WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.819 Welcome to the Deep Dive. We sift through the 00:00:02.819 --> 00:00:05.960 noise, through all the sources, to bring you 00:00:05.960 --> 00:00:08.439 those crucial nuggets, those insights on the 00:00:08.439 --> 00:00:10.919 stuff that really shapes our culture. And today 00:00:10.919 --> 00:00:13.560 we're definitely heading into some, let's say, 00:00:13.699 --> 00:00:17.039 chemically complex territory. That's right. Gas 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:19.839 masks might be optional for you listening, but 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:22.019 we're diving deep into the world of Albuquerque, 00:00:22.100 --> 00:00:25.160 New Mexico, to unpack one of the absolute titans 00:00:25.160 --> 00:00:28.800 of television, Breaking Bad. It's a show that, 00:00:28.820 --> 00:00:30.960 well, it almost demands this kind of deep dive, 00:00:31.019 --> 00:00:33.079 doesn't it? Because it just refuses to be pinned 00:00:33.079 --> 00:00:35.259 down. Yeah, exactly. When you look at how it's 00:00:35.259 --> 00:00:37.840 described, the sources label it all over the 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:40.979 place. It's a crime drama, sure, but also a thriller. 00:00:41.100 --> 00:00:43.219 A neo -Western, definitely. You feel that New 00:00:43.219 --> 00:00:45.520 Mexico landscape. Right. And it's got that dark, 00:00:45.539 --> 00:00:48.649 dark... black comedy edge, but ultimately it 00:00:48.649 --> 00:00:50.969 lands as a tragedy, a real classic tragedy. And 00:00:50.969 --> 00:00:52.810 then that mix of genres, that's kind of its superpower, 00:00:53.090 --> 00:00:55.130 isn't it? It lets the show pivot, change tone, 00:00:55.289 --> 00:00:57.350 keep you completely off balance while ramping 00:00:57.350 --> 00:00:59.350 up the stakes. And the premise itself is just, 00:00:59.409 --> 00:01:02.890 well, iconic now. Walter White, brilliant high 00:01:02.890 --> 00:01:05.250 school chemistry teacher, totally frustrated, 00:01:05.349 --> 00:01:08.609 gets diagnosed with stage three lung cancer. 00:01:08.769 --> 00:01:11.579 And his reaction is... unconventional to say 00:01:11.579 --> 00:01:14.480 the least he decides you know to secure his family's 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:16.900 future okay by using his genius for chemistry 00:01:16.900 --> 00:01:20.340 to cook the purest meth imaginable that signature 00:01:20.340 --> 00:01:23.060 blue stuff and he ropes in his former student 00:01:23.060 --> 00:01:25.219 jesse pinkman this sort of small -time dealer 00:01:25.219 --> 00:01:28.400 into this massive life -altering criminal enterprise 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:31.819 and the whole show Those five incredible seasons, 00:01:31.939 --> 00:01:34.439 they basically cover just two years, right, from 00:01:34.439 --> 00:01:36.840 2008 to 2010 in this version of Albuquerque. 00:01:36.980 --> 00:01:39.620 Right. So our mission today, it's really to push 00:01:39.620 --> 00:01:42.180 past just the plot summary, you know, Walt's 00:01:42.180 --> 00:01:44.299 journey from teacher to drug lord. We want to 00:01:44.299 --> 00:01:46.260 dig into the nitty gritty. Yeah, like how this 00:01:46.260 --> 00:01:47.939 thing even got made, the struggles behind the 00:01:47.939 --> 00:01:51.219 scenes. Exactly. The conception, the really rigorous 00:01:51.219 --> 00:01:53.280 production details, the science, the visuals. 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:57.299 The heavy themes, morality, family pride. The 00:01:57.299 --> 00:02:00.290 pride. Definitely the pride. And then, of course, 00:02:00.370 --> 00:02:03.730 the huge cultural footprint it left behind. We're 00:02:03.730 --> 00:02:05.450 aiming for those key insights you might have 00:02:05.450 --> 00:02:07.530 missed. And we should stress, the acclaim wasn't 00:02:07.530 --> 00:02:10.889 just hype. It's baked into the numbers. That 00:02:10.889 --> 00:02:13.569 final season, season five, got a Metacritic score 00:02:13.569 --> 00:02:18.530 of 99 out of 100. 99? That's almost unheard of. 00:02:18.710 --> 00:02:20.669 It landed in the Guinness World Records back 00:02:20.669 --> 00:02:23.810 in 2013. Officially the most critically acclaimed 00:02:23.810 --> 00:02:27.030 TV show of all time based on that score. It really 00:02:27.030 --> 00:02:29.849 set a new bar for what people called prestige 00:02:29.849 --> 00:02:32.909 TV. Which is a perfect lead in actually to where 00:02:32.909 --> 00:02:35.490 it all began. Because this groundbreaking show, 00:02:35.610 --> 00:02:37.990 this cultural touchstone, it almost didn't happen. 00:02:38.189 --> 00:02:41.110 The genesis was incredibly risky. Okay, let's 00:02:41.110 --> 00:02:43.590 get into that. Vince Gilligan's core idea. Because 00:02:43.590 --> 00:02:45.810 this wasn't just another anti -hero story. He 00:02:45.810 --> 00:02:48.229 had a very specific theory driving it. He did. 00:02:48.389 --> 00:02:50.169 He wasn't interested in a character who just 00:02:50.169 --> 00:02:52.569 like dips his toe. into the dark side, he wanted 00:02:52.569 --> 00:02:54.930 a protagonist who goes all the way, a complete 00:02:54.930 --> 00:02:57.629 transformation into an antagonist. The Mr. Chips 00:02:57.629 --> 00:02:59.849 into Scarface line. That's his famous pitch, 00:02:59.969 --> 00:03:03.330 right? Exactly. And that whole idea, it was kind 00:03:03.330 --> 00:03:05.870 of revolutionary for TV at the time. Gilligan 00:03:05.870 --> 00:03:08.189 talked about how television usually keeps characters 00:03:08.189 --> 00:03:11.270 in what he called self -imposed stasis, you know, 00:03:11.270 --> 00:03:13.469 so the show can run forever without fundamental 00:03:13.469 --> 00:03:15.770 change. Like the sitcom reset button. Pretty 00:03:15.770 --> 00:03:18.909 much. But Gilligan wanted Breaking Bad to be 00:03:18.909 --> 00:03:22.150 about the change, radical, permanent, irreversible 00:03:22.150 --> 00:03:25.550 change. Watching this seemingly mild -mannered 00:03:25.550 --> 00:03:29.189 guy consciously choose to become evil. that was 00:03:29.189 --> 00:03:32.639 the hook. And networks saw that as risky? Hugely 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:34.879 risky. Commercially, it felt like a tough sell. 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:37.919 A show where your hero becomes the villain? Who 00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:40.419 roots for that? And the title itself, Breaking 00:03:40.419 --> 00:03:42.479 Bad, it sounds kind of simple, but there's more 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:44.840 to it. Yeah, the sources dig into the etymology. 00:03:45.020 --> 00:03:47.139 It's a southern phrase, means more than just 00:03:47.139 --> 00:03:49.939 raising hell. It's about defiance, going wild, 00:03:50.039 --> 00:03:52.000 challenging authority. But it can also mean something 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:54.219 darker, right? Like to dominate or humiliate 00:03:54.219 --> 00:03:57.020 someone. Exactly. And that darker shade perfectly 00:03:57.020 --> 00:03:59.520 mirrors Walt's own journey from just breaking 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:24.439 rules to, well, breaking rules. And that became 00:04:24.439 --> 00:04:28.319 the seed for Breaking Bad. Wow. But... Getting 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:30.699 that seed to grow, that was the real battle. 00:04:30.759 --> 00:04:32.680 The number of networks that passed on this is 00:04:32.680 --> 00:04:34.800 kind of staggering when you think about it now. 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:37.740 Like who? I know Showtime was one. Yeah, Showtime 00:04:37.740 --> 00:04:39.720 passed pretty quickly. They already had Weeds, 00:04:39.720 --> 00:04:42.720 which, you know, superficially suburban parent 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:45.839 dealing drugs. It sounded similar. Right. Though 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:47.779 Gilligan argued they were totally different beasts. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:50.259 Oh, completely. He apparently didn't even know 00:04:50.259 --> 00:04:52.199 about Weeds when he first pitched Breaking Bad. 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:54.360 Producers had to convince him they were different 00:04:54.360 --> 00:04:57.420 enough. Weeds being more of a dark comedy, Breaking 00:04:57.420 --> 00:05:00.139 Bad aiming for tragedy. But Showtime wasn't the 00:05:00.139 --> 00:05:03.860 only one. No way. HBO passed. Which is kind of 00:05:03.860 --> 00:05:06.579 ironic given their history with complex antiheroes 00:05:06.579 --> 00:05:09.360 like Tony Soprano. TNT passed too. And FX, they 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:12.139 considered it. They did. FX was interested, but 00:05:12.139 --> 00:05:14.120 according to the sources, they felt they had 00:05:14.120 --> 00:05:17.399 too many male -led dramas already and opted for 00:05:17.399 --> 00:05:20.240 a show called Dirt instead, focusing on a female 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:23.670 lead. So it finally lands at AMC. Right. Gilligan's 00:05:23.670 --> 00:05:26.149 agent got it to AMC, which was at that point 00:05:26.149 --> 00:05:28.189 still trying to build its original programming 00:05:28.189 --> 00:05:31.490 slate beyond Mad Men. But even then, it took 00:05:31.490 --> 00:05:33.670 almost a year just to get the rights deal sorted 00:05:33.670 --> 00:05:36.170 out. It was a real struggle. It's just wild to 00:05:36.170 --> 00:05:39.329 think a show celebrated for its tight, meticulous 00:05:39.329 --> 00:05:42.050 writing, was actually, in a way, saved by something 00:05:42.050 --> 00:05:44.449 totally out of its control. The Writers' Strike. 00:05:44.670 --> 00:05:47.509 Oh, the 2007 -2008 Writers' Guild Strike. Yeah, 00:05:47.550 --> 00:05:50.410 that was a huge, unexpected blessing in disguise 00:05:50.410 --> 00:05:53.240 for the show. Creatively, anyway. How so? Because 00:05:53.240 --> 00:05:54.839 it's short in the first season, right? Exactly. 00:05:54.839 --> 00:05:56.680 The plan was for nine episodes, but the strike 00:05:56.680 --> 00:05:58.800 cut it down to seven. And that original nine 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:01.660 -episode plan had a, let's call it a ballsy ending 00:06:01.660 --> 00:06:04.360 planned. Ballsy how? Apparently, either Jesse 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:06.480 Pinkman or Hank Schrader was going to be killed 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:08.740 off right at the end of season one. Like, boom, 00:06:08.819 --> 00:06:11.680 major character gone, cementing Walt's path immediately. 00:06:12.220 --> 00:06:14.620 Whoa. Okay, that would have changed everything. 00:06:14.860 --> 00:06:17.079 Totally. But because the season got cut short, 00:06:17.300 --> 00:06:19.759 they had to scrap that ending. And thank goodness 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:22.259 they did. Why was that so crucial? Because in 00:06:22.259 --> 00:06:26.100 those first seven episodes, Aaron Paul as Jesse 00:06:26.100 --> 00:06:29.360 and Dean Norris as Hank just popped, they became 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:32.540 indispensable. Gilligan himself said later that 00:06:32.540 --> 00:06:34.680 killing either of them off would have been a 00:06:34.680 --> 00:06:37.600 huge, colossal mistake. The chemistry between 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:41.800 Walt and Jesse and Walt and Hank, it became the 00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:45.100 core of the show. Absolutely. Peter Gould, another 00:06:45.100 --> 00:06:47.079 key writer who went on to create Better Call 00:06:47.079 --> 00:06:49.759 Saul, he flat out said the strike basically saved 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:52.040 the show by forcing them to keep those characters 00:06:52.040 --> 00:06:54.519 alive. It preserved the dynamics that made the 00:06:54.519 --> 00:06:56.680 show work long term. Okay, so the strike saves 00:06:56.680 --> 00:06:58.839 the characters, but the show itself nearly died 00:06:58.839 --> 00:07:01.720 later for different reasons. Money. Yeah, that 00:07:01.720 --> 00:07:03.680 was the next big hurdle. By the time they got 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:05.600 to season three, the show was costing about $3 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:08.480 million per episode. Which is a lot for basic 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:11.519 cable, especially back then. A ton. And AMC started 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:13.339 getting nervous. There were serious discussions. 00:07:13.389 --> 00:07:15.750 about season three being the end. They were considering 00:07:15.750 --> 00:07:18.149 pulling the plug. And this is where the whole 00:07:18.149 --> 00:07:20.949 landscape of TV starts to shift, isn't it? Enter 00:07:20.949 --> 00:07:23.829 Netflix. Precisely. This is the famous Netflix 00:07:23.829 --> 00:07:26.810 effect kicking in. Sony, the production company, 00:07:26.990 --> 00:07:28.629 they were determined to keep the show alive. 00:07:28.949 --> 00:07:31.509 So they pushed hard to get the first few seasons 00:07:31.509 --> 00:07:34.149 onto Netflix right before season four started 00:07:34.149 --> 00:07:36.670 airing on AMC. Creating the perfect conditions 00:07:36.670 --> 00:07:39.550 for binge watching. Exactly. Suddenly, anyone 00:07:39.550 --> 00:07:42.529 who'd heard the buzz but hadn't jumped in yet... 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:44.939 could just mainline the first three seasons and 00:07:44.939 --> 00:07:47.240 get totally caught up before season four even 00:07:47.240 --> 00:07:49.939 started. And the impact was immediate. Massive. 00:07:50.199 --> 00:07:53.160 Gilligan directly credits Netflix streaming with 00:07:53.160 --> 00:07:55.459 keeping the show on the air. He said the binge 00:07:55.459 --> 00:07:58.279 -watching boom saved them. And the numbers back 00:07:58.279 --> 00:08:00.980 that up. Oh, yeah. The viewership for the season 00:08:00.980 --> 00:08:03.540 five premiere was more than double the audience 00:08:03.540 --> 00:08:05.379 they had for the season four premiere. Double. 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:08.459 Wow. It was a direct result of people discovering 00:08:08.459 --> 00:08:11.899 and catching up on Netflix. Breaking Bad became 00:08:11.899 --> 00:08:14.519 one of the first huge examples of how streaming 00:08:14.519 --> 00:08:16.920 could rescue and amplify a traditional network 00:08:16.920 --> 00:08:20.019 show. It proved the power of that back catalog. 00:08:20.459 --> 00:08:23.300 Incredible story. So, OK, they've got the concept. 00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:26.379 It survived the strike. It survived the budget 00:08:26.379 --> 00:08:29.540 cuts thanks to streaming. Now let's talk about 00:08:29.540 --> 00:08:32.759 bringing these unforgettable characters to life. 00:08:32.919 --> 00:08:36.399 Yeah. Starting with Walter White himself. Bryan 00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:38.899 Cranston seems so perfect now, but it wasn't 00:08:38.899 --> 00:08:42.029 an easy sell. Not at all. It was actually a major 00:08:42.029 --> 00:08:45.409 point of contention internally at AMC. The executives, 00:08:45.649 --> 00:08:47.730 they primarily knew Cranston from Malcolm in 00:08:47.730 --> 00:08:50.330 the Middle. As Hal, the goofy dad. Yeah. Yeah, 00:08:50.350 --> 00:08:52.149 I could see why they'd hesitate. Exactly. They 00:08:52.149 --> 00:08:54.850 saw him as a comedic actor. They were apparently... 00:08:55.070 --> 00:08:57.309 Pretty reluctant, so much so that they seriously 00:08:57.309 --> 00:09:00.190 considered other, more established dramatic actors 00:09:00.190 --> 00:09:03.710 first. John Cusack was approached. Matthew Broderick, 00:09:03.710 --> 00:09:06.049 too. Cusack or Broderick is Walt. That's hard 00:09:06.049 --> 00:09:08.570 to picture. Isn't it? But Gilligan, he was adamant. 00:09:08.570 --> 00:09:11.169 He insisted it had to be Cranston. And his conviction 00:09:11.169 --> 00:09:13.929 came from seeing Cranston in something. Totally 00:09:13.929 --> 00:09:15.690 different, right? An old X -Files episode. That's 00:09:15.690 --> 00:09:17.950 the one, an episode called Drive from way back 00:09:17.950 --> 00:09:19.929 in 98. Gilligan wrote that episode, actually. 00:09:20.029 --> 00:09:23.509 And Cranston played this character, this sort 00:09:23.509 --> 00:09:26.830 of antagonist, who was, as Gilligan put it, both 00:09:26.830 --> 00:09:30.009 loathsome and sympathetic at the same time. You 00:09:30.009 --> 00:09:32.809 hated him, but you felt for him. And Gilligan 00:09:32.809 --> 00:09:36.830 saw that complex mix as essential for Walt. He 00:09:36.830 --> 00:09:39.269 said Cranston was the only actor he could think 00:09:39.269 --> 00:09:41.549 of who could pull off that trick, that ability 00:09:41.549 --> 00:09:43.850 to make you feel conflicting things about him. 00:09:43.889 --> 00:09:46.710 He knew Cranston could believably make that journey 00:09:46.710 --> 00:09:49.629 from Mr. Chips to Scarface. And Cranston really 00:09:49.629 --> 00:09:51.529 threw himself into it. He didn't just show up 00:09:51.529 --> 00:09:54.700 and say the lines. He built Walt. Physically, 00:09:54.759 --> 00:09:57.379 emotionally. Oh, totally. Since the backstory 00:09:57.379 --> 00:09:59.720 was kind of vague in the script, Cranston apparently 00:09:59.720 --> 00:10:02.299 created this whole detailed history for Walt, 00:10:02.440 --> 00:10:05.059 all his simmering resentments and failures. And 00:10:05.059 --> 00:10:07.000 the physical transformation. It was deliberate. 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:09.659 He gained about 10 pounds to look a bit softer, 00:10:09.879 --> 00:10:12.200 doughier at the start. He dyed his hair this 00:10:12.200 --> 00:10:14.799 kind of drab brown, insisted on that specific 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:17.779 wardrobe, lots of beige, muted greens to make 00:10:17.779 --> 00:10:20.440 him look invisible. And the mustache. That sad 00:10:20.440 --> 00:10:23.860 little mustache. He called it his impotent mustache. 00:10:24.259 --> 00:10:27.399 Like a dead caterpillar, he said. It was all 00:10:27.399 --> 00:10:29.799 about conveying Walt's feeling of powerlessness 00:10:29.799 --> 00:10:32.639 at the beginning. And his posture, too. That 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:35.639 slightly hunched look. Yeah. He said he modeled 00:10:35.639 --> 00:10:38.620 that on his own aging father. He wanted Walt 00:10:38.620 --> 00:10:40.159 to look like he was carrying the weight of the 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:42.100 world on his shoulders, even before the cancer. 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:45.279 Just constantly burdened. It's really incredible 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:47.940 acting, building a character from the outside 00:10:47.940 --> 00:10:51.009 in and the inside out. It really is. And... You 00:10:51.009 --> 00:10:53.289 know, the same kind of dedication, maybe even 00:10:53.289 --> 00:10:55.850 accidental discovery happened with Jesse Pinkman. 00:10:55.970 --> 00:10:58.149 Hard to believe he was almost killed off. It's 00:10:58.149 --> 00:11:00.289 one of the great what ifs of the show, isn't 00:11:00.289 --> 00:11:02.549 it? Jesse was originally just a plot device. 00:11:02.850 --> 00:11:05.029 Walt's way into the drug world. He was supposed 00:11:05.029 --> 00:11:07.950 to die in a drug deal gone wrong. halfway through 00:11:07.950 --> 00:11:10.129 season one. Just imagine Breaking Bad without 00:11:10.129 --> 00:11:12.570 Jesse. It's impossible. Utterly impossible. But 00:11:12.570 --> 00:11:14.789 Aaron Paul's performance right from the start, 00:11:14.809 --> 00:11:17.929 it just changed everything. By the second episode, 00:11:18.429 --> 00:11:21.029 Gilligan said he knew. Knew what? That killing 00:11:21.029 --> 00:11:24.049 Jesse would be a massive mistake. The dynamic 00:11:24.049 --> 00:11:27.049 between Walt and Jesse, that damaged mentor -student 00:11:27.049 --> 00:11:29.649 thing, Paul brought such vulnerability to it. 00:11:29.789 --> 00:11:31.929 Yeah, Paul described Jesse as this sort of lost 00:11:31.929 --> 00:11:34.919 soul. Right. Not inherently bad, just kind of 00:11:34.919 --> 00:11:37.179 broken by his upbringing, desperate for some 00:11:37.179 --> 00:11:39.179 kind of guidance, even if it was from Walter 00:11:39.179 --> 00:11:42.659 White. Gilligan saw that emotional core and realized 00:11:42.659 --> 00:11:46.220 he couldn't lose it. And that commitment to finding 00:11:46.220 --> 00:11:48.279 the right actors, letting them shape the roles. 00:11:48.580 --> 00:11:50.740 It runs through the whole supporting cast, too. 00:11:51.080 --> 00:11:54.409 Like. Saul Goodman. Oh, Bob Odenkirk. Fantastic. 00:11:54.529 --> 00:11:57.149 And his performance wasn't just improv. It had 00:11:57.149 --> 00:11:59.570 specific roots. Where did that fast -talking, 00:11:59.570 --> 00:12:01.929 slippery cadence come from? He based it on the 00:12:01.929 --> 00:12:04.590 film producer Robert Evans. Odenkirk listened 00:12:04.590 --> 00:12:07.110 to the audiobook of Evans' autobiography, The 00:12:07.110 --> 00:12:09.649 Kid Stays in the Picture, and he heard Evans' 00:12:09.809 --> 00:12:12.450 way of constantly shifting his tone, his speed. 00:12:12.669 --> 00:12:15.009 From salesman to, like, vaguely threatening. 00:12:15.250 --> 00:12:18.330 Exactly. And Odenkirk thought, that's Saul. That 00:12:18.330 --> 00:12:20.830 constant modulation, you never quite know where 00:12:20.830 --> 00:12:22.850 you stand with him. It was perfect for that character. 00:12:23.070 --> 00:12:25.769 And then you got Mike Ermentraut. Jonathan Banks. 00:12:26.009 --> 00:12:29.450 The ultimate fixer. Just exudes competence and 00:12:29.450 --> 00:12:32.470 world weariness. People immediately drew parallels 00:12:32.470 --> 00:12:35.190 to Harvey Keitel's Winston Wolfe in Pulp Fiction. 00:12:35.230 --> 00:12:38.639 That same vibe of... I solve problems. But maybe 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:41.379 the most striking example of dedication is RJ 00:12:41.379 --> 00:12:45.179 Mitty as Walt Jr. Oh, absolutely. Mitty has cerebral 00:12:45.179 --> 00:12:47.940 palsy in real life, but a milder form than Walt 00:12:47.940 --> 00:12:50.750 Jr.'s character. So he actually had to. make 00:12:50.750 --> 00:12:52.750 his condition appear more severe for the role. 00:12:52.870 --> 00:12:55.370 He did. He talked about having to consciously 00:12:55.370 --> 00:12:57.629 regress from the progress he'd made in his own 00:12:57.629 --> 00:12:59.850 physical therapy. He'd stay up really late so 00:12:59.850 --> 00:13:02.129 his speech would be more slurred, like Walt Jr.'s. 00:13:02.269 --> 00:13:04.649 He used crutches on set, even if he didn't always 00:13:04.649 --> 00:13:06.750 need them off set, just to make sure the movement 00:13:06.750 --> 00:13:09.990 felt authentic to the character. Wow. To actively 00:13:09.990 --> 00:13:13.649 undo your own progress for a role? That's intense 00:13:13.649 --> 00:13:16.250 commitment. It really underscores the level of 00:13:16.250 --> 00:13:18.429 detail and authenticity the entire production 00:13:18.429 --> 00:13:20.850 was aiming for, which leads us perfectly into 00:13:20.850 --> 00:13:22.649 the science, right? The chemistry wasn't just 00:13:22.649 --> 00:13:24.149 background dressing and Breaking Bad. It was 00:13:24.149 --> 00:13:26.149 practically a main character. It really was. 00:13:26.370 --> 00:13:28.730 And they clearly wanted to get it right. Avoid 00:13:28.730 --> 00:13:31.659 those typical Hollywood science blunders. Definitely. 00:13:31.820 --> 00:13:34.700 They brought in Dr. Donna Nelson, who is a professor 00:13:34.700 --> 00:13:36.919 of organic chemistry at the University of Oklahoma. 00:13:37.259 --> 00:13:39.820 She was their key science advisor. What did she 00:13:39.820 --> 00:13:42.379 do exactly? Check the formulas. More than that. 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:45.559 She went through the scripts, line by line, making 00:13:45.559 --> 00:13:47.759 sure the chemistry dialogue sounded authentic, 00:13:47.860 --> 00:13:50.779 even providing specific lines for Walt and Jesse. 00:13:51.159 --> 00:13:53.460 She drew the chemical structures you see on the 00:13:53.460 --> 00:13:56.240 whiteboards and stuff. So she, and apparently 00:13:56.240 --> 00:13:58.799 someone from the DEA, helped keep them honest. 00:13:59.259 --> 00:14:02.019 Yeah, Gilligan credited them both with vetting 00:14:02.019 --> 00:14:04.279 the scripts, ensuring the chemistry was accurate, 00:14:04.379 --> 00:14:07.379 and importantly, up to date with real world methods 00:14:07.379 --> 00:14:09.820 and regulations. They didn't want chemists in 00:14:09.820 --> 00:14:12.000 the audience rolling their eyes. And the actual 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:14.720 methods Walt uses, they change over the course 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:16.159 of the show, right? That reflects his evolution. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:18.840 Absolutely. Initially, he starts with the Nagai 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:21.720 method that uses red phosphorus and iodine. And 00:14:21.720 --> 00:14:24.600 the key ingredient, the precursor, is pseudoephedrine. 00:14:24.779 --> 00:14:27.320 Which comes from cold medicine. The stuff Jesse 00:14:27.320 --> 00:14:29.990 was supposed to get. Exactly. It's a well -known 00:14:29.990 --> 00:14:32.710 but pretty volatile, kind of dangerous method. 00:14:32.950 --> 00:14:35.909 But then the plot reflects reality crackdowns 00:14:35.909 --> 00:14:38.610 make pseudoephedrine really hard to get in large 00:14:38.610 --> 00:14:41.809 quantities. So Walt has to pivot to the PTP method. 00:14:42.009 --> 00:14:45.230 Right. The phenyl 2 -propanone method using methylamine. 00:14:45.230 --> 00:14:47.830 It's a more complex industrial scale process. 00:14:47.970 --> 00:14:50.649 It requires more sophisticated chemistry knowledge. 00:14:50.850 --> 00:14:52.990 Which shows off Walt's superior skill compared 00:14:52.990 --> 00:14:56.659 to... like basic biker cooks. Precisely. It lets 00:14:56.659 --> 00:14:59.080 him bypass the supply problems and scale up his 00:14:59.080 --> 00:15:02.179 operation massively. It's a key part of his transformation 00:15:02.179 --> 00:15:05.000 into Heisenberg, the kingpin. You see him using 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:07.460 things like mercury, aluminum, amalgam for the 00:15:07.460 --> 00:15:09.419 reduction. It sounds impressive and scientific 00:15:09.419 --> 00:15:11.080 because it is. But the most famous thing about 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:13.440 his meth, the blue color. That part isn't accurate, 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:16.100 is it? Ah, yes. The blue sky. That's the one 00:15:16.100 --> 00:15:18.460 big piece of dramatic license they took with 00:15:18.460 --> 00:15:21.399 the science. So pure meth isn't blue? Nope. Extremely 00:15:21.399 --> 00:15:23.820 pure methamphetamine would actually be clear 00:15:23.820 --> 00:15:27.000 or whitish crystals. The blue color, which became 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:30.940 Walt's unmistakable brand, his signature. Purely 00:15:30.940 --> 00:15:32.779 fictional. So what were they using on set for 00:15:32.779 --> 00:15:35.659 the props? Just blue rock candy. Apparently it 00:15:35.659 --> 00:15:38.500 came from a local candy shop in Albuquerque called 00:15:38.500 --> 00:15:41.690 The Candy Lady. So that iconic blue meth, it's 00:15:41.690 --> 00:15:45.350 candy. Huh. That's brilliant. The dedication 00:15:45.350 --> 00:15:47.389 to science was so intense, though, it actually 00:15:47.389 --> 00:15:50.049 caught the attention of the Mythbusters. It did. 00:15:50.149 --> 00:15:52.269 There was this great back and forth. Several 00:15:52.269 --> 00:15:54.789 episodes of Mythbusters tackled scenes from Breaking 00:15:54.789 --> 00:15:57.110 Bad, sometimes even with Vince Gilligan showing 00:15:57.110 --> 00:15:59.669 up on the episode. And how did the show's science 00:15:59.669 --> 00:16:01.950 hold up under their scrutiny? Mostly busted, 00:16:02.029 --> 00:16:04.129 right? Mostly busted, yeah. The famous bathtub 00:16:04.129 --> 00:16:07.620 scene from season one. Where Jesse tries to dissolve 00:16:07.620 --> 00:16:10.179 a body in hydrofluoric acid and it eats through 00:16:10.179 --> 00:16:13.279 the tub and the floor. Busted. Busted. They showed 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:16.320 hydrofluoric acid is nasty stuff, for sure, but 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:18.419 it wouldn't dissolve flesh, ceramic, and metal 00:16:18.419 --> 00:16:20.960 quite like that. Dramatic effect won out over 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:23.740 reality there. What else? The fulminated mercury? 00:16:24.039 --> 00:16:27.120 Oh, yeah. Tuco's office scene. Crazy handful 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:29.019 of nothing, Walt throws down those crystals, 00:16:29.179 --> 00:16:32.259 big explosion. Mythbusters found that, yes, fulminated 00:16:32.259 --> 00:16:34.620 mercury explodes, but Walt would have needed 00:16:34.620 --> 00:16:37.580 a lot more of it, thrown much harder. And the 00:16:37.580 --> 00:16:39.419 blast probably would have killed everyone in 00:16:39.419 --> 00:16:41.600 the room, including Walt, not just scare Tuco. 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:45.460 So, plausible concept, busted execution. And 00:16:45.460 --> 00:16:47.600 the giant magnet truck trying to wipe the laptop. 00:16:47.860 --> 00:16:50.340 Also busted. Even Mythbusters Jr. took that one 00:16:50.340 --> 00:16:53.820 on. The power required is just, well... Beyond 00:16:53.820 --> 00:16:56.080 a magnet, you can fit in a truck like that. Okay, 00:16:56.120 --> 00:16:58.659 so mostly busted. Did anything get confirmed? 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:02.600 One really cool one did. The machine gun rig 00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:05.359 in the car trunk from the finale. Felina. The 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:07.819 remote control turret thing. Yeah. They found 00:17:07.819 --> 00:17:09.980 that rigging up an automated machine gun like 00:17:09.980 --> 00:17:12.440 that, while incredibly complex, was actually 00:17:12.440 --> 00:17:15.660 mechanically plausible. So Walt's final act of 00:17:15.660 --> 00:17:18.859 vengeance, science says. Maybe. Okay, moving 00:17:18.859 --> 00:17:20.500 beyond the chemistry, let's talk about the look 00:17:20.500 --> 00:17:22.539 of the show. It didn't look like anything else 00:17:22.539 --> 00:17:26.339 on TV. That visual style was so distinct. A huge 00:17:26.339 --> 00:17:28.400 part of that credit goes to Michael Slovis, the 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:30.420 cinematographer who came on board in season two. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:32.920 He really defined the show's aesthetic. And his 00:17:32.920 --> 00:17:36.140 big inspiration was westerns, right? Sergio Leone. 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:39.619 Exactly. He explicitly referenced Leone's style. 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:41.619 You see it in the framing, the high contrast 00:17:41.619 --> 00:17:44.680 lighting, those huge wide shots of the New Mexico 00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:47.000 desert that make the characters look tiny and 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:50.140 isolated. It gives it that neo -Western feel, 00:17:50.359 --> 00:17:54.500 dwarfing human drama against this massive ancient 00:17:54.500 --> 00:17:58.079 landscape. And technically, they made a key choice 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:01.000 early on that paid off later, shooting on film. 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:04.309 Right. primarily 35 millimeter film, which at 00:18:04.309 --> 00:18:06.690 the time maybe seemed old fashioned as digital 00:18:06.690 --> 00:18:08.970 was taking over. But it was a brilliant move 00:18:08.970 --> 00:18:11.190 for longevity. Because it allowed for that amazing 00:18:11.190 --> 00:18:14.210 4K remaster later. Precisely. Because it was 00:18:14.210 --> 00:18:16.640 shot on high quality film. They could go back 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:19.779 and create this stunning 4K Ultra HD version 00:18:19.779 --> 00:18:21.900 that just looks incredible. It preserved all 00:18:21.900 --> 00:18:24.099 that texture and detail in a way early digital 00:18:24.099 --> 00:18:26.140 might not have. And the editing, too, had a very 00:18:26.140 --> 00:18:28.339 specific style, especially in those montages. 00:18:28.359 --> 00:18:31.539 Oh, the meth montages. Kelly Dixon won an Emmy 00:18:31.539 --> 00:18:33.960 for her editing, and those sequences were her 00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:35.759 signature. They weren't just standard cuts, were 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:38.519 they? Yeah, no. She used jump cuts, played with 00:18:38.519 --> 00:18:40.680 the speed, speeding things up, slowing things 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:44.119 down, all within the same sequence. It conveyed 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:47.700 the passage of time. Yeah, but also the intensity, 00:18:47.880 --> 00:18:50.039 the almost ritualistic nature of the cooking 00:18:50.039 --> 00:18:52.819 process. It became a visual hallmark of the series. 00:18:53.059 --> 00:18:55.160 All this technical mastery, the writing, the 00:18:55.160 --> 00:18:57.700 acting, it all served to explore some really 00:18:57.700 --> 00:19:00.599 deep, complex themes. It wasn't just a crime 00:19:00.599 --> 00:19:04.160 show. It was a morality play. Absolutely. Vince 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:06.059 Gilligan has been pretty upfront about the show's 00:19:06.059 --> 00:19:08.779 underlying philosophy. For him, the big takeaway 00:19:08.779 --> 00:19:12.000 message is stark. actions have consequences. 00:19:12.380 --> 00:19:15.559 A sense of cosmic justice almost. Yeah, he talked 00:19:15.559 --> 00:19:17.660 about needing personally to see some kind of 00:19:17.660 --> 00:19:20.579 biblical atonement or justice or karma play out 00:19:20.579 --> 00:19:22.400 over the course of the series. Things couldn't 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:24.500 just happen without repercussions. But it's not 00:19:24.500 --> 00:19:26.920 that simple, is it? Critics like Chuck Klosterman 00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:29.240 pointed out, the show is maybe more about the 00:19:29.240 --> 00:19:32.440 choice to be bad. Right. Klosterman argued that 00:19:32.440 --> 00:19:35.000 Breaking Bad presents good and evil not as fixed 00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:37.279 states, but as complicated choices made moment 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:41.339 by moment. It pushes you, the viewer, to ask 00:19:41.339 --> 00:19:45.059 what actually defines someone as bad. Is it their 00:19:45.059 --> 00:19:47.500 actions, their hidden motives, or is it that 00:19:47.500 --> 00:19:50.140 conscious decision, that moment they choose to 00:19:50.140 --> 00:19:53.000 embrace darkness? That idea of choice versus 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:56.170 maybe inherent nature. It leads to interesting 00:19:56.170 --> 00:19:58.910 comparisons, like with Tony Soprano. Yeah, Ross 00:19:58.910 --> 00:20:00.950 Douthat had a great take on that. He saw Walt 00:20:00.950 --> 00:20:03.609 and Tony as mirror images tackling the problem 00:20:03.609 --> 00:20:06.809 of evil. Oh, so. He argued Walt was the man who 00:20:06.809 --> 00:20:08.670 starts in the light and deliberately chooses 00:20:08.670 --> 00:20:11.640 darkness. He consciously decides to become evil. 00:20:12.039 --> 00:20:14.279 Tony, on the other hand, was kind of born and 00:20:14.279 --> 00:20:16.240 raised in darkness, a product of his environment, 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:18.660 who kept rejecting chances to move towards the 00:20:18.660 --> 00:20:20.779 light, two sides of the same coin. And for Walt, 00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:23.240 the initial justification for that first terrible 00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:25.779 choice, it was family, right? Always. The cancer 00:20:25.779 --> 00:20:28.700 diagnosis, the fear for Skyler, for Walt Jr., 00:20:28.700 --> 00:20:31.140 for the baby on the way, providing for them was 00:20:31.140 --> 00:20:33.400 his stated reason, his shield against the morality 00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:36.079 of it all. But that justification gets twisted 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:38.990 pretty quickly. Like when Gus Fring convinces 00:20:38.990 --> 00:20:41.190 him to stay in the business. Oh, yeah. That's 00:20:41.190 --> 00:20:44.410 a brutal scene. Scalers left him. Walt's trying 00:20:44.410 --> 00:20:47.029 to get out. And Gus basically says, look, it's 00:20:47.029 --> 00:20:49.150 a man's job to provide for his family, period. 00:20:49.289 --> 00:20:51.190 Even if they hate you for it. Even if you're 00:20:51.190 --> 00:20:54.430 unloved. It's this incredibly cynical argument 00:20:54.430 --> 00:20:56.910 that plays right into Walt's deepest insecurities. 00:20:57.170 --> 00:20:59.410 But the ultimate gut punch comes in the finale 00:20:59.410 --> 00:21:02.460 when he finally tells Scowler the truth. That 00:21:02.460 --> 00:21:05.019 scene is devastating. After everything, all the 00:21:05.019 --> 00:21:07.240 lies, he finally admits it. I did it for me. 00:21:07.380 --> 00:21:09.480 I liked it. I was good at it. And I was alive. 00:21:10.259 --> 00:21:12.359 Chilling. It wasn't about family in the end. 00:21:12.359 --> 00:21:15.440 It was about him, his ego, his own sense of power. 00:21:15.640 --> 00:21:17.960 It completes the tragedy. His self -actualization 00:21:17.960 --> 00:21:20.819 was his destruction. But it's interesting, that 00:21:20.819 --> 00:21:23.880 theme of family. It's not just Walt's motivation. 00:21:24.180 --> 00:21:26.380 It drives almost everyone, even the villains. 00:21:26.599 --> 00:21:29.279 It's a crucial link, yeah. Think about Tuco Salamanca. 00:21:29.779 --> 00:21:32.700 Volatile, psychotic. But fiercely protective 00:21:32.700 --> 00:21:34.839 of his uncle Hector. Remember him taking care 00:21:34.839 --> 00:21:37.960 of him? Yeah. And the cousins. Their whole existence 00:21:37.960 --> 00:21:40.640 was about family revenge. La familia es todo. 00:21:41.180 --> 00:21:44.539 Exactly. And Gus Fring's entire meticulous years 00:21:44.539 --> 00:21:47.819 -long vendetta against the Salamancas. It all 00:21:47.819 --> 00:21:50.680 stemmed from them killing his partner, Max, his 00:21:50.680 --> 00:21:53.180 chicken brother. That was his family. Even Mike. 00:21:53.259 --> 00:21:54.900 Everything Mike did, all the dirty work. Was 00:21:54.900 --> 00:21:56.660 to leave money for his granddaughter, Kaylee. 00:21:56.759 --> 00:21:59.000 That was his sole focus. It provides this weird, 00:21:59.079 --> 00:22:01.799 distorted code of ethics across the criminal 00:22:01.799 --> 00:22:04.539 underworld. Even Jack Welker, the neo -Nazi, 00:22:04.619 --> 00:22:07.259 pauses before killing Walt out of a twisted respect 00:22:07.259 --> 00:22:10.160 for family ties with Todd. So family is this 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:13.740 powerful, motivating force for good and mostly 00:22:13.740 --> 00:22:16.339 for ill in this world. But if there's one force 00:22:16.339 --> 00:22:20.029 even stronger in Walt, it's pride. Oh, absolutely. 00:22:20.470 --> 00:22:23.230 Killigan even pinpointed the exact moment he 00:22:23.230 --> 00:22:26.029 believes Walt truly broke bad. And it wasn't 00:22:26.029 --> 00:22:27.789 cooking that first batch of meth. Why was it 00:22:27.789 --> 00:22:29.569 then? Season one, episode five, gray matter. 00:22:29.829 --> 00:22:31.849 When his old friends Gretchen and Elliot Schwartz 00:22:31.849 --> 00:22:34.390 offered to pay for his cancer treatment, no strings 00:22:34.390 --> 00:22:36.309 attached, just help. And Walt turns them down. 00:22:36.390 --> 00:22:38.890 Yeah. Flat out refuses. Out of pure wounded pride. 00:22:39.170 --> 00:22:41.470 His history with them, with the company gray 00:22:41.470 --> 00:22:43.990 matter, his feeling that they cheated him, his 00:22:43.990 --> 00:22:46.549 ego couldn't handle accepting their charity. 00:22:46.809 --> 00:22:49.970 So that decision. rejecting help, and choosing 00:22:49.970 --> 00:22:53.089 crime instead. That was the real point of No 00:22:53.089 --> 00:22:55.930 Return, driven purely by pride. According to 00:22:55.930 --> 00:22:59.210 Gilligan, yes. That choice, born of hubris, set 00:22:59.210 --> 00:23:01.670 everything else in motion. It made the crime 00:23:01.670 --> 00:23:04.329 unnecessary from a purely financial perspective. 00:23:04.769 --> 00:23:07.529 It became about Walt proving something to himself 00:23:07.529 --> 00:23:10.190 and to them. And that theme gets hammered home 00:23:10.190 --> 00:23:12.549 later with the Ozymandias episode. Oh, yeah. 00:23:13.079 --> 00:23:16.700 Season 5, episode 14, widely considered one of 00:23:16.700 --> 00:23:19.420 the greatest episodes of television ever. And 00:23:19.420 --> 00:23:21.880 the title is key. It's from the Shelley poem, 00:23:22.059 --> 00:23:23.940 right? About the ruined statue of a forgotten 00:23:23.940 --> 00:23:26.940 king. Exactly. The poem is all about the fall 00:23:26.940 --> 00:23:30.420 of a prideful, arrogant ruler whose empire crumbled 00:23:30.420 --> 00:23:33.160 to dust. And the episode shows Walt's empire 00:23:33.160 --> 00:23:35.619 doing the exact same thing, losing his money, 00:23:35.720 --> 00:23:38.390 his family turning on him, Hank's death. It's 00:23:38.390 --> 00:23:40.710 a total collapse brought on by his own hubris. 00:23:40.809 --> 00:23:43.650 The parallel is intentional and powerful. There's 00:23:43.650 --> 00:23:45.130 also that Walt Women connection running through 00:23:45.130 --> 00:23:47.309 the show. Right. Walt's name, obviously. But 00:23:47.309 --> 00:23:49.470 more specifically, the copy of Leaves of Grass 00:23:49.470 --> 00:23:52.470 that Gail Boetticher gives him. Gail, his doomed 00:23:52.470 --> 00:23:56.109 love assistant. Yeah. Gail sees Walt as this 00:23:56.109 --> 00:23:59.069 fellow genius, this artist of chemistry. The 00:23:59.069 --> 00:24:01.470 book becomes a symbol of Walt's pride in his 00:24:01.470 --> 00:24:04.750 secret work. His other life. And it becomes his 00:24:04.750 --> 00:24:07.589 downfall. The ultimate irony. Hank finds the 00:24:07.589 --> 00:24:09.809 book in Walt's bathroom, sees the inscription 00:24:09.809 --> 00:24:13.109 from Gale, to my other favorite WW, and boom, 00:24:13.289 --> 00:24:16.230 Heisenberg is revealed. All because Walt couldn't 00:24:16.230 --> 00:24:18.990 let go of that little token to his own ego. His 00:24:18.990 --> 00:24:22.210 pride literally exposed him. Walter White became 00:24:22.210 --> 00:24:25.210 this huge cultural figure, maybe being admired 00:24:25.210 --> 00:24:28.630 in a weird way. But the reaction to Skylar White, 00:24:28.730 --> 00:24:32.140 his wife. That was something else entirely. Oh, 00:24:32.180 --> 00:24:34.400 the backlash against Skyler was intense. And 00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:36.299 frankly, pretty disturbing. It really kicked 00:24:36.299 --> 00:24:38.839 off a lot of necessary conversation about sexism 00:24:38.839 --> 00:24:41.119 and the way audiences react to female characters, 00:24:41.220 --> 00:24:44.039 especially wives, in these kinds of anti -hero 00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:46.319 narratives. Anna Gunn, the actress, she even 00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:48.460 wrote about it, didn't she? She did. A powerful 00:24:48.460 --> 00:24:51.119 op -ed in New York Times in 2013 called I Have 00:24:51.119 --> 00:24:52.799 a Character Issue. She talked about the sheer 00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:55.259 vitriol aimed at Skyler Online. And she compared 00:24:55.259 --> 00:24:57.799 it to how other TV wives like Carmela Soprano 00:24:57.799 --> 00:25:00.890 or Betty Draper were treated. Yeah, she argued 00:25:00.890 --> 00:25:03.029 that these characters, who are often complex 00:25:03.029 --> 00:25:05.470 and strong women reacting to impossible situations, 00:25:05.910 --> 00:25:09.289 get judged by a completely different, much harsher 00:25:09.289 --> 00:25:12.049 standard than their criminal husbands. Skylar 00:25:12.049 --> 00:25:14.329 was smart, tough, trying to protect her kids, 00:25:14.470 --> 00:25:17.230 but she got mountains of hate for not just, you 00:25:17.230 --> 00:25:20.130 know, going along with Walt. Did Gilligan ever 00:25:20.130 --> 00:25:23.529 weigh in on that? He did later on. He acknowledged 00:25:23.529 --> 00:25:25.829 that the show was structured from Walt's perspective, 00:25:25.950 --> 00:25:27.910 which inherently biased the audience against 00:25:27.910 --> 00:25:30.769 Skylar. He admitted the narrative was kind of 00:25:30.769 --> 00:25:33.130 rigged against her. Because we see the world 00:25:33.130 --> 00:25:35.329 through Walt's justifications most of the time. 00:25:35.390 --> 00:25:38.309 Exactly. Even when Walt wasn't physically in 00:25:38.309 --> 00:25:40.589 a scene, his viewpoint often shaped how events 00:25:40.589 --> 00:25:43.369 were presented. Gilligan said he was still troubled 00:25:43.369 --> 00:25:45.829 by the intensity of the hate years later and 00:25:45.829 --> 00:25:47.930 that Anna Gunn absolutely didn't deserve it. 00:25:48.049 --> 00:25:50.710 He even noted that Gus Fring, a ruthless drug 00:25:50.710 --> 00:25:53.009 lord and murderer, didn't get the same level 00:25:53.009 --> 00:25:55.690 of personal venom online as Skyler did. That's 00:25:55.690 --> 00:25:58.390 quite something. Despite that controversy, though, 00:25:58.509 --> 00:26:01.069 the show's success just kept growing, critically 00:26:01.069 --> 00:26:04.700 and commercially. Oh, overwhelmingly. We mentioned 00:26:04.700 --> 00:26:06.920 the Guinness World Record. It dominated the award 00:26:06.920 --> 00:26:10.059 shows too. How many Emmys did it win in the end? 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:14.200 16 primetime Emmys over its run, including Outstanding 00:26:14.200 --> 00:26:17.319 Drama Series twice, Cranston got Lead Actor four 00:26:17.319 --> 00:26:19.640 times, Aaron Paul got Supporting Actor three 00:26:19.640 --> 00:26:22.319 times, Anna Gunn won Supporting Actress twice. 00:26:22.619 --> 00:26:25.180 Just consistent recognition across the board 00:26:25.180 --> 00:26:28.970 for writing, directing, acting. Everything. And 00:26:28.970 --> 00:26:31.450 the audience growth was just phenomenal, especially 00:26:31.450 --> 00:26:33.930 after that Netflix deal. Exponential is the word. 00:26:34.009 --> 00:26:36.869 That binge watching effect was real. The series 00:26:36.869 --> 00:26:40.309 finale pulled in over 10 .3 million viewers live 00:26:40.309 --> 00:26:42.650 on AMC. Which made it one of the most watched 00:26:42.650 --> 00:26:45.250 cable finales ever. Absolutely. It proved that 00:26:45.250 --> 00:26:47.569 a show could build its audience slowly, methodically, 00:26:47.650 --> 00:26:50.109 and then explode thanks to new ways people were 00:26:50.109 --> 00:26:52.710 watching TV. And that success naturally led to... 00:26:52.990 --> 00:26:54.950 More Breaking Bad. Well, more stories in that 00:26:54.950 --> 00:26:57.130 universe, yeah. Yeah. The demand was huge, so 00:26:57.130 --> 00:26:59.269 we got the prequel series Better Call Saul focusing 00:26:59.269 --> 00:27:02.269 on Bob Odenkirk's character, which itself became 00:27:02.269 --> 00:27:04.769 incredibly acclaimed. A masterpiece in its own 00:27:04.769 --> 00:27:07.569 right? Many argue. Definitely. And then the movie 00:27:07.569 --> 00:27:09.970 El Camino, which served as a sequel, giving Jesse 00:27:09.970 --> 00:27:12.049 Pinkman some closure after the events of the 00:27:12.049 --> 00:27:14.130 finale. But the show's influence didn't just 00:27:14.130 --> 00:27:17.390 stay on screen. It seeped into the real world 00:27:17.390 --> 00:27:20.710 in some weird ways. It really did. Like law enforcement 00:27:20.710 --> 00:27:23.789 actually started reporting seizures of blue -tinted 00:27:23.789 --> 00:27:26.410 crystal meth, not because it was better, but 00:27:26.410 --> 00:27:28.809 because dealers were coloring it blue to mimic 00:27:28.809 --> 00:27:32.390 Walt's famous blue sky, trying to cash in on 00:27:32.390 --> 00:27:34.990 the show's notoriety. Life imitating art in a 00:27:34.990 --> 00:27:37.720 pretty dangerous way. way. Yeah. But Albuquerque, 00:27:37.740 --> 00:27:40.220 the city itself, really embraced its connection 00:27:40.220 --> 00:27:42.480 to the show. They had a funeral for Walter White. 00:27:42.619 --> 00:27:45.180 A mock funeral service, yeah. Yeah. It was a 00:27:45.180 --> 00:27:48.519 charity fundraiser, raised almost $17 ,000 for 00:27:48.519 --> 00:27:50.960 a local healthcare organization. People really 00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:52.779 connected with these characters, even the villains. 00:27:53.059 --> 00:27:55.940 And they put up statues. In 2022, yeah. Bronze 00:27:55.940 --> 00:27:58.259 statues of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman were 00:27:58.259 --> 00:28:00.359 commissioned and donated to the city. They're 00:28:00.359 --> 00:28:03.039 basically local icons now. On the less positive 00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:07.299 side, the pizza problem. Ugh, the pizza. Yeah, 00:28:07.339 --> 00:28:09.420 Vince Gilligan had to publicly plead with fans 00:28:09.420 --> 00:28:11.720 to stop throwing pizzas onto the roof of the 00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:13.740 actual house they used for the White residence. 00:28:13.960 --> 00:28:15.880 People were reenacting that scene from season 00:28:15.880 --> 00:28:19.039 three, Caballos in Nombre. Constantly. It became 00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:21.140 a huge nuisance for the poor people who actually 00:28:21.140 --> 00:28:23.200 lived there. They had to install fences and security. 00:28:23.559 --> 00:28:25.859 It's a downside of having your house become a 00:28:25.859 --> 00:28:29.259 pop culture landmark, I guess. And beyond the 00:28:29.259 --> 00:28:32.119 fan stuff, the show even got serious academic 00:28:32.119 --> 00:28:35.609 attention. Legal scholars. It did. The New Mexico 00:28:35.609 --> 00:28:38.789 Law Review dedicated a whole issue to it. Eight 00:28:38.789 --> 00:28:41.589 different scholarly articles analyzing the legal 00:28:41.589 --> 00:28:44.369 issues raised in Breaking Bad. Like what? Things 00:28:44.369 --> 00:28:45.990 like, you know, the complexities of attorney 00:28:45.990 --> 00:28:48.269 -client privilege with a lawyer like Saul Goodman. 00:28:48.450 --> 00:28:50.930 Or whether Walt could have sued Gretchen and 00:28:50.930 --> 00:28:54.470 Elliot over gray matter. Real, deep legal analysis 00:28:54.470 --> 00:28:57.150 of a fictional world. That's maybe the ultimate 00:28:57.150 --> 00:28:59.750 testament to the detail and realism they built 00:28:59.750 --> 00:29:01.470 into that world. It holds up to actual legal 00:29:01.470 --> 00:29:04.940 scrutiny. It really is. So wrapping up this deep 00:29:04.940 --> 00:29:09.019 dive. We've seen the incredible gamble of Gilligan's 00:29:09.019 --> 00:29:11.960 core concept, the protagonist becoming the antagonist. 00:29:12.039 --> 00:29:14.799 We've seen how external factors like the writer's 00:29:14.799 --> 00:29:17.680 strike and crucially Netflix shaped its survival 00:29:17.680 --> 00:29:19.980 and success. We've covered the dedication to 00:29:19.980 --> 00:29:22.019 getting the science mostly right and the craft 00:29:22.019 --> 00:29:24.140 behind those iconic visuals and performances. 00:29:24.460 --> 00:29:26.680 And we've wrestled with those heavy themes, morality, 00:29:27.059 --> 00:29:29.440 family, the corrosive nature of pride and the 00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:31.599 sometimes uncomfortable way audiences reacted, 00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:34.279 especially to Skyler. Which brings us to our 00:29:34.279 --> 00:29:37.119 final thought for you. listener. It circles back 00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:39.279 to that core question of choice versus maybe 00:29:39.279 --> 00:29:42.380 destiny or character. We established that Walt 00:29:42.380 --> 00:29:45.279 had a clear off ramp early on. Gretchen and Elliot 00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:47.859 offered him the money for his treatment. No crime 00:29:47.859 --> 00:29:51.660 needed. He refused purely out of pride. So does 00:29:51.660 --> 00:29:54.559 his ultimate downfall losing everything simply 00:29:54.559 --> 00:29:57.119 prove Gilligan's point? Actions have consequences. 00:29:57.400 --> 00:30:00.279 He made bad choices. He paid the price. End of 00:30:00.279 --> 00:30:04.279 story. Or. Does that powerful Ozymandias parallel 00:30:04.279 --> 00:30:07.299 suggest something else? Was his collapse inevitable 00:30:07.299 --> 00:30:09.359 from the moment he started building his empire, 00:30:09.599 --> 00:30:12.619 driven by that immense fatal flaw of hubris? 00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:16.259 Was his fate sealed by who he was, regardless 00:30:16.259 --> 00:30:18.559 of the specific choices along the way? Was it 00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:21.640 the choices or the man himself? You've got the 00:30:21.640 --> 00:30:23.839 data, the details from our dive today. Which 00:30:23.839 --> 00:30:25.960 angle feels more true to you when you think about 00:30:25.960 --> 00:30:28.329 the whole tragic arc of Walter White? Something 00:30:28.329 --> 00:30:30.150 to chew on. It's what makes the show endlessly 00:30:30.150 --> 00:30:32.549 fascinating. Indeed it is. Thanks for joining 00:30:32.549 --> 00:30:34.569 us for this deep dive into the complex chemistry 00:30:34.569 --> 00:30:35.490 of Breaking Bad.