Try as I may, I’m not feeling the love that so many other critics have for Breaking Bad, AMC’s latest original dramatic series. In it, Bryan Cranston portrays Walter White, the mildest of mild-mannered high school chemistry teachers. Walter has a teenage son, a pregnant wife, and has recently learned he has lung cancer that will likely kill him within a year. The White family is far from wealthy; let’s face it, the guy’s a teacher. In the pilot, he’s also pulling down a second job at a shitty car wash (where he’s easily manipulated by his sleazebag boss) and the family is just making ends meet. Like I said, Walter’s wife, Skyler is expecting, and their teenage son, Walter, Jr. has cerebral palsy. Realizing that he has no money to leave to his family, Walter schemes to score a truckload of money by making crystal meth. Using his chemistry know-how, he teams up with a local dealer, Jesse (who used to be one of his students) and winds up cooking the purest meth crystals their small New Mexico city has ever seen. (more…)