Why is Breaking Bad a great show? (Spoilers, obviously)

[Leo Gura]

Hero to zero.

[integral]

[Carl-Richard]

A comment I found under this video (where Frankie Muniz expresses the common opinion that "he hates Skyler"):

 

Quote

If breaking bad was a news headline we'd all be on Skylar's side.

 

It encapsulates the crux of my earlier point about how the show is a lesson in ego identification. When you skip all the manipulation, the excuses, the scheming, the justifications, of going through all the experiences from start to finish and just look at the pure endproduct, you see through all of it.

And when Bryan goes through the logic with Frankie, you see how he quickly understands how ridiculous it is. Which is another point on how ego identification works: it is so engrossing and captivating in the moment, you get hypnotized by it, but when you step back, you see how ridiculous it is.

This happens a lot when people have an argument and then step away and realize that they might have been acting foolishly. They realize they were so engrossed by a very particular and limited story, they couldn't see outside of it. And that's of course one of the main mechanisms of the ego: it works by limiting your attention and pulling you into a limited point of view.

And it's maybe not so coincidental that we use the words "acted foolishly". You in some sense realized it was an act. It was a role you played. And that's how shows can reel you in to their story even if it's all an act. Because there is fundamentally no difference in terms of the mechanism of how it happens. And that's also maybe why somebody I know is unable to watch Breaking Bad because they think Walter is that much of an asshole and watching it is seemingly just too frustrating: she is unable to drop her role and identify with the character.

Edited 2 hours ago by Carl-Richard

[UnbornTao]

@Carl-Richard I was just going to share that clip!