Breaking Bad

Summary

A literal event did inspire the infamousBreaking Badplane clangor , but the time of year 2 plane hit is n’t as true - to - life as some fans believe . InBreaking Badseason 2 , sequence 13 , " ABQ " - the time of year finale - two airplanes collide above Walter White ’s ( Bryan Cranston ) house and lead in debris , like a pink bear , landing on his prop . The crash was foreshadowed through season 2 before being shown in the time of year finale . Bizarrely , there are bare similarities between theBreaking Badplane crash and a real - life disaster — the 1986 Cerritos Midair Collision .

InBreaking Bad , the planer crash saw a 737 commercial airliner collide with a charter carpenter’s plane over Albuquerque , New Mexico , killing all 167 rider . The inculpation was site on the air traffic controller — the founding father of Jane Margolis ( Krysten Ritter ) , who lately die out after Walter did n’t save her from choke on her own vomit . This means that Walt is part creditworthy for theBreaking Badplane crash . However , in an eery twist on August 31 , 1986 , two planer clipped each other in the Cerritos Midair Collision . Among those responsible for this real - world collapse was an melodic phrase traffic controller named Walter R. White .

break up Bad feature article several shocking abbreviated moments that define the intact show , such as the pizza pie toss , Gus ' death , and " I ’m the one who knocks . "

Breaking Bad TV Poster

The Plane Crash Is Symbolic

The Series Foreshadowed The Shocking Event Through Episode Titles

It has not been substantiate thatBreaking Badcreator Vince Gilligan knew of this event and used it as inspiration for the show ’s plane clash . Instead , it has been interpreted that this smash is meant to visualizeall the pain and grief that Walt has already causedat that level intheBreaking Badtimeline .

In that way , the plane crash is effective and still manages to storm many during time of year 2 despite the multiple man of foreshadowing that the season entailed . Notably , in add-on to the flash - forward about theBreaking Badplane crash in time of year 2 , the episodes in which they seem all have titles that spelled out the traumatic event and record " Seven Thirty - Seven Down Over ABQ " when combined .

Episode Number

A composite image of Walt, a teddy bear and a plane crash in Breaking Bad

Episode Title

time of year 2 , Episode 1

" Seven Thirty - Seven "

Imagery-from-Breaking-Bad

Sony Pictures Television

Season 2 , instalment 4

" Down "

Season 2 , Episode 10

Walt looking up at a plane crash in Breaking Bad season 2

" Over "

Season 2 , Episode 13

" ABQ "

Bryan Cranston in his Heisenberg outfit in Breaking Bad.

Sony Pictures Television

Since audiences do n’t know for sure whether the real event inspiredBreaking Bad ’s crash , it is leave to them to make up one’s mind . There are so many law of similarity between the events , though , with the biggest obviously being the tangible - life air travel traffic controller sharing the name Walter White . That said , whether this is a big coincidence or intentional , it does n’t deepen the impingement of the outcome on the show .

The Breaking Bad Plane Crash Coincidences Explained

The Eerie Inclusion Of The Name “Walter White” Seems Unintentional

Though theBreaking Badplane crash was but meant to highlight Walter White ’s translation into Heisenberg , it does have sure shocking similarity with real biography . That said , these conjunction can also be reasonably explained by sealed fact . For instance , Walter White is a rough-cut name . There are over a thousand mass presently constitute Walter White in the U.S. , and the name was even more common in the recent past . " Walter White " was a very popular name from the ' 40s to the ' 60s .

Moreover , domestic plane crashes in the U.S. are astonishingly mutual and were more so in the earlier decade of air travel . It is alarming that a real air traffic controller named Walter R. White was responsible for for a planer clangor in Albuquerque . However , the fact is that almost every state in the U.S. has experienced its own plane crash disaster . Most planing machine clangor are also due to human fault , so this facet ofBreaking Bad ’s plane clang is n’t as idiosyncratic as it first seems .

Finally , Breaking Badprotagonist Walter Whitewas name deliberately for understanding that had nothing to do with the planing machine crash . According toBreaking Badcreator Vince Gilligan ( viaCheatsheet ):

Breaking Bad

" Walter White ’ appeal to me because of the alliterative phone of it and because it ’s strangely bland , yet joystick in your head nonetheless . ”

Real Or Not, The Breaking Bad Plane Crash Was Genius Storytelling

Vince Gilligan Spoke To The Foreshadowing And Its Meaning For Walt’s Journey

Everything that led to theBreaking Badairplane crash underline how Vince Gilligan and his crew change symbolism and forecast in the crime and antihero genre in the late 2000s . Not only do the episode name with the teasers spell out " Seven Thirty - Seven Down Over ABQ , " Walt also notably calculated the amount he would postulate to leave his family at $ 737,000 . Gilligan explain ( viaNJ.com ):

" We come up with the telephone number $ 737,000 , then we reverse - engineered the math . And then the next episode where you have the same black and blanched mystifier , it was call ' Down' … We worked very hard to give them right twofold import . So " Over " was over , and in " Down , " Jesse was down and out , that ’s the one where he fell through the grim stuff in the toilet . " ABQ , " I do n’t know what ( else ) that mean , but you go with it .

The prefiguration of the second makes it a fun affair to catch after the fact , but what is really important is what the crash mean for Walt ’s journey . Regardless of whether he says it out aloud or not , looking up at the plane colliding , he and the interview are witnessing the destruction that he has put in gesture . Gilligan explicate :

In that moment , at the end of season two , he does n’t realize it , but he ’s creditworthy for the whole world figuratively number to an end around him . It ’s notdeus ex machina , there ’s another term we were talking about , Lucifer ex machina , " Devil from the machine " – it ’s the antonym . It almost could find kind of random , but it ’s not . It ’s a butterfly effect . All these gears have been become , this special resultant was hooey Walt put into motion a prospicient time ago by choose to manipulate watch glass meth .

The Plane Crash Was Breaking Bad’s Best Bit Of Foreshadowing

The Crash Was The Outcome Of A Meticulously Plotted Storyline

Breaking Badwas an intense show to watch in the moment , with acute meditation and suspense in every episode . However , it is also a staggeringly enjoyable series to rewatch , as have a go at it what will fall out allows viewers to pick up on all of the extensive adumbration and breath . The show never sacrificed full storytelling in favor of these moments of foreshadowing , but was able to brightly tat them in the narrative organically . It is a sign of the intricate and healthy storytelling the serial became known for .

While the plane crash might have seemed like such a random moment at the time , face back , viewers are able to see just how much the show adjust the stage for this .

However , the sheet crash may be the expert example of the show ’s foreshadowing talent . The show was able to confidently plant seeds and hints about what was coming while still take the audience by surprisal . While the plane crash might have seemed like a random moment at the time , look back , viewer are capable to see just how much the show set the degree for this . It is not just in moments of portend that the clangor would happen , but also maneuvering the characters in a way that made sense for their news report .

It is a large , surprising moment that has a wide - scale impact on the community at large . However , at the centre of it all is a very familiar ground that get along down to Jesse fall in love and Walt endeavor to protect his drug conglomerate . Walt would go on to bolt down many citizenry inBreaking Bad , several of them in cold blood . However , the devastating plane crash was a shocking display of just how devastating his greed could become , regardless of whether or not it was an unintended consequence . Even more telling is his deficiency of guilt about it all .

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Cast

Breaking Bad , create by Vince Gilligan , follows a interpersonal chemistry instructor turned drug kingpin named Walter White ( Bryan Cranston ) as he attempts to provide for his syndicate stick with a fatal diagnosis . With nothing left to fear , White ascends to great power in the human beings of drug and criminal offence , transform the simple family man into someone known only as Heisenberg .