AMC's "Breaking Bad" (10 p.m. Sunday) became more watchable after the first few episodes when it took a break from the gross drug trade (and its ill effects) and spent more time developing its characters. That break has since ended as cancer-stricken high school chemistry teacher Walt (Bryan Cranston) and his drug trade partner Jesse (Aaron Paul) return to the lab, cooking up a new batch of meth in Sunday's season finale.

This episode wasn't intended to wrap the show's first season, but it's the last episode completed before the writers' strike. So far no new episodes have been planned.

Walt tests the waters of truthfulness with wife Skyler, who is almost arrested for returning a gift to a store, a gift she didn't know was stolen.

"People sometimes do things for their families," he says. Then he pushes it further. "What would you do if it was me?"

"You don't want to find out," Skyler says.

With that, Walt drops his line of questioning.

"Breaking Bad" has grown on me, but I'm still tiring of all the TV dramas in which characters are leading secret lives. Sure, everyone has secrets, but none as big as what we've seen on TV lately in shows ranging from "Breaking Bad" to "Big Love" to "The Sopranos." TV creators need to come up with a new, less repetitive source of conflict.