But Breaking Bad’s appeal is surprisingly universal. Translated into Chinese as jueming dushi (绝命毒师) — which means something like “The doomed drug master” — the series is a modest hit in China, where on streaming sites like Sohu.com, an average season has gotten over 10 million views. That’s more than double that of other recent acclaimed dramas like Mad Men, though still a fraction of the 159 million views that The Big Bang Theory’s most recent full season received there.

Chinese video streaming interfaces includes comments sections, redolent of that found on evident progenitors like Youtube. For Breaking Bad, Chinese fans fill the comment threads to each episode with hundreds of responses, in which they gush over the show’s superiority to formulaic Chinese dramas and debate plot points. While the comments can’t be taken to represent Chinese views generally, they are sufficiently voluminous to act together as a valuable window into the psyche of Chinese fans, occasionally revealing moments of massive cultural dissonance.

TV So Good It Hurts: The Psychology of Watching Breaking Bad | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network

 RichardPrins wrote: 
Or it could just be a very entertaining television program, there is that.

 
Walter White’s sickness mirrors America - Salon.com

(...) Unlike so many Americans, Walter White actually has a safety net. As a public school teacher, he actually has decent health insurance (even though as noted above, it may not be completely adequate for his illness, and may not prevent a medical bankruptcy). That is more than millions of his fellow countrymen can say. Also unlike most Americans, he has friends from his past who are willing to pay to get him the world’s most cutting-edge cancer treatments. But even with all that, Walter still chooses what he calls “the empire business” in an effort to live out the dominant mythology. More specifically, he rejects his friends’ offer of help and embarks on a flamboyant journey to live out the archetypal up-from-the-bootstraps story — the American Dream narrative on which our society bases its very definition of manhood. In the process, he also tries to live out the Aggrieved American White Guy Fantasy of thwarting his dark-skinned foreign competitors and claiming a market that he believes to be rightfully his. (...)

Art imitates life?

 miamizsun wrote: 
He lost out on his first business venture, and once he started down the dark path he came to find that he could create his very own empire.

guy does a good walt jr

 RichardPrins wrote: 
oh i agree

i simply was responding to the reference in the article regarding 15th century lit and morality plays with another literary ref from the time (macbeth and i should have removed the bold emphasis)

in the beginning walt may have started with good intentions but he definitely got caught up and turned bad guy and seemed to have little remorse for the death and destruction he caused (save jesse early in the series and hank at the end)

he's coming from a dark place now...

 

 miamizsun wrote: 
A victim of circumstance typically bears no blame whatsoever for the mishaps that happen to come their (or their family's) way. I don't think that applies to the fictional Mr. White, aside from some of the initial framing (a handicapped son, financial stress, a baby coming, and finally cancer). Arguably some of those circumstances are of his own making (financial stress and further procreation).

It becomes more clear-cut, I think, when he makes the decision to start manufacturing meth. Although 'noble' in the sense of the family outlook, it's anything but noble when viewed from the perspective of a community or a society. After that initial decision, it's clear where the responsibility lies for all that follows. He can no longer be considered a victim.

 RichardPrins wrote: 
Heisenberg, a victim of circumstances or not?

I say most certainly...

Point Of View: How So Many Rooted For 'Breaking Bad's' Walter White : Monkey See : NPR

BBC News - Is Walter White one of TV's truly evil characters?

 lily34 wrote: 

They do and every night this week they are playing a marathon of every episode, it started last night.  It's almost Walking Dead time again also!!

i've been watching On Demand, and last week's episode isn't on yet, so i'm a week behind. however, i think before the finale on sunday, they run the prior week's episode right before. so i'm going to try to catch that if possible. looking forward to it.

 sirdroseph wrote: 
Bryan Cranston won his first Emmy for his performance in the pilot episode

BTW evidently AMC is running the entire series this week preparing for the series finale!  I got to catch the very first episode and now I understand why people got hooked at the beginning, what an iconic scene barreling down the road in a huge Winnebago wearing nothing but underwear and a gas mask!

 KevinM wrote: 

What about non taxpayers?  BTW, taxes in Norway are 50%.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, most Norwegians actually don't mind paying that because their government actually is efficiently supplying its citizens with quality healthcare and good infrastructure, can we trust our government to do the same regardless of tax rate?  That is not a rhetorical question, but I would say history says no.

 islander wrote: 
i have a feeling that jesse or walt will live

or maybe walt jr will transform into heisenberg jr

 Mugro wrote: 
Jesse is the only one with a true sense of morality. If he lives it will probably be worse for him than if he dies. I still can't see how they wrap it up in one more show, but they say it will be satisfying and given how they have crafted the story so far I think I'll trust them. 
Good to see you around btw. 

 islander wrote: 
I think that Walt will die, but Jesse will live. Somehow. I think that is where we are headed. Walt is in hell now knowing that his family has rejected him and that the whole reason that he started all of this is for naught. But, the story itself demands a price. Walt cannot survive. Living the rest of his life in the hell of solitary (either in jail or in some wilderness hideout somewhere) is not good enough punishment for him. And, that's not what he wants anyway. He will want to go out on his own terms and do something finally to make sure that his family is taken care of. 

Jesse, however, is the ultimate survivor. He has survived every moment of this show. None of it has been easy for him, not from the first season where he was adrift from his parents. But somehow he will survive, as he always has. He will lose all of the loved ones in his life, but he will be like that junkyard dog that just keeps going on an on no matter what abuse is heaped on him.

I daresay this show is better than the Sopranos. I hope the ending of the show is better than how the Sopranos ended!  

 RichardPrins wrote: 
They really should have called it "that's not my tiger".

 mutepoint wrote: 
Prequel.