From season three onwards, the main discussion of disability is Hank’s hospitalisation and recovery. This is a very important plot in regard to ableism, but it means there’s less to discuss in season four, and none in season five. The plot originally is all about how horrible it is for Hank to become disabled, but a brief discussion with Walt Jr calls them out on this.
In season three episode nine, Hank has been shot and Marie begins the process of sorting physical therapy and insurance. She says, “He is a hero, and he is not going to be in a wheelchair at 43.” This is inherently ableist, but it is a realistic portrayal of disability grief. If it was reframed more as “he won’t be allowed to go back to work, he’ll be excluded from so much in society and that’s heart breaking,” then I wouldn’t critique it.
In episode eleven we see Hank doing PT for the first time, and he’s clearly insecure and self-conscious due to internalised ableism. Marie, Skyler, and Walt Jr are there. Walt Jr is trying to encourage Hank, but he snaps back, “I don’t need everyone staring at me hanging here like a camel’s ball sack.” It has been repeatedly established in the show that Walt Jr himself does PT regularly for his cerebral palsy. Thus, Hank’s comment really strikes a nerve despite being par for the course for his character. Later in the episode, Marie is telling Hank that he’s getting discharged that week and they had various accommodations set up at home. Hank keeps insisting that he’s not ready to leave the hospital because he can’t walk.
Episode twelve shows Marie and Walt Jr visiting Hank at the hospital and playing cards. Marie tells Walt Jr that Hank is being discharged that week, but Hank insists he can’t be. Walt Jr asks if he’s not well enough, and Hank replies, “Jesus, kid, you too? Do I look well enough? I’m shitting in pans, peeing in pitchers. I can’t move my legs. Got it?” Walt Jr replies, “So people in wheelchairs should be in hospitals? What about people on crutches? Maybe I should be in here too. Is that what you’re trying to say?” Hank sarcastically replies, “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Deal, you little prick.” This response from Walt Jr—one of the few famous representations of a disabled person being played by a disabled person but not as a central theme to the show—is why I don’t criticise this subplot. It sets Hank up as having internalised ableism, and an actually disabled person explaining why he shouldn’t feel that way: if you’re useless purely because of your mobility issues, then how can you think that I’m not? This subplot continues for over a season as Hank slowly recovers.
In season four episode eleven, Hank was having Walter driving him around for stakeouts, and Walter intentionally crashed the car with Hank in it. At the hospital, Hank tells everyone he got a “gimp-mobile.” Again, this kind of language is to be expected from Hank, but Marie tells him to stop calling it that. Hanks says the reason he wants to get it is to stop being such a burden on everyone. This is one line that really should have been corrected by another character, but it wasn’t.
Overall, it would have been very easy for this show to cut out the anti-ableism and ramp up the ableism, aka be like the rest. On the scale of what disabled advocates want to see on tv, Breaking Bad probably wouldn’t even pass. However, on the scale of “tv shows from 2000 onwards,” it’s stellar in its disability rep. Because of that, I support it. I think we all need to remember at times that, yes, it’s important to have those higher expectations or nothing will improve, but it’s also important to celebrate every inch that society improves, because we won’t live long enough to see it improve by miles.
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