Breaking Bad

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Grover

I could deal with more Mike-centric episodes.

If there were to be a Breaking Bad spinoff I'd much rather see it be about an origin story for Mike than a show about Saul Goodman. A series about how Mike's career as a cop ended and then ending up working for Gus would be great.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Radii

I'm assuming Lydia being left alive will bite him in the ass in the long run, but it makes sense for now.

Need the meth to have the money to pay off Lydia .

[jeff061]

This season so far has a much different cold and serious feel to it. I can already sense it warming up to a frantic and killer peak story arc down the road.

Loving it. Glad they seem to be trying to make season 5 it's own experience. Not just miking out more of the same.

[Grover]

Skyler's fear of Walt is phenomenal.

[Radii]

The visuals/camerawork during the cook scene were simply incredible.

The rest of the episode wasn't bad either Walt turning himself into the good guy in Marie's mind was pure evil genius.

Vince Gilligan has said countless times that the point of the series is watching a man "turn from Mr Chips into Scarface", hooray for Walt and Walt Jr watching the movie. And the baby, the baby seems a little young for Tony Montana, so we can add bad Parenting into the mix with the rest of Walt's flaws.

The conversation between Walt and Jesse about Jesse's girlfriend... why? Was that Walt being manipulative or was he just reflecting on his issues with Skyler or something? That whole conversation was weird and baffling to me.

[stevew]

Amazing idea on the new cooking setup. Plus hopefully Landry(from FNL) gets to kill people in this show again. Obviously the legacy costs may prove to be a bit of an issue going forward, but I figure the show will go in some totally unpredictable direction instead.

[Bad-example]

Every scene with Skyler drags the show down. I think her character's arc has been rather clumsy and the actress is pretty dreadful. Still, the best show on tv keeps on rolling.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Radii

The conversation between Walt and Jesse about Jesse's girlfriend... why? Was that Walt being manipulative or was he just reflecting on his issues with Skyler or something? That whole conversation was weird and baffling to me.

I think it was the later. We are conditioned at this point to think Walt is just manipulating everyone (the thing with Marie as you pointed out was genius), but I do think he was thinking of Sylar and the toll the secret has taken.

[stevew]

OK.

Walt's cancer diagnosis came at his 50th birthday? This episode spoke of his 51st birthday I believe, the Skylar/Marie Scene.

BTW, the Skyler screaming shut up scene has serious meme potential IMO.

Anyways, "Mr. Lambert" was supposedly turning 52. Who knows if that is actually real or not. Or how good the fake ID was. If it is meant to be taken literally, we have approximately a year in show until he gets that machine gun.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by Radii

The conversation between Walt and Jesse about Jesse's girlfriend... why? Was that Walt being manipulative or was he just reflecting on his issues with Skyler or something? That whole conversation was weird and baffling to me.

I think when Walt was visiting he realized how close Jesse was getting to those two...and he realized that Jesse was going to eventually tell her what was going on, whether consciously or not. If he already hadn't. I think Walt's intent were twofold 1) to find out if Jesse had blabbed yet, or would, and 2) to set the seed of doubt that would either push Jesse to break up with her/them and or get them involved the point that they were manipulable/expendable. It was a cog in the new machine that Walt had no control over, and he needed to fix that, one way or another. I assume that if Jesse had said that he HAD told them everything, Walt may have engineered another accident for those two.

[stevew]

If they would have made Skyler less of a pain in the ass to watch, this episode would have been much more powerful. I think I've become accustomed to tuning everything she says out.

They should have offed Lydia, big fucking mistake there.

[Radii]

I dislike Skyler in general but I thought this was a great episode for Anna Gunn, this season in general she's been outstanding. Can't wait til Walt kills her though!

[LloydLungs]

My sister's husband started watching Breaking Bad but ditched it after a couple of episodes because he thought it too grim. If he thought *season 1* was grim....

Wow. They are barely even working in anymore trademark Breaking Bad dark humor. A little bit, but... this is just an inexorable, dark, brutal march towards all of this crashing down. I love it, and it's the perfect tone for this point in the show's life. But damn.

[Bigsmooth]

Originally Posted by LloydLungs

My sister's husband started watching Breaking Bad but ditched it after a couple of episodes because he thought it too grim. If he thought *season 1* was grim....

Wow. They are barely even working in anymore trademark Breaking Bad dark humor. A little bit, but... this is just an inexorable, dark, brutal march towards all of this crashing down. I love it, and it's the perfect tone for this point in the show's life. But damn.

Haha no doubt. Every scene with Walt and Skylar in bed with Walt kissing on her with her back turned to him is excruciating to watch...literally makes me nervous/uncomfortable.

[Grover]

Holy fuck.

[stevew]

Fucking Landry

[Bigsmooth]

Shit just got real.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Grover

Holy fuck.

Yeah, pretty much this. God Damn.

The opening to the episode obviously implied some weird random thing was about to happen, but by the time we got to the end I was so happy/giddy about the awesomeness of what I'd just seen that I had completely forgotten about the intro and then wham, holy shit look at what just happened. Amazing episode (I probably say that after every one).

[LloydLungs]

Originally Posted by stevew

Fucking Landry

Clear eyes, full hearts, can't testify.

In other news, it is now basically physically uncomfortable to watch this show.

[stevew]

I love how Mike keeps taking half measures with Lydia.

[stevew]

dola-
Bill Burr's character always cracks me up. He'd be perfect if they decide to do that Saul spinoff

[Grover]

I kept expecting them to kill Todd after they got what they wanted, to be honest. Especially when they were standing around admiring their work before they showed the kid standing there saying hello.

[PackerFanatic]

What an episode. Wow.

[ISiddiqui]

What is it with Landry and killing people?!

[RainMaker]

I did not see that coming at all.

[mckerney]

After Mike said, "There are two kinds of heists, the ones where the guys get away with it and the ones that leave witnesses," and saw where they were planning on robbing the train I thought, "Oh shit, they're gonna have to kill the kid."

I'd imagine that will lead to problems for their supply. They dispose of the body and there may be a huge search in the area where hopefully not on notices the lid of the huge tank buried in the ground and gets curious. If the move the body and it gets found (certainly don't want it being found right by the tanks) perhaps it gets chalked up as violence by Mexican cartels smuggling drugs in, could lead to border/dea patrols in the area which might make it tough for a tanker to fill up in the middle of the desert.

[mckerney]

I'm also curious if the video of Jesse cooking in Mexico is going to come across Hank's new desk before the season ends.

[stevew]

totally agree about the video

[Bad-example]

I was watching the movie Twilight...the good one from 1998 with Paul Newman...and was surprised to see Giancarlo Esposito in a small role. Weird to see him playing anything else after Gus Fring.

WTF is Landry?

[stevew]

The actor who played Todd was Landry on Friday Night Lights, and he comically killed a rapist stalker in the worst storyline of that show. The Landry as a cold blooded killer plot of that show was clearly the series low point, and was basically retconned out of the story after the writers strike was over.

[stevew]

If you haven't watched Friday Night Lights, you need to get on that.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by Grover

I kept expecting them to kill Todd after they got what they wanted, to be honest. Especially when they were standing around admiring their work before they showed the kid standing there saying hello.

Yeah I was getting uncomfortable watching them celebrate because I thought this would be the episode where Walt goes off the deep end and he would shoot Todd. Then the kid showed up and I figured they would try and come up with a plan and the mother fucker just shoots him.

Gotta love a show that is 95% Mike, Walt, Jessie, and Hank! Line of the show "What are you doing burying a body?" "No, robbing a train"

[Jas_lov]

Originally Posted by panerd

Gotta love a show that is 95% Mike, Walt, Jessie, and Hank! Line of the show "What are you doing burying a body?" "No, robbing a train"

Ha, I loved that line too. I don't like when they focus on Skylar. Those 4 characters are the show so I loved that the last episode was almost all about them. The heist scene was brilliant, the ending was brilliant. Was there any reason why Landry was carrying a gun? I remember Mike saying the bug guys stole things here and there but I definitely didn't expect that.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Maybe because I watched the show completely by myself up until this season - no internet chatter or website reviews - because I was behind, but I don't get the Skylar hate. Especially this season. She's killed it the last two episodes. The scenes between Walt and Skylar in the last two episodes have been stellar.

That really was a great episode. Incredibly tense and then the ending was a complete gut punch.

[Brownkeg8]

Originally Posted by Jas_lov

Ha, I loved that line too. I don't like when they focus on Skylar. Those 4 characters are the show so I loved that the last episode was almost all about them. The heist scene was brilliant, the ending was brilliant. Was there any reason why Landry was carrying a gun? I remember Mike saying the bug guys stole things here and there but I definitely didn't expect that.

My thought with him carrying a gun was to protect his own ass in case they tried to eliminate him as a witness.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Jas_lov

Was there any reason why Landry was carrying a gun? I remember Mike saying the bug guys stole things here and there but I definitely didn't expect that.

If you're going to rob a train you may as well come prepared.

[Bad-example]

The most important development this week: Walt just found his trigger man.

[Grover]

Most awkward dinner ever.

Walt was looking rather Michael Corleone like for a bit there.

[stevew]

Only 2 episodes left....then another 10 month wait.

fuck.

[stevew]

Interesting that when he was tied to the radiator, I expected him to use the sugar in some way to help him escape I guess I was hoping for a mcguyver-esque stunt like in the first few episodes.

And wow, it's always seemingly been about Grey Matter. Very interesting.

[LloydLungs]

Originally Posted by stevew

Only 2 episodes left....then another 10 month wait.

fuck.

There's nothing I can do about it, it's not like I'm not going to watch, but I HATE the way AMC handles its schedule. It seems to be built on maximizing awards collected for its shows. This "split 5th season" is a sham. Either only have a 3-4 month break, or do away with the charade that this is one season. I'm sure it won't stop them from a "first half of the 5th season" DVD release though.

Seems to me like all but the most dedicated fans would have a hard time sticking with the story, as much as AMC is drawing this out.

[stevew]

I'm wonder if Walt will get Todd to do the unthinkable and take out Skylar.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Grover

Most awkward dinner ever.

Originally Posted by stevew

And wow, it's always seemingly been about Grey Matter. Very interesting.

I don't think that's necessarily true. I feel like its more the human nature idea that we form an opinion/idea based on some gut instinct and come up with reasons to justify it later on when questioned about it.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Radii

I don't think that's necessarily true. I feel like its more the human nature idea that we form an opinion/idea based on some gut instinct and come up with reasons to justify it later on when questioned about it.

I think what happened with Grey Matter has always been a part of it. I am not sure if it's the driving force behind it, but Walt's pride has always been his biggest weakness. There is no doubt that he's always been a difficult person to work with because of it and he's always gotten very prickly whenever he's even been perceived as being weak or pitiable.

[Grover]

Aaron Paul @aaronpaul_8 2h
Two more episodes to go this season of #Breakingbad and I am terrified for you all to see how it goes down. Get ready for the madness.

[Raiders Army]

We watched the last three episodes back to back last night and got caught up.

First, I thought the watch Jesse gave Walt had a bug in it. I could see that, but apparently it was just a gift.

Second, the parallels between Gus and Walt are being divided and I thought it was interesting that Gus wouldn't let children be harmed (or at least not approve of it) and Walt has shown on two or three different occasions that he condones it (the kid getting sick with the Valley of the Flower or something and the kid getting shot two episodes ago). Walt doesn't even care about his own kids and is using them as leverage against Skyler (who although looks better, is still a dude). Walt knows he needs Skyler to launder his money, so he's using her as well.

All in all, a great season so far and I liked the Saul Goodman appearance for Mike. Why wouldn't the DEA put it together that Saul represented both Jesse and Mike? Other than that, I can't find any big fault with the writing. I know that it was different law enforcement folks that Saul interacted with, but still...

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by Raiders Army

All in all, a great season so far and I liked the Saul Goodman appearance for Mike. Why wouldn't the DEA put it together that Saul represented both Jesse and Mike?

Apparently, Saul represents a large pool of the criminals in Albuquerque, so I don't think that would draw much of a red flag for the DEA.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Vegas Vic

Apparently, Saul represents a large pool of the criminals in Albuquerque, so I don't think that would draw much of a red flag for the DEA.

He's the kind of lawyer with cheesy ads on TV, that someone like Jeese who the DEA sees as not much more than a low level dealer would be represented by Saul probably isn't a surprise.

Better call Saul!

[stevew]

Hmm. What if the watch is bugged and Jesse turned state's evidence off-screen at some point early this season. It's not like merely busting Walt making meth would be enough. The DEA could take out an even bigger network than Gus. Plus Schrader wouldn't know about Walt being monitored. Hank's financials are compromised.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by stevew

Hmm. What if the watch is bugged and Jesse turned state's evidence off-screen at some point early this season. It's not like merely busting Walt making meth would be enough. The DEA could take out an even bigger network than Gus. Plus Schrader wouldn't know about Walt being monitored. Hank's financials are compromised.

I can't see Jesse doing that. At least not yet.