I didn’t know a tv show could affect me in this way but I think Breaking Bad is causing me to second guess everything.

Firstly, I don’t recall ever rooting for a meth cook to succeed but Walter White struck a chord early on and I wanted nothing but the best in his future endeavors even if that future included the occasional mixing of a batch of what sources (actors I pretend are real people) would argue  is the finest grade of blue meth New Mexico has to offer. So he steals a few vats and beakers from the school lab along the way. Who hasn’t?

And yes he kills a couple of people for no apparent reason and I shake my head and think, wow I had no idea Frankie Muniz’s character on Malcolm in the Middle was so dangerously close to being obliterated by his Dad.

It’s hard to go from reading sweet bedtime stories to our four year old about how sad it is when Princess Leora’s balloons are all popped by the evil Archduke knowing I’m minutes away from watching someone’s decapitated head walking through the desert affixed to a tortoise. Leora just seems like such a cry-baby now.

I’m a little jumpy now that we’re into the final season.

I’ve been checking the underside of my mini-van for any number of explosive devices and picked up a few spare, disposable cell phones because that just seems to make good sense. Also, the idea of calling home to ask Greg if we need any cinnamon and then dramatically breaking the phone over my knee and tossing it in the garbage at Zehrs is too exhilarating to pass up.

I’ve replayed the Seinfeld episodes where Bryan Cranston plays the Dentist, Dr. Tim Whatley just so I can see my old buddy does have a sense of humour, even though the whole label maker re-gifting did not sit well with me. Still, his lighter roles give me the strength to root him on as he poisons children and sends his good-Samaritan next-door neighbour into his house just to see if there is a Hit-man waiting to jump out of a closet.

Sometimes the lines are blurred and it’s tough mixing reality with fiction.

I will be sleeping with one eye open for the next few years.