When Vince Gilligan pitched “Breaking Bad” to AMC, he
presented a mission statement, which amounted to a monumental spoiler: he would
turn Mr. Chips into Scarface. The show’s protagonist was Walter White (Bryan
Cranston) is a high school chemistry teacher working a second job to support
his family: his pregnant wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn), and his teenage son, Walt
Jr. (R.J. Mitte), who has cerebral palsy. Desperately hard up for money and
constantly put down by those around him, Walt reaches the breaking point when
he's diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. He connects with former student
Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) to start making and selling methamphetamines in
order to raise money for his struggling family.
Vince Gilligan has learned from his time on "The
X-Files." That show gave Gilligan an education in how to get an audience
hooked and keep them on the edge of their seats, and Gilligan has never
forgotten those lessons. If anything, he and his writers have inventively
expanded on them during "Breaking Bad's" nail-biting five-season run.
There are elements of The Godfather and The Sopranos in Breaking Bad "If
you're going to steal, steal from the best," says Gilligan.
Set against the dusty, acrid atmosphere of New Mexico, the perfect
place for some meth cooking in the old camper van. At its core, “Breaking Bad”
has charted the moral descent of its central character, Walter White, Cranston’s
performance takes us on a journey with Walt -- from the henpecked husband and
chemistry teacher to underpants sporting meth maker to would-be kingpin alter
ego the murderous “Heisenberg” with his iconic pork pie hat, each step he takes
up the criminal ladder has fed the monster within as he gets further and
further from who he was. Even though Walter is the lead character, Jesse
Pinkman is the heart of the show His character was supposed to be written off
after the first seven episodes, but actor Aaron Paul absolutely nailed the
character and turned him into a fan favorite.
His partnership with Walt is pure television gold as the two
are such an unlikely pair, yet they actually compliment each other. Jesse is a
dope addict and dealer who is stuck in an awful pattern of bad life choice
after bad life choice. But his connections on the street provide the cash flow
that Walter needs for this meth experiment to work. As for Albuquerque’s
finest, his cooking provides Jesse with the best product he’s ever seen and
lets him move up the chain in the local drug scene.
"All Bad things must come to an end."
That's the tagline for the second half of Breaking Bad's
fifth and final season, which premieres August 11 on AMC. Vince
Gilligan recently admitted that he wept after writing the final episode of the
show. "I haven't told my crew this, I actually cried writing the end."
Breaking Bad season 5 concludes in August will be available
only on Netflix in the UK.
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