ineffectiveinsight

[ineffectiveinsight]

Heisenberg: The Evolution of Walter White

With the recent release of El Camino: A Breaking Bad movie produced by Netflix, I decided to watch the entire series of the original Breaking Bad again. I had previously watched Breaking Bad during 2013 as the last season was airing. During that time, Breaking Bad received a lot of hype for its characters and storytelling and was revered as the best show on television. Boy, did it live up to the hype. Being in high school at the time, I was captivated by the story of Walter White and his evolution from season 1 to season 5. However, being so young I was not capable of fully grasping the intensity of certain situations as well as Walter’s reasoning for his actions. After watching the series for a second time with more life experiences under my belt, I see this series from a new perspective and would like to share with you my analysis.

Let’s begin.

The series starts by introducing the audience to an average, middle class man named Walter White. Walter has just turned 50 years old, has a stable job as a high school chemistry teacher and has a lovely wife, Skyler, and son, Walter Jr. Walter is well respected by his colleagues and his family loves him dearly. Sounds like this is everything a 50 year old male could ask for, right? As the series progresses, we learn that Walter is far from happy, in fact, he is ashamed of his life. Being a genius in chemistry and co-founding a successful company, Walter had a bigger vision for his life but was never able to attain it. He always let a certain situation or a particular person choose his destiny for him. So despite having everything a 50 year old could ask for, Walter always felt underachieved and underappreciated. He did not have control over his life. So when Walter was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, we expected him to give up and fold to the situation. Think again.

Walter White makes the transition into Heisenberg once he is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Most patients would collapse at the news of hearing they have cancer with only a few months to live. Suddenly, everything precious  rushes through their minds; their wife, children, extended family, friends, colleagues and so on. The pain of losing all these people who are so dear to your heart is almost unbearable. But what if you are someone who has nothing to lose? What if you are someone who doesn’t enjoy their life at all? How would you then react to receiving such bad news, like terminal cancer? The answer is simple. Freedom. You will feel complete freedom because now there is an escape from the hell you’ve been living. This is exactly how Walter felt upon receiving his diagnoses. The lung cancer was the spark, the ignition, the switch that enabled Walter to transform into Heisenberg. This is evident as Walter’s attitude completely shifts, to the point where he surprises Skyler in bed with his dominance.  After hearing he only has months to live, Walter realizes that he must provide for his family before his inevitable departure. However, if he continues on his current path he will never amount to anything significant. And so, after seeing the amount of money drug dealers make when Walter goes on a raid with his brother in law, Hank, Walter decides to take that next step. Thus, he shaves his head and Heisenberg is born.

As soon as Walter gets into the drug business things go haywire. His partner, Jesse, brings over some Mexican  drug dealers to help with distributing their product. However, there is a misunderstanding and the situation quickly escalates out of control. Fast forward and one of the drug dealers, Emilio, is tied up in Jesse’s basement and its Walter’s responsibility to clean up the mess. Walter tries to reason with Emilio to find any reason to release him unharmed. However, the circumstances didn’t allow for this to happen and Walter is forced to make his first kill. This is the moment Prime Heisenberg is born. By killing Emilio in cold blood, Walter takes his first step into the descent of chaos and madness. He learns what it takes to truly succeed in this business. As their operations continue, Walter and Jesse encounter many horrible situations; murder, psychopaths, gang violence and near death experiences. Somehow, Walter always finds a way to escape and come out on top. Their hard work pays off when Walter and Jesse team up with Gus Fring. Gus is the owner of Los Pollos Hermanos, a fast food restaurant used as a front to sell drugs and launder money. Gus provides Walter and Jesse their own state of the art laboratory designed specifically for cooking meth. Having the best equipment and set schedules for cooking, everyone was making great money each week. However, the greed of man can only be quiet for so long. Hence the saying, all good things must come to an end.

“We had a good thing, you stupid son of a bitch! We had Fring, we had a lab, we had everything we needed, and it all ran like clockwork! You could have shut your mouth, cooked, and made as much money as you ever needed! It was perfect! But no! You just had to blow it up! You, and your pride and your ego! You just had to be the man! If you'd done your job, known your place, we'd all be fine right now!” As Mike screams before Walter fatally shoots him. While operating under Gus, Walter was not satisfied because he did not have control over the situation. Walter always viewed Gus as a potential threat due to his demeanor and cold blooded nature. In addition, Walter did not appreciate that Gus wanted to replace him with his own cook, Gail Boetticher, and eventually Jesse. With Gus being a constant looming presence over Walter’s head, Walter decides he must take control over the situation as soon as possible. Through deceit, manipulation and lies Walter is able to turn people against Gus and eventually succeeds in finishing him off. Now Walter sits on throne by replacing Gus as the kingpin of meth distribution in the Southwest. He is now the danger, the one who knocks. Empire Heisenberg is born. This version of Walter White is the most merciless and most dangerous of all forms. With his cancer in remission, there was nothing that could stop Walter. No one and nothing is off limits for Walter to maintain his position and empire. This is proven by Walter’s actions of threatening Jesse, killing Mike, arranging an 11 man hit in prison, poisoning a young child and being indirectly responsible of Hank’s death. It’s during this period that Walter gains the most money, but loses everything.

After his family finds out the truth, Walter has officially lost everything he held dear to him. His job, his home, his children, his wife and his family are merely memories from the past. He can no longer return to the life he once lived. Being the most wanted criminal in America, Walter is forced to change his identity and start anew. However, is that even possible? After all the mayhem, chaos and destruction Walter has created, was it possible to have a fresh start? Maybe there was a way, but Walter saw no point in doing so, especially since his cancer returned. With everyone and everything gone, Walter was a ticking time bomb simply waiting to explode. Knowing his last moments were upon him, Walter decides to do one final act of justice, save Jesse. Although Jesse and Walter had a falling out near the end, Walter always considered Jesse as a second son. Not only was there a significant age difference between the two but Jesse was the only person who accepted Walter’s true self. With everyone else Walter had to wear a mask and disguise his true intentions, but he was free around Jesse. And so, using his final moments, Walter saves Jesse from captivity. The series ends with the camera slowly panning away with Walter White smiling as he slowly dies on the concrete floor. He finally reached the end of the line, the endgame.

Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad, intended to transform a chipping dale average man into a merciless monstrous villain. I say he did so, beautifully. Breaking Bad demonstrates how miserable life can be if we do not take control over our lives. It is important that we make decisions for ourselves and do not let others decide for us. We owe it to ourselves to take a step forward and be in charge of our lives, for only then will we find true happiness and self-worth. If we do not, we are simply bottling emotions and dreams within and it’s only a matter of time before they resurface in a chaotic fashion. So we must be vigilant to not let these emotions sit for a long time. There is a Heisenberg in all of us, waiting patiently for the right moment to takeover.

Tread lightly.