2B - Thursday, October 3, 2013
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Breaking Bad,' not
boundaries
'Breaking' virgin
recaps 'Felina'
Those who read The
New Inquiry's repost of
the 2012 essay "Wafter
White Supremacy" during that
anxious week-long wait before
the "Break-
ing Bad"
finale, may
have, like me,
realized that
their ability
to identify
systems of
oppression JOHN
at work was BOHN
more poorly
cultivated
than they thought. Upon reading
that article, I began to wonder
what value a show like "Break-
ing Bad" has for a community.
Becoming emotionally invested
in a product of popular culture
is a vulnerable position to be in.
It brings people together, but
around what? Around whom?
Of course, feel free to challenge
the articles claims - after you've
read it. Malcolm Harris, the
author, encourages usto employ
a critical lens to popular culture
that can "pay attention to our
attention, to look athow it's being
held, on what, and how someone's
making money on it." And many
people are making money off of
"Breaking Bad" - ahell of a lot
of money off of it. The Huffing-
ton Post reported that AMC sold
30-second ad space for upwards of
$400,000 during the finale. And
companies paid.
This is a show about a meth
kingpin. Why would any brand
be interested in associating them-
selves withsuch sport? As Har-
ris argues, "Breaking Bad" has
essentially whitewashed the drug
economy and made it palatable
for companies like Chrysler who
defend their product placement in
the show as "the right fit in terms
of the plot line and the character."
Harris emphasizes the fact that
the drug economywouldn't oper-
ate aswe see it in "Breaking Bad."
The notion of "paying more for a
better product" is a more familiar
practice of middle-class consumer
ethicsthan the reality of profit-
through-dilution in the drug
trade. And in a scenario where
that sort of trust and collaboration
between producer and distributer
doesn't operate, Walter and Jesse
would need to work closer with
the actual meth users to make
sure the product's purity and
value isr
tion. Th
a demog
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ing Bad'
such as
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for (inse
Then
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tels. Ha
ing Bad
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For all t
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that the
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After
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go on to
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high ex
of waiti
a series
this pro
rated by
munal b
friends.
half of s
at 9 p.m
Someti:
would b
un-quar
that we
our hec
n't lost during distribu- we've amended time and time
e wider visibility of such again), it was consciously and
;raphic, whom we only intelligently mediated as such.
little of in actual "Break- After reading Anna Gunn's
" - early minor characters now famous article "I Have
Spooge, Wendy or the kid a Character Issue" or Emily
Is Combo - might notbe Nussbaum's piece in The New
t appropriate association Yorker about the controversial
rt any product ever). phone call of "Ozymandias,"
there is "Breaking Bad" the discussion - disgusted by
sentation of the drug car- the culture of hate surrounding
rris argues that "Break- Skyler White - gave credit to
" is another story of the the writing behind "Breaking
y Whitey." When Jesse Bad" as attempting to subvert
n out-cooks a cartel's top common stereotypes of wom-
t, the message is clear. en's representation in media.
heir seemingly endless You can still have a hero at
es and skill, the cartel of that point. However, during
ng Bad" just can't beat the that final stretch, when read-
aan. ing about the ways in which
e end of the series, Har- "Breaking Bad" plays cleanly
inues, Walter, the white into corporate pockets by
log" in an "openly racial- whitewashing drug markets
nflict," is so "successful" and reinforcing racial other-
ould we say "supreme" - ness, I was in a different state
re are no people of color of mind. I was skeptical of
ing by series end. what all these relations and
reading this article, I communions with others had
ure howI could then been built on. Not only had I let
say, "but I really love myself get lost in the plot, I had
w." This was the first let my critical lens slip.
roduction I had become Obviously, this happens time
d in as it was being pro- and time again throughout
Until "Breaking Bad," I the history of popular culture.
eally experienced the Our seemingly most advanced
citement and anxiousness cultural productions, even
ng for the next chapter in in this new "Golden Age of
I loved. My investment in Television," have their issues.
gram, too, was corrobo- What, then, are demographics
yits function as acom- participating in the popular
bringing-together of my media experience to do with
At least for the second these potential sources of com-
eason five, Sunday night munal togetherness? How can
. was a weekly event. we derive communal pleasure
mes upwards of 20 people without participating in the
e gathered. And it was obfuscation of social realities?
ntifiably important to me There is clearly a lot of work
were able to do that amid to be done in our community.
tic schedules. With all the micro-aggression,
marginalization, misogyny
and silence that permeates our
alter W hite- campus, how can we transform
these broken works of popular
washed"iculture into the source of com-
munities and publics that are
rporation- not predicated on these asym-
metries? Perhaps I'm asking
approved too much of these works. In
fact, I most certainly am. But
for a hot second, I enjoyed the
thrill of the investment, and
le "Breaking Bad" had I enjoyed the connectedness
ted debate among my with those around me. What is
and I, we generally to be done?
By MAX RADWIN
Daily Fine Arts Editor
No, I don't watch "Break-
ing Bad." Yes, I've heard that's
it's amazing. No, I haven't "tried
watchinga couple of episodes."
That is, untl recently, when I sat
through my first-ever hour of what
many consider to be one of the best
shows in the history of TV. It also
happened to be the series finale,
and what resulted is probably the
most thoroughly ignorant recap of
"Breaking Bad" out there. But, hey
- maybe I offered a fresh take on
the whole thing? Who knows.
Before diving into the recap,
I have to admit - I'm not a total
"Breaking Bad" virgin. It's inevi-
table that I would have picked up
on a fewthingsabout the showhere
and there just by stepping outof my
front door. So before we start, this
muchI do know:
"Malcolm in the Middle" 's dad
- a.k.a. Walter White - has some
form of cancer, and to pay for his
chemo he sells drugs using the
vast knowledge of science that also
qualifies him to teach high school
chemistry.
How does a high school teacher
know that much about drug mak-
ing? I'm not sure. Why didn't this
dude just get health insurance in
the first place?Who the hell knows.
Will I finally understand why my
friend's cover photo says, "Call
Saul"? Let's hope so.
All right, here we go:
We start in a car covered in snow,
I'm guessing in Alaska or Canada
or maybe just Wisconsin in May.
Walter White doesn't look too hot.
He hasscancer, right?So that's prob-
ably why. He's not bald though.
I thought he was supposed to be
bald?
In the car, he searches around
for something but it turns out to be
just his keys, whichwas aletdown.
I thought it was going to be meth
or crack or a gun. Does Walter
White do drugs and have cancer?
What a gangsta.
Then it transitions to Walter
driving in some hot, open desert.
I'm going to say Texas or maybe
Mexico. Either way, that was quite
a change in seasons. He must have
covered some ground.
Walter gets some gas and
messes around with some pill
bottles (drugs? I hope it's drugs).
He calls some woman at the New
York Times and pretends to be
David Lynn asking about a phone
interview with someone named
Schwartz, who I'm guessing is
Walter's arch-nemesis that he is
tracking down to kill/steal backhis
woman/overthrow for the drug
empire.
Nope. I think Schwartz is just
this dopey looking guy in the
next scene complaining about
Thai food. No way is this Walter's
enemy. I miss the guy's name -
let's just call him Wonderbread
- but the woman's name I think
is Gretchen. Regardless, both of
them are boring, rich and white
as shit. Kind of rooting for them
to die.
Which looks probable at first,
because Walter just lets himself
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w
cc
into their house - Wonderbread's
wife nearly pisses herself when
she sees him standing there in
the kitchen. But unfortunately he
doesn't kill them. Instead, he just
gives them $9 million. Whatevs.
Oh shit, but then to make sure
they don't squeal on him he hires
two hit men to follow Mr. and Mrs.
Wonderbread 24/7, which Walter
demonstrates by having the snip-
ers put their red dots on the cou-
ple's chests. Does Walter White
have an ARMY now? How much
power does this dude possibly have
just from selling some drugs on the
side?
Psych, they tricked me again.
It's two goons in the bushes with
laser pointers. And one of them is
hilarious. He must be expressing
the whole philosophical dilemma
of the entire series. He asks Walter
if what they're doing is wrong -
"For real yo. Like morality-wise."
Best character yet. Brilliant.
Walter talks with these two
guys about someone selling "Blue
Meth." The morality-conscious
guy says, "That shit is choice, yo"
- so you know it's the real deal.
Apparently it's Jesse that's "cook-
ing" this Blue Meth and Walter
isn't so happy about it. Ok, so Jesse
= Bad. Let's go with that for now.
Then it switches tosaguy (maybe
Jesse?) polishing a surfboard or
building something from Ikea. Not
really sure.
Flash to Walter sitting in a diner
eating bacon. WHAT WAS THE
POINT OF THAT?!?
"Random Malcolm in the Mid-
dle" Flashback where Walter is
wearing a sweater.
Shit, this show is all over the
place. It's hard to follow, even with
commercials every five minutes.
The next scene is super confusing:
Two people are seemingly on
the most awkward date in the his-
tory of television. The ginger guy
talks about the woman's blouse
and she's like, "What are you even
saying to me right now?" Walter
interrupts them, thank God. At
first I can't tell if he knows them or
if he's going to take them hostage
or something. But then he starts
talking about meth - so yeah,
Walter definitely knows them. He
makes a business proposal to them
but they aren't buying what he's
selling, so he lets them continue on
with their awkward-as-shit-date.
The blonde is Skyler, I think.
She gets a call from a pasty bru-
nette about Walter "being back."
Seriously, she is so pasty. And she
makes it sound like Walter is a ter-
rorist. Is he going to blow some-
thing up? That's what she makes
it sound like, damn. That's, like, a
whole different level. Wait, Walter
was with Skyler during that whole
phone call. Skyler = Wife.
Walter says goodbye to his
infant son (or daughter?), but then
there's a kid on crutches that he
creeps on who might also be his
son. Not sure. Kind of touching,
though.
Now Walter is at like a garbage
dump ora construction site of some
kind that is secretly a drug factory/
gang headquarters. There's lots of
drama with the trashy ponytailed
guy in the purple sweater. Walt
makes his offer again, butponytail
isn't having it.
Ponytail = Uncle Jack? I think I
heard that right.
So then they're takingWalter out
back to kill him and they STOP so
Uncle Jack can talk some smack.
Why do bad guys talk so much
shit RIGHT BEFORE THEY'RE
GOING TO WIN? Seriously, you
could have shot Walter right then,
Uncle Jack. Right. Then.
Instead he brings in some guy in
chains, like a drug-prisoner-slave
guy (do they even do that in real
life? Is that a thing?) and (finally!) it
turns out to be Jesse.
This next part gets alittle banan-
as: A machine gun thing pops out of
Walter's trunk and shoots every-
body. Walter grabs Jesse at the last
second, but everyone else is mowed
the fuck down. I guessothat was the
most efficient way for the writers to
tie up loose ends.
So Jesse is free, and decides to
not shoot Walter (why was that
even a debate? Walter just saved
him after all). And then Jesse just
drives away, laughing like a crazy
person.
Walter's like, "Oh shit I got
a ricochet bullet to the gut I'm
gonna die." So he goes over to
the meth-making area and holds
his gas mask lovingly and pats
the meth-making equipment
with a nostalgic grin on his
face like, "It's been a good ride,
old friend." Didn't realize drug
dealers had so many feels. The
cops roll up but good-'ol-Wally
is already long dead by then.
Damn. Heavy shit.
The show's pretty good,
though, from what I saw. Might
have to watch it from the pilot,
even if I did just ruin it for myself.
S
Whil
generat
friends
gave Vince Gilligan the ben-
efit of the doubt. If "Breaking
Bad" was a commentary on
the logic of capitalism (which
Sohn is "not" making
meth. To "not" join, e-mail
jobohn@umich.edu.
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