Though we know nothing about him at this point, nor how he came to be in this predicament, when Walt (Bryan Cranston ¹) removes the mask to record a video message to his family, it’s clear from his words, his tone, and the pained look on his face that he never imagined his life would one day lead him to this moment.īut, given his new vocation, maybe he should have guessed.Īfter that gorgeous, ² surreal, in media res prologue-which opens with the image of Walt’s missing pants floating through the sky, so filled with air they look like they have an invisible man inside of them, and closes with Walt standing in the middle of the highway in his shirt and jockey shorts, a gun pointed in the direction of the sirens that are fast approaching-the pilot jumps back to show us the depressing existence that led Walt here.
Walter White enters the story of Breaking Bad at full speed, tearing down a New Mexico desert highway in his new mobile meth lab, a ventilator mask on his face, no pants on his hairy legs, a trio of unconscious (or worse) men rolling around in the RV.