After season four's phenomenal finale, there's a lot of cleaning up to do for the surviving Breaking Bad characters. But who says that can't be thrilling?
After a rather difficult reacquaintance between Walt and Jesse and Mike, creator and screenwriter Vince Gilligan comes up with yet another insane, but totally believable dodge to solve the situation that these three are in and it's quite fun to watch. Reason for that is also the weird yet amazing script that suddenly shifts the conversation's focus on "why some men put a metal ring through the end of their prick" as Larry Hankin's guest starring junkyard owner so eloquently puts it. This series has always had a talent for fantastic dialogue and "Live Free or Die" proves that once again, with the dead-pan hilariousness of the acting cast increasing the entertainment value.
The plot of this episode didn't leave out more serious territory though and can get quite intense in some, as of now, unresolved arcs, which also include the ambiguous flash-forward pre-credits sequence. Tension for the succeeding episodes is definitely secured and "Live Free or Die" did a great job at establishing the premise and already creating gripping scenes in one go. It's not big-time story-wise and through that, the series' slow side becomes sensible here and there, but these 42 minutes were well-made television in all aspects and I very much enjoyed watching them.
After a rather difficult reacquaintance between Walt and Jesse and Mike, creator and screenwriter Vince Gilligan comes up with yet another insane, but totally believable dodge to solve the situation that these three are in and it's quite fun to watch. Reason for that is also the weird yet amazing script that suddenly shifts the conversation's focus on "why some men put a metal ring through the end of their prick" as Larry Hankin's guest starring junkyard owner so eloquently puts it. This series has always had a talent for fantastic dialogue and "Live Free or Die" proves that once again, with the dead-pan hilariousness of the acting cast increasing the entertainment value.
The plot of this episode didn't leave out more serious territory though and can get quite intense in some, as of now, unresolved arcs, which also include the ambiguous flash-forward pre-credits sequence. Tension for the succeeding episodes is definitely secured and "Live Free or Die" did a great job at establishing the premise and already creating gripping scenes in one go. It's not big-time story-wise and through that, the series' slow side becomes sensible here and there, but these 42 minutes were well-made television in all aspects and I very much enjoyed watching them.