AMC drama shocks viewers with plot twists, violence in Season 5Â 
WARNING: This article contains spoilers.
Walter White is a man we only thought we knew.
The fifth season of AMC's critically acclaimed drama "Breaking Bad" depicts Walter White (Bryan Cranston) nearing the end of his slow and horrifying transformation from 50-year-old high school chemistry teacher into a hardened meth kingpin.
This is no longer the Walter White who garnered sympathy from audience members and whose awful choices seemed rational in a desperate sort of way. This is a Walt who has crossed over the one moral boundary Gustavo Fring (the show's former antagonist) himself would not have crossed, who has perfected his ability to manipulate and lie to others and who uses his intelligence as a deadly weapon. He has truly become the very danger he could only fantasize about being. The once antihero of Vince Gilligan's Emmy award–winning show is its final, monstrous villain.
This fifth season of "Breaking Bad" will see Walt's story reach its conclusion in a 16-episode span. The first half of the season recently aired, and the final eight episodes will wrap the series next year. So far, the show is on track for its strongest season yet. Season Five's first half is far more eventful than the first half of Season Four, with its meticulously plotted slow burn. Among acting, directing and writing, it's clear the show is at its pinnacle, with riveting performances by Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn (Skylar White) and Jonathan Banks (Mike Ehrmantraut) standing out in particular.
Furthermore, each individual episode has such an incredible density of dramatic tension and set pieces. From the image of Skylar floating helplessly in the family pool, her skirt billowing around her to the white-knuckle, Western-inspired train robbery episode, "Dead Freight," and its gut punch of a final scene, this season has hit every emotional beat it needed to, and it hit hard. In fact, the haunting opening sequence of "Buyout," in which a corpse and accompanying dirt bike are surgically disassembled and melted down in near-total silence, may be the most unsettling moment in the show's history (and that's saying something).
The only misstep so far might actually be in the midseason finale, "Gliding Over All," which was truly an odd episode for the show. As the title suggests, this episode is one where everything goes uncharacteristically smoothly. Walt disposes of Mike's body without consequence, he sets up a lucrative business deal with Lydia and he has Mike's nine legacy members in prison systematically killed, all in a singular episode.
Everything going off without a hitch is a bizarre occurrence for a show that has always seemed to follow Murphy's Law. The way things play out feels rushed and somewhat forced, at least by the higher standards of "Breaking Bad." However, it's all in service of making a point about Walt's character as we see when he backs down, presumably to finally quit his life of crime. It becomes apparent that without the danger, without complications and without Jesse, Walt seems disinterested with his long-sought-after crystal meth empire. For him, creating one of the world's most destructive drugs has become just another day job.
But it can't end that way. After all, as the season premiere's flash-forward depicted, Walt eventually gets to the place where he's on the run in New Hampshire, buying an M-60 from the parking lot of a Denny's. Happiness simply isn't a part of Walt's character arc.
Then it happens: Hank (Dean Norris) discovers that Walter White, his own brother-in-law, is in fact the blue crystal king, Heisenberg. And he makes this revelation while on the toilet, searching for reading material. It is ever-so-slightly comical and, in showrunner Vince Gilligan's words, a truly "oh s---" moment.
Given the gravitas of Hank discovering Walt's true identity, the final eight episodes of the series are likely to be a tense and violent charge to the end. The only questions to be answered now are the big ones: Will Hank be able to finally bring Walt to justice? Will Walt's returning cancer beat him to it? What about Jesse, who still has no idea the full extent to which Walt, twisted father figure that he is, has manipulated and deceived him?
Until these ticking time bombs do inevitably go off, "Breaking Bad" fans will simply have to wait. And this is what they've been waiting for all along; they're ready to watch everything go up in flames. Like the curious urge to observe the aftermath of a car crash, "Breaking Bad's" appeal lies in the fact that people, on some unconscious level, want to see everything rip apart at the seams. Here's hoping that when it does, it continues to make for fantastic television.