ok, currently re-watching the first three seasons in preparation for the beginning of season 4. What an incredible show. Bryan Cranston is simply wonderful. I don't understand the people who "can't watch it anymore" because of the subject matter. I have read this on numerous forums. It is "too much." Too much... what? Great acting? Clever yet plausible plot twists? Coenesque black humor? Incredible cinematography?

BB is up there with the best that TV has yet to offer. How you can not like this show is beyond me.

I finally got around to Breaking Bad a few weeks ago and watched all 3 seasons quite quickly and while I think its decent and definitely a step up from regular network TV I found it HUGELY overrated. Bryan Cranston is fantastic and deserves his accolades but the show is the endless routine of Jesse doing something moronic over and over then Walter having to clean it up. Hank is also up there with the Miami PD of Dexter as the worst law enforcement around.

I guess I was just disappointed after hearing so much positive praise on how good and realistic this show was. It is certainly mostly entertaining but realistic? Not in slightest but i'm actually not sure it tries to be. One thing that stands out is the photography - can't fault that at all the show always looks great.

"Well, get back to work...."

Yeah, it's good to know that this show still has what it takes to absolutely stun the shit out of me. That whole sequence was awesome. You knew something had to happen... just not what.

This was kind of atypical for Breaking Bad: a slow burn. Each episode is so wildly different and forward-charging that you don't often see stuff like this, in which the plot doesn't necessarily advance, but many important issues are clarified, made more complex, or whatever. The bit with the barrel was an obvious repeat of the similar moment from season one, but therein lies the point. It's handled so differently that it's impossible not to reflect on how far these characters have come, and how much their original reasons and rationalizations have disintegrated.

The interesting thing is that after a three season long gambit to master his own destiny, Walt is right back where he started. He's working like a slave to the man and there is no way out in sight. Except this time, he can't count on cancer to jar him out of complacency. It looks like Hank and Skyler are now in the sort of transitional phase that was originally covered by Walt. Skyler's trajectory is emerging, but who could guess what might happen with Hank?

Until I watched Breaking Bad I assumed The Sopranos and 6 Feet Under were as good as TV got.

I was wrong. Breaking Bad is better than both.

So, so good.

The finale to tonight's episode had me emotionally devastated. I couldn't move for a couple minutes after that one.

Wow.

Came on here to say the exact same thing. Man, this season is off the charts!

What option does he have left now? Can the mighty Heisenberg ever be ground down enough to live in the anonymous humility of legitimate witness protection?

I've given up trying to guess where the show will go next. Every time I have, the writers have proven me wrong...

Love this show! Very impressed with this season so far. The ending of the recent episode was amazing, everything coming together in a crescendo of tension.

Crazy thought/guess on how this show will eventually end: The writers will often foreshadow by starting an episode (or season) with a scene(s) that will be explained by the end of the episode (or season.) So, maybe they are doing one big foreshadow with the smoke we see in the opening credits every week. Could this be smoke from a cigar that now boss Heisenberg is smoking? Seems too "happy" an ending for him, but I have been wondering what that smoke is recently. I'm probably thinking too much into it. Any thoughts?

Vince Gilligan has stated that he's not really interested in telling moral stories unless the bad deeds get punished at the end.

Which means that just about every character currently on the show is in big trouble.

Except Walter Jr., unless you count the time he tried to score beer for his friends.

Hmmm, maybe the cigar is hanging from they dying fingers of Heisenberg? Like a previous poster mentioned, the show continues to surprise, so my shot in the dark is probably way way off. I'm just glad there are well made shows like this that want to challenge its viewers. Even plot lines that seem a bit over the top end up paying off in a big way. Like Skylar loaning money leading to the closing minutes of the last episode.

Man I feel bad for that kid. Imagine going through that confusion living with those two horrible parents.

That scene in the previous episode between he and Walt Sr. really got to me. Definitely the sweetest character in the show you want to see encounter some happiness and some security.

I actually sent a tweet to Giancarlo Esposito, who plays Gus (and should be a mortal lock for a Golden Globe/Emmy - right? Has there ever been a more terrifying and unique villain on TV? I think not...), and he tweeted me back. Really nice guy, his performance is making this season all the more fascinating and soul-crushing.

Yeah, he was already memorable, in his Spockish way, but he's firing on all cylinders this season with all the business he's been covering. He's really developing into one of the most complex portrayers on the show.

And, not to abuse a cliche, that is really saying something.

"I am the one who knocks!"

This show freaken rocks...I know this isn't adding much to this thread. But that's the thought that crosses my mind after EVERY episode I watch!

That is all.

It is steadily becomming one the greatest achievements in television I've seen. Far better than any cinematic experience I've had in a LONG time....

No words man, no words...

Amazing, fitting conclusion.

Bring on the last season!

Couple more hours until I'm done helping clean carpets, then I can head over to my sister's house and watch this off her DVR. The end of Crawl Space, the eleventh episode this season, ranked with Peekaboo as the best work done thus far in the series.

Agreed, "Crawl Space" rocked. But that finale was something else. Think of the biggest thing that happens in that episode, then look at the title of it - brilliant.