Irony

I was watching over a fan made youtube video on walter whites legacy today, and mid way through the video there was a shot of walter stating how he didn't want to live his life choking down pills every day and living artificially becuase of the fact that thats not the way he wanted to be remembered. Not only is it ironic in the fact that his drug dealer solution made it so that he lived a good portion of his last days either on pills or chemo, but the fact that what walter would be remembered as instead of a man who was rotting away, his a kingpin murderous meth dealer of new mexico. I suppose money is the root of all evil.

Did Walter "become" evil?

When watching Breaking Bad, which could also described as Walter Whites journey into darkness, one must wonder: are Walter's choices and decisions the by product of his life circumstances at the time of his cancer diagnosis? Off the bat anyone would be inclined to say yes, why wouldn't they But after seeing this quote in a web magazine review, I realized how on point the statement was. "The closer we get to the end, the more Walt scrabbles around and lashes out like a rat when it's surrounded, the less I'm buying Vince Gilligan's whole 'Mr. Chips to Scarface' quote as an analogy for Walt's transformation. That's the route the character has taken these five seasons, sure, in terms of his changing context. But I think the most horrifying part of Breaking Bad may be that Walt, at his core, didn't really transform at all. It wasn't greed or generosity or cancer or fear that fueled this reign of death and destruction. It was resentment. Seething, burning resentment, the kind that forms not due to poor treatment but due to an innate knowledge that you, the aggrieved, are better than said treatment, better than everyone who has somehow gotten the better of you over the years. ... Every moment Walt spent in front of a classroom he was thinking about how beneath him it all was. He was a genius; he was meant to be a millionaire, not this castrated cross between stepping stone and doormat. When you got down to it, Walt desperately wanted to teach every one ... a lesson, and I don't mean in the style of Mr. Chips." Instantly after reading this, it all became so true. Sure maybe Walt's actions were intensified when suddenly there became a date of expiration on his life, but in the reality of things, walter has been bitter a vengeful his own life, it only took one ride with the DEA on a lab bust to make him realize how to tell the world he was a force to be reckoned with.

Walter vs. Dexter

So after Breaking Bad had been done for a month or so, I finally wore myself out from re-watching so many scenes, episodes, and seasons of Breaking Bad I thought it was about time for a new show. After consulting with a few friends, i thought I'd give Dexter a try. It seemed like an interesting show, so i thought I'd give it a try. After finishing the first season, I was definitely impressed. I saw many similarities Dex and Walt, and suddenly the thought popped into my head. Who would win in a battle between the two homicidal maniacs. Hard to say really, Dexter has had hand to hand combat training, access to any tools he needs and lifetime experience of killing. Walter on the other hand... is a pure genius, and more ruthless than anyone, as any BB fan can attest to this. Hard to come up with a definitive answer of who'd win, but it'd make a great episode if they faced off.

Walt and Heisenberg: Felina

The last episode of breaking bad... obviously it was amazing. Couldn't have ended it any better myself (as if i could've done anything at all better than Vince Gilligan). Last night, while watching through the full episode for maybe the 1000th time, I noticed something thats really eerie and really awesome at the same time. The episode starts with Walter in a vehicle. As the camera is focused on car mirror, you see Walter staring into the reflection of his own eyes and say, "Just get me home... Just get me home. I'll do the rest." My theory: This is Walt speaking to Heisenberg. Walt is asking the Heisenberg side of him for one last favor, and that is to get him back to new mexico for his chance at revenge. When i made that realization, i thought it was really cool. Walter White actually addressing his murderous Scarface esc. other half. Also, bare with on the crappy photo, couldn't find online so i ended up taking a photo of my computer screen, best i could do.

Hank

Hank Schrader. To many, he became the hero in Breaking Bad. Why not? He's the good guy, right? He's the cop going after the king pin mass murdering drug lord, otherwise known as his brother in law, Walter White. Is he really a good guy though? I say no, in fact I'll go as far as to say that Hank is no better than Walter. In reality, they're similar in a lot of ways. Lets start off with ego. There was only one ego to start off Breaking Bad. Before there was Heisenberg, on the very first episode, sitting in the White family's living room boasting about his job: is Hank. Hank even has the audacity to make a toast to Walter for his birthday, and then drinks Walter's beer taking it right out of his hand. When the show begins, the ego is Hank. a couple seasons later, Walter has the same personality with every move he makes being controlled by his ego. Why is Walter a bad guy? Sure, he murders people etc., but I mean when, as viewers, did we really begin to hate Walt for the monster he is? I know when I did. it was when i came to the realization that Walt was doing all of these terrible things because he was attempting to make riches that he felt were stolen from him when he sold his share of his future billion dollar company. But, if you think about it, is Hank any better? When Hank makes the realization that Walter is Heisenberg, his goal isn't to being justice to a criminal. His goal is to redeem himself for chasing a man for so long that was literally right in front of his face. He didn't care about what was right or just, he cared about not looking like a complete idiot in front of the whole DEA. Sure, in the beginning he said all of his evidence was circumstantial, but at the point where he cracked Huell and had Jesse willing to testify, what stopped him? The same thing that drove Walt into the murderous path of darkness. His ego. To go beyond that, Hanks took his ego over his life. Hank died because he would rather be the macho super cop instead of... well, alive? Think about it. Walt and Hank, they're not different. Just on opposite sides of the playing field

Holly White

Holly White. Walter and Skyler's infant daughter, and a huge part of Walt's Journey. Per usual, the theme of colors becomes very relevant to this post. Ever since we as B.B. watchers have made the connection that pink equals bad, we've been scared for baby Holly. Why? She's always in pink. Almost every time we see Holly White, she's in her pink baby outfit as if its supposed to be some kind of cute color scheme while I'm screaming at my TV for Holly to watch out for her life. Vince Gilligan had everyone believing that Holly was in some type of trouble, especially when we jump to season 5b, specifically the episode Granite State. The White family comes home to Walter packing their belongings and telling them he can't explain now, but they need to get out of there. Little does Walter know, his son was informed just 15 minutes earlier that his father was the New Mexican scarface of meth. Not only that, but Skyler is fully aware that Hank had Walter in handcuffs and assumes the worst. Skyler slashes Walt with a knife, and a wrestling match for the weapon ensues all but 5 feet away from Holly. I know I'm not alone when I say this, I was about ready to shed tears because sure one way or another that knife was going to find its way plunged into Holly's chest. I was wrong, but Vince Gilligan's genius never fails. Allow me to elaborate. Walter speeds off with Holly. Later, he's shown changing her diaper. Walt encourages Holly to say "Dada", but instead, Holly starts crying for Skyler, saying "mama". Right than and there, Heisenberg dies. Walter White is all that remains, leading to his selfless act of calling Skyler acting as Heisenberg to de-criminate her for any acts she had done. Those tears he cried; those were the tears of Walter. He then leaves Holly in a safe place to be found, and proceeds to finish his mission. Some may argue: If Heisenberg is dead then why does he want to kill jack? I can answer this. There is nothing left for Heisenberg to defend. No empire, no meth, no turf. That is Walter White taking revenge on a man who killed a member of his family. You need to remember Walter has always been a flawed character, even before Heisenberg, and vengeful is definitely a word to describe him. So even though we all think Holly's constant pink attire was there just to throw everyone off: wrong. There was death, it wasn't Holly. Holly was bearing the signal of death, and the one who died, just with the words "mama" instead of "dada" killed Heisenberg off forever. Had he still been alive, Elliot and Gretchen would each have a bullet in their skull or ricin in their system, something along those lines, instead of a ingenious scapegoat for Walt to get what he originally wanted: for the money to get to his family when he's gone.

The Rowboat Painting

This post is deticated to one of my favorite examples of the symbolism in subtle things in Breaking Bad.

The rowboat painting first appeared when Walt was in the hospital after devising a plan to fool his peers and loved ones into thinking that dehydration and heat exhaustion caused him to blackout and end up naked passed out in a supermarket. In reality, Walt had thinly escaped death and even more thinly escaped being caught by his brother in law DEA agent, Hank. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING in Breaking Bad is done by accident. Walt stares deeply into the painting with no emotion at all, a painting which shows a man, alone, rowing away from his family into the abyss, if you will. We see the painting again during the first meeting between Walt and Uncle Jack. Lets start with the painting itself, in my interpretation, the painting theoretically resembles Walters journey farther and farther into "bad". When we first see it, Walt is first leaving shore, lying to his family and friends, barely escaping death, starting to go into the deep. By the time you see it again, many murders and unspeakable acts later, Walt is attempting to organize the murder of 10 men, all without showing one bit of remorse. Showing the painting yet again means a lot. My interpretation: this is it. Once Walter commits these murders, there is absolutely no turning back. We saw it before, Walt was just getting started. We see it now, Walt's family that he was drifting from at this point in time are simply hostages in his meth empire. The painting is also showing the significance of Jack, who would successfully organize the prison murders and end up murdering Hank in the future at gunpoint.