'Breaking Bad' barrels to a brutal final run

By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY

Posted July 10, 2012

Et tu, Walter White?

After emerging from another dust-up with his employer, the meth-cooking high school teacher (played by Bryan Cranston) appears destined to become the kingpin he once loathed as AMC's Breaking Bad returns for another season starting Sunday (10 ET/PT). After eight episodes this season, the series ends next summer with another truncated eight-episode run.

This year, creator Vince Gilligan promises, the show is going to get dark. Real dark. "The gloves are off," he says.

Were they ever on? Bad revels in killing characters as disturbingly as possible. Walt has boiled his victims to jelly, strangled one with a bike lock and, last year, blew the face off kingpin Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) in a graphic season finale that Gilligan concedes has raised the bar on gruesomeness.

Just as tough, Gilligan says, is creating a hero in Walter who is simultaneously despicable and empathetic. Though AMC has advertised the show's return with the tagline "All hail the king," Gilligan knows not all fans will.

"Honestly, it surprises me to hear people say they love Walt," Gilligan says. "I don't like Walt as a human being. I pretty much lost sympathy for him long ago. He's a damaged individual."

The damage appears more acute in Season 5, which sees Walter slipping more into his alter ego, meth-making genius Heisenberg. Walt, a cancer patient who started out in the drug trade to provide for his family, had an opportunity to leave it at the end of last season. But "he's not the kind to say: 'That was a close call. I'm out,' " Cranston says. "Walt has changed so drastically over the years."

And for a while, Gilligan and producers weren't sure that fans would buy the change. Uncertain that the show would be picked up for a fifth season, Gilligan crafted the Season 4 finale as a possible final curtain, with Walt proclaiming victory after de-facing Fring and poisoning a child as subterfuge.

Now that AMC has given Walt a life expectancy of 16 episodes, Gilligan says, he's more free to map his story's arc, much as Lost's creators did with that show's six-year run. "It's rare in the business, and I wish it would catch on," Gilligan says. "Shows that have been good to the network and studio can go a decade and be summarily dismissed without any kind of a wrap-up."

He says the 16-episode finish "was the right number for this story. It's a blessing, because you know what to parcel out, at what point. We have a strong idea of what the ending will consist of."

Not that he's tipping his hand. One pledge he is making: Walt will become the crossbred monster Gilligan has been promising since the show premiered in 2008: Mr. Chips meets Scarface. "More than ever, we can let Walter White get as dark as he could possibly get," Gilligan says.

His isn't the only character who is evolving. Walter's ex-student and cooking partner, Jesse Pinkman, has transformed from a drugged-out knucklehead to a drug-savvy dealer (and henchman when need be). This season will see Jesse continue to mature, if not make the wisest career moves, says Aaron Paul, who plays Jesse.

"Jesse is going to prove he's as good as Walt at cooking," Aaron says. "His ideas are better. It's nice to know how invested the audience still is, with all the character evolutions."

Breaking Bad has always challenged its viewers, and Gilligan and stars take a certain pride in not being for everyone. Those who can stomach the macabre, however, will be rewarded for their loyalty, Paul says.

"As the seasons progressed, I know some people turned their backs on Mr. White," Paul says. "He's ruthless, and can be frightening. But I can say for certain that the fans are not going to be disappointed. The only depressing part is every time you finish an episode, you know that's one less you're ever going to do."

AMC chose to stretch the final episodes over two years to satiate Gilligan's self-professed "control freak" tendencies. He and co-writers take three weeks simply to outline a show, and Gilligan oversees every Bad facet, from soundtrack to color correction.

"There's no one to blame but me," Gilligan says. "It takes a long time. That's the downside of having an intricately plotted-out story."

The upside is a raft of Emmys, including an unprecedented three consecutive wins for Cranston as lead dramatic actor. Gilligan says that while he wants to "maintain the integrity" of the characters, the show still demands jaw-dropping violence, such as one memorable assault on a DEA squad by a tortoise rigged with a severed head stuffed with explosives.

"I want to be coy, but yes, we need to top ourselves each time," he says. "We just have to keep it believable, honest, in keeping with the character."

Paul says that while two more guaranteed seasons make for nice job security, it's hard not to get melancholy.

"For so long, we didn't know how people would react, so it's flattering to get 16 more shows. Now you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We always hoped we'd be able to end it on our terms, but it's depressing how fast these episodes are flying by now."