When last we left our heroes, high school science teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and high school dropout Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) worked out a deal with psychotic drug dealer Tuco (Raymond Cruz) to cook him a huge supply of their special crystal meth. This was immediately followed by Tuco beating one of his own henchman to death right in front of them for making an innocuous statement. As Tuco drives away Walt and Jesse look on with the dread of “My God, what have we gotten ourselves into?” The end of Season One of ‘BREAKING BAD’ goes out with the question: How long will it be in Season Two of ‘BREAKING BAD’ before this arrangement goes south in a dangerous way?

The answer: ONE episode.

Consumed with drug-fueled paranoia, Tuco kidnaps Jesse and Walt and drags them to a shack in the middle of the Albuquerque dessert with plans to keep them on lockdown working at a superlab in Mexico.The two manage a harrowing escape, while Hank (Dean Norris), Walt's DEA agent brother-in-law searching for the missing Walt, comes across Tuco and kills him in a shootout.

From this Jesse and Walt decide to go their separate ways but after Jesse’s life goes into a tailspin of bad luck and the bills from Walt’s cancer treatments eat up the rest of his money they reluctantly decide to reform their partnership. Fabricating a big boss that they work for named “Heisenberg” they go into the business of cooking AND dealing. Walt’s perfectly cooked 'Blue Crystal' meth is course a huge hit on the streets...and showing up brightly on the radar of the DEA

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The majority of the second season Breaking Bad is about watching two amateurs going through the trials and tribulations of just what it takes to be a drug dealer. From keeping your protectors out of jail, enforcing on non-paying customers and the dire importance of having a lawyer. All of this while keeping their operation secret, not only from law enforcement but more importantly, Skyler (Anna Gunn), Walt’s increasingly suspicious wife.

This is the first full season for Breaking Bad (the first was only eight episodes) and it does a fantastic job of expanding on every theme from Season One. The tension is ratcheted up and the humor is just as dark. There’s more scenes than I can count that leave your jaw on the floor or give you cold shivers- one in particular involving the head of Danny Trejo and a tortoise. I’m dying to tell you more but I wouldn’t want to spoil any of this show. If there was ever a show that could be the perfect follow up The Shield it’s proven to be Breaking Bad.

However, before I label it “perfect” there is one big misstep of the second season. With the exception of only a handful, the episodes of season two opened with a flash forward tease of personal effects being fished out of Walt’s swimming pool. Every week it gave a little more to the puzzle to which we could see it was a HazMat team, very much leading the viewers to believe Walt (and perhaps the rest of the White family) was going to come to a nasty end. The final reveal is nowhere near as interesting as the speculations you'll have.

Bryan Cranston won another well-deserved Emmy award for his portrayal of Walter
White, as he once again brought this character to life with more than three dimensions. We learn that Walt is bottling an unfathomable amount of anger about his past and may not be the good guy we were led to believe. Too bad there’s only one acting award to be given because Dean Norris and Anna Gunn and the rest of the cast is just as solid. Not to mention some of the great guest stars from this season, John DeLancie, D.J. Qualls, Giancarlo Esposito, and Mr. Show’s Bob Odenkirk in a breakout star role as their sleazy criminal attorney, “Saul Goodman” (whose real name is McGill but he uses Goodman to sound more Jewish because, you know, “it’s all good man”).

One of the treats of season two is watching the evolution of the relationship of Walt and Jesse as they go back and forth between two guys whom practically hate each other to pseudo father and son…I suppose kinda like a white version of Sanford & Son where the junk they deal is Blue Crystal.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Deleted Scenes
Inside Breaking Bad - 13 Featurettes About The Making of Each Episode
Season 1 Recap
Walt's Warning Featurette
"Negro y Azul" Music Video
"Better Call Saul" Commercial
11 Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes
Cop Talk with Dean Norris
Gag Reel
6 Breaking Bad Original Webisodes
Season 3 Sneak Peek
Producer Vince Gilligan's Photo Gallery