How can I start liking Breaking Bad?

Liking Breaking is not obligatory, if you don’t like it that is absolutely fine, we all watch what we enjoy, or I do anyway, I don’t think the point of entertainment involves working so hard to enjoy something, kind of defeats the purpose.

If it weren’t set in New Mexico, I wouldn’t watch it. I had a similar reaction as you and only started watching it this year.

I watched part of the first episode, and that was all I could take. When there are so many choices, why force yourself to sit through something that’s not to your taste?

If you don’t like the show don’t watch it. I stopped watching for different reasons.

But sometimes I will struggle along with a show that I liked in the beginning if I have the motivation to do so, ie a weekly event with friends or hopes that it will get better. This show was not one of them. Though many of my friends do watch it.

I hated that they didn’t show the dirtier aspect of meth heads. The fact that if the guy was dying he would be losing strength, that his only symptom seemed to be coughing. That he was constantly bald, when most people grow their hair back between chemo treatments.

The guy himself. A maniac who thought he was moral and intelligent. Reminds me of people I choose not to have in my life. His lack of compassion. The journey where he struggles with accepting impending death.

I didn’t identify with him at all he seems one dimensional as do most of the characters on the show. And stereotypical.

So sorry I can’t help you.

I feel like that show must have something important to offer, and so I want to give it a proper chance, even though I have a choice not to, or I would’ve stopped watching by this point. I think at some point I did stop watching, in fact, but my desire to see whether I was being fair won out, and here I am.

It is good to hear of others who never got obsessed with the show, though, because I’ve been looking for others like that on the internet for a while, and it just wasn’t happening to a significant degree, like they were all scared to say it, or like everyone liked it except me and so no one was inspired to say they didn’t, so thanks to those of you who’ve answered so far, it helps.

I have watched two seasons, and it really did stress me out.
I will get back to it, but in my own time.

If you have to ask why you should like it, seems to me no matter what anybody says you won’t… and you shouldn’t bother trying.

I watched one episode of Breaking Bad during its first season, and lost all interest. It was an episode that involves a long, drawn-out preamble to a murder that no one wants to commit. it was clear that everyone would be miserable with the outcome, including the viewer (intentionally). I’m not generally intrigued by close-up stories of suffering and bleakness, so nothing about the series hooked me – I had no reason to keep watching, so I didn’t.

However, during the final season, when friends started speculating excitedly about the finale, I found that I wanted to know what had happened. So, I watched the whole thing over a very short period. Some of it was difficult to stomach (and… it’s supposed to be), but my curiosity and my appreciation for details like the direction and the character development outweighed my distaste. If it hadn’t, I would still not be watching – and I wouldn’t be questioning that reaction.

But I think what you have to realize is that it’s not going to get less bleak or more lighthearted, even though it will sometimes make you laugh. There will be more death, and more painful losses. You will make deals with yourself – “If such-and-such happens, I’m going to stop watching.” And then that thing will happen. If anyone tells you “It will get better”, they’re lying. If you’re not up for it, don’t watch it.

But if you’re asking what it has to offer, in my opinion, this is exactly it. Anti-hero shows like Dexter are so easy; the bad guy is the hero, and we all love to watch him be bad. It doesn’t hurt to watch Dexter. It hurts to watch Breaking Bad. And it should.

By the way, I really liked Skyler’s character. You will find no end of articles that talk about why audiences like to hate her.

The point of the show is that it is a dark comedy that descends into a darker tragedy. It’s tone changes gradually. If you don’t like dark comedy, the show is going to turn you off right away.

If you don’t like the subject matter, you don’t like it. I didn’t like it when it first started, but as the final episode was closing it, I started watching them on netflix and got hooked. For it, it was the characters. They put so much work into making even the most minor characters realistic and multidimensional, it was hard not to like it! Any one of the characters could have their own spin-off, that’s how great and deep they were. But if you don’t like it, you don’t like. Nothing wrong with that.

Like the other answers said, it’s not for everyone. People ranted and raved about The Wire and I watched it and felt left out. I understood why it was good, but it didn’t “wow” me at all.

There were some episodes of Breaking Bad that put me to sleep, but the general story and plot were amazing to me. Similar to Six Feet Under, Breaking Bad was a story about regular people. If you had his skills you probably would have done the same thing if it appealed to you: making meth you know is top quality to make sure your family is set before you die. He had little to lose and saw a perfect opportunity.

He gets sucked in further and further and you wonder how he’s going to get out. The acting was really good as well. You just get sucked in and start empathizing with the characters more and more.

I have the same problem with any series, where you watch one or two episodes and can’t get into it. That happens with a lot, but it wouldn’t make sense to be wowed by a pilot, anyway. It’s the pilot: you don’t know anyone and you haven’t grown onto the characters yet.

@Pachyderm_In_The_Room:
“If you have to ask why you should like it, seems to me no matter what anybody says you won’t… and you shouldn’t bother trying.”

I don’t know if this is intended as an insult or not, but it is, because I make a point of questioning myself, and consequently, I’ve been able to change my mind many times, where others would just not bother to find out whether they may have been mistaken. I’ve gotten myself to like things I didn’t used to before, and am therefore the better judge than you of whether I’m able to do so. You seem to have been seriously misinterpreting the purpose of my question. The purpose is that being fair is a good thing, which is why I’m making a point of doing it.

@glacial
“I watched one episode of Breaking Bad during its first season, and lost all interest. It was an episode that involves a long, drawn-out preamble to a murder that no one wants to commit.”

That’s an interesting coincidence. That episode was so disturbing that it was what first made me want to avoid the show.

“However, during the final season, when friends started speculating excitedly about the finale, I found that I wanted to know what had happened.”

I thought the final season was actually pretty good, for reasons I found too numerous to list here, but haven’t got there with the rest of the seasons yet.

“If it hadn’t, I would still not be watching – and I wouldn’t be questioning that reaction.”

Is that a jibe? Because I thought I was making it clear that I was questioning my reaction. And it sounds like you may never have liked this show at all if you had watched it in order, and that you could be interpreting the other seasons in a way I didn’t have the chance to, since I watched them in order.

“If you’re not up for it, don’t watch it.”

That’s just the thing. People talk about being up to it or not like there’s no such thing as your position changing based on your level of information changing. I’m not just going to assume my first reaction must be right, because that would be illogical.

Like I’ve said, in other contexts where the point of the disturbing events is more clear, I’ve ended up liking what I was reading or seeing, because I though the statements they were making about the characters’ immoral actions by telling the story the way they did was brilliant.

So, what we’re left with is that I can’t change the way the information is presented in Breaking Bad, and I therefore need to change the way I view it. Clearly the information exists that other viewers are using as their guide to avoiding turning off the show, or they wouldn’t watch it, so there’s no point in assuming no progress can be made in searching for what that information is.

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought
“The point of the show is that it is a dark comedy that descends into a darker tragedy. It’s tone changes gradually. If you don’t like dark comedy, the show is going to turn you off right away.”

Dark comedies I’m fine with, and tragedies too. I’ve always been attracted to dark things, as a matter of fact, but it’s really a matter of their style of presentation. Breaking Bad’s style is one that I didn’t relate to when I saw it first. And how many parts that don’t include Saul are comedy? There are some, but are you saying that they occur all the time?

You can’t actually enjoy breaking bad
Enjoyment isn’t why people watch it
I stopped watching it early in the very first season when SPOILER whats-his-face chokes the drug dealer who was a student in his class to death with his own hands.

@guywithanaccountnow

”“If it hadn’t, I would still not be watching – and I wouldn’t be questioning that reaction.”

Is that a jibe? Because I thought I was making it clear that I was questioning my reaction.”

I’m not sure why you are reacting by thinking that people are “jibing” you. That’s not what I was doing, and I don’t read that in any of the other answers in this thread.

“And it sounds like you may never have liked this show at all if you had watched it in order, and that you could be interpreting the other seasons in a way I didn’t have the chance to, since I watched them in order.”

As I described, I did recently watch the series in order.

Reading your question for the first time, it sounded like you had just started watching the series, and wanted to know what you could expect from it in future. But your later posts make it clear that you’ve watched the whole series. I’m perplexed as to why you would want it to change your own opinion of the series at this point. Is there some reason that you don’t trust your own reaction? Or is it just that you want to feel a camaraderie with others who enjoyed the show? This can’t be the first time you’ve had a different opinion from the majority of loyal viewers of a show.

Can you explain a little more why you are asking this question, in that context?

@askingforemployment
If you don’t like the subject matter, you don’t like it.

Again, if the point of the show is to discuss the nature of morality beyond the black and white, I’ve stated that I know that’s an important subject and that clearly there’s value in the show. What I still haven’t found a way around is how the way the information is presented affects me. And, again, there is such a thing as a change of perspective based on a change of information one operates under, which is why I’ve asked this question.

“They put so much work into making even the most minor characters realistic and multidimensional, it was hard not to like it!”

I didn’t get why the characters did what they did, so the show just confused me, and it was hard to know what I was supposed to be feeling while watching, since I constantly needed to reevaluate my image of who these characters were. Why did Jesse return to selling drugs with a whole new enthusiasm right after Jane died and right after he had gotten clean, for example? I thought he would’ve learned a lesson.

I do tend to hear among fans that the characters are multidimensional and realistic, which they may well be, but their personalities were always only partially visible, since that show is so subtle, making them unpredictable and hard to relate to for me (though of course it could just be a matter of not knowing yet what context to put the characters’ actions into, like I’ve said). The other thing I noticed (though I could be overthinking things) is that many of the progressively more immoral things Walter does could have been avoided if he made what seems when you think about it to be a pretty simple decision. Example:
1) take Elliot’s money so the meth thing never happens
2) actually commit suicide in the first episode instead of giving up
3) spend more time reasoning with the guy in the basement instead of killing him, since it’s not like there’s only so long they can keep him there
4) let yourself die instead of killing people to stop it since you’re going to die anyway, etc.

It gives you things to think about, mainly because of his cancer and life choices he makes, and their domino effect on a million different peoples lives. To me, that is very interesting. It is also well written and very clever which I respect and enjoy.

The deaths are just another part of the story, none of them bothered me that much, usually I’d react something like “OHH!!!” (hand covering my mouth)...and I’d be shocked and awed and be so excited to see what happened next.

“I’m not sure why you are reacting by thinking that people are jibing you. That’s not what I was doing, and I don’t read that in any of the other answers in this thread.”

The first time I reacted that way was because the answer was offensive (it basically said I must be incapable of listening to reason). And when I replied to your answer, I was asking whether one part of it was a jibe, not saying that it was. I didn’t say that the first answer was either, I just said that even if it wasn’t it still felt like one.

It is common to get unkind responses when you tell fans that you don’t like what they like, though, so there was some reason for me to expect to encounter the same here. In fact, I meant to prefix this question’s details with a warning to fans that they might not want to read on.

I mainly had in mind, though, how usually others don’t get that I really am being unbiased and so instead put what I say into a category they’re more familiar with, like “he’s asking a rhetorical question; really what he means by ‘why is this show good’ is ‘it’s not good, and anyone who thinks it is is stupid’”, which is why I left a note at the bottom of the question’s description to clarify (though I thought it may not have been clear enough).

“As I described, I did recently watch the series in order.”

Well, then, I misread.

“Reading your question for the first time, it sounded like you had just started watching the series, and wanted to know what you could expect from it in future. But your later posts make it clear that you’ve watched the whole series.”

It did occur to me after it was too late that I seemed to have given too little information about how much me giving this show a chance had entailed.

“I’m perplexed as to why you would want it to change your own opinion of the series at this point. Is there some reason that you don’t trust your own reaction? Or is it just that you want to feel a camaraderie with others who enjoyed the show? This can’t be the first time you’ve had a different opinion from the majority of loyal viewers of a show.
Can you explain a little more why you are asking this question, in that context?”

To have an opinion is to have a belief. To have a belief is to suspend critical analysis. It’s my choice to not have a fixed perspective on anything if I can help it, because I don’t think it would be fair to suspend critical analysis, so I instead acknowledge that for arbitrary reasons certain things give me a good emotional reaction and certain things give me a bad emotional reaction, but that emotional reactions are separate from what reaction it’s logical to have. In fact, I shouldn’t have used the word “like” in my question’s title, I should’ve said “properly appreciate”.

To answer why I want to give Breaking Bad a chance, instead of just acknowledging that it giving me negative emotional reactions doesn’t make it bad and that it’s just a matter of perspective, is because shows where the hero is the villain have always repulsed me, but I know how many immensely popular shows have fit that description. I was also wanting to give The Sopranos and The Wire a chance, but started with Breaking Bad.

I think it’s important to explore things that it’s one’s first reaction to shun, in case there’s important information you’re missing. And, since this show has such a pull for so many, there’s more than a slim chance that it contains value.

It’s also important to make oneself able to identify with other viewpoints, so one is sure they aren’t treating others unfairly without knowing it, and so I make a point of not just stopping with what I know already.

My brother and I have similar tastes when it comes to television. We both loved shows like The Sopranos and The Shield. I loved Breaking Bad; he couldn’t handle the violence. He felt the show made him feel bad emotionally and quit somewhere early in Season 2. It baffled me at first, but I understand now that not everyone will have the same reaction to art/entertainment.

I don’t know if this helps, but keep in mind that you are not supposed to like Walter White. In fact, you as the viewer are supposed to be bothered and even horrified by his transformation from a meek family man into a ruthless drug lord. The fact that you are bothered by the choices he makes and the actions he takes could be taken as proof that the creators of the show succeeded in their task.

That’s one way of looking at things, but apparently a segment of Breaking Bad fans think he’s an American hero and everything he does is admissable. This show seems to inspire alot of different interpretations.

@guywithanaccountnow Yes it does seem that way. It was easy to think of Walt as a hero in the beginning, but it’s pretty clear he’s the bad guy towards the end. That was pretty much one of the main points of the show.