I'd add that while actions have unintended consequences, there are some things that you can't change no matter what (cancer.)

If anything, that last scene fits into the idea of the show being about what really happens when you go after what you think is "owed" to you.

Normally I wouldn't post here during an episode but ROBERT FORSTER that is all.

Well, Gilligan's said from day 1 that his original pitch for the series was that he was going to take Mr. Chips and turn him into Scarface, so he clearly knew that the show wasn't always going to be wacky.

Well, to answer your last question, I don't think it's possible (or if is, it's super difficult) for a show's creators to have an overarching "theme" that they're working towards, simply because shows change and evolve so much over their courses. Breaking Bad as it stands might be far removed from whatever Vince Gilligan imagined when he first sat down to write the pilot.

But to your first point, I've had an idea brewing that I'll try to get out in a coherent way. I think that the show can be viewed as a pretty astute takedown of the "American dream." Americans have always characterized themselves as driven, motivated, and able to get whatever they want by sheer force of will. The traditional American Narrative is of the man who starts at the bottom, and through his own skill and determination is able to rise above challenges and get what he wants and deserves. Breaking Bad presents a man whose drive and motivation is his downfall. Look back at the show's timeline and you'll see numerous points where, had Walt just STOPPED and left it all behind, everything would have worked out much better than they ended up. Rather than listening to reason or making compromises, Walt feeds his ego at every turn. He's the dark-side version of the American Hero. He's a guy whose drive is dark and nasty, rather than noble and heroic. Sure, he says he's doing it for his family, but anyone who's really paying attention to the show knows that it's all about his ego 99% of the time. Maybe this sounds incoherent, but it's something that's been bouncing around in my brain for a while. And like I said before, this isn't the one-and-only interpretation for the show. The fun of criticism is that it allows for so many viewpoints.

Okay, so all of those things are nitpicks that don't really affect the point of the article, so let's just dismiss them. As to your ultimate point, I think you're reading the article wrong. See, the way criticism works is that it opens itself up to differing, sometimes conflicting, interpretations. VanDerWerff isn't saying that this is the be-all-end-all way to interpret Breaking Bad. It's the opposite. He's using Breaking Bad as a way to explore an idea. This article doesn't say, "This is what Breaking Bad is really about and all other views are wrong." It says, "Here's a different way to approach Breaking Bad as a work of art." And you know what? Nothing he says in this piece is wrong. Walt is exactly the person who VanDerWerff accuses him of being. But again, that doesn't mean that he's only using Breaking Bad as a soapbox. He wrote a fascinating article for the AV Club that explores the show's pacing and plotting in the context of classical literature. By the way, where in that article does he call the show racist or misogynist? He doesn't.

Also, to finish, white men are kind of the worst. Like, historically, white men are the worst people. Ever.

http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/doce … a-sequence

I think this was the episode where you guys talked about the awful video game scene in some TV show. I know it was a recent one. Anyway, this is it. Enjoy.

You're friends with Geoff LaTulippe? I follow him on Twitter! He's great, very smart.

Well, like every antagonist the show has ever had, his one mistake is underestimating Walt. Tuco, Crazy-8, Gus...none of them saw Walt as a threat before it was too late. Jack still sees Walt as the kind of person to call in a hit on someone who isn't in prison because he's too emotionally fragile to do it himself.

Here's a scene I'd LOVE to see: In a parallel with the pilot, Jesse mixes some chemicals together and makes them blow up in Todd's face, helping him to escape. He doesn't even have to have Walt's chemistry knowledge. He just has to throw a bunch of random crap in a pan, stand back and hope for the best.

Walt doesn't even know that Jesse's alive. The last time he saw Jesse, he had ordered him to be killed. By the way, Gilligan said on the BB Insider's Podcast that Walt initially blamed Jesse for Hank's death, which is why he told the Nazis where he was hiding. Whether or not that will still apply the next time we pick up with Walt is a mystery.