Breaking Bad: The Complete Fourth Season

At this point, Breaking Bad has pretty much been assured its place in the pantheon of great television shows. Unless the fifth and final season ends with some sort of "it was all a bad dream that Walter had while waiting for his test results in the first episode" revelation, Breaking Bad will be deservedly regarded as one of the most thought-provoking, aggressively entertaining shows of all time. Season four begins at the exact moment that three left off: Walter White (Bryan Cranston), the high school chemistry teacher turned meth cook, and his former student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), make a bold, morally dubious decision to prevent being offed by their drug kingpin boss, Gustavo (Giancarlo Esposito). While the season throws a ton of plot twists and new developments at its characters, the emotional ramifications of that one decision remains a constant ― Jesse is now forced to live with himself knowing what he has done and Walter's rationalizations are pushing the fragments of his psyche ever further apart. His transition from morally questionable husband to anti-hero to full-fledged villain has been gradual and compelling in a way that only the length and pacing of a television series can offer. Season four also expands upon its larger cast of characters: Walt's wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn), finds a new moral compass, his lawyer, Saul (Bob Odenkirk), shows moments of humanity, his DEA agent brother-in-law, Hank (Dean Norris), struggles with depression and we even see the vulnerable side of Gus, the cutthroat (literally) businessman. The show remains consistent in quality, but the fourth season ratchets up the tension to unnerving degrees; it may be the best season of the show so far. The four-disc set is amply stocked with special features: deleted and extended scenes, commentaries, five uncensored episodes (although some of the "censored" episodes are pretty damn unwholesome), a gag reel, making-of featurettes and, my personal favourite, the heartbreaking and hilarious karaoke video of the late Gale Boetticher.