I watched a portion of Episode 1 of Season 2 of Breaking Bad on AMC.  You may of course wonder what the Periodic Table of Elements is doing in this post.  Well – its a series about a 50-year-old high school Chemistry teacher with a newly pregnant wife, a disabled son and a brother-in-law who is a DEA agent.  Walter – a Chemistry-inclined, otherwise ordinary and fully functional member of society, finds out he has terminal, inoperable lung cancer, and that he has at most a couple years left to live even with chemotherapy.  He partners with a former Chemistry class student of his – Luis – and goes into the business of cooking crystal meth to sell it and provide for his family after his impending death.  In the first episode when Walter confronts Luis – who he flunked in Chem class back in the day, he says:

“You know the business, I know the chemistry. I’m thinking maybe you and I could partner up.”

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