I was terrified.

I was watching myself kill people.

Walter White was just my proxy.

Every episode of Breaking Bad I watched was my own reflection in the mirror.

Bryan Cranston, the actor playing Walter White who becomes the drug lord “Heisenberg,” agrees:

“People ask, ‘Was Heisenberg always there–the darkness–or did he have to completely adopt a new personality to survive?’ And my answer is the former–he was always there. Anyone can become dangerous. Heisenberg has dark thoughts. The rest of us are just not exposing our dark thoughts to the world.” [1]

Yehiel Dinur knew this too. He was a chief witness against the Holocaust atrocities of Adolf Eichmann in 1961. Dinur, survivor of Auschwitz, confronted Eichmann face-to-face for the first time in almost two decades. Seeing the genocidal murderer of thousands, Dinur broke down in uncontrolled sobbing. Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes fame questioned Dinur about his emotional response.

“I was afraid about myself,” said Dinur. “I saw that I am capable to do this. I am . . . exactly like he. Eichmann is in all of us” [2]

Walter White, Adolf Eichmann, and Dexter are in all of us. Showtime’s murderous drama Dexter, as reviewed by James Hibberd in Entertainment Weekly, is a show about a vigilante serial killer. Sara Colleton, executive producer of the series concurs:

We all have a dark passenger. We all have some aspect of ourselves which we are terrified of letting it see the light of day . . . and that is something that’s been very relatable. [3]

“Relatable” is putting it mildly. We are all capable of evil, because we are all inherently corrupt. We like to think we are basically good. But we’re not. In our most honest moment we have to confess our own inherent corruption. We cannot blame politicians, parents, or passing culture:



“the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between political parties—but right through every human heart.” [4]

Literature is full of stories where we are shown something is wrong with the human heart. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Lewis Stevenson demonstrates the titanic battle raging within humans: depravity triumphing over dignity. Many other voices would concur with the general concern that humans are corruptible:

“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe “The Lifted Veil” by George Eliot “Rappaccini’s Daughter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne “The Man That Corrupted Hanleyburg” by Mark Twain.

But my personal favorite is the post war tale Lord of the Flies explaining William Golding’s truth: humans left to themselves will always degenerate. Humanity is gone bad. As Ralphie, the bespeckeled target of power gone mad, says, “I’m afraid of us.” The voice of what humans can become comes from what humans are—inescapably, terribly, dangerous.

So Walter White proclaims “I am the danger.” But we still like “bad people.” A 3 minute, New Times video poses, but does not answer, why. It was not until I watched the live AMC “Talking About Breaking Bad” last night that I understood the answer. Julie Bowen, superfan from Modern Family, made the point:

In the final episode I still want Walterto get away with it. There is something in all of us who has this animal inside of us.

My inherently corrupt self couldn’t agree more.

Breaking Bad is one of the best conceived, best written, best directed shows ever produced for television. Period.

But Breaking Bad will ultimately leave us empty. However the final episodes play out we are still left to ourselves and by ourselves.

I am tired of being terrified of myself. We all long for the good to overcome the bad. There is only one good answer to Breaking Bad:

And He made a public spectacle of evil, triumphing over evil at The Cross. [5]

Mark believes our inherent human corruption can only be overcome by perfect incarnational sacrifice. Dr. Mark Eckel helps Christians understand how to engage the culture with the gospel of Jesus.

[1] Bryan Cranston, as Walter White or as he becomes, “Heisenberg” in AMC’s Breaking Bad (July, 2013, TV Guide)

[2] Charles Colson, from a speech at Harvard University.

[3] Sara Colleton, Executive Producer of Showtime’s “Dexter” (James Hibberd, “Dissecting Dexter,” Entertainment Weekly, 9 August 2013, p. 68).

[4] In the “Ascent,” one of the autobiographical sections of Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago

[5] Colossians 2:15.

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