Considered one of the greatest TV shows of all time, Vince Gilligan’s Emmy-winning show Breaking Bad has become a cult-favourite. Besides stunning visuals and sublime cinematography, Gilligan and his creative team’s genius shines through via the detailed episodes, layered character arcs and twisted narrative.
Unique dialogues, complex references to chemistry and a dream-like transformation of the protagonist from a mundane everyman to a fearful drug kingpin is a cathartic journey for the viewers.
The poetic narrative sees a middle-aged chemistry teacher, Walter White finding out about his terminal illness. Feeling cheated, he manages to coo ridiculous proportions of meth to sustain himself and his family. A complex character and a pathetic anti-herp, his egotistic and megalomaniac tendencies shine through as he transforms into the feared Heisenberg.
Bryan Cranston does an incredible job portraying the noxious and psychopathic White who forces the audience to constantly question morality and ethics. With some of the highest-rated episodes in the history of television, the show had an epic finale that sees Cranston [ortraying White’s demise in literal poetry of motion.
On Cranston’s birthday, let us take a look at five of his most iconic moments as Walter White:
The top 5 Bryan Cranston moments in ‘Breaking Bad’
Slyly laundering money via Gretchen and Elliott
The fifth season finale showed Heisenberg’s epic manipulative tendencies. To cater to his unfinished business and tie the loose ends, he plans to funnel the money to his family and kids to seek revenge. However, he is extremely sly and calculative by using the wealthy Gretchen and Elliott to do so.
He pressurises the duo into giving money to his family, successfully evading the DEA or the government as well as any rival drug lords. In this extremely foolproof plan, he employs Badger and Skinny Pete to threaten them into submission.
The plot against Guss Fring
Gus Fring and Walter White are constantly at loggerheads and trying to outpower one another. When Fring initially gains the upper hand and manages to get closer to Jesse Pinkman, Walt feels threatened and does something unthinkable.
White ultimately manipulates Jesse, using his love of innocence, to have his former student fall in line. He turns him against Fring by non-lethally poisoning Brock and pinning the blame on Fring, thus successfully incurring Jesse’s wrath.
Intimidating Tuco with Fulminated Mercury
The first season of the show upholds the slow and steady transformation of a seemingly harmless Walter White into the hardened criminal Heisenberg. It also becomes fairly evident that this drug kingpin’s position is somewhat destabilised by his potential partner and distributor, Tuco Salamanca.
To assert his authority, he uses a delicate “tweak of chemistry” to show his extraordinary talent and cunning. With a bag of what seems to be meth in hand, White causes a brilliant explosion that immensely terrorises Salamanca. He later reveals that the bag contains fulminated mercury and the whole event proves his cold-blooded ruthlessness is growing day by day.
Blackmailing Hank
When Hank, White’s brother-in-law, reveals Heisenberg’s elusive identity, Walter is compelled to blackmail Hank into abiding by his will. His choices are limited, he must either go to prison or end up taking Hank’s life and saving his skin.
However, White manages to concoct a plan that serves both his interests. He forces Frank to tape a false confession where he must claim that White was prompted into working this job with the DEA Agent to save himself from the clutches of legal repercussions. White’s scheming nature is revealed as well as his desperation to cover up his tracks as Heisenberg.
Walt’s maniacal laughter
In one of the top-rated episodes of Breaking Bad, Gus Fring threatens to murder Skyler, Walt, Jr., and baby Holly. To protect his family, Walt asks Saul to re-locate his family to safety. When he goes back home to retrieve the cash from the crawlspace, he finds most of it gone.
However, Skyler tells him about her giving the money to Ted with whom she cheated on him. This revelation leads to Walter laughing maniacally as he is on the verge of a nervous breakdown but masks his hysteria with bone-chilling laughter. While it was definitely a karmic payback for White, the iconic cackle shows the breadth of Cranston’s character within the show.
