u/Caraphox

How do I explain this.

When I first starting watching Breaking Bad I thought Heisenberg was a badass (despite of the two very early very obvious indicators that he was a true villain 🙄) but like a lot of people on their first watch I was taken in by the satisfying thrill of the mild mannered dad/teacher to powerful drug kingpin trajectory.

I spent a good portion of the show - in spite of everything - anticipating the reveal to be very satisfying and thrilling. What actually happened was actually just pretty bleak and sad. Which - of course it was, because Breaking Bad is a good show which doesn't shy away from realism.

Buuut... but... on my recent rewatch I couldn't help but feel that I would love to be able to watch the show I originally thought I was watching. A big part of me still wants there to be a character like Walt who does just turn into a badass when his family aren't looking rather than an abusive, child poisoning megalomaniac (3 dimensional one though he is), and when his family find out they are at least a little impressed. A medium sized part of me wanted the reveal for Hank to be a bit more climactic and melodramatic. I kind of felt like we'd earned that. I was almost expecting Hank to stumble out of the house and just be like: "yooou! It was you all along!" and when that didn't happen I was like, ok of course that tracks, because the writing is too good for that. And yet... part of me was left emotionally unsatisfied even though I technically knew it was the right and only real way to go.

Brock is clearly terrified of Walt. Walt must be able to see this, and yet he is 100% relaxed and confident around Brock, never attempting to keep his distance from him and Andrea, nor showing a split second of worry or doubt that Brock might tell anyone *why* he’s scared. It makes me feel as though Walt may have threatened him into keeping silent. I don’t know how that would have happened logistically, but isn’t it what the characters’ behaviours seem to suggest? And if that *is* the case, Walt’s nonchalance chills me because it indicates just how convincing and terrifying said threat must have been