I think another great way addicts are humanized I'd through badger and skinny Pete, in that they're by far the nicest, most caring people on the entire show. Drugs don't always turn you immoral, just like mental illnesses don't. Almost like addiction is a health issue and should be addressed as such or something

There's a short scene of Walter attempting to have Hank empathize by quizzing him "do you ever think about why these people sell and use drugs?", resulting in Hank struggling to answer. Just another example of what Breaking Bad demonstrates to its audience

Finally someone does an honest critique of Hanks police work. I think he was always “corrupt” but he really gave up all his morals once he found out Walt was his Heisenberg. He attempted to manipulate skylar, punched Walt (who def deserved it), he manipulated Jesse into snitching on Walt without regards to how horribly this could affect him, and he kidnapped Huell and manipulated him. Did Walt deserve to get caught: yes absolutely, but he was never going to win in trial with the shotty means he employed to catch his Moby Dick.

I'm impressed with BB's subtlety. One of my favorite moments a of character growth comes after Hank barges into Jesse's house and beats him senseless. He's given the opportunity to spin the story in a way that paints Jesse as the assailant, but doesn't, and accepts whatever charges may be pressed, acknowledging that what he did was not "part of the job"

One of my favorite things about Hank’s character is that he’s also a drug manufacturer who takes (likely too much) pride in his product. It’s both funny and infuriating for him to arrest Hugo for a blunt knowing he brews beer in his garage, puts his name and face on it, and shows it off to everyone in the DEA office.

I've got an observation about Jesse escaping to Alaska in El Camino. Last summer I worked at a lodge in Alaska that employed multiple bush pilots. I saw firsthand how complicated and daring the work they did was, and how crucial general aviation is to the Alaskan community as a whole. When Jane tries to blackmail Walt into giving Jesse his share, they are ecstatic over the possibilities that the 500k or so would allow for them, and Jane asks what Jesse would want to do and where he would want to go. Jesse replies that he wants to be a bush pilot in New Zealand. He also at one point mentions to Walt that his favorite show is Ice Road Truckers, where similarly daring people navigate the difficult, remote landscapes of Alaska with similar end goals as that of the bush pilots in that state. I love that it ended up being Alaska for him, and I like to think that somehow after the events of El Camino, he found a way to get his pilots license and use his need for excitement, daring, and/or a "high" in his life in a way that is more legitimate and straightforward in helping heal himself and providing a valuable service for the community he's now a part of.

I was watching this show and my mom came in a told me "IT ENCOURAGES DRUGS" It literally shows how drugs destroy a man's life; He went from a respected teacher to a washed-up hobo.

Having the politics of the drug war be a political focus of Breaking Bad, I can't help but think about the systemic nature of how it all went wrong, and thinking that, I realized that is essentially what the equally amazing prequel spinoff, Better Call Saul, essentially focuses on with Jimmy McGill trying to make an honest living but gets systematically shafted in every opportunity only for him to willingly break the rules .

Desensitization to awful crime is real. I'm Mexican and, since 2006 (the start of the "war on drugs" here) we've become more used to horrible things happening. The last one I remember and still amazes me due to its absurdity is that someone left a corpse sit on a bench at noon in the center of a very popular place. It was covered in duct tape. It's horrible but at this point a good part of the population is used to hear those news, shrug their shoulders, be sure not to be involved with anyone who is suspicious and keep on living.

I always thought it was telling that Walter sees the meth bust on the news before he finds out about the cancer. The news makes it look almost glamorous, and I feel Walter gets this little daydream of “I could cook meth and make easy money..” then the cancer gives him an excuse to do it.

Hank’s reaction to Marie’s kleptomania is a perfect representation of his, along with broader society’s, hypocrisy on this issue. He regards drug addicts as hopeless wastes of space who aren’t worthy of respect or even basic humanity, but as soon as his wife starts compulsively stealing shit, he insists that the issue must be treated delicately and that she needs all the support they can give. Just goes to show how propagandized people are when it comes to drugs in particular.

One more frustrating thing about the criminalization of meth and how it hurt Jesse. Adderall is also an amphetamine. Jesse shows multiple symptoms of ADHD, such his hyperactivity when left unattended, his ability to make odd connections and think creatively, and his struggles in school. 90% of what he was trying to solve with drug use probably could've been taken care of with an Adderall prescription, and if meth were legal it would've probably have been prescribed to him in safe, predictable, helpful amounts.

Not sure how anyone could not read this as a political show. The reason Walt becomes a drug lord is purly political and makes this already a clear critique of modern american society. A highly qualified professional cannot get a job that is paying for his family. No, he has to work two jobs he is woefully overqualified for. On top of that, the sociel security system is so bad, that if something goes wrong (aka you get sick), becoming a drug lord seems to be a viable option. This is the pilot episode and all the other episodes build on this critique. It is pretty obvious

When you really think about it, the DEA really has no incentive to "win" the war on drugs. If they do that then they're all out of a job

Dude I can’t stress how underrated you are this is amazing. Probably the best analysis ever made of the best show ever made

Fantastic video! One comment: the War on Drugs doesn't destroy *everyone* involved. It greatly enriches politicians and others profiting from the prison industrial complex, as they are the only intended beneficiaries. Granted, it costs them their souls, but they appear to have ceased feeling that pain long ago.

My interpretation of Heisenberg is that Heisenberg is years, if not decades, of Walt's bottled up anger and frustration slowly emerging little by little rather than exploding all at once like a bomb. This is honestly one of the rarest analyses of Breaking Bad that acknowledges that there is not one set moment where "Walter officially becomes Heisenberg", but that Walter was Heisenberg since the beginning, and Heisenberg only begins to emerge more and more when Walter finds himself exposed to dangerous and life threatening situations. Or when somebody hurts his pride, as is the case with his "I am the danger" monologue to Skyler and when he kills Mike.

Imagine spending millions of dollars and time fighting a war on drugs. Then imagine still losing for decades. People have put stuff in their body to feel funny since the dawn of humankind, it wont stop anytime soon and throwing non violent people in a cage for what they put in their body is immoral.

You should make a video on Better Call Saul. There's a lot of interesting commentary on how the justice system incentivises criminality through its inability to provide opportunities to the downtrodden.

I love how much the show actually attempts to empathize and make the audience care for a junkie like Jessie instead of judging him harshly and painting him as a worthless lowlife. I mean the way they wrote him was just so excellent. From him always trying to do the right thing but barely being able to, to him trying to get off of the drugs multiple times while Walt and the Drug trade itself does everything to pull him back in. I mean it‘s great that they are also making walt the bad guy despite never using any drugs himself because he‘s actually the greedy one with no goodness in his heart and neither any morals or boundaries in terms of who has to be sacrificed for his ego trip next. It points the finger possibly rightfully so to the people who actually don‘t care about others and treat them badly instead of trying their best all because of money are shown as the villians. Not the addicted with nowhere to go. It‘s about powerful people on the side of crime and also law who are framed as bad mostly because they tend to abuse their power to actually hurt and ruin vulnerable people.

"waaaah, why are you trying to force politics into my show full of symbolism and social commentary." mfers will complain you're trying to politicize anything as soon as they realize they were too thickskulled to see the commentary on their own.

As a life long hard drug addict thank you for the incredibly accurate analysis on it

So tired of people claiming that Hank was some innocent beacon of light when he was just as implicit as someone like Walt. The only difference is that Hank ruined lives in a socially acceptable fashion.

idk how anyone could watch breaking bad and think “ah yes a completely apolitical show about drugs, the DEA, policing, addiction, and the cartel” edit; brba is a pretty clear indictment and dissection of the war on drugs, policing, toxic masculinity, etc., and just because some of y’all couldn’t pick up on it doesn’t mean you need to let me know in the replies for the millionth time 💀

When you start off Walt’s section, “when many scenes critique the dea machine” just flows so perfectly with the song playing, I thought you were gonna continue rhyming Also incredible work on this video. Highly enjoyable

this made me look at everyone, especially hank, in a brand new way. hanks never been one of my favourites, but this video completely changed my perspective.

This show is so obviously political it's insane anyone could NOT see that?? The war on drugs and most conversations surrounding drug abuse, our treatment of addicts/ the mentally ill, etc is all political at its core

I've watched a lot of breaking bad video essays, and this is without a doubt one of the most insightful and well crafted ones I've seen. 👏👏

TW: My friend convulsed for two hours before dying because the girl he was with was too afraid of calling 911. If overdose wasn’t so stigmatized he’d still be alive today. “F*ck a cop” - Bambu

The funny thing is that some of the DEA "stormtroopers" at 3:24 are actual DEA officers per Vince Gilligan in the BB commentary. It may be exaggerated in the show, but DEA actually has the resources to do something like that in real life, and that's mildly terrifying

This video is simply a Masterpiece. The way these story themes were implemented so subtly is a testament to the genius of the writers, and yours, for being able to read between the lines. Probably the most unique take i’ve ever heard of this show. Also, the editing is on point. The old school beats are really nice and compliment the subject very well. And the short edits you did of Walt and Jesse were a great touch, haha.

Thank you for taking down Hank. He’s never been the “good guy” to me.

Just re-watched this show and all I could think about the whole time was the politics of the drug trade, United State policing, and much, much more. Really glad to hear someone talk about this aspect of the series

that "Flapjacks and Bacon" part of that song coinciding with the images at 8:50 was a stroke of genius

Lol it will never not be surreal to see something I made get any attention. Thank you all for the support in the comments, yall are too nice to me. You can be a tad bit meaner don’t worry, I won't call the police. Hope you stick around

What a great video, man! You also summarised why I think that El Camino was important and necessary. I've seen too many people write it off. I truly believe that it was an important conclusion to Jesse's arc. Thank you for this video !

The most obvious political point I see in the show is healthcare. Walter only got started to pay for his cancer treatment. In most any other country in the world, the state would have provided that healthcare for free. Also, despite being a well qualified teacher, Walt is so underpaid he needs to work at a carwash too? How insulting! Teaching is a difficult and important job, and should absolutely pay enough to support his entire family comfortably (like it does in the rest of the world). Breaking Bad is a uniquely American critique of the society Walt finds himself in, and how all of it could have been negated with a strong union and a decent healthcare system.

finally a video essay youtuber who addresses Hank's and the polices corruptness. subscribed

truthfully, this is the best breaking bad analysis video I have every seen AND the best analyzation of the drug war I have ever seen. It is methodical, honest, perceptive, and real. It doesn't glorify the "bad-assery" of Gus, Walter, Jesse, and Mike, but allows us to see them as human beings who are victims of those in power.

This is probably one of the best video essays I've ever seen about breaking bad. Good job!

The single most important theme of the show is probably that almost nobody is a good person, before or afterwards. Not the government, not the innocuous kid from chemistry class not even the housewife. In a war, there are only friendlies and uncertain targets.

I love that intro with how shows try to interweave politics and can be very hit or miss. Supernatural in its later seasons failed epically with trying to place politics because they were very much just "Trump bad" and never delved into many of its own more problematic elements that would have been an otherwise better show. Brilliant video

Beautifully done! Thank you for making the effort to unpack something that normally gets left on the shelf when talking about this show. 👍🏾

This is a great video. I was wondering if you could make a video analyzing the political aspects of Avatar the Last Airbender/The Legend of Korra. Those shows both have really cool political concepts baked into their plots, especially for a kids show. Keep up the good work

Thank you for this wonderful video! I love in-depth Breaking Bad analyses. Especially your section on Jesse, he is probably my favorite fictional character ever and your thoughts on him here are literally mine. One of my (few) flaws with this show is I thought they missed a big opportunity with Hank’s character development. Like you showed, at the end of s5 (instead of finally seeing some humanity in an enemy), Hank says Jesse can get killed if it means catching Walt. Hank could’ve redeemed his long-running gross attitude toward addicts by treating Jesse decently, instead he had barely any real character growth. I wanted to like Hank but he was such a blockhead with that stuff.

This is by far one of the best video essays I've heard period, not just about Breaking Bad. The way you introduced us to a new angle of the show is astonishing, and the parallels to real life that you pointed out are ironic, sad and thought provoking. The video is nearly perfect. Thanks for doing this.

Dude, between this and your Office analysis, you’re becoming one of my favorite video essayists on KZfaq! Keep doing what you love man.

One of my favorite contrasts in the show was always that of jesse and walter in terms of drugs and morality. Jesse who is a obvious drug user throughout most of the show, since is a caring person with a soul throughout everything. And then there is walter who has basically never really been tempted or tries drugs much who becomes a soul less sociopath

Great video, you put a lot of pieces together that show a great picture on the damage the War on Drugs does to society with one of the best shows on television. Instant sub!

one of the only breaking bad video essays i was actually interested in. great work

Wow, this is without a doubt the most insightful analysis of Breaking Bad I have ever seen. You deserve a much wider audience. Subscribed.

Damn, this was a good video essay. You got right to your main points and informed your audience without coming across as superior or holier-than-thou. This really opened my eyes about the character arcs I had missed when watching BB. I wish more KZfaqrs did analysis videos like yours!

Someone has to say it, you're introduction to the Walter segment was literal genius, I know its only a few seconds but making something like that requires time and quality, thought it was badass.

You did an awesome one on this, I completely agree and that’s why I love how brutally honest the show can really be!

You're going places mate, your video essay style of production is just amazing.

The ending got me teary eyed. Thank you

Makes me wonder how different society would be if the war on drugs never happened or was handled better. Great video.

im a minute in and i can feel the quality. writing, editing, score on point. good work man keep it up please!

this is a fantastic video, heres to you and your channel growing as it should!

This video was a great watch! Deserves much more views.

Fucking phenomenal video, in every sense of the word. The humour of the opening lines drew me in, the editing was slick and had style without being distracting, it was clearly very well researched and, remarkably, you made a video essay about Breaking Bad that didn't seem to repeat anything that anyone had already said a thousand times. One thing that struck me was how little you played back scenes or snippets of dialogue, instead only reminding us of your evidence with the footage, because of course in 2022 everyone interested in Breaking Bad has already seen those scenes a dozen times and doesn't need to hear the lines again. When you did include dialogue, it was for smaller scenes that a viewer may have forgotten about, which was a smart idea. Really masterfully made, one of the better videos essays I can remember seeing not only on BB but on visual media in general. Thank you!

actually Walter White died happy. He was doing something in which he was good and valued.

Absolutely outstanding video, looking forward to more!

fantastic video my guy, instant sub

Was wondering if i was ever gonna see an analysis of BB that focused on the war on drugs. Amazing video, keep up the good work!

Great video man! I'm totally looking forward to what you put out next!

Great editing, great commentary, great video. Excited to see what you make next 🔥

Bravo. Got to love youtube algorithm, 604 views and recommended for me. 10/10 video in my eyes.

Excellent video. I really like how it's structured, with an opening statement, an even distribution of parts, and arguments to back up the main thesis throughout. It stays focused but manages to feel relaxed at the same time, which is a big plus in my book. Your voice is also pleasant as hell. The politics of BB is a criminally underrepresented angle, so I guess it's only fitting that a criminally underrated channel would talk about it. What's incredible as well is that you really didn't use coded political language to talk about the War on Drugs or GWB, it was pretty objective and concise. While clearly anti-conservative, there's no obvious pandering or meme-speak to sell your points - it's all just facts and honest opinions. Very good job, and best of luck in the future.

This video was entertaining as hell bro great job

You did such a good job on this essay! Amazing!

Only thing I like about El Camino is that of all the protags Jesse is the one who makes it out alive with a new chance at life. He's the one who deserved it the most- he was always the victim, never the victimizer.

A minute 40 into the video and I already subscribed, I look forward to seeing more of your content man. Fantastic video!

I keep coming back to this video, i love the way its edited, the music, everything, plus the way he talks abt the characters is amazing, awesome work!!

Incredible narration, visuals, music, and exploration of themes. Hope we see more from you.

Dean Norris is a great example of meta casting that people don't even realise. He's played many cops in the past and was almost not picked because of that. But I think it was a great idea to take this regular cop actor and deconstruct the idea of a hero cop. It's sorta like what Westworld did with James Marsden.

Obviously this video is amazing, but also: your music choices!!! So good! When you start talking about Jesse, you play the beat of My Mind's Playing Tricks on Me, which is just perfect for what you're talking about!! (idk much about rap and maybe its a common beat but still, awesome)

This was an incredibly interesting video. Really hope you make more.

Best analysis i've ever watched of bb so far,really wonderful and enlighting a fantastic job

instantly subbed this video absolutely slapped

I click on this video and immediately hear a 1930s Louisiana Black singer in my ears Love it

This is the most genius analysis of this show I’ve ever seen, well fuckin done

I keep rewatching this video and love it. W video bro

Tight video man. So many people just see Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul as exciting stories that are really only about interpersonal conflict rather than societal conflict.

I agree with a lot of your points. The stigma against drug addicts is particularly problematic. They should be viewed as people who need help and empathy, like with any other illness. Sure, if they do something horrible to hurt others, they shouldn’t be excused and should face consequences; but that’s also true for anyone who hurts other people in any other context. The reality is though, the vast majority of drug addicts only hurt themselves. Especially those who don’t have kids that can be neglected.

Beautiful video, my friend; this was absolutely perfect, I enjoyed it so very much, and I thank you for creating it. What a phenomenal and concise work. I have a question: please may you make a new video on how Saul is incorporated into the war on drugs and how it affects him? And besides, I know you're now making a Better Call Saul video essay - so I'm extremely excited for that and expect you'll discuss Saul's role in said war anyway!

this is a take on these characters i have never seen anything else on or even would have considered before watching this video. awesome

this is so great! keep making great stuff! you should be proud!!!

This is a great video and it's awesome to see new channels popping up talking about this show from 10 years ago. I didn't think about it this way (except with the overt mentions of the political topics) but everything you said about it makes the messages more clear. But I have to say Hank does change for the better and his flaws at the beginning are a much smaller part of his character by the end, which is unique in this series only to him and maybe Jesse. They both get put through the wringer the most and you have to feel bad knowing it was for nothing. Maybe if he took down Walt honestly using his own strengths he could've been a hero. Unrelated but I think your camera angle should be adjusted. Being too far above the face gives a weird angle that makes your jawline look less prominent and just kinda feels like you're leaning forward.

Very interesting content. I think you did a really good job with things on what I am guessing is no budget?? I think you really have something good here and I hope you continue putting yourself out there. All the best.

edit on point. amazing essay.

Your bg music choice is phenomenal, especially for Walt's segment!

The dude cooks meth because he has no healthcare and people are saying the show is not political??

All it took was hearing DOOM to earn a sub now I'm here for the long run Edit: Just finished the video and wow, your mic is a perfect volume, your voice is smooth and doesn't make me zone out and every transition had a banger song. Keep this up I look forward to your journey

amazing video!! i hope to see more from you in the future

had to watch it couple of times to let it sink in. amazing analysis

Brother with the Rhymes Like Dimes instrumental

Just one aside: In terms of Walt's character, I don't think he ever became desensitized. I think he just embraced the violence and ruthlessness as part of his own personality. I think accustomed might be a better description.

I don't regret discover this channel Keep up the good work

I’ve seen a lot of Breaking Bad analysis videos after I finished the show but this has got to be my favorite. Well done.