Re: Breaking Bad

Jude Tue Aug 06, 2013 1:27 pm

I've been watching Breaking Bad off and on for months now on Netflix. I think I'm at the beginning of the fourth season. I find I can only take a few episodes at a time, because it's just so...INTENSE. I mean, I recognize that it's a great show and so well-written and acted, but that box cutter episode put me off for weeks!

So I'm not sure that I'll be able to watch all of the rest of season 4, plus season 5, before the final episodes begin. But then, I only get basic cable, so I'm not sure how I'd watch the new season in real time anyway.

mokey75 Tue Aug 06, 2013 1:38 pm

Jude wrote:I've been watching Breaking Bad off and on for months now on Netflix. I think I'm at the beginning of the fourth season. I find I can only take a few episodes at a time, because it's just so...INTENSE. I mean, I recognize that it's a great show and so well-written and acted, but that box cutter episode put me off for weeks!

This is me, though I'm only at the almost-end of Season 2 (though between my husband and the interwebs, I know a lot about what's coming). I like the show a lot, but I find I can only watch 2-3 episodes at a time before I need a break. Also, I do not understand how the hell Skyler hasn't murdered every single person in her life, except her son. She is surrounded by truly terrible people on every level. I do appreciate that the plot doesn't hinge on her being a dopey doormat, though, and she's figuring out Walt is shady as fuck.

laddical Mon Aug 12, 2013 12:14 am

I don't know how long they could have believably put it off, but I have to say I was surprised to see Walt and Hank have their initial "I know you know I know you know" tete-a-tete in the first episode back.

What's Walt's play here? Use that last vial of ricin on Hank? Something more direct?

Eris Rising Tue Aug 13, 2013 1:06 am

laddical wrote:I don't know how long they could have believably put it off, but I have to say I was surprised to see Walt and Hank have their initial "I know you know I know you know" tete-a-tete in the first episode back.

What's Walt's play here? Use that last vial of ricin on Hank? Something more direct?

Spoiler:

Fiammetta Tue Aug 13, 2013 4:04 pm

God, that last scene was so...brain-explodey.

I gather Todd is not up to par.

Eris Rising Tue Aug 13, 2013 4:49 pm

Fiammetta wrote:God, that last scene was so...brain-explodey.

I gather Todd is not up to par.

68% purity, she said. And that's about 30% less than what Walt was providing for them.

Agent Sculder Sun Aug 18, 2013 11:28 pm

GAHHHH! I can't believe the episode ended where it did. Poor, poor Jesse.

Kudos all around for all the great scenes featuring two characters. Skyler/Hank, Hank/Marie, and Marie/Skyler. And of course, I can't forget Saul and his suggestion to Walt regarding sending Hank to "Belize".

Binky Mon Aug 19, 2013 12:53 am

Where is Walt Jr? Did I miss something? Why aren't all the adults trying to get him away from the other set of adults?

Before I started watching Breaking Bad, I was kind of pissed at both Cranston and Paul for winning everything. Now I will be pissed if they don't. And why hasn't Dean Norris been rewarded?

Shalamar Mon Aug 19, 2013 10:50 am

I KNOW! Dean Norris is amazing. And ... um ... kinda sexy. (I have a thing for balding heavyset middle-aged badass guys. Dean Norris, James Gandofini, Bob Hoskins ...)

As far as Walt Jr. was concerned - we didn't actually see him, but Hank and Marie kept saying "Bring the kids (plural) to our house." Speaking of kids, poor little Holly, being caught in a literal tug-of-war between Skyler and Marie!

formerlyrandom Mon Aug 19, 2013 4:59 pm

I done wrote up a Tumblr for this ep. Yo.

Tl;dr: the death pool according to me is as follows.

Walt (a gimme)
Skyler, for not taking her last offer of reprieve.
Hank, for being as much of a hubristic tool as Walt and attempting to go after Walt on his own. Because does anyone think he'll do anything else?
Marie, collateral damage.
Jesse, for being beyond the moral pale in general.
Walt Jr., for being a penis car owner and a tool to his Mom.

Binky Mon Aug 19, 2013 10:20 pm

I think Walt dies, but I bet it will be something cancer-related rather than a human enemy. My question is who else lives. Walt would be fine if he were willing to kill Jesse and Hank (and Marie, now). I...don't want any of them to die except Walt.

punkysdilemma Tue Aug 20, 2013 1:05 am

Part of me wondered if Walt is saving the ricin for himself, but I guess that wouldn't make sense since it's not an instant death.

Shadowlass Tue Aug 20, 2013 9:06 pm

Aaron Paul did an AMA at Reddit. He always and absolutely seems like the sweetest person in the world. I just want him to follow me around, being sweet and puppyish and calling people bitch.

Bryan Cranston also did a hilarious AMA a few weeks ago.

darthtall Mon Aug 26, 2013 2:48 am

Okay, new theory: stupid Todd accidentally blows the whole thing open by bragging at the wrong time and squeals on Walt in, like, half a second.

(JESSE. D:)

Shalamar Mon Aug 26, 2013 10:55 am

I noticed how Todd omitted a fairly important detail of the train heist story; i.e. how he killed a little boy. I'm guessing that even his dad's cohorts would find that reprehensible.

Walt's confession - Oh My GOD. Diabolical.

salamandersam Mon Aug 26, 2013 11:38 am

Aaron Paul's performance was absolutely amazing. I was so excited when Jesse put two and two together and it was game on, though I was cheering for him to go to Hank. I did not see him going to the house at all. When Jesse met with Walt I was trying to prepare myself for Jesse's death. I don't want anyone to die besides Walt but that's probably not likely.

My blood was boiling when I saw Walt's confession. Absolutely boiling.

Instant Monkeys Mon Aug 26, 2013 11:52 am

I was also VERY NERVOUS that Jesse was going to die during that meeting. Also I'd already seen Aaron Paul on Twitter (I was watching a bit behind) saying something like "if anyone needs help processing the episode, let me know" (and then in Aaron Paul fashion he asked for people to send their numbers and I guess called a bunch of people to talk about the episode -- that guy, I love him), so I was like "oh god, what happens to Jesse?"

The confession: OH MY GOD. I really thought he'd actually confessed. Should have known better.

Dean Norris needs 50 Emmys just for this season so far. I don't know if they're doing some kind of wizardy makeup job on him or what, but he just looks FLATTENED all the time. I don't know how everyone at work doesn't just glance at him and say "Jesus, what's wrong?" all the time.

The dinner was super tense/hilarious with the waiter interrupting.

The visual/sound of the frozen gun was very cool.

Oh, Jesse. I wanted you to go to Alaska and leave it all behind, I really did.

Just seeing Todd on screen makes me nervous. Also he really reminds me of a young Matt Damon. I think that sort of sweet-kid look plus his obvious instability/judgment problems just unnerve me.

salamandersam Mon Aug 26, 2013 12:16 pm

Instant Monkeys wrote:I was also VERY NERVOUS that Jesse was going to die during that meeting. Also I'd already seen Aaron Paul on Twitter (I was watching a bit behind) saying something like "if anyone needs help processing the episode, let me know" (and then in Aaron Paul fashion he asked for people to send their numbers and I guess called a bunch of people to talk about the episode -- that guy, I love him), so I was like "oh god, what happens to Jesse?"

The confession: OH MY GOD. I really thought he'd actually confessed. Should have known better.

Dean Norris needs 50 Emmys just for this season so far. I don't know if they're doing some kind of wizardy makeup job on him or what, but he just looks FLATTENED all the time. I don't know how everyone at work doesn't just glance at him and say "Jesus, what's wrong?" all the time.

The dinner was super tense/hilarious with the waiter interrupting.

The visual/sound of the frozen gun was very cool.

Oh, Jesse. I wanted you to go to Alaska and leave it all behind, I really did.

Just seeing Todd on screen makes me nervous. Also he really reminds me of a young Matt Damon. I think that sort of sweet-kid look plus his obvious instability/judgment problems just unnerve me.

I'm wondering if Todd's big mouth is going to play into the ending. I'm impressed with how they are tying up almost every single plot point.

Shadowlass Mon Aug 26, 2013 1:05 pm

salamandersam wrote: I'm wondering if Todd's big mouth is going to play into the ending. I'm impressed with how they are tying up almost every single plot point.

I've never seen a show that tied up its plot points so beautifully. And it all seems completely organic. (Which leaves me wondering if the circumstances of Jane's death will come out. I think Jesse would just enter a catatonic state if he found out, or maybe spontaneously combust.)

Poor Hank and Marie. Jeebus.

Instant Monkeys Mon Aug 26, 2013 3:53 pm

I was thinking about that, whether Walt's involvement in Jane's death would come out. And my guess, I think, is that it won't. Because:

1. We've now already had the sequence where Jesse realizes that Walt has been keeping a terrible secret from him all this time about having hurt someone he loves, and the result (the beginning at least -- we didn't see what happened after he spread the gasoline, though as Sepinwall points out we know the house doesn't burn because we saw it in the flash-forward). It would be redundant to have that happen again unless they do it in a totally different way.

2. We've already addressed the Jane thing -- in the fly episode, when Walt almost confesses. He *doesn't* confess, but he comes close, and I think our takeaway from that is basically again how everything about Walt is false -- and maybe how he might have turned it around there but didn't -- and how tragically trusting Jesse is.

But I don't know, maybe they'll do it anyway. But I wouldn't be surprised if they consider it settled.

gannetguts Mon Aug 26, 2013 10:38 pm

God, I just loved Jesse calling Walt out doing the "concerned dad" thing. Walt is such a manipulative prick. The way he used Walt Junior, to stop him from going over to Marie's, the confession tape. UGH I HATE HIM. GET HIM HANK.

Eris Rising Wed Aug 28, 2013 1:36 am

We already knew that Walt was evil, but now we see exactly how far Skyler is willing to go in aiding and abetting him in order to keep their mockery of a home life going. Having said that, Walt's recording was wonderfully chilling, and elicited an honest jaw drop from me once I realized what he was doing.

Now, how about that side of guac?

formerlyrandom Wed Aug 28, 2013 8:18 am

I don't think Jesse will find out about Jane, either. It would be repetitive, for sure, and too tidy - the writers' hand would show too much. And there is this tragic aspect to him never knowing that would be richer than him finding out.

laddical Wed Aug 28, 2013 3:20 pm

Unfortunately, from a dramatic standpoint, Hank has already assured himself of never ever being the one who "gets" Walt. He's shown himself to be too bankrupt morally and inept professionally. The best he could do now would be to fall on his sword and take the DEAs punishments, and then the best he can hope for is for Gomie to bring Walt in so he might be able to feel that he caught him by proxy. But since this has never been about Gomie, that would be one of the worst ways for this to end.

Marie might be able to help him if she goes to Gomie herself, but as long as she only asks Hank to do it himself, they have nowhere to go. Especially after that "confession". Marie's been right about everything the last few episodes except for her refusal to do anything herself.

How much longer before the timejump? It seems like there's very little left to be done in the present. We're stalemated with Hank, things are going to climax with Jesse this week. That leaves Todd and the Czech buyers. I figure an episode for Jesse, an episode for the Todd thing to explode, another for the Todd thing to bring the Czech mob to Albuquerque and after Walt, then the jump and two episodes resolving the fates of everyone leading up to Walt and the M60.

formerlyrandom Wed Aug 28, 2013 3:33 pm

It almost feels like they are going through all the potential forces that could bring down Walt, and revealing them to be inadequate. Hank? Nope. Skyler? Nope. Marie? Shyeah, right. Jesse? Shyeah, right. Lydia? Surely not. The Czech republic looks to me like the only viable candidate.

ETA, I don't think Marie will turn Walt et al in - she's going to protect Hank. She was willing to choose Hank over Skyler, no way she turns him in to the DEA.

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