Guilty Pleasure

I have a confession to make. I've just finished the final episode of season four of "Breaking Bad,"and I'm beside myself. What will evenings be like without the punctuation of bloody drug cartel wars, Walter's chronic, obsessive lies covering all his destructive choices, Jesse's hopeless incompetence, Skyler's opportunistic manipulations, Hank's shrewd determination, and oh, most of all, the murderous kingpin Gus, we all hate to love? The sheer thrill of watching these characters play out their bizarre agendas has been akin to the fascination of witnessing a train wreck in slow motion, or stopping to steal a peek at the blood in a gory highway accident. Horrible things happening to other people. Revenge brutally extracted by other people. But the very worst consequences miraculously avoided, time and again. Ah, TV......
By day, my therapist world is governed by the ethics of sound judgement, compassion, mindfulness,
delayed gratification, consequences for all actions, law abiding work, cooperation, mutual benefit.
No place for this dog eat dog, kill or be killed, survival of the fittest stuff.
What a guilty pleasure, however,  to spend 48 minutes several times a week dancing with total destruction! (I'm sure they'll find some link to lowered cortisol levels resulting in a healthier, longer life, don't you think?)
I better find another "train wreck" show, got any suggestions?

Cheers,
Susan Lager
PS.  When you're up for something productive, (outside your own guilty pleasure), tune in to my next BlogTalk Radio episode, "Effective Trauma Treatment and its Impact on Relationships", featuring Phil Harford, an expert in this field. It's on Wednesday, Feb. 8th at 8:30 PM. Call in toll-free at:
877-497-9046 to listen, and if you want, to join us live on the air. It should be a very interesting and informative show! (Walter, Jesse, and Gus sure could have used the knowledge).