TV has recently received almost as much, if not more, attention than film. Particularly these two crime shows, along with many others have been held up as the gold standard of the "new golden age" of television. Because of this, I am currently in the process of watching both and thought I'd compare both the shows' second seasons to see which was best. Why the second season you ask? for one, its the most recent season of each which I have watched and secondly I think the second season is when a show hits its stride. I will compare both seasons in a variety of categories and then give the overall winner. I will try to stay as spoiler-free as possible. So lets get down to business.
Expectations Based on the First Season
Both Breaking Bad and the Sopranos had good first seasons but both also had their struggles. For Breaking Bad, the writer's strike shortened the length of its season to seven episodes. For the Sopranos, it seemed to be a season spent finding its footing. There were brilliant episodes like the pilot, and "College" but there were also times when the show felt like it was still growing. While they both had missteps, the Sopranos and Breaking Bad both show great potential in their first seasons and so I had very high expectations for both.
Winner: tie
Main Character
Both Walter White and Tony Soprano are two of the most interesting characters ever created in any medium. In the second seasons of both shows each character got the ability to grow and explore new depths. Tony had to share screen time with a larger supporting cast while Walt was very much at center stage the entire time. I think both characters made great impacts on their series and continued to be incredibly interesting in equal proportion to each other.
Winner: tie
Supporting Cast
Here we finally have a clear victor. While Jesse and the rest of the Breaking Bad cast are good I find their actions as characters, particularly Skyler's, predictable and somewhat repetitive. This cannot be said for the supporting cast of the Sopranos. Every character has something interesting about him or her and this creates a world that feels like it doesn't just exist but that it is a living and breathing reality. The Sopranos spends more time focusing on its characters and building to action. Looking back its incredible how enthralling the characters and the universe of the Sopranos is and this is largely due to the supporting cast.
Winner: the Sopranos
Stand-out Episodes
In this category I'm going to look at what I thought were the two best/most memorable episodes of each show's second season and compare which stand-out more. This doesn't mean that they are necessarily better but that they stand on their own as great pieces of entertainment. For Breaking Bad my two favorite episodes of the second season were "Grilled" and "4 Days Out". Both of these episodes were intense and exciting pieces of television which focus on Walt and Jesse being involved in incredibly intense situations. This suspense is something that Breaking Bad does incredibly well and both of these episodes have plenty of it. They also stand out because they almost work as self-contained little suspenseful and entertaining short stories. The two Sopranos episodes I liked best in season 2 were "Commendatori" and "Funhouse". These were not as easy to choose because there were so many great ones. Both demonstrate the way that the Sopranos utilizes a slower pace to tell incredible stories. The first also has incredible cinematography in Italy and the second is the amazing season finale which even incorporates some surrealism. While these two episodes of the Sopranos were incredible and possibly better than the Breaking Bad ones they do not "Stand-out" as much and thus Breaking Bad gets the victory in this round.
Winner: Breaking Bad
Overall Story Arc
So it all comes down to this. If you were to take only the first part of the Breaking Bad's second season it might have a better chance, but while season two introduced several important characters and situations, I felt that its overall plotting was contrived. The Sopranos did not have as much action but the way that it managed to tell a great story over the season while also creating a fully realized world made its second season pretty incredible. In fact, there was hardly an episode of the Sopranos second season which I didn't think was great while I can't say the same of Breaking Bad. While I think Breaking bad is a great show the one I can't wait to get back to is the Sopranos.
Winner: the Sopranos
So their you have it the Sopranos has won this battle but we will see how things shake out when season 3 comes around.
Check back next Tuesday for a look at the 1960's camp classic Batman!
Expectations Based on the First Season
Both Breaking Bad and the Sopranos had good first seasons but both also had their struggles. For Breaking Bad, the writer's strike shortened the length of its season to seven episodes. For the Sopranos, it seemed to be a season spent finding its footing. There were brilliant episodes like the pilot, and "College" but there were also times when the show felt like it was still growing. While they both had missteps, the Sopranos and Breaking Bad both show great potential in their first seasons and so I had very high expectations for both.
Winner: tie
Main Character
Both Walter White and Tony Soprano are two of the most interesting characters ever created in any medium. In the second seasons of both shows each character got the ability to grow and explore new depths. Tony had to share screen time with a larger supporting cast while Walt was very much at center stage the entire time. I think both characters made great impacts on their series and continued to be incredibly interesting in equal proportion to each other.
Winner: tie
Supporting Cast
Here we finally have a clear victor. While Jesse and the rest of the Breaking Bad cast are good I find their actions as characters, particularly Skyler's, predictable and somewhat repetitive. This cannot be said for the supporting cast of the Sopranos. Every character has something interesting about him or her and this creates a world that feels like it doesn't just exist but that it is a living and breathing reality. The Sopranos spends more time focusing on its characters and building to action. Looking back its incredible how enthralling the characters and the universe of the Sopranos is and this is largely due to the supporting cast.
Winner: the Sopranos
Stand-out Episodes
In this category I'm going to look at what I thought were the two best/most memorable episodes of each show's second season and compare which stand-out more. This doesn't mean that they are necessarily better but that they stand on their own as great pieces of entertainment. For Breaking Bad my two favorite episodes of the second season were "Grilled" and "4 Days Out". Both of these episodes were intense and exciting pieces of television which focus on Walt and Jesse being involved in incredibly intense situations. This suspense is something that Breaking Bad does incredibly well and both of these episodes have plenty of it. They also stand out because they almost work as self-contained little suspenseful and entertaining short stories. The two Sopranos episodes I liked best in season 2 were "Commendatori" and "Funhouse". These were not as easy to choose because there were so many great ones. Both demonstrate the way that the Sopranos utilizes a slower pace to tell incredible stories. The first also has incredible cinematography in Italy and the second is the amazing season finale which even incorporates some surrealism. While these two episodes of the Sopranos were incredible and possibly better than the Breaking Bad ones they do not "Stand-out" as much and thus Breaking Bad gets the victory in this round.
Winner: Breaking Bad
Overall Story Arc
So it all comes down to this. If you were to take only the first part of the Breaking Bad's second season it might have a better chance, but while season two introduced several important characters and situations, I felt that its overall plotting was contrived. The Sopranos did not have as much action but the way that it managed to tell a great story over the season while also creating a fully realized world made its second season pretty incredible. In fact, there was hardly an episode of the Sopranos second season which I didn't think was great while I can't say the same of Breaking Bad. While I think Breaking bad is a great show the one I can't wait to get back to is the Sopranos.
Winner: the Sopranos
So their you have it the Sopranos has won this battle but we will see how things shake out when season 3 comes around.
Check back next Tuesday for a look at the 1960's camp classic Batman!
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