Breaking Bad - Writing Characters into Corners

[Music] whenever i'm watching breaking bad i'm always impressed with how the writers build tension by upping the stakes while simultaneously narrowing the potential solutions what's most impressive is that this is completely intentional as the writing team put these characters in seemingly impossible positions with no way out without already knowing ahead of time how they're ever going to solve said problem but do you know where you're going i'm having a clue you have a clue now we we we do tend to write ourselves into corners seven people working many many hours many many weeks straight you know trying to get him out of these jams we could never do it what he does right coming up with this stuff instantly just think about that rather than planning okay we'll put walt and jesse here and then we can get them out at the end by simply doing a or b they have no earthly idea how the characters get out of their bind which creates a much more authentic experience a lot of shows create a singular problem within an episode and the characters then resolve that one problem and life goes on as if it never happened whereas breaking bad has great attention to detail it's always about the step-by-step consequences of each action because every action has an equal and opposite reaction problems don't just go away they spread like a disease this puts the characters under immense stress that it's not just one problem it's several compounding problems colliding resulting in a suffocatingly stressful situation there's four important factors for achieving this that the breaking bad writers have mastered number one set stakes the characters and the audience are always aware of the guaranteed results of any potential failure usually jail time or death number two real-time problem solving they often try a series of solutions or throw out ideas that the audience might be able to come up with but it gets shut down or doesn't work this limits their possibilities as no matter what direction they choose there's a series of ever expanding problems which puts the viewer in a consistent set of conundrums where we have to shrug and think i don't know what you should do number three forced reaction the desperation of the situation forces the characters to act and these reactions have more wiggle room for moral ambiguity although there are moral guiding voices in the show like jessie usually each character has a different code or standard that gets tested in each situation number four consequences instead of having a character come up with a eureka moment that solves everything any decision they make has unintended consequences in the future so even if it seems like a perfect solution as it solves their immediate problem each success triggers a set of dominoes to fall which results in their next problem let's take a look at some examples of this in action in the first few episodes walt goes along with hank on a police raid and sees jesse narrowly escape the original stakes are that walt needs money for his family so his solution is to cook meth with jesse as if he doesn't make a lot of money then his family will struggle financially without him there's a risk of getting caught and going to jail so walt is extra careful by cooking in the desert but once they try to sell the meth to jesse's contact crazy 8 there is no easy solution because of the unintended consequences of jesse previously escaping the police raid so now they think he's a rat jesse leads them to walt and they offer him to cook for them until emilio identifies walt from the police raid and falsely thinks he's working with the dea so what started off as a simple situation with high long-term stakes of providing for your family turns into a complex situation with high short-term stakes as walt could be killed it seems like there's no way out except for walt teaching them to cook his meth at gunpoint which will destroy any real possibility of him making money long term we see him problem solve in real time as the audience also wonder what could be done to get out of this situation this forces the outcome of walt poisoning crazy 8 and emilio something the audience wouldn't have been able to think of on the spot but the unintended consequences are that crazy 8 is still alive so they keep him prisoner in the basement the stakes change again as there is no real fear of him going to the police but he will tell his criminal associates and walt will be killed walt then weighs up his options looking for a way out of the situation but when he picks up the smashed plate discovers that crazy 8 is planning on killing him the moment he lets him go this forces walt to take action as it's him or me in season 3 walt decides to cook for gus fring firing jesse in the process which creates conflict between the two the stakes are simple by cooking for gus walt will make more than enough money to pay for his family however the unintended consequences of firing jesse are that jesse plans to use the rv to cook his own meth again and compete against walt then waltz gets a call from hank detailing that jesse is under investigation for cooking and selling meth this sets the stakes right away walt's fingerprints are in the rv waltz could be exposed and wall could go to jail he flies into problem solving mode but once he calls jesse realizes his phone might be tapped by hank so he can't have his voice heard so he hangs up so we've now upped the stakes and narrowed the solutions hank is coming for the rv but walt can't tell jesse how to prevent it so walt calls saul who tells him to take the rv first now walt is forced to race over to the rv which is being fixed by badger to take it and have it destroyed the unintended consequence of this is that badger calls jesse who has no idea he's being surveilled as walt can't speak to him given the two are at odds anyway this forces a reaction out of jesse who assumes the worst of walt and races over there which has the unintended consequence of leading hank right to the rv trapping both walt and jesse inside at first it was a simple conflict jessie and walt not working together anymore then it got complicated and the stakes got higher and now being blocked in by hank's car and on the verge of being caught red-handed there's no way out yet again the audience have to problem-solve with the characters they try to use the law to get rid of hank as he doesn't have a warrant which only buys them slightly more time but he isn't going anywhere now it's like they're symbolically already in a prison cell trapped in the rv given a tank there's no violent solution on the table further narrowing their options this forces the outcome of walt arranging for someone to call hank's phone and tell him his wife marie has been in an automobile accident so he has something more important to attend to this short-term solution then has the unintended consequence of making hank more obsessed with the case long term as it's personal now in the final two episodes of season three jesse is enraged when he discovers gus's men use kids to peddle their drugs he's emotionally invested because this kid is his girlfriend's brother who was manipulated into shooting his personal friend jesse wants to kill the man responsible but walt knows that would destroy everything so to save jesse he tries to prevent it from happening by telling gus which forces the reaction of jessie shaking hands with the two guys while being reminded of his place in the pecking order if it wasn't for this man and the respect i have for him i would be dealing with this in a very different way however the unintended consequence of walt telling gus is that the kid in question ends up being killed to tie up loose ends which walt intuitively knows will result in jesse killing the two men and then being killed himself this forces the reaction out of walt to wipe them out himself as he has more value to gus than jessie but instead of this just being jesse's problem like always it spreads like a disease and now gus wants both jessie and walt dead and has prepared gail to take over the operation it's now only a matter of time so walt and jesse problem solve walt can predict gus's plan so says they need to wipe gail out the stakes are clear it's either gail or us no when it comes down to you and me versus him i'm sorry but it's gonna be him jesse still refuses so walt says he'll do it but he needs jesse to get him gail's address but walt is abducted and held at gunpoint so he uses his one chance of calling jesse to force him into killing gail for him which does solve the problem for now but with the long-term consequence of gail's death helping lead hank right to the truth in season 4 the writers compile problems like never before the paranoia increases as walt knows gus wants to get rid of him the moment he has the chance things skid out of walt's control as everyone around him problem solves behind his back after they both teamed up to foil his earlier plans gus problem solves by taking jessie under his wing and uses him for more jobs to boost his ego and drive a wedge between himself and walt hank who has been obsessed with the case is getting closer and closer to catching gus even having walt drive him to el pollo's chicken farm and putting a tracking device on gus's car this creates a whole new set of problems for walt as before he used to worry about hank catching him but now he knows gus is too ruthless to be caught so the closer hank gets to the truth the closer he is to being killed meanwhile skyler's former boss ted reveals he had her cooking his books as an accountant for years if he doesn't pay his taxes to the irs then she's screwed as they will investigate her and their new money laundering car wash she tries to convince him to pay but he has no money so she goes behind walt's back and gives most of their money to ted all of these ongoing stressful situations culminate when walt realizes someone cooked in his lab without him it turns out it was jesse as they have been at odds with one another meaning waltz has no value to gus anymore he's finally fired and gus sets the new stakes pretty clearly i will kill your wife i will kill your son i will kill your infant daughter naturally walt splinters into problem-solving mode and tries to arrange for his family to leave town with him which will cost five hundred thousand dollars for new identities but when he goes home to start packing bags he discovers the money needed to escape is gone because skyler gave it all to ted hear me out please this is the peak moment of danger in the show the stakes have never been higher gus is going to kill hank and is threatening to kill the entire family too walt has been earning money for this day for several seasons now but it's all been pumped into buying a car wash to launder the money through and his wife just gave the rest of his money away so the irs won't investigate said car wash the stakes are higher and there is now seemingly no way out these are just a few examples but the show is filled with these moments setting the stakes real-time problem-solving a forced reaction that resolves things short-term and the long-term consequences which leaves the characters with a whole new set of problems whether they realize it yet or not this is airtight writing and as far as i'm concerned we haven't seen any other show reach this caliber yet but what do you think is there a better written show when it comes to building stakes and consequences if you enjoy this content and want to see more of it don't forget to like comment subscribe and do consider joining my new patreon community to help support more content like this in the future

Channel: Just an Observation

Views: 190,782

Keywords: breaking bad writing, breaking bad, breaking bad characters, breaking bad video essay, breaking bad vince gilligan, breaking bad stakes, breaking bad consequences, breaking bad tension, breaking bad bryan cranston, walter white analysis, breaking bad review, breaking bad analysis, how to write like breaking bad, how breaking bad, breaking bad best writing, breaking bad writers, breaking bad lessons, just an observation, aaron paul, crawl space

Id: uGabsp-6eoY

Length: 12min 8sec (728 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 20 2021