Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
Hellbent

Breaking Bad discussion

Recommended Posts

Anyone enjoy this show? Jesse and Walt have an ... interesting relationship. Hard to pinpoint what's going on there. Good show, tho.

Share this post


Link to post
Snakes said:

Season 4 finale was the best *EVAR*

It was pretty good. Maybe because I was burnt out from watching so many episodes back to back, or maybe because the agonizing tension was finally largely diffused when

Spoiler

Walt's wife was brought into the fold and the cartel neutralized

, whatever the reason, I guess I was hoping for a more traditional face off between the trio and more of a showdown overall (
Spoiler

the family didn't get terrorized, Hank et al totally left out of the picture?

). The penultimate episode was called End Times, but it didn't really quite feel as desperate and 'end times' as Walt, Jesse and Saul made it out to be... Walt waiting for the end in his house--just didn't have the nailbiting suspense that so many tight spots before did have. The end times obviously have yet to come.

Don't get me wrong, it was very memorable and artfully done, it just wasn't that suspenseful compared to many back to back episodes earlier in the series. I guess there was a turning point somewhere in the series... a before and after of sorts, when hard choices were made, and when they subsequently made the big time. The stakes seem smaller, rather than bigger, after that turning point, because of all that has gone down; so much tension is diffused, and you're on morally shaky ground (if you weren't before) as to how much you can empathize with these protagonists anymore--Walt is no longer a simple high school teacher trying to leave his family something before he dies of cancer.

Finally, I was expecting a little more shit to hit the fan. Ultimately everything went down pretty neatly, not nearly as messy as I was anticipating. Nevertheless, Walt laughing under the house with the camera craning upwards was a pretty sweet scene. I have to wonder how much the creators of this series were influenced or inspired by Lost. (that scene/shot had a Lostian air about it). And of course the namesake of the final episode was a very memorable scene indeed.

But yes, great television. BTW, I haven't seen any of season 5, so please be spoiler sensitive.

EDIT: Anyway, it's interesting how the characters change over time. I really didn't expect Skyler to change so much. For a long time I was waiting with anticipation for the day when Skyler totally is beside herself when she learns the truth about Walt, but that scene never materialized, because the reality of who her husband had become became evident to her in stages.

Share this post


Link to post

if this thread can be about any TV series, I just started watching 24. Show's fuckin intense. I'm scared to get started on season 2. I need more comedy relief once in a while but my fiance insists on watching the entire thing from start to finish.

Share this post


Link to post
40oz said:

if this thread can be about any TV series,


No, and yo u should be ashamed you only started watching 24 now. GTFO! (Seasons 2, 4 and 5 are the best BTW)

Breaking Bad is 4.5 seasons of awesome so far. I jumped out of my chair and said "FUCK" when I thought

Spoiler

Gus was OK after the bomb went off.

Jesus H Christ

Other moments that have stuck with me include:

• The very first scene
• Tuco taking Walt and Jesse out to the house where Tio is
• Anything with Saul. But the part where they kidnap him and he is begging for his life really is something else
• Walt and Jesse getting stuck in the desert.
• One minute
• "You don't have to do this Mike!" = "YOUR BOSS IS GONNA NEED ME. YEAH."

I could go on.

Share this post


Link to post
Hellbent said:

It was pretty good. Maybe because I was burnt out from watching so many episodes back to back, or maybe because the agonizing tension was finally largely diffused when

Spoiler

Walt's wife was brought into the fold and the cartel neutralized

, whatever the reason, I guess I was hoping for a more traditional face off between the trio and more of a showdown overall (
Spoiler

the family didn't get terrorized, Hank et al totally left out of the picture?

). The penultimate episode was called End Times, but it didn't really quite feel as desperate and 'end times' as Walt, Jesse and Saul made it out to be... Walt waiting for the end in his house--just didn't have the nailbiting suspense that so many tight spots before did have. The end times obviously have yet to come.

Don't get me wrong, it was very memorable and artfully done, it just wasn't that suspenseful compared to many back to back episodes earlier in the series. I guess there was a turning point somewhere in the series... a before and after of sorts, when hard choices were made, and when they subsequently made the big time. The stakes seem smaller, rather than bigger, after that turning point, because of all that has gone down; so much tension is diffused, and you're on morally shaky ground (if you weren't before) as to how much you can empathize with these protagonists anymore--Walt is no longer a simple high school teacher trying to leave his family something before he dies of cancer.

Finally, I was expecting a little more shit to hit the fan. Ultimately everything went down pretty neatly, not nearly as messy as I was anticipating. Nevertheless, Walt laughing under the house with the camera craning upwards was a pretty sweet scene. I have to wonder how much the creators of this series were influenced or inspired by Lost. (that scene/shot had a Lostian air about it). And of course the namesake of the final episode was a very memorable scene indeed.

But yes, great television. BTW, I haven't seen any of season 5, so please be spoiler sensitive.

EDIT: Anyway, it's interesting how the characters change over time. I really didn't expect Skyler to change so much. For a long time I was waiting with anticipation for the day when Skyler totally is beside herself when she learns the truth about Walt, but that scene never materialized, because the reality of who her husband had become became evident to her in stages.


Shit really hits the fan in season 5, as in, right from 0:00 of episode 1. I think the end of season 4 is meant to feel cathartic; Gus is dead. "I won" etc. Also, we see how Walt has transformed from someone who wouldn't even kill a scumbag drug dealer, to someone who will poison a little boy(!) just to get ahead in the drug game.

S5 explores a lot of Walt's loss of his humanity, so you should just hurry up and watch it. Lol

Share this post


Link to post

I've heard only good things about BB and I might marathon through it while I await the third season of Game of Thrones.

A friend of mine also insists I watch The Walking Dead, but I think I've had my fill of zombie stories. There's also Broadwalk Empire which is supposed to be good. Too much stuff to watch.

Share this post


Link to post

@40oz I have the same experience watching BB. I started season 5 last night, but only got through two episodes before the tension was becoming too much and I had to take a break for the night. More comedic relief is sometimes wanted, but I think the show is very well balanced in that regard, I just need to grow a pair.

I don't know why it took me so long to see it, but at the end of S5 episode 2 it suddenly struck me with obvious clarity the striking parallel between

Spoiler

Walt and a mob boss. He is just like the mob bosses in all those movies. He says a line at the end of the episode to his wife, who has made it plain to him that she is afraid of him: "so when we do, what we do, for good reasons, then we've nothing to worry about. And there's no better reason than family."

@DoomUK I recently blazed through Walking Dead as well. It's pretty good, and often times very good, especially if you like zombie films (which I don't even particularly care for, but find the series quite entertaining). The next show I plan on watching and getting caught up with is Game of Thrones which I hear is really good.

Share this post


Link to post

Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and Boardwalk Empire are, collectively, the TV shows worth watching right now. Mad Men is also pretty good, but I'm starting to wonder if it's even heading in a certain direction other than same ole crap.

The third season of Game of Thrones will likely be the best, as Storm of Swords makes all of the other books look like predictable yawns by comparison (and honestly, they aren't that predictable either), and Boardwalk Empire's debut shows a lot of promise for craziness to happen in the first and second half, which is something season 2 lacked. Looking forward to the rest of it.

Share this post


Link to post

I watched a few episodes but never really got into it, though it might be because my housemate at the time forced me to watch it whilst I was in the living room and it was not from the beginning. I probably should give the show another chance as it is about chemistry (which I did a degree in haha).

Share this post


Link to post

Okay, I'm in the middle of Season 5, Episode 6. Geez, Walt's really lost the plot.

Spoiler

he has a perfect opportunity to exit the business with a very sizable severance package and perhaps get his marriage back on track. He can tell Skyler he is finished and is exiting the business with $5,000,000. Surely she would come around? I mean, it would at least be worth a try on his part, and even if she wouldn't; at least it's the sensible thing to do given the DEA is hot on the case (even if only onto Mike) and at least they could resume their lives--the kids could move back in, and they could go on as if everything is the honk and the dory. Walt could start a sensible chemical company with his newfound capital and shit... maybe do some good in the world to help make up for all the bad shit that has gone down as a result of his involvement in the meth biz. But clearly the show has a certain momentum and trajectory at this point, and needs to go down the dark road it's headed down for the ultimate resolution (which has to be bad now, it can't have an even quasi-happy ending which I guess I was somehow hoping for before I realized sometime in Season 3 or 4 that this show is headed to an ugly resolution.

Now it has to end in a really bad way. I have some ideas kicking around my head how it should end, but I'll hold off sharing them for now--but there is a lot of potential for this show to go out with some really good, dark fireworks. I hope the creators have the nerve to go dark--not cheesy, but really dark; no need to be cheesy or over the top at all. It can go very dark without jumping the shark or entering B movie territory; let's hope the creators know how to close out the show with the kind of epic calamity that would put this show right up there with the best films of this genre; it's the only way now.

Share this post


Link to post

I'm in the first couple episodes of the second season. It's really good so far, and they seem to really pull out the stops in the last few episodes of season 1 and the start of season 2. Can't wait to see what happens next.

Share this post


Link to post
Nomad said:

I'm in the first couple episodes of the second season. It's really good so far, and they seem to really pull out the stops in the last few episodes of season 1 and the start of season 2. Can't wait to see what happens next.

Well, just stay out of this thread and enjoy the show! ;)

edit: well, I just finished episode 8 of season 5. Looks like we have a whole nother 8 episodes of

Spoiler

the shit going through the proverbial fan.

Can't wait.

Share this post


Link to post

I just watched that episode today.

Spoiler

HOLY SHIT. You brought up a good point, with him getting out while the getting is good. However, the story could've steered in the same direction with Hank discovering via the book anyway. It's makes for better writing and a better show if they raise the stakes to the highest point and make Walter as irredeemable as humanly possible. I think they accomplished that by the end of five. The stakes keep getting higher and every time he rationalizes it. The over confidence in his own risk mitigation, the blindness of his own greed, and the selfishness of having nothing to lose when his illness can just come back and take him anyway.

Share this post


Link to post
SYS said:

I just watched that episode today.

Spoiler

HOLY SHIT. You brought up a good point, with him getting out while the getting is good. However, the story could've steered in the same direction with Hank discovering via the book anyway. It's makes for better writing and a better show if they raise the stakes to the highest point and make Walter as irredeemable as humanly possible. I think they accomplished that by the end of five. The stakes keep getting higher and every time he rationalizes it. The over confidence in his own risk mitigation, the blindness of his own greed, and the selfishness of having nothing to lose when his illness can just come back and take him anyway.

Spoiler

I guess I just struggle to understand how someone can sink to such depths. I don't think the writers did as good a job as they could have of showing Walt's progression from someone willing to deal drugs to someone willing to off people left and right and have so little remorse. How does he live with himself? I spent every moment after he offs Mike trying to figure out how he lives with himself.

BTW, am I an dolt. I didn't realize in the Season four finale that Tio's bell on the wheelchair was the trigger for the bomb. That makes that scene that much sweeter. I think I'm gonna rewatch that scene in fact.

edit:
Spoiler

I was kinda hoping he and Lydia might have an affair, although that seems less likely now that he has told his wife he quit and she seems to be maybe warming up to him again.

Share this post


Link to post
Hellbent said:

Anyone enjoy this show? Jesse and Walt have an ... interesting relationship. Hard to pinpoint what's going on there. Good show, tho.

I think I finally understand their relationship.

Spoiler

there is a very telling scene in Saul Goodman's office with Mike on speakerphone. Mike needs a bag with important stuff in it picked up and Jesse volunteers to do it. Walt looks at him--this look--like "damn it, you're supposed to be loyal to me, not anyone else." That look summed up their entire relationship for the entire show. Walt was only ever using and manipulating Jesse for his purposes. Sometime in the first half of the show I was trying to understand his relationship to Jesse. I had always sort of held out hope that Walt saw something in Jesse more than how he could be an asset to Walt. At one point it seemed like maybe he was a fatherly figure to Jesse. But that look, that look said everything to me. "You're my bitch and only my bitch." It's almost as if he only gives Jesse respect in the end because he realizes he'll have to give it up in order to keep manipulating him (which doesn't work).

Anyway, very interesting to discuss and analyze the players and their motivations in this show.

Share this post


Link to post
Hellbent said:

Spoiler

I guess I just struggle to understand how someone can sink to such depths. I don't think the writers did as good a job as they could have of showing Walt's progression from someone willing to deal drugs to someone willing to off people left and right and have so little remorse. How does he live with himself? I spent every moment after he offs Mike trying to figure out how he lives with himself.

BTW, am I an dolt. I didn't realize in the Season four finale that Tio's bell on the wheelchair was the trigger for the bomb. That makes that scene that much sweeter. I think I'm gonna rewatch that scene in fact.

Spoiler

It's brought about by his gradual evolution into a psychopath. Psychopaths are generally born rather than made. But look to IRL gangsters & career criminal types. They break the law and as long as they can get away with it, they willl keep going. They do it for their morality blurring noble rationales: For family, give to the poor, etc.

They get a taste and they want more. It can even become a physiological addiction from the fruits of their labor, such as the shoplifter shoplifting for the thrill. Walter develops his alter ego by having to maintain the mask for his family and keep up appearances. Eventually he becomes the alter ego (Heisenburg). It's a slow and gradual acclimatization to operating outside of the law and getting away with it. The risks grow, the stakes grow. With every risk mitigated, a little part of his humanity dies as self preservation and simultaneously wearing the mask take its toll.

It's all rationalized by his self noble cause. Which then becomes his own selfish cause as he repeatedly hurts and kills people due to his actions. Most of them are indirectly so it's very easy for him to justify. Eventually Walter comes under the threat of Gus. The only way he can defeat Gus and achieve self preservation: BECOME Gus. That's his biggest turning point and I'm writing a novel so I stops typing now.

Share this post


Link to post
Hellbent said:

Okay, I'm in the middle of Season 5, Episode 6. Geez, Walt's really lost the plot.

Spoiler

he has a perfect opportunity to exit the business with a very sizable severance package and perhaps get his marriage back on track. He can tell Skyler he is finished and is exiting the business with $5,000,000. Surely she would come around? I mean, it would at least be worth a try on his part, and even if she wouldn't; at least it's the sensible thing to do given the DEA is hot on the case (even if only onto Mike) and at least they could resume their lives--the kids could move back in, and they could go on as if everything is the honk and the dory. Walt could start a sensible chemical company with his newfound capital and shit... maybe do some good in the world to help make up for all the bad shit that has gone down as a result of his involvement in the meth biz. But clearly the show has a certain momentum and trajectory at this point, and needs to go down the dark road it's headed down for the ultimate resolution (which has to be bad now, it can't have an even quasi-happy ending which I guess I was somehow hoping for before I realized sometime in Season 3 or 4 that this show is headed to an ugly resolution.

Now it has to end in a really bad way. I have some ideas kicking around my head how it should end, but I'll hold off sharing them for now--but there is a lot of potential for this show to go out with some really good, dark fireworks. I hope the creators have the nerve to go dark--not cheesy, but really dark; no need to be cheesy or over the top at all. It can go very dark without jumping the shark or entering B movie territory; let's hope the creators know how to close out the show with the kind of epic calamity that would put this show right up there with the best films of this genre; it's the only way now.


Walt's not in it for the money anymore. Way back in season two he figured out that he needed less than a million dollars to basically provide his family a living forever.

He's shown time and time again that it's all about his pride and ego. In fact the reason he finally "quits" in the end is because A) his cancer is probably back and B) he got bored.

Share this post


Link to post

Did he really quit, tho? I didn't even register as a possible idea to even consider or enter my brain. The only thing I was trying to read in that scene is if Skyler believed him or not. It didn't even cross my mind he might be telling the truth, but from what I've read online most pundits seem to be taking it at face value. (But, why? The show needs the megalomaniac to go full-force, and his empire has just started, why would he suddenly quit? And why are people really considering this? I am teh confused.

EDIT: Logged in under my friend's account, this is your forum bellend here.

Share this post


Link to post

That's why I put the scare quotes on the word quit. It seems kind of naive that everyone is trusting a statement like that, especially now that Walt has shown himself as liar-extreme.

Oh well.

Share this post


Link to post

I'm at season 3 episode 6 at the moment.

Easily one of the best shows I've watched, the scriptwriting is just so compelling.

One major bothering point has been though that I watched all seasons of Malcolm in the Middle before even hearing about Breaking Bad. The characters of Hal and Walt look very, very much alike and it was hard to take the act seriously in the beginning. Luckily Walt loses his hair in the show, so there's at least one distinctive difference between the characters even if Cranston's mannerisms are very similar with Hal and Walt.

Share this post


Link to post

I'm finding it hilarious the extent of bad luck Jesse has that yet somehow still works in his favor, then throwing Walt's judgment of him on top of it. I'm surprised he hasn't bitten a bullet yet, but enjoy watching his character constantly making a fool of himself.

Share this post


Link to post
Planky said:

What indication is there that Walt has had the cancer come back?

There isn't any. Walt is cancer survivor cum

Spoiler

megalomaniac

The question is, what do Lance and Walt have in common?

Share this post


Link to post
Hellbent said:

There isn't any. Walt is cancer survivor cum

Spoiler

megalomaniac

The question is, what do Lance and Walt have in common?


There are plenty of hints that his cancer is back. Walt's 180 turn on the MRI corresponds with him ostensibly abandoning the "empire business" and spending more time with his family. He sees the tissue dispenser with all the dents in it again; do you remember why he beat it up in the first place?

Also his coughing and pills in the Denny's scene indicate that A) his cancer is back or B) he took ricin before getting his M60 and going on a suicide mission to waste ???

/edit

SO THERE!!!

Share this post


Link to post
Mr. T said:

There are plenty of hints that his cancer is back. Walt's 180 turn on the MRI corresponds with him ostensibly abandoning the "empire business" and spending more time with his family. He sees the tissue dispenser with all the dents in it again; do you remember why he beat it up in the first place?

Also his coughing and pills in the Denny's scene indicate that A) his cancer is back or B) he took ricin before getting his M60 and going on a suicide mission to waste ???

/edit

SO THERE!!!


Spoilers ahead....

Was it that he was mad that all the risks and collateral damage from his meth business were unnecessary in light of his death no longer being imminent? I think seeing the tissue dispenser that he had smashed in so long ago was just to remind him of where he had been, what his original goal was, and how much things had changed--how much he had changed--where he came from in his journey to where he is now. He is no longer Walt the chemistry teacher the way he was when he punched the tissue dispenser, he's now Heisenberg the megalomaniac.

Do you mean the opening scene to the season 5 premier? If so, we don't know how far into the future that scene is.. it's probably a year in the future as he has a full head of hair.

Share this post


Link to post
Bucket said:

We know EXACTLY how far into the future it is, because he spells "52" with his bacon.

oh, right, so it's less than a year after the last episode.

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×