"Chemistry is the study of change. That's all of life. It is the cycle of solution then disolution over and over again. It is the study of growth, decay and then finally, transformation."
-Walter White

No other quote in this show perfectly stands as a metaphor of what will become of Walter White, as he transforms into his alias known as Heisenberg. This week, we will revisit his journey, as I will go over why Breaking Bad is one of the greatest TV shows of all time, starting with The Transformation of Walter White.

Breaking Bad tells the story of an overqualified chemistry teacher named Walter White discovering that he has terminal lung cancer. After seeing his brother in law Hank Schrader do a drug bust of 700,000 dollars, he teams up with an ex-student of him named Jesse Pinkman to cook and distribute the purest form of crystal meth in order to pay for his medication and financially set his family after his death. And thus the story of Walter White and his transformation into the villain known as Heisenberg.

The transformation of Walter White is undeniably one of the greatest stories in television history. Superbly acted by Bryan Cranston, the person of Walter White started out as a tragic hero who wanted to leave his family out of debt. When he was cooking the purest form of crystal meth, he only had his family in his heart. He never intended to do anything harmful. He was a kind, loving, father who would never want to harm anyone unless it was necessary.

But once he started going further and further into the drug business, a new man was born. An alias known as Heisenberg was inside Walter White. Heisenberg was ruthless,cunning, deceiving, manipulating, and most of all, he was not in danger. He IS the Danger. He was the One Who Knocks. Heisenberg was a person that you should "tread lightly" and stay out of his territory. Because Heisenberg is the type of person that one should not mess with. He will stop at nothing in order to gain control and have absolute power, even if it means to hurt the people around him. The more and more Walter White is in this business, the more that the person is dieing, and the alias known as Heisenberg grows until the last remains of Walter White is gone. So much that we question if Walter White is really doing all this for his family, or for his personal accomplishment. Walter White has gone from a tragic hero, to then an anti-hero, into one of the greatest villains in the history of film or television.
The role of Walter White aka Heisenberg would not be possible if it wasn't for the flawless acting of Bryan Cranston. Winner of 3 consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards, he not only gives as an accurate performance of Walter White, but made us believe that we weren't watching an actor, but Walter White himself. Cranston didn't act Walter White, but instead became the man he was portraying, making us care for all of his struggles and accomplishments more real than they should have been. He also, in a VERY weird way, made us root for Walter White, despite the fact that he was doing so much damage to the people around him. When an actor or a show can make me root for one of the greatest villains in Media History, they have done a brilliant job at constructing a character.

Bryan Cranston isn't the only one that helped in delivering the excellent characterization of Walter White. It was also the series creator Vince Gilligan. He has always said that he wanted to make a show of how Mr Chips(or for people who don't know who he is, Ned Flanders) turned into Scarface. That pretty much said what he wanted the show to be. He perfectly wrote of how a decent and innocent character can turn into the ruthless villain that will stop at nothing to have his meth empire. He did a perfect job of illustrating of how far a man can fall in order to achieve his goals and accomplishment. It makes me wonder how far would we fall. And that maybe, we all have a bit of Walter White or Heisenberg inside all of us.