I am – Hercules!!

One of the best series of last year has gotten better.

I stayed up far too late into Saturday morning because of AMC’s “Breaking Bad.” I intended to watch before bed only the series’ second-season premiere (launching Sunday night, almost a year to the day after season one ended), but found doing so nigh impossible.

The cliffhangers for the first and second episodes were too compelling. The second and third episodes demanded immediate viewing. I could not be expected to wait to find out what next befell cancer-riddled meth-brewing chem instructor Walt White and his callow partner Jesse Pinkman.

The premiere doesn’t just pick up when season one left off; it actually repeats a lengthy chunk of last season’s final scene, in which the meth-crazed drug kingpin Tuco beats his subordinate NoDoze into a bloody pulp (for talking out of turn).

That beating sets off a nerve-wracking chain of events that cascade well into the season’s third episode and likely far beyond. (I’ll refrain from exploring the many twists that attend those first three hours.)

Just know: if you’ve been avoiding this series, quit already.

Oh, and before I forget, my three favorite big-screen cancer tales are “Ikiru,” “Terms of Endearment” and “My Life Without Me.” The winners of the “Breaking Bad” contest built around this fact have already been notified via email of their good fortune.

Stephen King says of “Breaking Bad”:

… the best scripted show on TV. Your Uncle Stevie may not care much for Mad Men, but he has never seen anything like BB on the tube. The only thing that comes close is Twin Peaks, also by Blue Velvet auteur David Lynch. But Peaks lost its focus once it moved beyond the death of Laura Palmer. Judging by the first three episodes of Breaking Bad's second season, the story is more tightly plotted than ever. …

Entertainment Weekly gives it an “A” and says:

… a superlatively fresh metaphor for a middle-age crisis: It took cancer and lawbreaking to jolt Walt out of his suburban stupor, to experience life again—to take chances, risk danger, do things he didn't think himself capable of doing. None of this would work, of course, without Emmy winner Cranston's ferocious, funny selflessness as an actor. For all its bleakness and darkness, there's a glowing exhilaration about this series: It's a feel-good show about feeling really bad. …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… set-your-hair-on-fire television … Smart but never slick, funny but never glib, dark but never (praise all saints and angels) noir, "Breaking Bad" is actually not another addition to the Brotherhood of the Made Guy formula, it turns out to be the formula's antidote. …

The Chicago Tribune says:

… Is the show worth watching in its second season? It depends. The show has a thoughtful vibe and spare, off-kilter look that captures the alternately drab and spacious New Mexico setting in a distinctive and cinematic way. To its credit, "Breaking Bad" has a wonderfully unforced and mordant sense of humor. And Cranston's performance is as subtle as they come. He effortlessly communicates the pathos and the irony of Walt's bizarre situation, sometimes just with the look in his eyes or the slump of his shoulders. But too often, "Breaking Bad" favors mood and aesthetics over depth and dramatic tension. …

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… The seven-episode first season of "Breaking Bad" was a wonderful concoction of unforeseen greatness. Cranston's Emmy-winning performance was just the start. The writing was consistently excellent, the on-location cinematography gave the series a filmlike quality as New Mexico's desolation and vast expanse of sanctuary came alive, and the tonal shifts between dire consequence and the humor often borne of it were deftly played. As the season progressed, the quality of the cast was further revealed and each episode improved. The first three episodes of Season 2 that AMC sent out continue that level of achievement with no evident missteps. …

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… There's no question about the quality of this relentlessly suspenseful drama … Whether viewers can stand the nerve jangling they're in for as season two begins will be decided on an individual basis. …

The Boston Globe says:

… Emotionally, atmospherically, and morally, "Breaking Bad" is spellbinding. …

Variety says:

… The show appears chaotic, confused, in danger of careering out of control. Yet there's a guiding plan here, and a sense of uncertainty -- created by the hook of a protagonist with terminal cancer -- that keeps the series utterly compelling …

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… It's difficult to fathom a more dangerous and enthralling piece of television … The violence is more brutal. The mood is starker. And the suspense is pretty much off-the-scale … flat-out superb …

10 p.m. Sunday. AMC.

Bad One!