Breaking Bad

[irishjayhawk]

Anyone watching this magnificent show?

[Fire Me Boy!]

Originally Posted by notorious

Very good. Saul told him.

RIGHT!

[Molitoth]

Nobody has mentioned how creepy Lydia's ringtone was on Todd's phone.

An extra little detail that showed how crazy Todd was.

[MahiMike]

Originally Posted by NewChief

****ing Vince. Meta playing with the people whose expectation was that Walt was going to kill Grey Matter people. Genius.

The genius is that he planned that head **** a year ago before the buzz about "he's going to go psycho on grey matter" had even built. Masterful manipulation.

I was disappointed myself. Wanted to see those smug A-holes shot down.

[Molitoth]

Originally Posted by MahiMike

I was disappointed myself. Wanted to see those smug A-holes shot down.

That would have been stupid.

Now they get to live the rest of their lives in fear, AND Walt gets his family taken care of. It was perfection.

[MahiMike]

Originally Posted by Reaper16

I enjoyed it, of course. I do think it was overly redemptive. Walt becoming self-aware that his actions throughout the series were ego-driven was too...neat. I think the show ultimately says what it has to say about entitlement and privilege less strongly because of it.

Probably one of my least favorite episodes of the entire series. Pacing felt rushed to me even at 75 minutes. But they went for the "try to please everybody" style ending, and they actually pulled it off.

Yeah, I don't know about least favorite but it wasn't a top 10 at all. I was a bit disappointed in a few things but they had a lot to accomplish in one episode.

The automatic gun from the trunk exactly to where it needed to be was campy. Also, pure luck that they even brought Jesse into the room for saving.

I wanted Walt to kill the Gray Matter folks just because. Guess that turned out ok w/the money. Having the 2 stooges shine their lights on them was brilliant.

Still don't know why Walt killed Lydia. What did she do to deserve that? They had a good partnership that ended on a high note. Was she the ersatz woman killing for Skyler?

[Lex Luthor]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

He dies knowing he got to say goodbye to his kid, to leave Walt Jr. well off, and to let Skylar off the hook. I really do not like that angle for the final episode and could have done without it. It felt like a really insincere attempt to set up a hero's ending.

Again... Jesse killing Todd, that felt like raw, sincere redemption. Walt conveniently patching every loose end up and dying with everything tidy and neat, it just didn't do it for me. No real conflict in today's episode. He cleaned up a lot of messes in a short episode, which feels too James Bond for me.

All right, we get it. You didn't like the episode, or at least you didn't like how Walt was able to win and gain redemption so easily. I guess your definition of "easy" is different from mine. Walt spent the last several months of his life as a pathetic hermit, dying of loneliness, guilt-ridden over Hank's death, completely despised and HATED by his family, completely disgraced publicly, and dying from cancer. He had nothing to occupy his time except to sit and think about how badly he'd destroyed his entire life and the lives of everyone he cared about. He didn't have a television or a radio to distract him. All he had was the stack of newspapers Ed would bring every couple of weeks. He was so pathetic and lonely that he offered to pay Ed $10,000 just to stay for an hour or two after dropping off his supplies.

Well, he did have two copies of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, so there's that.

Walter White was smart enough to make meth better than anyone else in the world, build the bomb that killed Gus, build a battery out in the desert, and build an explosive crystal that detonated when he threw it to the floor. But because he was able to rig a machine gun to autofire when he pushed a button, and because he put together a plan that he executed perfectly, "he was James Bond" and the episode seemed unrealistic to you. The "James Bond" ending was actually completely consistent with the character that Vince Gilligan has developed over the last 5 years.

At the end of the day, it's still a television show. Did Vince Gilligan require you to suspend your disbelief just a little bit in order to enjoy the emotionally satisfying ending that he delivered? Probably. But I wouldn't have had it any other way. I much prefer an emotionally satisfying ending to an ambiguous ending that satisfies the nit-pickers who refuse to just sit back and enjoy the ride.

I guess this just shows that no matter how brilliantly a series ends, somebody is going to complain about it.

[Lex Luthor]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Lithium is not used in a P2P cook and methamphetamine's final chemical structure has none of it.

If Walt was making shake and bake meth with a Gatorade bottle then the Li may have some relevance.

You sure seem to know a lot about cooking meth. Anything you want to tell us?

[RockChalk]

Originally Posted by Molitoth

Nobody has mentioned how creepy Lydia's ringtone was on Todd's phone.

An extra little detail that showed how crazy Todd was.

I caught it when watching last night...made me laugh a little bit. Little nuggets like that have been sprinkled in throughout the entire series.

Loved the ending. I'll probably go back and re-watch the entire series soon.

[Lex Luthor]

Originally Posted by Mac-NinersChiefs

Really enjoyed the finale, and it restored some justification in even finishing this last season.

That said, I would never watch the whole series again. I absolutely loathed the split between Walt and Jesse. When that went so far south, it just ruined much of the enjoyment, and everything became a horrible train-wreck.

Good finish, and many great seasons though.. thanks, V.G.

I watched the entire series 3 times. It was a fascinating train wreck to watch, and when you watch the early episodes a second or third time you can really see the writers laying the groundwork for what's to come.

I remember many times when I was watching Lost that I'd get disgusted and think that the writers were just making it up as they went along, and that they had no plan to ever explain what anything actually meant. With Breaking Bad, it sure seems like they had everything planned out from beginning to end before they ever shot Season One.

[The Franchise]

People who consider this shit unbelievable or campy.....you do realize that if it were truly real....Walt would have been busted in the 2nd episode. Season over.

[Lex Luthor]

Originally Posted by MahiMike

Yeah, I don't know about least favorite but it wasn't a top 10 at all. I was a bit disappointed in a few things but they had a lot to accomplish in one episode.

The automatic gun from the trunk exactly to where it needed to be was campy. Also, pure luck that they even brought Jesse into the room for saving.

I wanted Walt to kill the Gray Matter folks just because. Guess that turned out ok w/the money. Having the 2 stooges shine their lights on them was brilliant.

Still don't know why Walt killed Lydia. What did she do to deserve that? They had a good partnership that ended on a high note. Was she the ersatz woman killing for Skyler?

Well, Walt was pretty careful about where he parked the car. And if Jesse had not been brought into the room, he'd still be in the dungeon. He wouldn't have been shot, and Walt could have probably found him and released him. It was just a lot more dramatic this way.

Regarding Lydia: Walt knew damn well that Lydia had no problem ordering hits on people who could identify her. It would have been a major surprise if Walt HADN'T taken care of her.

[Sandy Vagina]

Originally Posted by Brainiac

I watched the entire series 3 times. It was a fascinating train wreck to watch, and when you watch the early episodes a second or third time you can really see the writers laying the groundwork for what's to come.

I remember many times when I was watching Lost that I'd get disgusted and think that the writers were just making it up as they went along, and that they had no plan to ever explain what anything actually meant. With Breaking Bad, it sure seems like they had everything planned out from beginning to end before they ever shot Season One.

Yep. Not knocking the show too much. Loved most of it, and I can see MAYBE watching again someday. I really liked the relationship of Walt and Jesse, so the way that things deteriorated really stung.

Great post to Chiefzilla1501 though... loved it!

[Lex Luthor]

One of my favorite scenes in the finale:

Jack: "If you pull that trigger, you'll never find ..."
Walt: (Bang!)

[Fritz88]

Originally Posted by Brainiac

EXACTLY! That's what happened with The Shield and Lost.

The entire series is like a book I would re-read again and again. The ending was perfect.

Thank you for ruining the Shield for me.

[rico]

I have been hearing rumors that they may be doing a spin-off based on Saul Goodman's character...presumably chronicling his life as a "douchebag with a job." Has anyone else heard this? Any legitimacy to these rumors?