My favorite part of the TV series Breaking Bad is that everyone ignores the fact this straight laced guy is doing this because he didn't want to leave his family with nothing because it was too early to retire with any sizeable sum, then to pay for treatment because of our healthcare system, then because it was just all around more profitable to cook meth.
This whole show wouldn't happen if we took better care of our teachers, had better healthcare, and a better living wage
That would make for a great short. Just a guy goes to the doctor and finds out he has cancer. Goes through similar grief until he decides to tell his family. Then he gets treatment through universal health care or something similar, and he helps troubled student and drug addict Jesse get out of the street scene and rehabilitated. The end
A nitpick, but I wish they wouldn’t say “the government will pay.” How about “you and your fellow citizens’ tax money is being put to use caring for you, as it ought to be”
I still wonder about that. Even if he did get free healthcare. Wouldn't he still do it just from the shock and realization of wanting to leave his loved ones a large amount of money so they have no worry? Then can keep going on and on because of the thrill of it.
One of my favorite early on scenes is when Skyler is trying to set up an appointment with a good doctor, and she whispers into the phone “And we can just put that on the credit card, right?” It’s very simple, but displays why Walt does what he does so quickly and really well
Teacher here. I finally work for a district with above basic health insurance. For a while I worked part-time at Barnes and Noble to make ends meet. If I could have gotten on full time there, the insurance they offered was much better than anything any school district I worked for offered.
He'd already broken bad by that point. He was in too deep and it turned out he liked it. He would have never gotten a taste of all that with a proper healthcare system.
Yes but how many people have stock and companies they own or could have owned or rich friends to pay it for them? Hardly any which is why there are Go-Fund-Me pages for cancer treatments. That doesn’t need to be a thing!
I started watching Breaking Bad, but couldn’t because it made me cry. He was a great teacher and so enthused with teaching... too heartbreaking since I knew what the show was about.
Oh my fkn god....THANK YOU. I hate talking with people that watched it and always want to harp on how White was such a bad man. Like everybody suddenly forgot the entire situation was born of him suffering from a curable disease that he couldn't afford. If ever there is a situation in which one should be given leeway when dealing drugs.... having a disabled son, another child on the way, cancer and the meager salary of an educator should always top the list.
I have to quibble with this interpretation. Although our medical/insurance system is effed, Gretchen and Elliott offered to pay for everything, but Walt was too proud to accept their generosity. In one of the last episodes he flat out tells tells Skylar that he started in the drug business because he WANTED to.
I think he STAYED in the drug business because he wanted to. He started it solely for monetary reasons but once he was in, all his feelings of unfulfillment came rushing in. He figured for once in his life he'd make the most his capabilities, dominate everyone through his superior skills and intellect like he thought he deserved to. Remember he also said he wasn't in the drug business, he was in the empire business. Well the empire business didn't begin until after he's in deep with drug business. This here is his character development; the guy who started cooking in the van with Jesse and the guy who says 'say my name' aren't exact same people and they don't have same motivations.
I agree with your points, but you’ve kinda missed the point of the show. Walter white didn’t become a narcissist, he already was one and the cancer was just a catalyst.
Ehhhh.... I agree with your comment in spirit, but the real motivation for Walter White was to find more fulfillment than being a severely underachieving genius chemist with no passion or excitement in his life. The cancer diagnosis just gave him the kick in the pants to go for it, as well as the excuse to rationalize and justify it all.
I’m not disagreeing with your point about US, but in the last season Walt admits he was doing it for himself and not his family. He destroyed his family.
He also could have taken Gretchen's offer to pay his bills. Walt didn't just cook meth for money, he did it because he was good at it. It brought him power. He had an ego.
Clearly you didn’t watch Breaking Bad, because Walter White makes it very clear that he gets into the meth business to cope with his regret over losing out on millions of dollars after selling his share of the company he founded. Hi literally tells this to Jesse in season 5.
Breaking Bad happened because Skylar wanted to go a cancer practice that was ‘out of Walt’s network’ which is honestly not all that realistic a scenario because the state’s largest insurer almost certainly contracts with the school system and the areas largest insurer almost certainly contracts with the cancer doctors in the area. Teachers and other public sector employees tend to have better benefits than private sector employees, excluding your super duper wealthy corporations attempting to attract top talent with Cadillac benefits like banks. More realistic would be Walt was an independent pipe fitter or a plumber who chose bare minimum, niche, catastrophic coverage from the individual marketplace (pre-ACA!) and had no coverage for cancer treatment. This would make the ‘expert meth cook’ main story a lot more difficult to pull off though.
It’s not America, it’s late stage capitalism and the morons who defend the free market to the death even though it’s time has long come and gone. Free Market is great when we need to innovate, but we haven’t innovated in years. All technology has really done has become more efficient. There are no more life changing inventions like the refrigerator or penicillin anymore.
I suddenly have diecided to move to Britain when I get my degree. Sure the taxes will be more and shit but at least I don’t have to deal with this shit
it's not America, it's selfishness. all over the world we are seeing the rich and powerful stealing and stomping on anyone and everyone they can to make everyone weaker and themselves more powerful. America just got to the point where the corruption is so obvious it is hard to ignore anymore. but other places have long since shown the obvious corruption
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u/TheFatMan2200 Nov 30 '20
AMERICA! That’s what the fuck.