Breaking Bad: The Complete Second Season (2009)
Bryan Cranston, the dad from Malcolm in the Middle, has already won two Emmys for playing a chemistry teacher in this drama. In the first season, beset by problems, he got into producing crystal meth. In the 13-episode second season, life isn't getting any less complicated, or any better, what with his wife's suspicions and his business partner's addictions. The season-closer is a jaw-dropper. "I think," writer John Shiban rightly says, "[that viewers]won't know what to think about Walt or the future any more."
My Uncle Silas Series 2 (2003)
Having played a rogue in his 20s in Tom Jones, Albert Finney here plays a rogue in his 60s. Silas lives, drinks and carouses in rural England, digging graves and consorting with an array of types from tales by H. E. Bates, author of The Darling Buds of May. These six 24-minute episodes trade in cozy, character-based humour, and Finney is marvellous. Among his foils is his housekeeper, Mrs. Betts, who snaps back, "I wouldn't use your tears to water my geraniums in a drought, you corrupt old devil."