Breaking Bad Final Season Continues August 11th

[Elsalvajeloco]

I'm with FSW. It's a TV show, who cares if its not 100% true in its depiction of the Mexican cartel. If you want to talk unrealistic it's dealers wanting to sell 100% pure meth. It wouldn't make sense to sell it like that. What are you worried a meth head might give your product a negative review on yelp?

People don't want to smoke shitty weed, so I would imagine meth would be held to a higher standard. You would continue your addiction by getting a stronger form of the drug. Hell, that's how Frank Lucas became the biggest dealer in America. He sold almost 100% pure heroin called Blue Magic.That's how he mowed down the competition in the states and not by shooting down people in cold blood in the street as depicted in American Gangster.

[ultimoDANK]

The shit Frank Lucas sold was likely cut up at every rung of the ladder. Walt's pure shit was being sold on the street. You'd have to have some rich meth heads if you're selling that for profit.

[Elsalvajeloco]

The shit Frank Lucas sold was likely cut up at every rung of the ladder. Walt's pure shit was being sold on the street. You'd have to have some rich meth heads if you're selling that for profit.

Not necessarily. Once you convince others to sample it and buy it, you will have people selling their first born for another taste. My uncle worked for the Chambers Brothers (not the singing group either) right around the time they left for Detroit. As you upgrade your stuff and put a real distribution system into place, then you won't have to worry about turning a profit. When people get hooked in an area with that small of a population (Ark./Miss./Memphis), you basically can drive up the price without a seeing a dip in what you're bringing in. That's why they took their chance in going to Detroit.

[bink_winkleman]

Re: Gus wiping out the cartel, I thought it was always implied that Gus was Something Bigger.  The Chilean connection that kept him alive to begin with.  I'm actually kind of disappointed that whatever it was, it's doesn't look like it's going to come back on Walt. 

[Elsalvajeloco]

Re: Gus wiping out the cartel, I thought it was always implied that Gus was Something Bigger.  The Chilean connection that kept him alive to begin with.  I'm actually kind of disappointed that whatever it was, it's doesn't look like it's going to come back on Walt. 

I like to believe Gus was a member of Colonia Dignidad as a child. That would explain why he got involved with Germans later in life and why he is a bit fucked up in the head. Max's death was probably the cherry on top of his craziness.

[Curt McGirt]

There are many things that could come back on Walt -- the Czechs, the Aryans, the cartel. Who knows. I get the feeling after this episode that it won't involve his inner circle, however. Watch me be horribly wrong

 

I watched a bit of Talking Bad with Sam Jackson and Odenkirk before I couldn't stand it anymore (Odenkirk seems way too close to the smarminess of his character and I don't like things being spelled out for me) but they had an interesting point that Saul is kind of the blasting cap for so many bad turns things have taken. He knows all these shady people/contacts and moves the story on like no one else. Without him, nothing would really have happened. 

[sydneybrown]

I watched a bit of Talking Bad with Sam Jackson and Odenkirk before I couldn't stand it anymore (Odenkirk seems way too close to the smarminess of his character and I don't like things being spelled out for me)

 

I have a friend who worked with Odenkirk once in LA who had absolutely nothing positive to say about him.  I'm under the impression that he's so good at being a dick because he's not acting. The doc on the later Mr. Show DVDs insinuate that too.

[offspring515]

I didn't much enjoy the Sam Jackson/Odenkirk episode of Talking Bad.  I don't really like them having "celebrity superfans!!!" on in the first place, I'd rather see actors or writers from the show.  Beyond that Odenkirk seemed to not have much to say and seemed really uncomfortable in that environment.

[driver]

I think Lydia is going to write a Czech her ass can't cash.

[Craig H]

So I am all caught up. Plowed through about 4 episodes a day to get to this point. What an amazing series. I love that Hank is in full pissed off mode and can't wipe his "Vic Mackey I'mma kill you" look off his face. A million points also goes to Walter for saying, "I don't like the way you're looking at me right now." 

 

I'm torn though, because I don't know how I want this all to end. I have a feeling that we're going to receive an ending like The Shield's. No one wins, except for maybe Hank and Marie, but that's a tainted victory at best. As for everyone else, Skyler runs off with the kids and goes into hiding, Jesse kills himself, and Walter winds up going to prison, but doesn't care since he doesn't have long to live, until he finds out there's no easy way out because his cancer is back in remission. As for Todd, Todd gets a spinoff show. If nothing else, I think this raises Jesse Plemons' profile even more considering he's been on two of the best TV series of all time, and hopefully he gets more starring roles. 

[_MJ_]

Vince Gilligan in an interview with Digital Spy said this:

There's one specific theory, about Walt taking on the attributes of people he's killed including Gus Fring and Krazy-8, which I wanted to ask you about. Was that intentional?

Vince Gilligan:

"That one was purposeful, yes. Specifically in regards to Gus. I would say at this point it's not looking like we're ever gonna see anyone as smart as Gustavo Fring. He was actually, I think, smarter than Walt, and yet Walt defeated him. It was like, the guy who shoots down the Red Baron has to tip his wings, drop the bouquet of roses and say, 'I was lucky to have bested you because you are the better man'. It's that kind of a thing. So yeah, he takes on those traits, I think subconsciously."

Click on this link for the entire interview:  http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/s166/breaking-bad/interviews/a510056/breaking-bad-creator-vince-gilligan-talks-final-season-fan-theories.html

 

Gilligan comes off much better in interviews and other media than most of the other showrunners from tv shows I've watched (I'm looking at you Mad Men and LOST dudes).  He could be a dick for all I know, but he handles the circus around his show well.

[EVA]

No, he's widely considered a very solid dude. He doesn't even put his name on his writers' scripts, even though he probably does as much rewriting as Matt Weiner. I think he has an awareness of how fortunate he was to get that X-FILES spec script that he sent Fox picked up.

Speaking of X-FILES, I recently watched "Drive," the now legendary episode written by Gilligan and guest starring Cranston, and it's incredible. Hindsight might have a lot to do with it, but you can tell that Cranston has "it," even though it would take another several years for him to get his break in drama. He take a fairly one note charicature and gives him a real sense of life. It's way beyond the typical perormance you expect from these one-off character actor spots.

And the scene where Mulder has to stop for gas is what we'd come to recognize as Vintage Breaking Bad. "You gotta pre-pay!"

[offspring515]

Tremendous episode.  Walter White (monster, madman, devil as Jesse so eloquently puts it) turns out to be the only person who actually cares about Jesse.  Skyler heartlessly proves that she's grown just as cold and jaded as her husband and echoes his own words when she tells him to "take care" of Jesse.  Hank uses Jesse as nothing more than a pawn in his quest to checkmate Walt.  So Jesse, who warns Hank that whatever he thinks is going to happen with Walt will result in the exact opposite, thinks Walt is going to kill him and decides to change up the plan.  Only for us to discover that Walt really did just want to talk. 

 

So much of Breaking Bad has been about how Walter's actions and reactions changing those around him. This is manifested once again in the mind games he's played with Jesse , leaving Jesse completely incapable of trusting Walt.  He turned Jesse into a man bent on revenge, a man who thinks Walt is only out to kill him.  Which in turn pushes Walt into becoming just that and calling up Uncle Nazi to put a hit on Jesse.

 

I have no idea where this is all going.  The moving pieces are awesome, and there are so many players involved.  I mean hell, this week Marie of all people is talking about poisons!  Marie!  Marie could be a player in all this.  Marie! 

 

God I love this show.

[EVA]

I've seen people downing this as an episode where "nothing happened," and it is a piece-mover episode, but there was so much good character stuff in here.

The Skyler thing is harsh and represents an extreme evolution in her character, but it works because it's such a natural outgrowth of her character. It's 1+1=2. She doesn't know Jesse. He's just another drug dealer to her. And if Walt has killed other drug dealers to protect their family, why wouldn't he kill Jesse, too? And, of course, Walt just can't come out and admit that Jesse is more than that to him.

Speaking of...I love it when I hear my own thoughts come out of the characters' mouths, so I was like YES, HANK! when he said that it sounded like Walt cared about Jesse and did everything he did to him to make him stay.

And then Jesse comes back over the top with the great, "Yeah, he's gay for me!" line, which is a fantastic line for his charcter but will surely be taken out of context and repurposed for unfortuante Internet memes.

Jesse's whole breakdown of how Walt works was amazing, and I loved that he added that, not only is Walt smart, he's also really lucky, which was a great acknowledgement by the writers that, yeah, sometimes Walt gets off by chance or by events transpring in the most convenient way possible for him.

[JRGoldman]

I think this was my favorite of this seasons episodes this far. So quirky, but with a tremendous amount of tension. The whole thing felt like going up hill on a roller coaster.

[Curt McGirt]

You can't access someone's voicemail without typing in a code number.

[_MJ_]

From what I'm hearing from others, I think you can with certain phone services, but I don't know or care enough to debate the point.

 

There are no heroes here, and I'm enjoying it.  Even Hank isn't completely virtuous.  I don't want to root for anyone, and Gilligan seems to think the same.  Nice.

Edited September 2, 2013 by _MJ_

[EVA]

I don't know anyone who still has a passcode on their voicemail.

EDIT: Watching the replay. Didn't notice Hank fishtailing the van at the end the first time around. Ha.

[AstroBoy]

Hank definitely isn't virtuous.  I'll actually be really disappointed if he's successful in bringing down Heisenberg either by himself or with the help of others. 

[Petey]

For 3 hours straight all he talked about was something called Babylon 5.

[jstout]

I haven't seen all of the episodes (boo - I still haven't watched some of season 2), but last week's episode was the best one ever for me - just one "holy shit" moment after another - the scene in the Mexican restaurant, the "confession" video, Walt's hug of Jesse, the scene with Saul, the scene in Walt's house).

 

This week's episode just cranked up the tension with lots of great little moments leading to the big moment at the end. When Walt started moving toward the tough-looking guy and the girl came into screen saying "daddy," that brought the biggest "holy shit" from me since Gus Fring's tie adjustment.

 

I thought that after the breakneck pace of last week's episode, we were gonna be in for a real rollercoaster ride over the last few episodes of the series. I still believe that after last night, but last night's episode was the rollercoaster going slowly up a hill before it gets ready to go 100 mph down the other side. 

[Elsalvajeloco]

"Rabid Dog" was the first episode of the season that made me feel that series was coming to an end.

[EVA]

I plan on going back and rewatching the whole series from beginning to end once it's all over, but I'm dreading seeing the quicktime destruction of Jesse's soul, from dumb punk kid, oblivious but salvageable as a human being, to...whatever that was in Walt's living room.

[Curt McGirt]

Maybe I just got a weird setup or something, I still use a password. 

 

Hank's comment about letting Jesse get killed as long as they have it on film pissed me off to no end. They really are burying everyone now, the only two people who don't deserve to be horribly punished are the kids. Marie rambling about poisoning Walt out of nowhere was weird.

[sydneybrown]

I'm usually very wrong in my predictions, but I'm starting to get the feeling Jesse's going to be the one who ends the series killing Walt and being the last man standing.  Jesse's been a "half measure" this entire season, and Walt could have eliminated him MANY times, but he still cares about him to a degree, and even though he's in "full measure" mode now, it may be too late.  It seems only right as far as this series goes that the one person he's tried to spare is the one who kills him.