Impossible Choices? The Conservatism of "Breaking Bad"

Truth-Out ^ | August 30, 2012 | Michael Corcoran

[Clintonfatigued]

"Breaking Bad" is a fascinating show. But efforts to compare it to "The Wire," which systematically analyzed American institutions and the American experience, are misguided. "Breaking Bad" is fundamentally a conservative show that is all about the individual.

This Sunday (September 2) AMC will air the final episode of part one of it's fifth and final season of "Breaking Bad," an immensely popular and critically acclaimed show about a down-on-his luck high school chemistry teacher who, after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, starts a life as a crystal methamphetamine manufacturer. The high praise of the show is largely warranted: the premise is fascinating, the photography and acting is superb and the drama intense. Some have even dared to suggest that "Breaking Bad" represents the best that modern television has to offer, even surpassing HBO's the "Wire" as the greatest show of its time.

[3Fingas]

Sales tax for every legal product he buys?

[BipolarBob]

But I've never figured out his compulsion on both shows to romp around in his Jockey shorts.

Just keeping it real. The producer and him come up with it. Tighty-whiteys lent more realism than boxers they thought.

[ClearCase_guy]

Hard to believe he was the dentist on Seinfeld who became Jewish just so he could tell better jokes.

[cripplecreek]

I wouldn’t exactly call it a conservative show but there has been some real genius behind the writing and casting.

Taking Hal from Malcolm in the Middle and slowly twisting him into this conniving, manipulative, murderous drug lord took a true craftsman. You couldn’t have made the show with anyone other than Brian Cranston.

[3Fingas]

It’s a very entertaining show, but I don’t see much that is conservative about it. I think most of us here on this site (a conservative site if there ever was one) would not choose to start a meth business if we were diagnosed with terminal cancer. That seems like something a liberal would do even if he did not have cancer.

[cripplecreek]

I call it Breaking Hal.

[Bernard Marx]

LOL - I’m a tighty-whitey man myself.

[JoeProBono]

[cripplecreek]

Or put another way, there's a freight train of karma coming at Walter White and there is nothing he can do to step out of its way.

I don't see him escaping the karma so much as I see him running from it and just barely staying ahead of it so far. Every bad decision he's made has been an act of desperation to escape karma but have only built a bigger heap of bad juju.

Jessie is trying to escape his Karma by a more traditional means of atonement.

My personal opinion of what's coming is that Walter is going to win the lottery with the ticket he's using to remember where he buried the barrels of cash.

[LibertarianLiz]

I resisted watching this show, despite the great reviews and word of mouth, precisely because of the subject matter. Wasn't interested in a "drug" story.

However, a couple of years ago, hubby and I were bored with nothing but summer fare, and we decided to try Breaking Bad. If we didn't like it, we would stop watching. Well, we got hooked. The great thing about Netflix is that you can watch whole seasons. So, I would recommend the show. Bryan Cranston's performance is really good and tells me that this guy is just a great actor, when I had thought of him as simply a comedic actor -- good; but, not until I saw this show did I realize his depth.

Give it a go, it you don't like it, stop watching. But, I'll bet you get hooked just like everyone else.

[circlecity]

I was a bit late to the party on Breaking Bad but that only means I got to power watch the first three seasons in about three weeks on Netflicks, which was awesome. Best drama on TV without a doubt and one of my favorite shows of all time. I thinks it’s better than “The Wire”, which is not a criticism of “The Wire” (I loved it) but high praise for BB. Cranston is just awesome. And his writers give him an excellent script to work with. There are few actors who can do side splitting comedy and high drama with equal skill and Cranston is one of them.

[LibertarianLiz]

We like watching one segment after another without the commercials

So do I and my hubby. We lucked out and our cable company, about a month ago, had available the first half of this last season. So, we caught up and are now watching the final episodes as they are shown weekly. We record them, and then just zip past the commercials.

[LibertarianLiz]

extremely intense situations

The stand-off between Hank and Walt in Walt's garage, a couple of weeks ago, was the most intense few minutes of television I have seen in quite a while.

[Joe 6-pack]

Haven’t seen the show, but it doesn’t really surprise me. Vince Gilligan did a lot of writing for the X-Files and a lot of subversively conservative themes wound their way into the story arc. There’s a fascinating assessment of the phenomenon here:

http://takimag.com/article/the_truth_about_the_x-files/print#axzz2cvfw6rgC

[Future Snake Eater]

I’m guessing it has something to do with Todd’s relatives.

[Mr. K]

I MISSED LAST WEEKS SHOW!!! DOES ANYONE HAVE IT RECORDED???

CAN I COME OVER????

[Mad Dawgg]

There is a theory bouncing around the internet that the final scene of the series is Walt waking up from surgery and realizing it was all a dream.

If that is how the show ends I am personally going to see to it that Vince Gilligan gets "a vacation in Belize...!"

[cripplecreek]

I want him to wake up as Hal from Malcolm in the Middle.

[cripplecreek]

Last weeks episode should run again on AMC right before the new episode tomorrow.

[vbmoneyspender]

http://www.solarmovie.so/tv/breaking-bad-2008/season-5/episode-10/