Chemistry and physics are two of the “hard sciences” that work quite well in a lab setting because they’re based on principles that can be demonstrated in practice; they also happen to make for explosive television. They are the cornerstones of Breaking Bad’s success since those demonstrable principles allow Heisenberg to make meth in the first place and also give him the tools to life-hack his way out of trouble. But it’s when the hard sciences interact with the living world that things tend to get messy. You can take this in the literal sense, best exemplified by Emilio’s run-in with the chemistry of phosphine gas and hydrofluoric acid, or Gus Fring’s fatal physics lesson when he came face to face with an ANFO bomb. However, Breaking Bad succeeds equally well at delivering real-world science when exploring the complicated study of biology that is part and parcel to life as we know it here on Earth.
Walt’s cooking sessions and explosive solutions may be the most memorable, but it’s Breaking Bad’s focus on the “softer sciences” that helps to develop the show’s flesh-and-blood characters; that’s what I’ll be covering in this part. For example, Walt’s battle with cancer—a catch-all term for a number of diseases that have been under nonstop scientific scrutiny for decades—is every bit as prevalent in the story as Heisenberg’s meth making. What’s interesting is that both subplots deal with drugs and their effects on the human body, whether they be medicinal or recreational. And Walt isn’t the only one struggling with health issues; Walt Jr., diagnosed with cerebral palsy at an early age, faces a lifelong struggle with a disorder that can’t be cured simply by throwing money at it. (Actor RJ Mitte does a wonderful, earnest job of portraying Walt Jr.’s daily struggles since he has CP himself, though it’s a less severe occurrence of the disorder.)
When it comes to problem-solving, Walt knows that not everything can be solved by explosions and corrosion; some things need a lighter touch. That’s where his knowledge of chemistry and biology come to bear since the interface of those two disciplines is at the heart of toxicology, or in layman’s terms, the study of poisons. (You might be surprised to find out just how many characters on this show tried to poison each other in increasingly creative ways.)
Then there’s the fact that every single one of Walt’s decisions actually affects the people around him, resulting in both physical and psychological damage. Breaking Bad does a solid job of dealing with the fallout of Walt’s machinations in an honest way by portraying symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and introducing the notion of a fugue state to the narrative. Including all of these aspects isn’t just good storytelling, it’s also good science. I’ll address each of them in the following chapters to see just how close Breaking Bad biology hews to the real-world science.