It’s as if the Coens (Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Fargo) made a TV series.
My favorite line from the series so far came when Walt and Jesse were about to break into an industrial building to steal a chemical. Walt shows Jesse the ski masks he bought to cover their faces - they’re ridiculously garish, and each has a little pom-pom on the top.
Jesse: You got THESE?!
Walt: They were all the store had.
Jesse: Then you go to another store!
I think that the strength of this series is the contrast between Walt’s “downward spiral” arc and his empowerment arc.
He begins the series as a moral man who has the burdens imposed by little power(mousy personality), bad intuition (Gray Matter), horrible luck (cancer) and very little respect.
As he tries to navigate out of this situation he gains ground against all of these obstacles. The price he pays is the loss of his morality.
So as an observer I’m cheering as he fights his way past all of his burdens and all the while I’m horrified at the loss of his moral self.
And I’m not convinced that pride is the root of all of his problems. His pride didn’t create the life he had at the beginning of the series. I think that the Gray Matter subject is in the story just to point that out. While he first comes across as just another mousy high school chemistry teacher he is actually the brains that launched a billion dollar enterprise. So, we get to find out what happens when a brilliant man finally snaps after life and circumstances pushes him too far away from his potential.
I heartily endorse this. Without giving too much away, the characters and their relationship with Walt definitely change over the course of the series. This isn’t “Gilligan’s Island”, where no matter what happens you know everything reboots to default at the end of the episode.
Though I gotta admit, a crossover between Breaking Bad and Gilligan’s Island would be hilarious. 
The Professor and Gilligan as the bitter meth-producing rivals of Walt and Jesse?
The Professor could easily make a meth lab out of coconuts and bamboo. And the authorities will never find their island … I mean, they haven’t yet.
Distribution’s gonna be a problem for them, though.
Oh, the Skipper can handle that part. He’s big enough to put the scare into folks.
Oh, you mean the whole isolation from civilization thing.
To the OP: IMHO, if you’re not rooting for Walt you shouldn’t continue. I’ll root for Walt till the bitter (I think it might be bitter) end. I can’t really imagine enjoying it if I wasn’t rooting for Walt, no matter what he does. But, that’s me.
Vince Gilligan’s Island?
I find myself kind of rooting for him too. I can’t justify it morally or ethically, but it’s to Bryan Cranston’s credit that there’s a tiny thread of empathy for him (from me, I get why lots of others find him reprehensible).
Hey guys, I’m bumping this to say I’m all caught up and waiting for season 5.2!
For what it’s worth, here’s the best way I can sum up my feelings about Walt now. This is what I was hoping for when the Star Wars prequels were announced. That poster of a little kid casting Darth Vader’s shadow portended so much entrancing drama. How does a normal person become a monster? Show us a really scary bad guy as a fully fleshed out character who’s interesting but still morally repugnant in the end. Well, we know how well that went, but this series delivers on that kind of character arc.
I don’t like Walter at all, but I sometimes get a thrill from watching him.
And as for my worries about the tone being too dark and depressing, they have really impressed me with their ability to balance it. For instance, after the episode with the train, I was totally horrified that they not only killed a kid, but ensured his parents would spend the rest of their lives searching and agonizing about what happened. This was completely harrowing for me. And yet, minutes later Gilligan & Co. had me laughing over the awkward dinner scene with Albertson’s deli green beans.
So thanks for helping me suss it out, and I’ll see you all this summer in the episode threads!
I have a very strong feeling that Jesse is going to attempt to make anonymous restitution to the kid’s parents, and that will somehow play into Walt’s downfall.