Breaking Bad

[Zarathustra]

Any thoughts on the ending of episode 3? It could have been either a threat to Jessie, not to cross Walt again by siding with Mike on matters of money, or a threat not to cook without him and team up with Mike. But I think he was actually talking about Mike flying too close to the sun, and not Jessie. Sure, he's manipulating Jessie, too, as we saw in Jessie dumping his girlfriend after Walt's "supportive" talk about trust. But that's a side issue to the money. At least for Walt.

I have a prediction: in the end, Walt will be taken down by Jessie. There will have to be a reckoning between these two. Every shitty and manipulative thing he's done to the boy will have to come out.

[Cail]

The wife and I are midway through Season 3, and really digging it so far. I'll pop back in when I'm caught up.

[[Syl]]

I thought the comment during Scarface was prophetic, at least to Skyler, so I'm trying to think how Shakespeare would write it.

[sgt.null]

damn i really need to find the episodes of all the seasons. the show looks excellent but i never seem to catch it.

i miss blockbuster in cases like this. we saw all but the last season of the Sopranos. all but the last season of Deadwood. and others I am forgetting.

[Zarathustra]

Null, you really need to see every episode, in order. These are not stand-alone episodes. Though they each conclude satisfactorily and form nice narrative units, you won't fully appreciate them without a thorough knowledge of what has come before. This show is one long coherent story, like a novel. Everything builds from what has gone before, especially the character interactions. Seeing the transformation of Walt from family man who has cancer into ...

Spoiler

... is amazing. I've never seen a more convincing and transformational character arc in any TV show.

[sgt.null]

Zarathustra - maybe amc will run a marathon...

[Zarathustra]

AWESOME episode this week! Right after Skylar said, "All I can do is wait," I knew exactly what she was going to say. Suddenly, her inactivity and silence during this season so far has its explanation. Sure, we all knew she was in shock, and that she was horrified at Walt and her own role in his dealings. But now we know exactly what she has been thinking during those silences, and what she was doing. She was waiting. Brilliant.

[[Syl]]

I was really surprised at the comment that it's only been 1 year since he was diagnosed (and wondered if the comment that it seemed longer was a bit of lampshade hanging). When he recounted all that he'd gone through (not to mention all the things he didn't mention), I was thinking it might inspire a bit of sympathy. But no, it just drives Skylar further into the deep end (literally). Beautiful.

I think it also highlights that Skylar just doesn't have what it takes to resist Walt, or at least that determination to hang out personified by Heisenberg. Like any tragic figure, he will be the agent of his own destruction, but there will be no victory for her in it.

[Akasri]

I actually got chills when Skylar said what she was waiting for. It was an awesome moment.

[SleeplessOne]

AWESOME episode this week! Right after Skylar said, "All I can do is wait," I knew exactly what she was going to say. Suddenly, her inactivity and silence during this season so far has its explanation. Sure, we all knew she was in shock, and that she was horrified at Walt and her own role in his dealings. But now we know exactly what she has been thinking during those silences, and what she was doing. She was waiting. Brilliant.

It was probably the most intense scene of the 5th season so far imo; but then a lot of this episode had an exceedingly grim tone - even before Skylar decided to take a fugue-like after-dinner dip in the pool, the dinner scene with the Whites and the Schraders had already been an excruciating exercise; and also ripe with the tense implication that Hank was suspicious of Walt spending up big on a couple of muscle cars (are they muscle cars ? I wouldn't know - I should probably have steered clear of descriptions) - Hank is a smart man, despite his affectations of buffoonery - or perhaps the two diametric aspects of his personality simply co-exist and there is no 'act'. But I digress.
Walt & Skylar have their little gambling-genius cover story, but Hank is smart enough to do the sums if he wanted to.

But the moment Walt finally dropped his facade of vaguely-menacing blandness and focused his blossoming malice on Skylar in that claustrophobic bedroom was pretty chilling.

Another sad moment was Walt brandishing the gift Jesse had given him like a trophy as he taunted Skylar that he would win her back, just like he had won Jesse's loyalty back. But he once again avoids telling the whole truth, which is that Jesse's renewed loyalty is based upon a heinous lie.

The scene with Walt sitting next to the little boy whose life he'd callously gambled with was also poignant.

Great episode, one of the best of the past two seasons imo ..

[Zarathustra]

But the moment Walt finally dropped his facade of vaguely-menacing blandness and focused his blossoming malice on Skylar in that claustrophobic bedroom was pretty chilling.

I agree. Powerful moment. Such a different Walt than the bumbling, repressed Walt of the first season.

Another sad moment was Walt brandishing the gift Jesse had given him like a trophy as he taunted Skylar that he would win her back, just like he had won Jesse's loyalty back. But he once again avoids telling the whole truth, which is that Jesse's renewed loyalty is based upon a heinous lie.

Excellent point. There are so many moments like that in this show, where the full meaning isn't explicit, and depends crucially upon the context of entire seasons (as I was telling Null). That's one of them. That scene warps reality with its double meanings. Incredible writing.

[Zarathustra]

Damn! This week's show was the moment when Walt is no longer, absolutely NOT a sympathetic character! Such a petty, back-stabbing thing to do. Mike was right, everything was all Walt's fault. His ego. He could have been rich, but he had to be a dick. And now he's the guy who shoots people who have done nothing but tell him an uncomfortable truth. Pathetic. It's actually going to be hard to watch now. What an ass.

[[Syl]]

I don't know. Sure, it was a kind of shitty thing to do if you liked Mike, and yeah, he could've gotten the names from someone else. But on the other hand, how many times has Mike had a gun to Walt's head or at least had the implicit threat firmly in place? And Mike has done or nearly done the same to other people for similar reasons, albeit with a bit more professionalism.

Also, as a business partner in this kind of enterprise, you'd kind of expect the other partner not to take the news well that you've not only been compromised but failed on your end of the deal by not getting the guys their hush money.

Yes, Walt's becoming more and more of an ass and less and less likable, but he's also becoming a badass, someone who can say "Say my name" to a druglord and not be shot at and/or laughed at. We got a taste of it with Gus' back story, but now we're really seeing that some men are born hard, some achieve hardness, and others have hardness thrust upon them. And I think that's what makes this show great. Sure, we've seen plenty of sympathetic villains and anti-heroes, but we rarely see villains made and rarer still seen them portrayed as tragic figures. Walter White (heh, alliterative. Should've seen that earlier) stands up there with Oedipus Rex, Faustus, or Julius Caesar.

[Zarathustra]

I thought the "Say my name" part was badass at first, until the end when we see him mumbling an apology to Mike after shooting him in a temper tantrum (I would have been more impressed if he just shot him, gave a one-liner, and laughed maniacally). Now the "say my name" parts seems just another petty ego-trip.

Jessie had a great point last episode, that this used to be about Walt's family and making sure they're okay if he dies. But now we know it's about jealousy, regret, and "empire-building." It's about Walt, not his family.

I'm not saying I don't like the show, it's just an uncomfortable, painful character-arc to follow. Unlike, say, Covenant or Angus, Walt is going from sympathetic to pathetic, instead of the other way around.

[SleeplessOne]

I thought the "Say my name" part was badass at first, until the end when we see him mumbling an apology to Mike after shooting him in a temper tantrum (I would have been more impressed if he just shot him, gave a one-liner, and laughed maniacally). Now the "say my name" parts seems just another petty ego-trip.

Jessie had a great point last episode, that this used to be about Walt's family and making sure they're okay if he dies. But now we know it's about jealousy, regret, and "empire-building." It's about Walt, not his family.

I'm not saying I don't like the show, it's just an uncomfortable, painful character-arc to follow. Unlike, say, Covenant or Angus, Walt is going from sympathetic to pathetic, instead of the other way around.

Walt definitely reached the apex of his hubris during the episode 'Say My Name' *, offing Mike was unjustifiable even to the Master of Self-Justification/King of Believing His Own Bullshit.

was this the episode which revealed Walt's decades-long obsession over the succes$ of his former partners business venture (Gray Matters) ?
because that was a great character detail which had previously been hinted at obliquely but was fleshed out in a way that gave Walt's motivations further clarity.

Anyway, after achieving quite a bit in a relatively short reign as Meth King of ABQ **, the thrill of ultimate badassery power eventually turns into just another routine for Walt, and upon Skylar's one-woman intervention he unexpectedly decides enough is enough, he's outta the game.

AND THEN HANK GOES TO THE TOILET ...

So that's it for another year presumably.
It will be a tough wait, but we Donaldson fans are used to waiting.

These things have to happen before the series concludes :

Hank must confront Walt.
Jesse must confront Walt.
Lydia must die.
Walt jr's image of Walt must be shattered.
Holly must live. She represents hope. And cuteness.
Walt's cancer must resurface. If it hasn't already.
Ricky Hitler, a.k.a. Todd, must die.
His Nazi uncles must die. probably. Are we gonna split hairs here ?
Those Arizona Meth Kings, Declan and his posse ? Must die. Why do you think Walt needs a friggin' M60 machine gun, as purchased in S5E01's flash-forward cold open ?

Better Call Saul !

Also, I would like to see Skinny Pete, Badger, Wendy (who we haven't seen since season 3), and even slimey Ted Beneke, one more time at least. And Huell.


* the final scene with Walt and a dying Mike by the riverbank was so beautifully shot, one for the Breaking Bad hall of fame.

** Walt comes across as a bit naive/out-of-his-depth in the drug world, but he thinks outside the box and in the first 8 episodes of season 5 he managed to devise a new, constantly-moving way of cooking his product, hooked up connections both in other states and overseas, and managed to steal a helluva lot of methylamine, probably the key ingredient to his whole 'Empire' (Lydia, who was superbly unhinged all season and a welcome addition to the cast, became one of his most useful contacts as the season progressed). Oh and of course bugged the DEA's office. And orchestrated the biggest prison-based simultaneous mass-murder in history.

[Zarathustra]

It's been a hell of a ride, that's for sure. It astonishes me that writers can be this good. There hasn't been a single bad episode in 5 seasons (unlike, say, Lost). No treading water. Everything character driven. Emotional and yet logical at the same time. It will be difficult to top the end of season 4, but I have faith. I don't know if they'll get around to everything on your list, but most of it will surely be in there.

One thing to remember: the writers know we're expecting certain confrontations (like Jessie vs Walt, Hank vs Walt). Remember how the confrontation went down with Skyler? We all expected that to be an "oh shit!" moment when she found out, but she just calmly said, "You're a drug dealer." Of course, she thought it was pot, and didn't realize the scale. In a sense, she's still coming to terms with it. But the scene where the reveal happens wasn't expected at all. I have a feeling that they'll surprise us with the final confrontations.

[Cail]

Zar makes a good observation....I'd be hard-pressed to name a "bad" episode of this series. I'd be hard-pressed to name an episode which was "filler". The writing has been stellar across the board, and the show's filmed like a high-dollar theatrical film.

[I'm Murrin]

I've never seen any of this show, not even clips. I just got the first season box set, and about to start it up. Hope it's as good as the hype says.

[SleeplessOne]

I've never seen any of this show, not even clips. I just got the first season box set, and about to start it up. Hope it's as good as the hype says.

you're in for some entertainment my friend !

[I'm Murrin]

What I wasn't expecting: a seven-episode "season" from an American TV show. For you guys a "short" season is usually more like a dozen eps.