Gaming World Forums
General Category => Entertainment and Media => Topic started by: jamie on June 10, 2010, 11:03:27 am
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breaking bad is a pretty good show. i don't know a clear way to categorize shows like this as compared to shows like lost or true blood which alot of people like and get pretty good press but which are still totally bogus. it's in the same gang as the wire or the sopranos, anyway. it's got some stuff going on, it's got some stuff to say which isn't bullshit, and it's really entertaining most of the time.
i won't waste anyone's time explaining the show or anything, and i'm gonna talk about plot developments with abandon so if you're watching it and don't wanna know:
scoot off.
get to scoot.
go scoot yourself.
I just watched the most recent episode, 3x12, 'half measures'. it was pretty good I GUESS but i am getting a little tired of the WHOAH WHAT JUST HAPPENED WAS SO F****** B***** MAN. HE JUST FLIPPED OUT AND BOOM AND WHOAH. they do alot of that on breaking bad, and not that it doesn't get you riled up - i mean like i said it is entertaining as heck when it gets like this. i dunno if i'd really call that good though, you know? i mean there's enjoyment to be had there but what am i supposed to be flipping out over someone getting shot on the head and people making sudden rash decisions? i don't WATCH action movies, i don't care about the shooting and the blood. the thing that makes you go nuts over it is the sudden upheavel of the equilibrium, or at least the illusion of that. now that walt has killed those two guys him and gus are probably through and next week is gonna be all tense stand off trigger finger stuff.
and i don't know. i am kind of bored of it. i remember when hank got shot, i mean it was brutal and shocking and i was feeling the adrenaline rush but i don't know. it's so...something. so......
I think I am bored of seeing a bunch of men act tough at each other. Even if they act tough really well, or in very surprising ways. I've seen this stuff done now, and I guess I am kind of over it now? Maybe, anyway. Hey - buddy - look - we're doing a fuckin crime saga here, understand? Things get real. They get rough. They get a little crazy. Strap in.
The women fade into the background, everything fades into the background except two dicks slapping each other in the wind. I think I'm being unfair.
The show is interesting because it's mostly about Walter's belief that the way to take control of your life is by exerting your masculinity, and that's basically what every bad decision he has made has been motivated by and the show does frame his entire life now as a big mess caused by his bad decisions, or more to the point his dumbass, pathetic motivation to demand respect through control and force. He's not even very good at claiming it, he fucks it up all the time. I'm interested in watching a show about a guy like that, and where his failures leave him in the end. Because that's a good thing to be exploring, a good message to carry - if you indulge the hard-on you get out of being the boss, you're going to fuck up everyone's life and people will hate you, and you better be good at it otherwise you'll fuck your own life up, too.
I mean, are we all pumping our fist to see walt kill gus and take over his operation and BE heisenberg now? I am trying not to, cos it's a gross reason to be into the show. It's like when people would watch the wire and get antsy over how long it had been since omar robbed the baddest bad guy in town. People really go nuts over the power plays, you know? I guess it makes for tension in the show but it seems like it's exploiting the kind of mindset these shows are trying to show the danger and downsides of because it makes for exciting tv.
Like, despite all this I DO want to see what walter's next move is after this. does he have a plan? can he pull it off? I don't think I should want him to pull it off. I mean it's all just put together to get my heart rate up, and if I've got reservations about the method of making tv then what am I excited about? There doesn't seem to be any great story behind these latest twists. It's just well plotted and entertaining.
I guess it doesn't make it a bad show but I guess what I am trying to say is that breaking bad isn't really anything new. Actually it's pretty much all been done before, and possibly better because this show makes alot of mistakes in the details of the drug business (not that i know obviously, but i know from what i've seen in other shows and what people say) so you can't really think you're watching anything justified because it's just showing how it is.
I mean those twins earlier in the season with their slow-mo silence and boots? Come on, that was boring as hell. Hank got shot out of it and that drove me nuts, probably everybody, while it was happening but it was all pretty contrived just to get exactly THERE at that point and drive you nuts and that was the whole point of that storyline. Plus, remember that scene? You got a close up view of the guy's brains literally flying out of the guy's head and it actually splashed onto the camera lens. Don't tell me they aren't pushing for you to love people getting shot.
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i realize this is notna particularly helpful comment to discussion but i'm currently in the process of torrenting the first season of this show and am now at least have a bit more of an idea of what to expect (previously only saw first few lines of the shows wikipedia page...) at the very least. i'll post some thoughts once i get into it though. i have heard only good things about this show too
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I'm not totally sure about any of that besides what you said about it being nothing new. it's not really old, but it's almost all stuff that has been explored elsewhere before. that's pretty much every drama show that ever existed. there's still other bad stuff besides that and there's still a lot of stuff to appreciate too
I kind of agree about the way they use action, which I think in recent seasons has become less justified and more just excuses to have action sequences and keep true blood and lost fans entertained. 2x13 was garbage. I liked 3x12, which I think was more about Walt stepping in against Jesse's inevitable actions than a power play. I don't think Walt's ever been interested in status. the only times he has made power plays it's been more about walt TAKING CHARGE of a situation and BEING A MAN. the former you're supposed to link to having an unpredictable and uncontrollable disease like cancer and the latter just fuels that or is a symptom of it and is what gets him into all of his problems.
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it does seem like a show that would kind of run its course like 24. Like I think 24 could've gotten away with 2 seasons because like whoa I didn't think they'd really have to stop a nukular bomb these writers are craaazy plus 9/11 happened but you kind of spend your nickel with the nuclear bomb plot and there's not really anywhere to go from there like whoa 5 nuclear bombs then some EMP shit that even nerds don't get shocked by the devastation that would cause. But yeah I'm wondering hasn't the show spent their nickel/dime/quarter with the whole terminal cancer thing/oh no the meth lab is going to blow up because if there is a meth lab in a show it /will/ blow up (plus I saw it in the previews) + tension between what's his face and what's his face #2 dad from malcolm in middle
isn't this on a normal cable station like AMC or something weird? Because it's the one like ACCLAIMED show I had the chance to watch and we don't have cable anymore
Edit: Do they use Crystal Method songs in the show's soundtrack to be ironic
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I got bored of this show about half way through season 1. I think the main guy was at some old friend's birthday party in the ep that I decided I didn't give a fuck? Maybe I'll give it another try.
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i'm downloading season 1 right now.
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it does seem like a show that would kind of run its course like 24. Like I think 24 could've gotten away with 2 seasons because like whoa I didn't think they'd really have to stop a nukular bomb these writers are craaazy plus 9/11 happened but you kind of spend your nickel with the nuclear bomb plot and there's not really anywhere to go from there like whoa 5 nuclear bombs then some EMP shit that even nerds don't get shocked by the devastation that would cause. But yeah I'm wondering hasn't the show spent their nickel/dime/quarter with the whole terminal cancer thing/oh no the meth lab is going to blow up because if there is a meth lab in a show it /will/ blow up (plus I saw it in the previews) + tension between what's his face and what's his face #2 dad from malcolm in middle
isn't this on a normal cable station like AMC or something weird? Because it's the one like ACCLAIMED show I had the chance to watch and we don't have cable anymore
Edit: Do they use Crystal Method songs in the show's soundtrack to be ironic
yeah it's on amc. it's becoming a little stretched but for the most part they're keeping it interesting without going over the top or anything. season 2 was the most stretched and we're approaching the end of season 3 right now. I've said before I'm not really sure how they could keep it going through season 4 especially if the contract walt and jesse have right now comes to an end. I think that at the end of every season tho, and they manage to keep it going without turning it into something like Lost or I guess 24.
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i think you are being pretty unfair. honestly the show is about drug dealers do you not expect a little violence along the way? i have not seen season two but as far as season three goes all the spurts of violence have worked within the story.
you aren't giving the writers enough credit. i think they have built a strong story arch with convincing, well rounded characters
i just read ragnar's post WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE LIKE
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can't you just enjoy the ride a little bit
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jamie admitted he was being unfair and ragnar hasn't seen it. we're just breaking blab!
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i just read ragnar's post WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE LIKE
I haven't seen it I just was saying I don't see it working into the american tv series framework of 'show gets successful let's drag it out for 12 more seasons instead of ending it while it's still fresh and interesting' the entire concept of the show seems like it would wear thin but if it doesn't ok I guess with him going into remission that is a new idea to explore but isn't a lot of the tension of the show like how much shit can a guy get into I don't know how you can continue to have a guy get into deeper shit and write it such a way it works
and I think 24 has influenced tv a lot besides being a show I'm familiar with like it seems like a bunch of these TV shows are coming out that make more sense as miniseries or something Prison Break for example so the show ends when he manages to break out of prison??? oh wait It's like people are jaded with the usual weekly detective show with a new case every week and want a plot that moves toward a resolution but then have a brain fart/cognitive dissonance and well I wanted them to get off the island but I guess I can wait 27 more seasons to see it
I'm waiting for World War II the series they're nearing the end of the war but then at the end of the season like it turns out someone casted Life2 on Hitler and every season Hitler keeps reviving and each season is about killing Hitler again (and breaking out of some new prison in south america)
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yeah we'll see i guess\
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season 4 starts in 3 weeks or so. let's do this.
hey how about that walter white.
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thinking back, there's a lot of stupid dialogue and bad writing but it's probably a good show. the overarching theme might be suburban americans: doomed to fail
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well there is more to it than that which we both know.
i said in my original post last year - that motherfucker walter white, do we wan't him to lose or win? it's an ugly show. it's got a lot to say. by the way i have always thought the first season was kind shaky, it only gets REALLY good around the time jane shows up and saul and gus and mike and SPOILER ALERT the highlight of the show so far has been walter standing watching jane die on her own vomit i mean holy fucking shit. well that's what i think, anyway, along with all i have already said.
the music, the everything in that scene. it did the deed, and season 3 never tried to touch how sad that was. you are watching a young woman die along with the hopes that an older man will ever be good again and walter cries for her but those tears just don't mean anything except his own guilt at being who he is. season 4 is gonna be good but i want more of that sadness rather than the tough guy act.
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I haven't seen it I just was saying I don't see it working into the american tv series framework of 'show gets successful let's drag it out for 12 more seasons instead of ending it while it's still fresh and interesting'
I kind of like this though! or maybe not since my only real knowledge of it is from stumbling on decontextualised references without having to sit through years of the awful things, but i am constantly amazed and excited by the fact that General Hospital had a long-running storyarc about an insane billionaire who used a gigantic diamond called the "Ice Princess" to build a weather machine (people would look up and remark hrm how strange that its.. snowing in july.. and this happened for an entire yearrrr)(also watched the conclusion on youtube and it was about a bunch of 80s hair actors in tuxedos swilling champagne while holding assault rifles in a kind of military base while south american guerillas ran past in the background and hence felt like a kind of bizarre perfect distillation of the reagan era or something). also there was an alien character. or the season of 'roseanne' where roseanne wins the lottery and becomes a famous celeb except it was all a book written by the character in the show or something. i think DALLAS did this too. (see also: every marvel comic book ever)
idk i like the idea that any kind of boring stuff will eventually mutate into something this bizarre. still waiting for the simpsons to finally hit this point and start having extended plotlines about a fourth simpsons babby which has a robotic arm and comes from the future.
I'm sorry, this is a terrible post :( I watched the first season of Breaking Bad and remember enjoying it but none of it really resonating with me or anything. Like I would think it was Good Stuff and then would not be able to remember anything that happened or why I thought that at all. I should probably watch mpre of it though based on Jamies post and also that Saul Goodman site being pretty funny.
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ouuu I can't wait. This is seriously one of the best shows on television.
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During the final scene of "Box Cutter", when Walter walks back to his condominum, the Alex Ebert song "Truth" plays in the background.[1][5] ... Walter and Jesse purchase matching T-shirts with country music singer Kenny Rogers on them.[8][13] ... Walter and Jesse eat at Denny's, a coffee shop and family restaurant chain ... a clock in Gale's apartment reads 10:13. This is a deliberate reference to the number 1013, which frequently appeared in The X-Files, where Vince Gilligan worked as a writer and producer. It refers to the October 13 birthday of X-Files creator Chris Carter.[5]
what do you think. this one was more lynchian at parts than I remember the rest of the series being
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I didn't expect Walter to be as pathetic as he was in this episode. All his stupid yammering. His descent doesn't seem to really be heading in the direction of success at being a ruthless druglord guy, it seems more like this is about Walter slowly becoming more of a little slimeball asshole you can't really respect anything about, because he is still deluding himself into thinking that anything he is doing now is reasonable or what he signed up for etc. I read something about this season being about the pupil becoming the teacher, most likely re: walter/jesse's dynamic, and I didn't really like the sound of that when I read it a couple of months ago but after seeing Box Cutter it seems like a much more interesting idea. Jesse's always been too eager to embrace the idea he is bad, so he can avoid feeling anything (and he fails, because he isn't a shell like Walter increasingly is), while Walter is holding onto how he used to see himself and he doesn't even really seem to have an inkling, at least outwardly, that he can't be that anymore and he needs to be something else entirely.
It doesn't really matter what he chooses to do from here in, it just has to be honest and unreserved either in the direction of full on moral pit man or in the direction of redeeming himself (which isn't what this show is about, so that won't happen obviously). I don't know if the show is going to allow us to have any respect for Walter though, which is frustrating in terms of getting the adrenaline pumping (having Walter go from that ice-cold guy who could mock Mike because he just tricked him last episode to the gibbering fool he is in this episode is dramatic blue-balls), but overall it is probably a better message for the show to be carrying. The whole show is always in danger of just being a power fantasy, and if it legitimizes Walter's decisions by making him admirable or actually intimidating then the whole show could be seen as ethically weak. That doesn't mean I don't want to see that happen or explored - I'm dumb, too - but I mean in the final picture of the whole show when it ends next year. I actually did expect Walter to still be playing with a steady hand in this episode, so I was surprised and kind of interested in that he starts off so defiant - although petty - and as the episode goes along he sinks lower and lower until he is cowering at Gus's glare and throwing up cos he just can't handle this.
Although once he gets out of the lab, and maybe this is just the kenny rogers outfit, but he seems humbled and sad again and I also wasn't expecting that. Especially when Skyler asks him if he's all right he and says, 'Yep...Right as rain.' and Bryan Cranston/Walter just looks like hell, and very old. Then he slouches down the drive, trying to stop his trousers from falling down. I didn't exactly feel sorry for him or anything, but I felt something. The song helped.
That was pretty jumbled but those are some of my thoughts, just about Walter. Jesse was very good in this episode, also. The scene with Walt and Jesse in Denny's near the end was played just right so you know that Jesse is probably more impervious to harm from the outside now, but at the same time he's going absolutely bonkers inside. Some people on the internet were saying that's it, Jesse is lost now, and it definitely feels like he is in for a rougher ride this season, but I still think Jesse could have a reasonably happy ending despite all the stuff he's done. I only hold him partially to blame, which might not be right. Maybe he'll just scoot off into the desert and far away once Walter inevitably gets himself shot in a final defeat juuuust before the cancer would have killed him anyway. Or maybe he'll go to prison and be at peace with that outcome.
What else. Skyler, Marie and Hank. Cool. I don't mind em, I am okay to just hang about with Skyler for a while as she gets up to whatever she's getting up to, but the show still really hasn't found an interesting way to use either of it's main female characters. Skyler is getting there, she's had a glint in her eye for a while now, but they haven't kicked any good plots for her into gear yet. Marie, well the only thing I have to say about her is that she is funny sometimes. Hank was very good last season and will probably be good again before the season is over.
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I didn't really see walt as pathetic. I like how is old life still rears up at times (he often forces it). the show doesn't pretend that this guy, who spent 40-some years being a normal person, isn't suddenly some hardened killer druglord after a year or two in the drug trade: at the core, he's still some old white suburbanite making excuses to himself. some dumb dead guy once said if you want to see a person's true colors, torture them. walt was presented with the prospect of being tortured and killed, conveyed so intimidatingly by Gus, and his hardened mask began to chip away.
I like what they're doing with Jesse too. jesse's the best character. Walt's set as a human being, but Jesse's still young. he's absorbing all this, and he's trying/struggling to accept everything that's happening as part of his world. I agree, he's convinced himself he's more of a bad guy than he is, and I think that's largely because he's responding to the world of murder and gore that Walt introduced him to.
the end was good too. he looked so old and tired. now that he's not climbing higher and higher, dying from cancer or lying to skylar, he's getting worn down. he didn't expect he'd have to do all of this, back when he was pretending he was trying to secure his family's financial future and expected to die in several months
it says a lot about what he used to think of people like Jesse that Walt was willing to bring him into a destructive world which he fully expected to check out of before it could come back to haunt him. he's going to end up regretting what he has made Jesse become.
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I just finished the third season and I really love this show. I love the fact that ever since walt found out he had cancer and decided to make meth out of the desire to provide for his family he's been continually dealing with that decision and the slew of fucked up situations and problems its caused. On the other end though I think walt is alot easier to relate to and appreciate as a character than Jessie. Yeah he's pretty reserved but he's also alot wiser and cautious than jessie is. But at the same time his cautiousness is a null because he's this middle aged yuppie being thrown into a fucking drug war and half the time he doesn't even know how to emotionally handle it. As far as being clever and figuring shit out the man is brilliant but its like he's slowly being forced to act like a sociopath because of the kind of world he's enveloped himself in.
Jessie pisses me off. I do not think jessie does stupid shit just because he's young and learning although I do see him growing and learning some shit. He's fucking stupider than he's supposed to be. He is unrealistic stupid, yeah he's a junky and he's kind of dense in the first place but really that guy does and says some stupid shit.
Ragnar you should really watch breaking bad because its nothing like 24. With the increasing violence, brutality, and OH SHIT plot themes, this show reminds me of sons of anarchy alot. Sons of anarchy is more violent and not as well written but they're pretty similar. Oh btw this is the most awesome looking show. The different color schemes and camera angles they use are fucking awesome looking. I wanna trip balls and watch this shit.
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have any of you ever watched "the waking dead"? yeah I know zombies or whatever but some of the camera shooting reminds me of breaking bad.
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The last episode felt really slow. They add a lot of filler to a lot of episodes and then it is punctuated by some intense violence that finally moves the plot along.
At least Jesse did something. I wanted Walt to kill him a couple times last season. I would have.
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you guys don't get Jesse
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No I get jesse he's the young struggling addict with a big heart but battling with his own personal flaws and rampant immaturity yadda yadda yadda. I personally know a few methheads who aren't nearly as dumb (but are still pieces of shit). Its like they took the typical junkie stereotype and just ran that shit into the ground. And he's so fucking IRRITATING!
For example, dead girlfriend. Jesse knows she is a recovering addict and that maybe her being around meth isn't the best thing but he's an ignorant and selfish asshole that ends up pressuring her into doing it anyways and then freaks the fuck out when she goes overboard and ODs. Tell me that isn't fucking stupid. The character has no forethought or critical thinking whatsoever he is a complete fucking moron. He keeps getting told OVER AND OVER that he is being a fucking dumbass and has been proven to be a dumbass COUNTLESS TIMES, this character never learns anything. And I guess yeah the impression you're supposed to get is that as a younger person neglected and struggling he's meant to be more stubborn and stuck in his ways but seriously????? really??? When hank beat the shit out of him I was really really hoping that they had actually killed him off. I think gale makes a much better and much more convincing character than jesse.
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He was under the impression that she would be fine. It was stupid of him (and yeah lacked forethought) but I think its a bit extreme to say he was being a selfish asshole. Mostly just ignorant of the fact that what he did was extremely irresponsible.
Honestly, I surprised you weren't more affected by the sheer stupidity of Walter letting Jesse's girlfriend choke to death on her own vomit. (I say stupid assuming he wanted what was best for Jesse, which is pretty obviously the case.)
Walter and Jesse are probably the most human characters I've seen in a show. Mainly because they both do infuriatingly stupid fucking shit. (this of course not being the only way to make very human-like characters)
If they were real people, I would pity both, and feel very ashamed for them. But I wouldn't hate them or be irritated with them, they are unfortunate products of their environment.
Also, I'm pretty sure there are few people to ever live who wouldn't shit their pants or at least come close to the prospect of full on torture. Pretty sure Gus would react much the same way if the roles were reversed. Felt bad for the guy he killed.
Oh and jamie, I think there is actually a pretty good opportunity to do a good redemption ending. In fact, a 'moral pit man' ending would bore me since it'd get old just watching Walter just sink and sink and sink. (though I imagine the way he sinks might be still interesting) Because it seems like we've got our fill of that. But that is just me.
Also, I would like to see Hank back on his feet because watching him be miserable and make his wife miserable its... eh...
Overall though still think this is basically the best non-episodic-natured show on tv. Best episodic-natured one for me probably being House.
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yeah I saw an episode of this and it was kind of depressing. Lol Jesse likes dubstep and Resident Evil 4
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i just finished watching the wire. i have a megaupload account for a month and i have to decide which show to watch next, is breakingbad actually good??
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yes watch it
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i didn't really have much to do so i watched up to half of the third season. i kept watching it hoping it would become better but i don't think this show is for me. it's alright and the plot kept me mildly interested but it's annoying watching Normal White People try and deal with drugs, especially after watching the wire. black people do it better. also suburban life is horrible/i already live in it i don't want to be immersed and listen to awful awkward conversations all the time.
it has good themes/writing going for it and the cinematography is great but it's all too unrealistic for me to take it seriously. i'm probably still going to keep watching it just because i've gotten myself into it
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the fact that they're suburban and clueless is part of what's supposed to be interesting. the wire and bb are both entertaining and mildly thought-provoking, though the wire less so unless black people and no concrete right and wrong are new concepts to the viewer (I only watched up to the third season but by that time the blind seer shepherd of the literal noble homosexual savage already showed up so. the wire also has more moments that make you cringe by just how bad they are re: d'angelo talking about chess, snot boogie)
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Hey anybody get a chance to watch boardwalk empire yet? I'm watching the first episode right now and its amazing. Its created by the guy who wrote the sopranos and directed/produced by martin scorsese and mark whalburg about some guy named nucky who is a bootlegging kingpin. Its got the guy who played omar in the wire and steve buscemi as nucky. I'm really loving it so far.
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I've been meaning to check it out. my family has some big steve buscemi fans.
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yeah boardwalk empire owns, really looking forward to the next season
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Spoilers for the most recent episode (S04E04): (highlight to make it more legible)
Jesse better not die. I'll be pissed.
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puke so they're doing one last season after this one. I had higher hopes for walter's storyline after watching the first episode, but it hasn't been very interesting so far. I'm not sure walt is resourceful enough to be behind that thing it's implied he might be behind. the segments with jesse and mike are the only entertaining ones right now, but so far jesse was a lot better last season
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Yeah, this has been a somewhat weak season. but its still better than what most stuff is on TV.
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what? breaking bad has been pretty excellent this season.
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It's starting to pick up but right now its seems slower paced. Maybe that is just because I'm used to watching a whole season in 1-3 sittings.
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Yeah, it feels like Walter's storyline has gone nowhere since the first episode. He runs around frantic telling people he's tough and then just embarrasses himself, over and over. I do see what they're doing but I was kind of rolling my eyes are certain points. Also, the last scene of this week's episode - I think the 'someone has to protect this family from the man who protects this family' line was supposed to be a total zinger but Skylar's disappearing just irritated me and when she came back and she was just doing that passive aggressive stuff again, I got bored. Like, again? We're doing the whole Walter acts weird and Skylar is pissed off at him again?
I'm sure there is a lot of good stuff to come but it feels like it is just spinning on its wheels at the moment. I've definitely felt unsatisfied for a couple of weeks now at the end of the episodes.
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definitely agree with that sentiment. concerning walter/skylar, I find it pretty boring but being passive-aggressive is really the best skylar can do because Walt is a huge baby and anything more would send him into a fit. doesn't make for very good watching tho. women are NAGS. NAGS!
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Yeah, it feels like Walter's storyline has gone nowhere since the first episode. He runs around frantic telling people he's tough and then just embarrasses himself, over and over. I do see what they're doing but I was kind of rolling my eyes are certain points. Also, the last scene of this week's episode - I think the 'someone has to protect this family from the man who protects this family' line was supposed to be a total zinger but Skylar's disappearing just irritated me and when she came back and she was just doing that passive aggressive stuff again, I got bored. Like, again? We're doing the whole Walter acts weird and Skylar is pissed off at him again?
I'm sure there is a lot of good stuff to come but it feels like it is just spinning on its wheels at the moment. I've definitely felt unsatisfied for a couple of weeks now at the end of the episodes.
walts parts have been pretty boring but i think that's kind of the point. he can't do anything, he's isolated from pretty much everyone of importance. clearly the development of the show is centered around jesse/mike/gus and hank
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True. and I do like Hank and Jesse. I suppose they haven't gotten as much attention in past seasons in comparison to this one.
Walter's current plot is boring but as a character he is still interesting. Skylar seems completely uninteresting to me though. Hank's wife has potential for being interesting, but as it stands she just seems like a dysfunctional crazy lady that Hank dick-ishly treats like crap.
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skylar has been pretty intolerable the entire series, same with marie
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Let's cut the PC feel-good bullshit for a second: the crippled kid's annoying as all jesus fuck too. Every season I hope it's him that dies first, then Skylar "the Bitch" (good name for yourself, Sky! Thanks!) and hopefully Marie's in the car shopping with her or some shit too, illogically stealing more toys and trinkets like a stupid little girl.
but really tho, the wives are pretty much afterthoughts. I don't think it would be that difficult to think up an interesting part for either of them. but I have seen the characters trigger rage on FB similar to the paragraph above so maybe they're doing something right.
I disagreed with jamie that walt was pathetic in the opener, but if not then he really is pathetic now. that's good. I don't think his segments necessarily need to be boring or essentially amount to filler, though.
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Bryan Cranston was always a first choice to play Walter White. As a long time fan of the American television series Malcolm in the Middle, Vince Gilligian was familiar with Cranston's work and wrote the part with him in mind. There is speculation that Breaking Bad was written as an alternate universe, in which the character Cranston played in Malcolm in the Middle (Hal) was born to a different family, but Gilligan has denied this.
donuts in the charger scene isn't doing much to refute this
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haha that's awesome. Bryan Cranston is an excellent actor.
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That last couple of minutes with Walter in the crawl space laughing in desperation and total brokenness was probably the best thing this season, and Walter as a character needed a moment like that for me to understand how the hell he could ever be interesting again after the majority of this season. I mean it was just on, so I've got a bit of adrenaline pumping at the moment, but that moment was really scary and intense, the direction and the music was excellent and the addition of that phone call from Marie crying about Hank being in danger while Walt was still howling in the background finally brought what made this show interesting in the first place back into focus, which I really don't think has been here that much this season which has mostly been a let down for me. The last couple of episodes seem set up to be pretty good, though.
A lot of people on the internet have been talking about how cool they think Gus is, but I've never really felt it. I know they've been trying to make him very intimidating and all, but this backstory he's been given this season has only made him now less of an enigma and more of a - I dunno. I guess I find the cartel stuff all a bit phony, I don't really think this show has the weight of knowledge about that kind of thing behind it and the dealings with them have felt a little colourless. I think Breaking Bad works best as a personal kind of story, and just use characters like Gus as symbols for organisations like the cartel.
Anyway, after this episode I'm sick of him and his shit. This is probably intentional, but the way that Tyrus guy is just totally silent all the time and only opens his mouth to give a snarky single word answer has really been grating on me. Mike was doing it a lot earlier in the season and I got tired of him then, too. Actually I don't really like any of the characters on this show, if they all die I won't be that broken up about it. I want to see what Walter does next, though, which is what I've been waiting for for about 6 or 7 episodes now, and that's the main reason I'm still watching it. I guess they're getting back to that now?
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yeah that was good. and yeah ty is really annoying. I understand if they wanted to drive home the point that Walt is entirely cut off and out of the loop, but there's a few too many scenes of him silently standing there with a snarky smile
idk gus is scary. not WAY MORE SO than Tuco, which is what they're going for/think they've achieved. never thought he was cool or badass. could use a little more background concerning how he came to be capitalism personified, to be a lil trite
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Anyone catch the season premiere?
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yeah zzz
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Really? I thought it was pretty good. Arguably a lot happened in it considering how slow the show can seem early season.
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I thought it was all right but I dunno...we'll need to see how this all pans out. There have been several dumb plot maneuvers since the introduction of the cousins at the start of season 3, and I think they have added up to a series which is kind of off track whilst still maintaining the superficial mission statement of corruption through bad choices and indulging in your worst instincts. It feels like everything is 30 degrees in the direction of shitty, but there is still enough overlap with good stuff to make it worth watching. I'll be watching it every week as it airs, anyway, so I'll probably post what I think here. I wouldn't have thought to post here with anything if the topic didn't come up on the main page though, which is saying something. I just watched it and thought, 'Okay'.
I guess I could go into some of the basic inconsistences, like Gus apparently being stupid enough to keep backlogs of criminal activity on a laptop in the office of his public business, but those are pretty much obvious. The show doesn't want to operate on that level of reality, which I enjoy, but it also insists on involving these realistic aspects as plot points, so it's kind of poorly conceived in that way. Also there are characterization gaps - Walt was almost at his current level of aloof malevolence at this exact point last season, smirking in satisfaction at Gale's death, but then they backtracked way back to him being just a bit bull-headed and also very cowardly, and now suddenly he snaps right into evil mastermind. I think this all could have been done much more consistently last season, without the need for the ridiculous child-poisoning detail. That feels extremely ham-fisted, and pretty disappointing for a show which for me the main attraction is the experiment of this transformation of its protagonist. They were going along just fine until a lot of this Fring bullshit, and now everything keeps jerking around all over the place tonally. They could bring out a great season still, from here, this episode had enough moments in the script that I thought were smart with Walt's character to keep my interested. I don't like Mike, he's irritating now and the writers are too obviously proud of him as both a creation and a person.
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yeah it was ok, but was more like a mid-season filler episode. it leaves me a little apprehensive about what they could possibly achieve this season, tho I'll probably be watching every episode as it airs too
the cousins stunk up the place
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glad you're still watching, earl, looking forward to blabbing some crud here
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I'll read all the blab. I read through the thread and WOW was I dumb just as a word of caution to anyone who might try the same
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i agree. this episode certainly doesn't feel like a premiere and nothing really happens in this episode. i thought mike was gonna do something but he just stood on the side for the whole ep. now that gus is gone, what is there left for breaking bad? I was excited to watch season 5 because I watched the past 4 seasons a few months ago but after watching that episode, it left me rather disappointed.
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this season is kinda dumb so far i don't know if i feel like talking about it that much
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you kinda have to think mike is mega awesome badass to enjoy most of the episodes since like the start of last season. the second episode probably would have been interesting if the character wasn't completely wrung out in season 4
this episode was OK I guess but really just more of the same scenes we've been seeing the whole series
Cast member Betsy Brandt told TODAY.com that, "[t]here is a big director that would like to direct the last episode as a movie and put it in theaters.
100 bucks says it's tarantinitoes
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Yeah, definitely underwhelmed with this season so far. Feels very much like it's retreading the past 4 seasons instead of focusing on wrapping up the series and dealing with the inevitable aftermath of everything that's happened so far.
"Hey guys, against all odds we're alive and not in prison, what should we do next? I know, let's cook some more!"
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I liked last night's episode quite a bit more than the first couple, which I'm basing on the fact that there were moments that were making me tense and I had to look away a couple of times. Mostly when Hank and Marie were over for dinner. The shot where Walter emerges like a sea creature to grab Skylar in the pool I am ambivalent about - aesthetically it's really cool, and if the character work for both Walt and Sky was better this season then it could have been a really good moment but as is, it's just another clunker in what is becoming a really one note dynamic.
If any of you guys watched the new Battlestar Galactica, it had a problem that when it slowed down to move pieces around or do character episodes, it became much less convincing. It thrived on high tension and action, which they knew how to do really well. I thought last season that Breaking Bad had a similar problem, because I didn't enjoy a lot of the season and then the last few episodes were really good. The more I think about it, the writers of this show can't seem to handle their characters. I don't really believe Skylar's behaviour this season - she's the way she is right now because Walter killed Gus, apparently, and I think Skylar would be the type of person to take the side of her family in that situation. If the writers had let Walter explain it to her in a reasonable way, then I don't think she'd be doing this catatonic routine they have cooked up for her. However, Skylar still resembles a real person, while Walter's transformation has been very disappointing. It has also has the effect of disconnecting him from us and the person he has been. We see far less of his thought process, so his attitude can often feel like more arbitrary writer manipulation which doesn't bear as much continuity with how he has been portrayed in the past as it should. It isn't as interesting and he really has not been much more than a series of i am the danger speeches this season. I thought they had more up their sleeve with this, but it seems like they are just determined to make good on that scarface promise to the detriment of the show.
Was the plot twist that Walter poisoned the kid really worth enough to sacrifice our identification with the character this much? We didn't see him carry that out, and it was a pretty unbelievable step for him to take. It wasn't a particularly good plan, and doesn't seem like something that would occur to Walter, so at the very least we should have seen him up close while he was carrying it out. I think if we had seen these events in detail it would have been easier to swallow, and been much more emotional. To actually see his eyes as he tries to convince Saul to help him, as he delivers the poison - it would be watching another little part of him die, and that would be both sad and scary. As it was I just thought that it was a dumb twist I didn't believe in.
I don't really remember what I liked about this episode now, but when it finished I thought in my head, well that was a bit better. It's a decent show, I'll recommend it to people, but it has gone on for too long.
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I have to say I'm the opposite, I felt this episode was almost unbearable. then again at least it wasn't yet another episode full of mike and walt being the most boring people alive
but the walt and skylar scenes were kind of stupid imo. let's take a moment to step back and clearly explain to everyone what most people should have already picked up on over the past few episodes. and everything to do with the new lady character (who'd bother remembering names) has been awful, right down to mike's jokes about sexism, which btw don't make sense given his half measures story in season 3
I don't have a problem with walt being unlikeable, I just wish they'd get on with it. there's too much of THIS after the season 4 finale. I guess next episode is finally the one where walt orders someone to be killed not out of "self-defense". I'm looking forward to it, but even if it turns out to be bad there's no backing out, I'm watching this show to the end
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she's called lydia and is played by someone called laura fraser which i only really remember because she's scottish
i feel like a lot of what is going on doesn't make much sense character wise, which i talked about a bit before, and that's why a lot of what has been going on has been not that interesting. i wonder why i said i liked this one and then began logging my complaints about most of the main components of it.
also; i'm finally seeing some stuff in reviews i read about breaking bad having problems with writing women, of which there have only been 4 in substance. skylar, marie, jane and now lydia. and really jane and lydia are kinda stretching it since i think jane was only in 4 or 5 episodes and existed mainly for wale/jesse storyline purposes and lydia is yet to do much if she's gonna.
i really recommend not reading too much discussion about this show online if anyone is thinking of doing that because it's probably ruined the show for me more than i realise. probably true for everything. i'm not talking about talking about it here or with friends, but these mass opinion...holes.
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I've tried before. I watched some developer commentary too, but it was missing that apple genius/disney imagineering music playing in the background as they're all talking and making their plot decisions sound really really dumb
no I don't want to be stale, I'll stop it. I do appreciate your posts jamie. we'll get through this.
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my mum likes to sputter 'pig!' and 'that PIG!' whenever walter does or says anything so i like to watch the episodes with her now.
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New one just finished. My first reaction is that it was total bullshit. Can the writers not come up with something other than the sudden harm of seredipitously unlucky children to show us that crime doesn't pay? I keep seeing this crap coming and I always hope the writers have the intelligence not to take these easy shots and they keep going for it.
oh no jeese's gonna be sad now...hamfisted crud all round this season.
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Can you say WOW? This has got to be my number 1 or number 2 fav episode of the series ~everyone no it was stupid. the plot device with lydia was stupid, the train thing was ok, todd as a psycho is kind of nice, but the garbage with the kid was awful. and the preview of next episode looks really bad. watching it with your mom would make me like it more too
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what does everyone else think?
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I mainly pay attention when walt is wearing his hat because he only wears his hat before a bit the writers think is cool
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Barring some the usual cheesy DEA crap, and Mike's continuing presence, I liked this latest episode. All the Walter and Jesse stuff was pretty good, here. I liked the conversations they had, and getting into Walter's head again a bit helped to get me interested in what he was going to do next. What he did actually do, well that wasn't so great, but it's just plot contrivance and I've given up on Mike's character anyway so I don't care how weird and inconsistent he keeps acting. Roll on, next weeks' nonsense!
I notice that this show is actually really inconsistent and maybe it's got something to do with the writing becoming focused on particular moments or statements it wants to make regardless of whether it is good for the show as a whole. It's like they can't decide on a single direction to take things in the short term, with Walter's arc looming in the background, and so just throw whatever cool idea they come up with at the wall in the meantime. Quite a lot of these ideas turn out to not be so great. So on the one hand you have the stupid kid getting killed, - which I'm glad they didn't dwell on too much this week, really - and mistakes like the Salamance twins, and then on the other hand you've got high points like Walter screaming in the crawl space. The character stuff is similarly hit and miss, and I think this episode was presenting a version of Walter I'm more interested in. It is still charting his change, but doing it with a bit of nuance and giving us insight, rather than the idiocy of the super surprise Brock poisoning. The only bad moment that stood out for me this week was him whistling in the meth tent after talking to Jesse about the kid dying. Yeah, right.
I wonder if Jesse will get back with Andrea? I hope so, they kinda threw that part away. Maybe at least we'll see him go to her again before this part of the series is over.
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I liked some of the tension created in the last episode, between Walt and Mike, and especially during the train scene. But I agree that the show is getting more and more inconsistent and some things just don't make sense. I'm disappointed that Jesse is still pretty much just a dumb kid. I don't really feel like his character has grown much, considering just how much shit he's been through.
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just watched, it was a half decent episode. not really for doing anything good, just for not being awful. doesn't come close to redeeming the season, this is like a +1 for the walter and jesse scene while the season is -20 overall
I really do not understand how they think they can keep milking the mike character, which was initially supposed to be a one-off reference to the cleaner in pulp fiction btw
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Welp. got what you wanted. No more Mike. I was kind of bummed out though.
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Yeah, that was pretty good how that happened cos I was sad too and I haven't enjoyed Mike since season 3. I know why - it's cos Walter was shocked back into sobriety, like he hasn't been all season, immediately after he shot him. It's really good if there is a conflict in Walter about his insane power lust, and he's definitely the kind of guy who lets himself get overwhelmed by his ups and downs.
Some of the episode was boring but I figure there is potential for this to all have a big old sad messy ending. It's a shame about the big wait, because it is only just starting to feel like there is any emotional weight behind this (they wasted so much time on bullshit this season), but hopefully next week's episode will focus on the good stuff and not the nonsense.
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did walt shote mike or did mike shot himself. I haven't looked but this is probably the burning question a) mike shot self/let walter kill him or b) writers being inconsistent again by making mike suddenly unawares enough to not spot gun/check bag immediately/react in time to not let a novice walk over and shoot him point blank
and yeah, at least they managed to make mike a little interesting again for this past episode. and it's interesting how they made it more difficult to identify with/hold compassion for Walt than gruff ol mike
cant wait 1 hour 4 the finale to glaringly contrived plot devices w skylar and linda
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cliffhanger
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Also Walt has become a moron. or at least revealed himself to be one... at least in the last couple of episodes. Its been staggering how dumb hes been. Don't get me wrong, he's made bad choices before, but at least he executed those bad choices intelligently, now he's almost as inept and bumbling as Bryan Cranston's other character (Hal).
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Do you think hank will wash his hands of the whole bathroom situation?
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so some of the shit rolled uphill and anna gunn wrote an article about how people talk about skylar:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/opinion/i-have-a-character-issue.html?_r=0 (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/opinion/i-have-a-character-issue.html?_r=0)
I wrote a post which is basically about that just now over on selectbutton. figured I'd revive the topic in BB: End Of Days is on right now. lllleeeettttsssss talking Blab with chris haddaxmskib
here's my post about that:
It's asking more than the writers of Breaking Bad really deserve to treat their insincere inclusion of women in their story as anything other than perfunctory.
You can make an obvious case about how harmful a lot of Walter's behaviour has been, and how increasingly dreadful his personality has become, but it is also correct to observe that the entire story has been designed to make the viewer anticipate the next moment of his ascension to dominance as much as possible. Breaking Bad has always been at least as much about the thrill of breaking out of whatever our inhibiting shells might be as much as it is about condemning the consequences of that process.
That doesn't preclude the possibility of a counterbalancing perspective in the story, which Skylar, along with now Hank and Marie, have provided as the series has gone on. It is confusing at times, though, when you're trying to work out exactly what the show is trying to say. Maybe the answer to that is that it isn't trying to send a simple message, but a lot of people have difficulty comprehending even those in the way they are intended. Some people see the half of the show that gives them a buzz, and become increasingly irritated with the cold shower of morality that occasionally floods proceedings. Some people get worn out with the increasingly campy moments of defiance the writers let Walter indulge in.
I think the problem with Breaking Bad specifically is it wants to have it two ways, without putting the work in that is required. I think it's very good at the Walter stuff even if the show has gone on too long and started repeating itself before the conclusion segment of the show we're in now. It isn't so good at the realistic portrayal of how the people in his life might react, and has always spent far less time on developing that side of the story. This is also the side of the story the few women on the show have been restricted to, with the exception of Lydia.
Skylar was a terribly written caricature in the first season, Marie was basically a joke character. Skylar has been developed since then, but a lot of that has been in contradiction to her earlier portrayal. She doesn't make much sense as a character unless you ignore the first 15 episodes or so. After that, they decided to start trying to do something with her, and that's kind of been working out, but it is difficult to reconfigure her place in the story without either changing the blueprint they laid out at the start, or changing her. They decided to change her, which has gone some way to smooth over the reptitive way she would throw a wrench in the plot or drive it off course for a while. I don't think it really says much about the regard the writers have for women in a story like this though, especially since she's the only major female character on the show. Marie doesn't really count, she's never been central to anything and doesn't really have a personality you could describe if you ignore the abandoned kleptomania nonsense. Lydia is the closest thing to a second woman, and there are some problems with the fact that she basically fits the mould of a crazy, unreliable female!!! - but there is still some mystery to her at this point and she has been written into the story rather than in the way of it. She could go either way at this point, in terms of being a redeeming example of a woman on the show. Skylar has been redeemed to an extent, and it involved jettisoning her initial character, but that was no great loss because she was just a caricature and narrative obstacle entity before.
I think an extreme reaction in defense of the way Breaking Bad has included women in its story is probably not justified. The show was constructed to primarily be about white men, and then it was populated very sparingly with a few women at the edges of that narrative. In a show that is set up like this, I understand that it isn't just a case of fringe idiots twisting things to their nefarious misogynistic perspective when the ugliness inevitably arises. If the show wanted to have meaningful portrayals of all genders in its story, it would've done that. The writers are good at pulling off what they want to pull off. If Skylar and Marie are the fullest representation of women that the writers intended, it shows where their priorities were in devising the show.
It is obviously a pattern with acclaimed TV that the women are sidelined to a large extent because, for whatever reason you want to interpret, writers are much more interested in stories where men have agency and women have less. Betty Draper in Mad Men, though, I think it would be unfair to say isn't developed, or that the writers are more interested in showing Don giving kickass ad pitches. Mad Men has a wide variety of well developed female characters. Betty is the closest thing to the narrative obstacle type in that show, even while she is more, and so she's been a lightning rod for the people who choose to interact with their entertainment in a misogynist way.
The kind of people who incessantly complain about Skylar nagging or being a bitch, etc, without any self-awareness, are the same ones who say those things about Betty. You will get those gutter people no matter what, even in shows which focus on women like Girls and Orange Is The New Black, but I think one of the reasons the response has been particularly ugly with Skylar is that Breaking Bad is a show designed to exclude women from the core of its narrative which then makes what I take to be half-assed attempts to include women by doing what shows about white men do best and using them as roadblocks.
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While I certainly think that the psychos making death threats on the actor are abhorrent. I still don't really like Skylar. Probably partially at least because, yes she goes against the main character, but also because of a few key actions she's taken. She's at least a fairly interesting character though.
Marie has always been far more annoying and sort of flat as a character.
As for Lydia, I actually like this character. Probably for her combination of survival-at-all-costs and weasel-like nature. She is actually sort of a more cowardly female Walter White. And Walter White is most definitely a weasel, even a cowardly one at times. I'm sort of rooting for her, though I find that her team up with Meth Damon the child-killer makes me pull back on that a bit.
Walter White himself I find to, like probably everyone else who watches, to be a fascinating look into subjective morality. He's as close to being 'evil' as you can get. But even though one should condemn his actions, you can at least see through him that 'evil' doesn't truly exist as some sort of concrete metaphysical bullshit because hes so well constructed as a human character. The show knows that evil is in fact subjective, and thus acting on it is difficult while also keeping certainty that you are doing what is right unless you are a clairvoyant consequentialist. Walter White does the things he does for dominance now, yes, but the original driving force (and still a driving force) is to protect and uplift his family and even essentially adopts Jesse as another son, bringing him 'into his family'. Which is almost regrettable for Jesse.
Hank on the other hand is a 'good guy' but is actually mostly out for himself. He doesn't want to catch the elusive Heisenberg for ethical reasons, or at least they aren't the driving force behind him. He wants to be "the one who catches him" it always been about catching Heisenberg as a trophy not a moral victory. When he finally finds out that Walter is the one he's been looking for all along his shock is intense but short lived, he's far more enraged about his predicament. His beloved career is certainly over as soon as he decides to bring his target in.
I know a few people who think Jesse is a terrible person just like Walter. But this isn't remotely the case. Jesse, for most of the show, has been the unaware fool partner of Walter. Yes, he is responsible for producing meth and selling it just like Walter but he was selling it to his customers equally high off of his supply from the start. Jesse sells his product to customers as an 'equal' in that he lacks sobriety. "If its OK for me to use the stuff and I can make money selling it to my fellow meth-heads what wrong with that?" While Walter is far more exploitative. Being fully sober because he understands the destructive nature of his product, and yet selling it all the same, letting his customers kill themselves through his extremely potent product. Jesse also has a much more heavy conscience and feels incredible guilty for even being indirectly tied to to 'evil' deeds or in the case of shooting Gale, killing in a sort of 'self defense'. Jesse's awareness of Walter's lack of a conscience has wavered in and out and near the end of this show it looks like Jesse's understanding of Walter has finally cemented in.
Back to the topic of female characters in general, I think another driving force in making females 'roadblock' characters is that stories are always about some sort of change. Women are culturally depicted as being stable and men unstable. Women are depicted as being ok with the status-quo assuming no great injustice and men as dominance seeking rabble-rousers who take even small slights against them or their allies as acts of war or injustice that need resolving, which makes for good story telling, while stability is viewed as boring.
"Be happy you don't live in interesting times." -paraphrasing someone that I forgot the name of.
Anyway, can't wait for the new episode!
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I feel like I'm the only one who likes Skylar. At the start she becomes very manipulative in the most extreme ways. Like they try to do that classic scene where the husband comes home and the wife just doesn't say anything even though there should be a conversation about kids and stuff but there's this elephant in the room also. So the scene just becomes this really passive awkwardness the writers intend. But a portion of the audience that are probably the same people who wrote essays on "Why pot should be legal" in highschool jump straight to "wow what a bitch" without realizing any of the context. Lately especially she's been more than useful to Walt even to the point of reasoning with his dumb "leave this stockpile of money out of nowhere to the kids" ultra turn in.
Like if you hate the episode "The Fly" then you'll probably hate Skylar. For me I think I finally disliked Walt heavily, like without any of the "well he's human" where he lies to Jesse about Mike's death. At the same time though I'm wondering when they're going to let go of this "DON'T KILL KIDS" thing Jesse has because I felt like they did this like twice already where Jeese goes into this fuck it cycle. But it's interesting how the very last part revealed Jesse might actually go against Walt for reals. But probably not, might not be that simple.
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did you see episode 11 yet because
god damn
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it's all fucking building up and not stopping
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Yeah just now holy shit.
They somehow made DVDs on a flatscreen tv feel retro.
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glad that's over
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well i liked the ending
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So did I. I was worried the ending would tear Breaking Bad away from being basically the best TV show ever made because TV shows usually have dumb endings but this one worked.
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Thank god it didn't end like Dexter.
I liked the ending too. My one complaint is it really played it on the safe side and basically gave everyone (the viewers) what they wanted in a fairly predictable fashion. Part of me wishes they had gone really dark with it and given every character a Bad Ending.
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Yeah I kind of wish they made the machine gun thing more subtle. On the flipside I was thinking the plan was going to fuck up like any other plan and the showdown between Walt and Jack would be more complicated and a struggle. The part where Walt tackles Jesse would have paid off more if we didn't even know about the machine gun mechanism. But maybe that's just me thinking in action movie cliches, I guess it's kind of weird because it's a bit of a surprise it worked out well. The ricin I felt was kind of overused at this point and I pretty much called it on the Lydia thing but w/e. the ricin not working on tuco, but then working in a really backstabby but not actually using the ricin was kind of clever, but then it's used for like a 4th time and works as intended, so idk.
I think for a series like this when everything goes to shit the ending is overall satisfying. Just felt the setup was a little too obvious compared to the bear in the pool thing.
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it was a good ending, but if it were up to me i would have liked to feel a lot more uncomfortable. almost too satisfying....
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Obvious spoilery post (as one would assume at this point)
IDK if I agree that it would have been better being a 'bad end'. Those tend to come off as extreme, either nihilistic or preachy, in stories like this. I'd argue its satisfactorily bittersweet though. Its an ending that caters towards those that care about the characters and plot than morality or message.
Really, its a very conclusive ending overall. Though really it still sort of leaves you wondering what happens to those surviving. Jesse in particular is a broken person at this point and is far from done with the ordeal. I'd like to know what he decides to do after driving away in the El Camino. He's broke, the police are likely looking for him, he has no real family to support him, and his 'girlfriend' is dead and he has no way to care for the kid and arguably shouldn't try (though IDK if he would want to at this point since the kid would just remind him of his loss). If he were to hang out with his friends he'd likely end up using again (hell, that's fairly likely regardless).
He'll either start a new life as a miserable lonely fugitive like Walt was, turn himself in and go to prison (variable on how long), kill himself eventually (suicide), or kill himself (with drugs).
Like, I can't foresee a happy ending for him. Leaving his fate ambiguous is torture-some. The neo-nazi's killing his girlfriend was the last straw really at any chance of him living a semi-decent life in my view.
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Just marathoned this over the week. And I would say it's one hell of a ride. I agree with the opinions on the almost "fan service"-ey ending but I'm not sure if I wanted a more extreme alternative, that would've haunted me for weeks.