8 years later, yet, your comment still is pretty shallow and innacurate. Depth and sidecharacter importance to the plot were always there.

As I’m nearing the end of season 2 (one episode left), I’m most fascinated with the Walter/Jessie relationship. It’s pretty evident – to me at least – that Walter is blinded by his own hatred toward himself, but readily sees his own failures in Jessie. Walter knows about failure, just not on the level Jessie’s experienced it.

Instead, he’s driven for some need of respect and to fulfill some longing of “what could have been”. But instead of having a conscious awareness of this, he quickly points out the failures and flaws – and often rightly so – in Jessie, to the point where he seems to revel in it. The two have more in common than he’d ever admit.

It’ll be interesting to see where this journey takes them… it’s certainly heading down a dark path.

Your an idiot. This is not the usually happy, good guys always wins show. It’s called breaking bad, if you cannot handle a realistic fall to the darkside tale watch little house on the prarie. Walk is still the biggest bad ass and focus of the show are you this stupid and childish?

LOL, so your braindead and have the IQ of a pea?

The show has you asking yourself ‘where do I stop laughing?’ and that is what makes it so powerful. You can’t laugh your way through Breaking Bad. WHy would you want to?

Tonally it pushes the boundaries, although I didn’t have any issues with it. Clearly a large audience has followed Gilligan in this.

Tone is one of the hardest things to get right, as I can tell from the numerous newbie screenplays I read.

BB delivers the ‘black comedy-drama’ like I have never seen before. With depth. I have read dozens Australian black comedy feature scripts that were consistent in tone, yet dead boring. Being funny without anything to say. This one scene is the culmination of a brilliantly plotted season and the setup for a character that becomes so much richer, just because of the darkness he enters.
I would say our writers need to study this scene and the context of the entire season as it clearly works for the masses and it moves lightning fast on the plot level.
If anything, Breaking Bad is groundbreaking in terms of tone. It has created its own tonal universe and works within that. You can’t compare it to any other show I know (except perhaps SIX FEET UNDER?) and so perhaps it has become an acquired taste.

All that said, of course I’m not going to change your taste, Jonathan. And I’m pleased you made the comment. This valid concern had not occurred to me before.

Interesting perspective… I take it this is based on the first two episodes of Season 5 (which I haven’t seen)? Or were you disappointed earlier?

In any case, back in Season 2 there was no reason to complain…

Do you think the distraction away from Walt indicates they’re running dry on material? Would it be personal? Or will Walt be back with a vengeance later in the season?

I agree with you about the movie deal for Cranston. Actors are completely in the hands of the writers. You can act until the cows come home… if your part is not strong, you won’t be noticed.