Breaking Beatdown

One thing I forgot to mention about the last Breaking Bad.  I don't think Walter's ever had a beatdown like Mike gave him at the end.  Not that it was too bad.  Mike could have hurt him a lot worse.

Not that Walt has had smooth sailing.  Leaving aside his health issues (which actually make everything else easier--no matter how bad it gets for him personally, he knows he doesn't have that much to lose), Walt has his life threatened by every drug dealer he's hooked up wth.  But for some reason it's poor, sweet Jesse who always gets the beatdown.  First Krazy 8 goes after him.  Next, Tuco beats him so bad he puts him in the hospital.  Next Walt's brother-in-law beats him so bad he puts him in the hospital.  If this keeps up Jesse will end up passing Ben Linus for the most beat up character ever on TV.

Also, no matter how bad Walter has had it, his family is still alive, and he keeps moving forward.  Meanwhile, Jesse lost Jane, the girl he loved, and he blames himself (though Walter was behind it).  He also lost Combo, one of his best friends.

Turns out being around Walt is good for no one.  He's left behind a long trail of dead people, including every drug dealer he's worked with up till Gus--and we'll see how Gus does.  His brother-in-law was shot (by people who wanted to kill Walt) and may never fully recover.  And it's not like Walt had no choice.  Fairly early on he was offered all the money he needed on a silver platter, but turned it down due some combination of pride, arrogance and anger.  It's getting harder and harder to sympathize with Walt. Makes you wonder if that's why Vince Gilligan decided to have Mike knock him down--because the viewers were starting to feel he needed it.