I just finished this show last night...watched all 5 seasons in less than 2 weeks. Ive been tired shitless at work, but its been damn worth it.
I did feel that sometimes, some of the scenes were drawn out too much. I found myself saying "i hope they dont go over to this situation", becuase it would drag. I dont have any specific examples of this.
I will say this: that was by far the longest and most interesting character study of any kind i have seen in entertainment that didnt get stale. Not even close. Watching Walt morph and weave through both his characters was amazing. Lots of psychological fuckery and intrigue from episode to episode. Clearly, Walt was an ego maniac and he did do the one thing he set out to do from the jump: leave his family financially strapped for life. But he did everything else WRONG in terms of morality and ethics, as well as some common.
One flash back i think about is when he and Skylar fist bought their house. Did everyone notice his personality was very different than him 15 years later? It wasnt quite meth-lord Walt, but he definatly has "swagger". I believe this was about the time he was heading up graymatter...and i think that feeling of "ego" is what appealed to him...thus his driving motivation to be the best at cooking Meth. The caveat to that is he COULD cook it himself, but he always seem to want Jesse there....which are many reasons for. But it makes me feel that Jesse was like his "lucky rabbits foot" so to speak.
Anyways, great show. Bryan Cranston's performance was unreal. I dont know how many awards he won for that part, but he should have won every year he was up for it.