“Breaking Bad” premieres third season

AMC’s “Breaking Bad” recently began its third season. If you’ve already seen the first two seasons, then I’m sure you watched the premier. However, if you still haven’t given this explosive show a chance, then I will do my best to convince you to watch. I’ll keep this spoiler free, because it’s best that you start the show from the beginning.

“Breaking Bad” revolves around Walter White (Bryan Cranston), who has a pretty milquetoast life. He is an over-qualified high school chemistry teacher who missed out on Nobel prizes and huge business opportunities (we’re never exactly sure why), and is working part time at the car wash to make ends meet. In addition, he has a son with cerebral palsy and a pregnant wife.

Walt has ultimately given up on his life, succumbing to a bland existence, but that changes when he is diagnosed with lung cancer. Shortly after this news, he runs into a former student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), who is cooking crystal methamphetamine. Walt decides to make the dangerous decision to go into business with Jesse and cook crystal meth so that his family will have money after he’s gone. Since Walt is such an amazing chemist, his meth is considered to be the best and purest available.

At first, I had trouble watching this show. This man’s life is sad, and even after the lung cancer diagnosis, it becomes more depressing. As the show has continued, it’s become hard to watch for other reasons. Even though the show hasn’t spanned a very long time period (a lot of episodes, especially earlier on, would start immediately where the last one left off), the character of Walter White has gone through an evolution unlike any other that I’ve seen on TV, except maybe on “The Wire.”

The Walter White you see in episode one is unlike the Walter White that you would see if you watch the season three premiere. As the show has progressed, he’s broken bad. He hasn’t just gone bald because of the chemo, but also because he’s become a super villain.

The hallmark of the show, by far, is its willingness to take these crazy risks that other shows wouldn’t dare to do. Before watching this show, I worried it would be kind of a poor man’s “Dexter” (guy with a bad secret, lies a lot, Hispanic side characters – it’s not identical, but it’s close). But as I’ve gotten into the show, I realized that “Dexter” is a poor man’s “Breaking Bad.”

It’s an incredibly intense show and with every single episode, the show manages to ramp up the tension when you thought it couldn’t be ramped up any more. Despite this, the show manages to still be a bit funny, most notably in moments from sleazy lawyer Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk).

I could go on and on about this show; I haven’t even mentioned how good the performances are – Cranston has won two Emmy Awards. Rest assured, once you start watching this show, provided you can handle it, you’ll feel the same way.

“Breaking Bad” airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on AMC.