= Season 1 is truly slow. It was known at the time, adn the slowness got us used to how much of the series would be thereafter, but man was those first 3-4 episodes slow. I started watching Breaking Bad originally right as Season 3 was airing, so I never watched Season 1 at the time. I knew going in watching it would be slow. But I have to say, it really does set the tone so well.
= As a whole, the show is a lot funnier than I remember it being - and not just the Jesse and Walt interactions (though more on that in a bit). Mike is far funnier than I remember. Marie is much funnier than I remeber. The random characters are funnier than I remember. Many of the great dramas have a bevy of comedic moments (The Wire similarly so) but for a show that got so into plot, and exactness and moments and, well, drama, Breaking Bad does comedy so well. I want to point this out now, before
= On the Jesse and Walt part, the good news is the interactions between them were funnier than I remember. The sad part is I had this weird nostalgia for the RV era of the show, before Gus and the Superlab and what-not. Well, it turns out there is way less time in the actual RV than I remembered. Of course, it is the central scene for epics like 4 Days Out ("Wire...!") but for some reason I thought the RV was in like every other episodes. On the funny side, a perfect encapsulation of this is when Walt goes to Jesse to tell him in his drunk/high stupor that the police are investigating Gale's murder. he responds with just a perfect delivery of "uh, duh.". So simple, yet so effective.
= Jesse's house turning into a drunken, hellhole happened way later in the series than I remembered, but I should've realized it was, as it aired aroudn 2011. That summer, one of our friend group had his parent's house to himself in the summer (they were in India). He is a great guy but also has friends that say engage in stuff (pot, mainly). We lived in that house each weekend for a month, really getting the place messed up. Drinking, pot, cigarettes, pizza. It was great. We called it Jesse's House. Those were the days, man.
= What strikes me this go around watching the show is the show's love of fairly lengthy monologues. There are so many, and they are all uniformly so good. Even more than I remembered, it is amazing how many of them are done by Aaron Paul - like his emotional, caustic return to the Narcotics Anonymous 12-step group, when he tells the Problem Dog metaphor. It is amazing work. But in reality, Skylar has more monologues than I remembered as well. The acting is so uniformly amazing on this show, but what elevated it is how much the show did to showcase that.
= One area that plays more fantastical, and to be honest a bit worse, on a repeat viewing is just how insane and convoluted some of the set pieces and situations are. There are so many dues ex machina's and perfect alignment of the stars. Sure, we realized that in the initial Heisenberg moment where Walt blows up Tuco's office and somehow walks out of a fiery building perfectly unscathed. Like none of this is realistic. It's amazing. Some of it are the greatest moments of intense drama in TV history, like the parking lot shootout by Hank. When it is at its best, nothing can top it - but it's basically superhero stuff at times.
= As I reach the back half of Season 4, I'm already a bit sadeneed about what's to come. While the final season of Breaking Bad, particularly the second eight episodes, is universally revered, my main issue with it is I never bought Todd and the Nazi's as a big bad, or at least one that could control Walt the way they did (until of course the finale). Walt stood up and one against the Tuco's, the literal Cartel, and so much more. Anyway, that's to come - my hope is that Breaking Bad Season 5 is better on rewatch the way The Wire Season 5 has become for me.
