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Has Breaking Bad Usurped The Sopranos & The Wire As The Greatest TV Show Of All-Time?
The final season of Breaking Bad has raised the anxiety of viewers to seismic levels, and if it continues for the next two episode it surely has to be ranked as the finest long format TV series that we've seen...
Breaking Bad’s final season has hit Netflix recently with the same bone crushing intensity that we have come to know and love from the show. Social media has gone mental with every weekly showing, Twitter has been rife with comments and predictions and even a meth lab Lego set has recently been released, paying tribute to the great meth cooks Heisenberg and Pinkman. So where is Breaking Bad ranking amongst TV’s finest? The likes of The Wire and The Sopranos are held in such high regard by their fans, is it possible that Breaking Bad is on the verge of overtaking these two modern day classics as the best show ever?
The plot
Breaking Bad has a plot that’s full of depth, not only does it force feed you empathy in the early seasons but it slowly turns you against the very same man you were rooting for from the off. The student teacher relationship between Walt and Jessie Pinkman has arced perfectly so far and then you have the unparalleled transformation of a leading man that director Vince Gilligan has aptly titled ‘Mr Chips to Scarface’.
The Sopranos is obviously a gangster drama at heart but it also has that psychological element that makes you question why or how the characters are they way they are. The mobster lifestyle has always intrigued film goers but The Sopranos converted this genre from the big screens to our TV’s both beautifully and brutally.
The Wire has the most grittily realistic plot line, set in Baltimore/Bodymore it shows you the POV of both drug dealer and police alike, as well as other sectors that are caught up in the ongoing drug trade that engulfs the city such as education and politics.
Plot lines are subjective and its all about preferences, most people would be able to relate to the plot line of Breaking Bad more so than the drug trade plot of The Wire or the gangster element of The Sopranos but this doesn’t mean they are inferior. For me The Wire has a ongoing and complicated plot line that amazes you with its depth, but Breaking Bad and The Sopranos operate at a faster pace that is perhaps more fun on an episode to episode basis.
The action
Breaking Bad’s unbearably intensive build up to action scenes are what makes the hands on head moments of the show so memorable. The ‘Salamanca bomb’ and Walt’s last minute attempt to save Jessie by running down two drug dealers are two action scenes in particular that had fans standing on their sofas making noises they rarely make, not to mention the recent shootout between Todd’s uncle and Hank Schrader The Wire’s action scenes are completely different to anything else on TV, only The Wire could have built up an arc for a character and then just had them shot in the street as if to say ‘So what, this is Baltimore, it happens, get on with the show’. Omar Little’s death for example is one cold way of killing off a much loved character. The Sopranos is probably on a par or just above Breaking Bad here and so it should be, being a gangster show. You can easily lose count of the amount of calculated killings of enemies and snitches not to mention the numerous beatings.
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The humour
All three shows very funny in their own way. The Wire uses real life anecdotes for its characters and even the smallest of comic reliefs are somewhat hilarious due to the rest of the shows severity. Any scene where Mcnulty is drunk in a bar makes me chuckle throughout and Clay Davis manages to somehow tastefully smuggle in a sitcom-esk catchphrase that has no place in the show. The Sopranos holds its own in the humour stakes, the ‘Pine-barrens’ episode deserves its place up there as one of TV’s funniest and utlises two of the shows funniest characters in Chris and Paulie.
Any program with a character like Saul Goodman however is likely to steal the show in terms of humour. He’s one of the most quotable TV characters for some time and to go with this you have Hank, Jessie and even Walt who pitch in with incredibly funny scenes.
The main character
Tony Soprano is one of the most brutal and conflicted characters to have graced our screens, except I think what The Sopranos did well was try to convince us there was something else to Tony when there never actually was. He was always an immature and shallow brute who lived a double life and he started the show very similar to how he ended it, The don looking over his shoulder, waiting for the end to come. If you had to pick a leading character in The Wire it would perhaps be Mcnulty but the truth is The Wire never had a real leading man, it would have been wrong to have one. The Wire’s Baltimore was one continuous organism, once one Omar had died he would be replaced by another man with similar ambitions, there will always be drug dealers, crooked cops and people trying to do good in a place that doesn’t allow it.
Never before has such an ambitious character arc such as Walter White’s been attempted. From timid underachieving high school chemistry teacher to serial killing, meth dealing badass under the superhuman alias Heisenberg. When you re-watch the first series again its almost impossible to imagine this character how he is currently and every fan has their point where they think he went totally off the rails. If there were any fans out there still rooting for Walt their faith in him has surely disappeared following last night’s shocking episode.
The Ending
The end to The Sopranos is up there with the most talked about moments of any TV series, love or hate the ‘fade to black’ it’s still talked about. The final episode entitled ‘Made in America’ is perhaps somewhat overshadowed by the final scene as it’s a very fine episode in itself. The Wire’s final season is thought of as more unrealistic than the others but it did show the extent that some of the ‘real’ police were pushed to in order to try and gain some leverage in a city of chaos. The season ending montage is one of my favourites as it shows that there isn’t really an end in Baltimore, the cities problems are just too great.
With only two episodes left of Breaking Bad its fair to say that it’s teetering on the edge of greatness. The final season has offered something fresh, Walter White has been playing cat and mouse with a host of characters from the start and things are finally culminating with scenes that have to be watched through shielding fingers. The most recent episode in Ozymandias has seen Walt fully cement himself as the devil but then there’s the flash forward to come. Now it seems possible that Walt hasn’t armed himself with a ridiculously big gun and a capsule of Ricin for self defence, perhaps he is on the attack, with the motive of retrieving Jessie and making amends in a season finale that could go down in a blaze of glory as well as TV history.
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COMMENTS
Breaking Bad is good, in fact, it's great, but no way is it better than The Sopranos. Not even close.
i agree vincent,and i have to say the wire is good as is boardwalk empire.
'The most recent episode in Ozymandias has seen Walt fully cement himself as the devil' Only if you swallowed any of that crap that he gave to Skylar over the phone and didn't see it as giving her a solid defence to use in court. I'm up to date with BB, have watched The Sopranos in its entirety three times over the years, all 86 episodoes one after the other x3, something you can only really do if you love a series very much, but, I have to say that my order of merit goes like this ... 1. The Wire 2. Breaking Bad 3, The Sopranos The Wire is untouchable and The Sopranos original ground-breaking production values, which changed TV forever, have been surpassed by Breaking Bad.
Nothing will ever top The Wire, it's just incredible.
Breaking Bad has surpassed them all, and I never thought anything would top The Wire or The Sopranos. It is unparalleled in its sustained tension. More ambitious and, with two episodes to go, Breaking Bad's climax has already surpassed its rivals.
Breaking Bad isn't close to The Sopranos. It's closer to The Wire because of it's entertainment alone. They are all gut wrenching. The last few episodes of The Sopranos, some people forget were so dark and brilliant with world class acting, writing and directing. Boardwalk Empire is like an old version of The Sopranos with a weaker main character, but still great. Boardwalk Empire has to get mentioned because it's just a thing of beauty to watch. Deliberate and every scene has specific meaning. That's where Breaking Bad loses points. There are some shallow gags, like Walter smoking pot or all the Goodman jokes. I get so much more out of The Sopranos than I do The Wire and Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad's a roller coaster you get hooked on. The Sopranos is a fine wine. The Wire is like a symphony. They're all different. But The Sopranos destroys them. There are so many classic episodes of The Sopranos. Just off the top of my head writing this with no delay, Season 1: College, Pilot, I Dream of Jeanie, Pax Soprano; Season 2; Funhouse, Commandatori, Happy Wanderer, D-Girl with John Favreau, the whole 3rd season is near perfection, Season 4; The Weight, Whitecaps, Whoever Did This (Ralph murder), Season 5 is start to finish I think the best season along with Season 3 or 4..Yet everyone has a different favorite seasons..you don't have that with these shows..they all have a standout..The Wire Season 4, Breaking Bad Season 4 9 times out of 10...some people think Sopranos Season 4 is their worst along with Season 6 Part I and I think it's probably their best..The Sopranos has so much more to say..Breaking Bad has cliff hangers and things that when you remember what happens, it's tougher to come back to...The Sopranos had movie quality beginning and endings in their episodes alone, with them telling a story that the other 2 shows, take the whole series to tell...I wasn't asking what will happen to Tony Soprano because I already knew it was going to be near perfect, and it was..because the quality from across the board is on a different level..they have a greater understanding of what they wanted to be, who their characters were, and..The Sopranos..Tony let's Bobby's dad do the hit, (Another Toothpick, where we find out Junior has cancer)..it tells a bigger story about Tony not valuing older human beings because of his mother, and all the while progressing the storyline of Junior now having cancer..EVERY episode is like that..every single one. How can that be beat? Gandolfini destroys Walter White. Walter is either berating Jesse the same way or lying to Skyler the same way...I LOVE Breaking Bad but it's a college football vs. the NFL. Same with The Wire..their cast can't compete acting-wise with The sopranos. Neither can the supporting cast or writing, or cinematography..Sopranos every day.
the wire , is ok , but the last season was a waste of time, and for me once Omar was killed I lost a bit of interest. breaking bad is very very good, but the sopranos is way out there in front of these, and I cant believe no one as mentioned , the wonderful deadwood, and still no reason why the scumbags at hbo only made three seasons.
The Sopranos is better than both Breaking Bad and The Wire by some distance. Breaking Bad is better than The Wire.
I'm with you on that Adam, but be careful , I have noticed that if you knock the wire on here , people tend to have a fit and want to take a contract out on you.
Breaking Bad is definitely better than The Wire, which is ridiculously overrated, and a good level above The Sopranos.
Of course Breaking Bad blew Sopranos away..Sopranos is almost a straightforward drama, while BB is more complex and full of textured storyline. Walter White is smart, he used his brain to beat his enemy ..something Tony Sopranos cant do.
I love Breaking Bad. That being said there is no way on earth that it equals, let alone exceeds, the quality and brilliance of The Sopranos. No way no how.
I am also glad that "Mike" mentioned the incredible HBO masterpiece Deadwood. If there was ever a show that at times approached The Sopranos blanket brilliance, it was in particular the stellar writing of Deadwood. The Sopranos however remains head and shoulders superior to several great shows that followed in its wake, including Breaking Bad.
The Wire.
Sopranos all the way for me. Just watched BB boxset over the last couple of weeks and the main issue I have with it is the characters aren't very well written. There aren't many characters in Breaking Bad that I actually like and there are a lot of annoying characters. I tended not to care when/if someone got killed. This is stark contract to the gut-punches of deaths in both Sopranos and The Wire. Maybe repeat viewings will change my mind but don't think BB even makes it into my top 5
The wire is ahead of both the sopranos and breaking bad.the ambition of the wire cant be topped and neither can the complexity of the plotlines. 1.season five wasnt weak,every season was trying to show the failure of institutions in America. 2.the wire wasnt no time on exposition,either you caught up or you didnt. 3.freamon said it best, "all the pieces matter". 4.the show delievered outstanding performances with a predominantly black cast and less known actors. 5.the only fleshed out characters on TS and BB are tony,janice and walt and jesse.
"Never before has such an ambitious character arc such as Walter White’s been attempted" Wrong. Michael Corleone.
Breaking bad is no where close to as good as Sopranos or The Wire. The character development that was demonstrated in both those shows made me so emotionally involved into the shows that just didn't happen in Breaking Bad. A lot of the characters in Breaking Bad were annoying and once they were killed off it was apparent that I had no care and there was also no feeling of missing them. There were so many interesting, funny and amazing characters in Sopranos and The Wire which keep it held and shoulders above every other show.
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