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I think Breaking Bad is a great show because it rejects this line of thinking, because its running time is a five-season rebuttal to the idea that there are choices that matter and choices that don't. Walt's pride at a dinner table is ultimately as important to the villain he becomes as his murder, his lying as corruptive as his violence. In Gilligan's eyes, there's no differentiating between Walt's pride and his rage and his enviousness and his determination to succeed at all costs, to be the Kingpin, the only one. Telling the story of how Walt chose to become the villain takes every minute of all 67 episodes aired so far.
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But as flashbacks inform the choices Walt made in the past, and as time and time again Walt refuses to stop cooking meth, to stop feeding his own pride, the scene is recontextualized as an ironic echo—as just another excuse for Walt's behavior. The paradox central to Walt's nature is that if you deny him a choice, he becomes furious. Because of this, most every conflict in the show stems from the interplay of Walt's staggering intelligence and his equally impressive capacity for stupid, pride-motivated decisions.
But if you empower Walt, when he comes into real responsibility, he shirks it, he self-sabotages; he pretends he doesn't have a choice, or never did have a choice. He becomes paranoid, and self-aggrandizing, and manipulative, until he's relaxed from the tension of having responsibility—and as soon as that happens, he's out looking for it again.
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Too much?
