Breaking Bad  This comes late, but I just happened to be
thinking about it.  So I loved Breaking Bad. I really loved it.
I completely identified with Walt in the beginning, as I think I
was supposed to. And I eventually came to loath him, as I think
I was supposed to. In fact, the last episode (I’ll get to that
in a minute) basically told me to loath him. And that all makes
sense. I am introduced to a nebbish, who fortune shits on. And
slowly he gains a measure of control of his life. I cheered him
on, despite my misgivings because fundamentally he doesn’t seem
bad. A facilitator of badness, but not intrinsically bad.  As
time goes on, as Walt passes up opportunity after opportunity to
gracefully exit the meth cooking game, what made him so likable
and understandable and such an underdog starts to fall away.
Here’s where I think me and a lot of other fans of the show part
ways. I saw a guy make the leap from plucky underdog to violent,
selfish control-freak criminal. One who couldn’t even establish
a successf