Breaking Bad , created by Vince Gilligan, is only weeks away from the release of its final season to be premiered in August 2013 on the American pay TV channel AMC. From the moment I saw the first episode of the seminal TV series Breaking Bad watching Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher turned to a life of crime cooking “Blue Meth”, breaking out of his RV wearing a gasmask and nothing but his very “un-trendy” undies, I was hooked and have not watched TV or cinema in the same way since. Yes it was a life changing experience and a breath of fresh air, snubbing all stereotypes, Breaking Bad would in my opinion, set a new agenda for stories in film and television.
More and more evidence emerges that the Western democratic way has been built on a system that favours the very few (and increasingly so) but leaves the masses stranded, destitute, sometimes drugged out and poor. Breaking Bad has come at the right time, reflecting this growing awareness that the idols of western culture are all too often found out to be deceptive and corrupt.
Film and television is a form of entertainment. However if you can forge a story that entertains and also reveals hidden truths about the world we live in than you are onto another level…“high art”. In my opinion Breaking Bad reaches the level of high art as it makes us aware that we can be manipulated into believing in a character that is fundamentally flawed.
Walter White, the hero of Breaking Bad, is an absolutely corrupt fiend; make no mistake! There is not much redeemable in his actions, although there are a lot of reasons why the writers have cleverly made us feel concerned about him. We, the audience, have rooted for him all the way in the battles that he has fought. The question arises; what have we been hoping for? The writers have carefully manipulated us into hoping that his wickedness succeeds. It then dawns on us that we have been rooting for the bad guy!
The story of Breaking Bad is a dark tale of Walter White rising from Rags to Riches. We want Walter to succeed because he was just a high school teacher trying to improve his lot. Walter was diagnosed with inoperable cancer, and requires hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of medical treatment. He has a son born with cerebral palsy, Walter White Jnr played by RJ Mitte (who really has cerebral palsy). Now his wife Skyler is pregnant (as we find out later with a baby daughter) so there’s the real risk that he won’t be alive to be a father for the child, and leave them behind poor and destitute. He tries to work some extra hours at a car wash but quits this job realising its futility. We also learn that he sold his share in a chemistry business for a pittance that is now worth billions of dollars. He is down on luck and we identify with the underdog. We are being manipulated.
What’s Walter’s solution to his hard luck and need for fast money? Team up with a much younger streetwise drop out ex-student of his, Jesse Pinkman, and” cook” Crystal Meth. Walter’s in-depth knowledge of chemistry would enable him to cook a highly sort after pure version of amphetamine “Blue Meth”. Jesse Pinkman, who has the street connections, would provide a distribution network. In theory, Walter would start to see the money roll in. Of course that’s when the obstacles start to arise. Firstly, they have to contend with Walter’s brother in law, Hank Shrader, who so happens to be the special agent in charge of the Albuquerque DEA drug offensive team. Set in Albuquerque, New Mexico they get embroiled in turf war on the streets that goes all the way up to Latino drug lords across the border in Mexico. Eventually due to a series of misadventures, Walter and Jesse end up cooking Blue Meth for Gus Fring a high level drug distributor who has a cover as a fast food chain owner. Naturally their association ends in disaster but instates Walter as the new king of the streets. In the meantime they also team up with one of the most comical characters in the series, a crooked lawyer, Saul Goodman, who gives them advice on how to avoid being caught, such as laundering Walter’s money in a car wash business run by Skyler who, unwillingly, becomes an accessory to Walter’s crimes.
Each step of the way we are drawn into Walter’s schemes and we understand the logic behind his actions. His methodology is clinical and calculated reflecting his scientific background. Initially, when he was up against even greater fiends than himself, he had to kill in self-defence. However, as his influence builds with each progressive act, he starts to take more liberties with the reasons behind his killings. He learns to accept his new status as a mastermind criminal. Chuck Klosterman noted that the central question of Breaking Bad is "What makes a man 'bad' — his actions, his motives, or his conscious decision to be a bad person?" Klosterman concluded that, in the world of Breaking Bad, "goodness and badness are simply complicated choices, no different than anything else."
So what about the end result of Walter White’s “crystal (Blue) Meth”? Crystal meth and all these common amphetamines destroy people, by cheating their very own nervous systems into believing that these chemicals are needed to stimulate their euphoria, when actually they are “flogging” their natural neuro-chemicals. When great natural experiences in life finally dawn on them, they can no longer experience them, because the natural neurochemicals are so depleted by the crystal meth experience. In summary, Walter’s Blue Meth is as deceptive as he is.
We were left on a cliff hanger at the end of the last episode of season five when Hank Shrader ( who strangely ends up being the “antagonist”) makes the connection that his brother in law, Walter White is the man he’s been looking for. Ironically he makes this connection when he is sitting on a toilet seat after being invited over to Walter’s house for a family gathering.
What will the final sixth season reveal? It is hard to predict. I am uncertain what I am hoping for. Part of me is still swept up by the brilliant ingenuity of the solutions to problems that Walter White concocts. Still a part of me is rooting for the character that rises from Rags to Riches overcoming the obstacles. However, a growing part of me has serious questions about Walter White. There is one thing for certain; my view of a central protagonist has changed for ever.
