Tell me more ×
Movies & TV Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for movie and tv enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 8 down vote favorite

Unlike some shows that generally keep similar pace with real life—where a season is a year—Breaking Bad doesn't seem to. Currently (part-way though season 5), the characters were remarking that it had been a year since Walt's cancer diagnosis, though I forgot when that was relative to the premiere (if it happened 'then', or in a flashback).

How much time (in universe) has passed in each season of Bad?

share|improve this question
1  
Walt's 50th birthday was in the pilot (in the "present" of that episode). That recent episode had his 51st. – Keen Aug 15 '12 at 21:38
@Keen Got it; but how do each of the seasons compare time-wise? – Nick T Aug 15 '12 at 22:04
2  
An episode-by-episode timeline for the first three seasons can be read here. – Oliver_C Aug 20 '12 at 8:41
In short, assuming this last bit of the show starts around where the opening of the season hinted at, what we've seen so far has taken place over the course of 2 years from the Pilot. – TylerShads♦ Dec 3 '12 at 13:32

2 Answers

up vote 6 down vote

Perhaps it's because I'm a mother of very small children, but it helped me to look at the age of Walt's new daughter to help me somewhat decipher the passage of time in the series.

Skyler was pregnant in the first episode, and the daughter was born in the second season.

She's still an infant, which means to me that a year hasn't passed yet since her birth. Watching the little girl grow might help to determine how much time passes in each season.

share|improve this answer
up vote 4 down vote

In the pilot, we see Walt celebrate his 50th birthday (this is where we see the "bacon spelling out his age" thing for the first time). In S5E1, we see a flashforward where Walt is celebrating his 52nd birthday alone in a diner. In S5E4 Fifty-One, we see him celebrate his 51st birthday. Beyond that, I'm not sure how long each season was, but those are some anchor points for how much time has passed during the show.

share|improve this answer
Was the intro to the season 5 premiere actually a year on? IIRC he was using some fake ID which would probably have a different DOB. – Nick T Aug 19 '12 at 6:21
2  
@NickT There's little reason for him to pretend its his 52nd birthday using the same ritual that his family uses, I think. By including the bacon numbers, the writers were showing us that in a year, things will go bad. – Keen Aug 19 '12 at 15:00

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.