'Breaking Bad' at Museum of Moving Image
Bryan Cranston as Walter White, right, and Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman in "Breaking Bad." Credit: AP
Want to know how "Breaking Bad's" Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston) evolved from a mild-mannered high-school chemistry teacher into one of the greatest villains of the modern television era? Of course you do, and Astoria's Museum of the Moving Image will mount an exhibit starting Friday that will track his progress/regress from light to darkness, evocatively named "From Mr. Chips to Scarface: Walter White's Transformation in 'Breaking Bad.'"
Running through Oct. 27, this unusual exhibit will feature objects from the AMC series that chart his transformation, including: his yellow Oxford shirt; his black porkpie hat; gas mask for the meth "cooking" operation, and even props related to his early cancer treatment.
But just how complete will this exhibit be? Here are my choices for eight crucial items that also chart Walt's regression.
1. Shard of glass. The one that gangster Krazy-8 was going to use to kill Walt (season 1). Walt -- who had planned to release 8 from captivity in the basement -- instead killed him after he saw the shard.
2. Secret cellphone. Walt's famous/infamous secret cellphone, eventually discovered by Skyler (Anna Gunn), through which all of his illicit transactions were conducted.
3. Plate of chicken from LosPollos Hermanos, Gus Fring's (Giancarlo Esposito) fast-food chain, where he and Walt first met. May I suggest the dishes be rendered in plastic, as real food would likely not keep through the duration of the exhibit.
4. An RV. A replica of the original RV (if the museum can't get the real deal) -- where Walter and Jesse (Aaron Paul) first "cooked." Of course, this may a little large for the museum, so maybe it could be parked outside.
5. Briefs. As in underwear. Yes, what would any Walter White exhibit be without that pair of briefs he ran around in in the series' pilot (he had to take off his clothes while cooking).
6. Flyswatter. An essential prop, from "Fly," the 10th episode of the third season. Walt frantically chases a fly around Gus' meth "superlab" -- fearing contamination. But said fly was really just a metaphor for the moral depravity that has swallowed our antihero.
7. Box cutter. Preferably the one Gus used to dispatch a colleague in "Box Cutter" (the first episode of season 4), leading Walt to realize the world he had bought into was, in fact ... hell.
8. Snub-nosed revolver. Walt bought one after the box cutter incident to take care of Gus.
