binging with alexander

A few years ago Alexander introduced me to Jack Bauer.  That's when he also introduced me to binge watching.

So much better than waiting a week between episodes.  Today, many years later, Alexander can still tell anyone who asks what Jack was doing in Season Three, Episode 4, or any other season and episode of 24. My son's mind for remembering things he is interested in is uncanny.  (But if I ask him to pick up 0% Fage yogurt he comes back with 2%). 

I can't recall what each season of 24 was about, let alone the episodes comprising them. The premise was preposterous, and Jack's ability to escape and recover somewhat ridiculous.  But still,  it was great TV.

Homeland was our next experience at binge watching. I'd wait until Alexander was home on break and then in a week (or less) we'd watch all the episodes of the preceding season. And through it all, Alexander would regularly compare Carrie's exploits to those of Jack's, and Carrie almost always came up short. 

Now we've discovered Breaking Bad.  And both of us have become addicts. Not of the kind that Walter and Jesse service, but of the kind that finds this show the best combination of thug life and domesticity. Walter is a brilliantly written, complicated character, as are all the characters in the show. I think my favorite is Jesse. He seems like a nice kid who just keeps taking wrong turns. And somehow ends up making a monumental mess of everything he does.

The cinematography is gorgeous. The writing exemplary. And the combination of dark story lines combined with laugh-out loud humor is unlike Homeland and 24 — nothing funny ever happened in either of those shows. And while the many subplots of BB may be unbelievable, the character's reaction to them all feels real.

It's the only show I can watch without involving other items— no magazines, no Times, no phone, no computer, nothing. It's too engrossing as is, and the dialogue so nuanced. I don't want to miss a single word or action.

But what I like best about Breaking Bad is that it takes no effort  to convince Alexander to put down his computer or phone and hang out with me for a couple of hours every day. 

It's an easy sell. "Hey, want to watch Breaking Bad?" always elicits a yes (with no caveats, no "in a sec," no "maybe laters."

We are just half-way through Season Two. 

13 episodes down, 49 to go. Some things are best experienced after the rest of the world has already approved them. This is one of them.