20
by MauroZucca
This is the best show on TV right now and Cranston is the best TV actor since JG. I think he could even give JG a run for his money in some respects. I'm really bummed this show is ending this year, though it would be tough to consistently try to one-up a spectacular Season 4 year after year.
Spoilers
Walter White also a very Tony Soprano-ish vibe to him, as well--a little of Jimmy McNulty for flavoring too.
He's like Tony in the sense that as BB is winding down, everyone that's pulled into Walt's orbit eventually only leaves it through death or at least a tremendous drop in circumstances--Crazy 8, Emilio, Tuco, Tio, Leonel & Marco, Jane, Donald Margolis, Gus, Victor, Tyrus, Mike, and the 10 guys on Lydia's list are just some of the people that have died, but Jesse, Andrea, Brock, Skyler, Walter Jr., Hank, Marie and Holly have all suffered because of Walt's actions, too. Moreover, just as Seasons 6A&B saw Tony alienate himself from everyone around him, Walt is in a similar situation, where the only thing that satisfies him is making money and proving he's superior to everyone...
..Which brings me to Jimmy McNulty, who, I believe shares several personality traits with Walt. At the outset of the series, Walt enters the drug game to make enough money for his wife and kids to live after he's dead from cancer. By the time he's working for Gus Fring in season 2, however, Walt is in remission and he is now out to make as much money as possible and prove that he's the best meth chemist in the entire world. By the fifth season, money doesn't even matter to Walt, now it's just about being the best. Jimmy McNulty's motivation being a police is largely the same. His fervor in chasing both the Barksdales and Stanfields was not fully driven by a desire to rid Baltimore of two violent drug crews, but rather, that, because he, Jimmy McNulty, caught them, he was smarter and more superior than those he arrests and the other police that fail to do so. Walter has this same self-serving desire to assert superiority in his field.