Breaking Bad

:

Season 3
  • Network: AMC
  • Series Premiere Date: Jan 20, 2008
Season #: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Metascore
89

Universal acclaim - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
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Critic Reviews

  1. Newsday
    Reviewed by: Verne Gay
    100
    This show--still TV's best--remains utterly true to itself.
  2. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Tim Goodman
    100
    Soak in the visuals, listen to the mesmerizing use of sound. The writing and acting will lure you in, but have appreciation for all the details that go into making this series so great.
  3. Variety
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    100
    The show keeps delivering the kind of mind-expanding dramatic highs that ought to require a prescription.
  5. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ken Tucker
    91
    Breaking Bad has, in short, everything you could want from an hour-long show: suspense, laughs, danger, and poignance.
  6. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Matthew Gilbert
    90
    When people ask me to recommend good TV, they never seem to have heard about it. Yup, Breaking Bad is that series.
  7. Newark Star-Ledger
    Reviewed by: Alan Sepinwall
    90
    AMC’s "Breaking Bad" [is] still the best drama you’re not watching.
  8. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Reviewed by: Rob Owen
    90
    Bad challenges anxious viewers, but it remains one of TV's best hours, thanks to strong performances from the entire cast and the steady, guiding hand of executive producer Vince Gilligan, who proves in tonight's episode that he values realistic, risk-taking storytelling over the more convenient status quo.
  9. PopMatters
    Reviewed by: Jesse Hicks
    90
    Perhaps the most disturbing possibility--the subtext that makes Breaking Bad both enthralling and often unbearable to watch--is that Walter is becoming who he always was. He hasn’t changed. He’s been purified.
  10. Time
    Reviewed by: James Poniewozik
    90
    It's a drama that has chosen the slow burn over the flashy explosion, and it's all the hotter for that choice.
  11. TV Guide Magazine
    Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    90
    The stakes couldn’t be higher, or the drama more compelling. Breaking Bad is back, badder and better than ever.
  12. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Paige Wiser
    88
    The bleakness is a little relentless for my taste, but you have to marvel at the series' dark vision. Odenkirk is working with the best of the best, and he knows it.
  13. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Aaron Riccio
    88
    The chemistry of every television show should have as rapid a half-life as Breaking Bad, transforming into something new while building off the critical elements of the past.
  14. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    80
    The shadows are deep enough over "Breaking Bad" that it's hard to imagine a ray of hope or light shining through anywhere. But the actors and writers are so good that, like Walt, we'll keep looking for it.
  15. Deseret News
    Reviewed by: Scott D. Pierce
    80
    Suffice it to say that Breaking Bad is an enthralling narrative, for all that it remains tough to watch.
  16. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Robert Lloyd
    70
    Breaking Bad is as good as a show on this subject could possibly get, but the subject has its drawbacks. I like it, I admire it, but I can't say I enjoy it.

Awards & Rankings

3
#3 Best TV Season of 2010
3
#3 Most Discussed TV Season of 2010
12
#12 Most Shared TV Season of 2010

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
9.4

Universal acclaim- based on 2159 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,088 out of 2159
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 2159
  3. Negative: 50 out of 2159
  1. Dodzilla
    Aug 19, 2010
    10
    I've never seen anything like it, refreshingly original and brutally logical. Brilliantly cast and acted all around. It manages to stayI've never seen anything like it, refreshingly original and brutally logical. Brilliantly cast and acted all around. It manages to stay unpredictable with absolutely no hint of jumping the shark. Just watch it.… Full Review »
  2. metacritic
    Aug 17, 2010
    10
    Wow, can I say about this great show?



    This is easily the best show on television right now, and season 3 is keeping the pace going.Wow, can I say about this great show?



    This is easily the best show on television right now, and season 3 is keeping the pace going. While Vince Gilligan and the crew did have some slower establishing episodes early on, the episode "Mas" blew the doors off the barn. Such great writing, great acting, mind-blowing cinematography, gorgeous audio and painstaking attention to detail go into every single shot.… Full Review »

  3. GoingCritic
    Aug 27, 2013
    3
    I loved Breaking Bad when it started. The acting, directing and writing were next to none. In particular, its unflinching realism wasI loved Breaking Bad when it started. The acting, directing and writing were next to none. In particular, its unflinching realism was excellent, and the logical difficulties that the protagonist was met with would be the same as it would be the same as it would be for any of us.

    By Season 3 however the game has changed. The main character allows himself to be treated like dirt by his wife, who fast becomes one of the most annoying characters on television. Her high-handed, hypocritical, judgemental (and occasionally irrational) moralisation detracts from the complexities of the family's position. Meanwhile, the fact that the main character's response is humility is specifically frustrating.

    On the other hand we have the main character and his sidekick/partner fighting "cat and dog" as one character puts it. The reason for their disagreements seem tenuous. This relationship was the underpinning of the series; so its near absence detracts greatly from Breaking Bad Season 3. The new "Big Bad" cartel boss, whilst initially, expertly portrayed, soon veers off into implausibility. Sloppy writing "where did the baby disappear", idiocy "are you going to pepper spray me?" and character changes "lets buy a car-wash" abound. There is no episode without flaws, although episode 5, "Más", is by far the weakest. *pity*    … Full Review »
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