Breaking Bad is an American television drama series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and produced in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Breaking Bad is the story of Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a struggling high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with advanced lung cancer at the beginning of the series. He turns to a life of crime, producing and selling methamphetamine with a former student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), with the aim of securing his family's financial future before he dies.[1]
Breaking Bad has received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for its writing, cinematography, and the acting ability of its cast.[2][3] The series has won six Emmy Awards—including three consecutive wins for Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Cranston, one win for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Paul, and two nominations for Outstanding Drama Series. Cranston has also been nominated twice for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama.
The series is broadcast in the United States and Canada on the cable channel AMC, and is a production of Sony Pictures Television. It premiered on January 20, 2008, and has completed its fourth season. On August 14, 2011, AMC announced that Breaking Bad had been renewed for a fifth and final season consisting of 16 episodes.[4] The fifth season will be split into two parts, each consisting of 8 episodes, and premiere on July 15, 2012.[5]
Breaking Bad was created by Vince Gilligan, who spent several years writing the FOX series The X-Files. Gilligan wanted to create a series in which the protagonist became the antagonist. "Television is historically good at keeping its characters in a self-imposed stasis so that shows can go on for years or even decades," he said. "When I realized this, the logical next step was to think, how can I do a show in which the fundamental drive is toward change?"[2] He added that his goal with Walter White is to turn him from Mr. Chips into Scarface.[3][6][7] He has said it is difficult to write for Walter White because the character is so dark and morally questionable: "I'm going to miss the show when it's over, but on some level, it'll be a relief to not have Walt in my head anymore."[8] As the series has progressed, Gilligan and the writing staff of Breaking Bad have made Walter more and more unsympathetic.[3] Gilligan said: "He's going from being a protagonist to an antagonist. We want to make people question who they're pulling for, and why."[6] Cranston said by the fourth season: "I think Walt's figured out it's better to be a pursuer than the pursued. He's well on his way to badass."[7] Gilligan defines the term "breaking bad" as "to raise hell".[9]
The network originally ordered nine episodes for the first season (including the pilot), but the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike limited the production to seven episodes.[10] The series is set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico.[11] It is shot on 35 mm film.[12] Breaking Bad reportedly costs $3 million per episode to produce, higher than the average cost for a basic cable program.[13] Vince Gilligan has indicated that he intends to conclude Breaking Bad with the fifth season.[14] In early August 2011, negotiations began over a deal regarding the fifth and possible final season between the network AMC and Sony Pictures Television, the production company of the series. AMC proposed a shortened fifth season (six to eight episodes, instead of 13) to cut costs, but the producers declined. Sony then approached other cable networks about possibly picking up the show if a deal could not be made.[15] On August 14, 2011, a deal was made where AMC renewed the series for a final 16 episodes.[4]
You're going to see that underlying humanity, even when he's making the most devious, terrible decisions, and you need someone who has that humanity – deep down, bedrock humanity – so you say, watching this show, 'All right, I'll go for this ride. I don't like what he's doing, but I understand, and I'll go with it for as far as it goes.' If you don't have a guy who gives you that, despite the greatest acting chops in the world, the show is not going to succeed.
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Gilligan cast Bryan Cranston for the role of Walter White based on having worked with him in a sixth season episode of the science fiction television series The X-Files. Cranston played an anti-Semitic man with a terminal illness who took series protagonist Fox Mulder hostage. Gilligan said the character had to be simultaneously loathsome and sympathetic, and that "Bryan alone was the only actor who could do that, who could pull off that trick. And it is a trick. I have no idea how he does it."[8][16] AMC network executives were initially hesitant about the casting choice, knowing of Cranston only from his role Hal on the comedy series Malcolm in the Middle, but they were persuaded after Gilligan screened the X-Files episode for them.[17]
Gilligan originally intended for Jesse Pinkman's character to be killed at the end of Breaking Bad's first season. Originally, Gilligan wanted Jesse to die in a botched drug deal as a plot device to plague the main protagonist Walter White with guilt. However, Gilligan said by the second episode of the season, he was so impressed with Jesse's character and Aaron Paul's performance that "it became pretty clear early on that would be a huge, colossal mistake, to kill off Jesse".[18]
Along with Gilligan, the show's other executive producer is Mark Johnson. Michelle MacLaren initially joined the crew as an episodic director for the second season and rose to the position of executive producer for the fourth season. Melissa Bernstein and Sam Catlin are co-executive producers for the show.
John Shiban was a writer and a consulting producer for the second and third seasons but then left the crew. Writers George Mastras and Peter Gould began working on the series as story editors for the first season and became supervising producers for the fourth season. Thomas Schnauz joined the crew as a writer and co-producer for the third season and was also promoted to supervising producer for the fourth season.
Karen Moore was the series on set producer for the first two seasons. She left the crew after the second season and was replaced by Stewart A. Lyons. Star Bryan Cranston has become increasingly involved behind the camera as the series has progressed. He began directing episodes as of the second season and became a producer for the fourth season.
File:BreakingBadcastphoto.jpg
Breaking Bad cast from left to right: Giancarlo Esposito, Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Aaron Paul, Bryan Cranston, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt, Anna Gunn, RJ Mitte
- Bryan Cranston as Walter White – a chemistry teacher diagnosed with terminal lung cancer who turns to making meth to secure his family's finances. Cranston stated that, though he enjoyed doing comedy, he decided he "...should really focus on doing something else. But I think any good drama worth its weight always has a sprinkling of comedy in it, because you can ease the tension to an audience when it's necessary, and then build it back up again. Walt White has no clue he's occasionally funny, but as an actor I recognize when there are comedic moments and opportunities."[19]
- Anna Gunn as Skyler White – Walter's wife who was pregnant with her and Walt's second child prior to his diagnosis, and who becomes increasingly suspicious of her husband after he begins behaving in unfamiliar ways. Gunn sees Skyler as "grounded, tough, smart and driven". Gunn sees Skyler's stalled writing career as her biggest dream, saying "I think she really deep down yearns to be an artist and to be creative and productive."[20]
- Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman – Walter's former student and drug dealer who partners up with Walt and makes high-level meth. Paul sees Jesse as a funny kid. "He's just this lost soul – I don't think he's a bad kid, he just got mixed in the wrong crowd." Paul elaborated on the character's background, saying "He doesn't come from an abusive, alcoholic background. But maybe he just didn't relate to his father, maybe his father was too strict and too proper for Jesse." Paul compared the character's relationship with Walt to The Odd Couple.[21]
- Dean Norris as Hank Schrader – Walter's DEA agent brother-in-law. Hank has been described as the "comic relief". Norris, who has played several cops before in film and television, stated "Having played so many cops, I've talked with a lot of technical advisers, so I've been able to pick up a lot. Coincidentally, one of my best friends growing up is a cop in Chicago, and one of my other best friends out in LA is a sheriff. So I get to see all the components of that culture."[22]
- Betsy Brandt as Marie Schrader – Hank's wife and Skyler's kleptomaniac sister. Brandt described Marie as "an unpleasant bitch", but also stated there was more to her than that. "I think we're seeing more of it now that she would be there for her family. But it's all about her." [23]
- RJ Mitte as Walter White, Jr. – Walter and Skyler's son, has cerebral palsy. He begins lashing out after Walter's cancer announcement. Like Walter Jr., Mitte has cerebral palsy, although his is a more mild form.[24] Mitte stated he had to regress from his therapy to portray the character, staying up late into the night to slur his speech and learned to walk on crutches so his walking wouldn't look fake.[25]
- Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman (recurring season 2, main cast season 3–) – a crooked strip mall lawyer who represents Walt and Jesse. Odenkirk based his character on film producer Robert Evans. "I thought about Robert Evans because I've listened to The Kid Stays in the Picture on CD. He's constantly switching up his cadence and his delivery. He emphasizes interesting words. He has loads of attitude in almost every line that he says. So when I rehearse the scenes alone I do my impersonation of Robert Evans to find those moments and turns. Then I go out and I do Saul."[26]
- Giancarlo Esposito as Gustavo "Gus" Fring (recurring season 2, main cast season 3–4) – a high level drug distributor who has a cover as a fast food chain owner. Esposito stated for the third season, he incorporated his yoga training in his performance. "Gus is the coolest cucumber that ever walked the Earth. I think about Eddie Olmos way back in Miami Vice. He was like dead – he was hardly breathing. I thought, how is this guy just standing in this fire and doing nothing? Gus has totally allowed me that level of flexibility and relaxation – not because he has ultimate power and he knows he can take someone's life. He's just confident."[27]
- Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut (recurring season 2, main cast season 3–) – a cleaner and hitman who works for Gus. The character of Mike has been compared to Harvey Keitel's performance in Pulp Fiction, which Banks stated he isn't trying to be like. Banks said this on the matter: "I immediately tried to put it out of my mind, quite honestly. His cleaner ain't my cleaner. But throughout this world, you would suspect there had been a great many cleaners, whether government-run or individual contractors."[28]
In an interview with The New York Times, creator Vince Gilligan said the larger lesson of the series is that "actions have consequences".[8] He elaborated on the show's philosophy:
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If religion is a reaction of man, and nothing more, it seems to me that it represents a human desire for wrongdoers to be punished. I hate the idea of Idi Amin living in Saudi Arabia for the last 25 years of his life. That galls me to no end. I feel some sort of need for biblical atonement, or justice, or something. I like to believe there is some comeuppance, that karma kicks in at some point, even if it takes years or decades to happen. My girlfriend says this great thing that’s become my philosophy as well. 'I want to believe there's a heaven. But I can't not believe there's a hell.' |
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In a piece examining the show in comparison to The Sopranos, Mad Men and The Wire, Chuck Klosterman said that Breaking Bad is "built on the uncomfortable premise that there's an irrefutable difference between what's right and what's wrong, and it's the only one where the characters have real control over how they choose to live." Klosterman added that the central question of Breaking Bad is "What makes a man 'bad' — his actions, his motives, or his conscious decision to be a bad person?" Klosterman concluded that, in the world of Breaking Bad, "goodness and badness are simply complicated choices, no different than anything else."[2]
Ross Douthat of The New York Times, in a response to Klosterman's piece, compared Breaking Bad and The Sopranos, stating that both series are "morality plays" that are "both interested in moral agency". Ross went on to say that Walter White and Tony Soprano "represent mirror-image takes on the problem of evil, damnation and free will". Walter as a man who "deliberately abandons the light for the darkness" while Tony is "someone born and raised in darkness" who turns down "opportunity after opportunity to claw his way upward to the light."[29]
A recurring motif within the series is the image of a damaged teddy bear and its missing eye. The teddy bear first appears at the end of the music video "Fallacies" for Jesse's fake band, "TwaüghtHammër", which was released as a webisode in February 2009 leading to the second season.[30] The bear is only seen in flashforwards during the second season. The flashforwards are shot in black and white, with the sole exception of the pink teddy bear, which Vince Gilligan called an homage to the film Schindler's List.[31] At the end of the season, Walter inadvertently helps cause the mid-air collision of two airliners. The pink teddy bear is then revealed to have fallen out of one of the planes and into the White family pool. Vince Gilligan called the accident an attempt to visualize "all the terrible grief that Walt has wrought upon his loved ones" and a "judgement of God".[32]
In the first episode of the third season, Walt fishes it out of his pool and later finds the amputated eye in his pocket. Television critic Myles McNutt has called it "a symbol of the damage [Walter] feels responsible for."[33] Fans and critics have compared the appearance of the teddy bear's face to the image of Gus Fring's face in the fourth season finale.[34]
The first season was originally intended to be nine episodes, but due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike only seven episodes were filmed.[10] The first season premiered on January 20, 2008, and concluded on March 9, 2008. The complete first season was released on Region 1 DVD on February 24, 2009[35] and Region A Blu-ray on March 16, 2010.[36]
A struggling high school chemistry teacher, Walter White (Cranston), is diagnosed with inoperable, advanced lung cancer. On a ride along with his DEA agent brother-in-law Hank (Dean Norris), Walter sees a former student of his, Jesse Pinkman (Paul), fleeing the scene of a meth lab. He later contacts Jesse and devises a scheme to become partners in an attempt to combine their skills to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine. Walter says he wants to provide financial stability for his pregnant wife, Skyler (Gunn) and disabled son, and to pay for his expensive cancer treatment. During Walter and Jesse's first days of selling Albuquerque's finest meth, they encounter a series of problems with local drug dealers.
On May 7, 2008, AMC announced that Breaking Bad was renewed for a second, 13-episode season.[37] Production began in July 2008, and the season premiered on March 8, 2009 and concluded on May 31, 2009.[38] The complete second season was released on Region 1 DVD and Region A Blu-ray on March 16, 2010.[35]
Walter continues to find himself facing insurmountable medical bills from his cancer treatment. Despite having several bad experiences while producing meth with Jesse, Walter agrees to rejoin his partner. The two begin producing meth but run into multiple problems. Jesse's friend Badger (Matt L. Jones) is arrested while selling meth in a sting operation. Walter hires a lawyer, Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk), to help Badger. Walter and Jesse drive a recreational vehicle into the desert and produce meth for four days. Later, Combo, another one of Jesse's friends and distributors, is killed by a rival gang for selling meth on their territory. Saul suggests the two find a new distribution model. Throughout this Jesse has been building a relationship with his neighbor and landlord, Jane. Jane is revealed to be recovering from addiction, but relapses and the two begin doing heroin. Saul finds them a new business partner, Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), who is willing to pay $1.2 million for the 38 pounds of meth they produced. Walter hastily delivers the product to Gus, but misses his daughter's birth. Walt visits Jesse's house and sees Jane vomiting in her sleep, but does nothing to save her. Skyler confronts Walter about his frequent absences and excuses. She begins to piece together his secret life, and demands the two separate.
On April 2, 2009, AMC announced that Breaking Bad was renewed for a third, 13-episode season.[39] It premiered on March 21, 2010, and concluded on June 13, 2010. The complete third season was released on Region 1 DVD and Region A Blu-ray on June 7, 2011.[40]
Walter wishes to reunite his family, but Skyler is still suspicious of Walter's second life. Walter believes he can mend the tension between them by confessing to her that he has been producing meth. Skyler is appalled by the confession and demands a formal divorce. Meanwhile, Gus offers to pay Walter three million dollars for three months of his service. He even offers to provide Walter with a state-of-the-art production facility and a brilliant lab assistant, Gale (David Costabile). Jesse is continuing to produce and sell meth by himself. Hank is working with the DEA to investigate Jesse and is slowly gathering evidence to make an arrest. Jesse threatens to report Walter to the police if he is arrested, but Walter offers him Gale's position at the lab. After obtaining the position, Jesse begins stealing meth from the lab and selling it in secret on the side. Jesse gets romantically involved with a woman he meets in his rehab group and learns her kid brother, age 11, was put up by Gus and his street dealers to kill Combo. Jesse decides to avenge Combo. Walter aids Jesse in escaping from Gus's wrath. Gus begins to lose trust in Walter and asks Gale to take over the lab. He orders his henchmen to kill Walter and Jesse. After he is abducted by Mike and Victor, Walter instructs Jesse to kill Gale in order to become the organization's only chemist.
On June 14, 2010, AMC announced Breaking Bad was renewed for a fourth, 13-episode season.[41] Production began in January 2011,[42] the season premiered on July 17, 2011 and concluded on October 9, 2011.[43] Originally, mini episodes of four minutes in length were to be produced before the premiere of the fourth season,[44] but these did not come to fruition.[45]
Jesse follows Walter's instructions and murders Gale. Gus decides to discipline the two by enforcing stricter policies at the lab. He also tries to break Walter and Jesse's friendship by assigning them to separate work details. While Walter works in the meth lab, Jesse escorts Mike (Jonathan Banks), one of Gus’s enforcers, to retrieve payments and provide back-up. Walter and Jesse become increasingly distant and hostile to each other. Meanwhile, Hank, who has been recovering from his last engagement with the cartel, finds evidence linking Gale to Gus. He believes Gus is a major drug distributor and starts looking for tangible evidence to file charges. Gus realizes Walter's close ties with Hank could jeopardize his entire operation. Gus fires Walter and threatens to kill his entire family. Jesse and Walter put their differences aside and agree to murder Gus, convincing former cartel enforcer Hector Salamanca to detonate a suicide bomb; Hector succeeds in this endeavor, killing himself, Gus and his henchman. Walter and Jesse then proceed to destroy the meth lab and Walter declares to his wife, "I won".
On August 14, 2011, AMC announced that Breaking Bad was renewed for a fifth and final season consisting of 16 episodes.[4] The season will be split into two parts, each consisting of 8 episodes. The season will premiere on July 15, 2012, with the second half premiering in summer 2013.[5]
Breaking Bad has received widespread critical acclaim and has been praised by some critics as the greatest television drama of all time.[2][3] On the review aggregator website Metacritic, the first season scored 74/100,[46] the second season scored 85/100,[47] the third season scored 89/100[48] and the fourth season scored 96/100.[49] The American Film Institute listed Breaking Bad as one of the top ten television series of 2010 and 2011.[50][51]
For the first season, the series saw a mostly positive reception. New York Post critic Linda Stasi praised the series, particularly the acting of Cranston and Paul, stating "Cranston and Paul are so good, it's astounding. I'd say the two have created great chemistry, but I'm ashamed to say such a cheap thing."[52] Robert Bianco of USA Today also praised Cranston and Paul, exclaiming "There is humor in the show, mostly in Walt's efforts to impose scholarly logic on the business and on his idiot apprentice, a role Paul plays very well. But even their scenes lean toward the suspenseful, as the duo learns that killing someone, even in self-defense, is ugly, messy work."[53]
The second season saw critical acclaim. Entertainment Weekly critic Ken Tucker stated "Bad is a superlatively fresh metaphor for a middle-age crisis: It took cancer and lawbreaking to jolt Walt out of his suburban stupor, to experience life again—to take chances, risk danger, do things he didn't think himself capable of doing. None of this would work, of course, without Emmy winner Cranston's ferocious, funny selflessness as an actor. For all its bleakness and darkness, there's a glowing exhilaration about this series: It's a feel-good show about feeling really bad."[54] San Francisco Chronicle's Tim Goodman claimed "The first three episodes of Season 2 that AMC sent out continue that level of achievement with no evident missteps. In fact, it looks as if Gilligan's bold vision for Breaking Bad, now duly rewarded against all odds, has invigorated everyone involved in the project. You can sense its maturity and rising ambition in each episode."[55] Horror novelist Stephen King lauded the series, comparing it to the likes of Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet.[56]
The third season also saw critical acclaim. Time proclaimed "It's a drama that has chosen the slow burn over the flashy explosion, and it's all the hotter for that choice."[57] Newsday stated Breaking Bad was still TV's best series and it stayed true to itself.[58] Tim Goodman praised the writing, acting, and cinematography, pointing out the "visual adventurousness" of the series. Goodman went on to call the show's visuals as "a combination of staggering beauty - the directors make use of numerous wide-angle landscape portraits — and transfixing weirdness."[59] After the finale aired, The A.V. Club said that season three was "one of television's finest dramatic accomplishments. And what makes it so exciting — what makes the recognition of the current golden age so pressing — is that the season has not been, as [another reviewer] put it in another context, 'television good.' The heart-in-the-throat quality of this season comes as much from the writers' exhilarating disregard for television conventions as from the events portrayed."[60]
Season four won universal critical acclaim. The Boston Globe referred to the show as a "taut exercise in withheld disaster" and declared the show "riveting".[61] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette labelled the series "smart and thought provoking that elevates the artistic achievements of the medium".[62] Season four was listed by many critics as one of the best seasons of television in 2011.[63] Time listed Walter White's "I am the one who knocks" line as one of the best television lines of 2011.[64] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette listed it as the best series of 2011 while noting that, "Breaking Bad is that rare TV series that has never made a seriously damaging storytelling misstep."[65] The A.V. Club's review of the finale, summed it up as a "fantastically fitting end for a season that ran in slow motion, starting and continuing with so many crises begging for resolution week after week. Now the decks are cleared, but that doesn't mean anybody is home free. Nothing's ever easy on Breaking Bad." The reviewer continued to exalt the season, and proclaimed, "What a season of television — truly something none of us could ever have expected, or claimed we deserved."[66] Best-selling author Noah Charney called it "the best show on television" and compared it to great works of literature for its three-dimensional characters and combination of action, drama, and dark comedy.[67]
The series has won numerous awards and nominations, including six Emmy Awards and Cranston winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series three consecutive years.[68] and two consecutive Outstanding Drama Series nominations. Overall, the show has won 26 industry awards and been nominated for a further 58.[69]
An online customizable video was used to promote season one. Users would receive a webcam message from Walt urging them to live their life to the fullest, at the end of which he would score their name from a list.[70] A fictional charity website was set up for Walter White in season two by Walter Jr.[71] The website's donation button links to the National Cancer Coalition.
For season two, there was a viral marketing campaign in which users could experience meeting Walt from a first-person perspective.[72] Beginning with season two, series editor Kelley Dixon posted podcasts for each episode on the official Breaking Bad website, where she would discuss the episode along with guests that included the show's writers, directors, actors, and series creator Vince Gilligan.[73]
Season three promotion included an interactive role-playing comic designed by Nicholas Fortugno called "The Interrogation", located on AMC's Breaking Bad website; in the game, users play Walter White's brother-in-law, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Agent Hank Schrader, as he interrogates a suspect in a murder and gun-running scheme.[74] Also released prior to season three was the Breaking Bad Criminal Aptitude Test, a personality quiz that compared the user to various criminal character types featured in the series.[75] Season three promotion also featured an elaborate website devoted to Bob Odenkirk's character Saul Goodman. The site includes legal advice, fashion tips and customer testimonials.[76]
Promotion for season four included an interactive role-playing comic, in which the user acts as Jesse Pinkman as he tries to recover his savings, which he had entrusted to a local money launderer who has disappeared along with the money; the game also features the characters of Badger and Saul Goodman.[77] Also launched in season four was an Interactive Case File, a digitized version of the file Hank refers to while investigating Gale Boetticher's murder. The file includes crime scene photos, police reports and a virtual copy of Gale's lab notebook.[78]
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