My favorite thing about Breaking Bad is its message that anyone is capable of great evil and how it's shown through Walter White's progression. The show masterfully sets up the circumstances in which the dictionary-definition of average plummets into an abyss of evil. (Thread)

The most unsettling part is how common and widespread his initial circumstances are. Walter has just enough to be happy: a family, a stable job, a home. He basically achieved the American dream but he doesn't have enough to consider his life fulfilling.

He just barely missed out on fame and he's left with the feeling that he deserves more than he has. Walter is a ridiculously over-qualified chemistry teacher with a lingering dissatisfaction with his life and a quiet hunger for something more.

His cancer diagnosis was moreso the straw that broke the camel's back rather than the direct cause. All these preexisting factors created the conditions for Walt to pursue something more.

I don't think Walt exactly sought out crime and violence but rather saw it as a way to do something more with his life and put his skills to use.

He used his cancer and family as excuses to himself and those around him when in reality, he just wanted to do something that made him feel fulfilled. He wanted to feel a sense of power, authority, and superiority. Being Heisenberg gave him control over his life

Despite this unique sequence of events that led to Heisenberg and everything after, the preexisting conditions are near ubiquitous. It's hard to find someone not dissatisfied with their state in life. Especially a person beyond their "prime".

The state of American society and the chase after an empty American dream cultivates these feelings of dissatisfaction and slight yearning for more. I think the series was telling us that anyone is capable of great evil, they just a nudge in the right direction.

The Joker said "Madness is like gravity, all it takes is a little push" and Walter White encapsulates this idea. Evil exists within every single person and the right turn of events can bring it out of us.