Breaking Bad Stars Bryan Cranston And Aaron Paul Reunite For New Super Bowl Commercial
Yeah, b****! "Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan has gotten the band back together for half a minute of throwback fun, as the crime drama's stars have reunited for a commercial for Super Bowl LVII –- though the goods they're pushing are strictly legal this time around.
A show about consequences above all else, "Breaking Bad" ended its run on AMC after five glorious seasons and 62 episodes chronicling the ascent of terminally ill chemistry teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston), whose stage-three lung cancer diagnosis prompts him to partner with former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine to ensure that his family – wife Skyler (Anna Gunn) and son Walt Jr. (R.J. Mitte) – is taken care of when he dies. The by-the-book boomer and his upstart protégé function as an odd couple as they navigate the criminal underworld and brush up against the law (DEA) and the outlaws (the cartel) alike, and though Pinkman may be considered the heart and soul of the show (as /Film's Danielle Ryan has argued), his conscientious arc acts as the perfect counterweight to an increasingly dangerous Walt, who even declares himself to be "the danger."
Though the series reached its terminus in 2013, its massive success amid the wave of prestige TV ensured that it would live on in the Columbian telenovela remake series "Metástasis," the Bob Odenkirk-led legal drama spinoff "Better Call Saul" (which just concluded its own six-season run in 2022), and the mildly-received sequel/epilogue feature "El Camino." Still, it's been a hot minute since Walt and Jesse have dusted off the camper and cooked together.
Watch the Breaking Bad Super Bowl commercial
The 30-second spot begins with Aaron Paul's Jesse sampling some of the product –- in this case, PopCorners chips. Like the pair's small-screen commodity of the crystal blue persuasion, PopCorners are "simple ingredients," handled with care and precise attention to detail by skilled cooks. The show's drugspeak – from "We don't eat our own supply" to "Everyone's going to want a taste" – marries with the delightful sight of seeing Bryan Cranston once again don the porkpie hat and Paul swim in oversized streetwear to deliver exactly the kind of cheeky ad that makes Super Bowl viewers hesitate to grab that bathroom break between plays.
But wait, there's more!
Raymond Cruz returns as fan favorite Tuco Salamanca, the ruthless, sociopathic Mexican drug kingfish and primary distributor for Walt and Jesse's illicit product. His signature "Tight, tight, tight!" phrase finds purpose in the new ad as he samples the PopCorners and declares them to be thusly so. Those wondering why his demands for seven flavors instead of the six originally promised was immediately met need look no further than "Breaking Bad" season one, wherein Tuco lets his fists do the talking. That said, there may also be the added threat of Tuco's Juarez Cartel assassin cousins Leonel and Marco Salamanca (Daniel Moncada and Luis Moncada) to further quell any pushback from the cooks.
As much as the stars are there to push the product, you really need an enthusiastic salesman to truly hype it up beyond all the ingredient-speak, and few on the "Breaking Bad" series (save for the slick Saul Goodman, perhaps) have the acumen and volatile erraticism to hawk snacks with the right kind of sincerity needed for sports hooligans. Tuco's tight delivery is the commercial's greatest push to, as the tagline purports, "Break into something good."