My Thoughts On Breaking Bad S2 As A First Time Viewer
1. I enjoyed this season so much more than S1. As much as I really liked Season 1 there were a few points where I had to force myself to keep paying attention, but this season had me hooked the whole time. For comparison: I finished S1, which had seven episodes, in 6 days, and I finished S2, which had thirteen episodes in 3 days.
2. My only real critique is that they reallyyy teased the pink teddy bear in the pool reveal and I was anticipating it to be much more important and connected to the plot than it actually was. Although the plane crash storyline is obviously going to be continued in S3 so I won't judge it as a whole yet.
3. Even though it's much less funny than S1, that change felt intentional and natural, although S2E08 was comedy gold, definitely the funniest episode of the series so far.
4. The way I'd rank the episodes in S2 from best to worst: ABQ > Phoenix > Mandala > Grilled > Better Call Saul > Bit By A Dead Bee > Peekaboo > 4 Days Out > Down > Negro y Azul > Seven Thirty-Seven > Breakage > Over
5. The final scene between Walter and Skyler in ABQ was so damn satisfying, seeing her put together every lie he's told her throughout the season was amazing payoff, and the scene before that when Walter is under anaesthesia and Skyler asks him where he kept his phone, to which he replied with "Which one?" made my stomach drop, I love how those two words made everything unravel.
6. I really liked all the major new characters: Jane (RIP), Saul, and Gus. Saul's probably my favourite, he's just way too likable and charismatic. Gus is basically the professional Walter thinks he is and I'm already intrigued to see where his character goes in S3. And Jane...that poor girl omg, her death scene was horrible to watch.
7. Honestly Skyler ended up being an unexpected favourite of this season. Jesse is still my GOAT and she isn't perfect (smoking while heavily pregnant and the "Happy birthday Mr. President" made me want to die) but I love how even though she was understandably scared and confused after realizing how much Walter had been lying to her, she still chose to wait until a few weeks after his surgery to confront and leave him. It shows a lot of compassion she didn't necessarily owe him.
8. My character rankings are: Jesse > Walter > Skyler > Saul > Hank > Gus > Jane > Flynn > Marie