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Breaking Bad will always be to me, the TV show that got this stupid song stuck in my head for like 2 weeks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVAVaZqNeak
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Oct 8, 2013 07:39
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CatchrNdRy posted:Interactions I wished would have happened: Todd: "Welcome to Los Pollos Hermanos, may I help you?" Lydia: "Yes, I'd like chamomile tea. Do you have any stevia?" Todd: "Uh, we don't have any chamomile tea." Lydia: "Well, Earl Grey then. I brought my own stevia." Todd: "We don't have Earl Grey. We have Pepsi and Mountain Dew." Lydia: "Can I at least have a cup of hot water, and a slice of lemon?" Todd: "Well, I can fill a cup with hot water from the bathroom sink and add in a packet of lemon juice."
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Oct 8, 2013 08:04
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...of SCIENCE! posted:I am really interested in how peoples' attitude towards the show will change as a new generation of viewers watch it all in one go instead of spaced out like it has been for most of us. Almost every element involved in the finale of the show was only introduced that season, and without all that time between seasons to help ease the transition from 3 seasons of Gus Fring to just over half a season of Todd and Lydia more palatable it might be a little jarring. I am one of those viewers. I watched the first couple of episodes of Breaking Bad a few years ago, enjoyed it, but never got around to watching more. Then in the last few weeks I've watched the whole series because I didn't want the final ending to get spoiled. The end of season 4 definitely felt like a series finale, with series 5 as an epilogue series. The new characters were a little jarring, still enjoyable but by the end they were still new characters I didn't really care about. By the end of the show I hated Walt as a person, and was rooting for him to be caught or killed. Maybe less sympathy for him since I saw his descent happen fairly quickly.
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Oct 8, 2013 09:24
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2house2fly posted:I thought the plane crash was a bit silly but I LOVED the black and white flashforwards. From reading along with a message board thread as I watched, I feel like a lot of people's problems were that the flashforwards gave the impression that some big cartel gunfight or meth lab explosion was going to go down at Walt's house, and the plane crash came really out of left field. This is precisely why I didn't like it. It's fine to pull a twist/mindfuck out of the left field on the viewers, as long as the actual thing is more interesting than what the perception was. "Plane crash that affects the entire city" was not as interesting as "Walt's deeds have caught up to him and something terrible has happened." The sensation it gave me was similar to that in the movie The Village, when it's revealed the monsters are just the village elders in costumes. That's not as interesting as what we thought was happening! They spent the whole season building up to it and then were like "psyche! It was an unrelated catastrophe." The idea of it being a consequence of Walt's actions was also dumb, because it was such a disconnected chain. It was Jane's dad's fault for returning to his high-stakes, high-pressure job before he'd dealt with his grief. Presumably the same thing would have happened if Jane had OD'd of her own accord, or died in a car crash, or been walking past a construction site when somebody accidentally dropped a hammer.
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Oct 8, 2013 13:22
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cletepurcel posted:The entire point of the series is that Walt is supposed to gradually become less "relatable" as the seasons progress though. Why the hell do people keep ranking season 1 low and saying it "had to find it's footing?" There are shows this is true for. Breaking Bad was not one of them. The show opened on a scene that will live on in pop culture, hit the ground running and never looked back. Walt's first body removal and kill, "This isn't meth!"... season 1 was just plain drat good. Ranking the seasons is very difficult because I think I could pull top episodes from every single season. I admit I think I'd rank 5B as the best season though. It didn't just have a few of the best episodes of the show, it had a few of the best episodes of TV period. Blazing Ownager fucked around with this message at 14:43 on Oct 8, 2013 |
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Oct 8, 2013 14:41
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I really saw the crash as more of a comment on the broader, unseen effects of Walts behaviour. He is pouring out a huge quantity of an extremely addictive, destructive substance onto the streets of his hometown, and here we are with the indirect consequences of hard drug dealing, families torn apart and a society that stops working.
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Oct 8, 2013 14:45
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Regarding ranking the seasons, I don't know how 5 will stand the test of time (and the test of people watching it in one gluttonous gulp instead of measuring it out over years) but I do recall feeling relieved that the superlab was gone. Season 3 and 4 kind of blended into each other. They were amazing, yeah, but I was glad that Walt and Jesse were out of the superlab, out from under Gus' thumb, and the show was getting back to the freewheeling days of the first two seasons when all kinds of crazy hosed up things were possible - cleaning up a body that fell through the roof! Getting kidnapped by a drug dealer! Destroying evidence with magnets! Train robbery! That also reminds me of the moment very late in the show, when Walt is desperately trying to clean up the gasoline Jesse splashed everywhere. Skyler's now in on his life of crime, but it was a weirdly satisfying throwback to the days when he had to spin all kinds of lies to keep his faily out of the loop.
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Oct 8, 2013 14:54
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hiddenmovement posted:I really saw the crash as more of a comment on the broader, unseen effects of Walts behaviour. He is pouring out a huge quantity of an extremely addictive, destructive substance onto the streets of his hometown, and here we are with the indirect consequences of hard drug dealing, families torn apart and a society that stops working. I thought Breaking Bad actually actively avoided ever condemning Walt and Jesse for the creation and sale of drugs per se - instead they get condemned for all the criminal violence associated with it. The closest it ever comes is when Walt has to walk through a meth house looking for Jesse after Jane dies. This kind of links in with the theory that it's a show which is very much about personal choices and, thus, personal consequences. That's not necessarily my view, but I think that was the view the show took. There's a great moment, I can't remember when, when Hanks points out that meth used to be freely available in drug stores all over the country, and says something like "thank God we came to our senses on that." Walt agrees with him whole-heartedly, and not just to keep up his cover as a mild-mannered chemistry teacher - if meth were legal, he wouldn't be able to make nearly as much money off it as he does.
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Oct 8, 2013 14:58
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Mexcillent posted:That was me. Thats the significance of the prayer scene to me. Walts such a hard headed rationalist that its kind of out of character for him, but its the signifier that he's finally found some humilty.
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Oct 8, 2013 15:17
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Was I the only person who thought he was talking to "Heisenberg" in that scene? However dumb that is? Praying to God literally did not occur to me until I read it on the internet.
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Oct 8, 2013 16:26
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I kinda thought he was praying to the car. "get me home and I'll do the rest."
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Oct 8, 2013 16:32
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At Walt's lowest point, I don't think he needed to pray to anyone or anything in particular. He just needed to pray.
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Oct 8, 2013 16:45
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Unrelated but: Bryan Cranston, fart expert: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/1f13b26c30/sense-of-smell Aaron Paul, Weird Al: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/3231da28bb/weird-the-al-yankovic-story And my favorite moment/line in BB: "Because your boss is gonna need me" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX648BzPL30
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Oct 8, 2013 16:47
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Rando posted:I kinda thought he was praying to the car. "get me home and I'll do the rest." This is exactly my take on the scene, and why the last thread was so frustrating to read for me. I couldn't catch up quickly enough to share my thoughts, but he wasn't talking to his split personality that doesn't exist, he was talking to the loving car. Jesus, people.
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Oct 8, 2013 16:52
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He was obviously praying to the Breaking Bad gods of chaos, the writing staff.
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Oct 8, 2013 17:03
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Walter White was praying to Based God. This is an accepted fact and I don't know how y'all don't understand this 
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Oct 8, 2013 17:05
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Civilized Fishbot posted:Walter White was praying to Based God. This is an accepted fact and I don't know how y'all don't understand this Well he isn't exactly the type of guy who prays, that might be part of the confusion. Guy didn't seem to believe in the concept of a soul. I thought he was talking to the Heisenberg persona for a minute.
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Oct 8, 2013 17:23
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Blazing Ownager posted:Why the hell do people keep ranking season 1 low and saying it "had to find it's footing?" I don't know why either. BB is one of the few shows that you can point interested people to the Pilot. The Wire, for all its greatness, does not hook you in instantly. Far from it.
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Oct 8, 2013 17:29
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Chobdab posted:Well he isn't exactly the type of guy who prays, that might be part of the confusion. Guy didn't seem to believe in the concept of a soul. He's also a guy that said "If there is a hell, we are going there", so dude had some layers.
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Oct 8, 2013 17:35
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Kasonic posted:At Walt's lowest point, I don't think he needed to pray to anyone or anything in particular. He just needed to pray. Yeah I don't think hes literally accepting god, but the point of a prayer is that you're figuratively asking something outside yourself for help, which is a big change for him. For a while he's been picturing himself as the master of his own destiny in every regard.
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Oct 8, 2013 17:42
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Walt is praying to either God or Heisenberg, and both answers are completely viable. I hadn't considered the car, and that could work too... it's just that there's more thematic significance with him talking to God or Heisenberg. The fact that it's unclear is actually the most interesting thing about it.
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Oct 8, 2013 17:43
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Whether he was talking to Heisenberg or not isn't that important. That the writers planted that line so that you would consider it, is.
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Oct 8, 2013 17:43
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Walt's talking to the car, but on a deeper level he's talking to his own body. Walt is dying, and there is a good chance he'll die before he ever gets across the Mississippi. He just needs this car to start and last long enough to get him home. He just needs his body to last long enough to set things right. The idea that he's talking to Heisenberg is pretty at odds with everything else going on. A lot of the finale is about Walt abandoning the notion of Heisenberg. He's no longer disassociating himself from his actions. He's recognizing who he is, what he's done, and why he's done it. Spellman posted:Whether he was talking to Heisenberg or not isn't that important. That the writers planted that line so that you would consider it, is.
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Oct 8, 2013 17:50
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Timeless Appeal posted:The idea that he's talking to Heisenberg is pretty at odds with everything else going on. A lot of the finale is about Walt abandoning the notion of Heisenberg. He's no longer disassociating himself from his actions. He's recognizing who he is, what he's done, and why he's done it. You could interpret that as Walt accepting that Heisenberg was himself all along. When he says to Skyler "I did it for me" it's both Walt and Heisenberg talking to her at the same time. But that's the halfway point of the episode. I think at the beginning he's still got the two personas separated in his head. The final episode is us observing the two states of Walter finally collapsing into one. Steve Yun fucked around with this message at 17:59 on Oct 8, 2013 |
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Oct 8, 2013 17:54
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Steve Yun posted:But that's the halfway point of the episode. I think at the beginning he's still got the two personas separated in his head.
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Oct 8, 2013 18:00
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I personally thought Heisenberg's last appearance was in Ozymandias. The last two episodes only feature Walt. What's the last moment we see the black hat? In the basement of the vacuum shop? Am I forgetting something? edit: maybe it was his desperate attempt to get Saul on board with the revenge plan and then Saul says it's over. Rando fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Oct 8, 2013 |
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Oct 8, 2013 18:05
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Rando posted:I personally thought Heisenberg's last appearance was in Ozymandias. The last two episodes only feature Walt. It was in the New Hampshire cabin on the deer's head. Walt tries to put it on and go outside, and then goes back in.
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Oct 8, 2013 18:05
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Steve Yun posted:You could interpret that as Walt accepting that Heisenberg was himself all along. It's not until he finds Jesse that he's really challenged in any way.
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Oct 8, 2013 18:14
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Of course the idea that there are two personalities in Walt's head is silly to begin with. Heisenberg and Walt were really the same lovely, selfish person the whole time.
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Oct 8, 2013 18:19
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Yeah, but the disassociation of the two is important for Walt's character.
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Oct 8, 2013 18:25
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Rando posted:Of course the idea that there are two personalities in Walt's head is silly to begin with. Heisenberg and Walter White aren't actually different people, but they are manifestations of Walt's desire to be an amoral coldhearted badass in the workplace and a loving father at home, and his delusion that the two will never interfere with each other.
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Oct 8, 2013 18:26
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A coping mechanism for dealing with what is at first new and disturbing events?
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Oct 8, 2013 18:27
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Rando posted:A coping mechanism for dealing with what is at first new and disturbing events? Yea I see it that way, he had some PTSD from the initial cancer diagnosis and the violence of dealing with Tuco. The ringing sound that plays out after some of the more traumatic scenes (diagnosis and at home after Tuco killed his henchman) seem to highlight this.
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Oct 8, 2013 18:32
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Kasonic posted:At Walt's lowest point, I don't think he needed to pray to anyone or anything in particular. He just needed to pray. I've seen a fair few shows, movies, etc. where the main character prays at some point. It's weird that Breaking Bad is the first time I've ever actually liked the idea that maybe his prayer was answered.
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Oct 8, 2013 18:36
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CatchrNdRy posted:Interactions I wished would have happened: This is the one thing I really wish had happened at some point. It would have made for a really great scene, I think.
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Oct 8, 2013 18:41
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Max posted:This is the one thing I really wish had happened at some point. It would have made for a really great scene, I think. I can't think of an organic way for this to play out though. Maybe while Jesse was staying with Hank, but they specifically kept Flynn away from that household. I also would have liked Jesse to have a "friendlier" dinner with Hank and Marie to contrast his awkward dinner with Walt and Skyler.
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Oct 8, 2013 18:55
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On the podcast, Vince kind of implied Walt was talking to the devil. Then he got coy and laughed it off. So it was probably just the car.
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Oct 8, 2013 19:37
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Civilized Fishbot posted:Heisenberg and Walter White aren't actually different people, but they are manifestations of Walt's desire to be an amoral coldhearted badass in the workplace and a loving father at home, and his delusion that the two will never interfere with each other. I remember there being a very interesting video on youtube examining the imagery of the first three or four seasons of Breaking Bad and how it related to the nature of Walt's dual identities, using waveform collapse as the principle idiom. Essentially, at any given time Walt is both the family man and Heisenberg, and it's only his own illusions that keep them separate, but as time goes on the former becomes indistinguishable from the latter to everyone but Walt himself. Most of the tragedies and mistakes that occur in the series arise from Walt being unable to admit to himself and to the people around him what his true nature is; as a result he takes risks and makes stupid moves out of a combination of panic and hubris. It's not until the final episode that Walt recognizes who he truly is, and abandons his illusions. The waveform collapses, and he's capable of both premeditated cruelty and honest compassion towards his family. He fesses up to Skylar, gives Marie the only form of closure she's capable of experiencing at this point, ensures Flynn's future without caring whether he knows who is behind it, and is rewarded with a final moment with Holly. Freed from the requirements of needing to lead a double life and to actual get away with his crimes, he's actually capable of pulling off his elaborate plan without a hitch.
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Oct 8, 2013 19:49
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CatchrNdRy posted:I can't think of an organic way for this to play out though. Maybe while Jesse was staying with Hank, but they specifically kept Flynn away from that household. On the podcasts, Vince has mentioned that while he appreciates everything being organic, he knows that sometimes one has to be in-organic to serve the story, so they wouldn't have shied away from a scene like that for those reasons. I agree though, it would have been hard to justify a scene like that, unless they did some sort of epilogue after Walt died. It still would have been a great scene.
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Oct 8, 2013 19:50
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"Get me home and I'll do the rest" is Walt talking to the car? Why would the car care? Why would the car need to be re-assured that all it'd need to do is "get him home," like it was gonna loving hop up onto two wheels, grab the M60 and join Walt on his assault on the compound? I mean, you know what? I'll grant it's a possibility and a fair interpretation of the scene, but this poo poo Pyroxene Stigma posted:This is exactly my take on the scene, and why the last thread was so frustrating to read for me. I couldn't catch up quickly enough to share my thoughts, but he wasn't talking to his split personality that doesn't exist, he was talking to the loving car. Jesus, people. is sooooo annoying to me. It's like the guy a few pages back who thought the bacon and eggs line was supposed to be a lead to Denny's and was a total dick to people who were reading the scene right. The finale is loaded with dialogue that is supposed to be up to you to interpret. I mean poo poo, don't they even talk about this on the podcast, about Walt's "devil's luck?" To me the scene wasn't Walt praying to a god, but a higher power. Whether or not he made it home was completely up to fate, at any point in his journey he could have been stopped by police and it would be game over. I didn't necessarily think he was talking to Heisenberg, but my reaction to that was "huh, that's a pretty neat take too!" not "ugh, loving PLEBS  '
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Oct 8, 2013 20:08
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