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

[Carl-Richard]

Give me your best explanation. Best explanation gets a cookie (laced with meth).

Edited 10 minutes ago by Carl-Richard

[Leo Gura]

It's a great premise and the hero is not a cliched good guy fighting bad guys but a slow descent of a good guy into corruption.

Well written. Believable and interesting characters.

Edited 2 hours ago by Leo Gura

[bazera]

It's also full of tensions and something important happens in almost every episode so it keeps you very engaged.

Characters aren't black and white and require your rethinking and reassessing them over time. Almost all characters have a very interesting development archs and satisfying endings so it doesn't leave much questions in the end.

It shows you how appearances can be deceiving in people, Wolt appears as a kind decent chemistry teacher but inside he's a egomaniac killer, when Jessy appears as a criminal drug addict but is kind-hearted and decent when things go south.

It shows you what people can do under survival pressure and how messy it can get. 

Also, as dark as the show gets, it still has a humorous aspect to it and is also fun to watch.

As Leo said, it's well written.

But I think Better Call Saul is even better  Don't miss out on that one.

[enchanted]

Rewatching the show right now.

It's one of the greatest shows ever made due to the cinematography, acting, screen play, character development. 

I loved the themes that are thoroughly explored: crime, family, death, illness, corruption. Good vs evil and the overlap of the two. 

It's funny too at times. 

 

 

[Harikrishnan]

We all have a Walter in us. 

[PenguinPablo]

Breaking Bad is essentially a modern-day Shakespearean tragedy, and it’s hard to think of a work in the gangster genre that executes its premise better.

What sets it apart is how it breaks from the traditional archetype. Instead of an egotistical, uneducated sociopath like Tony Montana (or Tony Camonte in the 1932 version), it presents the inverse: an underachieving genius who feels betrayed by life. Walter White’s transformation is not abrupt but gradual—driven by a growing desire for relevance that slowly reshapes every aspect of his identity.

The cinematography reinforces this evolution, but what makes the story especially compelling is Walter’s relatability. He exists within a lower-middle-class reality and carries a persistent sense that he deserves more. Intellectually, he is far above average, yet his life feels misaligned with his potential—creating a tension that fuels his descent.

In contrast, characters in Scarface, Goodfellas, or even are often experienced from a distance. Their stories feel voyeuristic, offering a glimpse into a mindset most people will never inhabit—similar to the appeal of true crime. These characters are compelling, but fundamentally alien.

Walter White is different. He begins as a meek, overqualified chemistry teacher who has been worn down by life, circumstance, and missed opportunity. This grounding makes his transformation far more engaging. When he finally decides “enough is enough,” he doesn’t fully understand what he’s stepping into. Instead, the reality of his choices unfolds incrementally, revealing the consequences alongside him.

That progression—both psychological and situational—is what makes his story not just dramatic, but deeply human.

@bazera

That's the interesting part. At the start you think of Jesse as the criminal but he is really so innocent compared to what Walter becomes. 

Makes you question every day people. 

Are the people in prison the worst of the worst, callous evil sociopaths, or are there more of those amongst us?

Like Walter White. 

It's easy to pretend nice. 

But how do you really evaluate a person? 

With Walter it doesn't become apparent until we ride along with him for a couple of seasons. 

Otherwise, he is this unassuming nerdy middle aged chemistry teacher.

Edited 2 hours ago by PenguinPablo
Made ideas less scattered and repetitive

[Carl-Richard]

1 hour ago, PenguinPablo said:

Breaking Bad is essentially a modern-day Shakespearean tragedy, and it’s hard to think of a work in the gangster genre that executes its premise better.

What sets it apart is how it breaks from the traditional archetype. Instead of an egotistical, uneducated sociopath like Tony Montana (or Tony Camonte in the 1932 version), it presents the inverse: an underachieving genius who feels betrayed by life. Walter White’s transformation is not abrupt but gradual—driven by a growing desire for relevance that slowly reshapes every aspect of his identity.

The cinematography reinforces this evolution, but what makes the story especially compelling is Walter’s relatability. He exists within a lower-middle-class reality and carries a persistent sense that he deserves more. Intellectually, he is far above average, yet his life feels misaligned with his potential—creating a tension that fuels his descent.

In contrast, characters in Scarface, Goodfellas, or even are often experienced from a distance. Their stories feel voyeuristic, offering a glimpse into a mindset most people will never inhabit—similar to the appeal of true crime. These characters are compelling, but fundamentally alien.

Walter White is different. He begins as a meek, overqualified chemistry teacher who has been worn down by life, circumstance, and missed opportunity. This grounding makes his transformation far more engaging. When he finally decides “enough is enough,” he doesn’t fully understand what he’s stepping into. Instead, the reality of his choices unfolds incrementally, revealing the consequences alongside him.

That progression—both psychological and situational—is what makes his story not just dramatic, but deeply human.

AI - disqualified  

[Sincerity]

To me, it’s a brilliant character study. That’s what I love it for.

The slow 5-season arc Walter goes through is believable. It doesn’t appear out of nowhere either, there’s good context for Breaking Bad events - Walter’s history with Gretchen and Gray Matter, for example, or Jimmy’s story with Better Call Saul.

In a cliche way, you could say there was always a bit of Heisenberg in Walter, just not actualized. Heisenberg is egotism.

[Carl-Richard]

When I first watched Breaking Bad, I was around 18-19 years old, and I used to identify much more with Walt than I did when I re-watched the show at an older age. Then I noticed that Walt was kinda an asshole right from the start.

And if you dig into the vague story around his time with Grey Matter and his relationship with Gretchen, it becomes a possibility that this was an ingrained thing. Whatever happened that made him break up with Gretchen and exit Grey Matter for 5k USD (the cause seems very vague but was at least somewhat interpersonal in nature), it could have been due to some dark traits in Walter already, but it definitely left him with great resentment and insecurity when the company later skyrocketed to billionaire status (allegedly mostly based on his work, his ideas). This darkness, whether more connected to that specific event or more ingrained, seemed to be the core fuel behind his increasingly outrageous decisions.

But if you are willing to overlook those small details and identify with him as the seemingly good guy he appears to be at the start, you can identify with him all throughout the show, and that's a masterful display and lesson of how ego works. Whatever outrageous decision is made, seems understandable, because you identified with him from the start, and you are gradually taken through all the justifications, all the defenses Walter makes for why he does it. And it even makes you actively dislike the characters that are actually good: it's a huge phenomena that people hate Skyler or Marie in the show. They are seen as obstacles, they try to put a stop to Walt, and it causes anger and resentment when you identify with Walt.

All in all, it's a genius display of how ego works, made possible by the formula of taking a seemingly good guy and turning him gradually bad, and you again have to work through all the same justifications and ego defense mechanisms as he does, as it's happening, and that's as exciting as it's disconcerting. It makes you question whether you could be bad (which you are of course, by virtue of identifying with yourself to begin with, but specifically in the criminal sense).

Edited 2 minutes ago by Carl-Richard

[Natasha Tori Maru]

Better Call Saul is on par with Breaking Bad.

Both have fantastic story, character archs. Acting is steller. Editing, cinematography and production are movie quality.

I think both of these series did a lot to put TV on the radar for quality. Helped attract some great talent.

I've watched both series 3 times over. I identify and understand the characters in new ways each time.

Half the greatness of the show is it's treatment and development of side characters as well as central cast 👌