Why 'Breaking Bad' Is The Best Show Ever And Why That Matters

Forbes ^ | 9/16/201 | Allen St. John

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Twenty three minutes into Episode 514, entitled “Ozymandias” after a Shelley poem, Breaking Bad made television history. Except that most fans didn’t notice. They were instead ready to cry, scream, vomit, or hurl a waffle iron at the plasma TV, or some combination of the above.

[Vision Thing]

You may be right. They certainly flash way too much of Cranston’s badheaded skin ever since the chemo, and they certainly don’t let him cover it up enough with his black Heisenberg hat.

[Talisker]

Extremely masterful handling of the transformation of every man to evil Machiavelli.

That's just it right there - he's not everyman.

He was a sick f**k before he ever decided to make meth, otherwise he never would have decided to make meth.

It's that normalization of psycopathy that makes this show so incredibly evil.

And as a perfect example, you bought it, hook line and sinker.

P.S. Meth isn't a drug like other drugs. Meth is the Aushwitz of drugs. Lots of people have fought wars for various reasons they believed were correct. But very few have created Aushwitzes.

Breaking Bad normalizes Aushwitz with fine writing and acting and productions. That's why it's so evil.

[Ransomed]

Well, if you don’t find Cranston prancing around in his undershorts titillating, all I can say is that I bet all the many other offensive gratuitous sex-scenes in BB are also lost on you.

I bet you didn’t even notice the homo-agenda this show pushes with every episode!

Freegards, Pete Steel RIP

[3Fingas]

Haven’t seen the first show of the season for SOA. I heard there is some school shooting in it. Kurt Sutter just trying to hit us over the head again with his liberal politics.

Whatever happened to plot device of Jax reading his father’s memoir? I actually like it. I like the show when it concentrates on the history of the club and the brotherhood of two wheels theme.

[expat1000]

SOA is one show that I have to actually close my eyes in some scenes because of the violence...but I still watch the show anyway.

The last few minutes of S06E01 which just aired is a bit tough to watch because of the implied, not graphic, violence.

[FAA]

I’ve read a lot of idiocy here tonight and this is pert near the top of the heap.

“FYI, it’s mind control, it’s evil. And to top it all off, it’s a cheeseball attempt at mind control. The sheeple are so stupid nowadays, a cheeseball attempt at mind control works quite well.

Making drug dealing “normal”, or “entertainment”, in the minds of the sheeple.

They made the hero figure a guy that most Americans can “connect” with.

It would be diffucult to make mind control any more obvious.

If you really hate the show, there’s a pretty good chance your mind is still functioning.”

This show has never, does not, and never tried to make drug dealing “cool.” It SCREAMS that that sort of lifestyle is the road to ruination. The entire series is dedicated to watching an otherwise moral and decent man descend into depths of depravity and disdain over what he is doing. Over what he is doing to himself, his family, and those he loves. Yet, he can’t help himself because of hubris. Walt is both the strongest man you’ve ever seen while at the same time being the weakest man you’ve ever experienced. “Breaking Bad” is just about the closest thing to an Ancient morality tale that I know of in the medium today. It’s brilliantly done, wonderfully crafted, and, bone shatteringly acted.

I simply have pity upon those who haven’t experienced it, come to understand it, and, drink in the values it reinforces.

“Immoral and Amoral characters. Gory violence. Meaningless sex and nudity. Lots and lots of foul language.”

There isn’t just a whole lot of gory violence in “Breaking Bad.” No nudity at all that I can recall. Foul language? The production crew allows one “F” word per season. Period. I don’t recall all that many other four letter words either. The characters in this show didn’t need profanity to get their points across. No. The situations themselves, wonderfully choreographed, did the speaking for them in ways to no spoken word could have.

“Breaking Bad” is all about a decent man destroying himself for all the right reasons. Machinations of government. The word on the street. His own individual talents. The desire to provide for and protect the family. They all come together is a symphony of conflict that I couldn’t imagine and wouldn’t want on my deepest enemy.

It’s a shame that so many posters here don’t have the intellectual fortitude to step outside their circle and hear something new. Ya know, sort of like some Jewish people did 2000 years ago. I would recommend this show to any and everyone who is trying to teach another about morality. The protagonist will die due to his bad deeds. He erred, no matter how originally well his intents, and he will pay for it. So will his family. The “bad” guys don’t do so well either no matter their power. They lose too.

In the end, it tells us that doing bad for the sake of the family is bad. The family must be whole. It also tells us that doing bad for the sake of bad doesn’t always punish. These are just moral, mortal truths. Learn it, understand it.

[Talisker]

“And now you’re a tiny bit desensitized. “

Praise God! that I have ~you~ to inform me of the status of my own mind, at any given time.

I’m busy with the Crockpot and some other things I need to do, right now.

Would you be so kind as to post any/all my other thoughts and opinions on this thread for, oh, about an hour or so until I’m done?

Thanks much!

Schizophrenics don't take their meds because they can't perceive their illness.

You're watching a dramatizations of one of the most horrific, criminal, perverted and barbaric lifestyles ever created on planet Earth, for entertainment pleasure.

And you see nothing wrong with this.

Lemme guess - you believe people should not expose themselves to pornography, right?

Lemme guess again - you don't see Breaking Bad as spiritual pornography.

Nuff said.

[Vision Thing]

If you follow the show from the start up to what we saw in last night’s episode, you’d hardly say the show wants you to accept what’s being portrayed. Instead, you’d most likely end up like most who saw it: heartbroken by and furious at what the main character has unleashed through his bad decisions. The consequences of the lifestyle are being portrayed in its full horror.

[Salamander]

How do you figure that?

He was a milquetoast chemistry teacher who had a second job at a car wash.

Only after getting his DOA diagnosis does he look to finding another source of income to leave his family.

The recruitment of Jesse and the “silent partner” bit showed his naivete and ignorance.

He flinched like a sissy at the sight of a gun.

And then the reality of his stupid choice sinks in and he incrementally becomes what he hates and fears.

Classic tragedy.

I’m not sure what issues you’re personally projecting here but I do think you should calm down a bit.

You know as well as I do that Walt is hurtling towards his own well earned destruction.

Greek tragedy and hubris demand it.

The Bible predicts it.

It can end no other way.

This show is a morality play.

No more, no less.

Do you ever wonder if there are real meth makers watching the show?

Do you suppose they see themselves on the screen?

Do you deny that some of them might very well reconsider their paths, knowing that they will eventually wind up like every dead character, too?

[PieterCasparzen]

I watch it and am fascinated by all of it, mostly because of the storytelling and the cinematography, but in no way is it making me want to enter the world portrayed within it.

But you are learning about the meth business - as portrayed in this show. The main character has an excuse for entering the meth business.

Coincidentally, I just heard today of a young family that I am a distant relative of has been taken down for dealing drugs. I've only met the grandmother and father of the mother of this "household" - which includes children, which, of course, have been taken away.

Those older relatives are facing a nightmare. Grandmother is losing her great-grandchildren, etc.

It's all fun and games - and cinematography - until it strikes us personally. Up the street, when we get robbed or attacked by drug dealers, etc., etc.

We must always remember that young people watch TV. And they are impressionable - even when they think they are not.

I know when I was young I watched shows that I really enjoyed - but I would have emphatically denied that they had any effect on me. Looking back, seeing mistakes I made in my life, I see that I would have been wrong. Those shows helped to form an image in my mind of what was cool and what was not. I am incredibly stubborn and independent-minded - but nevertheless things I pursued in my adult life were absolutely informed by what I thought was cool and what was not.

So even though we're not "being affected" ourselves, as older, more mature people - younger people are also watching, and they can't help but be affected.

And it's most important to note that the viewership ratings are what keep things on the air or get them knocked off. Everytime I watch something, I'm helping to keep it on the air.

It would be just as easy to produce entertainment that worked to the opposite effect.

For example, the movie "Pale Rider".

If the lead character was murdered by other drug dealers at the end of episode 1 and that was it, it would be a better message for young people. But we can't have that when we can make a soap opera that lasts for years, while they earn piles of money for being "bad".

Young people are very susceptible to the mantra of "get rich or die trying".

[Talisker]

It’s a shame that so many posters here don’t have the intellectual fortitude to step outside their circle and hear something new. Ya know, sort of like some Jewish people did 2000 years ago. I would recommend this show to any and everyone who is trying to teach another about morality. The protagonist will die due to his bad deeds. He erred, no matter how originally well his intents, and he will pay for it. So will his family. The “bad” guys don’t do so well either no matter their power. They lose too.

In the end, it tells us that doing bad for the sake of the family is bad. The family must be whole. It also tells us that doing bad for the sake of bad doesn’t always punish. These are just moral, mortal truths. Learn it, understand it.

Should we watch kiddie porn to learn how wrong it is?

Enjoy your show. But praising it as a moral education is like pointing to your waste in the toilet and bragging about how you dodn't crap on the carpet.

Hate to break this to you, but we already learned the lesson you're marveling at before we hit puberty.

And quite frankly, so did you. Exposing yourself to it again at your age, for entertainment, is an indication that something is wrong. FYI.

[Ransomed]

Think how many denuded or near denuded craniums are depicted in Breaking Bad. No way they would get away with that in the 60’s. All this show is about is skin, skin, skin.

Freegards

[Salamander]

Apparently Jax has thrown all of his dad’s idealistic notes overboard for the power/protection of the club.

The show has gone on too long, IMO and now Sutter is just ‘going for the gore’, as they say.

I’m surprised to hear there’s another season in the works.

[PieterCasparzen]

“And now you’re a tiny bit desensitized. “

Praise God! that I have ~you~ to inform me of the status of my own mind, at any given time.

I'm not reading your mind, I'm analyzing what you wrote, which was:

I had no idea the particulars of such things and frankly, I’m a bit freaked that this is going on, all the time, somewhere.

a) you "had no idea"

b) "I'm a bit freaked out"

Well - if you see the same episode a second time - you won't be "freaked out" the same as you were the first time you saw that episode, right ?

That is the definition of "desensitized":

1. To render insensitive or less sensitive.
2. Immunology To make (an individual) nonreactive or insensitive to an antigen.
3. To make emotionally insensitive or unresponsive, as by long exposure or repeated shocks

[expat1000]

Beautifully written. Thank you.

I often find myself rooting for the bad guy, but not in this case. Not for this twisted, greedy, child-poisoning, multiple murdering, drug producer.

Seems like some of these posters connect with characters like Walt more than the rest of us though. Makes me wonder if they are projecting their own values onto others.

Also, I think most of us know that meth is probably the most destructive street drug out there with the possible exception of crack, but the story line would be ridiculous if it was about any drug other than meth.

[Salamander]

Wow.

You’re sure studiously watching for things that I’m not.

If all that stuff is there, I’ve missed it.

Then again, I’m watching for the plot, not the ‘crotch’ stuff.

[homo agenda? wtf?]

[Talisker]

You all love to use the phrase “bad decisions.”

LOL.

If I made something, and sold it to someone, and it turned them into a screaming psychotic freak, who lost all their humanity and suffered brain damage and developed a craving for the same drug that was burning their brains out - and I continued to sell it to them - would that be a “bad decision”?

If it were your family member, your child, would you accept that excuse?

What none of you are HEARING from those who disagree with you is that this is a matter of SCALE.

You’re watching a show equal to someone who decided to run a freaking death camp in Nazi Germany because he suffered from cancer and wanted to provide for his family, and you’re arguing that it beautifully shows that evil doesn’t win.

NO SH!T!

It’s such an obvious lesson, that it’s NOT the reason you’re watching it! It’s the cover story! You’re watching it for the same reason people watch porn - to learn to be better lovers!

No?

NO.

[Salamander]

*Or* his lung cancer has metastasized to his brain and he’s gone completely insane.

[that’s the plot twist I expect]

;]

[ccmay]

Life’s too short to watch TV.

I see two or three baseball games a year, a snippet of Fox News here and there, and not much else.

[Salamander]

Watching “Ancient Aliens” is spiritual pornography because on the surface, it seems so intellectually desirable.

It’s wholly “inoffensive” and totally G rated.

More souls will be led to Hell by the false religion of that “nice” show than BB.

Villainy wears no deadlier guise than that of virtue.

Nuff said.