Breaking Bad is seriously funny… and good story telling

I said to my twenty two year old son it takes a sick society to make a TV series that is smart and funny about a man who makes and sells drugs, murders the competition with mustard gas and is a dedicated family man. My son said, “He’s the type of guy you would like him no matter what crimes he was involved in.”

I thought about that, it’s true, what does that say about me, what about you?.

Walt, the protagonist, is a 50 year old father to be and parent of a disabled teenager. Despite being smart and dedicated he is discounted by everyone. He finally gets inoperable lung cancer, and strangely, or maybe not, a real set of balls. This allows him to understand that as life is changeable, he can change his life. And he does.

He has a likable and human wife, with quirky sister, and the wife is having a baby at forty, seems to love her family and is willing to put up with a little weirdness. The disabled son is an ardent smart ass, but his disability is portrayed as very real not just a prop. The family is an organic whole that you rarely encounter in fiction and almost never on TV.

The problems that Walt faces, no money, middle age, a new baby on the way, a job he could love if it wasn’t for the students, make him real, make him likable, despite the way he is adapting to a hostile world. The scary thing here is that when Walt is faced with his mortality, he becomes driven, reckless, fun and even admirable.  Makes me think of  real beings, that are coming to the same realizations. My question: will they be fun and admirable?

I think the story is a cleverly crafted reflection of so many people caught up in the modern life. It should be a hit and it should be on no earlier than ten pm. Hopefully both of those things will happen.