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The Götterdämmerung Will Be Televised — The Breaking Bad-Felina Theory of Everything

(Spoilers ahead for anyone who isn’t up-to-date on their Bad episodes.)

Trying to outsmart Vince Gilligan and his writers, who may be the smartest writers in the world, is a loser’s game. There are a lot of reasonable theories out there, almost a collective speculative wisdom. Jesse is likely to blow up the lab. Walt is likely to die. Another White may die as well.  But whatever we think is going to happen, whatever we want to see happen, we are going to be surprised.  Plenty of people knew Hank was a goner when Uncle Jack and his crew showed up. No one thought Walt would try to bargain for his life with money.

Back in Ozymandias, when Walt tried to talk his way out of Hank’s execution, when he gave up Jesse to the nazis, and then told him about watching Jane die — these were events that no audience member imagined. But when they happened, they seemed inevitable. That’s what separates Breaking Bad from the pack.

In addition to characterization, there is masterful foreshadowing. The audience can always see some of it coming, but it’s like a magic trick where it turns out we weren’t even looking in the right place. We all saw Draw Sharpe riding a bicycle, we may even have known Continue reading The Götterdämmerung Will Be Televised — The Breaking Bad-Felina Theory of Everything