Breaking Bad is back on Sunday night and I can't wait. Here's a Grantland introduction to the final season.
"If that is indeed the case, then Sunday's episode, of which I'll spoil not a whit other than to say it is absolutely terrific, feels less like merging onto an exit ramp and more like the later stages of a rocket launch. The direction, by Bryan Cranston himself, is stirring and precise. The tone alternates between hilarious and bleak, and the tension is excruciating. The way an impatient Gilligan leaps fearlessly to tackle story points that other Emmy winners would let linger for half a season makes me think he's the sort of hedonist who would never deign to sit through a salad course when there's steak on the menu. He just can't help himself, and goddamn does it taste good!"