Sunday, December 6, 2015

Analysis of Plot

(Again, only seen the first two episodes)
Breaking Bad is about a straight-laced boring 50 year old chemistry teacher who is sick of his boring life, and low pay. This all begins to change once he discovers that he has been diagnosed with lung cancer, taking this crushing news in hand he decides to make meth, good choice. It just so happens that his wife's brother is a DEA agent who specializes in meth lab busts. He offers Mr. White the opportunity to go on a ride along to witness a bust on a local meth lab.On this bust, Mr. White discovers that a former student is  the meth cooker who they were attempting to catch. He then approaches Jessie at his house and discusses his want to make meth and offers Jessie an ultimatum which forces Jessie to agree to the plan. Let us take a step back to the fact that his brother in law is a DEA agent, that seems like a fairly obvious bit of foreshadowing here. It is reasonable to assume that he will have conflict with said brother in law which will test the bonds with his wife and son. Oh well you all know what happens anyway, so at least pretend to be interested.

Mr. White starts out their business venture by stealing chemistry supplies from the school that he works at, and takes out money from his savings to purchase a mobile home for the purpose of turning it into a mobile meth lab. I imagine that a majority of viewers realized that this is the start of the intro where they crash the Winnebago, well it was. After "supposedly" disposing of the two rival drug dealers with phosphine oxide, which was previously mentioned as being extremely toxic, and relatively easy to make when the meth cooking process is messed up. Then is a panicked rage, Walter picks up an unconscious Jessie, dawns a gas mask, and attempts to drive a toxic mobile home from what he erroneously assumes to be police cars. After crashing said mobile home, he prepares himself to have a final stand with the cops, only to realize that they firefighters responding to the wildfire caused by a discarded cigarette. After that mishap, Jessie and him have the difficult job of disposing of the two bodies. Many morbidly hilarious moments ensue in this process, and a few moments of deep reflection amidst the chaos.

It turns out that Jessie is very squeamish, and Walter simply is not a violent person, which I have a problem seeing since he attempted to gas two people to death. But, I will admit that it is an entirely different matter to kill in order to save your life, versus executing an incapacitated individual. They have two choices: One must dissolve a body in hydrofluoric acid, specifically in a plastic container "Hydrofluoric acid won't eat through plastic. It will, however, dissolve metal, rock, glass, ceramic. So there's that."(1) - Walter White, and the other must kill the live prisoner, then find a way to get rid of the body. A coin is flipped in order to determine which member would do which, leaving Jessie with dissolving he deceased, and Walter executing the live prisoner.
 http://breakingbad.wikia.com/wiki/Hydrofluoric_acid

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