It's finally back. The best drama on television (yes, even better than "Mad Men," in my opinion) returns Sunday night at 10.

But because AMC's "Breaking Bad" left us with such a mind-blowing Season 4 finale in October, there may be some worry about Season 5 living up to unattainable expectations.

Well, there's no need to worry, little ones. Judging by the first two episodes, this final "Breaking Bad" season will be just as crazy and brilliant as all those before.

Walt is King...

Sunday night's premiere episode opens with a brief -- and deliciously bewildering -- glimpse into Walter White's future, but then quickly pops back to precisely where Season 4 left off: drug kingpin Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) is dead, Walt (Bryan Cranston) has "won," and Walt must now tie up loose ends and plan for the future.

Over the course of three previous seasons of AMC's phenomenal "Breaking Bad," viewers have watched Walter White shift from a mild-mannered chemistry teacher and family man into a ruthless, murdering criminal.

Walt's actions, precipitated by a cancer diagnosis and desire to leave his family financially secure, can't be excused because of his sympathetic backstory (in part because once his cancer was in remission and he had a nice nest egg, he continued his involvement in the drug trade). But at the same time, his actions have always been at least understandable (we do not condone!) on some level because at Walt's core, he is a survivor. In fact, his dangerous, destructive path demonstrates a primal "survive and advance" instinct.

When Season 3 of "Breaking Bad" ended, the science teacher-turned-crystal meth cooker was orchestrating a last ditch play to avoid being murdered by his drug kingpin boss, Gus (Giancarlo Esposito). In the final moments of that season ender, Walt (Bryan Cranston) dispatched his partner Jesse (Aaron Paul) to secure their survival in a particularly brutal way. This weekend's Season 4 premiere deals with the immediate fallout from that move.

AMC announced the renewal of "Breaking Bad" last night, just as the show was getting ready to shut down its third spectacular season. Never has a renewal been more deserving (or less surprising).

Speaking of last night's finale, it seems many viewers interpreted that last scene with Jesse as something of a cliffhanger. But according to the show's creator Vince Gilligan, who also wrote and directed the episode, any ambiguity was purely unintentional.

Spoilers ahead.

Last night's pivotal episode of "Breaking Bad" was likely seen by a tiny fraction of the people who tuned in for "Lost," but that doesn't mean it was any less remarkable. In fact, this was an episode that stood out as extraordinary, even in a season that has been filled with one stellar offering after another.

The episode, titled "Fly," focuses on Walt's efforts to cope with the fact that the circumstances of his life (and by association, the lives of his loved ones) have slipped beyond his control. We've seen glimpses of Walt's coping mechanisms in earlier episodes, where he tried to deal with his guilt over the plane crash and Jane's death by obsessively rationalizing the relative severity of the crash and by fixating on the odds for such a thing even occurring. The more Walt's life has come unraveled this season, the more he has sought to restore order through meticulous routine, logic, and science.

This brilliant "Fly" episode often swings from eerie and foreboding to absurd and slapstick. It opens with creepy, up-close shots of a house fly while a mournful lullabye plays in the background. It feels a little like the opening of a horror film, and the episode does go there a time or two. But the dark moments are balanced by silly action and witty dialogue, and the result feels like TV perfection.

Last year, about this time, I begged you people to start watching "Breaking Bad" on AMC. If you ignored me then, I'm sorry for you because you missed a truly excellent bit of television. (For the record, I'm convinced the only reason this show doesn't get as much love as "Mad Men" is because the people in it aren't as pretty to look at.)

In Season Two of "Breaking Bad," we watched high school chemistry teacher-turned-crystal meth cooker Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston, who has won two Emmys for this role) sink deeper into desperation as he battled cancer while trying to cook and sell enough drugs to leave behind a plump nest egg for his family.

The pitiable suburban family man we felt empathy for in season one adopted a steely resolve in Season Two to do anything -- anything -- for the sake of his brood, including coldly watching his partner Jesse's volatile girlfriend choke to death, because he knew his own chances for survival were better with her gone.