Breaking Bad Final Season Continues August 11th

[EVA]

Is it just me, or did Dean Norris lose a fair amount of weight between seasons? From certain angles, he looks positively gaunt, at least compared to how I'm used to him looking. Must've been one hell of a dump he took in Walt's bathroom.

[Swift]

Yep, I actually thought the exact same thing. Even down to the spending months sitting on a toilet.

[bink_winkleman]

He looks a lot older, too.  Skyler is also slimmer.  I say he aged a few years on the pot, there, like when people get so scared their hair turns white.

 

Watching this again and just, man.  You guys were right about Jesse.  I wanted Walt to go down in so many different ways, but not this.  I hate Hank so fucking much, and this is the only thing Jesse could do to turn me on him.  I mean, I really do want Hank to see that it's Jesse, not Sky, who's been Walt's biggest (living) victim, but I'd rather it happen some other way.  

 

It's weird, I watched this show from the start of season 2 and it never occurred to me that Hank was supposed to be the hero until the masses started picking up around season 4 and told me so.  Thought he was just an asshole racist lawbreaking narco that was in over his head.  

 

I will admit that I have no idea where this goes from here, though.  I thought family was going to die, but now I'm not so sure.  Hank won't win clean--nobody wins clean here--but he still might get the best of it all, and that sucks.

[Swift]

Wait, am I the only one who wants to see Walt get his comeuppance?

[sydneybrown]

Saw this on another board but a very interesting theory after Todd's appearance tonight:

 

I'll spoiler to be safe.

Walt appears to be wearing the same jacket Todd wore tonight in the flash forward of last week's episode.

 

And I feel a little vindicated after claiming his "tread lightly" line was more bravado then badass last week, since the first thing he did tonight was go into full panic mode and then freak out while trying to get to Skylar.

[EVA]

Bravado is badass, bruh.

[bink_winkleman]

Walt always seems a bit in panic before he fucks everyone up.  It's been like that from the beginning.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Holy shit, Sky vs. Marie was epic. DAT SLAP. Then she attempts to STEAL THE BABY. I was on the edge of my seat. Definitely my favorite scene from tonight. So far these first two episodes have been brilliant.

[Curt McGirt]

 

 

It's weird, I watched this show from the start of season 2 and it never occurred to me that Hank was supposed to be the hero until the masses started picking up around season 4 and told me so.  Thought he was just an asshole racist lawbreaking narco that was in over his head. 

 

Hero?! There is no hero here. Walt is still a good person who got corrupted by circumstance, and as a result did the same to everyone in his life. Hank is still a dumbass DEA agent (three strikes already IMO) with a harpy wife who ended up being inadvertently associated with him. Everybody else involved in the meth trade own their crimes. Nobody comes out good in this. Everyone is compromised. Jesse feels of all of them like the child that fell in a well and can't get out, but he still did what he did. 

 

My only opinion of this one is: let's see where it leads, then talk.

[Curt McGirt]

Okay, one comment considering. Marie deserved far more than that slap. Hated her character since day one.

[jstout]

It's been harder to cheer for Walt lately, but after Hank's sad treatment of Skyler in the diner and then sending in Marie to do his dirty work, I found myself saying "fuck Hank, I hope Walt wriggles out of this."

 

Not that he will...

[Elsalvajeloco]

I think Hank made two critical mistakes on tonight's episode. I think calling Skyler so fast was an irrational move for a DEA agent. First off, he doesn't know the entire role Skyler plays in this whole thing. She could be another Thelma Wright or Griselda Blanco, and Hank wouldn't know jackshit. What would he have done if she denied the whole thing? Skyler could have called his bluff and conned Hank by accusing him of making bold accusations and cut Hank (and Marie) off from seeing their niece and nephew. Simple as that.

 

Second, he shouldn't have told Marie (which I knew he would do). He basically gave her an excuse to go to the White home and play Social Services. He should have thought it over and planned his next move wisely. If he can get top secret Heisenberg files delivered to his house behind Marie's back, he can keep Walt's admission to him a secret for a little longer. If Walt wanted to kill him, he would have done it right then and there without leaving Hank's garage.

[bink_winkleman]

Hank seems to be totally off his game here, I do agree with that.

 

Wait, am I the only one who wants to see Walt get his comeuppance?

 

I want to see Walt go down, I just don't want Hank to have a shred of victory.

 

 

 

 

It's weird, I watched this show from the start of season 2 and it never occurred to me that Hank was supposed to be the hero until the masses started picking up around season 4 and told me so.  Thought he was just an asshole racist lawbreaking narco that was in over his head. 

 

Hero?! There is no hero here. Walt is still a good person who got corrupted by circumstance, and as a result did the same to everyone in his life. Hank is still a dumbass DEA agent (three strikes already IMO) with a harpy wife who ended up being inadvertently associated with him. Everybody else involved in the meth trade own their crimes. Nobody comes out good in this. Everyone is compromised. Jesse feels of all of them like the child that fell in a well and can't get out, but he still did what he did. 

 

My only opinion of this one is: let's see where it leads, then talk.

 

 

Well said.  I was full of whiskey and Summerslam last night when I watched this, so my initial reactions may have been a bit intense.

[AstroBoy]

It bothers me that, despite all their well-deserved anger, Marie conveniently forgets that Walt's drug money is one of the main reasons Hank had access to his rehab.  I feel Marie and Hank are more "in" this situation than they realize.

 

Count me in with the group that will be really underwhelmed and disappointed if Jesse and Hank team up or work together in any way to bring down Walt.

[SovietShooter]

I don't get where folks see Jesse or Skylar as innocents here. Jesse was already a junkie & dealer (albeit low-level) when he hooked up with Walt. Although Walt got involved to "provide for his family", Jesse did it just to get rich. These are the consequences.

As far as Skyler, before she had any inkling about Walt, she started helping Ted Beneke imbezzle money, and once again, it was not to help her family, but rather to benefit a man that she listed for outside of her marriage. Walt didn't come to her about laundering the money, she came to Walt about it.

[bink_winkleman]

I don't think people see Jesse as innocent so much as redeemable. 

 

I don't think anyone sees Skyler as innocent.  She's gone the Full Carmella and then some. 

[Curt McGirt]

It bothers me that, despite all their well-deserved anger, Marie conveniently forgets that Walt's drug money is one of the main reasons Hank had access to his rehab.  I feel Marie and Hank are more "in" this situation than they realize.

 

That is a great point that unfortunately will probably not be addressed. 

 

The only reason to feel sympathy for Jesse is that he feels remorse, and he has had a lot of really bad shit happen to him constantly throughout the entire series that even though he though he was complicit in, feels more like he was caught in a landslide for much of it. 

[tigertooth]

It bothers me that, despite all their well-deserved anger, Marie conveniently forgets that Walt's drug money is one of the main reasons Hank had access to his rehab.  I feel Marie and Hank are more "in" this situation than they realize.

 

I got the impression that, rightly or wrongly, Marie is blaming Walt and Skyler for the fact that Hank got shot.  From that perspective, you can't really expect her to thank them for the rehab.

[Elsalvajeloco]

That's a good point, but it was disguised as gambling money. Gamblers with the type of money Walt was making are known to do some weird and often illegal things to keep the whole lifestyle going. All Marie had to go on was her sister and brother-in-law's word. She was perfectly fine with her close and immediate family members possibly going to jail for tax fraud among other things.

[ultimoDANK]

I'm already tired of all the speculating so I'll just add how I really like the scene with Bill Burr and that fat dude lying down on the pile of money.

[Elsalvajeloco]

That fat dude would be Lavell Crawford, who has been a comic as long if not longer than Bill Burr.

[bink_winkleman]

His stand up is also better than Burr's.  Dude is hilarious.

[Cowboy Wally]

Hank Schrader is the toughest character on tv. He's  been in:

 

A 15 yard shootout with a meth-maniac with an automatic weapon;

 

Just outside the blast radius of an ied that killed and crippled a lot of his co-workers;

 

An assassination attempt where, unarmed,he was able to kill and cripple both his assailants.

 

He's worked through the physical and mental injuries related to the above to the point where he was back on the job, and putting the pieces together on the major meth distributor in his area.

 

Shooting, bullets, explosions, and more ptsd than you can shake a stick at don't stop Hank Schrader.

 

Not to mention having to deal with a kleptomaniac wife and a brother-in-law with major cancer.

 

Breaking Bad is not going to end well for anyone, least of all Hank. He's going to flush his career down the toilet trying to get Walt. He may not live through this, but he won't break bad.

 

I submit that the above makes Hank a hero. Not the hero of the show, but one of the primary antagonists of the show.

 

Was his approach on Skyler ill-advised? Not based on what he knew and saw. My guess is the suicide attempt in the pool led him to believe she would be open to any way out. He couldn't have known about her giving $600K to Ted, and then sending the goon squad over to Ted's house which I believe were foremost in Skyler's mind when they met.

 

So hooray for Hank. More tragedy is in store for him.

[SovietShooter]

Was his approach on Skyler ill-advised? Not based on what he knew and saw. My guess is the suicide attempt in the pool led him to believe she would be open to any way out. He couldn't have known about her giving $600K to Ted, and then sending the goon squad over to Ted's house which I believe were foremost in Skyler's mind when they met.

 

I agree on this.  I think that Hank, having had Walt confirm that he was Heisenberg, had his first thoughts drift towards protecting his family.  That speech he gave Skylar about Marie being everything to him was 100% legit - and I believe that after that garage door closed, his first instinct was to protect his family, and thus the call to Skyler.  If you are Hank, you are probably thinking "Man, I am a decorated DEA agent, and Walt had me fooled... I have to let Skylar know what Walt has been up to" - not ever thinking that Sklyer knew.  When Skyler asked if she was under arrest and for her attorney, Hank's world came crashing down yet again, as he jumped to the conclusion that Skylar was in on it.  In reality though, like Saul pointed out, Skylar knows what is going on, but no details, or exactly what has gone down.  All she could really say to Hank is that Walt is cooking meth, and he gives her a shit ton of money. 

 

It would be interesting is they continue down the road of Hank protecting his family, vs Walt protecting his family.  If Lydia & Aryans take out Marie... that could get real interesting. 

[AlfredoE]

Every time I see Lavell Crawford on the show, I always remember his joke about telling his mom he's got the Sugar. He's great.