Key word one: gimmick.
There is always a shining gimmick in a successful American drama. Specifically, the protagonist has a personality that is the same as that of ordinary people plus abilities that are different from ordinary people. For example, Michael's indifference to his relatives in "Prison Break" + meticulous arrangement of plans behind his high IQ, such as "A Thousand Lies and Hundred Tactics" Lightman's distrust of human instincts, his instinctive love for others + micro-expressions, such as the geeker-like behavior of the five geniuses in "The Big Bang Theory" and a series of physics jokes in front of Penny. In "Deadly Poison Master", this gimmick is Walter's character and rich knowledge of chemistry, especially crystallography.
Whenever the mountains and rivers are exhausted, these gimmicks can always help the protagonist transform the luck and the willows. Walter's first crisis was when Crazy-8 and Emilio used guns to force them to demonstrate the production process of high-purity methamphetamine. Walter easily brought them down with a little phosphine. In the second crisis, the drug lord Tuco forcibly swallowed their methamphetamine. Walter took a bag of mercury fulminate and went deep into the drug nest. In a posture of death with the drug lord, he not only recovered the drug money, but also reached an agreement with the drug lord. A long-term cooperation agreement was established. The third crisis was when he promised a large order to Tuco but faced the problem of insufficient raw materials. After Walter's head turned, change the production process. The methamphetamine produced is still too pure.
The screenwriter seems to be saying, look, this is the power of chemistry. Although this power is used for crimes, such as using hydrofluoric acid to destroy the bodies of Crazy-8 and Emilio, such as using thermite reaction to unlock locks to steal things. Just as the film title Breaking Bad borrows the two element names of Br and Ba, this is a crime story as well as a chemical story.
Keyword two: choice.
Walter, who is about to enter his old age, has a fairly satisfactory family (loving his wife and son with mild cerebral palsy) and a satisfactory job (a middle school chemistry teacher). Because of her wife's accidental pregnancy, he had to go to the car wash shop to do odd jobs to subsidize the family. Although he was ridiculed by the students in his class, but the problem was not big, he could continue to bear it, and endure it for the rest of his life.
Reluctantly, God's will to make people, and a notice of advanced lung cancer was in front of him, Walter made the first choice, hiding his family from his family, saving money, and silently waiting for his death. In fact, this notice is not only the rest of life, but also the slasher of life. At this time, Walter was extremely relaxed. The laws, morals and rules that usually bound him were cut apart by the dying heart. The only thing left was the love for his family and the maintenance of his dignity.
The second choice is how to deal with Crazy-8 in the basement. Kill him. Walter can't do anything. He let him go, but he was afraid of retaliation, so he had to delay. That afternoon, Walter and Crazy-8 were talking light words in the dim light of the basement. Crazy-8 was talking about his dreams about music, talking about his father's furniture store, and Walter accompanied him to hum the commercial song. At that moment, Walter's tight heart softened, and he really wanted to let him go. It's a pity that he was excited and discovered the secret of the broken plate, so he killed Crazy-8 in tears.
The third option was to face the funding of cancer treatment from his former college friends. Walter declined and lied to his wife to say that he accepted. In order to make money, he returned to the old drug manufacturing industry. Judging from the hint of the previous plot, Walter should have had a serious entanglement with this pair of college friends and finally parted ways. So guess that Walter's choice this time is about his self-esteem, nothing else.
Another thing I have to mention is Jesse, who had the illusion of being chased after he took methamphetamine a certain time, and hurriedly escaped from the residence, but finally chose to go home, even though the family had been sad and desperate for him a hundred times. I always felt that at that moment, what filled Jesse's heart was overwhelming boredom, tired of panicking crime, tired of the emptiness and loss after taking drugs, tired of the decadent and degraded life. He suddenly missed his childhood, had a warm meal with his parents, and slept on a warm bed. In the complex emotions of his parents, he finally lived in the "home". In the moonlight, he flipped through the old things from his school days, and the chemistry test paper made him laugh, with Walter's relentless comments on the one hand, and Jesse's cartoons that vilified Walter on the other. Scenes of the past can't go away in front of my eyes.
Once again contrary to expectations, the servant found marijuana in the room, and the parents took it for granted that it was him and asked him to leave. Jesse finally chose to accept it silently, even if the owner of the marijuana is the younger brother who is fully developed in the eyes of his parents. Jesse may have thought about arguing, but his parents would never believe it. If he believes and proves it will be a huge blow to his parents and younger brother, let's leave a little beautiful fantasy to the elderly parents.
Keyword 3: Transformation
I think that every serious choice is a reflection of character, and every serious choice is a transformation of the soul. Comparing the beginning of the story with the end of the story, Walter has changed from a dying old man to a bald thieves full of power. Jesse has changed from a street drug lord who "Yo never leaves his mouth" to a small gangster who occasionally discovers his conscience. From a legal and moral point of view, Walter changed from good to bad, and Jesse changed from bad to good. It is estimated that the two eventually met and turned into a mixed knight duo.
There are two interesting details in the film, one is the case of Walter burning car. The passerby has all the nasty qualities, grabbing Walter's parking space, talking loudly in public wearing Bluetooth headsets, self-righteous, not polite, just like an American coal boss. That day, I don’t know whether Walter was waiting or meeting in a tight way. He took advantage of the time when the nasty ghost entered the store to buy things, and made a little hand and foot on his luxury car battery. With full of joy.
Another time, Jesse was wearing a suit and tie to find a job, but he had no experience and no diploma. Not only was he a decisive tragedy, but he was also humiliated by others. This is also an important leap in Jesse's conscience, but the reality is too cruel to give him a chance. I guess that even if Jesse finds a decent job, he will eventually get fired, because he has long been accustomed to the state of no rules, and the strict rules in the company will suffocate him.
It is easy to change from good to bad, and from bad to good difficult. In this way, Jesse's career development will be much harder.
"The Deadly Poisoner" was broadcast in January 2008 and has now reached its third season. Judging from the posters, both Walter and Jesse are still alive and well. I just watched it one by one, watching my bit by bit of anticipation turn into clusters of surprises, how great.
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