Breaking Bad

[Willie Oleson]

First of all, I'm going to establish the fact that Ozark stole the "smurfs" from Breaking Bad.
Yes, they already existed in 2008.

Furthermore, this first BB season is awesome. It's raw and gore-y and unflattering, and it's also super-funny.
Walt and Pinkman are a great duo, and the science is an important part of the plot development. The writers had to do some research here! (or maybe the smurfs did it for them).

Walt is a passive-aggressive underdog, and when he does get angry it looks awkward and totally un-cool.
His wife is a bit pushy, his son is disabled (but not hard to look at), there's always money problems and then he also gets cancer.
His brother-in-law Hank is a trash-talking cop, and Skyler's sister Marie is...Marie. I can't think of a word to describe her.

But what was Walt's ultimate Breaking Bad moment? When he started cooking drugs or when he killed Krazy-8? Oh, and what a great conversation they had, and so surreal, considering the circumstances.
Definitely one of my favourite scenes, but I also love the family discussion (with that stupid talking pillow) regarding Walt's treatment.
Personally, I think it was that moment when he got his first payment from the satanic drugs-dealer Tuca.
Maybe that's when he realizes that "this actually works!".
And it's very possible that real-life criminals have experienced the same sensation, i.e. do something illegal, make lots of money and get away with it.
It's not so difficult to become corrupted.

It has an interesting soundtrack, and I always enjoy watching different kinds of American sceneries.
I want to buy a Pinkman, he seems like a nice toy. Or maybe I'll just eat him up.


But is it really the Very Best TV Series ever? Whaddayathink?

 

[Ome]

It's a long time since I watched this, so that was a nice refresher on the opening season. I would love to do it again, but I have a list so bloody big of new shows and I am also in the need of doing PCBH again.

But is it really the Very Best TV Series ever? Whaddayathink?

Overall, I think BB is the better show, but Ozark does get better with each season and because it's currently in my head, it's really pushing for that number one spot.

 

[Willie Oleson]

but I have a list so bloody big of new shows

I must say that this BB watch was completely unplanned, and it's all Ozark's fault (and therefore, James from London's fault).

 

[James from London]

is it really the Very Best TV Series ever? Whaddayathink?

I feel like it's been so long since I watched it that my having-an-opinion-about-Breaking-Bad licence has expired.

I would love to do it again, but I have a list so bloody big of new shows

Yes, this is the problem. I'm going to have to make a concerted effort to rewatch (almost) everything I have on DVD to justify having bought them in the first place. I will get to Breaking Bad eventually, but it's going to take a long time.

it's all Ozark's fault (and therefore, James from London's fault).

Uh-oh! And if this, in turn, means it's also my fault that there aren't more Capricorn Crude posts, then I apologise profoundly to the entire Soap Chat world.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I'm going to have to make a concerted effort to rewatch (almost) everything I have on DVD to justify having bought them in the first place

Ha, yes. I did this with the many novels I bought in the 1980s. I was still in high school and didn't have much money to spend, books weren't cheap but I had to have them.
Re-reading them seems the best solution to get my money's worth from my extravagant purchases - which I did, except for the mammoth epics by James Michener ("Centennial", etc).

that there aren't more Capricorn Crude posts

Capricorn Crude will be the longest-running prime time soap ever, and I'm seriously considering some offspring to continue my reviews.
It doesn't help that Valene keep sending me new tapes and she's already mentioned a possible next generation Crude. I wish she'd go back to Shula and leave me alone.

 

[Willie Oleson]

S2E4

I love Hank, he's a bit of a pig but a very authentic pig. I'm sure many of us know a "Hank".
Walt has faked amnesia (ha!) but overall he's a very bad liar. A good liar or manipulator knows when his/her scheme is about to fail, but Walt just keeps digging a deeper hole for himself, and it's quite insulting towards Skyler. He just can't believe that she's not buying his BS.

Jesse is sloppy and lazy, but it's all so miserable it's just not funny anymore. And then he cries his tears in a gas mask because the stench of the toilet chemicals is too much, and it becomes brilliantly funny again.
And I think that's (at least partially) the strength of Breaking Bad, how it combines the outrageous or dangerous moments with mundanity i.e. objects or situations that usually have no specific emotional meaning, but in the context of the scene they are being magnified or even ridiculed.
It's an organic and often accidental kind of humour that doesn't need to be presented with a punch or explanation why it is so funny.

Also, it's very nice to see Tess Harper in a TV series again.

 

[Richard Channing]

So you had got as far as somewhere in season 3 first time round but you're re-watching from the start now, right?

 

[Willie Oleson]

So you had got as far as somewhere in season 3 first time round but you're re-watching from the start now, right?

Yes I thought that was the best thing to do.


Walt intentionally insults and upsets Gretchen because he wants her to stay away from his family. As a result, Gretchen - who doesn't want to be part of the lie - backs out of the fake financial support. It seemed like the most gracious thing to do, all things considered.
Walt fabricates a story about Gray Matter going bust, and it's such a fascinating thing to watch because I'm not sure if the eagle-eyed Skyler believes him or just pretends to believe him.
And yet...she still drives a Bentley.
Is it something that she actually just realized, or did she say it just to see how Walt would weasel his way out of that one?

Skyler is also a very resourceful woman, and she meets with the son of her former boss and it's hard to ignore the chemistry between them. His name is Ted, of course.
Pinkman meets the Skanks, and she's one of the scariest women I've ever seen on television.
When she knocks Jesse down and takes his gun, she grabs her kid and says "bedtime!" There's so much of these little-funny things in most of the scenes.

Hank is no longer the king in his new workplace, it's a bit like Vic Mackey being forced to do a boring office job.
The next episode starts with a Mexican song about Heisenberg dominating the crystal meth market, and I wondered if there was going to be a time-jump, but that was not the case.
So it was a spoiler song. As Jock Ewing would say: I don't like it!

 

[Willie Oleson]

Breaking Bad is not kind to its characters (or cast, for that matter).

The meth makers are stranded in the middle of nowhere and Walt has to be very resourceful in order to get them out of that situation.
As the habitual teacher, he explains to Jesse how this & that is going to work and why, and Jesse doesn't understand any of it but he doesn't feel the need to mention it.
But Walt is being overly enthusiastic if he really thinks that Jesse "Apply Yourself!" Pinkman understands all the hocus pocus, and he sets himself up for a disappointment by asking a question, in that typical teacher-y way, that Jesse can't answer (although, even I guessed the answer was "copper").
So, what was it that spoilt the good mood: Walt's ignorance or Jesse's ignorance?

Walt receives good news from the doctor, and I found it a difficult scene to watch.
The room is filled with tension - Marie is already crying - and the good (but still not good enough) news causes an enormous relief and optimism.
Half-snottering, half-cheering and a Sopranos quote for good measure, it looks awkwardly realistic. But definitely not pretty.

 

[Willie Oleson]

The optimistic news has an interesting, territorial effect on Walt. It's as if he can no longer contain his passive-aggressive issues with being somebody's something.
Skyler throws a remission-celebration-party, Skyler thanks everyone for their support and then Skyler thinks that Walt should say something too.
Well, f*ck it!
It's Walt's remission, Walt's party, Walt's booze and Walt's son.

There are other scenarios that show his desire for taking control, like fixing the wood rot underneath the house.
He shows Walt Jr an example of the problem.
Iht's..wood.
You have to look carefully.
I..don't..see..it. Ih..the..house..goin..to..collapse..u...anythin?

Breaking Bad does a unique approach of the handicapped character. It's neither insulting nor playing for sympathy, and yet I don't feel guilty for laughing at Walt Jr's difficult speech.
Probably because I mostly associate that difficult speech with the character, not the handicap.

Most real-life people would avoid the Jesse Pinkmans like the plague - he's a self-destructive trouble-magnet, and his parents are not the bad guys here.
But because he looks so adorable it brings out the caring and protective person in me.
I'd want to give him everything and make him feel comfortable and forgive all his mistakes, over and over again.
His tripping scene - when he feels he's floating up to the ceiling - looks beautiful and heartbreaking.

Skyler sings "happy birthday Mr President", and eventhough I think she's just as gorgeous as MM, I just didn't expect this. It felt so controversial.
Breaking Bad takes all the prototypes and stereotypes and then completely destroys them, thus leaving the viewer with the raw but identifiable versions.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Gosh, I didn't remember that he met Jane's father just before she died.
It seems only fair that someone who makes and sells drugs should suffer the consequences of drugs abuse, but that logic doesn't always work when you're on a journey with these characters.

And then there's the enigmatic Saul, I should try some of his spin-off episodes after I've finished Breaking Bad.

 

[Richard Channing]

Gosh, I didn't remember that he met Jane's father just before she died.

What did you think of Jane's final episode and death scene? The moment when she died was one moment in the series where I really gasped, perhaps the pivotal moment where Walt truly breaks bad. It was so shocking and unexpected.

And then there's the enigmatic Saul, I should try some of his spin-off episodes after I've finished Breaking Bad.

He's a wonderful character. Many Breaking Bad fans didn't watch much of Better Call Saul, in fact a discussion thread on here had dried up before the end of the first season, but I stuck with it and I'm glad I did. It's an amazing show, but requires some patience, especially in the beginning. It doesn't have that ticking clock, that adrenaline pulsing feeling that Breaking Bad had. It's really all about the characters, almost even more than the story. So often things will happen that don't seem to advance the story much but do give a deeper insight into who these people are. From early on I knew that I needed to stick with and I would be rewarded in the long run, and it doesn't disappoint.

But in saying that, the last couple of seasons have really picked up the pace, and as it nears it's intersection with the original series is starting to feel more like Breaking Bad, there is more danger and suspense. It's definitely one of the best shows on TV right now. And season 6, the final season, is easily my most anticipated season of TV coming next year. (hopefully!)

 

[Willie Oleson]

perhaps the pivotal moment where Walt truly breaks bad

Yes, as the father of a baby daughter who's watching someone else's daughter die...
But Jane was dangerous because Jesse, stupid as always, had told her everything. She wasn't only a threat to Walt, but the entire operation - including some very dangerous people who wouldn't take kindly to being exposed.

I'm watching the season finale right now and I feel so very sorry for her father. After all those years of battling her drugs addiction, and this is how it ends anyway.
We know the devastating result of his grieving, and didn't they completely ignore the disaster in season 3, as if it had never happened? Maybe that was also one of my problems.

These first seasons are absolutely fantastic, even better than I remembered. It's so easy to overlook the many beautiful details when you watch it for the plot development.

It's definitely one of the best shows on TV right now

Good! Then I'll have something standby in case of Breaking Bad withdrawals (which I started to watch because of Ozark withdrawals!)

 

[Richard Channing]

We know the devastating result of his grieving, and didn't they completely ignore the disaster in season 3, as if it had never happened?

No, it was addressed, for a while anyway. I remember one scene in particular were Walt is asked to address the whole school to talk about the affect the disaster has had on all of them and the community, but starts rambling and trying to some how make sense/justify it, as he has become an expert at doing through the many tragedies that have already happened. Eventually the principal has to make him stop as it's so awkward.

Maybe that was also one of my problems.

These first seasons are absolutely fantastic, even better than I remembered.

Not sure what it was that put you off in season 3. Could it be the infamous 'Fly' episode that divided many fans?! Anyway, glad to hear you're appreciating it all more this time round and do stick with it. Some amazing episodes of television await you as the series goes on.

 

[James from London]

Could it be the infamous 'Fly' episode that divided many fans?!

I loved the 'Fly' episode!

 

[Willie Oleson]

No, it was addressed, for a while anyway

You're right, in fact, it's big news in Breaking Bad Town.

Not sure what it was that put you off in season 3. Could it be the infamous 'Fly' episode that divided many fans?!

I don't remember a Fly episode so it must have been something else, although at this point I find it hard to believe that anything would put me off.

And anything that could divide The Fans is something I would like to see.

 

[Willie Oleson]

It appears that I had watched at least 8 episodes of season 3, and now I can't think of any good reason why I had stopped watching at that point.

Maybe because I liked the first two seasons so very much, and this is a whole new set-up regarding the dynamics between various characters.
The big lab is not as characteristic as the RV in the desert, the cartoonish Mexican twins look out of place in BB (this is not Pulp Fiction), Jesse Pinkman has become a real bitch and there's a little adjustment to Walter White's story arc.
He jeopardizes his job at school but not because he wants to cook again.
He wanted $ 737.000,00, he never did it out of greed, and if Skyler isn't going to accept the 700K meth-money then why would she accept more of the meth-money?

Needless to say, these things were much easier to digest the second time round, and from now on...everything will be completely new to me. I find it so thrilling!
Yeah I already know that Walt dies in the finale episode, but what are the odds that this wouldn't happen?

I think I'm going to buy the soundtrack album.

 

[Ome]

Many Breaking Bad fans didn't watch much of Better Call Saul, in fact a discussion thread on here had dried up before the end of the first season, but I stuck with it and I'm glad I did.

I want to say I struggled with BCS, but truth be known, I didn't give it enough time. Saul was never a favourite character of mine during the most of BB, so I kinda went with that rather than give it more time. I remember the thread and I recall you sticking with it and enjoying it.

I'm more tempted to do it now on the back of this thread.

 

[Willie Oleson]

If there had been another spin-off I would have given it to Gretchen & Elliott.

 

[Ome]

Every time I open Netflix, I get the trailer for BREAKING BAD.

I can't decide whether this is because I'm watching NARCOS or Netflix are using Willie's viewing habits as trending worldwide.