Between this and the weird forced kiss at the Emmys on Julia Louise Dreyfuss I'm convinced that Cranston and I would get along. I've been mostly watching Breaking Bad because I'm off my feet this week; like, slight spoilers but how does Hank not figure it out somewhere around Season 2? And not just Hank, but anybody? I'm thinking specifically of when Badger meets patsy Heisenberg on the wrong bench and real Heisenberg blocks his view. If not Hank, then someone else on the taskforce. Like isn't that just convenient that Badger moved to fake Heisenberg's bench right when Heisenberg stops to say hi and blocks their view? I feel like a Opie on the Andy Griffith Show would be able to figure that one out.

Too close to the situation to have perspective? Underestimating Walt because he's never shown any alpha male traits? Sympathy for Walt for being a dying man? Plus Hank isn't the greatest DEA agent, he's too full of swagger and a little overconfident.

That said, there will be times when it really, REALLY feels like Hank is doing his damnedest not to get it. One will involve Walt and a crashed vehicle, you'll know it when you see it.

Yep.. seen that one too. That was pretty much when I first picked up on the show; kind of like Lost (the last episode was the first one I saw) I didn't really see the point of watching them all, kind of like Watching Sixth Sense for a second time once the ending is spoiled by co-workers and such. At its core though it's just a real dark comedy, so the Tom and Jerry stuff is pretty funny. I ran out of Bloodlines to watch, which is a show that, well, I don't need to spoil anything because the show begins where it ostensibly ends.. like if Hemingway wrote Breaking Bad, but it's not necessarily a better show because of Kyle Chandler's basic sleuth skills..

The point to Breaking Bad is that you start out completely sympathizing with Walt and thinking, BOO evil wife doesn't want him to be good at something, BOO evil brother-in-law wants to get in his way, and then sometime by the end you realize you've been rooting for the wrong guy and it's hard to figure out where exactly that change took place, because of all the little tiny escalations like the proverbial frog in the boiling water, and it's just a matter of realizing when things have gone south.

For me it was the end of season 3/beginning of season 4 when I realized it (which was a turning point for a lot of people) but it still was hard to back up and see that he'd been a shitheel PRETTY MUCH all along (except maybe in the first half of season 1).

so basically, it's Death Note, but more drawn out.

was the ending just as lame?

I haven't seen Death Note, so I don't know what you consider "lame." I thought the ending was more or less satisfying from Heisenberg's POV although it leaves a lot of stuff uncomfortably unresolved for everyone else who's still alive.

Death Note in a paragraph; smart kid becomes death God; kills criminals; starts killing anyone that opposes him; new good guy show up; death kid kills him; more good guys show up; last good guys kill the now evil death God kid THE END

No, it is not like Death Note.

Breaking Bad is the most perfectly told story in television history, which means PoETV will look for the most bizarre excuses to place it below the mid-90's PC games for some reason.

Breaking Bad fucking owned and Planescape: Torment is overrated. Boom. Said it.

"The point to Breaking Bad is that you start out completely sympathizing with Walt and thinking, BOO evil wife doesn't want him to be good at something, BOO evil brother-in-law wants to get in his way, and then sometime by the end you realize you've been rooting for the wrong guy and it's hard to figure out where exactly that change took place, because of all the little tiny escalations like the proverbial frog in the boiling water, and it's just a matter of realizing when things have gone south."

I don't know, even from the first episode it was possible to feel Walt was (partially) in the wrong, and by the final episodes it was possible to feel Walt was (partially) in the right. The fact that there was always grey to all the major characters in the series is what made it work, and is why we're still talking about it.

Even Todd -- god, I hope I never meet someone like him in real life, but as a fictional character I love the shit out of him. He clearly comes from a background that has no problem with violence, but he's trying to make something better of himself, and he tries to find a balance between violence and reason. Like the scene where he gets Jesse some ice cream -- that in no way makes up for keeping him a slave, but he's at least trying to be a considerate owner of another human being. And his efforts to hit on women are endearingly pathetic.

I feel the same way about Gus. I used to work at a front years ago and I turned out getting "fired" because they found out my then-wife was married to the competition and the two families had intermarried. Turns out back in the 80s the family ran down the couple killing them both, but this was never proven. I kind of put that together after the fact, like I was doing a really good job and why did he have tears in his eyes when he called me in, but I quickly understood that he was keeping me out of any potential trouble down the line. Gus would've done the same thing for any of his Pollos Hermanos employees.

Daughter, not "married." This wasn't Utah!

The thing about Gus and Walt both is, they seem to be willing to moderate their responses to the lowest violence level they feel is necessary. For example, Gus simply deported those cleaning ladies who saw the meth lab, rather than kill them.

That said, even more than Walt, Gus could step away from the drug trade any time he wanted to. He may soothe his conscience by refraining from violence where convenient, but he's still got plenty of blood on his hands by choice.

The other big difference is that Gus was willing to live with the consequences of his actions while Walt only wanted to think about the "good guy" parts of his narrative, and never really took responsibility for all of the deaths of his friends and family, even the ones that he directly caused (like Gail) or that he was immediately responsible for (Hank). He also rationalized the fuck out of the evil shit he did (poisoning Brock, watching Jane die).

Yeah, because starting a sarcastic statement with "yeah, because" isn't the oldest rejoinder in the history of the internet.

The oldest in my book that I joindered again and again was your mom.

Yeah, cause, your mom.

YEE