Breaking Bad was a slow burn through its five seasons, but it ended with a literal bang, or rather many of them. The show ended with Walter White dead and Jesse Pinkman's future hanging in the balance until the follow-up movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Story gave fans closure for the fan favorite character.
Breaking Bad is not the type of show that can be summed up in just a few sentences, with so many twists and turns throughout the plot. But interestingly, some memes circulating on the Internet have managed to perfectly encapsulate the most pivotal moments and integral themes from the drama.
Teachers Are Underpaid
This meme tries to explain the entire premise of Breaking Bad in short, blunt, and hilarious fashion, saying the moral of the story is that society should "pay teachers more money." After leaving a company he started before it made millions, none of which Walter received (nor any of the recognition), he dejectedly took a teaching job.
Walter was bitter about this his entire adult life, especially when he received a terminal cancer diagnosis and realized he had little time left to make sure his family was taken care of. If teachers were paid more money, he would not have had that problem in the first place, according to this meme.
Say My Name
Some of Walter White's most memorable quotes from Breaking Bad come when he has fully taken on the persona of Heisenberg and all the confidence and arrogance that comes with the alter-ego. This required him to often tell people in a menacing and terrifying way to "say his name," ensuring they understood who he was in the drug world and not just Walter the former science teacher.
This meme takes a humorous spin on the line, having a character recite back to him what he just asked with a very literal response. The result is Walter's disapproving face that suggests he might do something bad to the guy for mocking him.
Your Internet History
The joke is always that people never want anyone to see their Internet search history, for fear that it might contain questionable things. With someone like Walter White, his search history might include things like "how to get rid of a dead body" or where to get chemicals in bulk needed for making meth.
The face he gives in this meme, however, is one of utter disdain, power, and menace, and it's one he displayed often on the show. Anyone who gets such a look from Walter after having their Internet search history viewed should be very, very afraid.
Don't Mess With Gus
Gus Fring had two complete personalities on the show, one of the dutiful, meticulous, kind fried chicken restaurant owner and businessman, and the other as a terrifying drug lord who wouldn't think twice about shooting someone in the head or otherwise having them killed.
As this meme demonstrates, he could easily switch from one to the other as if flipping a light switch. But he was always cool, calm, and collected. Nonetheless, as this meme makes very clear, Gus isn't someone to mess with. Gus has done some terrible things on Breaking Bad.
Faces Of Hector
Hector was confined to a wheelchair, unable to move following Nacho switching out his medication, events that were revealed in the prequel series Better Call Saul. Thus, the only way he could communicate was through facial expressions and the occasional twitch of his hand on his little bell.
His face, then, when he was angry or upset would often include a furled mouth, nostrils flared and eyes squinting as he breathed heavily. This meme perfectly showcases the two main faces Hector displayed on the show: his face when he was willing to listen and the one when he didn't like what he heard.
I Am The One
This meme hilariously takes the image of a bus driver who happens to look a lot like Walter and riffs on one of the character's most well-known lines, "I am the one who knocks." Walter spoke this to Skylar when she expressed her fear for him that he might be in danger, only for him to declare to her that he "is the danger."
Naturally, the bus driver would literally be the one who stops at various stations, dropping people off and picking people up. The resemblance is uncanny so, combined with the witty quote, it works, and pokes fun at one of the show's most memorable lines.
Let's Cook
One of the most recognizable lines and one of the quotes from Breaking Bad that lives rent-free in fans' heads is "let's cook," which Walter spoke to Jesse on numerous occasions when he and Jesse were ready to get to work. It was his sign of power, which is similar to the famous Rosie the Riveter image that is often used to express feminine power.
Seeing Walt's stern face with the bald head in a similar image referencing an iconic photo brings forth the theme of power. Even though Walter was talking about cooking something illegal and bad, the humor is in the irony.
It's Jesse, B***ch
The character of Jesse Pinkman became synonymous with the word "B***h" given that he managed to use it in every second sentence. It was the name he loved to call just about anyone, using it both in an insulting and affectionate matter. It is part of every defining quote from the character.
This meme sums this up by noting that he not only adds the word to just about every sentence, but often for no reason but to include a swear word in the mix.
Die A Hero
Also one of the Walter White memes we would laugh at if we weren't so afraid of him, this one perfectly juxtaposes the character of Walter White that fans met in the beginning and his alter-ego Heisenberg that he became later on.
The joke perfectly plays up the fact that if Walter wasn't going to be able to die a hero by providing for his family and getting the money and recognition he deserved, he would become a villain and leave a different kind of legacy behind.
That's It
To someone who hadn't watched the show, it seems like things escalated quickly from Walter being a high school chemistry teacher to getting a terminal cancer diagnosis to becoming one of the more feared and talented drug makers and dealers around. It almost sounds like it went from one thing to the other very quickly.
However, the show progressed slowly as Walter went through various stages of grief and trying to figure out how to provide for his family while also descending deeper and deeper into his feelings of regret and anger about not becoming the man he wanted to become. Nonetheless, as this meme suggests, he did move very quickly into action, believing making drugs was his only option to earn a lot of money quickly.