Ok, so umm… wow.

First off, let me say that the bleakness of Walter White’s life is absolutely breathtaking in both its scope and its degree. Done less carefully, a character this down on his luck, a character whose life is this irredeemably shitty, would have no choice but to be taken as caricature.

Far from being a self-parody, though, Walter White is absolutely 100% believable and sympathetic. (It should disturb me a lot more than it does how much this guy resonates with me, but that’s another issue entirely.) Here is a man who is passionate about his field, passionate about trying to pass that on, and who struggles mightily every day to just keep going, keep his head above water, and keep his family afloat at the same time.

What makes the setup for this show believable is, knowing a number of teachers from the US, I know that Walter’s situation is all too common. He has to work multiple jobs to earn a living wage, gets no respect from anyone for what he does, and (because ‘Merika) has next to no health coverage should things go south.

What makes it horrific is how absolutely mundane the show makes it all seem. How commonplace and acceptable.

*shudder*

I really enjoyed how all the pieces fell into place to get Walter into a position that would have seemed impossible at the outset. I particularly enjoyed the fact that none of it was by accident. Every step was the result of a conscious (though often ill-informed) decision that Walter made and, so far at least, he owns it all.

If this episode is indicative of what’s to come, I’m in for a treat. The writers have done a wonderful job of getting Mr. White to set up house in a moral abyss while keeping him relatively moral. He’s doing a very bad thing but, as he has always done, he’s also doing the right thing (in a narrower sense). He’s taking care of his family – or trying to – in the best way he knows how. The only way available to him, really.

I’m sure there are going to be some very big decisions in Walter’s immediate future. I’m interested to see how far he ‘breaks bad’ and how difficult he finds those decisions. He killed two guys, but that was in self-defense. Would he have killed them in cold-blood? How is he going to reconcile himself to some of his students inevitably doing the drugs he made?

I’m going to wait until tomorrow night to watch episode 2, but I’m really tempted to watch it now.