My thoughts on Breaking Bad: the story, the characters and the finale.

by Adela Popescu

I’ve always been a movie / TV series addict, but watching Breaking Bad was by far my best decision. Ever. It was always on my „must watch” list, but I never had the time. And just before the show was over on AMC, I’ve decided to give it a try. I remember, I was blown away right from the Pilot. The characters, the story, the actors… And I kept on watching. Like, all day and all night. Five seasons in a week and a half…

I wanted to write this sooner, but I guess I didn’t want to acknowledge that it was really over. So, here it is.

A chemistry teacher, Walter White (Bryan Cranston), is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Fearful for his family’s future, he applies his skills to make high-quality methamphetamine, with the help of former student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul).

As the story progressed, we watched as Walter White’s ego grew along with the money and the power and the lies. Over the five seasons, we witness the metastasized of Walter White, from an ordinary man, to something very dark. Heisenberg.

Jesse also changed. But the other way around, in a more subtler and painful way. He slowly changed from the self-obsessed junkie, into a man. And he really paid a high price for this.

While almost everyone I know liked Walter more than Jesse, I’ve started to wonder what is it about Jesse that made me so found of him? I guess, is the fact that while Jesse and Walt are both liars, thieves, con-men, drug dealers and eventually murderers, only Jesse feels it. While both damage the lives of their loved ones, only Jesse is consumed by the guilt. I believe, throughout the series, Jesse’s naivete makes him a better man than Walt.

This odd relationship between them, was absolutely captivating for me. Throughout the series, I was always wondering if Walt ever loved Jesse. But even if the characters never acknowledge their affection for one another in a typical way, and you think this relationship is beyond repair, right at the end, they show us that they always cared for each other. In a very twisted way, but the love was definitely there.

It was amazing how the show could really sell a murder as a demonstration of love… Even from the beginning, the forms of affection were represented via sacrifice. Walt is incapable to show emotions that didn’t involve life and death situations. But just when you think they can’t be anymore poisonous to each other, something happens and makes you want for them to work things out.

There are characters I’ve come to love, and characters I’ve grown to hate.

JESSE PINKMAN

I fell in love with Jesse Pinkman right from the Pilot. Even if he was a junkie, you could always see that he had potential in him, he wasn’t a bad guy. He was actually a sweet, funny person, that made some really bad choices. He is impulsive and talks in playful slang, frequently using words like “yo” and “bitch”. But he is remarkably with children.

Vince Gilligan originally intended for Jesse Pinkman’s character to be killed at the end of Breaking Bad’s first season. Man, what a mistake that would have been! During season 2, I was wondering just how long Jesse’s innocence will survive the influence of Walt. After watching the episode Peekaboo, Jesse is growing more human and complex. I guess many viewers shifted their sympathies from Walt to Jesse during the second season.

One of my favorite episodes was season 3 finale, Full Measure. This was the twist point for Jesse, the moment that the character became darker. It had major consequences. Already troubled after Jane’s death, killing Gale cost him the last of his innocence. During the entire season 4, we get to see Jesse’s inner struggle and the way he goes through his private hell.

I think Jesse’s personality changes have been more dramatic than any other character. Jesse’s ongoing abasement throughout seasons 4 and 5, was very difficult to watch. He evolved from a bad kid who desperately wanted to be good, without knowing that no good deed goes unpunished, to the show’s most complex and interesting character.

Aaron Paul was brilliant in his portrayal of Jesse. Not only he made Vince change his mind about killing Jesse in season 1, but he made us all love the character.

WALTER WHITE

Bryan Cranston is God! He was so amazing as Walter White / Heisenberg. At the beginning, I guess all of us felt sorry for him. As the story progressed, I’ve started to like and admire him. Then, I stared to dislike him, up to the point of hating him.

Walt going into the crack house after Jesse, I believe was really his version of Peekaboo. It was his way of stepping into a ruined world, created by his drugs. And here, Walt (just like Jesse) finds an abused kid that he wants to rescue. If I look back at the series, I guess this is my favorite scene.

Beginning during season 2, it’s incredible how Walt and Jesse are completely trading positions. Walt has no morals whatsoever anymore, and Jesse, who is trying to be good, is really scared of him.

But, in the end, it was like all the hate that I had for Walt for the entire season 5, was gone, cause he finally decided to do the right thing for Jesse.

In the final episode, when Walt  is put face to face with Jesse, Jack said: “Take a good look.” I think, then and there Walt realized: this is his partner and this is what he has done to him. This is what he was doing all along. It’s just taken him this long to see the shackles and the scars.

Walt’s unplanned self-sacrifice in shielding Jesse from the bullets, not only exposed the humanity that was left in him, but underlined the significance of their relationship, no matter how fractured. Their friendship did matter.

HANK SCHRADER

Hank is racist, sexist, has a very strange sense of humor and exhibits hyper-masculinity. And the dark side of his job affects him more than he cares to admit. But still, I liked him a lot. I found him to be the only important character that, with all his flaws, was the good guy throughout the entire series.

I was really, really sad to see that after he suffered so much in season 3, being shot by the Cousins, he would eventually die. While watching the last episodes, I hoped he will survive, cause to me, he was the one that really deserved it. But when he called Marie on the phone, just before the shootings, I knew that phone call was his good-bye. It was pretty heartbreaking.

MIKE EHRMANTRAUT

Ever wonder why everybody loved Mike? Because Mike is literally the most bad-ass character in any TV show ever! He is always in control and gets the job done. And he is smart and fearless. I guess all of us would like to be a little bit like him.

We were supposed to meet Mike a bit later than we did, but because of Bob Odenkirk’s (Saul Goodman) busy diary, we met him at Jesse’s house after Jane dies. It was actually supposed to be Saul who cleaned the place up and tell Jesse how to behave in front of the police.

After Jesse’s parents abandoned him, the character looked for a father figure in Walt, and later in Mike. And after a rocky start, Mike and Jesse develop a good relationship. Mike learned to like Jesse, but he never liked Walt, considering him to be selfish and arrogant.

Jonathan Banks was absolutely fantastic. It’s like, in every interview or tv show that he is invited in to talk about Breaking Bad, he never gets out of character. He is never Jonathan Banks, always Mike Ehrmantraut. He is amazing.

SAUL GOODMAN

The first time we were introduced to Saul, in season 2, in the episode Better Call Saul, I didn’t liked him. I thought he was such a goofy clown.

But, while the character was growing, I started to get really found of him. Despite his appearance, he is actually a very competent lawyer who is able to find loopholes in order to protect his clients, he is smart and funny. Saul doesn’t have much of a moral compass, but still, there is something that makes him so likable.

GUSTAVO FRING

The very first time I saw Gus, I couldn’t help it…it was just like seeing Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson in LOST) all over again.  But, I believe Gustavo Fring succeeds Ben Linus as TV’s greatest villain. He is the most frightening villain ever! He didn’t look it, but Fring was so ruthless and calculated. By day, a community leader with a chain of ordinary chicken restaurants; by night, a millionaire meth king.

Both characters are always three steps ahead of everyone. Both tend to let others do their dirty work – which makes it all the more shocking when they do.

Giancarlo Esposito is my favorite all-time tv villain, and after Gus in Breaking Bad, I have to say, I love him all over again, after seeing his character in Revolution, Tom Neville.

SKYLER WHITE

I believe she is the only character that I resented from the very beginning. I don’t really know wht, but she gave that feeling right from episode one. And after she found out the truth about Walt, not only she didn’t go to the police, but she was the one behind purchasing the car wash. After all, she was Walt’s accomplice, also a liar, and she could have saved Hank’s life, is she only told the truth.

I remember during the last season, when she told Walt he must kill Jesse….man, I really hated her! I hoped for a different ending for her, like jail or something like that, but I guess Vince had something else in mind.

MARIE SCHRADER

Marie is self-centered, shallow, a little snobby and suffers from kleptomania. At the beginning of the series, she really isn’t the most likable person, but she turns out to be very devoted to her husband and cares deeply for her family. And she has a good heart. Even if I found her annoying at first, she turned out to be ok.

The last episode, Felina, was very intense and emotional. Walt protected Jesse until the very end. He also gave Jesse the opportunity to kill him, but when Jesse realized Walt was already shot, he let him die in peace.

A scientist till the very end, Walter dies, alone, on the floor of the meth lab, with his one true love. And while we hear the song Baby Blue, by Badfinger , we’re left to wonder: would Heisenberg have ever really let Walter quit? .

I can say I was really satisfied with the ending, I was glad that it was crystal clear, and not an open one. Like the song said, I am glad Walt got what he deserved, and that Jesse has a chance for a new life.

Does Walter’s confession to Skyler, that he was selfish and greedy, and he did it all for himself, redeemed him? I really hope not, it was far too late for that.

Seeing what looks like a smile on Jesse’s face as he drives off, feels so right. He’s made a lot of mistakes and bad choices, but he paid for them. It is finally time for him to be in control of his own fate.

From the very beginning, Breaking Bad has been a show about moral ground and the slow, grinding deterioration of bad decisions on a person’s soul.

Breaking Bad’s main ethical dilemma challenges us to decide at what point Walter White ceases to be the hero and starts to be the villain of his own story? What acts of violence are we prepared to accept as somehow not bad enough to deserve our contempt?  And why are we willing to accept our protagonist’s violence while condemning the violence of others? Really interesting questions.

Anyone who hasn’t seen it, is missing out on the best series of all time. The brilliance of the writing, directing and acting are unbelievable. I love the way there is something that looks like an insignificant scene in an episode early in a season, that you realize just how significant it is to the story, after a few episodes. It kept me on the edge of my seat every single episode. The series gets better and better every season. Every single character showed how worthy he was to be in the story.

So, thank you Vince Gilligan. Breaking Bad will never be forgotten, because is the best thing ever, a must see for anyone who likes drama. I loved every single thing about it.

And even if all bad things must come to an end, the end it’s always bittersweet.

I hope you enjoy reading this. What did you think of the ending?

~ Adela

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