Here at ACCLAIM, we love numbers. We love thinking about numbers, talking about them, even just staring at isolated decimal points and imagining numbers on either side. So when we found out that the co-ordinates from season 5b of Breaking Bad were actual real-life numbers, oh man, we went nuts.
Breaking Bad concluded on September 29, 2013 so on the anniversary of one of the best conclusions ever, we wanted to pay a tiny tribute to the one who knocks. Please note that the entire run time of Breaking Bad is half an hour short of 48 hours so if you haven’t seen season 5b in the one year exactly since it closed, please don’t berate us for any spoilers or drama bombs we’re about to throw down. That shit’s on you.
If you recall, old mate Walter “Baby Blue” White made the rash decision of burying that sweet, sweet crack money in the New Mexico desert as the walls began to close in around him. In order to help him remember where he buried it, he got a lottery ticket with the GPS coordinates of the stash (+34° 59′ 20.00″, -106° 36′ 52″). It turns out those coordinates actually point somewhere in the real world. Unfortunately, it’s not a huge pile of drug money (or regular money, even), but a lot in ABQ Studios in Albuquerque where much of Breaking Bad was filmed. That’s a pretty cool little fourth wall break for die hard fans to unravel.
If you’re wondering what the coordinates for the actual spot where he buried the money is, don’t stress, I got you. They’re +35°06’07.1″, -107°08’14.0″ and I would pay real life barrels of money to be able to Google streetview that business. Someone make me a Kickstarter for it.
Much like the numbers in Lost, the coordinates have already pervaded fringes of pop culture. I could be that guy and list all the instances, but here’s a single rare one: apparently mobile app The Sims Freeplay gives you 1 day and 23 hours (the total runtime of Breaking Bad) to find a secret island that’s on the globe at the very same coordinates as Walter’s paper. Neat.
These little nods to the fans are fun to watch, read about and become engrossed in. Seriously, it’s really great that we are experiencing a renaissance of deep, adult television that provides us with plenty to talk about but this also seems like a good time to mention that if you blame shows like Breaking Bad for your criminal behaviour, you’re being a bit of a tool.
More Breaking Bad, bitch!
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