Breaking Bad Smashes Records, Is American Shakesperian Tragedy
So Breaking Bad went out smashing viewership records, capturing America’s attention like no other television event in very recent memory — and one thing is for certain. Whatever mark it left, fans will be turning over the final fate of Walter White in their heads for some time to come.
While Breaking Bad can never escape the specter of The Sopranos as far as plot and lead character go, what we do know for sure is what happened to Walt. David Chase opted to leave Tony Soprano’s fate somewhat open to interpretation, but Vince Gilligan’s plans for Heisenberg were made crystal clear in the seconds after the credits rolled, and Talking Bad disambiguated the ending, had anyone wondered.
Millions of fans watched the finale of Breaking Bad, and the final installment of such a well-received show was bound to be a high-set bar. By all accounts, in and outside the entertainment industry, the effort delivered — a masterful conclusion to the intricately woven tale despite Gilligan’s admission that the show was not written with an ending in mind. (Making it even more impressive when you consider it as such.)
Bryan Cranston has plainly stated that Walter White is the role of his lifetime, and in reflecting on the finale, says:
“[Breaking Bad is] a tragedy of almost Shakespearean level. … Tragedy is not a bunch of bad guys doing bad things: ‘Oh, they killed the good guys!’ Tragedy is when the bad guys are sympathized, when you realize that it could have gone another way… There was hope for them at one time. Macbeth! Oh! In its truest sense, our story is a tragedy — an American tragedy. It’s not ‘good conquers evil,’ it’s not ‘good guys against the bad guys,’ it’s much muddier than that. Shades of gray.”
It’s hard to imagine that Breaking Bad, a series that seems to have really impacted TV quality expectations overall — or at least for a brief shining moment, raised them — almost didn’t even make it to air. USAToday looks at how the drama “elevated” television, quoting author Brett Martin on the words of an AMC exec who explains why the network chose to take a chance on the drug-based narrative:
“We had had success with Mad Men… And once you’ve had that cookie it tastes good. You want another one. The decision to go another way, believe me, it was… terrifying. But once you did, once you chose quality over everything else…you could do anything.”
Breaking Bad scored more than 10 million viewers in its final episode, and the lofty effort was critically acclaimed as a conclusion fitting of the series’ consistent quality.
