Here are six turning points…
This feature contains major spoilers forBreaking Badseasons one to five.
Thats quite a metamorphosis and not something that could happen overnight.
After all, one does not simply walk into a drug kingpins territory and mount an aggressive takeover.
Is it possible to pinpoint the moment that he switched from goodie to baddie?
You always remember your first kill.
Walts not likely to forget his he took long enough over it.
Sure, hed manufactured his first batches of meth by then, but that was simple chemistry.
It was a killing of expediency that only the sternest of moralists could condemn.
A simple choice: hell kill you and your entire family unless you kill him first.
Wed all do it, wouldnt we?
So how do we feel about…
2.
Moustache: Still dismal.
Any decent expectant father would move heaven and earth to be present for the birth of his child.
Way to go, Dad of the Year!
Maybe not, but what about…
3.
Watching Jane die
Hair Status:Bit of a twofer here, hair same as above.
The very first thing that Gus tells Walt is that Jesse is a liability.
Always reckless, with Jane, his casual drug use escalates until it actually becomes dangerous to Walts ambition.
A crime of omission, rather than commission.
(In another early version, he actually administers the fatal dose).
An act of desperation, surely?
But what about…
4.
Hes almost Mirror Universe Walt.
OK, so at the beginning of the show, Walt was a bit of a sadsack.
He was presented with a desperate situation and fell back on his central skill to solve it.
We can all sympathise, cant we?
Weve all seen the trouble it brings him, the death, the desperation,the plane crash?
This Albuquerquean Darth Vader has had a taste of the bad stuff and he wants more.
He wants an empire.
Well, its because he can, because hes the best goddam meth cook in America.
Its because hes the bad guy.
Theres really no going back now.
Hes evil enough to change the official designation of his house from suburban des res to lair.
But he can get worse…
5.The Gus Removal Gambit
Hair Status:Bicd to the bone.
Goatee rather more luxuriant.
The slow reveal of the lily-of-the-valley in his garden marked a clear turning point.
Could any remaining Walt loyalists trust him again?
Theres always:
6.
He may have given Gus the closest chemical peel in history but he hadnt eliminated the entire threat.
Consequently, Walt finds that he has a lot of loose ends to tie up.
Its because its done remotely.
Like any supervillain, Walt keeps his face out of it and his hands clean while retaining overall control.
The method is a message and a lesson in just how far hes come.
Offing potential witnesses is amateur stuff.
Doing all ten in three separate prisons inside of two minutes?
Thats the action of the bad guy.
There are, of course, other shocking moments.
Just when did you lose Walter White?
