hamsterdam, as I spent way too long debating its merits and faults. It also did a great job presenting each side of the Stringer/Avon feud, and making that into a metaphor for the Drug Game in general. The death of Stringer Bell to cap the season was also a stunning moment, a show killing off what had been its lead character. Season 3 of The Wire showed that the real main character was Baltimore. Not Stringer, not McNulty, but Baltimore.
3.) Breaking Bad Season 3
Yup, Season 3 of Breaking Bad is my topped ranked Breaking Bad season. I don't think any Season of Breaking Bad combined all the elements that made the show great as this one did. You had exacting, small detailed moments, capped perfectly in their 'bottle episode' 'Fly'. You had excellent Jesse/Walt work late in the season. You had the introduction of Gus as a mainstay character, and Mike as well as Gus's #2. You had the introduction in full of the Cartel, with the cousins playing 'Big Bad' in the first half of the season. Then you had the tension. Holy Lord, the tension. First was Walt and Jesse trapped in teh RV with Hank directly outside. Then was Hank battling and somehow beating the cousins. Later in the year was the capper, with Walt running over the two drug dealers who cornered Jesse, killing them and telling Jesse to 'run'. Season 3 of Breaking Bad was the show at its chaotic but beautiful best, the only time when the simplicity of the RV-era meth business met the Superlab-era.
2.) The Wire Season 1
If I had to pick a season of The Wire to rewatch, I'm picking Season 1. It was by far the simplest of the 5 seasons, with little exposition outside the drug world and the Baltimore Police Department, but it was just so startling to see a show so honest. The Wire was greedy in its narrative exposition, never holding back at showing the reason why the drug world exists, the inequity in that world, and the ineffectiveness of the Police in stopping it. The show introduced so many characters with no spoon-fed characterization. Instead, they challenged viewers to keep along, to remember the names and faces and how they all interact. The show showed the dire situation of the drug world, with Bubbles and so many of the other addicts. It showed the politics in a police department hell bent on not stirring up too much shit. Finally, it humanized drug dealers while dehumanizing the 'good guy' cops. Season 1 of The Wire was so clean, so perfect an introduction into this world of Baltimore.
1.) The Wire Season 4
Many people compare the entirety of The Wire to a novel, and that comparison fits. But Season 4 itself was a novel. A perfectly constructed, brilliant, deep novel. In television terms, it was 13 perfect hours. I have some general complaints, like missing the Barksdale organization and not warming up to the purposefully cold Stanfield group, but those are tiny blemishes. Yes, it was a cruel trick of creating four characters that are impossible to hate in the four kids, but it worked so well. Season 4 of The Wire was the show at its fullest, with storylines in drugs, policing, goverment and education, giving Baltimore it's largest exposition yet. It showed in crushing detail how vicious the cycle is, why kids in schools fail and turn to drugs, why kids in school fail and turn to dealing them. How the drug world gives kids the appreciation they don't get in the classroom. It also had great side stories like Cutty's gym taking off or a relatively flaccid McNulty turning into a family man. The Wire rarely left stones unturned, but in Season 4 they didn't come close to missing anything. 13 perfect episodes.
It's really hard to rank a 7-episode season that spends its first three installments on one plot. During its initial run, people remember those three episodes as a show that hadn't really found itself yet, but looking back, it was the same show. Breaking Bad already knew itself back then, with the first 7 episodes showcasing the exacting detail the show would go to, the mountain of humor the show would mine from Jesse and Walt interacting, and the gorgeous photography of New Mexico. However, something has to be last, and a 7-episode sprint with a few severely underdeveloped characters (Marie is the worst, but Hank/Gomez/Walt Jr. are also drawn out poorly in the beginning) is the easiest candidate. This works better as a prelude than anything else.
10.) Breaking Bad Season 5.1
If it was connected to Season 5.2 in one 16-episode season, I may be more forgiving towards Season 5.1, but it really wasn't Breaking Bad at its greatest. It was a notably slower departure from the ridiculous tension that was most of Seasons 3-4. In a way, it was a return to Season 2's slower, deliberate and humored pacing, but without the early show gleam still on it. I was not of fan of either the Lydia character or Todd and his Uncle's Gang of Nazis, but enjoyed the Vamanos Pest scenes, and looking back the last real 'buddy-cop drama' scenes with Walt and Jesse ("Magnets, Bitch!"). Mike also had a great character arc concluded in this Season as well. Overall, the first half of a great final season set in motion a lot of what was to come, but was a step down from utter brilliance.
9.) The Wire Season 5
The last of the Three Exception Seasons, as all of these three seasons were worse than any of the other seasons in each show's run, and the following 8 are all stellar (and were incredibly hard to rank), is The Wire's final season. It is basically universally considered as the weakest of the show's five seasons. It says a lot about the previous four when the final season of the show being just merely good doesn't ruin its overall repuation at all. Anyway, this season had the series' worst arc with the fake serial killer storyline, a misguided mistake by a show that made so few. Also, the new department that the show investigated created some concern. Creator David Simon came from the newspaper business, so there are definitely questions of whether his portrayal of the Baltimore Sun in the show was fair. The characters from the Sun definitely seemed more black or white than almost all of the characters before it. The final season did contain a pretty perfect final episode, though. The Wire may have not have had the best final season, but for Final Episodes, it is right up there.
8.) Breaking Bad Season 2
Honestly, ranking these eight seasons are really tough. I was surprised how well I found Breaking Bad comparing to The Wire. Breaking Bad Season 2 is actually a really great season of TV. It was the largest the Breaking Bad story ever got, as it was the only season I can think of that gave each character a really nice storyline. Hank got his exposure to the El Paso office, and his PTSD from being the sole unhurt person from La Tortuga's exploding head. Skylar started her distrust and loss of Walt. Walter himself had to mix both cancer and meth-making, and Jesse found love in Jane. What hurts the Season when comparing it to the three Breaking Bad seasons (and the 4 Wire seasons) ahead of it are the lack of stakes. There were few life-threatening situations in this season apart from the premier with everyone stuck at Tuco's. Breaking Bad depended so much on drama and tension, and mined those wells brilliantly. Season 2 just didn't have those heights.
7.) The Wire Season 2
I feel bad ranking Season 2 of The Wire as my 4th favorite Wire season, because it is generally considered negatively to the other three above it, but I feel like it is definitely underrated. A large part of the discussion on Season 2 surrounds the decision to focus on, let's be honest, white people. It was a jarring change of pace to focus about 50% of screen time of Season 2 on the dockworkers (who, it should be stated, aren't 100% a white community) and the decline of 'Blue-Collar America', and only made more jarring by never revisiting those people again. Of course, I thought it was brilliant. The storyline was artfully constructed, and connected well to the drug world the show investigated in Season 1. I personally thought the two directly related Sobotka's (Frank & Ziggy) were excellently constructed characters. This was also the shows only time delving into the prison system, which led to some interesting moments about the idiocy of the prison system in America. In the end, saying that this was a jarring departure of the season before it and the two after it is more a testament to how damn good The Wire is than an indictment on Season 2.
6.) Breaking Bad Season 4
Everyone loves to remember the lasting image of Gus, with his face half-off, fixing his tie before falling to his final death. And why not? That is the best image from the show's run. In a way, that image kind of enhances the memory of Season 4 and underserves so much great work that season before that fateful moment. We had Hank getting as close as he ever got on his own to figuring out Walt was Heisenberg. We got some great backstory into Gus Fring, with a few trips South of the Border. The final three episodes of Season 4 were about as fast-paced and tension-filled as any in the shows run, started off with Walt maniacally laughing realizing that Skyler had given most of his money to Ted. If anything, Season 4 had some of the best shot sequences I've seen, with everything that went on in Don Eladio's estate, to Gus using the box-cutter to end a life, to Walt spinning the gun and landing on Lily of the Valley. Just great work in the show at its most tense.
5.) Breaking Bad Season 5.2
It is hard to really judge something I have just seen, but I will say that the season seemed a bit overrated, and most of this comes down to the Final episode. Breaking Bad was the opposite of The Wire, where it had, overall, an excellent final season but a less-than-stellar final episode. After having a season that detailed the collapse of Walt's empire, started with him finally being found out to him losing his position to the nazis. They literally named an episode 'Ozymandias', which was an Egyptian story of a King's empire falling within itself. They partially undermined a lot of that by making the finale into a quasi-Walt redemption story. Also, I was never a fan of Uncle Todd and the Neo-Nazi's, a clear dues-ex-machina installed to show the pure evil of the meth empire. Of course, Uncle Todd was never part of the meth empire. He had no connection to the meth business. Anyway, I thought all of their work with Hank/Marie vs. Walt/Skyler was perfect, and 'Ozymandias' might have been one of the best episodes of television ever.
4.) The Wire Season 3
Season 3 of The Wire works more as a companion piece to Season 4, but on its own it holds up really, really well. Season 3 was the first time the show really went outside the Cops vs. Drugs set-up they had perfected in Season 1 and slightly altered in Season 2. Here they added the government, showing how at the highest level in Baltimore, the city was corrupt and broken, and that is partially why the drug world exists as it does. The season introduced two notable characters that would dominate Season 4-5, in Tommy Carchetti and Marlo Stanfield, both casted well (even if I never loved Marlo's character). It instituted one of the best social experiments ever in Hamsterdam, as I spent way too long debating its merits and faults. It also did a great job presenting each side of the Stringer/Avon feud, and making that into a metaphor for the Drug Game in general. The death of Stringer Bell to cap the season was also a stunning moment, a show killing off what had been its lead character. Season 3 of The Wire showed that the real main character was Baltimore. Not Stringer, not McNulty, but Baltimore.
3.) Breaking Bad Season 3
Yup, Season 3 of Breaking Bad is my topped ranked Breaking Bad season. I don't think any Season of Breaking Bad combined all the elements that made the show great as this one did. You had exacting, small detailed moments, capped perfectly in their 'bottle episode' 'Fly'. You had excellent Jesse/Walt work late in the season. You had the introduction of Gus as a mainstay character, and Mike as well as Gus's #2. You had the introduction in full of the Cartel, with the cousins playing 'Big Bad' in the first half of the season. Then you had the tension. Holy Lord, the tension. First was Walt and Jesse trapped in teh RV with Hank directly outside. Then was Hank battling and somehow beating the cousins. Later in the year was the capper, with Walt running over the two drug dealers who cornered Jesse, killing them and telling Jesse to 'run'. Season 3 of Breaking Bad was the show at its chaotic but beautiful best, the only time when the simplicity of the RV-era meth business met the Superlab-era.
2.) The Wire Season 1
If I had to pick a season of The Wire to rewatch, I'm picking Season 1. It was by far the simplest of the 5 seasons, with little exposition outside the drug world and the Baltimore Police Department, but it was just so startling to see a show so honest. The Wire was greedy in its narrative exposition, never holding back at showing the reason why the drug world exists, the inequity in that world, and the ineffectiveness of the Police in stopping it. The show introduced so many characters with no spoon-fed characterization. Instead, they challenged viewers to keep along, to remember the names and faces and how they all interact. The show showed the dire situation of the drug world, with Bubbles and so many of the other addicts. It showed the politics in a police department hell bent on not stirring up too much shit. Finally, it humanized drug dealers while dehumanizing the 'good guy' cops. Season 1 of The Wire was so clean, so perfect an introduction into this world of Baltimore.
1.) The Wire Season 4
Many people compare the entirety of The Wire to a novel, and that comparison fits. But Season 4 itself was a novel. A perfectly constructed, brilliant, deep novel. In television terms, it was 13 perfect hours. I have some general complaints, like missing the Barksdale organization and not warming up to the purposefully cold Stanfield group, but those are tiny blemishes. Yes, it was a cruel trick of creating four characters that are impossible to hate in the four kids, but it worked so well. Season 4 of The Wire was the show at its fullest, with storylines in drugs, policing, goverment and education, giving Baltimore it's largest exposition yet. It showed in crushing detail how vicious the cycle is, why kids in schools fail and turn to drugs, why kids in school fail and turn to dealing them. How the drug world gives kids the appreciation they don't get in the classroom. It also had great side stories like Cutty's gym taking off or a relatively flaccid McNulty turning into a family man. The Wire rarely left stones unturned, but in Season 4 they didn't come close to missing anything. 13 perfect episodes.
