Breaking Bad At 10: 8 Ways It Changed TV For Good

3. A Character Who Changed

TV characters are often very static. Yes they do lots of different things and life happens to them, but they're supposed to remain pretty much the same, which helps allow shows to run for years and years and people to find a sense of identity and comfort in their favourites. At least, that was the case until Vince Gilligan and Bryan Cranston ripped up the rulebook.

Walter White started, ostensibly, as a good guy. Even the bad things he did came from a supposedly just and understandable place. But over time that argument shifted further and further away from the truth, as Walt killed Krazy-8, missed the birth of his daughter, watched Jane die, and ultimately built a drug empire, removing all those in his path. He became Heisenberg. That fundamental transformation was startling, and opened up new avenues for storytelling and character work.

Again, Better Call Saul is a prime example, because a transformation is at the heart of that show. But we've seen it in other dramas to follow Breaking Bad: Carol in The Walking Dead, or Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones (admittedly that one had source material to follow). Twin Peaks: The Return had some of this too. The evil turn of Cooper may have been seeded 25-years-ago, but it's only in a post-Breaking Bad world it was able to be realised, and not just that be Agent Cooper also become Dougie Jones, before eventually reconciling the different elements to become something familiar, and yet different still. It might not even be so overt or similar, but simply in a show taking such great risks with its characters and pushing how far an audience will follow them. Allowing main characters to change in such drastic ways, and in an organic way too, allows for richer character work, and better shows as a result.