Disclaimer: This will be a long post, where I sit and appreciate every frame and dialogue from the series and its master-level execution. Also, on the way, I will be speaking about things that are major spoilers for people who haven’t finished watching the show yet. In other words, SPOILER ALERT!!!
Before I begin, let me tell you something. I watched the first season of Game of Thrones before the thought of watching Breaking Bad even entered my mind. GoT was the most hyped up show of 2010s. It was considered a crime if you haven’t watched GoT yet. Just so you know, a guy asked me to jump off a moving bus just because I haven’t watched the show. Once I’ve completed season 1, I needed some time to come back to reality from the awe I was struck. I started watching as the final season has rolled out too and it hasn’t finished the season yet. I was trying so hard to catch up.
Shame on me.
I was still excited to play catch up with an awesome series of the fantasy genre until the finale came out. Mind you, I haven’t started watching the second season yet. Bad reviews coming from all my social media – my friends, memes and what nots.
One of the meme that hit me hard was this:
I can confirm this now. For the hype that Game of Thrones created all over the world, a bad ending is a major turn-off for me. I’ve then decided, I’ll be watching Breaking Bad before the thought of resuming GoT even enters my mind. It was sometime during July-August 2019 that I’ve started watching BB on Netflix.
The episode started with Walter in his underwear, pointing his gun at something in a desert, I didn’t know why or to whom, he was just pointing.
I kind of knew the plot setting due to its popularization, which said
a high school chemistry teacher suffering from cancer, starts cooking meth to provide for his family after he passes away.
This is an interesting plot in itself alright. But once you start the show and get to know the details and the causes that led Walter down through this path, it is mind-blowing.
Walter learns there is more money in meth from TV and he meets his past student turned drug dealer, Jesse Pinkman in a DEA raid. Without Hank, the DEA agent who took Walt to the scene and also his brother-in-law, is the main reason why Walter gets to meet Jesse and starts cooking meth in the first place. The actions the both take to sell meth and make money, with Walter being the mastermind, is completely a work of art.
Let me go through all the characters I feel like talking about, one by one.
Hank Schrader
Hank is the poor soul of the story whose life has been a constant struggle in the entire show. He is a fat, happy DEA agent whose best friend is his coworker, Steve Gomez and his closest family are his wife’s sister’s family i.e. Walter White’s family.
Hank is one of the show’s most deserving person who deserves a happy ending, only standing next to Jesse Pinkman. All the way through, Hank is juggled by the different drama held by his family members. He also got too close to death twice, only the third time it caught him for real.
Hank’s and Steve’s death was a tragedy but it was nice to see that the two friends worked together and died together. But, they did end up arresting Heisenberg. Their friendship was something nice through the entire show.
Gustavo Fring
At the moment, he was shown on screen for the first time, I was so happy knowing that Barack Obama has a cameo/role in BB. His classiness combined with his coldness, especially as he doesn’t express too much emotion in his face is just beyond words.
I could relate to a lot of his power moves to build his drug empire from the book I was reading, 48 Laws of Power. I just didn’t really expect he would be going away before the final season. But, he got a justifiable end as the aftermath of his death now fell to Walter, Jesse and Mike.
Gus Fring’s bad-assery was shown when he single-handedly took down all the members of the drug cartel, as a revenge for his friend’s death and as a final step to establish himself the only king standing. He gave Hector Salamanca hell in his old age as a punishment and consequence for murdering his close friend and associate in front of his eyes. To be honest, this guy stole the show whenever he made an appearance.
Saul Goodman
The friendly neighborhood “criminal” lawyer who always “knows a guy who knows a guy” whenever you need anything. Anything from a bad ass assassin to a drug dealer kingpin.
Saul’s presence always lighted up the situation. Whenever you saw him on screen, you’d know that he’s always ready with a solution to the problem. It was sometimes funny when he got punched by any of the characters. Till the end, he was the only character that Walter didn’t try to kill.
Mike Ehrmantraut
Mike is the bad-ass shooter grandpa whom we can probably classify as John Wick in his old age. His deep voice matches his on-screen personality and I only wish he had gotten what he wished for in the end – all his earnings gone to his granddaughter.
He saved Walter’s life numerous times. It only would have been fair if Walter didn’t end up killing him over nothing. Mike’s death hit me harder than anyone else’s in the show.
Jesse Pinkman
This character is the one who suffered worst times in the entire story. He is pure of heart and the most deserving person to receive a happy ending. He lost the two most important people in his life and the second one is on Walter. He had to suffer through a lot of turmoil from almost every character in the show.
I’m not going to go list out all the awful things that had happened to Jesse. But, one thing’s for sure. He did not let Walter’s mindset corrupt him in the end. Sure, it did triple his suffering, having to cook for his kidnappers with arms locked. But, in the end, he did become free.
Once again, all the emotional moments in this show came through Jesse only. He is a kid who would’ve been great with strong parenting and values.
Heisenberg
Yes. I’m not calling him Walter White because the entire story is about Walter transforming into Heisenberg – the man, the myth, the legend. He showed the DEA nothing and he made sure he showed his enemies and threats hell.
Walter White is an old, dying high-school chemistry teacher. Walter is weak. Walter has a son suffering from cerebral palsy, a pregnant wife and also a tumor in his lung.
Heisenberg is a mystery. The unknown entity who walked into Tuco Salamanca’s den and came out with a bang and a bag of cash. He is the creator of the Blue Sky. He is the guy who killed the man who killed the entire cartel. He is “the one who knocks”.
Breaking Bad is very different from many of the shows. Usually, a show starts with a pilot and continues till the end of the season where the big bad is “almost” killed and ends with a cliff-hanger for the next season. It might use different antagonists for different seasons until the final season where the main villain is killed/defeated in the finale and all is happy and butterflies are flying freely in the town.
The usually have action sequences in almost every episode or pack them with fillers or unwanted content which doesn’t really add to the plot or the narrative. Not even a little bit. They mostly sell on their “cool” action choreography done by super-cool characters or hot actresses in tight costumes. There is seldom some suspense in the end result of these fights.
Breaking Bad is completely different. This is the show which would bring in the proper elevation to a scene where the character looks cool even waving his hand.
Breaking Bad waited the right time to give every character a shocking end. One of them is where Hank “blows the mind away” of one of Tuco’s cousins when he’s already severely injured in a parking lot.
In the days of having shows where using the main theme in almost every episode is enough to bring chills in people, imagine the goosebumps one would get when this glass of whiskey is shown at the end of the 62nd episode.
No more Walter White. Only Heisenberg.
Every frame of this movie was shot so well that each of them portrayed an emotion without speaking a word. The colour setting and the shooting angles were so perfect in explaining the ongoing situation.
In the end, I’d like to say only one thing. I’m glad I watched this masterpiece. I’d like to thank everyone who motivated me to watch this show. Maybe in the near future, if there are no better shows to watch, I’d probably pick this up again.
Written with awe,
Hem Sai Avinash Perlla
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