Series 2 of Breaking Bad picks up directly where Series 1 left off and spends the first few episodes dealing with the unresolved Tuco storyline from Series 1 and the aftermath of that. It then moves onto Walt and Jesse's attempts to take Tuco's place and start distributing the meth they are cooking and the problems this causes them, gaining them a new sleazy lawyer, Saul Goodman and a contact into a much bigger operation. Meanwhile Jesse begins a relationship with Jane, his new landlady who is a recovering drug addict and Walt's lies are mounting up, making life at home very difficult. And that's without even mentioning Hank's traumatic trip to El Passo or the cryptic pink teddy bear openings...
It is in this series that Breaking Bad really starts taking off, the characters are deeper, the stories are darker, and as Walt and Jesse rise in the criminal world the risks increase and the consequences of their actions are far worse. The writing is sharper, the characters are stronger and the cinematography is far improved with magnificent visuals, making fantastic use of the landscape of Albuquerque.
My favourite episode this series is episode 9 "4 Days Out" where Walt and Jesse take the RV out into the desert for a long weekend of cooking, and soon get stranded there with no water and no phone service. The emotional development of this episode is fantastic.
Walt: This series sees Walt further accept his Heisenberg persona and uses it to his advantage, getting himself a foot hole in the criminal world. His family life is somewhat falling apart, Skyler does not believe his lies any more and his son is getting distant from him and as such he starts to attach to Jesse a bit more allowing for some really good character development between them. He is also having a hard time balancing his two lives, the hardest scene of this for him is when he has to miss the birth of his daughter so that he can deliver a large amount of meth to his new Cartel contact.
Jesse: Jesse goes through a lot this series, he gets kicked out of his house, loses his car and bike. Then during their attempts to be distributors he has to see a kid living in a crack house, and witness a guy killed horribly, then his friend is shot dead and following a spiral of depression his new girlfriend Jane dies by choking on her vomit. Aaron Paul had grown hugely as an actor and Jesse had matured massively as a character.
Skyler: Skyler becomes a lot more powerful this series, we start to see her true intelligence and how hard she has to try to believe Walt because she doesn't want him to lie to her, but when she knows he is she doesn't accept it, she starts breaking bad a bit herself this series, smoking whilst pregnant and going out all hours without telling Walt where. She also goes back to work as a bookkeeper at Beneke's, which sets up for a much bigger break bad next series.
Hank: This is possibly the biggest character turn around ever, he has gone from being really annoying to being a character that you deeply sympathise with. He begins to get traumatised following having to shoot Tuco, then it gets even worse after he goes to El Passo and witnesses the horrors of what the Cartel do to snitches. This was one of the most sensible decisions to make towards a character, because otherwise Hank would have been annoying as hell forever.
Walter Jr.: Walter Jr. starts to grow slightly more distant from Walt, wanting far more of his own identity and being called Flynn by his friends and Skyler. However he gets closer to him again by the end of the series setting up www.savewalterwhite.com to raise money to get Walt an operation.
Marie: Marie gets some more development this series, as we see her kleptomaniac tendencies and her reaction to Hank's situation. Although she is probably the weakest character.
Saul (Bob Odenkirk): Saul is a great piece of comic relief, he gets a few appearances this series, setting him up to be starring cast in series 3, he's sleazy, manipulative and very, very funny.
To conclude Series 2 is where things start getting magnificent, and it only gets better from here.
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