While the first season was shortened to seven episodes due to the 2007–2008 writers' strike, every hour is packed with narrative weight:
The story begins with , a brilliant chemist overqualified for his job at a struggling high school in Albuquerque. On his 50th birthday, Walt is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Facing a bleak future and a mountain of medical debt, he snaps.
performance is nothing short of transformative. He manages to make Walt sympathetic even as his ego begins to swell. Opposite him, Aaron Paul brings an unexpected vulnerability to Jesse Pinkman, a character who was originally intended to be killed off by the end of the first season.