Breaking Bad Final Season Continues August 11th

[EVA]

Yeah, I think it's great, you know, we've spent all this season guessing what it was that brought Walt back - his family? Jesse? his money? to kill Hank? everything, you can think of - and it ended up being something that nobody thought of, fucking Elliot and Gretchen embarrassing him on national TV. Not only is it unexpected, but it takes the show right back to the root cause of everything that's happened: Walt's ego. I guess that's why Vince Gilligan writes the show and we just watch it.

Going back for his family or for Jesse would have been good, but there would also be too much nobility in that, a lot more than he deserves, if that's all there was to it. And, in the process of his return, he may, in fact, save Jesse, get his money back, and/or help his family, but he's coming back, choosing not to rot away in that cabin or in police custody, for one reason: to remind motherfuckers who he is before he dies.

His family hates him; they won't even take his money. All he has left is his name.

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

Yeah I often think I could write a pretty decent tv show, certainly less contrived and terrible than Dexter, or tryhardy than Sons.

Then I think of Breaking Bad and I'm like nah.

[Antacular]

Seeing as Walt never made that final cook for the Aryans (And how badly they wanted him to), plus the fact that Blue Sky is making rounds again, Walt HAS to realize Jesse is alive. 

[The Comedian]

Is Walt really pissed off at Grey Matter? I thought he was just pissed off at finding out that Blue Sky is still being sold around the world. Leading Walt to realise that Jesse is still alive since he's the only other person that knows how to make it.

 

Honestly I think way too many people are biting on this "Walt's going back because of Grey Matter" thing. Walt's not going back because he saw that interview, he's going back because he blew his fucking cover calling his son. He can't stay in New Hampshire, and he'd been planning to go back and kill the Aryans from jump anyway, so now's as good a time as any. The Grey Matter interview was just a little added piss-off.

[jstout]

It's to leave everybody guessing whether he's going back for the Aryans or for Grey Matter, or both. 

 

I just don't understand why Elliott and Gretchen had to poke the bear like that. How hard would it have been to say "hey, he left the company a long time ago, why should we be responsible for what he does after he leaves the company?"

[jumbojustice]

 

Honestly I think way too many people are biting on this "Walt's going back because of Grey Matter" thing. Walt's not going back because he saw that interview, he's going back because he blew his fucking cover calling his son. He can't stay in New Hampshire, and he'd been planning to go back and kill the Aryans from jump anyway, so now's as good a time as any. The Grey Matter interview was just a little added piss-off.

 

I don't agree that he's going back because he blew his cover. It seems pretty clear that, after finally realizing that his family hates him and doesn't even want his money, he had given up and resigned himself to being caught like Saul suggested (which is why he called himself in to the police).

 

I agree with EVA's viewpoint. All Walt has left at this point is his name and infamy, and Elliot and Gretchen's comments sparked his decision that he wants to go out with a bang, rather than fading away in jail or in a cabin in the middle of nowhere (the revelation that his blue meth is still being produced, and the possibility that Jesse is still alive, probably contributed to that as well). So in a way, I guess their comments were an added piss-off, but they were also the straw that broke the camels back.

 

I think it fits perfectly with Walt's character, and I can't wait to see what he does, and whether it will be evil, redemptive, or a combination of both. I don't think he's going back to directly attack Grey Matter, though, or anything like that.

[Elsalvajeloco]

It's to leave everybody guessing whether he's going back for the Aryans or for Grey Matter, or both. 

 

I just don't understand why Elliott and Gretchen had to poke the bear like that. How hard would it have been to say "hey, he left the company a long time ago, why should we be responsible for what he does after he leaves the company?"

 

For some reason, companies do a bad job at this. Every time some rich ass former CEO is involved in a scandal, the chairmen always try to distance themselves by chastising said person. It's never the whole "that has nothing to do with us" because they're trying to keep investors happy and prove it won't affect their bottom line. If you ever saw an episode of American Greed, you would see that there are several Elliot and Gretchen types. Even though Walt really hasn't had anything to do with them in several years, they are too busy doing damage control to save their asses because some investor might think they subsidized his meth trade in some way.

[The Damn Yeti]

Walt is leaving to kill motherfuckering Aryans and get his money.  Anything else is incidental.  Watch the final scene again and look at Walt's face when Rose mentions blue meth.  The Schwartz's tear him down to nothing as "Walter White" and then he finds out that "Heisenburg's kingdom" is being usurped by the Aryans (with or without Jesse) and that's it - time to burn it all to the ground.

[tigertooth]

 

It's to leave everybody guessing whether he's going back for the Aryans or for Grey Matter, or both. 

 

I just don't understand why Elliott and Gretchen had to poke the bear like that. How hard would it have been to say "hey, he left the company a long time ago, why should we be responsible for what he does after he leaves the company?"

 

For some reason, companies do a bad job at this. Every time some rich ass former CEO is involved in a scandal, the chairmen always try to distance themselves by chastising said person. It's never the whole "that has nothing to do with us" because they're trying to keep investors happy and prove it won't affect their bottom line. If you ever saw an episode of American Greed, you would see that there are several Elliot and Gretchen types. Even though Walt really hasn't had anything to do with them in several years, they are too busy doing damage control to save their asses because some investor might think they subsidized his meth trade in some way.

 

 

I agree.  I don't think there's anything unrealistic about what Elliot and Gretchen did.  They have been dealing with investors screaming their ears off to distance themselves from this criminal in the company's past.  I mean, at his birthday party, Elliot praised Walt's mastery of crystallography as a key to the company's success.  They're going to want to get away from that.  Heck, Hugo Boss still freaks out when anybody mentions that they used to make uniforms for Nazis, and that was 70 years ago. 

 

Plus, they don't realize what an obsessive egomaniac Walt is.  And even though *we* do, there are plenty of people here who think Walt isn't going to go after revenge on the Schwartzes.  It's completely reasonable for them to think that -- especially given that he's got plenty else on his plate -- Walt would not be motivated to hurt them.

[JonnyLaw]

Is Walt really pissed off at Grey Matter? I thought he was just pissed off at finding out that Blue Sky is still being sold around the world. Leading Walt to realise that Jesse is still alive since he's the only other person that knows how to make it.

 

This is how I read the scene also.  He taught Todd how to make it, but he also knows they were having problems with the cook, which is why they wanted him to come back.

 

 

I don't know how this works yet but I think Walt somehow buys majority stock in Grey Matter for the kids. 

 

I'm kind of pissed I read this, because now I think this is absolutely how it ends.

 

Or he buys the stock to discredit them/implicate them in things.

[sydneybrown]

 

Is Walt really pissed off at Grey Matter? I thought he was just pissed off at finding out that Blue Sky is still being sold around the world. Leading Walt to realise that Jesse is still alive since he's the only other person that knows how to make it.

 

This is how I read the scene also.  He taught Todd how to make it, but he also knows they were having problems with the cook, which is why they wanted him to come back.

 

 

I don't know how this works yet but I think Walt somehow buys majority stock in Grey Matter for the kids. 

 

I'm kind of pissed I read this, because now I think this is absolutely how it ends.

 

Or he buys the stock to discredit them/implicate them in things.

 

 

He only has 11 million dollars left, which may or may not have been discovered by the Feds (and a lot of it was spent to go into hiding.)  He's got the $100K in the box, which I assume is used for the weapons. 

 

I'm actually kind of pissed that wasn't what was done in the first place during those few months when all was right with the world.  Walt keeps pumping his millions through another person until his stock makes him majority owner (or better yet, he had done that all along in season 5, but when the feds catch up to him and it's publicly revealed that Walter White had secretly bought millions into Grey Matter, it destroys the company, leaving his shares worthless.) 

 

But I think it's too late now.  Even if he kills the Aryans and gets his money back, would it really be feasible or realistic that he could use that 70 milion to buy enough Grey Matter stock? 

[scraylo187]

I love that we didn't actually see the shit hit the fan when the Walter White case went public. There's a media firestorm and a nationwide manhunt for the guy, and we are stuck in a cabin with him while it plays out. Loved it. A lesser show would have made this about the man hunt, with some new top super cop entering the game.

 

Although if it was Jackie Chan's Supercop, I'd watch that show.

[Gonzalez]

Did they give Robert Forester's character a name last night, and I didn't notice it? If they didn't, I'm just going to assume he's, Max Cherry. Who has now moved on to another line of work since the incident with, Jackie Brown, and his short escapade as a criminal. 

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

Rewatching that final scene with the theme playing over it was unreal. Such a weird goofy theme yet it fits perfectly somehow.

[sydneybrown]

FWIW, there's an interview up with the writer of last night's episode with a lot of interesting perspective about things.  No spoilers in it, but he does admit that Grey Matter plays a role in the finale, and that the Charlie Rose interview is NOT the end of them...

 

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/09/23/breaking-bad-granite-state-writer/

[SovietShooter]

 

Is Walt really pissed off at Grey Matter? I thought he was just pissed off at finding out that Blue Sky is still being sold around the world. Leading Walt to realise that Jesse is still alive since he's the only other person that knows how to make it.

 

Honestly I think way too many people are biting on this "Walt's going back because of Grey Matter" thing. Walt's not going back because he saw that interview, he's going back because he blew his fucking cover calling his son. He can't stay in New Hampshire, and he'd been planning to go back and kill the Aryans from jump anyway, so now's as good a time as any. The Grey Matter interview was just a little added piss-off.

 

 

The timeline people are reading into with the Gray Matter stuff is off.  Walt went into the bar and called Walt Jr. knowing full well that he couldn't continue as "Mr. Lambert" after that, more than likely.  I think he was *hoping* that it would go smoothly, but knew that best case scenario was it being figured out that he was in New Hampshire.  After the call w/ Junior, Walt called the DEA, and left the phone off the hook.  This was him giving himself up.  That was pretty much the death of Walter White.  

 

When he sat down at the bar and saw the Schwartz', it reminded him of how he sold out part of a billion dollar company for $5000, and how Heisenberg had nothing left.  The Schwartz' were stating that Gray Matter's success had nothing to do with Walt, and Heisenberg connected the dots that the blue meth being in circulation meant that the Aryans were profiting off of his innovation & hard work. 

 

Heisenberg is going back to Albuquerque to make sure that he gets credit for EVERYTHING.  I do not think that Jesse even factors into what Heisenberg is doing.

[JRGoldman]

Nothing about the Gretchen and Elliot scene struck me as unrealistic. Like others have mentioned, it's a pretty tried and true corporate tactic, and it even ties in with what the public narrative would be. An early partner with no patents in his name who then became a high school chemistry teacher instead of starting another company? I'm sure most would buy that person not having much to do with grey matter. Certainly the story would be enough as a stop gap for stock holders.

Also, I really doubt that Walt has done anything in his past to make Gretchen and Elliot know about his true vindictive nature.

[bink_winkleman]

FWIW, there's an interview up with the writer of last night's episode with a lot of interesting perspective about things.  No spoilers in it, but he does admit that Grey Matter plays a role in the finale, and that the Charlie Rose interview is NOT the end of them...

 

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/09/23/breaking-bad-granite-state-writer/

 

Saw this and was like, "Spoilers you asshole!" and then I went ahead and read the article since it was already spoiled and, thankfully, realized that the article says absolutely nothing like this.

 

I'm on board with that Rose interview just setting him off by downplaying him and then informing him that the meth was still in circulation.  ALTHOUGH, shouldn't Walt have known that from reading all those papers?  

[Craig H]

Rewatching that final scene with the theme playing over it was unreal. Such a weird goofy theme yet it fits perfectly somehow.

 

I keep going back to it and the first thing I usually think of, after thinking how monumentally badass that ending is, is the ending to Casino Royale where not once do you hear the Bond theme, until the very end where he isn't just agent 007, he's James motherfucking Bond, but in this case, he isn't just Walter White, he's motherfucking Heisenberg.

[Reed]

http://www.vulture.com/2013/09/breaking-bad-peter-gould-granite-state-interview.html

 

Interestingly, the writer mentions that he approached the episode with the idea that Heisenberg is dead, and Walt was spending most of the episode trying to get that aspect of himself back and couldn't.

 

IMO, he wasn't Heisenberg when he left the bar. He's not really Walt either. He's now an angry, borderline insane guy with nothing to lose and the resources to bring about absolute catastrophe.

[Big Z]

The full Breaking Bad episode of Conan.

 

http://teamcoco.com/video/full-episode-mon-9-23-the-cast-of-breaking-bad-and-musical-guests-los-cuates-de-sinaloa

[Omega]

http://vimeo.com/75189633

 

Walter White reacts to Jeff Daniels winning 2013 Emmy

[Curt McGirt]

Breaking Bad marathon on AMC right now.

[Gonzalez]

Watching the first three episodes reminds that the show was sort of a situation comedy about a Chemist Teacher, and his idiot sidekick in the beginning. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

Jesse's parents were so unlikable. I can understand where they are coming from but as Dom once said, "never turn your back on family"