Breaking Bad (Warning, contains spoilers)

[Ed209]

Your kidding me right, probably the best episode of breaking bad yet, so many amazing moments and symbolism throughout. Vince Gillighan is an absolute genius as is Bryan Cranston.

Walt telling Jesse that he watched Jayne die was just chilling. Then you had Hank buried in the hole where.

It was pointed out in another forum I go on that Walt was laid in exactly the same sort of position when Hank was shot as Gus was when his partner was killed by Hector.

The knife fight was epic. Just how real the actors make these things seem compared to other shows is unbelievable.

Then theres the phone call. Walt knew the police would be there, he snapped his phone after the call as he knew it was traced, but it that one call he absolved Skyler of her wrong doing, taking all the blame himself and came out sounding like a monster when on the other end he was actually in bits, amazing stuff.

Two episodes left and even if Walt does die I hope he lays waste to the nazis and hope Jesse gets to kill Tod. If Jesse is still a hostage in the last episode, which I guess will be where the flash forward in episode 1 of this season was, he will have been a meth cooking hostage for near on 6 months so def deserves some revenge.

Yeah. I was kidding.

[swede]

Yeah. I was kidding.

Good, I thought you'd gone mad haha

[Ed209]

I actually thought the episode was a little too fast paced if anything. They obviously had a little more to cram in this season they had initially realised.

I wanted to feel way more sad about Hank's death than I did. Maybe its because they stretched it out over the week and I knew it was coming, or maybe it was because they didn't leave enough space in this episode to mourn his death.

I'm still sticking with my theory of Hank dies, Jesse survives. I'm also thinking the flash forward scenes we saw of Walt with a trunk full of guns and going to get the ricin is him trying to find some redemption and attempt to rescue Jesse from the Nazi's - who have kept him prisoner as their cook for a considerable amount of time. With Walt possibly going down in a blaze of glory in the process.

I hope Jesse makes it to Alaska

Edited September 17, 2013 by Ed209

[swede]

I actually thought the episode was a little too fast paced if anything. They obviously had a little more to cram in this season they had initially realised.

I wanted to feel way more sad about Hank's death than I did. Maybe its because they stretched it out over the week and I knew it was coming, or maybe it was because they didn't leave enough space in this episode to mourn his death.

I'm still sticking with my theory of Hank dies, Jesse survives. I'm also thinking the flash forward scenes we saw of Walt with a trunk full of guns and going to get the ricin is him trying to find some redemption and attempt to rescue Jesse from the Nazi's - who have kept him prisoner as their cook for a considerable amount of time. With Walt possibly going down in a blaze of glory in the process.

I hope Jesse makes it to Alaska

Hank died like a boss though didnt he.

[Ed209]

Hank died like a boss though didnt he.

Yeah, he died like a boss. It was a fitting way for him to go - dying for the job he loved.

Holly is one serious actress as well - she absolutely nailed those scenes

[viberunner]

Then theres the phone call. Walt knew the police would be there, he snapped his phone after the call as he knew it was traced, but it that one call he absolved Skyler of her wrong doing, taking all the blame himself and came out sounding like a monster when on the other end he was actually in bits, amazing stuff.

That annoyed me. That was Walt.

Heisenberg would have said "remember what you demanded I do to Jesse?", and once he had her confess to ordering his murder, "well, the guys you demanded I send after Jesse found Hank with him".

I'm watching this show for Heisenberg. Everyone else can fuck off.

[t8yman]

you have a twisted view of the world my friend.

IMHO, Walt is going to die like Heisenberg, but I think the old Walt is still in there somewhere, he is remembering why he did all this in the first place - to protect his family.

[viberunner]

Remember the moment Heisenberg is "born", the confrontation with Tuco with the explosive "meth"?

From that moment on, I was cheering for Heisenberg.

Edited September 17, 2013 by viberunner

[Ed209]

You are cheering for Heisenberg, with an endless list of sins to his name, yet a few pages ago you were slamming Jesse for watching a child die and disposing of the body ...

weird

[viberunner]

You would have had to have watched the show, and understood the characters, to understand. Otherwise it would sound weird.

Walt became Heisenberg, so I can understand him chopping up and disposing of the kid. It's his character. Heck, he hasn't given that kid or their parents a second thought. Because he's badass.

Jesse was always a, well, a jessie. He's both helping up the chopping up and disposing of the kid, AND not telling the cops about it, AND not helping the parents through their nightmare, AND feeling bad about it. That's why Jesse deserves the hate and a 9mm injection to the back of his skull, because: "hypocritical bitch, yo".

[Ed209]

You would have had to have watched the show, and understood the characters, to understand.

Oh right, yeah. That's where I went wrong.

Edited September 17, 2013 by Ed209

[Purple Monkey]

You would have had to have watched the show, and understood the characters, to understand. Otherwise it would sound weird.

Walt became Heisenberg, so I can understand him chopping up and disposing of the kid. It's his character. Heck, he hasn't given that kid or their parents a second thought. Because he's badass.

Jesse was always a, well, a jessie. He's both helping up the chopping up and disposing of the kid, AND not telling the cops about it, AND not helping the parents through their nightmare, AND feeling bad about it. That's why Jesse deserves the hate and a 9mm injection to the back of his skull, because: "hypocritical bitch, yo".

Wow. I don't know what's more depressing - Walt's descent into madness or the world view of his fans. Walt is at least fictional.

Maybe it's because for so long people have had fairly classic hero and villain archetypes that they feel the need to root for one team over another, rather than understand the whole thing is a car crash and nobody is going to win, and to judge one character's actions over another is hypocritical in itself because they all have moral failings. That's the genius of the show I guess - to centre it on the sociopath of the group and make you somehow care by making him a desperate man. It's obviously working on some viewers more than others.

Walt is a narcissistic manipulative egotistical individual who crawls over absolutely anybody for his own personal gain, and is capable of deluding himself enough to justify the life he's chosen. He clings to mistakes he's made (his old company for instance) and its torn a hole in his soul leaving him with an unquenchable ambition. He's just well written as a real human being. Sociopaths are easier to write and are interesting because they appear to 'achieve' a lot more in more dramatic fashion because they are as you say 'badass' and seemingly more capable of ruthless, aggressive acquisition than those with more empathy, so we wish we were a bit more ruthless and cut-throat like them, because then we'd be richer or whatever. A good sociopath character is wish-fulfilment and grounding in many ways, being a complete thunderc**t is the closest thing you can have in this world to a real super power - it gets you things in this world, rewards are plentiful and consequences are minimal. A lot of fiction (especially movies) stops short of demonstrating the consequences of such selfish douch-baggery but Breaking Bad bothers to go one step further and demonstrate that it's a self destructive personality that needs knocking on the head or it'll ruin pretty much everything in that persons life, including themselves in the end. This personality is exactly what is wrong with the world - as a species we seem to make short term gains but in the long term we are tying a noose. Walt has done that. It's not something I think the writers want viewers to think of as badass, but tragic. He's not a badass, he's just an ass.

You can tell Walt blamed Jesse for coming back and getting Hank killed, and he was blaming Skyler for not listening to him. He gets angry when people don't follow his orders and can't see it's his silver tongue that's got him into all of this. He constantly lies to himself, playing the victim, blaming others, when it's mostly his own doing. He blames outward, exploding. It's almost like he's so good at lying that he has viewers convinced he's the hero.

I find it much easier defending Jesse's actions. I can't see how people can defend Walt and then say that Jesse deserves to die because he's got a few (understandable) issues. That's just really odd to me.

I think Breaking Bad gives a good insight into the personality of those watching it. It's almost like therapy, people project all sorts around it as they go. The abyss looking back and all that... perhaps that's the key to the addiction.

Edited September 17, 2013 by Purple Monkey

[swede]

That annoyed me. That was Walt.

Heisenberg would have said "remember what you demanded I do to Jesse?", and once he had her confess to ordering his murder, "well, the guys you demanded I send after Jesse found Hank with him".

I'm watching this show for Heisenberg. Everyone else can fuck off.

The turning point was changing Hollies nappy and her crying for her mummy. He realised he had to absolve Skyler to try and protect Holly and Walt Jnr, or do you think they should fuck off as well.

[ThomThomDrum]

Wow! What an episode! I mean, holy fuck what an episode.

Just watched it and I am actually tired, emotionally drained and exhausted from doing so. Some of the best, gripping TV I have ever seen.

The range of emotions you feel toward Walts character alone in this episode is unreal..............

I have to lie down now after that......................

Wow!

BTW some nice posting there Purple Monkey! Top stuff

[nightcrawler13]

I have some sort of issue where I all ways support the protagonist, even if I know they are bad, I still all ways want them to win. Tony Soprano for example, and now Walter White....

[G-Stud]

I want Walt to win, but really that means I want him to find some kind of redemption.

[G-Stud]

75 minute long finale!

Without ad breaks it'll probably be an hour, but still, that's about 13 minutes longer than usual

[Purple Monkey]

I have some sort of issue where I all ways support the protagonist, even if I know they are bad, I still all ways want them to win. Tony Soprano for example, and now Walter White....

It's because the protagonist is the most fleshed out and they still achieve things we kinda wish we had the balls to do.

Walter White in Breaking Bad, Don Draper in Mad Men, Tony Montana in Scarface they're all tossers but we love them due to the empathy that seeing their journey in a way no other character sees instills in us. We have a unique perspective that allows us to forgive them for their awful actions when no-one else can't or even comprehend. We see the world through their lens.

[bunique]

See, I don't find WW redeemable. He had it all and went further than he ever needed to. Don is such a broken man/boy - there were more glimpses of that in the latest series. I warm to his bastardy more than Walt's

[bunique]

With Don I always feel like he can't help himself. His actions are beyond his control. Walt is the opposite, calculated.

[Ed209]

Brilliant and perfect tonic to the heat and pace of last week's episode. Set up for one hell of a season finale

[Jackmypie]

Only 1 episode left. I'm going to miss this show maan. Absolute masterpiece.

I just wish we could produce TV shows like this, instead we get dross like Downton Abbey. Sorry if you're a fan.

Edited September 23, 2013 by Jackmypie

[G-Stud]

This show is going to leave a real hole in my life when it ends!! Amazing stuff this week. What a set up.

[t8yman]

The calm before the storm. I think its going to be one hell of a rampage from Walt. He has nothing to lose, his entire personal justification "his family" want nothing to do with him, his money - that he has coveted so fiercely, is worthless. He is truly alone with only his lust for revenge to drive him, and his apparently fruitless desire to reconcile with Skyler and Junior. I think the only positive thing he could possibly achieve now would be to save Jesse, but does Jesse want saving?

Edited September 24, 2013 by t8yman

[bunique]

What do people think was the passage of time towards the end? 3 months? More? Walt and the other guy seemed to have built a shaky rapport which suggests longer than a couple of months. That means several months of Jesse being locked up in a hole in the ground, going slowly insane...