Board 8 > So this Breaking Bad show, it's pretty good.

(+) Yeah! (+)

First time through it's a megaton scene.

There's much better scenes this season though. It's just such a good opener.

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That scene and the resulting new normal was definitely like a gut punch that I was feeling for hours after viewing it. Not many shows get to me like that. Just them casually sweeping the blood away knowing that every move they take now is done with a guillotine above their heads just begging for any tiny reason to drop. They made a power play, and even in victory, they still lost.

Walt buys a gun 'for defense'. I doubt it will be the winning move, but it might help along the way, probably a good buy. Really, it is only because this is Walt we're talking about here that I have some reservations.

Hah, the stoners are talking video games, and not in the dumb way you usually see video games represented in tv shows. I mean, it's mostly just zombie talk, but I'm willing to bet that the writers have played the games mentioned or at the very least did enough research to back up stoner talk about them.

Yeah, here's that pizza conversation 'justifying' the pizza being left uncut. Honestly? I kind of like the idea of you cutting out the slices you want, as pizza places often are super sloppy with their cutting.

Little chat with Andrea...might or might not see her character again here now that the loose ends around her have been resolved.

A little curious what Hank wants with all these mineral rocks. Show's been teasing them for a while now. Just a passive interest, or something more?

$20 million for the car wash. Maybe laser tag isn't so bad now. Amusing to see a S1 action come back to haunt Walt...without him even knowing it even. No amount of Skyler machinations will fix this.

Anyone else pause to read the fast scrolling crawl on the Saul ad that plays here? Turned out to be what you'd expect it to be, no hidden messages here, but it's cute knowing that Saul's still doing his scummy lawyer antics.

Walt tries to turn Mike to his cause, to no avail. Mike is Mike...he makes it plenty clear he's not Walt's pal and in a heartbeat would take Walt out if needed. Not so antagonistic that he wouldn't offer some casual advice, but Walt's not getting a quick fix out of this pickle he's dug himself into.

Looks like we're in for a "Jesse's gone deaf" arc with how this episode ends. Just hire some cleaners or something dude, you got the money! Buy some more friends too. C'mon, money can buy anything!

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Now there's a camera. Walt's been planning a revolution too. He just needs to get in contact with the resistance and surely then Big Brother can be toppled. Or maybe this is still a story about an illegal meth lab and not a cautionary tale about an oppressive government.

You know, this Marie scene with her in full lie mode while viewing this spacious house has me realizing that I think this is the first time she's been in a scene by herself. Every other scene I can think of has always been in relation to another character, usually Hank or Skyler.

Seems Walt and Skyler really are going to pursue this car wash purchase, although I'm with Saul on this one...how ya gonna do it without someone getting the short end of the stick?

Marie continues to do the lying thing. How the devil did Hank marry this crazy person? Or was this a post-marriage development?

Back on the other married couple, they did it. Celebrate with $320 champagne. Feels a little silly for Skyler to complain about how they're supposed to be broke and they just...bought a car wash. I severely doubt a little bit of money is gonna turn heads, especially when it can easily be rationalized by the anticipation of future profits. Not that car washes are known to be exceptionally lucrative, but point is they should be not broke very quick.

Episode ends with Hank doing some light bedtime reading. I guess he's gonna have to be roped back in to antagonizing Walt now that the Gus situation has reached a stable point for now.

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i guess that the box cutter scene didn't really change anything. gus literally tried to kill them already, he's just unhinged now!

the early part of S4 takes some time to ramp up,but there are a few more classic scenes i think you'll like!
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This story thing with Walt and Skyler....love how she's trying to micro every tiny detail, and that Walt is understandably putting up resistance. And it is impossible to forget that this lighthearted moment has Walt's work environment lurking just out of sight, always ready to introduce new complications. So of course Walt is annoyed at this, he's kind of got bigger chicken to fry.

...although even the darker half of this show isn't afraid to get silly like this Gale music video, wtf XD

Lovin' his notebook too. What a nerd. I bet there's all kinds of goodies here for people who pause and examine everything frame by frame. Just poking at it I saw support for Ron Paul and a fun Far Side comic. Brilliant how they handle the notice of W. W. dedication in the notes too.

Jesse's been on a rollercoaster of a ride as to his character's worth....here we take a new dip as he essentially shoves Walt away for daring to try and help him escape punishment. He's quite content to live a fantasy life wherein his consequences will not come back to bite him. I mean, so is Walt when you get down to it, but at least Walt has the decency to be grumpy and concerned about it. Walt ultimately knows he's on borrowed time thanks to the cancer, what's Jesse's excuse?

Stuff happens...at this rate, Walt breaking into Jesse's home is gonna be a running gag.

Episode just kinda....ends. Where Jesse is going is certainly an unknown, but that's quite the abrupt stopping point. No resolution to much of anything, just more questions. Which is fine, this show by no means has to adhere to neat and tidy episode formats. I wish I cared more what happened to Jesse, but at this point he doesn't seem to care much what happens to himself, and it's quite hard to feel sorry for that kind of character.

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SovietOmega posted...

...although even the darker half of this show isn't afraid to get silly like this Gale music video, wtf XD

I can't hear Major Tom without thinking about that video anymore.

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I feel sorry for Mike having to endure Jesse like that for a day. Thankfully he's a tough enough character to not let that get to his professionalism too much. Some interesting filming of the scenery here. Interesting to note that not even Mike knows why Jesse is there. It seems like insurance against desperate Walt actions, but it is hard to nail that as a definitive reason.

That's some PG sex that Walt and Skyler have after she plays back his frantic car drive 'probably gonna die today, better tell my family I love them' message. Right after Skyler was talking about no more secrets. Seems Walt somehow manages to squeak by this time...and that's not the only thing that was squeaking *wink*.

Ah...Gus did a clever thing. Thought when it went down it was a 'these goons gonna off Jesse' kind of thing, but it was rather quite the opposite. Interesting that Gus is going for a carrot and not a stick, but it does make sense.

Skyler with the Encyclopedia Brown name drop...now that's a book series I haven't thought of in a long long while. Used to love those as a kid. Damn, I'm getting old. :(

What are you doing Walt....stop suggesting the great Heisenberg that Hank thinks Gale to be is actually some other mysterious unknown actor! Is the start of your downfall really going to be one-too-many glasses of wine? Well...ok, the start of your downfall was 'hey Jesse, let's go cook meth in an RV, it'll be fun!', but still.

"Since when do vegans eat fried chicken?" Dun dun duuuuuuuun!


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wheels starting to move!
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just gonna give this a little bump, been busy this weekend and havent been able to spare much time to sit down and give this show the attention it deserves.

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just watched this series for the first time. Did some serious binging. Great story. Loved it. Don't forget to also watch the Netflix movie afterwards. It's a great epilogue piece.

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Truck robber people are learning from their mistakes?

Can't say I care much for Skyler as a character, but she is quick to pick up on Walt's answering machine message and dinner-at-Hank's conversation being related.

"I am the danger" Walt's so cute when he's trying to be badass.

Ahh...and here we go, Jr.'s been bought a car, a fancy pants car too. How deep will the money river flow?

"This whole thing, all of this, it's all about me!" Very true, but disturbing all the same the way Walt's brain is working. Then 'drama minute' ends and they walk to work like every other normal schlub.

...and afterward Walt bribes some spanish speaking ladies to clean his lab for him. The list of his sins grows longer each day.

Wacky little game Skyler plays with a coin at that four corners monument. Bet that got some traffic after this.

Methhead house with Tucker was nice...while I'm annoyed at Jesse's impatience, it is part of his character and it works to good effect here. Time after time he gets in over his head and only just barely squeaks by.

Skyler and Walt end the episode with a chat about protecting the family. Makes sense that a flashy car goes against The Story (tm), but Walt's money's gotta be spent somehow right? Can't have a downfall if you don't fall down.


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SovietOmega posted...

Truck robber people are learning from their mistakes?

the parallel cold open scenes here are great

SovietOmega posted...

Methhead house with Tucker was nice...while I'm annoyed at Jesse's impatience, it is part of his character and it works to good effect here. Time after time he gets in over his head and only just barely squeaks by.

i think it's easy to get blinded by the impatience, but there's also real ingenuity here! jesse knows how a methhead thinks

looking forward to more!
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Yeah, it let Jesse shine, not gonna take that away from him, Tucker digging was great.

Meanwhile, here in episode 7, Walt is joyriding in his son's formerly gifted car and trying to hire a hitman. I want Walt to do rational things, but I've a feeling that ship has sailed and what we'll be getting these days will be irrational anger and frustration with a thin rational coat of paint.

I appreciate how Gus let's Jesse's memory work for him. Gus said that he 'likes to think he sees things in people' which was a very nice nonanswer to Jesse's question. Here, we see Jesse say that 'he says he sees something in me'. I mean, sure, that was the implication...but that was definitely not what was actually said. Admittedly, Jesse's no lawyer or particularly given to logic, so I'm not gonna grill him too hard, but moments like these exemplify what his character is.

This show sure likes to do slightly unconventional shots. I've seen some fun car angles in some scenes, and here in the lab is no different with a camera stuck up in a plastic tube connected to some metal nozzle doohickey that kickstarts the scene so that we see Walt's face as he works the machine. Just a little touch that helps make the show what it is.

So Gus is having something of an important meeting with a representative of the cartel. It's fun how much mileage the show gets out of this chicken coop pavilion.

Hah. Such a long winding tale Hank gets to tell, and the natural reaction was to dismiss it as reaching, but then he goes the extra miile and magic's up a fingerprint. Remind me never to do any crimes in his vicinity. Also, gotta mention that Hank's actor does a killer job pretending to struggle to walk.


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If I were making a serious attempt to analyze Walt's character, his speech here at the hospital to the newbie cancer patient about always being in charge is likely a prime motivator behind a lot of his oddball actions, misguided though a lot of them may be.

Loved the cop meeting with Gus...such a smooth way Gus glides through the questions, even Hank's curveball. All sounds pretty plausible, and Gus is wealthy enough to earn a measure of implicit trust, not to mention all the charitable acts he does for the department and misc places.

Hank trying to get Walt to put a GPS tracker on Gus' vehicle. Then Mike just casually rolls up, just that extra bit of spice that turns this situation from awkward to hilarious and suspenseful at the same time. Gus continues to be one step of the game though, and I appreciate him all the more for it. It will make his eventual downfall that much more rewarding.

Some interesting machinations in the works as Mike is briefing Gus on the situation. You got the Hank side of things and the Cartel side of things, either one alone is no big deal, but put together and magic is likely to happen. Since that is clearly the most interesting result, I'm eagerly anticipating this perfect storm.

Gus meets with Hector and we're treated to a scene in the past and in Mexico, if I'm reading the situation and the lens film right.

...and then that whole scene plays out. Damn, that was some lovely backstory. It makes learning about the 'chicken brothers' story about the restaurant that much more chilling. I get the feeling that if bombshells like this are dropping, some huge upheaval can't be too far off.

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hnnnng hype

hank is like a bulldog here - he's sniffed out his prey and he's sinking his teeth in

the gus flashback is truly awesome stuff. HECTORRR
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Dean Norris is low key one of the best actors in the show

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Yeah all of the actors are great on BB but Dean Norris especially doesn't get enough credit.

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There wasn't much to say about this next episode...whole lot of little issues like the Ted tax audit thing or the Cartel making yet another statement or the looming threat of Hank zeroing in more on Gus' operation. All good stuff in how it played out, but none of it was particularly exceptional (excepting Gus' badass walk towards the gunman).

Then the last few minutes happened and Walt and Jesse got into a marital dispute. Weird situation where they're both kinda in the wrong and kinda in the right with their actions. Situations remain tense and I'm not really sure what to expect from them going forward. So much on again off again with those two, but they truly do deserve each other.

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There's been a disturbing lack of Saul recently, and it is a void I only realized was there when I listened to Ted talk with Saul about this curious inheritance with its on-the-dot figure equivalent to how much Ted owes. Both the audience and most of the parties involved in setting this scene up knowing how and why it has to happen make it that much more rewarding.

Meanwhile, Jesse seems to be shining a bit in Mexico. Hope his meth comes out right, although if it even gets to that point there are a thousand complaints he could levy should he choose.

The thought juuuust hit me with Jr. driving to Walt's place that...he just got wheels. Hank needs wheels. Hank knows Jr. is not a great choice but is eager enough to let details like that slide. That's...probably gonna end ok, but will sure drive Walt batty.

Speaking of Walt, it's a bit awkward having him sit here in his underwear talking to his son. Although with Walt calling Jr. Jesse, who knows what kind of conversation he thinks he was having.

Ted thing's getting a bit silly now. He accepts the money...then goes and buys a car. Wut.

Don Eladio's place doesn't seem like it's changed much in the last, what...20 years or so? Dude knows how to throw a party though, once business is done. Second I saw that bottle, I figured Gus was doing that thing Walt and Jesse have been continually failing to do to him, except this time successfully. Was worried when he drank it, but bathroom scene made it clear that he accounted for that. At least, mostly accounted for...he's definitely seen better days. Hilariously Jesse is now in a position to keep his life safe. This might be the best chance Jesse has of taking them out and assuming control. He'd just need to figure out some way to get back home.

But man, it got real real fast there. The Don is dead, now the cartel won't be much of an influence anymore...which just leaves Hank as the primary threat left.


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ending of salud is SO GOOD

4x11 hype
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goat episode if not for the rest of the episodes

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foolm0r0n posted...

goat episode if not for the rest of the episodes

well put! gotta be in my top 15. it's super competitive up there!

(it's probably top 5-7 episodes to this point imo)
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Poisoning yourself to get revenge is such a baller move

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Man season 4 can be a little slow in the setup but everything from like, 4x09 onwards is unbelievably good

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Cartel healthcare at work in this episode's opening. Alas, Mike does not pay the doc's salary, so who cares about him, right? One of these weird times when Jesse is definitely in the right by most folk's standards. Though I get the doc's position too...if Gus bites it, they all bite it, so it behooves them to prioritize. Still, surely one of those half dozen medical professionals can spare some moments to set Mike up with basic care.

Which they do, and as the doc talks with Jesse I can't help but warm up to him some as he's well informed as to his potential patient's medical details. I also enjoy the contrast between the absolute slum of a location and the clean white tent set up inside. Exactly what you'd expect to see when hospital care would draw too much attention, but the juxtaposition still amuses me.

Man, Ted keeps being a thing. Just go to prison already dude, I'm trying to watch a drug show here, I don't need your petty sob story here mucking things up! Ok, I admit he's selling himself and his situation well, and if we didn't know how much bs his words were it would be tempting to believe him, but there's only so much smooth talking will do before one has to face the music, and I'm patiently waiting to hear the IRS start the beats flowing.

Haaaaank...stop being such a good cop...I'm getting worried! He's gonna die soon, isn't he. :(

...or Walt could postpone things with some traffic hi-jinks. Not that this will stop Hank one bit, but it does let some more plot happen as we draw closer to the end of the season.

Dang...they properly foreshadowed the tripping on the rug thing too. I just assumed it to be a cute little detail for extra realism, but here we are, poor Ted's gone and added an extra wrinkle in everyone's plans.

Jesse and Walt continue to have beef with each other. All I can think of is the sonic game Jesse and the kid were playing and how it doesn't seem to jive with the words they were saying. 101 backflips? Winning as if it is a competitive game? It was one of the 3D sonics too, so is quite the perfect metaphor for the situation the characters of this show are in as both are hot messes in their own way.

Speaking of hot messes, everything is starting to happen at once and it's as amazing as it is silly.

...it gets sillier.

I...think this show just became a horror story.

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She gave it to ted

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that final shot
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There was no stopping the episode this time. Jeeze...all kinds of happenings. Jesse finally possibly helping Walt for realsies. Walt cooking up some explosives to finally once and for all deal with Gus. Gus revealing that he's actually got spidey senses and they went all tingly in the car park. A kid was poisoned. A laundry was inspected. Even Saul got pretty spooked.

And this is just the penultimate episode of the season. I was worried 'End Times' was going to be a pretentious title, but it did kinda live up to the name...there's really no going back after this, although there kinda has to be some kind of reset to permit a season 5 to happen, but I can't see how that will happen from here.

Next episode is 'Face Off' so I expect this to be some showdown between Walt and Gus, but the former is in desperation mode while the latter has pretty much held all the cards up to this point...how the devil is Gus expected to be beaten by these chuckleheads?

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Is it possible to watch that episode and not immediately watch the season finale?

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Everything's going to heck, but the show still has Walt leave through the glass door...not by opening it, but by the entrance he made.

If you had told me in the beginning how important bell guy was going to turn out to be, I'm not sure I'd have believed it. He was a one note character that got fleshed out and then his arc was supposed to be pretty much concluded with the whole Salud thing. Yet here we have Walt finding out about him and approaching. A plan is being set in motion.

Show even pulls the ol 'no way you're doing this' next scene person is doing it bit with Hank and going to the office. Stakes have never been higher and the show finds time to literally go loony tunes. I love it.

The bomb. Followed immediately by the show trying to fake us out riiiight at the end. Hah. Somehow, Walt managed to pull it off. Poor Gus, his only crime was hogging every scene he was in. He'll probably still manage to do so in death.

Boom goes the lab. Guess now that they've done broke bad they can go clean and have a happy ending now. Yup.


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Forceful_Dragon posted...

Is it possible to watch that episode and not immediately watch the season finale?

Honestly when I did my rewatch last month I was almost surprised how much of it wasn't in the finale. The last 3 episodes almost blend into one. I can't imagine what waiting a week between each one would have been like.

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i think much of end times and face off are slower, by a lot, than salud and crawl space. the manic laughter of 4x12 turns into walt sitting alone for 5 minutes not talking; we spend 5 minutes sitting in the hospital, 5 minutes with jesse getting tied up by the FBI, 5 minutes with hector V E R Y S L O W L Y telling the DEA to S U C K M Y D I C K

the payoff thoughhhhh
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Face Off might be my favorite episode. It's at least top 3.

"I won"

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Forceful_Dragon posted...

Is it possible to watch that episode and not immediately watch the season finale?

Yes because I had caught up to the show after my 2 week binge, and had to wait 4 more days for the finale to come out

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during the week between 4x12 and 4x13,

1. @KamikazePotato posted "walt poisoned brock" and was widely ridiculed

2. the image of gus's face half off was leaked
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In a diner this new season starts, and Walt is 52 and more importantly...with hair.

I guess that's gonna be a future thing then, I just assume he singularly contacted the 'make me disappear' guy and got a new identity and we'd be starting fresh. Guess we gotta work up to that.

So Walt's in panic mode, and not unjustifiably so either. Good on him thinking about the camera footage...definitely wasn't on my mind, but then I also haven't been living under its watchful eye for a year or so.

"What about a magnet" I want to say that's less reliable than people think, or at least not without extra powerful neodymium magnets. Better hope rich man Gus didn't go for an SSD, although even for him the sizes were much smaller back a decade ago.

Still, I'm digging how they've got Mike roped into this whole ordeal. Could see a lot of fun with this dynamic should the show carry it on for a while.

The problem here is that we know the plan they think they have. Because we know this, scene writing dictates that there's going to be some complication introduced because there's a drama quota to keep.

Ahh...the hump...probably gonna impede their escape.

...or getting a bit too greedy with the giant magnet XD

Curious what that new little bit revealed in the damaged frame will lead to. Was that some of Mike/Saul's contacts? I feel like I've seen that before, or something like it. Regardless, it's sure to open up some new leads for the boys to worry about.


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The magnet scene is such fucking gold.

"You know, I can foresee a lot of possible outcomes to this thing and not a single one of them involves Miller Time."

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YEAH BITCH!
MAGNETS! OH!

I still laugh every time I see that. His joy to have actually contributed is so great.

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Honestly, Gus' tie straightening in Face Off is the most iconic moment in the show for me.

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things go wild in S5. it's a different sort of pacing and i personally love it. we'll see how you feel...!
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S5 was when my binging ended and I had to wait every week for the new episode, which was real rough.

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Are we treating all of S5 the same, or is the second half S6 or what?

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I was looking at the wikipedia list of episodes the other day for some reason

I didn't know there were 11 full months between S5A and S5B, I always thought it was just like 4 or 5 months either side of Christmas

Really weird that it's even regarded as one season tbh

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longest 11 months of my life

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i mean 8 episodes is just really short for a season. calling S5a/b the same season is in practice more of a technicality i think. S5a definitely tells a complete story, sometimes at a pace that's to its own arguable detriment.
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Quite a lot of discussion about what *is* a season. Didn't realize it had such a gap...I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

This episode is all about Walt getting back into the meth game. We get to see Madrigal in action, and now that a big German corp is involved, I'm expecting some fun times. It's a way to raise the stakes while still keeping things on a more local and manageable level.

Whole lot of Mike in the back half of the episode too...that chick he was in the diner with, not to mention that list of 11 people. The little sit-down he had with Hank was gold.

Lots of wheels starting to spin, I've got high expectations given the seasons that came before.

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I really like Mike's stake in this by the way...super plausible that he's need some quick and high profit means of generating cash to pay people who lost their money to the DEA seizing the funds. Walt needs to pay back what he owes Jesse, and Jesse just needs to not fuck everything up somehow.

Shopping around for a meth lab seems like it's pretty hard...all kinds of variables can get in the way like there being food or people or even something as seemingly minor as too much humidity. Walt's bug bomb'd house idea is just crazy enough to have potential, though it doesn't feel particularly long term, as eventually something would have to give. Either a component is left behind or someone sees something or something valuable is broken accidentally. So many ways for things to go wrong...makes me wish I had some popcorn.

It's weeeeeeird seeing Jesse act friendly towards Walt...offering him a beer and letting him stay over along with whatsherface and poisonkid. I get their relation's reset now that the machinations of Gus are done (and by extension, Walt's), but it still feels like I'm glancing at a parallel universe as just episodes ago, Jesse was beating up Walt and had him down the barrel of a gun.

Also love that Jesse remembers his time in Mexico, specifically that clean hospital tent.

So from the RV to Gus' lab to...'Vamanos Pest'. We truly are in a new era. It's...kinda like the merger of the two actually. The cramped space of the RV mixed with some equipment elements from the lab, with plenty of extra considerations on top due to the unique way this is functioning.

Walt giving Jesse life advice about keeping secrets and how they form barriers. I feel like he is simultaneously the most qualified and least qualified to give Jesse this speech given what he did to Brock.

Ooooh...Marie with the date deets. Walt was turing 50 when the cancer bomb hit, and now we hear he's almost 51. So that puts the beginning-of-the-season scene of him turning 52 about a year from the show presently.

"Everyone dies in this movie, don't they?" I'm...hoping this isn't foreshadowing?

Fuck you Walt. Mr. 'we gotta do all of the things to keep the cops from finding out about us' is struggling to accept Mike's legacy pay that will do the thing to keep the cops from finding out about them. He caves eventually, but not without making a stink about it. Whole scene with their money piles being shrunk down by expenses was visually awesome though. Even with their profits there's a great deal of loss.

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SovietOmega posted...

whatsherface and poisonkid

Vince Gilligan's next spinoff

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walt cutting jesse off from andrea is so awful :/
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