Last Monday, I finished watching Breaking Bad. It was excellent (duh), and I can only recommend it.
I had watched the pilot back in the day but I hadn’t pursued further. When the show became really popular, I read the Wikipedia page to get the gist of it, but I didn’t want to commit to 60 hours of viewing. So I knew the story and how it ended.
Fast forward to November 2025. The show keeps appearing on lists of the best TV shows ever — alongside The Sopranos, Mad Men, The Wire, etc. while Games of Thrones seems to have faded — and I started to fall in love with Hal, Bryan Cranston’s character in Malcolm in the Middle. So, I gave Breaking Bad another shot because I was curious about how Bryan Cranston could act in a drama. This time, I was sold.
Much has already been said about the show, so I’ll keep it brief with a few thoughts:
- An excellent TV Show does not get spoiled. Yes, I knew how Breaking Bad would end when I started watching it. I knew who would die and who would survive. Yet, I loved every minute of it. Spoilers are overrated. I can think of only a handful of genuine surprises that weren’t gimmicks in all the shows I’ve watched. Questions like, “Will Rachel and Ross end up together?” or “Will AFC Richmond win the Premier League?” are mostly irrelevant.
- I think the TV show characters who spend the most time in white underwear are: 1. Hal, 2. Walter, 3. Homer Simpson. The similarities don’t stop there: Hal’s dad’s name is Walter. Both Francis and Jesse (who is not technically Walter’s son but, come on, he calls his own son Jesse once, their relationship is ambiguous) aspire to go to Alaska.
- One of the best jokes I read about the show is that if Walter White were married to Lois, she would find out and make him stop by the end of the pilot episode.
- Also, this what if Breaking Bad was just Hal’s bad dream alternate ending.
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