Was Breaking Bad's Season Finale TV's Darkest Hour Ever?

For the past three seasons, Breaking Bad's protagonist Walt White has led viewers down a rabbit hole of greed, destruction and moral decay. Each season the character, who won Bryan Cranston back-to-back Emmys, found increasingly flimsy ways to rationalize his dangerous behavior. His career choice -- manufacturing crystal meth -- made him isolate his friends, endanger his family and kill his spirit in ways that smoking crystal meth could have never done. And in last night's third-season finale, Walt burrowed deeper than viewers thought possible, making it clear that he will never find his way out. Click through for video, analysis of Walt's descent and spoilers.

Unlike Tony Soprano, Breaking Bad's lead character Walt White never suffocated his own nephew, shot his own cousin or murdered a man by slamming his head against a linoleum floor. But still, Bryan Cranston's chemistry teacher from Albuquerque is responsible for crimes that seem and feel much worse than anything on the Sopranos or premium cable for that matter. Because Walt White is no longer an antihero. He has become a villain.

Part of this is creator Vince Gilligan's doing. Unlike the Sopranos, which intercut tremendously violent scenes with humorously relatable situations between a mobster and his unappreciative children, Walt has isolated his family. In one family scene last night, Walt sits dazed, cradling his baby while Skyler sets the table and Walt Jr. works on homework in the background. He might as well have been invisible.

Last night's finale, "Full Measure," opened with an interesting flashback that shed light on the earlier stages of Walt's inner yearning. As he and Skyler tour the house that they would later move into and start a family, younger Walt is underwhelmed. Skyler questions why he does not think that the home is enough for their starter and Walt responds, "Where else can we go but up?"

Flash forward to present day, where Walt is trapped by that very pursuit of "more" that manifested itself years ago when searching for the perfect first home. But unlike the younger Walt, who was surprisingly cheery and hopeful, Walt is dead inside. His body may have outlived the doctor's "three year" prognosis from the series premiere, but his heart has not. He conceded earlier this season that he would be better off dead, but even so, begs Mike for his life and orders a kill on an innocent person.

It no longer feels like Walt has much trouble issuing these orders, but Jesse has difficulty fulfilling them because unlike Walt, he still feels and thinks logically -- at one point even pleading with an uncooperative Walt to join the witness protection program.

Breaking Bad has become an epic tale of teacher-failing-student, father-failing-family and character-failing-himself -- and maybe that realization is what made last night's finale so dark. What do you think?