Entertainment

CRYSTAL GALE

Tomorrow’s episode will suck you right into the weird, horrific world of Walter White.

IF tomorrow’s second- season premiere of “Breaking Bad” is any indication, the show’s fans, who’ve been waiting a year for its return, will be dutifully rewarded for their patience.

And if, like me, you didn’t watch “Breaking Bad” last season, tomorrow’s episode will suck you right into the weird, horrific, off-kilter world of Walter White.

Last year’s inaugural season of “Breaking Bad” introduced Walter (Bryan Cranston), a struggling high school chemistry teacher in New Mexico who’s got terminal lung cancer and who’s leading a double life – producing and selling crystal methamphetamine (crystal meth) out of a secret lab in the desert.

He’s doing this to finance his medical treatment, and to leave a sizable (cash) inheritance for his put-upon wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn) – pregnant with their unplanned child – and their teenage son, Walt Jr. (RJ Mitte), who doesn’t dwell on his cerebral palsy.

Walter’s partner-in-crime is his former student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), a twentysomething doofus who flunked Walter’s class in high school and calls himself “Captain Cook” (complete with vanity plates on his low-rider).

Skyler and Walt Jr. know absolutely nothing of Walter’s illegal secret life – only that he keeps strange hours and goes into deep funks – nor does his chrome-domed brother-in-law, Hank (Dean Norris), who happens to be a local DEA agent investigating a new drug gang in town (not realizing it’s actually Walter and Jesse).

Last season tracked Walter and Jesse as they spiraled into a deepening abyss of crime and murder, culminating in their blossoming business relationship with Tuco (Raymond Cruz), a dangerous psychopath and local crimelord.

It’s Tuco, in fact, who’s the jumping-off point for tomorrow’s season premiere, and who plays a pivotal role in the episode.

Without spoiling anything for “Breaking Bad” fans who’ve waited so long for the new season, suffice it to say that tomorrow’s episode is rife with violence, emotional trauma (especially for Walter and Skyler) and seat-gripping pathos – in short, everything the show’s fans have come to expect.

Cranston, who directed the episode, is terrific, as he alternates between Walter’s pragmatic approach to his dire situation and his outright terror at the consequences of what he and Jesse have gotten themselves into.

Ditto for the rest of the cast, especially Cruz – who’s one of the scariest TV characters to come along in quite some time.

Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

“Breaking Bad” Tomorrow at 10 p.m. on AMC