Starring Malcolm In the Middle's Bryan Cranston, the show has come into its 3rd season. In case you live under a rock, or are waiting in deep anticipation of Flavor of Love 10, the premise of the show centers around Walter White (Cranston) an underpaid over experienced High School chemistry teacher with a lot on his plate. A young son with Cerebral Palsy, a middle aged wife with a baby on the way, and oh yeah, he's got Lung Cancer and a few months to live. So seemingly, living in the glorious state of New Mexico, the only option here is to find one of your deviant students from years past and team up to cook Crystal Meth in order to pay for towering medical bills. Interested yet? You should be.
Granted, most families don't see cooking and dealing Crystal Meth as a choice method of obtaining money, but then the show would be so obviously boring and depressing if it didn't. Unknown to his already suspicious wife Skylar (Anna Gunn), Walt travels into the vast Albuquerque desert with a motor home, some gas masks, and a lot of chemicals. Skylar's suspicions climb a Mt. Everest of "what could my husband be doing-s?" and the love they have suffers for it. Walt stands out in television as what I come to think of as one of the most complex characters in TV history. Sorry guys not Ice-T from Law and Order. While you can sit and watch, thinking to yourself "Walt what are you doing?!" Cranston creates this enigmatic and diverse character who has to ask the questions why and how. His somewhat evil demeanor makes us question his motives when really the only motive he has(no matter who dies, scores, or suffers) is to provide for his family after he is gone.
Walt throughout seasons 1 and 2 seems at his happiest when explaining the chemistry of creating this life ruining drug, and even creates the drug in its purest form to strangely keep his customers safer than they would normally be. His passion for cooking engulfs him and creates a dark alter ego which I would like to call "Drug Dealer Walt." This character I like much more than "Human Walt" because "Drug Dealer Walt" is unapologetic, curious, and brave. "Human Walt" is a lying, conniving father and husband who soon creates a domino effect of lies that touches upon an astounding number of people, more so than he had ever expected.
While Walt and his junkie partner Jesse (superbly played by Aaron Paul) risk life and limb (and a few morals as well) to earn enough money to pay off bills, debts, and creepy Mexican dealers, the show serves another purpose. A greater purpose that reflects many people today. The evil of the health care system. While we can kick and scream or jump for joy at the recent passage of the infamous Health care Reform Bill, this show truly gets to the nitty gritty of how families are torn apart by devilish insurance companies. Walt, a considerably healthy man, never picked up a cigarette in his life, and the company he keeps (his wife Skylar, son Walter Jr., Doctor sister in law Marie and DEA agent brother in law Hank..that's right DEA) seem estranged from the cancer stick as well. So his diagnosis is curious and heartbreaking to say the least. Walt is a caricature for the heartache of real families in this country, whose lives are turned upside down by such familiar and tragic news and the failure to come up with the money they so desperately need.
Now I could go into some absolutely absurd and ridiculous details, but then you wouldn't have a glimmer of suspicion as to why this show is so fantastic. So I leave you with this:
Heartache
Suspense
Humor
Terror
These are the words that surround Breaking Bad, a show like no other. Watch it, and become entranced in something that truly creates a menacing world where there are no more options.
Thank you for listening. I am, the TV enforcer.
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