Walter White (Bryan Cranston) has changed significantly over the course of Breaking Badand a subtle detail shows exactly why he became Heisenberg and what it cost him. Throughout the Breaking Bad In the timeline, Walter went from a simple high school chemistry teacher to the greatest cook and meth distributor in the southern United States. Walter even killed hundreds of people in Breaking Badand he basically became a totally different person. This change was gradual, as it occurred over two years and five seasons.
Because he underwent such a gradual change, it is sometimes difficult to see how different Walt was at the beginning of Breaking Bad against the end. It’s especially difficult to remember why he started cooking meth and what he wanted to achieve with it. Fortunately, there is one detail that shows exactly what Walt’s biggest victory was in Breaking Bad was, and how trying to achieve it fundamentally changed him. The main thing Walt wanted in becoming Heisenberg was control, and his breakfast choices prove that.
Walt’s birthday breakfast shows his lack of control in Breaking Bad season 1 (compared to the finale)
Before becoming Heisenberg, Walt couldn’t even choose what he ate
In Breaking Bad Season 1, Episode 1, Skyler arranged strips of veggie bacon in the shape of Walt’s age for his 50th birthday. In Breaking Bad In Season 5, Walter had two more birthdays, but for both numbers they were made from pork bacon instead of vegetarian bacon. The subtle change in the type of bacon Walt ate on his birthdays shows that, just as Breaking Bad progressed, he gained more and more control over his life. When he was just a chemistry teacher, Skyler made all the decisions for him, right down to the food he ate. When he became Heisenberg, however, Walt made the decisions.
Gaining control of life was the biggest reason Walt became Heisenberg – not the money
Cooking meth was never about money for Walter, it was about power
Walt began cooking meth for several reasons, the simplest of which was to secure money for his chemotherapy treatment. This was not the main reason he “broke,” as there were other ways he could have financed his treatment, such as taking Elliott Schwartz’s money. The main reason Walter became Heisenberg was to take control of his life, and his birthday breakfasts prove it. Almost everything Walt did in Breaking Bad he was looking for more power and control and, as silly as it sounds, he cared more about being able to choose which bacon to eat than about making money.
The money was actually an excuse for him to reassert himself as leader of his family, and once he got a taste of the power Heisenberg gave him, Walt kept wanting more.
Breaking Badespecially in earlier seasons, it takes a deep dive into how emasculated Walter felt in his everyday life. Skyler ran his life, his students didn’t respect his authority, and even Walt Jr. changed his name to Flynn so he didn’t need to be so closely associated with his father. A big reason Walt started cooking meth was to regain the control and respect he thought he had lost.. The money was actually an excuse for him to reassert himself as leader of his family, and once he got a taste of the power Heisenberg gave him, Walt kept wanting more.
Walt’s Breakfasts Also Show the Cost of Becoming Heisenberg
Walter White gained complete control of a life he didn’t want to live
Although becoming Heisenberg gave Walter a lot of control, his freedom came at an incredible price. Walt’s birthday breakfast also shows this more concisely than anything else in the book. Breaking Bad. For his 50th birthday, Skyler willingly prepared his bacon, and the veggie bacon showed how she was caring for Walt and concerned about his health. On his 51st birthday, Skyler hated Walt and only put bacon on his plate because Walt Jr.. Finally, on his 52nd birthday, Walt had to cook his own bacon in a diner surrounded by strangers. To quote Kris Kristofferson, “freedom is just another word for nothing to lose.”
At the end of Breaking BadWalt had truly lost everything in his quest for more power and control. He killed or expelled every member of his family, Jesse was kidnapped by neo-Nazis and lived in complete isolation in New Hampshire. When Walt gained complete control over his life, it was no longer worth living.. In his quest to decide for himself what kind of bacon to eat, Walt forgot that the best part of his birthday breakfast was sharing it with a loving family.
Walter’s birthday breakfast isn’t nearly the most significant detail in Breaking Badbut it highlights one of the best things about the show. Little details, like the change in Walt’s bacon, mean a lot to the story and characters. These little moments say a lot about the cast of Breaking Badand help each person feel real and trustworthy. Some of them, like the birthday breakfasts, even highlight important parts of the fantastic story Breaking Bad counted.