Breaking Bad

Adventure and doom, courage and deceit, comedy and tragedy coalesce in Breaking Bad, a serial that ponders the changes that come over Walter White. A harmless high school chemistry teacher with a loving wife and a disabled son, Walt becomes a master chef of methamphetamine when he learns he has terminal cancer. His meekness evaporates as he discovers the strange potential and power of his new profession. His dilemma, his determination to leave his family financially secure and his good nature make it easy to root for him despite his criminal activities—at least initially. But as he descends into drug-dealing and its consequences, the moral questions become more and more difficult for him—and the audience. Sun-bathed northern New Mexico provides a visual backdrop ideally suited to a story that somehow conjures hope from desolation. For its curious, contradiction-laden narrative, Breaking Bad receives a Peabody Award.