Normally, summer isn’t a time when people like to be glued in front of the TV. Since I’m not normal when it comes to television, I had no problem tuning in every night for some of my guilty pleasure summer shows. Yes, it’s time for me to admit something real. Guys, I like watching MTV’s “Teen Wolf.”
Phew, that felt good to get off my chest. Hey, the show’s not half bad if you can get past the laughable werewolf makeup and implausible plot lines.
Anyway, I thought I’d take the time to share with you my rough journey to find that one show to binge through over the summer. It’s the perfect time of the year to accomplish such a trivial task. There are no exams or papers to worry about for three months, though maybe just that one internship or pesky summer job.
But finding that perfect show that will keep you deliciously enticed but not too desperate to watch every hour is no easy feat. I made the mistake of becoming too desperate when I started watching “Homeland” last winter break. I just had to know what Carrie was going to do next. I just had to. If you hadn’t already guessed, I blew through two seasons in about a week.
This summer, I told myself I wouldn’t make the same mistake. I’d pace myself, but not too much. I thought I’d get into Showtime’s hit summer show “Dexter,” centering around a police forensics expert who leads a secret life as a serial killer of criminals. Many of my friends had recommended the drama series, so I was hopeful. But I found myself losing interest at different checkpoints and would only watch two or three episodes a week.
It’s not that the show isn’t good. Michael C. Hall portrays the conflicted protagonist (or antagonist, if you choose to look at it that way) as mysteriously demented, yet finds his voice when he subtly shows the character’s humanity and good heart.
It just simply wasn’t the show for me. Maybe it was the incessant voice-overs that irked me, but someday down the line I’ll possibly have time to revisit the crew at Miami Metro Police Department.
I didn’t give up. I knew there had to be a show that I hadn’t watched yet, one that would fit my summer binge criteria. Then, one day, I found it. Scrolling through the Netflix shows one last time, I saw “Breaking Bad.” The diamond in the rough.
Now, I know this is cause for alarm. The TV columnist hasn’t watched what is arguably one of the best shows on television? I know, I know. This looks bad — you probably thought the worst thing this column would reveal was my unapologetic love for “Teen Wolf.”
“Breaking Bad” has just always been that show I claimed I’d get into eventually but never had the time for. Well, now was the perfect time. Three seasons in, and I want to hit myself for just discovering it.
Unlike most dramas I watch, “Breaking Bad” has one clear, pragmatic, explosive (literally) plot line: Walter White needs money for his family. He’s a low-paid chemistry teacher with stage three lung cancer, a pregnant wife and a teenage son with cerebral palsy. Then one fateful day he comes across one of his former students who moonlights as a meth dealer, and the two strike up an ill-fated partnership.
The series is ambitious but evenly paced, making it all the more beguiling. Aaron Paul transfixes me as the punk street kid, Jesse, who provides needed comic relief. Yet he counters it with his desperation to cope in the drug world he can’t fully handle, something I finally realized in the poignant season two episode “Peekaboo.”
I could write 20 columns as to why I love “Breaking Bad,” but I’ll stop there and conclude with this simple argument: Watch it.
Summer binging may sound like an easy task, but if you’re weird like me, it takes a whole lot of unnecessary effort. Luckily, my effort wasn’t wasted, and I hit the jackpot.