How BREAKING BAD Cleverly Hides Religious Symbolism in Every Season

hold on who is walt talking to there now there's a lot of theories about this maybe it's his alter ego heisenberg other people thought that maybe it's jane or he's just talking to the car but after re-watching the entire season i've got a theory that he's talking to the almighty god himself now it seems pretty obvious but the thing is when you re-watch the entire season with that in mind you can find lots of clues that walt's methcapades are going to end with divine intervention there's a lot of foreshadowing that this was going to happen a lot so we're going to break down every clue that we found about the hidden christian symbolism in the final season of breaking bad now i can already hear some of you crying out from the comments that maybe i'm overreaching here maybe i'm seeing symbols where there are none but that's kind of my job right illuminati dick tracy vhs so let me point out the breaking bad creator vince gilligan was raised catholic but not just regular catholic his mother described him to the new york times as an acolyte of the catholic church so we made a whole video about the teddy bear in season two where we cited that vince gilligan claimed the bear's eye was the eye of god when we were coming up with that eye as an image it probably represented some form of the universe the eye of god the eye of morality i guess if you're going to hold my feet to the fire what it means to me is the eye of god on walt but these days gilligan describes himself as an agnostic albeit one with a deep knowledge of catholicism and the bible and he retains a very moralistic view of the universe he believes that bad people in the world are punished by some kind of higher power he told npr i gotta believe there's some kind of karma there's some kind of payback there's some kind of i gotta believe the wheel turns for everybody who does you know truly horrible deeds so as we break down these symbols bear in mind that the show's catholic creator views the world through this moralistic lens he believes there's some kind of universal justice that governs us if you do bad things you will be punished and your sins will catch up to you breaking bad has so many layers that you can't really understand the show's full meaning if you only speak english numerous episode titles are in spanish and being bilingual helps you to understand the full meaning of several key scenes so if you want to learn spanish i recommend babel the sponsor of this week's video if you've ever thought about learning a new language but you were too intimidated then you should try babble now babel helps you to start speaking a new language in just three weeks that's a blink in pandemic time and if you use the link in the description to sign up you get six months for free babel uses short 10 to 15 minute lessons that are made by actual language teachers not some ai or an algorithm the lessons use real life situations and dialogue that you would actually use in the real world like you show up at a party you don't know anyone and you're looking for your friend or if you're like me you just pretend you have a friend at the party and it really works university studies have shown that 15 hours of babel equals a semester of college spanish you know we're entering a post-covered world and a lot of you might be thinking about traveling somewhere new and if you do go to a new country you should at least learn some of their language don't be like me when i went to paris i was walking around like this does anyone here speak english so click the link down in the description to get six months for free when you sign up for six months the show features numerous references to god and the divinity as well as the subversion of christian practices by characters who are really doing the devil's work first let's look at the character's biblical parallels walt's pretty easy to guess speak of the devil mr white he's the devil you are the devil yep with his bald head and goatee walt even looks like a character of old scratch himself but more importantly walt and lucifer share the same original sin pride c.s lewis called pride the great sin for it was through pride the devil became the devil pride leads to every other vice i am not in danger skyler i am the danger also note that lucifer was the shining star the greatest of god's angels and then he fell from grace exactly like walt was the most talented chemist among his peers but his great sin of pride caused his fault just as lucifer became known as satan after his fall walt also invents a new name eisenberg you're goddamn right when talking about the death of drew sharp walt says am i supposed to just lie down and die with him this presents walt as the inverse of jesus who laid down his life to save humanity walt is purely concerned with his own welfare she did it for me and then there's this there's one gallon as discussed you take that back home to your people test it if you're satisfied i can get the other 665. that makes a total of 666 gallons that's the number of the beast or the devil's number now like the devil's fiery pits of hell heisenberg's primary tool is fire which he uses to cook meth he also uses fire to escape from mike's restraints burn witnesses alive and to destroy gus's meth lab [Music] but these are mostly superficial symbols what makes walt the devil in breaking bad is that he draws other people into a hell that he has created he ruins the lives of everyone he meets and especially jesse i mean he was no straight arrow before they met but walt slowly forces jesse to become a murderer and he never stops trying to tempt him a cook all of your own why not you deserve it you're every bit as good as me jesse parallels another biblical figure jesus christ now we're not the first people to point this out the take did a whole video just about this and you should watch it we're linking that and a bunch of other cited works down in the comments so the name jesse means god's gift like how jesus was god's gift to mankind and jesse consopolis was god's gift to mullets oh look at that party in the back it's coming back guys it's coming back so like jesus jesse is a fundamentally gentle person preferring to play with this beetle rather than stomp on it and he has an innocent child like nature jesse and jesus were also woodworkers jesse even fantasizes about woodworking during his time in captivity this scene is also lit from above by a golden light to indicate he's performing a holy act jesse and christ also suffer for everyone else's sense i mean no one in this show suffers more than jesse but not just physical suffering walton flicks pain onto jesse's soul he forces him to kill gail watches jane die and then brags about it i could have saved her but i didn't and overall continuously manipulates jesse into living a more sinful life like when he forces jesse to join his family dinner using food to tempt the innocent is seen way back in the book of genesis when the serpent tempts eve to eat from the tree of knowledge hey you want an apple it's a good apple try it they think it's a fuji but isn't it filthy blood money when jesse tries to absolve his sins by giving money to drew sharp's family saul's response you're still going to be two miracles short of sainthood shows that jesse's sense can't be absolved with money you can't buy your way into heaven instead jesse wins salvation through pain and suffering jesse and jesus are imprisoned beaten humiliated and brought before a leader for judgment and when jesse is resurrected from his tomb-like pit much like jesus he goes to live in alaska where the mounds of snow are reminiscent of the clouds often depicted in heaven walt tempting jesse is reminiscent of satan tempting christ in the book of matthew when he promised him the entire world would be his if he would abandon god and worship the devil instead join me together we'll rule the living and the dead you'll give life and you'll take life you'll sit in judgment and i'll sit next to you just as satan tried to steal away god's son walt is trying to control his surrogate son jesse and yeah walt calls jesse his son several times in the show jesse jesse look at me you're good at a lot of things son walter wants jesse as his evil version of jesus and catholicism jesus is god's right hand just as jesse is walter's assistant partnership yes equal three ways you jesse and me now this alliance is a subversion of the holy trinity now this is the idea that the christian god exists as three separate entities there's god the creator his son jesus and the holy spirit kind of a spiritual interpreter between god and the human race mike serves as the holy spirit who facilitates god's will or walt's will by maintaining the machinery of gus's narcotics machine also triangles and triple lights often appear at key moments throughout the season and look i just want to check in if you think we're reading too much into this check this clip out jesus i mean i'm the one who's the father here in a show where every choice of prop and costume and dialogue and color is so deliberate this phrasing is not an accident so if the holy trinity represents good then this unholy trinity represents evil by creating and selling drugs to make money whatever whatever you think's supposed to happen i'm telling you the exact reverse opposite of that is gonna happen skyler is another character who walt temps into darkness before breaking bad skyler lived a normal mostly happy life eat you veggie bacon but walt drags her down into his world of fear and misery like jessie she's consumed with guilt at one point wrapping dental floss around her finger causing it to become flushed red with pain in christianity there are many examples of absolving sin through physical punishment such as the torture jesus endured before dying on the cross however in schuyler's case this is more similar to self-flagellation which sounds dirty but isn't this practice is extended from the doctrine of the mortification of the flesh when christians would inflict pain on themselves as penance for their sins skyler also sends her children away to stay with hank and marie but she didn't know that soon hank would work to bring down her and walt meaning that she actually sent her children to live with her enemy i don't want the children here anymore it isn't safe this makes her similar to jochebed moses's mother who sent him away for his own safety but he ends up in the home of the pharaoh the very man that is working to bring harm to her people and by extension to moses but skyler's most overt dive into christian symbolism is when she feigns a suicide attempt in her pool [Music] let's talk about water in christianity water has the holy ability to wash away sin such as baptisms so skyler who's feeling guilty for enabling walt walks into the pool to absolve her sinful actions she uses this fake suicide as an excuse to send away her children in effect purifying them from walt's evil so hey uh how's business the car wash similarly skyler uses the car wash to launder their blood money playing into this association of water cleansing sin i remember how i said that these three are an inversion of the holy trinity if that's the case then methylamine is the inversion of water the methylamine keeps flowing no matter what we are not ramping down we're just getting started nothing stops this train this line underscores the importance of this liquid in conducting their sinful work walt can't make meth without methylamine in the eucharist the symbolic flowing of jesus blood is used to pardon sin to fulfill a holy purpose but because walt uses methamine for evil purposes this chemical is symbolic of evil blood much like the blood of christ methylamine is also a liquid that is celebrated but of course by satan and his minions and the title of episode 13 is touha july that's a navajo word meaning where people draw up water in this case it refers to the site of walt and jesse's first cook where they first tapped into the well of the unholy water meth and began to do the devil's work in fact several episode titles have biblical meanings blood money refers to the 30 pieces of silver that judas was paid to betray jesus confessions referring to the catholic rite of cleansinger sends to a priest and ozzy mandius a poem about the legacy of a pharaoh whose accomplishments were eclipsed by the people he enslaved my name is ozymandias king of kings look on my works ye mighty and despair even the names in breaking bad have religious meanings in spanish jesse is short for jesus marie is mary in french even saul goodman in the bible saul persecuted christians before having a religious awakening and changing his name to paul the reverse of saul goodman his original name was james like the favored disciple of jesus and then he changed it to saul so again it's an inversion instead of saul becoming a good guy a good guy becomes saul and mike is named after the archangel jane is the feminine of john another apostle badger's last name is mayhew meaning gift of god in french and skinny pete is named after peter jesus called him the rock i will build my church upon just like jesse uses skinny pete to sell rocks there's also biblical connections to the insects in the show insects are often an indication of evil suffering and the devil who's also known as the lord of flies god sent the plague of locus to punish egypt forming a connection between sinners and insects walt and jesse poses fumigators people trying to clean up the insects when in fact they're subverting this good work to spread the disease of addiction again they're an inversion of the holy trilogy and of course there's the famous bottle episode fly where walt's dream of a pure meth lab is tainted by the presence of a singular insect indicating that his creation will never be a hundred percent pure because it's tainted by scent in terms of keeping our cook clean and our product unadulterated we need to take this very seriously but more important than all these superficial details the show's underlying philosophy is very christian christianity is about choice and free will god gave us free will so sin is actually our choice chuck klosterman wrote that walt's fall is quote a product of his own consciousness he changed himself at some point he decided to become bad and that's what matters breaking bad suggests that morality is continually a personal choice but also centers can choose to be redeemed and that's exactly what happens in the season finale the final three episodes of the series are a trilogy that shows the death of heisenberg and the redemption of walter white episode 14 ozymandias shows walt falling from power like the titular pharaoh he loses his empire his money and his family the following episode granite state refers to both new hampshire the granite state and also walt's current state of being frozen in place now it's easy to call this cabin walt's personal hell but in fact it's actually his purgatory okay purgatory's weird there's different scholarly thoughts on what it means but basically it's the place where good people go who aren't quite ready for heaven it's a state of purification exactly like the granite state that walt finds himself in walt's time in the new hampshire cabin teaches him humility he tries to assume the role of heisenberg but he still fails to escape and he's being purified literally by the chemo drugs fighting off the cancer inside of his body the cabin of the granite state is akin to a granite tomb and when walt escapes it he's been resurrected this leads us to the final episode felina the episode where walt is not only redeemed but he assumes a godlike authority over the world it's almost like he's been anointed by a higher power so notice he says a little prayer and then the keys fall from the visor but to get this shot they had to remove the roof of the car and shoot downward that seems like a lot of trouble so we know that the shot has to be important this shot is emphasizing that a higher power is anointing these keys to walt the first thing he does is bang the snow off the window like so much fonzie well you're not going to be able to open that it's painted shut ye of little fate his magic powers only grow from there he goes to santa fe meaning holy faith and cows gretchen and elliot with a wave of his hand much like a god summoning his wrath on the to set unfaithful in the world when he admits his sins to skyler i did it for me this is the moment of his redemption like any sinner he has confessed his scent which is the first step to atonement he appears and disappears all over town like a spirit who can pass through walls when he leaves his wife's home he even fades away like a ghost he can see the future predicting how lydia and the nazis are going to act prophesizing his own death they're not coming back not after tonight he raises the dead bodies of hank and steve a burial site that's where they'll find hank and steve gomez then he demands jesse you know jesus be brought before him but in the end spares his life bringing jesse's sins upon himself walt ends the series wounded in his side like christ laying dead in a crucifix pose as the scaffolding above him forms a cross as the camera pulls away walt has transformed into a man who knows he's done wrong and wants to perform a virtuous deed before he dies walt's actions save his family and jesse in the end he took on jesse's sins for himself just like jesus took on the sins of mankind this is the most religious ending of any show ever except maybe sons of anarchy so what did walt even do to deserve this redemption well there's clues throughout the series that walt like his creator vince gilligan is an agnostic who believes in the cosmic scales of justice for instance when walt was dying in the desert like a biblical prophet i have it coming i deserve this and in the final season he says if you believe that there's a hell i don't know if you're into that but we're we're already pretty much going there right this is walter acknowledging the possibility that hell exists but also he still refuses to repent so by rejecting repentance he rejects god but he calls out to god for help in the episode's first scene so back to that original question who is walt talking to i'm going to get a little meta on you now now remember vince gilligan is an agnostic but his strongly held moral belief is that the universe will somehow punish evil walt is not making an appeal to god he's making an appeal to vince gilligan himself i'm not saying that walt is rick sanchez and he knows he's in a tv show don't hate the player hate the game son but in this scene he cries out for help and vince gilligan is the one who answers that's just lazy writing remember there's no such thing as luck in a tv show everything is scripted the show ends precisely how vince gilligan felt it should end in a world where evil is punished and good people can be redeemed now view that way this scene is an intimate moment where a man cries out to his creator the creator hears him and grants his final wish just get me off but that's just our thoughts let me know yours in the comments below or at me on twitter and if it's your first time here please subscribe for screen crush i'm ryan airy [Music] you

Channel: ScreenCrush

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Keywords: breaking bad, breaking bad video essay, breaking bad ending explained, breaking bad symbolism, who was walt talking to in breaking bad finale, vreaking bad meaning explained, screencrush, breaking bad screenprism, breaking bad the take, walter white clip, brekaing bad clip, breaking bad videos, I am the one who knocks, film video essays

Id: sRKUPE-2wIM

Length: 20min 53sec (1253 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 03 2021