Breaking Bad

Oct 07, 2024 08:43

This weekend I started watching the streaming series Breaking Bad. Yes, I'm late to the party. This show originally aired between 2008-2013. It's on Netflix, which we just started a subscription to thanks to a discounted bundle offer with our Verizon mobile phone service.



Breaking Bad tells the (fictional) story of Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher in suburban Albuquerque, New Mexico, who suddenly is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. Already struggling to make ends meet to support his family, White becomes curious about manufacturing illegal drugs, specifically methamphetamine, to afford treatment and to leave money for his family to survive after he dies.

Walter White specifically starts as sort of a sad sack of a middle-aged man. His wife doesn't really listen to him, their son has a handicap requiring special care, none of his students seem to care about learning and some of them are openly disrespectful. His wife, now pregnant, doesn't work, and he's had to take on a second job at a car wash to support his family. At the car wash he's hired to be the cashier, but the owner sends him outside to polish tires every time there's a no-show on the shift.

Show creator Vince Gilligan has quipped that the character arc he planned to show is the change in Walter White from "Mister Chips" to "Scarface". Lead actor Bryan Cranston certainly starts out portraying the sad-sack White fairly well. He's so mild he's cringe. But how well will he portray the transformation? With the show's shelf full of creative awards I presume it's done well. Now after years of waiting I'll get to watch it episode by episode.

tv, breaking bad, drugs

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