August 15, 2022, marked the end of an era. This is the air date of the series finale of AMC’s Better Call Saul, itself a spinoff of the wildly successful drama Breaking Bad (which, recent movie aside, ran from 2008 to 2013). The series and its fans are far from perfect (I’m not just talking about the Skyler hate), but it, alongside Mad Men, showed the potential for long-form drama in regular cable programming, along with memorable characters. Over ten years later, we’re still making memes about it.
The Avengers: Endgame may have popped off, but it’s the Breaking Bad memes that infuse very popular video games that are really going viral and inspiring even more versions. For example, Chiptuner took this stressful chase scene from the show and edited it into one of the most recognizable stressful situations in video games, regardless of age or ability: Mario Kart’s Rainbow Road track.
I’m Playing Minecraft!!!
In addition to Call of Duty: Black Ops (several of them), Mario Kart, Fortnite, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, many of these edits go back to basics—like Minecraft. On TikTok alone, #MinecraftBreakingBad has 35 million views. That’s just one hashtag, spelled correctly and not including the variations. The 25th most popular video tagged #MinecraftMemes (a tag with over 36 billion views) is a Breaking Bad cross-referenced meme. While not as smoothly edited as Chiptuner and Alternative Cuts, they are just as hilarious.
Most of the best ones regard how the resources are used and parallel the grind in Minecraft with the various highly illegal hustles in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. One common throughline is the famous blue meth in the show being equated to one of the most valuable resources in the game, diamonds. Even when they’re not referencing the glass, it’s the money that comes from it.
As if the view counts weren’t enough, you know this is big now because meme complications are already starting to pop off on YouTube. While this would have probably happened regardless, Minecraft and Breaking Bad in tandem have been on many people’s mind since back in July when over seven million people watched actor Dean Norris (famous for his memes and playing Hank on Breaking Bad) play Minecraft for the first time. Much like the TikToks, the crystal they’re pushing is diamonds.
(featured image: AMC, Mojang, and Alyssa Shotwell)
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