Earlier this year, traveling with Nick and Deanna Gerlich, I talked to a fellow who lives out at To’hajiilee. He pointed out that there is a kind of fragile, natural, Picasso-like rendition of a face in the stone there. The face looks like an Easter Island head. Sure enough, the film crew used the stone face in the first two episodes – face-on, and in profile. Easter Island heads are sometimes said to symbolize rebirth, and that seems to be how it’s used here. The crew uses Easter Island head symbolism later on, in episode ‘Mas’. When seen from above, the parking islands in Saul’s parking lot look like Easter Island heads. (Several of these parking islands have been removed recently, so this feature is endangered on-site.)
People have noted that Walt teaches at J.P. Wynne High School, and that Vince Gilligan attended J.P. Wynne Campus School in Farmville, VA, when he was young. What I didn’t realize is that Jacob Pinkman, Jesse’s little brother, attends L.C. Byrd Magnet School. Lloyd C. Bird High School is a public high school in Chesterfield, Virginia – where Vince Gilligan attended high school.
People have noted that Walt adopts the manners of the people he kills: for example, cutting crusts off bread like Krazy-8, or folding a towel on which to rest his knees at the toilet, like Gus. What’s less evident is that Hank does likewise. For example, in the Southern style, Tuco has a bottle tree, with hanging bottles, at his country crib. Later, in episode ‘Breakage,’ Hank adopts the bottle tree, but in its alternative design, as his bottle-drying rack in his garage where he makes Schraderbrau. Similarly in episode ‘Green Light,’ Hank is wearing a floral shirt, featuring what appears to be similar flowers as Jesse plants at his recovery resort.
Gentle arches usually appear to be associated with negotiations between a man, and a woman who holds some power or authority. Examples include the arch of the White marital bed headboard, the arch above the head of the clerk at Oncology Associates, above the discussion leader at the cancer therapy group, the arch above the sofa where Skyler rips up Ted Beneke’s $617,000 check, and the TV dinner/video game portable table Jesse gets for his living room once he starts going out with Andrea. My favorite examples are the gentle arches above the entrance to the Crossroads Motel office (the Crystal Palace), and on the rear pockets of Wendy’s blue-jean hot pants.
Standard arches and square arches are used heavily throughout the series.
Certain toys appear repeatedly through the series. Small renditions of horses appear several times: on Tortuga’s shirt, one of Holly’s toys, on the desk at Vamonos Pest, on the table in the White home back yard, and in feathered full gallop on the wall at the Schraders. The writer of the song “Horse With No Name” (‘Caballo sin Nombre’) has expressed the idea that, to him, the horse represents freedom, and that seems to be how horses are used here.
Primate representations appear too: most-notably, Curious George, when Andrea is killed (‘Granite State’). People have found Curious George stories to be disturbing. The antics of Curious George are always corralled by the controlling Yellow Man. (A yellow hazmat-suited Walt?) Saul alludes to Walt’s twin, hazmat-suit mate Jesse, as the rabid dog Old Yeller. As if to warn, the toy car in motion outside Hank and Marie’s house when Walt confronts Hank and warns “tread lightly,” is a bright yellow warning color (‘Buried’).
Tio’s bell first appears in Season 2, and its distinct chime is used several times; for example, for the microwave at Jesse and Jane’s and when Lydia first appears at Loyola’s (‘Madrigal’).
Bells as important visual elements really take off after the middle of Season 3, perhaps symbolizing death or poison. There are several kinds of bell shapes: standard bells, wine-glass bells (in the manner of Lily of the Valley flowers), and cones.
Bell shapes get embedded in desk lamps. Prior to the episode ‘I See You,’ bell-like desk lamps are limited to DEA offices, and even when present on-site (for example, on Jake Pinkman’s desk when Jesse comes to visit), are actively-excluded from the frame. After ‘I See You,’ (the first episode helmed by Set Dresser Michael Flowers) desk lamps are everywhere.
The All-Seeing Eye makes numerous appearances.
Ladders are used several times, and may indicate a siege mentality. Rooms in New Mexico Pueblos, particularly ancient Pueblos, can only be had via rooftop ladders. The Staycation hotel room in the episode ‘Rabid Dog’ features several pictures of precipitous New Mexico mesa edges. Spanish sieges of Puebloan mesa tops occurred all-too-often in New Mexico history: e.g. the Battle of Acoma, or the Battle of Astialakwa in the Jemez Valley.
Twin symbolism occurs several times in Seasons 5a and 5b, as twin mirrors (Live Free or Die), as twin pillars (‘Say My Name’; ‘Buried’), and as twin voids (windows and doors; ‘Felina’). In Navajo foundational mythology, the Twins fight monsters. Other references to New Mexico’s ancient history (the Turquoise Trail) are present too.
Five-pointed stars are very common and are often associated with drugs, but whether they symbolize drugs is unclear. Other associations (e.g., caretaking) may be intended instead. Five-pointed stars can be found, for example on Gretchen’s shirt (‘Bag’s in the River’), Flynn’s PT Cruiser birthday balloons (‘Salud’), and Andrea’s kitchen curtains (‘To’hajiilee’).
Key visual elements are often placed on arches. People often remark about Breaking Bad’s novel penchant for placing the point-of-view near the floor, but they don’t notice the practicality of the viewpoint: that’s often the only way to capture the action as well as the arch - the key target of the camera!
There are far more foreshadowing Pueblo Deco arches than even I suspected. What surprised me most was noting the odd step-up on the metal walkway in the Superlab, prior to descending the spiral staircase. That step-up is not a practical element - it’s only purpose is visual, as a foreshadowing Pueblo Deco arch when seen from below.
The background is a symbolic Catholic riot, full of Marian symbolism, most notably, with several apparitions of Our Lady Guadalupe, usually featuring Jane, starting with episode ‘Breakage.’ Vince Gilligan uses sleight-of-hand to make it harder for the audience to observe and note the Virgin’s first appearance (when Jesse first drives up looking for a place to rent). I’m trying to make these associations now. In the canonical story, the Virgin appears five times - four times to the humble peasant Juan Diego (Jesse Pinkman), and once to his sick uncle (Walt). The final Marian appearance may be as a stuffed toy in episode ‘Half Measures.’
There is more … so much more! For example, in episode ‘Phoenix,’ in contrast to the canonical story, where Juan Diego wears the tilma (the overcoat) and bears the Castilian roses of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Jane herself does the honors.
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