This article mentions attempted suicide.
Breaking Bad’s very first episode sets up the iconic drama’s entire premise, and there’s one particularly dark moment that initially seems as though it’s passed by without consequence — but that isn’t the case. Even thoughBreaking Bad’s endingwas over a decade ago, it remains one of thebest shows on Netflix dueto its gripping storylines and stellar performances. As the leader of theBreaking Badcastthroughout,Bryan Cranston shocked the world by stepping away from the world of comedyand into the role of Walter “Walt” White.
TV pilots are almost an art form unto themselves. They’re responsible for establishing the show’s tone, aesthetic, and narrative direction.Breaking Badcreator Vince Gillian wrote and directed the show’s first installment, making it clear that he was incredibly sure what form he wanted his project to take. He gaveBreaking Bada solid foundation to build on with the quality of its pilot, and remained in place as the showrunner to verify his vision stayed on track. While most of the imagery in the first episode is relatively surface-level, not all of it is.
Walt’s suicide attempt marked a huge turning point for Cranston’s defeated character
Near the end ofBreaking Bad’s first episode, simply named “Pilot,“Walt is convinced that his recent foray into the criminal world is going to get him arrested. After all, he had just cooked his first batch of meth and tried to kill both the men who came after him for it, so it was a reasonable assumption that he was about to go to jail if caught. In an act of sheer desperation and with a powerful unwillingness to face the music, Walt takes a salvaged firearm and tries to end his own life. Thankfully, the weapon misfires, and Cranston’s character doesn’t die.
In a way, Walt does die when he pulls the trigger, even if no bullet leaves the gun.
That said, Walt doesn’t really survive the moment either. After his suicide attempt, the intense skittishness and nervous demeanor that had understandably plagued the earliest days of Walt’s criminal career pretty much disappears. He gradually begins to become a harsher version of himself, one who no longer second-guesses the actions he and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) force themselves to undertake.A cold, calculated version of Walter White begins to emerge. So, in a way, Walt does die when he pulls the trigger, even if no bullet leaves the gun.
Walt’s gun was loaded, as proven by the next shot firing into the ground.
Walt’s suicide attempt turns out to be brought on by a false threat. The sirens in the distance get closer and reveal themselves to belong to a fire engine, and not a police car. So, while Walt was trying to prevent himself from being caught by law enforcement,he wasn’t actually in any danger of being caught by the police at that time. If the gun hadn’t misfired, the scene of his death would have drawn the attention he was trying to avoid. With a mobile meth lab sitting just nearby, he would surely have been posthumously convicted.
The events ofBreaking Bad’s pilot episode set Walt down a path that he couldn’t really come back from. The gun’s misfire was a prominent way of punctuating that, but rather than it serving as a full stop to Walt’s life, it ended up being more of a comma that introduced the next phase of his existence. In a way,his suicide attempt was the beginning of his transformation into Heisenberg, the moniker he eventually adopted as he rose to the top of the drug scene in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Furthermore,Walt broke a lot of laws in the pilot. He cooks meth, attempts to distribute it, kills Emilio Koyoma (John Koyoma), and tries to do the same to Krazy-8 (Max Arciniega). He does succeed in killing Krazy-8, but days later, and in a far more hands-on way. Despite all this, Walt was still seemingly untouchable, which was made even more surprising by having a brother-in-law in the DEA. The sheer lack of repercussions, paired with his chance survival of his suicide attempt, likely made Cranston’sBreaking Badcharacter feel indestructible, which went on to manifest into his Heisenberg persona.
