"Breaking Bad" portrays the transformation of a meek high school chemistry teacher, Walter White, into a murderous methamphetamine kingpin. In Season 1, Episode 5, at a birthday party for his former business partner Elliott Schwartz, Walt is offered a job with excellent medical care, but instead decides to go back to cooking crystal meth. This moment symbolizes his pride and damaged ego, which consistently influence his decisions throughout the show. His ego leads him to confront his wife angrily after the party and becomes a powerful force as he deals with rival drug lords and fosters old grudges against friends from college. Even his closest allies, Jesse Pinkman and Saul Goodman, are impacted by the rise of Heisenberg, with Jesse forced to flee and Goodman ending up in prison.
