In anticipation of the return of AMC’s Breaking Bad for the second half of its final season, Shutterstock analytically assembled “chemical diagrams” to represent significant characters from the show. The graphic series that the blog calls Bad Chemistry: The Character Elements of Breaking Bad features nine of the show’s most prominent characters, from high school chemistry teacher-turned-meth cook Walter White and his former student-turned-sidekick Jesse Pinkman to fast food chain owner and drug kingpin Gus Fring. The clever minds behind the diagrams have used the show’s thematic design choice of abbreviating words like chemical elements found in the periodic table to concoct their own skeletal models of each person’s chemical makeup. Like a bunch of Heisenbergs, each chart the blog produced is a unique “Blue Sky” that reflects character virtues and flaws, accompanied by a quote and a few significant icons.
For true fans of the show, every minute “element” in each diagram is sure to spark a memory of that character’s narrative and personal journey. While some visual symbols like the scales of justice seem an obvious fit for Saul Goodman (solely because he’s technically a lawyer), the fly in Walter’s structural formula is a nod to a notable episode titled Fly, which symbolizes the loss of control in Walter’s life as his cancer is in remission yet he continues to cook meth. The flower in his frame is also a reminder of the poisonous “Lily of the Valley” plant that reflects one of the many shifts in Walter’s moral compass.
