Over the last few days, I've watched the first two episodes of Breaking Bad, and I've got to say, wow. I heard it was very good, but my expectations were completely shattered.
It's... awful. Cringey throughout, unlikable and unrelatable main characters, a plot that feels mostly built on people making stupid decisions. We watched the first episode and thought, well that was just the pilot, maybe it was just mediocre because it's setting stuff up. Second episode was somehow worse. I came away feeling not like this was something great that just isn't my cup of tea, but that it was something overall bad that might appeal to a few people. Despite this, it's one of the most critically acclaimed TV shows out there, and honestly, I don't really get it.
If you don't think Bryan Cranston's acting in the series is incredible, I don't really know what to tell you. I don't recall if Season 1 was as compelling on its own as compared to part of the entire series. I didn't start watching until the last episodes were just airing, so I kind of binged it all. I think maybe Episode 6 was where it really picked up for me.
The characters are certainly not likeable; I'm not sure why they should be expected to be. Everyone is very flawed, but I found the characters to be very compelling. Well, Skylar, Marie, and Watler Jr. annoyed me pretty often, but they're part of the story. Jonathan Banks, Bob Odenkirk, Giancarlo Esposito are all really amazing once they show up. I think Dean Norris was great, too.
What I found really interesting, and perhaps what allowed me to get very immersed in the story, is to ask at each point what I would have done in each situation, conditional on me somehow being in that situation. Once you get past the first few crazy decisions, I found it interesting to evaluate each incremental choice. I guess you have to get a little further into the story and buy into the premise in order to do that, though.