Of course it can be fun rooting for the bad guy, but Breaking Bad is operating on a slightly different level than Grand Theft Auto 3 or Scarface.

Look, first couple seasons, I was Team Walt all the way. He was this bumbling underdog in over his head, trying to help his family, and yeah maybe getting his ego stroked a bit in the process but it was still at a manageable level more or less. It was innocent, in a way. If he killed someone, it was in self-defense, indirect, accidental, etc. and it happened to characters you barely knew. And he seemed just as horrified at his own actions as you were

It stopped being a "come up" story at some point, it seemed pretty evident to me that dude had become a monster... If we're talking about fun and escapism here I think personally I'll have more fun watching him lose at this point.

>You choose to view it through the lense of a realistic moral
>compass, and there's nothing wrong with that. Do you. Problem
>is, you seem to have lost touch with reality with your idiotic
>"who roots for this guy besides guys with revenge of the nerds
>fantasies?" quip.

You mad?

>I mean, where's the fun in watching the show using a real
>moral compass? Where's the escapism, the thrill, the fun, the
>excitement in that?

This show can rip my guts out and still be fun. It's the kind of fun I have when I'm watching/reading/listening to anything that's well made. The content itself isn't necessarily the source of that fun, it lies in the execution. The "thrill" for me is that this is great fucking television

I guess my question to you would be, how can we be truly invested in a story if we don't care about the characters and world as if it is real? And without that investment, how great can your reward be?

>Since you clearly struggled to grasp a reason why people would
>root for such a monster, it was obvious that you needed to be
>reminded that this shit isn't actually real.

Clearly.

But okay, now that you've set me straight – I'm still not buying "it's imaginary" as a good reason to root for Walt. Hank is imaginary, too, right?

So rooting for *anybody* is investing a certain amount of yourself into the story. Maybe you're rooting for Walt by default because he's the main character, or maybe there's something in you that makes you want to see him win. And I'm just curious to know what that thing is.

And I wouldn't say Hank necessarily mirrors my real-life morality either, but he's just about the closest anchor I've got at this point. So I'm still not viewing this the same way I would if it was real life, but I'm definitely investing myself into it more than I would the average TV show, because I think the show has earned that level of investment.

>If you don't reach dumbass conclusions, you won't get such
>water-is-wet type responses, you won't get pissy about it, and
>we'll all get along just fine

Sounds good you seem like a fun guy