Anime, Series: Breaking Bad Season 1

Breaking Bad Season 1

Walter "Walt" White (Bryan Cranston) leads a mundane, timid life as a high school chemistry teacher whose students are uninterested and disrespectful. The job pays so poorly that Walt needs to work at a car wash for additional income, making him the subject of ridicule for his students. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with his pregnant wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn), and his high school aged son, Walter Jr. (RJ Mitte), who has cerebral palsy. Walter's life is further complicated when, while working at the car wash on the day after his 50th birthday, he collapses. At the hospital, he is diagnosed with stage-three terminal lung cancer. Hank Schrader (Dean Norris), his DEA Agent brother-in-law, offers Walt the opportunity to go on a ride-along to bust a meth lab. While at the scene, Walt notices former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) fleeing the scene. Walt uses student records to trace Jesse down and blackmails him into letting him join the drug business; Walt wants to make drug money to provide for his family after his death from the cancer.

Jesse attempts to sell their product to a drug distributor, "Krazy-8", who believes Walter is an undercover cop and attempts to kill him. Walter manages to defend himself, killing Krazy-8's cousin Emilio and eventually Krazy-8, who is ironically revealed to be a police informant for Hank. Walter, deeply disturbed by the ordeal and disappointed by Jesse's unreliability, breaks his ties with Jesse. Upon returning home, Walter and his family discuss long-term plans towards dealing with his cancer. While Walter originally wishes to slowly succumb to his disease rather than suffering the side-effects of chemotherapy or spending $90,000 out of pocket for an uncertain treatment outcome, his family eventually convinces him to undergo treatment.

Walter is offered financial assistance by Hank and his wife Marie (Betsy Brandt), and from his wealthy former business partners Elliott and Gretchen Schwartz, but turns down both offers. Instead, Walter decides to return to producing meth and tells his family the money he earns is actually from the Schwartzes. Walter then convinces Jesse that they should start selling their product to Tuco (Raymond Cruz), a powerful but psychopathic drug distributor. The two begin to expand their operations by stealing a large drum of methylamine, thereby allowing them to produce large quantities of meth for Tuco. Walter begins to come to terms with his secret lifestyle, and creates the pseudonym "Heisenberg" (named after Werner Heisenberg, a Nobel Laureate, German physicist who died of kidney cancer) to conceal his identity.