With the exception of an incredibly long winded and private message to a girl from my past, I have failed to write anything substantial since I graduated Hofstra with a degree in writing. Since graduation, and touring aside, I have pretty much found myself with a complete and utter lack of ambition to do anything productive. If I'm not doing anything, I can't write about anything, so I did what any normal 22 year old, single male who just lost a considerable amount of weight would do with his summer; lay in bed and binge watch Breaking Bad.
As a person, I am not someone who would be considered "ahead of the curve." I have never really bought into hype, whether it be about a band or a TV show. I have found that most of the time the pressure to seem like one is on the cusp of the next big thing makes some people "like" something for the sake of liking it, or fitting in, or whatever. And visa versa. I think a lot of people will outright hate something because everyone else hates it. I mean, Ben Affleck is literally the worst Batman ever, and he hasn't even been Batman yet. So I typically bide my time and wait till the hype dies down before I check anything out. I think this is why I really like Transit's "Young New England," because I waited till everyone had forgot it happened to listen to it and form an unbiased opinion.
Anyway, I have had an ample amount of free time on my hands, and figured that 5 seasons was long enough, bit the bullet and dove in.
I got hooked. It took me 2 weeks to catch up to the new episodes. There were days when I didn't leave bed for hours. Not to go to the bathroom. Not to eat. Not to answer the phone. I just stayed in bed glued to my laptop, engulfed in every second of the show.
The hype did not mislead.
*SPOILERS*
Last night was the Giants season opener, and man was it disappointing. After a few hours at the bar post game, sulking with the guys and distracting myself with Brittany from Mephem, I rushed home and checked to see if last nights episode was on demand, and you can bet your ass it was. So I watched it. I woke up this morning, with the on demand screen saver bouncing around and realized that in my drunken stupor, had either fallen asleep or forgot what happened. So again, without leaving my bed, I watched it a second time.
It was towards the end of the episode, when Hank is arresting Walt, that this thought struck me: "Why am I upset right now?"
Obviously, because I have come to love Walt and hate to see him taken down, but what if this wasn't TV?
Walter White, from the start, has been a huge asshole. He essentially blackmails Jesse into cooking meth with him and traps two complete strangers in an RV filling up with poison in the first episode alone. He goes on to let Jane choke to death on her own vomit, which in turn causes the mental collapse of her father subsequently leading to an airplane tragedy that impacts all of Albuquerque. He invades gang territories and gets Combo killed out of greed, blows up a nursing home to kill one guy, orders the execution of 10 people at the hands of Neo-Nazis, manipulates laundromat employees to clean his meth lab which results in them getting deported and drives his brother-in-law into oncoming traffic. This is all on top shooting Mike (the one guy that Walt can possibly relate to, because he too was in the business for his family), and poisoning Brock. Not to mention using Jesse, at all times, as an expendable pawn and forcing him to kill Gale.
Gale, a fucking weirdo like me. If there was one guy on the show that I could relate to, it was the dude who sang operas in his house alone while he made tea. And it pained me to see him killed, but I forgave Walt.
If this guy existed, everyone would be stoked that he was arrested.
But I sat in my bed, feeling physically sick watching Walt get cuffed. And what was more disturbing to me, was my excitement when the Nazis showed up to save him, despite Walter clearly calling off the hit.
Why do I want to see this man win?
You may be saying: "Bilder, he isn't so bad. He was just doing all this for his family."
And to you I say, I hate his family. Straight up. His family sucks. Skylar sucks. Walt Jr. sucks. Hank sucks. Marie totally sucks. The only person in Walt's family that I like, besides him, is Holly.
Skylar cheats on him, Walt Jr. forsakes him, Hank belittles him and Marie sucks.
I can't agree with his motives, because his family sucks so hard.
Then you can argue: "But Bilder, Bryan Cranston is just such a good actor. That's why you love Walt."
To which I say, yea, you're totally right, but that doesn't excuse the character of his actions.
The only logical answer I can derive at is that I am clearly a sociopath who wants to see this criminal take on the law and succeed.
...well that, and the fact that he is so wood-damn brilliant.
I think the difference between Walt and all the other criminals on TV is that he is the MacGyver of criminals. The dude makes a car battery with sponges and nickels, melts a lock with Etch-a-Sketch crap, blows up a fucking building with a rock. Walter White is a mad genius and I love him because of that.
Other than that, I am truly at a loss. I can't think of why I like this guy, and as much as I do. Everything this man does is apprehensible, and yet I don't want him to go to jail. And that I why I am urging you to save Walter White.
http://www.savewalterwhite.com/
Feel free to stir up some conversation with me about this. Like I said, I just started watching the show, so I have totally missed out on having serious discussions about it.
