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

(+) Yeah! (+)

Final episode's gonna be delayed as I'm gonna sleep...if I weren't trying to collect some thoughts while I watched I'd have plowed through, but I think this will turn out better on a fresher mind.

Still, it is always a pleasure to hear someone's gotten some enjoyment out of my barely coherent ramblings.

---

I havent commented but i read every post. Enjoy the finale! I would recommend not jumping into the post finale movie as even though it is really good you should definitely sit with the BB ending for a bit

---

SovietOmega posted...

So he was ready to call it quits I guess, until something sparked him into action. Was it hearing that blue meth was still going strong?

Come onnnn, it's because Elliot was erasing Walt's achievements and contributions to his company again. "It's just the name".

Probably the most hype episode ending ever.

---

foolm0r0n posted...

Come onnnn, it's because Elliot was erasing Walt's achievements and contributions to his company again. "It's just the name".

Probably the most hype episode ending ever.

this!

i don't like 5x15 - it's overlong, tedious, and torture-porn-y

but that's the show's GOAT cliffhanger
---

I saw it as a combination of things

1) the gray matter stuff
2) HIS product is still being used
3) the only way thats happening is if jesse is still alive. Jack promised to kill him and its clear that that didnt happen (walt is just off as to why). Walt definitely hates jesse at this point (and jack as well obviously)

---

I'm pretty sure he knew all along that his meth produced by Jesse was still out there. I never felt that he ever hated Jesse for matching his skills. He clearly had the utmost disdain for anyone who tried to copy his method (see Box Cutter) but Jesse truly mastered the chemistry. Walt was proud of his work in Mexico and Vamonos Pest.

---

I dont think its that he had anger towards jesse for that. Walt was in the empire business and someone was using his product to run his empire and thats a no go in his eyes. His hate of jesse (as seen by his last words in the desert to him about jane) i feel stems from walt being unable to admit he fucked up and blames his downfall on jesse turning on him

---

Essentially 1) jesse caused my downfall and he was supposed to be killed but hes alive and free while ive lost everything 2) the people who were supposed to kill him killed hank and took all my lifes work are now using my product to run my empire

---

iiaattgg posted...

I havent commented but i read every post. Enjoy the finale! I would recommend not jumping into the post finale movie as even though it is really good you should definitely sit with the BB ending for a bit

This, pretty much. Breaking Bad is my favorite show ever and half the adventure is hearing/reading others' reactions.

One thing of note in Ozymandias... go back to the first episode; Hank said the biggest drug bust he did was roughly $700,000. You can slightly see the look of possible disbelief (yet being impressed) on Hank's face when Walt first says 80 million.

---

SovietOmega posted...

Walt, who poisoned Brock, the central point of Jesse's argument with Walt, is here talking to Andrea while Brock casually sits nearby eating Fruit Loops.

---

Oh boy, here we go, I'm all hyped for this final episode.

Yeah...Lambert's definitely going after the Schwartzes. I guess he was a little twigged about them scrubbing his legacy some after all.

...or I could be wrong and he's reverse-robbing them to get them to give his son some of the money he's achieved. Alright, that's fair...demented and unhinged as Lambert is, family's always been his sticking point.

Alright, absolutely beautiful moment with the finger gesture and red dots appearing, but I find it a little unrealistic that all it takes to get a billionaire potentially assassinated is $200k. I feel like a lot of rich people would be a lot more dead if this was truly the case. But I'm down with letting Lambert have his moment here, this is his story after all. Heck, knowing Lambert, he paid like $10 to have some kids shine some laser pointers on his signal for a minute.

...holy fuck, it really was just some laser pointers. And it was Badger and Skinny Pete. At least he paid better than I thought XD

Damn...Todd meeting with Lydia and I'm sucked into their conversation that Lambert walking over and setting a chair at the table goes unnoticed by me. Well shot, I dig it. He asks for 2 minutes of their time, that's all. He's got a new method you see, no methylamine required! I love how in pretty much every one of his talks to people it always makes so much sense in the moment, but any critical examination given starts chipping away at it. He basically operates 100% on Fridge Logic, and I'd have it no other way.

The show places a curious emphasis on that stevia going into Lydia's drink, just scenes after the show reminded us that Lambert sneaked into the White house to retrieve the ricin from behind the outlet. He's also keenly aware of Lydia's schedule habits and there was just the singular packet of stevia there. Gee, I wonder what's gonna happen soon to her. Or is that just what the show wants us to think?

Ahahah, the framing of the conversation with Skyler with that support beam specifically blocking Lambert. Thought that was a bit of an awkward shot. They're having a very artsy day with this last episode.

"I did it for me. I liked it" Plain and simple and might actually be true.

Watching him watch Jr. come home from school and then turning and walking away...this might very well be as much closure as we get on this side of the plot. They seem like they're getting by, and there's just one final issue to contend with before Lambert goes away for good.

This showdown shakes out about how I figured it might, although quite a few details had to work out juuust right for it to work as it did. Car placement, verticallity of the persons involved, everyone being present, etc. Amusing how the boss always dies last in these kind of situations.

Jesse is now a free man...I like the bearded look he's got going on, not that he had much choice in that. In a pretty important scene, when given a clear chance to kill Lambert, he declined, despite all he's been through. Even in a moment such as this, he's able to turn the other cheek. One wonders what sort of person he'd be if it were not for Walt's corrupting influence on him. It might also be that spying the wound taken, he knew it would be unnecessary. Little room for interpretation here, but I'm feeling optimistic.

Final scene of the show has him fawning over the lab, memories undoubtedly going through his head as the gunshot wound becomes too much to bear and he bites the big one. Police show up for whatever reason, cue camera zoom out and song.

Gotta say, I like how what gets him in the end is not the cancer, but getting shot as a direct result of his actions. Looked like a lung shot too, for added irony. So ends the story of a would be drug emperor.

Now I just gotta track down the movie and then I can consider moving on to this Saul show people have been talking up all over the internet.


---

I love Jesse refusing to kill Walt
And Walt deciding to save Jesse rather than kill him was great

Such a great finale

---

Finished the show hype! Really enjoyed the topic, thanks for sharing your feelings on things. The movie is on Netflix btw.

I watched the show through for the first time last year and finished just a week before the movie dropped. I thought it made for a perfect epilogue/final episode.

---

I'm quite happy I checked the show out. I can see why people gush fondly about it, the writing was pretty on point throughout the entire run, and the acting was there to back it up. Scenes flowed naturally as a consequence of what came before, and while not every action made perfect sense there was always at least some thread of logic one could point to as some justification.

While I definitely liked some characters more than others, they were all pretty uniformly great, adding a ton of depth to the story as they bounced around interacting among themselves. It's a shame that some characters like Walt I stopped rooting for partway through the series, and it became less about wanting to see him succeed and more about wanting to see how he fell. I'm not sure how I feel about Jesse after all this either, he's a stupidly curvy rollercoaster with how often I've flipped my views of him. I think he's currently rising up at the end here though, he's been put through the wringer yet clung to some basic sense of decency. More than a few good characters are dead now too...Gus, Hank, Mike, Todd, and Lydia to name a few. All elevating this show that would otherwise just be the sad tale of a guy who wanted to make some money selling meth.

Yeah, good stuff all around, and I can't see much more ground it could hope to cover with this movie, let alone there being a whole other show with some connection to this one.

---

Yeah I haven't gotten into Beter Call Saul myself. Kinda just waiting for it to end so I can binge it all too lol.

---

wild youre calling him Lambert

---

MysticBrohan posted...

wild youre calling him Lambert

I was entertained

---

SovietOmega posted...

It's a shame that some characters like Walt I stopped rooting for partway through the series, and it became less about wanting to see him succeed and more about wanting to see how he fell.

that's a feature, not a bug!

also, i enjoyed reading through this!

BCS is a prequel to BB and i've been astounded at how well it's done its thing

it can be tedious at times too, more than BB, but i think it's super worthwhile. maybe after a break.
---

BCS is amazing and blew away my expectations for a spinoff. Its like banging a 10/10 and then when shes done she reveals she has a twin who wants to bang you too

---

Better Call Saul is the perfect example of a slow burn. It's slow, but enjoyable. And when it gets good, it gets good.

I'd love to see your overall thoughts on Breaking Bad, specifically the characters and each season.

---

MysticBrohan posted...

wild youre calling him Lambert

That's clearly his name. He's got an ID card and everything to prove it. Or at least he did, until he died of bullet cancer.

---

Great topic. Closest thing to being able to watch it fresh. Thanks for sharing your experience.

I didnt enjoy Better Call Saul season 1 coming right off of Breaking Bad so I didnt watch it when it came back out. Did I make a mistake?

better call saul is high art, actually the best show ever made

---

PerfectChaosZ posted...

Great topic. Closest thing to being able to watch it fresh. Thanks for sharing your experience.

I didnt enjoy Better Call Saul season 1 coming right off of Breaking Bad so I didnt watch it when it came back out. Did I make a mistake?

Yes its a masterpiece. But you do have to get into it

---

imo BCS does well with time between seasons. It's not nearly as bingable.

---

Hype for El Camino?

---

Character hierarchy? Standout episodes for you?

---

The episodes with the fly and the RV not starting kind of stand out to me looking at the volume of episodes. They stood out in the moment too, but the show was always careful not to overly dwell on any one particular point, often juggling half a dozen things at once, but here's some singular moments where the characters are forced to settle down and breathe a bit, small pauses in the generally steady march of progress the show beats out. They're not my favorite episodes, but they're highly notable and I'd certainly regard them favorably. The rest of the series all kinda blends together into various arcs that, while all distinct, are all interesting in their own manners.

As for characters, I'm not sure how I'd definitively rank them. Heck, I'm trying to think of a character I would even put in a lower tier. Maybe Marie, as she was a grab bag of issues I didn't particularly care for, but even still she had her moments and gets some boost by being married to Hank, who is absolutely a Hank tier character if ever there was one. I never cared much for Jr. or Skyler, so they'd be middling tier at best, but neither of them are bad characters and they both have some pretty awesome moments here and there.

Walt and Jesse I am not even going to pretend I can rank right now....they have such badass moments that are countered by equally boneheaded moments. Walt and Jesse are both good and bad characters that exist outside of conventional character-space and I want to hate and love them both so much but they make it so gosh darn hard at times and whine at each other and hurt each other and try to kill each other and sometimes hug each other, all for no particular gain. They are the yin and yang of the series through which everything pivots around for good and bad, less characters and more agents of plot momentum.

Anyway, Mike and Hank rule, Saul's solid too. Also Gus. Also Hector. Also John de Lancie. Also Walt when he's being a badass. Also Todd. Most of the rest of the cast are floating in a neutral zone. At the bottom are people like Marie or honestly...Lydia. Upon reflection...never really cared for Lydia's antics much. Still can't think of any character I'd truly call bad though.

edit: and special shoutout to Badger and Skinny Pete who were far far superior characters than what I expected them to be despite them being what I expected. Stoner losers but...also sci-fi nerds, and I absolutely love that.

edit: extra special mention to Gale because he's absolutely Hank tier but I forgot about him because he's been dead for a while. Such a lovable little scamp <3

---

El Camino time.

Opening scene...Mike chat about Alaska. Makes sense that this is where Jesse'd get the idea.

Right where show left off, Jesse's on the run. Flees to his stoner pals. Cute touch in showing the former locations of Saul and Gus' buildings.

Jesse's got a bad case of the ptsditis, I bet this is gonna lead to more fun as the movie develops.

Goes for the Walt look, nice.

Nice to see junkyard guy again, but he's no help as it turns out cops will be swarming that car sooner rather than later, as the LoJack was activated.

Huh...think this is the first time we see Skinny without his hat. "Dude, you're my hero and shit"

So this is a story with a past/present kind of framing then, I guess that's neat, although there's precious little new information learned about these characters. Todd's doing Todd things while Jesse's busy being quiet in either time period. There's no particular tension beyond Jesse needing to watch out for cops and all we're getting in the past so far is a glimpse of his horrible working conditions under Todd's management which is going every bit as much as we could have presumed. Don't get me wrong, it's still fun viewing, but it's just lacking the bite the show tended to have.

I say right before Jesse lucks into some hidden money riiiight as some police show up and discover a Todd/Lydia snowglobe.

Man, we're like, halfway through here, a whole episode's worth and really a whole lot of not much has happened.

I need to stop saying things right before they become the opposite. In fairness, there were probably a vast numbers of tells these weren't cops thinking back at their actions, but even still I was fooled. The ol' fridge logic strikes again.

Honor among thieves, Jesse wrangles away a third and then realizes he's seen that welder before.

Now the scope of the movie becomes apparent. Jesse needs $1800 to let vacuum guy poof him, likely to Alaska. Vacuum guy makes absolutely no compromise on his principles, and I quite admire that.

Jesse does what any good son would do and calls his parents. Honestly, this series should have been called Breaking Phones, he does that here that's how sure his plan's gonna work. Made extra funny because this movie came out recently in these times where virtually nobody has a phone like that anymore.

Pretty solid action with the Kandy boys, somehow against all odds Jesse manages to be badass in ways that even Walt would be impressed with. Went perhaps a bit too Michael Bay at the end, but that's a movie budget for you.

Feels pretty weird seeing Walt and Jesse in a diner together even knowing this is deep in the past where they're not known to be druglords. Heck, they barely know it at this point too. Seems a pretty inconsequential scene to add too. Really, most of this movie's been one big why cobbled together from fairly shoestring thin plot. If the show had ended on a 30 second scene of Jesse setting foot into Alaska, rather than a zoom out on Walt's corpse, it would have accomplished most of what this movie did.

Still, the deed is done and Mr. Driscoll's now got a new life ahead of him.

But before we go, apparently Jane's actor was paid to be in this movie to for all of a hot minute. I guess the big takeaway from all of this is make your own decisions in life and don't let the universe be your guide? I guess that jives with a lot of the decisions Jesse made over the course of the movie.

All in all, pretty meh experience. It does serve as a reasonable capstone to the series, certainly worth a watch if one's already invested 5 seasons of time. It just felt a bit...tacked on, serving to elaborate on things that needed no elaboration. That said, it also strikes me that of like, the entire cast, Jesse is the only one that seems to be walking away with a happy ending, so that's neat. Maybe Saul too, but that's probably other show territory. Everyone else though? Tragedies all around, don't do drugs kids!


---

Honestly the movie was like DLC to me

It was unnecessary and inessential but it was fun and did everything it needed to do. And I love the entire final 10 minutes or so.

---

It was definitely more bonus content than I was expecting, but then the show was fairly well wrapped up with a bow, there wasn't too much left of a story to tell, so in that respect El Camino did an astounding job working with what it had. It neither self-indulged in the source material nor broke the general vibe the series promoted. It had to add in elements, but they weren't that unnatural.

I just am getting a bit hung up on how unneeded the movie was, and it probably doesn't help that I was never much on the Jesse bandwagon to begin with.

Still, it was not an unfun watch, and had a number of fine moments. Now I am finally free from this series, free to pursue other things but will invariably probably be Better Call Saul because I rather do want to see more of how Saul came to be.

---

i loved El Camino especially the Fat Todd scenes.
But i also love Jesse and always wanted more detail on the effects of his nazi meth slave summer camp so i may be biased

---

Yeah the universal reception to El Camino was pretty much what you said. I'm glad it was made since it was fine enough and didn't outright ruin anything about the main series (always a risk with things like this), but yeah, if it hadn't if been made nobody would've really missed it.

Better call Saul, on the other hand, is a genuine masterpiece of fiction ala breaking bad. If you enjoyed BB I think you will enjoy bcs, just prepare yourself for a slow burn

---

SovietOmega posted...

Feels pretty weird seeing Walt and Jesse in a diner together even knowing this is deep in the past where they're not known to be druglords. Heck, they barely know it at this point too. Seems a pretty inconsequential scene to add too. Really, most of this movie's been one big why cobbled together from fairly shoestring thin plot. If the show had ended on a 30 second scene of Jesse setting foot into Alaska, rather than a zoom out on Walt's corpse, it would have accomplished most of what this movie did.

keep in mind this is six years later - everyone was just thrilled to see walter white again!
---

SeabassDebeste posted...

keep in mind this is six years later - everyone was just thrilled to see walter white again!

This!

Had more of an impact due to the long wait.

---

Yeah 6 years of wondering what happened to Jesse and then seeing his turn out okay was nice. I don't think he NEEDED a definite ending but it was nice. I'm sure watching it immediately after the finale probably loses a little bit of the novelty.

Everything to say about Better Call Saul has already been said in this topic so I'll just mirror the key points:

slow burn
somehow better than Breaking Bad once it gets going

---

Tag for BCS watch through

---

After Netflix finally released season 4 of BCS, I tore right through it, then found all of season 5 online and did the same.

Now enduring the struggle waiting for the final season...

---

Cavedweller2000 posted...

This!

Had more of an impact due to the long wait.

Yeah. Thats why i recommended waiting. Its disorienting to have all these dead characters suddenly alive again right away. Walt, todd, mike, etc. And it sorta numbs the main ending. I did enjoy the movie though

---

I did enjoy seeing your immediate reaction post-BB with every character still super fresh, and not an epilogue many years later.

I miss the Breaking Bad waits between episodes.

---

Debated on if I should make a new topic for BCS, but everyone's already following this one and BCS is the logical extension of BB so it should work out alright.

I watched the first episode last night, and gotta say, it starts out running compared to BB. Well, it literally starts in a confusing slow-paced black and white void that is pretty certainly the future given there's a 'Better Call Saul' ad playing on TV and also a Cinnabon featured which was Saul's offhand remark about where he'd like to poof to if he had a choice.

The actual meat of the episode moves along at a brisk pace though with Saul 'Slippin Jimmy' Goodman encountering some skateboarding hipsters looking to pull the ol' hit-by-a-car con. Saul gives them some good advice, helps them up their game until plans go south both in how events shake out, and the skater boys' 'ditch Saul' response.

Right as Saul's about to resolve this situation, a random Tuco appearing right at the end....did NOT see that coming. Had a good laugh, I did!

And then there's the whole Chuck situation with the big fancy law firm with Saul trying to fight for what's best for the guy who keeps saying he'll beat whatever his illness is. Clearly a mentor type to ol' Saul.

It all gets introduced so quickly, but a lot of it is also steeped in tropes so while the exact beats remain a mystery, it still felt fairly well worn. Yadda yadda lawyers being lawyers, down on his luck hero needs a lucky break. Tried and true though, and it will be particularly interesting how Saul as a character is shaped given what we already know of how he is in the other show.

Also amuses me how Saul's dump of an office in BB was quite a step up from his current office location in the backroom of a hair parlor.

---

saul
jimmy

---

Now a BCS watch-through?

That's gonna be a hell yeah from me brother

---

did not expect this
---

Ah how I have missed you Tuco, you and your crazy unhinged antics. Sweet little grandma too, Saul's would-be goons never stood a chance. I appreciate how you can even hear Saul's car pull up while we're viewing events from the interior.

Man...bad guys really do love their wide open areas in the middle of nowhere. Anything could happen to these chuckleheads, anything at all.

Lovin' Saul having to talk Tuco down from murder to a singular broken leg. On the one hand, Saul has a direct involvement with their pain, which ironically mirrors their attempted scam, but on the other hand...he also kinda saved their lives. He's probably still gonna agonize over it regardless.

Huh, Tuco really did a number on Saul with the mental scarring. Cute touch with the breadsticks, very symbolic. I guess that was Tuco in future black-and-whiteville too, telling me that Saul never truly gets over this.

Speaking of not getting over things, Chuck continues to have a mysterious illness, seems to be related to electronics or metal or something as I'm realizing him asking 'did you ground yourself' is part of it. Which...explains the lack of lighting last episode too, but plot was covering so much ground I thought it was some kind of blackout Saul accidentally caused. Nope, just Chuck being crazy or something.

Oh right, seeing him again reminds me, completely forgot to mention seeing Mike last episode. Parking lot ticket guy...now that's rich!

Bit of a long cut of Saul's day-to-day life, but while perhaps a touch lengthy, it paints a suitably dreary picture of the conditions he's working in.

Naturally, as he goes through the effort of relaxing in his office space, a customer appears.

It's one of Tuco's goons. Was this one alive in BB? I don't remember seeing him there, he's looking too sharp looking and capable. So much so it makes me wonder why he's running in Tuco's circle.


---

Welp, guess it's time to hop out. Hope you enjoy it! I'll watch it one day.

---

nacho is not in BB.

talking down tuco is fucking iconic. also that desert is so beautiful. for those of us who waited years to see BCS, i feel like it was a shock and a comfort to return to the ABQ.
---

SovietOmega posted...

....kidnapping Saul, huh. "It wasn't me, it was Ignacio. He's the one!" I bet that will be important in the spinoff series.

You finally meet Nacho. Enjoy!

---

Mega Mana posted...

You finally meet Nacho. Enjoy!

Ah. Guess that's one minor mystery solved!

So...not only the future, but the past as well with this opening prison scene between Chuck and Jiimmy.

Saul calling a gal, apparently a lawyer lady friend of his, trying to get details on a case. Says family might be in danger. Reminds me of concerns some characters had on BB.

Phone trick with the paper towel roll and rubber banded paper was a curious little trick that semi-undercut his emotional wavering back and forth. No sense in showing him going through the steps in making it if it wasn't gonna see use, after all.

Also, as he's calling Nacho, it is at this point I realize Saul's singlehandedly keeping the pay phone business afloat. Part of his extreme down-on-his-luck-can't-catch-a-break charm, and also a fun counterpoint to BB Saul who has a few dozen highly snappable phones on tap. I guess when Chuck chucked his phone the other episode, he really did a number on it.

Ah...Nacho thinks Saul set him up.

Ooh, now this is a nice scene. If this were Psych or some other lighthearted show, Saul's 'where's the doll' thing would be worked up as the smoking gun to turnaround the case. But this isn't those shows, and the detectives aren't idiots at their job, and had made the doll connection. The most they grant is that it is possible, but also possible the baddie let the girl take it.

And then Mike happens in a more-than-a-montage way and I'm happy. Finally, the two have something like a conversation together!

Cute how the show primes us for Saul's discovery with the back of the van decal of a family camping. Or maybe that primed him, hard to say.

Whole family in that small of a tent space? They'd murder each other before the week was out! Or maybe murder Saul after discovering them and helping rip open their secret money bag.

---

SovietOmega posted...

Ooh, now this is a nice scene. If this were Psych or some other lighthearted show, Saul's 'where's the doll' thing would be worked up as the smoking gun to turnaround the case. But this isn't those shows, and the detectives aren't idiots at their job, and had made the doll connection. The most they grant is that it is possible, but also possible the baddie let the girl take it.

i fucking love this. i think it's really hard to write smart characters without making other people stupid. saul figures something out ingenious here, but it's not because of incompetence of the cops.
---