Warning: I tap into a few spoilers specifically from season one and two of Breaking Bad. You’ve been warned.

Why Breaking Bad is Television’s Greatest Show

This past week, I’ve been binging on season four of Breaking Bad. In my attempt to get up to speed on the show in time for season five’s premiere, I was reminded of a simple, indisputable fact: Breaking Bad is the best show on television.

Keep in mind, by best, I don’t necessarily mean “most fun,” or even “most enjoyable.” In fact, AMC’s brutal drama about a chemistry teacher with lung cancer making and selling the most pure meth ever is often quite the opposite. When you’re dealing with character studies focusing on the degradation of the soul and how people realistically respond to the worst in humanity, there’s not a lot of room for levity.

Exploring the human condition

However, this uncompromising narrative is exactly the reason why the show is so phenomenal. It goes places that other television shows can’t, or wouldn’t dare, exploring aspects of the human condition that other productions can’t even get close to. When you as the audience are left attempting to find any justification to the actions of these characters, characters who are sent spiraling down the paths that they choose, whether it be escalating crime or cold-blooded murder, suddenly the question of “who is Don Draper,” regardless of how staggeringly well-written, just doesn’t seem as important anymore.

And I think that is Breaking Bad’s true achievement. Even if you subtract the incredible performances (both leads of Breaking Bad have won Emmys for their work), or the cinematography and direction that loads every shot with symbolism and imagery, the writing in Breaking Bad leaves the audience speechless on a week to week basis. It makes you care about these characters and their plights, but not because they rely on sympathy (they don’t, really), but because their responses to the chaos in their lives are so sincere and genuine. Even from the beginning of season 1, our main character has to resort to murder to protect himself and his family. Whether or not you agree with his decision, you are completely immersed because his perspective is so real; this is how someone in his position would react. They FEEL it, and have to deal with it in whatever way they can. For Walt, it’s burying himself in his lies and living under the delusion that everything he does is for his family. For Jessie, it’s hating himself, embracing his role as a deteriorating human being and making sure to immerse himself in an environment that reflects his inner turmoil and chaos. And because you can feel how it affects them,  you buy it. So even when the premise gets a little ridiculous (and it does, from time to time), the audience can forgive it because it’s simply an avenue for more character study.

Achieving importance

When judging what is best, you have to gauge importance. House was an incredibly entertaining show, with solid writing and fun episodes. However, it played it safe, in both content and structure, and I would argue that, while no doubt a good time, it never really achieved any meaningful importance as a program. Breaking Bad, on the other hand, is important because it continues to break new ground with every season, every new episode. As cheesy as it sounds, Breaking Bad dares to go places other shows won’t, which removes the audience’s built in safeguards. Think that character is safe because he’s a kid? Think again. Assume they won’t kill off a series regular by having her choke to death in her vomit? I have some bad news. Convince yourself that things can’t get any worse than two planes colliding in midair? Prepare to be proven wrong.

Looking Ahead to Season 5

That’s why looking ahead to season 5 is so compelling and nerve-wracking. Every season finale of this show has been fearless, from the final shot of Jesse holding the gun to Gale’s head, to the haunting slow zoom in on the Lily of the Valley, a moment that unravels everything we thought we knew about these characters. We have faith as an audience now that the creators of this show aren’t afraid to go to dark places with their characters, and the finale of this show isn’t going to disappoint. Like the Godfather, which chronicles the complete transformation of “noble war hero” to “ruthless crime lord,” Breaking Bad is going to continue down this bleak path, and we can only cringe and love it.

At the end of the day, Breaking Bad sheds light on topics and themes that we normally don’t care to think about it, and offers a bleak look at the darkness present in all of us, both realized and potential. That’s why Breaking Bad is important, and that’s why it’s the best show on television.