Act II
Season 2 is a dark, grinding season in which the lead characters go through a variety of relationship changes and challenges. It’s far more intense and stressful than the first season although the pacing is slower, making for some ‘long’ episodes. If you’ve forgotten about some of the events in season one, the first disc of this three disc set includes a brief recap.
The first season ended with Walt and Jesse meeting with vicious drug runner Tuco, played by Raymond Cruz (of The Closer). Season two begins at the same meet, and Tuco’s character is an important one for the first third of this season. When Tuco is no longer relevant, Walt and Jesse decide to take on distributing their ‘Blue Sky’ meth on their own — yielding a great many more troubles and problems. It’s hard to go into too much detail without spoiling anything since events in the first episode carry importance all the way to the end of the season. What I will say though is that Walt continues to hide the truth from his family and Jesse continues to struggle with his drug habit. Both of these issues come to a breaking point by the end of the season.
Like only the best TV shows can do, Breaking Bad has the type of acting and writing quality that demands you come back for another episode, and another. Some episodes feel longer than others, but all hover in around the forty-seven minute mark. Before you know it, the season is over and you’re left exhausted with the amount of heavy drama you just put yourself through. Some of my other favorite shows like Dexter, Burn Notice, and Prison Break, shared this very same compelling, addictive nature. The only bad thing about that is, these shows are so well done and articulately planned out, that they’re hard to watch again — the same dramatic effect just isn’t there. That said, you’re still talking about a hell of a good show.
On Blu-ray
Breaking Bad Season 2 on Blu-ray comes packaged in a nice keep case that includes a book-page like two disc holder in the middle (with disc three being attached to the back cover). An episode and disc guide booklet with images from the show is included too. Each disc has the same menu, which is good, but I thought it had room for improvement. Reason being, each disc displays the contents of the set, not just what is on the disc. In other words, at first glance, it looks like disc 1 has all of the episodes and extras for this set, but if you click on something that’s not on the disc, you just get a message to insert disc 2 or 3. Coupled with the episode/disc guide booklet, that’s okay, but, I would have preferred a menu that made it clear as to what content was on what disc — or, just do what is normally done and only show what content is on the disc you’re currently viewing. Small potatoes really, but something I felt worth mentioning.
Now as far as the image and sound quality go, Breaking Bad looks excellent on Blu-ray. Colors are crisp, edges are sharp, the only grain I saw was some that I surmise was intentionally by the creators of the show to give it a hardened appearance. These moments are rare anyway, so the bottom line is that the image quality is excellent. The 5.1 surround audio does well, but I the volume seemed low — I had to turn up my volume more so than other shows.
A lot of Special Features are included here, but most of these are in SD and are very short. Still, for a fan of the show you’ll make a point of watching all of them, although you may not be back for seconds. The extras include:
-BDLive – This will fire up the BDLive portal for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment where viewers can watch trailers and such.
-Season 1 Recap (1m30s, SD) – Quick clips from the first season thrown together to give you an idea of where things stand before watching season two.
-Inside Breaking Bad (15m30s, SD) – Thirteen separate instances of ‘Inside’ (one for each episode) include cast and crew interviews and clips about the episode.
-The Cast on Season 2 (2m51s, SD) – Cast and crew interviews and clips regarding season two.
-Season 2: What’s In A Name? (3m, SD) – Director Vince Gilligan talks about the significance of the names of the episodes.
-Making of “Negro y Azul” Music Video (2m, SD)
-Audio Commentaries and Deleted Scenes (2m, SD): Episodes 1, 3, and 4 include audio commentary and a single deleted scene per, each under a minute in length.
-Tortoise Scene (2m48s, SD) – The grisly scene is broken down with clips, behind the scenes footage, and cast and crew interviews.
-“Negro y Azul” Music Video (3m25s, HD) – One of the few HD Special Features, but not an interesting one.
-Writers’ Lab – An Interactive Guide to the Elements of an Episode (HD) – This Blu-ray exclusive interactive feature is neat. In it, Director Vince Gilligan provides a voice over to the writing process used in Breaking Bad (and in his previous show you may have heard of, The X-Files). Specifically this feature looks at the final episode of the season, and includes clickable flash cards that contain the general idea for part of that episode’s script. You can view the actual script that the flash cards are based on, and skip to the part of the episode pertaining to the flash card’s summary as well — pretty cool.
-Better Call Saul (50s, HD) – A goofy fictional ad for the important lawyer character in the show.
-Cop Talk (10.5m, SD) – Dean Norris, who plays Hank the DEA agent (and brother in law to Walt), jokes around with local cops. He quizzes them on 10 codes and other goofy stuff, and it’s fairly entertaining for a once over.
-Gag Reel (3m52s, SD) – It’s funny to see such a serious show do a gag reel. Worth a watch.
-Walt’s Warning (2m46s, SD) – A behind the scenes looking at the making of Walt’s viral video that was created to hype the second season last year.
–Breaking Bad Webisodes (22.5m, HD) – Six mini-episodes meant to appeal to fans and pick up newcomers. These are cool.
-Season 3 Preview (2m20s, HD) – A nice brief look at season three that is done like an episode. In other words, it’s not just the director talking about season three, it’s actually Walt and Hank dealing with the final events of the ABQ episode.
-Vince Gilligan’s Photo Gallery – Stills from the show.
To the summary…