Breaking Bad is an American crime drama series that has won a lot of awards and accolades. It is set in New Mexico and is the story of Walter White, a school chemistry teacher who is detected with inoperable lung cancer. He turns to a life of crime by producing methamphetamine, only to secure his family’s financial needs before he dies. In all of this, he rolls in his former student Jesse Pinkman to assist him.

With over 6.4 million viewers and 5 seasons, this show has been extremely popular despite being tragic and emotionally wrenching. So what is it that makes the show so popular? Let’s discuss:

 

• This is a very emotionally intense show and the founder believes that such shows build in a lot of excitement over time. When you witness a wide range of emotions in a distressing show, the excitement from these emotions build up. All these negative emotions in the series boost positive emotions like relief when the episode ends on a happy note. This is called the excitation transfer theory.

 

• The writing, acting, production design, the script, screenplay, almost everything about the show is very well implemented. The storytelling is brilliant and the people who have worked behind the scenes are very creative and hard working.

 

• The protagonist is a very dark character as it is shown that from the very beginning that he is diagnosed with lung cancer and how he prepares to change his life for the future with his gifted abilities and this showcases some worst aspects of his life. He had ignored pride and fury in his life until he discovers about his cancer which starts to surface his character.

 

• A lot of fans have lived their lives vicariously through Walter and Jesse, ignoring their inherent tragedies as a result of their actions. This is a very big truth as people try to ignore the dark sides of their lives until something really bad happens to them.

 

• This series has apparently helped some addicts to recover because of the great sadness they are witnessing in their lives. This series has shown the dark side of life and not painted a rosy picture of the world unlike other TV shows and this is the reason why addicts take comfort watching it.

 

Thus, it can be easily concluded that Breaking Bad is considered an epic despite being tragic, violent and depressing. This is because of the character, the dark side, the script, etc. All in all it is a must watch.