The cast of Breaking Bad is noticeably different in Season 5 compared to previous seasons. The last traces of Mexico have evaporated. In exchange, we’ve gone two connecting flights over to sample chicken nuggets in Germany and sell meth in the Czech Republic. The show has lost its color. Literally its people of color except for Officer Steve Gomez (Steven Michael Quezada) were wiped out with the defeat of the Gustavo Fring Dynasty.
Now, I’m not one of those people who thinks HBO’s Girls needs people of color. The writer’s vision is just that. But in the case of Breaking Bad, the show built four seasons of its success on the backs of the Mexican influence on the drug trade. And now that the show is heightening in critical acclaim, audience viewership, and actors’ paychecks, the Latino cast is finito.
This isn’t to take anything away from Walt (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse (Aaron Paul) – both talented actors who have brought depth to their characters. Bryan Cranston has won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series three consecutive times for Breaking Bad to boot. Of course the protagonists are only as good as their antagonists. Which is why I would say that the antagonists are who really brought out the character in Walt and Jesse and transformed the show’s drama to an unprecedented level, second only to HBO’s The Wire.
Breaking Bad has created some of the most interesting antagonists on television – the Salamanca duo (Daniel Moncada and Luis Moncada), the snarling old man Tio Salamanca (Mark Margolis), and the unforgettable and deftly shrewd Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito). The music introducing these characters, the expansive scenery of their element, the characters themselves, all gave the show a refreshing flavor.
Now even minor characters like Jesse’s girlfriend (Emily Rios) are gone. And without this flavor, the plot tastes a little vanilla.
A few German subtitles cannot make up for the rich backdrop of this cultural landscape. It’s understandable that the south of the border drama had to go in order to make way for the more urgent conflict between Walt and Hank – the dealers vs. the DEA. But delaying this ultimate showdown for eight episodes, this first half of season 5 dragged and the void of colorful antagonists was more noticeable.
Finally, we’ll see Walt and Hank try to outwit each other. Only we’ll have to wait until the summer of 2013 for this highly anticipated battle to play out.
