Breaking Bad

[panerd]

Nit picking a little on the cabin situation since I realize it was meant to set-up Walt's demise due to unabomber-like cabin conditions but I would think a guy that hides fugitives for a living could locate an illegal satalite dish and a big screen TV for someone with millions of dollars of cash. They tried to explain it on why Walt couldn't have a legal hookup but it was a bit of stretch that he had to wait for a month at a time to get updates on his case and family. Doesn't really ruin the show at all for me and certainly shows like Walking Dead, Homeland etc take far bigger leaps out of reality just seemed like Breaking Bad always nails it with covering every angle and this one seemed a bit weak.

[Pyser]

its also a bit of stretch that after months he randomly goes into a bar that randomly has a tv on that randomly changes the channels that randomly lands on an interview discussing walter white. but what are you gonna do?

[Butter]

Yeah, that's one of those "movie magic" moments that the show has actually done pretty well to avoid up until now.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by panerd

Nit picking a little on the cabin situation since I realize it was meant to set-up Walt's demise due to unabomber-like cabin conditions but I would think a guy that hides fugitives for a living could locate an illegal satalite dish and a big screen TV for someone with millions of dollars of cash. They tried to explain it on why Walt couldn't have a legal hookup but it was a bit of stretch that he had to wait for a month at a time to get updates on his case and family. Doesn't really ruin the show at all for me and certainly shows like Walking Dead, Homeland etc take far bigger leaps out of reality just seemed like Breaking Bad always nails it with covering every angle and this one seemed a bit weak.

I thought the guy explained that getting satellite TV wouldn't work because the trees blocked reception. I've heard of places like that before.

Also, I don't think he'd want to risk some satellite guy going out to the cabin to hook up a satellite while Walt was there because of the risk that Walt could be ID'd.

Finally, I don't think he wanted Walt to be following the investigation or any news on him in "real time" to avoid potential situations like the one he ran across at the bar.

I had no problem with this at all. It didn't feel all that forced or that big of a leap.

[Ronnie Dobbs3]

Stating there's been no "movie magic" in Breaking Bad thus far is pretty willful misremembering.

Gus Fring, character. Gus Fring's death. Walt poisoning Brock, somehow. The Shootout in the desert. The Train Heist. Hell, Walt being on Hank's ride along that starts the whole thing.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Pyser

its also a bit of stretch that after months he randomly goes into a bar that randomly has a tv on that randomly changes the channels that randomly lands on an interview discussing walter white. but what are you gonna do?

I think you've got two too many "randomlies" there. First, he didn't randomly go into a bar. He purposefully went into a bar to make the phone call to Flynn. He went to a bar because his plan was to have a woman impersonate Marie. I guess he could have gone to some other establishment, but what other establishments would have a payphone? (Perhaps the very existence of a payphone is a bigger leap than any of this, though I've never been to BFE New Hampshire before).

Second, it's pretty rare to find a bar without a TV. Odds are if there is a TV at a bar it's on. They were watching hockey.

That the Grey Matter people happened to be being interviewed at that time and the guy flipped off the hockey - one must presume the game was over or a blowout because, well, hockey! - and flipped past that interview was pretty random, but no more random than, say, Walt stopping at a random bar and sharing a drink with Jane's father, or Hank sitting down to take a crap at Walt's place and just happening to decide to open up a book of Walt Whitman poetry, or various other "random" events that have taken place multiple times during this show. Weird things happen.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Ronnie Dobbs3

Stating there's been no "movie magic" in Breaking Bad thus far is pretty willful misremembering.

Gus Fring, character. Gus Fring's death. Walt poisoning Brock, somehow. The Shootout in the desert. The Train Heist. Hell, Walt being on Hank's ride along that starts the whole thing.

I agree. The show has been chock-full of them, but I've enjoyed it throughout. It's a television show, not real life. These things are going to happen to ramp up the intensity and action. Perfectly acceptable.

[cuervo72]

"Chalk" full?

[Pyser]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I think you've got two too many "randomlies" there. First, he didn't randomly go into a bar. He purposefully went into a bar to make the phone call to Flynn. He went to a bar because his plan was to have a woman impersonate Marie. I guess he could have gone to some other establishment, but what other establishments would have a payphone? (Perhaps the very existence of a payphone is a bigger leap than any of this, though I've never been to BFE New Hampshire before).

Second, it's pretty rare to find a bar without a TV. Odds are if there is a TV at a bar it's on. They were watching hockey.

That the Grey Matter people happened to be being interviewed at that time and the guy flipped off the hockey - one must presume the game was over or a blowout because, well, hockey! - and flipped past that interview was pretty random, but no more random than, say, Walt stopping at a random bar and sharing a drink with Jane's father, or Hank sitting down to take a crap at Walt's place and just happening to decide to open up a book of Walt Whitman poetry, or various other "random" events that have taken place multiple times during this show. Weird things happen.

lets just start with the fact that he'd been holed up months and went a bar on that day. but sure, yes, bars have tv's.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I think you've got two too many "randomlies" there. First, he didn't randomly go into a bar. He purposefully went into a bar to make the phone call to Flynn. He went to a bar because his plan was to have a woman impersonate Marie. I guess he could have gone to some other establishment, but what other establishments would have a payphone? (Perhaps the very existence of a payphone is a bigger leap than any of this, though I've never been to BFE New Hampshire before).

Second, it's pretty rare to find a bar without a TV. Odds are if there is a TV at a bar it's on. They were watching hockey.

That the Grey Matter people happened to be being interviewed at that time and the guy flipped off the hockey - one must presume the game was over or a blowout because, well, hockey! - and flipped past that interview was pretty random, but no more random than, say, Walt stopping at a random bar and sharing a drink with Jane's father, or Hank sitting down to take a crap at Walt's place and just happening to decide to open up a book of Walt Whitman poetry, or various other "random" events that have taken place multiple times during this show. Weird things happen.

On the hockey game.

Last Night's Breaking Bad Featured a Denver-Wisconsin College Hockey Game from 1998 | Extra Mustard - SI.com

Here are the telling details. Wisconsin and Denver only played twice that year at the Dane County Coliseum (which the Badgers would leave next season), once on February 13, 1998 and again on the following day. In the second game, the score was 2-1 in Wisconsin’s favor in the second period, eliminating it as a possibility.

The Feb. 13 game, however, fits: Denver lead 2-1 in the second period and Rycroft had scored a goal, in keeping with the announcer’s earlier comment. Amazingly, the home team came back to score 6 goals in the third period, making it an all-time classic Badgers win:

The amazing comeback, one of eleven that season, was commemorated in the team’s media guide the next year:

Is Vince Gilligan giving us a clue? Is Walter White about to score 6 goals in the 3rd period (so to speak)?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

"Chalk" full?

Chock-full.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I agree. The show has been chock-full of them, but I've enjoyed it throughout. It's a television show, not real life. These things are going to happen to ramp up the intensity and action. Perfectly acceptable.

Meaning moments that take you out of the show and say "that would never happen". They've done a good job at keeping the coincidences within the realm of the believable, at least for me.

[nol]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Yeah, that's one of those "movie magic" moments that the show has actually done pretty well to avoid up until now.

I saw some interview where the creator of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium said he was no longer able to suspend his disbelief because 2 DVD copies of the film is "2 more than is allowed in his home."

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Meaning moments that take you out of the show and say "that would never happen". They've done a good job at keeping the coincidences within the realm of the believable, at least for me.

I have no complaints with this show on this front. Then again, as Draft Dodger pointed out in another thread, when it comes to stuff like this in TV shows I tend to be quite generous in giving the benefit of the doubt.

[Toddzilla]

It wasn't much more than a month he was at the bar and by the looks of all of the clippings he had collected plus the fact that (according to the Robert Forster) he was the most wanted man in America, subject of a nationwide manhunt, and likely the biggest news story in the country (HS chem teacher becomes meth kingpin leaving a trail of bodies in his wake including his DEA brother-in-law) it is VERY easy to imagine he's the topic of conversation on just about every news and interview program on television. That it's taken them a month to run out of interesting people to talk to before they get to those Gray Matter people makes perfect sense and at the very least is well within the realm of likelyhood.

[Ronnie Dobbs3]

How do you know it was only a month he was at the bar? I think it was longer.

His 51st birthday was a few months before the events in Ozymandias. His 52nd birthday is right when he buys the guns.

[Toddzilla]

Plus, they just didn't have those Gray Matter people on because of the tenuous connection to Walt - they had recently donated a giant wad of cash to some school and the news story was they did it for PR reasons.

Suffice to say, it was a *perfectly reasonable* expectation that they were on national television

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Ronnie Dobbs3

How do you know it was only a month he was at the bar? I think it was longer.

His 51st birthday was a few months before the events in Ozymandias. His 52nd birthday is right when he buys the guns.

Wasn't Walt Jr. a senior in high school? He didn't start driving until well after 16 because of his CP, so if we're talking over a year after Ozymandius he'd have been out of HS

[Ronnie Dobbs3]

We're talking somewhere around 8 or 9 months after Ozymandias. Unless he's faking the 52 at Denny's.

[Ronnie Dobbs3]

Assuming Robert Forster comes every month, he's been there at least two months as we know Forster came at a minimum twice.

Reddit Discussion on this issue

So maybe the 52 is wrong? Or maybe the details are being fudged?

[Ronnie Dobbs3]

Many people say Gilligan confirmed on a podcast that he was at the cabin between 4 and 6 months but I can't find the source.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Ronnie Dobbs3

Assuming Robert Forster comes every month, he's been there at least two months as we know Forster came at a minimum twice.

Reddit Discussion on this issue

So maybe the 52 is wrong? Or maybe the details are being fudged?

I think all we know is it's Mr. Lambert's 52nd birthday.

[ISiddiqui]

Is it really a big deal as to whether its Walt's 52nd birthday or Mr. Lambert's 52nd birthday?

[path12]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Is it really a big deal as to whether its Walt's 52nd birthday or Mr. Lambert's 52nd birthday?

Hey pal, this is the internet. Of course it is!!

[Ronnie Dobbs3]

Well if you are interested in the timeline, of course it is. You don't have to read it.

[Ronnie Dobbs3]

Originally Posted by mckerney

I think all we know is it's Mr. Lambert's 52nd birthday.

Not sure that's true, honestly. If that's true that means that Walt makes the 52 symbolically on a day that really means nothing to him. Just seems a lot more likely that it is in fact his.

[hoopsguy]

Almost fell of the first page ...

Onion's take on the Walter White Experience -
http://www.theonion.com/video/the-on...st=recent-news

[Bad-example]

Touchdown.

[tarcone]

Great ending. Well done.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Whew.

Just damned whew.

[Brownkeg8]

Tied up everything very well, a fantastic ending to a great series.

[Logan]

It was beautiful.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I still don't think I've recovered. Spent way too many minutes holding my breath through scene after scene.

And Talking Bad helped a little bit I think. We didn't want them to go away, so it was like a gentler way to say farewell.

[RainMaker]

Can't do it much better.

I'm also blown away by how many little things they put in. Like the watch Jesse gave him being left on top of the phone. Totally forgot Jesse had bought him that.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I still don't think I've recovered. Spent way too many minutes holding my breath through scene after scene.

And Talking Bad helped a little bit I think. We didn't want them to go away, so it was like a gentler way to say farewell.

Yep on both accounts. I thought Hardwick did a good job with Talking Bad this season, it was a nice thing to be able to wind down after each episode (or the next day in my case frequently).

More detailed comments:

Spoiler

I loved the finale, obvoiusly. I think the most common predictions from the flash forwards were spot on from the start, but it didn't detract from anything in any way. I loved his final play w/ the money and the Gray Matter people, loved that we got one last scene with Badger and Skinny Pete.

Honestly, it felt way more upbeat than I expected it to. What I mean is... at the very end, Walt got to redeem himself a small bit. Yes it was dark and awful what happened to everyone, but I honestly expected the finale to continue to ride further down into hell for everyone. But Walt redeems himself in a small way with Marie, giving closure w/ the location of Hank's body. He redeems himself in a small way with Skyler, finally admitting that he just liked it all, and that it wasn't just all for the family, and giving her a bargaining chip with the feds. He finds a way to get money to his kids that they probably will accept, he saves Jesse, ties up all loose ends, and goes out on his own terms as much as possible.

So while the ricin was for Lydia, and the bigass gun was for the nazis, and those are hugely important plot points that happened about the way everyone expected, I still feel very surprised by the ending.


So... Jesse... he lives, and that's a win for everyone that loves Jesse, but he's completely fucked right? Maybe he has some money somewhere, and can go to Alaska and spend the rest of his life in therapy, but more likely Jesse is completely broken and fucked. Or maybe like reddit was predicting (and Jonathan Banks mentioned on Talking Bad), Jesse goes to find Brock and raise him. But I don't really think so, I think Jesse is completely broken, and the best case scenario for him is that he spends the rest of his life coping with everything that's happened to him, but does it in another city and somehow finds a circle of people not involved in drugs and stays clean.


I'd said (probably many times) in this thread that to me, Walt "winning" would be if he somehow got to die of cancer. But I think he won here, entirely. At the very end, he did everything he came back to New Mexico to do, successfully


Lydia the Tattooed Lady - YouTube <-- Todd's ringtone, in case you missed it when Lydia called at the end, was from this song. Damn goofy lovestruck sociopath.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Todd's ringtone is probably best known (unless I've missed something) to many viewers (still living) as a song that Klinger sang a bit of occasionally on M*A*S*H

[Glengoyne]

All wrapped up, and nicely done at that.

A very rare thing these days.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Radii

Yep on both accounts. I thought Hardwick did a good job with Talking Bad this season, it was a nice thing to be able to wind down after each episode (or the next day in my case frequently).

More detailed comments:

Spoiler

I loved the finale, obvoiusly. I think the most common predictions from the flash forwards were spot on from the start, but it didn't detract from anything in any way. I loved his final play w/ the money and the Gray Matter people, loved that we got one last scene with Badger and Skinny Pete.

Honestly, it felt way more upbeat than I expected it to. What I mean is... at the very end, Walt got to redeem himself a small bit. Yes it was dark and awful what happened to everyone, but I honestly expected the finale to continue to ride further down into hell for everyone. But Walt redeems himself in a small way with Marie, giving closure w/ the location of Hank's body. He redeems himself in a small way with Skyler, finally admitting that he just liked it all, and that it wasn't just all for the family, and giving her a bargaining chip with the feds. He finds a way to get money to his kids that they probably will accept, he saves Jesse, ties up all loose ends, and goes out on his own terms as much as possible.

So while the ricin was for Lydia, and the bigass gun was for the nazis, and those are hugely important plot points that happened about the way everyone expected, I still feel very surprised by the ending.


So... Jesse... he lives, and that's a win for everyone that loves Jesse, but he's completely fucked right? Maybe he has some money somewhere, and can go to Alaska and spend the rest of his life in therapy, but more likely Jesse is completely broken and fucked. Or maybe like reddit was predicting (and Jonathan Banks mentioned on Talking Bad), Jesse goes to find Brock and raise him. But I don't really think so, I think Jesse is completely broken, and the best case scenario for him is that he spends the rest of his life coping with everything that's happened to him, but does it in another city and somehow finds a circle of people not involved in drugs and stays clean.


I'd said (probably many times) in this thread that to me, Walt "winning" would be if he somehow got to die of cancer. But I think he won here, entirely. At the very end, he did everything he came back to New Mexico to do, successfully


Lydia the Tattooed Lady - YouTube <-- Todd's ringtone, in case you missed it when Lydia called at the end, was from this song. Damn goofy lovestruck sociopath.

Perfect song for the ending too.

[Johnny93g]

Satisfying!

[mckerney]

[mckerney]

Story Of Small Businessman Struggling Under Obama Administration Draws To Close

[mckerney]

[mckerney]

Only disappointment is that I was hoping to hear Big Iron when I saw the Marty Robbins tape.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I thought this was a pretty good point from the Washington Post recap of the finale

In a hyper-media era in which so much is derivative of something else, we sometimes lose sight of the value of the completely original epic. “Breaking Bad” may have drawn from the greatest tools of dramatic tragedy, but it was not based on or adapted from anything that came before. This is a common thread among our finest TV shows: They are wholly new, sui generis (to get fancy about it).

“Breaking Bad” was born of Gilligan’s initial and almost reductive desire to tell a story about a good man who turns bad. It was not a remake of something that came before it. It was not a Shakespearean update. It was not an imported vehicle, not previously a hit series from Britain or Sweden or Denmark. It was not optioned from a string of crime novels or a fancy comic book.

“Breaking Bad” was not trying to evoke something that it admired from before. It wasn’t reaching for an era or a particular strain of nostalgia. Thanks to its sick sense of irony and the driest humor possible, it did not neatly fit into any one genre of modern drama. (Gilligan has said before that he considered it a “western.”) And by setting its story in Albuquerque — by filming it there and inhabiting the city’s character so fully — “Breaking Bad” deliberately chose uncharted territory, a “Land of Enchantment” in which the enchantment was entirely ours and not Walter’s. Literally and figuratively, “Breaking Bad’ went to a place hardly anyone ever goes.

[Solecismic]

Nicely done. Bravo, Mr. Gilligan, wherever you are.

[CleBrownsfan]

Fantastic ending to a fantastic show - now bring on the zombies!!

[Honolulu_Blue]

Yeah, that was really great.

I'll definitely miss it.

[PackerFanatic]

Incredible. Can't do it much better than that.

[Toddzilla]

OK, now I want the REAL sequel to the show - Holly White and Kaylee Ehrmentraut doing a Person of Interest / CSI kind of show.

[gi]

I'm looking forward to getting the barrel with all the goodies in it. Should be a good thing to have in the house.