By Thomas Willett
I would just like you to know that whatever I write today will never be as awesome as this incident when a Make-A-Wish kid got to meet Ron Perlman dressed as Hellboy. Even though I’ve met Doug Jones (aka Hellboy’s sidekick Abe Sapien) he didn’t don the costume for me, though he made our time together very memorable. I wish that I could write a whole piece on how awesome this is, but there isn’t enough material to make valid criticism. Instead, I will focus on something that I am equally excited about that has been a long time coming. I’m heading back out to ABQ to do some cooking with Heisenberg.
But you are saying to yourself “Thom, the San Diego Comic Con is in San Diego.” I know it is, and that is not what I am talking about. I will not be able to attend a panel with the Breaking Bad stars that I have grown to love, but I don’t have to wait much longer to see them in action. This Sunday on AMC, I will finally watch my first televised episode of the show as season 5 premieres and hopefully answers questions raised by the brilliant finale “Face Off.” Who knows, maybe Gustavo Frings will pop up. After all, the show is keen to flashbacks and time lapses.
I won’t get into too much detail, though I will share that my enthusiasm has been this way since November, when I unexpectedly walked into a new favorite show on Netflix. The rush I got from episode to episode dared me to restrain myself from just watching everything at once. When I finally got to the end, there was that awkward moment. The story wasn’t over, but I now had to wait over half a year to get the next chapter. It was torture, though I passed time watching fan videos and coming up with my own theories for next season.
I would regret waiting until the whole thing was over. I know that some people prefer to watch the show in one consecutive marathon. I have become one of those people who enjoy catching up on old shows on Netflix, if just to broaden my horizons. Titles like Peep Show are now among my favorites, and the promise of more episodes only excited me more. While I crave everything that a creator puts out, I am essentially scared of reaching the end. Even though I’ve held off on Doctor Who because of its daunting length, I just cannot stand that moment where the episode ends and I don’t have anything to watch tomorrow. I could watch the same thing, but I just want something new to be there.
However, I am starting to understand people who don’t want to follow shows week to week and instead indulge at once. Maybe it’s a time issue where better TV shows are on. However, the ones that I come back to are the ones that just hit rock bottom for some reason. When I watched season 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I had this notion in my head to consider if I had watched it during its original run. It was a terrible season and if I didn’t have Buffy fans telling me to keep going, I probably would have stopped. I think that it would have been more tedious to have done it over the course of months with an indefinite conclusion. I don’t want to waste time on a show with a villain as annoying as Glory.
Most recently, I have given up on shows that feature tedium. The most notable one is not necessarily that long in episodes, but just one that I felt was fooling with me. Weeds is a show that I have enjoyed for the past four seasons despite the many problematic elements. During last season, I found that I didn’t care for many of the stories, and I was worried that time would make me disinterested in following it. This is the first full season that I just gave up and haven’t watched because I am tired of being fooled. I want answers, and the show has reached a tipping point in terms of fun. Maybe if AV Club’s TV Club reviews are kind, I will consider revisiting the season when it’s over, but for now, this is my one argument in favor of ignoring.
What does this have to do with Breaking Bad? Some people are waiting until the end to watch the whole thing. I am cool with that, even though my fondness for this show is well documented and I cannot find a sane reason why you’d wait. I regret not starting sooner. For me, it is more than just a TV show; it is a community of like-minded individuals who obsess over the show. It is this type of show that I felt the term “water cooler conversations” meant to be used for. Even creator Vince Gilligan is fairly public about his thoughts on the show with the Breaking Bad Insider Podcast. He makes the whole thing seem precious and his comments make me want to wait with everyone else.
The reason that I began watching the show was because I began listening to the recaps on Firewall and Iceberg. What they described was bizarre and made me feel like I was not including myself in an accessible cool club. Once I saw the episodes, I understood what they meant. Online, Breaking Bad has been a haven for work created by fans. I know that many shows have this type of following, but when it is embraced by the creators and AMC, there is just something that manages to be pleasing without pandering.
I am sure that the community will survive long past the series finale. Most of all, I am excited to finally be on the same page as everyone so that come the end of Sunday’s episode, I can read every theorist’s comments on what happened. This is why I am excited that I didn’t wait. I get to read and interact as the moments happen, and there is not a sense that these moments have been picked to death. The best part is that there is no way that I can overdo it. I cannot watch every episode at once. I have to wait like everyone else. The sense of connection has never been stronger.
I don’t know too many other shows where I felt so excited and desperate to hear other people’s opinions. It makes me feel accepted and keeps my intrigue high. This moment of social interaction will never come again. As it is, I can only wonder what it was like to be alive during the era of Soap and be mad about the numerous cliffhangers left by a cancellation one season short of Susan Harris’ planned five season arc. While this could end greatly, I worry that Breaking Bad could have that ambiguous ending that forever leaves me mad at a TV network (even though Gilligan and company state it was their choice). I personally don’t know if this is the case just yet, but it only makes it all the more exciting.
I am not against holding off on shows, but in today’s modern society, you have to be choosy of what shows you want to marathon later. Programs like Girls and Luck make sense because they have moments of ultimate tedium. Watching week to week makes the big picture smaller than it actually is, which many can find diminishing and eventually cause brilliance to go unlooked at.
Then there are those that manage to be socially interactive and have fan pages on Tumblr dedicated to them. Community is a big one that is at a very interesting turning point right now. Any new fan coming into season 4 will not understand the defense that long-time fans have just like I saw no use for Buffy the Vampire Slayer after season 5 at first. Maybe things will work out, but having that community to rally against TV tyranny are memories that modern nerds have on par with those that kept the original Star Trek on air via petitions in the 60’s. It may become legend, and you don’t want to miss a chance to do your part.
Where do you stand on TV shows? Do you want to watch everything live, or are you fine with marathoning those many years in the future when everything is over and the fan’s output is unable to be properly interacted with? Is Breaking Bad going to end on a high note, or will I see myself swimming in a pool of sharks? Do you know Susan Harris so I can buy the scripts to season 5 of Soap? Can Hellboy come to my house and entertain my friends? Why not give me your thoughts. Write me and we’ll get a dialogue going.
You can read Thom’s blog every Wednesday and hear him on Nerd’s Eye View every Tuesday and Thursday at nevpodcast.com. Send your thoughts to nevpodcast@gmail.com. You can also read Thom’s movie reviews for Cinema Beach at cinemabeach.com.
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