Breaking Bad must be one of the best television dramas in years. I am addicted.

A fifty year old high school chemistry teacher, down on his luck, barely able to provide for his family and his newly pregnant wife, discovers that he has lung cancer with a prognosis that he has 18 months to live.

Desperate for a way to not only finance his treatments, but also to provide a nest-egg for his family before he dies, he resorts to “cooking” crystal meth. Not cut out for the life of a criminal and the characters he needs to deal with in his new endeavor, he quickly slides down the slippery slope of lies and cover ups with seemingly no way out.

I didn’t know this show existed. Starting in 2008, it is actually now in its fifth season. This goes to show you how much TV I watch: just about none. We recently subscribed to Netflix streaming. The kids told us about the show. I watched the first episode, and I was hooked. If I allowed myself, I could sit for three days and watch one show after the other. So I established the rule that I get to watch only one per day. I now finished 13 episodes of 33 on Netflix.

That’s the good thing about not finding out earlier. I didn’t have to wait for weekly episodes for four years. I get to watch them all at once now.

Jest aside. Unless you’re ready to watch all episodes, don’t get started. The acting is excellent. The plot and story in intricate and believable. The insight into the drug culture is revealing. The slide of a good man into depravity is convincing.

I am not done watching, but I am giving it a rating:

Rating: ****