I didn’t get around to watching Breaking Bad in its entirety until I think 2015, maybe 2016. It’s a hard show to stop viewing because the writers excelled at making you want to know what’s going to happen next with Walter, Jesse, Hank and Skyler, maybe Saul. I had a feeling it was going to be a hit as soon as I saw the pictures of Bryan Cranston standing in the desert with no pants holding a pistol. My immediate thoughts were of his Hal character from Malcolm in the Middle being way in over his head with loan sharks. Then I read the premise…even better because an American science teacher resorting to crime to pay medical bills hits pretty close to home. We pay our educators terribly in this country. Our healthcare system is geared toward everyone, except the ultra-rich, to lose everything they own before they die and the survivors still inherit crippling debt over these futile efforts. Breaking Bad would be a documentary if you removed some key story arcs showing how Walter transforms from Mr. Chips to Scarface.
This program demonstrates the power of TV to tell a fantastic story in a format too long to be a film and too visual with incredible character developments you can’t capture via print. It was so great, Breaking propelled multiple careers, not just Cranston’s. Aaron Paul, Bob Odenkirk, Dean Norris, Anna Gunn, Krysten Ritter, Jonathan Banks and Jesse Plemons have been receiving larger roles.
I think the biggest question over the next few years will be if Breaking Bad’s plot elements, characters and set dressing will continue to be a part of the collective culture. For example, come 2028, will Los Pollos Hermanos shirts be seen as obscure references alongside shirts displaying the Weyland-Yutani logo from Aliens or penny-farthing bicycle with a six on it fromThe Prisoner. I have a feeling it will despite the timeliness of the technology used by the characters (pre-smart phones).