What's Past Is Past

Only five more episodes of Breaking Bad this season.  Sunday has become the highlight of my week, so I don't know what I'm going to do.  (Boardwalk Empire is not a sufficient replacement.)

After last week's episode there's been a lot of speculation about who Gus Fring really is.  Many think he was some bigshot in Chile during Pinochet's reign.  While the information may be interesting, it's not crucial.  You're invested in a good serial because you like the characters and the situation at present, and want to know where things are going.  Finding out an occasional bit of someone's past--especially if it helps clear up some mystery in the present--is fine, but too much slows down the story.  It's also a cheap way to "explain" someone.  In fact, showing the past often weakens a character; someone who was once a mystery is now all too easily understood.

(Lost's first season worked because we knew nothing about any of the characters thrown together, so the flashbacks were needed.  But even then, after a while, just another flashback to show us about characters we already knew well wasn't needed.  Learning that why Locke needed to trust people, or that Sayid is a killer, or that Jack is set apart, isn't much of a message after a point.)