I thought this season kinda stagnated in a way the others didn't. There was a little too much "Walt talks his way out of something" for me. At first, it made sense because he was dealing with people like Tuco and Jesse's friends, but Gus and Mike aren't idiots. The divorce seems to kinda come and go and the money-laundering issue is stretched over so many episodes and doesn't really lead to anything by the end of the season. Hank is in a hospital bed for most of the season and what finally triggers the end of that plotline was a comic relief moment?? The storyline with Jesse's new support group and the gang kids was good, but could've been handled better in my opinion. The finale felt a little underwhelming and the season as a whole meandered a lot.
Overall, I enjoyed this season but I thought it was a slight step down in quality. I enjoyed Skylar getting involved with the business, but Walt truly became annoying in this season. Not an annoying character (since what he was doing was key to the show and was interesting), but an annoying presence since his scenes were just him constantly berating Jesse or Skylar.
Review by faustyBlockedParent2023-06-21T05:37:57Z
I think it stumbles a little tiny bit at some points, mostly just with some weird pacing I feel like, but with the absolute best episode Fly under this season as well as one of the best season finales like, ever, and just amazing acting across the board from everyone, this season more than keeps its stride. It's awesome!
I'm so glad they finally gave characters a bit more juice, but more specifically Jesse and Skylar here. Skylar finally feels like someone who's taking action, who knows what her husband is but doesn't want to tear her family apart with that knowledge, so she lashes out and retaliates and does what is actually necessary to keep things together while Walt does his Pablo Escobar cosplay.She's so good this season, and so understandable and so tender, I love her here. Anna Gunn puts her whole heart into Skyler and the result is just breathtaking.
Jesse, though... Jesse is fucking incredible. Aaron Paul is on Bryan Cranston's level of acting and characterization with their roles that just more than sells their roles, they feel like they're the subject of documentaries, they feel like living, breathing and real people we are seeing in these self-destructive ways. They ways that Paul is able to just, show emotion in the subtlest and the loudest ways is fucking incredible. He deserves so much praise for his work here.
The way that this season feels not just like a very good midpoint, it also feels like there's no going back, and it shows in all of our characters. Fly specifically is a beautiful demonstration of Walter's mental state and thought processes up to this point, and that episode recaps it all perfectly... only to show that he doesn't actually want to go back.
Fuck i'm so glad I'm rewatching these