By: Justin Taylor
We’ve just finished all five seasons of Breaking Bad, and I feel profoundly … well, something, I’m just not sure what.
I can’t remember the last time I watched a TV show that had such a strong emotional impact on me.
Breaking Bad was a frustrating watch. It’s outlandish and OTT, but within that framework, its genius is that it is precisely, painfully true to its characters’ natures – and thus, to human nature.
Watching Walt and Skyler’s relationship decay before our eyes was nothing short of heartbreaking. Much like I only continued watching House of Cards for Claire Underwood once I lost all patience with the main character, I thought Skyler’s storyline was particularly well done (maybe because I often wondered what I would do in her shoes). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: It takes forever to build up a relationship, but the undoing of one can be surprisingly, brutally swift.
But equally, the disintegration of Walt and Jesse’s dysfunctional relationship – doomed and screwed up from the very beginning – tore me up. Jesse did not deserve to go through what he had to go through. Small comfort: Aaron Paul seems crazy in love and crazy happy IRL (yes, I felt compelled to Google the hell out of him as soon as those final credits rolled).
And here are a few personal finance-related thoughts on the show (small spoilers):
- We could never live in the US – as T says, “I get hurt too much”.
- Money laundering seems … surprisingly straightforward. Just in terms of the nuts and bolts of it.
- Never ride on the belief that you are irreplaceable. I can understand how bruised Walt’s ego was when he realised Jesse was making meth as good as his, but that’s how life goes…
- Why is it so hard for people to realise that owner or employee, there are tradeoffs either way?! I was literally yelling at the screen when they complained about earning less working under Gus – hello, remember how much money you lost when you were running things yourselves and absorbing all the risk?
- Life is easier with money – there’s no doubt about it. But getting too greedy is always the point at which it all goes wrong. Check that greed.
If he’d just taken the job offer and $$$ from Grey Matter NONE of this would have happened 😛
Oh, sorry I’m not a fan of Breaking Bad, but your words are nice. 🙂 Especially this one “Never ride on the belief that you are irreplaceable”, yes, I totally believe that because we are living in the world of constant change.
Love this show. I can’t believe you didn’t read season ending spoilers ! On a side, only in Los Angeles note, I actually shared a nanny with one of the Breaking Bad producers. By sharing, I mean that the nanny worked for us 2 days of the week and worked p/t for this producer, too.
I have never watched an episode of Breaking Bad but now you have me intrigued! I will need to check if I can the past seasons on Netflix.
We just finished Breaking Bad last night! I hated Walt the entire show and loved Jesse. BB was such a great show, but I found myself stressed out and pissed off over pretty much every episode. The killing, selfishness, deceit and greed was infuriating.
That show was beautifully done. The bad thing about it was that I couldn’t just watch one episode. I think I watched 3 seasons in a weekend… I’m not sure if I slept at all. All I remember was netflix asking me “Are you still watching?” Yes I’m still watching so please don’t interrupt my show again.
Fantastic show – and yes, Jesse got dealt a really bad hand! I really liked seeing how Walt’s relationship with money changes as the show progresses. I imagine it happens a lot for anyone who has that taste of financial freedom and has an “easy” way to make even more.
My boyfriend and I recently watched all 5 seasons of Breaking Bad. Awesome show! Wondering why I didn’t watch it when it was actually on! 🙂
It was a great show!