The truth about foreshadowing
Foreshadowing and Easter eggs have become such an obsession for viewers they're almost a fandom trope by this point, early episodes of quality TV shows being rewatched and ceaselessly inspected for signs of what was to come.
They're mostly enjoyed in retrospect, little seemingly unimportant objects or dialogue lines being tucked away nonchalantly, in spite of the fact they actually signal a major plot point to come. A spoiler you never saw coming.
We often assume them to be masterstrokes of planning, a sign that the showrunner knew where the narrative was headed all along, but the reality is often the complete inverse of this.
No show is singled out for examples of supposed subtle foreshadowing more than Breaking Bad, but it was actually written largely using a method you could call backshadowing or backmining.
I interviewed creator Vince Gilligan back in 2013 ahead of the final season, and he pinpointed a good example of this:
This doesn't take anything away from Vince or other showrunners; it's just a different skill.
If anything it makes me admire them more, demonstrating the ability to broaden a universe from within, to create something out of nothing.
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