Breaking Bad is easily one of the best shows of all time, no matter the genre. But how exactly did it come to? The show slowly laid the groundwork in its first half of season one. Then picks up the pace for the far from normal show it actually is. Let’s cook:
Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher, in an average marriage and struggling to make ends meet. He works two jobs and constantly wants more out of life.
While being overshadowed by his DEA agent brother-in law Hank Schrader, Walter seems burdened by the life he could’ve had, seeking desperately for a shock to the system. He gets one, that’s for sure, but not in the way he expected.
After being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, Walt is struck with a life decision (literally). To spend his final days in the same boring life or to do something about it. As he struggles with the payments of his treatments, those dreams start to fade. Until one ride-along with Hank and the DEA change that.
During an arrest, Walt sees a former student of his Jesse Pinkman, flee the crime scene. With the help of blackmail, he offers Jesse an opportunity to be his business partner.
They would both cook meth and sell it in order to raise funds for his treatments while setting aside money for his family when he’s gone. A complete shock to the system for Walt indeed.
Thanks to Jesse’s street connections and Walt’s chemistry. The two create a product that nobody else can compete with. Naturally, it creates enemies and roadblocks along the journey. Hank and the DEA catch wind of this new product and begin to investigate. Unbeknownst it’s his brother in laws doing.
The season is often filled with introductions of course.
However the writing of each episode provide growth and humor to the characters, while providing its nerve wrecking tension throughout. It’s not supposed to be a comedy rather a violent crime thriller. We start to see the secrets slowly unfold and Walt tries desperately to adjust to his new illegal life. There are scenes that show the lengths he’s willing to go just to keep his family at bay.
Although it has lots of ground to cover, Breaking Bad season one set the stage for what would become one of the most acclaimed shows of the past decade. It only gets better as the seasons go on, as Walter White slowly descends into a completely different man, or just the man he’s always wanted to be perhaps.
