Breaking Bad, season 2. 

I track the Breaking Bad tag, and at least once a week or so, I see people complaining about the season two finale and the build-up throughout the season being disappointing (or, sometimes in their words, “fucking dumb” or “lame as fuck”).

I really, really disagree.

I’ll cut here for spoilers and potential length since I do have the tendency to ramble.

I LOVE that the little hints we saw all season (the teddy bear, bodies outside, debris everywhere, etc.) ended up being the result of a plane crash rather than something ridiculous like Walt blowing up his house or shooting a bunch of people on his street like some people had said they’d wished for.

That’d be too extreme, especially for it only being season two, where Walter hasn’t made his full transformation into “Heisenberg” yet. That’d be too early in the game for them to pull out some ridiculous shoot-out on his street or whatever. I watched an interview with Vince Gilligan a while ago, and he was saying that the original idea for Jane’s death that season was that she’d die because Walter would go in and inject her with an overdose of heroin, but they backed off because they thought that’d be too dark too soon. I agree. In order for Walter’s transformation to be both interesting and realistic, it can’t be too quick. It’s already really quick (when you consider that the entire span of the show has only been, like, a year) as it is.

I’ve heard people complain that the plane crash in season two was “irrelevant.” I don’t understand that complaint. It’s extremely relevant. The fault mostly lies in Jane’s dad, and he was distraught over the death of Jane, who was indirectly killed by Walter. He shook Jesse’s shoulder, which knocked Jane over, and she choked to death while Walter watched. I don’t fully blame Walter for that (especially since she chose to indulge in dangerous drugs), but he does take some blame. It all ties back to Walter.

I saw the plane crash as extremely symbolic. It firstly symbolizes that all actions have consequences. Because Walter indirectly killed Jane, the plane crash resulted because of her father’s grief and consequent misstep in his job. That small event, Jane’s death, which seems insignificant in the world and in the grand scheme of things, turned out to be so much more.

I also saw the plane collision as potentially symbolic of Walter’s double life/double personas crashing into each other. Everything had just fallen apart, as the plane crash took place directly after Skyler had revealed what she’d learned and left him. He goes to sit in the backyard, and the collision occurs, much like his double life crashing and falling apart. His two selves: family man, high school teacher Walter and meth manufacturer, budding criminal Walter are working toward no longer being so separate. He’s on his way into becoming full Heisenberg (which could be said to finalize in season four when he does the whole “I won” bit).

Anyway, I think that this was a really brilliant way of tying everything together. Jane’s death wasn’t for nothing, which Walter probably assumed it would be since he probably saw her as a nuisance or as a worthless junkie…but she wasn’t. There was more to her than that, and she had a family and a life of her own. Walter’s actions have consequences. All actions do. 

I loved the plane crash. It’s full of symbolism and subtle nuances, which makes it far more in-depth and complex than just some stupid shoot-out. I guess that might be more exciting if you’re someone who only tunes in to Breaking Bad for guts, violence, and action, but I’m glad that Breaking Bad is a show that provides us with so much more than that. There are countless mindless action movies/shows out there, so I always appreciate it when there’s a show/movie that actually gives us a little more and doesn’t just spoon-feed everything to the audience. 

Season two is fantastic. I love all four seasons dearly, but sometimes season two takes the cake for me. It’s extremely hard for me to pick a favorite season because it changes all of the time.