But it's not just Gilligan who seems too kind for such a show. Aaron Paul uses Twitter to promote charities, including his wife's (that is, when he's not using it to praise her). Cranston has been almost universally acknowledged as "humble". In fact, the entire crew, it seems, is just too gentle for such a project. We're talking about people who sought to raise $500,000 for lost kids by offering a chance to win a trip to the premiere of a show about cooking meth.
Paradox much?
Yes, yes, on the surface it seems odd, but as I've come to dissect this show (which, by the way, is magnificent) I have to say that it is not all that surprising at all. At first glance, it's easy to see how the show would be considered morally corrupt. It is, after all, another show which hands us the "antihero" character, a protagonist who, simply put, does horrible things. But Breaking Bad, it turns out, is different than its predecessors. In fact, it's very different.
The antihero has become a widely popular, if not essential, tool to create what is considered quality TV in today's world. But where others have used it to cloud morality, creating a type of ambiguity about characters, Breaking Bad has chosen a very different route.
Many of those influenced by the denunciation of morals in modern media might not see it, but Breaking Bad does, in fact, have a very clear morality.
Relativism is Flawed
This is where the show is both unique and daring.
Relativism essentially teaches us that if we can understand why a person would be moved to perform a specific action, then the action is justified.
In Breaking Bad Gilligan hands us Walter White as the main character. It is Walt, of course who we learn the most about. It is Walt whose situations we understand the best, Walt whose problems are often the ones which we care about the most.
And then Gilligan starts to test us. How long? He asks. How long will you continue to justify this man's actions? Conan O'Brien, after the first half of season 5, shared with Dean Norris that he felt there are "many people" who still hope that the meth kingpin will not get caught. "Myself included," he admitted.
The excuses, it seems, never end. Relativism has taken its grip on modern society. Those most afflicted by it are still defending the great Heisenberg. They have taken the bait and justified every last one of his actions. In season 1 Walt kills Crazy Eight, a drug dealer whom he kept prisoner after nearly being killed by him. But wait, his apologists immediately cry, Walt was just defending himself. Crazy Eight probably would have killed Walt's family.
Who can forget the end of season 2, when Walt lets Jesse's "junkie girlfriend" Jane die by not rolling her over while passed out, causing her to choke on her own vomit? Is this man's actions still justifiable? Many thought so. After all, the argument goes, Walt saw her as a threat, and how could he have known that her death would lead to an even bigger tragedy? Most (including yours truly) continued to root for the man, if a bit reluctantly.
Of course, season 3's ending nearly mirrored that of season 2 in that it once again put fans to the test. Here, it is very clear that Walt intentionally orders the murder of an innocent man. But wait, wait! Walt was just ensuring his own survival and Jesse's too! And no one is completely innocent, right? Gale was a meth cook too! Personally, I cringed at this point, but continued to pull for Walt as I tried to forget the awfulness of what I had witnessed.
Then came the end of season 4 ("I won") and the sudden realization that Walt had poisoned little Brock. But he didn't kill him! And he was just trying to get Jesse to help him kill Gus, and Gus had to go!
That's where I started to have a wake-up call. For me it was actually simple math at first: With Gus gone, who was the new evil guy? As I saw the fear in the face of Skyler, as well as the creepy look of victory on Walt's face, it occurred to me that Walt was, out of the characters remaining, the person to fear. In season 5 we saw more of this, with everything from him letting an underling kill a kid, to the bumping off of witnesses in a prison, to him killing Mike, the only character who could possibly rival him for the title of "most evil".
After some more analyzing, I realize Gilligan was never trying to justify Walt's actions; he was simply daring us to do that. All those shots of Walt taking care of his infant baby daughter, all of his inspired speeches and moments of goodness, those were practically commentaries of themselves. They were simultaneously giving us an excuse to defend Walt and simultaneously attacking those who cave to that excuse.
I mean think about it, does Gilligan really want these actions justified? Yes, he gives us a lot of information about Walt that would make it natural to sympathize with him. And yet, there's another side to all of this: one in which he is bit more subtle, though far from secretive. That is, we are almost always given a fair chunk of information about Walt's victims. Jane isn't just some girl; she made Jesse fall head over heels, and she's shown to be mostly a big dreamer, if a dangerous one. Add in the scene with her father speaking to Walt where Vince hands us a very loving dad and suddenly you have to realize that Walt is doing wrong. Likewise, it is no accident that Gilligan shows Gale innocently listening to Mexican music and brewing tea before opening his door to his killer, or even that we are shown flashbacks of the "evil" Gus's past life before Walter ends him.
The point, we soon realize, is that relativism is flawed because it is clearly only capable of dissecting one person's situations. But what if their situation conflicts with that of another? We may feel sorry for Walt, but to say that circumstances forced his hand is to essentially say that "Walt matters and no one else does" and as far as relativism in real life goes, one is just replacing the name Walt with their own name or the name of whoever they seek to defend.
Free Will is Real, and Choices are Everything
"What is going on with me is not about some disease. It's about choices; choices I have made; choices I stand by." -Walter White
Walt knows it, and I think most TV critics know it at this point, too. The show certainly believes in the power of choice. Recall the scene where Walt denounces the saying of "humans make plans and God laughs" emphasizing that humans are in control of their lives.
By no means does this make the show atheistic. In fact, free will is a crucial teaching in most religions. Choices are what matters. Choices are what make us who we are. And Gilligan sure seems to agree with that. This, again, is something that makes the show stand out in contrast amongst today's entertainment. Much of entertainment likes to say (1) do what you want because (2) you're not really in control or else (a) do what you want because (b) you are in control as long as you allow yourself to be. But Gilligan rejects both formulas. He accepts premise (b) but instead shows that because such a thing is true, humans should be careful about what they choose.
In a way, this is an attack on the American notion of "become what you wish to become". Breaking Bad responds with "Well, what if what you wish to become is a drug dealer?"
Walt's choices are a constant theme throughout the show. What restricts his options is slowly taken away, beginning with his cancer, which went into remission, as we suddenly see how circumstances can mean a lot less than one's choices. Walt chooses to sell meth. He could have paid for his treatment by accepting Elliot's offer, and then simply done his best to provide for his family's future by legal means.
Part of the genius to this show is that all of its themes are more clearly seen as time goes on, and the emphasis on choice is no exception. In season 1 viewers wonder if Walt is just led on by circumstance. But make no mistake: the key scene in season 2- Jane's demise- was clearly about a choice. It was quite genius, really, Gilligan set things up so that the key scene would show Walt going through a quick thinking process before making a conscious decision- one with devastating consequences. Cranston does it beautifully. There's the initial instinct to save her, then a clear sudden stop, followed by about a second of pondering, and finally, his awful choice- all of it clearly seen on the face of Walter White.
Of course it doesn't end there; Walt continues to make increasingly evil choices as the show progresses. His actions, moreover, are constantly emphasized as conscious decisions; choices that he is in control of. This is key, too, especially considering the next lesson.
The Modern Ethics Code is Flawed
Following a school shooting tragedy, my philosophy teacher shared with me that he felt one reason why today's world is so messed up is because of the growing idea of "Do what you want, as long as no one gets hurt that you think shouldn't get hurt." And he noted the change from the earlier "Do what you want, as long as no one gets hurt." The new saying is worse, but it evolved from the older one, which is highly flawed. And while many topics about Breaking Bad can be well-argued from both sides, I believe this one is more one-sided.
On paper, this show looked like it might defend the protagonist's actions by following that modern code, but it certainly has not. Constantly we are bombarded with the effects of the choices Walt has made- most of which seem much less harmful at first. Take Jane's death: at the time, it just looks like Walt is removing a threat. Sad, yes, because Jane is a person we've come to know, but not all that bad. Flash forward to the next episode and it becomes much different. Right away we see Jesse crying his eyes out, desperately trying CPR on the girl he loved. Then comes her father Donald's reaction- equally heartbreaking. And of course, there is, finally, the disaster caused at the end of the episode.
It's a lesson we all need to learn: actions have consequences. We can't hide behind the modern code because it simply isn't true that "no one will get hurt" or even that "no one we care about will get hurt" (i.e. Jesse). Even the consequences of Walt simply choosing to cook meth are detailed, with the chilling depiction of an addict couple and their neglected child in "Peekaboo".
This is part of what makes Breaking Bad such a great show. Not only is the acting top-notch, the writing brilliant, and the plot riveting, but the show also delivers messages that couldn't fit the modern times more perfectly. Hats off to Gilligan and co. for pulling it off beautifully.
The Final Season of Breaking Bad Premieres August 11
