Breaking Bad's first 4 seasons, in 10 minutes (spoilers galore, duh)

[Video Link] An excellent recap, from Slate V. All 46 episodes in 10 minutes. The comment thread in this post also includes spoilers!

(thanks, Joe Sabia!)

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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EH

Not bad. I think I fell asleep a little bit in Season 2.
Bill

Thanks. Saved me a lot of wasted time.
- http://disqus.com/Kimmoth/ Kimmo
  
  Cause you have better things to do than watch the best telly show ever made, I’m sure.
  - taintofevil
    
    Twin Peaks? Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood?
    - Chris Lorenzen
      
      Which one talked to the log?
    - Halloween_Jack
      
      Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood is great for kids, but I stopped being a kid some thirty-five years ago. Twin Peaks had a great first season, a not-so-bad third season, and a truly awful second season that ensured that enough people tuned out that there wouldn’t be a fourth season (and not enough people to bother going to the movie). Breaking Bad has sustained its quality throughout.
      - penguinchris
        
        You scared me for a minute that I might have missed part of Twin Peaks. There were only two seasons, and the movie. Perhaps season 2 was split up upon originally airing, so it felt like two seasons (season 1 was 8 episodes, season 2 22 episodes)?
        
        I watched Twin Peaks a month or two ago, and just bombed through all of Breaking Bad over the past weekend (a record in TV marathoning for me, though I’ve done the same for other shows, none have had nearly as many episodes).
        
        I have to agree that in terms of consistent quality Breaking Bad wins by far, but I feel that Twin Peaks would have been just as great (or better) if they hadn’t canceled it. There was clearly a whole lot more to be told and the mess of a movie didn’t help.
  - BarBarSeven
    
    Really? I thought that was the hyperbole that surrounded, The Wire, The Sopranos, West Wing, Twin Peaks, M*A*S*H, E.R., Saint Elsewhere, Six Feet Under, Girls & countless other TV dramas that are basically just well produced soap operas.
    
    Seriously, this saved me a lot of wasted time as well. Peel back the decent writing, acting, direction & cinematography and the main problem with all of these “must see” dramas is once you know the “spoiler” there’s no point watching the stuff again. Which in my mind counts as bad writing/art. The show does work as a TV show & pull you into watch each time it airs, but past that… Whatever.
    - samadriel
      
      Right, any story which employs suspense must be shit.
      - BarBarSeven
        
        Lots of stories employ suspense but can be enjoyed over & over again. As someone who watched every episode of the The Sopranos & who enjoyed the ride, you know what? Remove the spoilers from that show & who cares. I could never watch any of those episodes—except for maybe the “Pine Barrens” episode—over again.
    - http://twitter.com/AlexHerlan Alex Herlan
      
      I’m going to have to profusely disagree with you. Breaking Bad is one of those few shows thats BETTER the second, or 3rd time through. Even when you know whats going to happen. Shows like 6ft under and Sopranos? No way. I agree with you there. Breaking Bad is of another caliber though, in my opinion.
      - BarBarSeven
        
        Shows like 6ft under and Sopranos? No way.
        
        I think you completely miss the point: When The Sopranos or Six Feet Under were fresh & on the air, people were professing that “best TV show ever” nonsense.
        
        I like movies. Love them in fact. Love TV shows & love literature. But no other medium is being given a bigger proverbial “blow job” right now than TV shows produced in the 21st century.
    - Halloween_Jack
      
      Peel back the decent writing, acting, direction & cinematography
      
      Really? That’s your justification? You must be one of those people who’s disappointed that we don’t take meals in pill form.
      - BarBarSeven
        
        Nonsense. I love good TV shows, movies & literature. Read my comment above.
        
        And for context, for example: I really like Rushmore, but generally think every Wes Anderson film since that has been one tedious exercise in obsessive production design & not much else. I mean, he makes some visually stunning films, casts great actors, has some decent writing but it all falls flat.
        
        Alexander Payne is a phenomenal director and Election & Sideways are classics in my book. But The Descendants? A wretched mess.
    - http://twitter.com/davidmcraney David McRaney
      
      It sounds like you just don’t like fiction. Also, strangely enough, learning spoilers does not diminish the enjoyment of drama – this was shown in a recent psychological study: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/12/us-books-spoilers-odd-idUSTRE77B46J20110812
      - BarBarSeven
        
        That psychological study is something you really don’t need a study on: Good art isn’t affected by spoilers. Everyone knows who Luke’s father is, right? Nuff said.
      - zombiebob
        
        Personally, I have always loved to read or be told spoilers, an dI then enjoy watching it myself and seeing how i unfolds while knowing where the plot is going
  - http://disqus.com/Kimmoth/ Kimmo
    
    *cough*
- http://twitter.com/MartianEmpress Rezeya Montecore
  
  Which you obviously went and spent wisely on Boingboing.
- Halloween_Jack
  
  Your loss, sport.
http://artdonovan.typepad.com Art

God, how I love that show!

But it’s too bad Gus is gone.
- http://twitter.com/davesgeekyideas Dave Delisle
  
  There was talk of bringing him back for flashbacks. Would be cool if he tormented Walt and Jesse from beyond the grave.
http://disqus.com/Kimmoth/ Kimmo

And what of Mike? He’s been concpicuously absent of late… I wonder how he’ll react to Gus’ assassination?
- http://twitter.com/AlexHerlan Alex Herlan
  
  This is the comic con trailer that was just released:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4Ok68Y4cSQ Has Mike in it.
  - Halloween_Jack
    
    I’d been predicting that Mike would either try to avenge Gus or simply join Walt and Jesse. I’d really hate it if he just up and quit; Jonathan Banks is one of the big pleasant surprises WRT the supporting characters that have shown up.
    - http://disqus.com/Kimmoth/ Kimmo
      
      I still remember him as the incredibly nasty gangster in Beverly Hills Cop…
ocularity

I live right around the corner from the building that was blown up in Season 1. My favorite neighborhood cafe is on the ground floor. It’s a shame the show is done filming here.
- Halloween_Jack
  
  I know that ABQ isn’t a small town, but have you ever seen them film or otherwise seen Bryan Cranston around? Wikipedia lists him living there.
  - http://twitter.com/AlexHerlan Alex Herlan
    
    I live in the ABQ and I’ve run into Arron Paul @ Flying Star Cafe before. Also ran into Lavell Crawford (“Huell”) at walmart once. Definitely hard to miss that guy.
http://www.megatoothpastemammals.com Carpeteria

Excellent recap – thanks for the post. It’s been awhile – I hate these long droughts between these complexly plotted shows.
http://profiles.google.com/gtbear gt bear

new show tomorrow 10 pm eastern. it’ll stream online somewhere. /r/breakingbad.
8 episodes this year, 8 next year. it’s not the only show i watch, but it’s the only show that matters. – arbitrary aardvark
zombiebob

I thought that dude was much better in Malcolm in the Middle
- http://disqus.com/Kimmoth/ Kimmo
  
  Lolwut
  - zombiebob
    
    sarcasm
    - http://disqus.com/Kimmoth/ Kimmo
      
      Ah, nice
chgoliz

I can’t figure out which script to allow on that site to be able to see the video. As far as I can tell, I’ve temporarily allowed everything but the ads/malware/brightcove (etc.) and still can’t get the video. Anyone have a clue for me?
- http://disqus.com/Kimmoth/ Kimmo
  
  And people say NoScript isn’t a PITA…
  
  Why not watch the embedded vid here? You could use another browser for this sort of thing.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    And people say NoScript isn’t a PITA…
    
    They lie.
    - chgoliz
      
      But it does the job I need it to do. Only very occasionally do I find myself cursing the add-on.
      
      If you have a better recommendation, I’d love to hear it.
      
      For BB, I’m on Chrome.
  - chgoliz
    
    I do use another browser specifically for BB and 2 other sites.
    
    Can’t get the embedded video here either.
    
    *sigh*
http://twitter.com/saywhatagain Chris Wade

Holy cow! I made this! And it’s on boingboing! Wow, I feel like a real boy now! Thanks for posting!