10. Opening Scene Season 1, Episode 1 Pilot
It started with a bang, and ended with a whisper. No opening scene in a pilot episode threw viewers straight into the fire like Breaking Bad. Perhaps knowing the amount of world building required for the shows central concept, Gilligan instead begins in media res, a technique the show would come back to multiple times. The images quickly flood the viewer. A man in his underwear, wearing a gas mask, trying to tame an out of control RV from veering off the road. An unconscious man slumped in the seat next to him. Behind them, science equipment flies across the RV and limp bodies and brown liquid slosh to and fro. The gas mask fills with liquid and the RV crashes into a ditch. A man climbs out, pulls a video camera from the front seat. He speaks into the camera, giving his name, address, and the ominous statement, "To all law enforcement officials, this is not an admission of guilt" He finishes the cryptic video, heads to the road, and aims his gun at the approaching sirens. Meet Walter White, our leading man By dropping us in the middle of the episodes climactic escape (the first of many for Walt throughout the series), the viewers confusion and panic of this chaotic new world matched Walts confusion and panic in his first drug deal gone bad. The correlation is the first in a litany of ways the show attempted to connect the audience to Walt. To have us identify and sympathise with a crystal meth cook. And it works.
He writes half-baked novels and twitter fiction. He makes short films for contests. He plays mostly unheard music. He painted something once, and it was... okay.
A lover of all things pop culture, a master of none, Stephen nevertheless will continue his pursuit to become a modern-day renaissance man. And post it all at stephenstories.com
