Breaking Bad is an amazing show, we can all admit that. The relentless arc of Walter White’s character, from his pathetic life as a school teacher and car wash attendee, to a murdering druglord – it is simply too much to summarise into adjective-laden intro. I could try, but really, why spend time trying to describe something in words when you could just go and watch it again instead? Ok fine, watching it again takes about 50 hours, but that’s better than the 50 seconds spent on this paragraph. I should know because now I’ve done both. And after watching it again I have found that the second time round, even more so than the first viewing, I am marvelling at what creator Vince Gilligan and the gang delivered.
The End…
No, there is a point to this fan rant, and that is that while watching the series through again I noticed a chunk of my emotional responses have almost completely reversed. During the first watch I found myself cheering Walt on all the way. To see him develop and to succeed was addictively satisfying. To see him escape, and outwit, and just plain win was what it was all about. But this second time around, I am almost disgusted by him. He is a liar, a manipulator, a murderer, a proud and self-pitying man, who, little by little, destroys his family’s lives and the lives of all those around him by repeatedly making selfish and reckless decisions.
To add to this, I watched it with my wife – a first timer. So she was going through all the familiar emotions: She followed Walt and was sick of Skyler’s meddling. She had no time for Marie or Walt Jr, and wished Hank no luck in his quest. I could completely understand her feelings – I had felt the exact same – but when Skyler harasses Walt for the umpteenth time I would hear:
“Ugh. Why doesn’t she just leave him alone?!”
To which I reply:
“But Skyler’s right…”
What?! I can’t believe it. I’m defending Skyler? I used to hate Skyler with a vengeance. Surely I should’ve just said:
“You’re completely right! Now I’m going to disappear for a few days after visiting my stoner buddy, get a secret second cell phone and return naked with a black eye or two. Sound good?”
Sounds like every married man’s dream…
But sympathising with Skyler, being more invested in Hank & Marie’s relationship, and becoming increasingly protective of Jesse is only natural for someone who has seen how it all ends. Everything Walt does is a step towards a complete tragedy or ten. I do remember getting this dreaded feeling in the first viewing of season 5, but there is some redemption and closure that leaves us sympathetic towards Walt. But a quick look at Walt’s rap sheet of direct or indirect Bad, and the ramifications of it in Vince Gilligan’s karmic universe, belies any soft spots we still harvest for WW. For example:
* Hank dies
* Gomez dies
* Hank is shot multiple times and can’t walk (note: list is not chronological)
* Jesse’s girlfriend dies
* Jesse’s other girlfriend dies
* The kid on the bike dies
* Gail Boetticher dies/Jesse shoots an undeserving man in the face at point blank range
* Mike dies in a way undeserving of such a badass
* A whole bunch of bad guys die
* Combo dies
* The kid who killed Combo dies
* (Sorry, I should have mentioned *SPOILERS* by now)
* A plane-load of people die
* Walt poisons a kid
* Beneke might as well have died
It’s hard to remember all the death without actually writing it down. And when you trace it back, you ask: why did it happen? Why did Walt put us through all of this? The simple answer is pride. Nothing more than pride stopped him from accepting the charity of his friend and former business partner. It is his pride which triggers his desire to buy the carwash from his old boss, and it is pride (and a bit of wine) which leads him to suggest that Hank may not have found his Heisenberg in the form of Gail Boetticher. The meth is Walter’s recipe – his genius – and Gail is the one getting the credit. Walt actually becomes jealous of a dead man. Interestingly, in the next episode Skyler proffers that Walt was actually crying out for help when he challenged Hank’s assumptions – suggesting Walt actually wished to be caught – fearing he would be the next chemist to wind up dead after a door knock. This is plausible – and possibly true – but is quickly flushed out with Walter’s chilling reaction:
Who are you talking to right now? Who is you think you see? Do you know how much I make a year? I mean, even if I told you, you wouldn’t believe it. Do you know what would happen if I suddenly decided to stop going into work? A business big enough that it could be listed on the NASDAQ goes belly up. Disappears! It ceases to exist without me. No, you clearly don’t know who you’re talking to, so let me clue you in. I am not in danger, Skyler. I am the danger, Skyler. A guy opens his door and gets shot and you think that of me? No. I am the one who knocks.
But despite ll this pride remains the simple answer; a convenient way to push the plot forward. It is the source of the pride which highlights the quality of the show. Walter was a failed man. Worse – he was a failed genius. His past, the subtle references and flash backs, reveal his potential while leaving the gap between the result. A young and motivated chemistry student destined for greatness becomes a high school teacher. In one flashback, we see the episode open with Walter and a pregnant Skyler, inspecting their house to see if it would make a worthy purchase. We watch on, knowing this is the house they buy, as Walter exudes charm and confidence. The house is too small for a man who wants multiple children; too small for a man who is comfortable in saying they should increase their budget to find something better, something worthy. The sky is the limit…Then there is the gap.
We don’t know what happens, but we do know that they settled for the house. We know the baby inside Skyler was born with Cerebral Palsy and remained an only child for 16 years. And we know Walter turned into a poor and withdrawn man who was regularly stepped on and dismissed.
Hypothesising, could we then say that if Walter were able to swallow his pride and take the charity that all this would have been avoided? None of these horrible deaths and Walter’s treatment would have been successful and allowed him a few more years with his family? I don’t think so. Sure the deaths are a given, but Walter’s treatment would not have succeeded.
Just as Vince Gilligan gives the viewer liberty to piece together Walter’s fragmented past, he also leaves an open offer to read into the cosmic irony – to take a philosophical lens to the cause and effect that drives what happens on screen. This is made apparent in the plane crash, and that gives us permission to believe the cancer was the result of his life. His frustration, his stress, his failure; what else should he do but die at 50 as a hapless man? Equally then we can also say that his remarkable turnaround into remission was the result of his new found energy. The thrill of life and chemistry and danger gave him a reason to live. It gave him an excuse to tap into his potential. The cancer came to break Walter. Accepting the charity would have been the act of a broken man. Walter decided to break bad.