We recently watched the second half of season 5 of Breaking Bad, now that it’s on NetFlix. There are a few things I would like to share with you about this show that I found interesting. (Spoiler alert, I give away the ending so don’t read if you haven’t watched it and care about such things.)
The first point is related to the question “When did Walter White break?”. Some say it’s when he started cooking, others when he killed in cold blood for the first time. I say Walt broke years before the start of the series. To me, it’s pretty clear that Walt broke way back when Eliot and Gretchen stole his intellectual property and pushed him out of Grey Matter, the company he co-founded. At least this is what Walt believes according to the writers of the series. That’s a pretty big trauma to go through, especially if Walt was already a little narcissistic from the start, which I think he was. He started Grey Matter with Elliot back in graduate school or shortly after and probably had a vision of how his life would unfold; inventions that would revolutionize his industry, wealth, fame, maybe a Nobel Prize. In his mind he was probably growing into the image of Edison or Feynman but winds up another Tesla, not even a Tesla. He is broken. He does whatever he can to keep his family from becoming destitute, works at a low paying job with no gratitude or respect and no chance of doing any real Chemistry or making an impact on the world. It’s a far way to fall. Walt had talent and more importantly ambition. He was probably subconsciously looking for any opportunity to shine again.
Seeing Jesse Pinkman on a ride along with Hank was the perfect opportunity. Of course the writing leads us to believe that his motives are somewhat altruistic; he is dying of cancer and wants to leave money to his family. I can believe that he believes this for a while. But as the seasons progress and the writing reveals more of Walt’s past, it seems more likely that greatness was on his mind and that money for his family was an excuse for his actions. I’m not sure if Walt was a massive narcissist or a true sociopath from the start. I’m not a psychologist so I can’t really tell, I don’t even know the true definition of either. The way Walt is capable of manipulating everyone around him makes me think sociopath. But on the other hand it seems to me that a sociopath wouldn’t have been caught, wouldn’t take the risks Walt did and probably wouldn’t let his ego get in the way. Walt had a huge ego, he was timid at first but the more successful he became the more he wanted everyone to know who Heisenberg was. “Say my name”. He couldn’t stand the thought of anyone cooking his formula, or competing with him in this new world he entered and quickly dominated. Every time he confronts and kills a drug lord it’s as if he is reliving the Elliot and Gretchen scenario over and over and doing what he wish he could have back then.
Even though Walt dies at the end he won. He really won the game. He dies on top, got revenge against everyone who crossed him, even Elliot and Gretchen in a sense, he was able to put a hook in them and control their future a little, he used them. He died in the Chemistry Lab that he helped create. He dies in the arms of his true love. Not blue meth or even Chemistry, he dies in the arms of his ego. Blue meth was his child. He made it, it was perfect, no one could do better and no one would have it if he couldn’t. Now that’s a happy ending.
The second aspect of the series that I like is how the writers pulled a bait and switch on us with Walt and Hank. In the first two seasons we see Walt as a typical nerd, and he probably was to some extent. Hank on the other hand was a bit of an obnoxious bully, reminds me of the stereotypical dumb jock from high school. The writers let us see this and then pulled a 180 in season two and three. By this time some of Walt’s cruelty manifests itself and evolves. We may have started out feeling sorry for Walt and even forgiving him for cooking meth, he’s like Robin Hood right? But by now we want to see him dead. Hank, having been shot in the spine (or near the spine), dealing with paralysis, facing his insecurities, appears more vulnerable and sensitive (when he’s not mean to his wife). I think Hank’s vulnerable side came out when he transferred to boarder patrol and couldn’t handle seeing Danny Trejo’s head on a tortoise get blown up. That’s when you start to see that his act is just a cover for his sensitivity. Then there’s the nerdy side of Hank, collecting and cataloging minerals. At this point in the series it is as if the two characters have exchanged stereotypes. This made the series very enjoyable for me, it was very multi-dimensional. Another part of Hank’s nerdiness is manifest in how he handles cases. Though he never actually figures out that Walt is Heisenberg until he gets his hand on the Walt Whitman book it is amazing how fast Hank puts data together and gets all the facts of the case correct. It’s like he is just a millimeter away from coming to the conclusion that Walt is Heisenberg all through the series but won’t let himself go there. He has a very scientific mind but has applied it to solving crimes rather than solving Chemistry or Physics problems. But the skill is still the same in either case.
The first three seasons were the most rich with surprises, at least for me, because of the above analysis of Walt and Hank’s personalities. The fourth became extremely flat as the character’s succumbed to their fate and became more mechanistic. That’s not to say season four was bad, it was great. I’m just saying that we are seeing everyone become one dimensional as they accept what they are doing and deal with it however they can.
Additionally, I like Saul Goodman. He is the comic relief in the whole thing. Actually all the supporting characters had purpose and their personalities and action fit in perfectly with the needs of the main characters and story line. Case in point Badger and Skinny Pete. At the end of the day I think I wound up feeling sorry for Jesse most of all. He was just a punk, a low level dealer. It’s clear that all he wanted was a little love and understanding from his parents and basically his entire existence is one big passive aggressive attempt to get that. Walt saw it and manipulated it, over and over.
I was crushed that they killed off Hank, but I like the way he died. His final dialog with the Neo Nazi gang was something like this: Hank says to the Nazi gang leader Jack: “My name is ASAC Schrader. And you can go f**k yourself.” (personally this was my favorite line). Then Walt tries to save Hank by getting him to help Jack, to bargain with him. Hank says to Walt: “You want me to beg? You’re the smartest guy I ever met and you’re too stupid to see he made up his mind 10 minutes ago.” Then Hank says to Jack: “Do what you’re going to…”. And with those words basically orders his own execution. Like Walt, Hank won in a sense by going out his way and keeping his dignity.
There is no moral to the story. People do what they do and survive how they can. And, a determined person with nothing to lose will win.
copyright 2014 David R Bergman