Breaking Bad is the greatest show on television.

[teh b0lly!!1]

i just finished watching the fourth season
i need to talk to somebody about this

[Eulogy]

Originally Posted by teh b0lly!!1

i just finished watching the fourth season
i need to talk to somebody about this

HEY

pretty fuckin' awesome, no?

[lala]

Originally Posted by teh b0lly!!1

i just finished watching the fourth season
i need to talk to somebody about this

YES

[teh b0lly!!1]

i was kinda disappointed with this entire season tbh. it's still very solid television but i felt it kind of went too far in terms of being cartoonish and less bleedingly realistic like it was on the first two seasons. it started to almost feel like Dexter, in that it was fairly obvious they'd save Gus's murder for the last episode of the season, and the way hank was closing in on Walt, while making some fairly dubious leaps of faith and just sticking with them without a solid reason... still, Walt's nervous breakdown as he goes from screaming to crying to laughing like a lunatic was worth this entire season alone. best scene i've seen from any actor ever. bryan cranston is just ridiculously talented as an actor.

i don't know about you guys but i saw the entire finale coming from a mile away, i knew right off the bat that Walt would finish off Gus through Tio, it became pretty obvious early on that Walt's behind the kid's poisoning (again, fine acting by cranston, because he acted a man lying to somebody else with everything he's got in order to be convincing, and nailed it, but you could still see he's lying)... burning the entire lab JUST BEFORE hank shredded it feels kind of dexter-ish too. too many things coming together too neatly. a mega complicated situation that seemed unsolveable two episodes back, suddenly works itself out a little too conveniently.
it's all nitpicking in the end though, tremendously enjoyable show and surely one of the all time best on tv. god i cant wait till next season now

[Eulogy]

dexter does not hold a candle in any way, shape, or form to this show, imo (except for portions of the lithgow season).

i understand your complaints but for the most part don't share them. i don't really see it as a problem if you can see things coming if the execution is good. i'd rather have that than some bullshit m night shyamalan twist.

[teh b0lly!!1]

dexter doesn't even touch breaking bad. not even the same league. i just meant the 'feel' of things, what gets emphasized, what doesn't, the way things work out, etc.
i guess you're right about forced twists just ruining stuff sometimes, but what i meant to say was, the way this show had of always having me on edge, pretty much never really knowing what's going to happen next, was its best trait. i mean, the first 3 seasons, you constantly guess what's going to happen, based on past experience with television\film 'rules' of sorts, etc. breaking bad's storytelling has always been so different than that, really off the wall, always taking a turn where you didn't expect it. i loved that.
the execution this season was as excellent as ever, but the writing could be just a little bit sharper i guess.

and although gus' death was fairly awesome, what's up with that? that really was cartoonish. especially with the way he walks out, fiddles with his tie, and collapses, while half his skull is blown up

[Eulogy]

eh in season 1 they liquefied a dude in a bath tub and he fell through the roof onto the first floor.

there has always been an element of that sort of thing. a decapitated head on a turtle? c'mon.

i thought it was a perfect way for gus to go out. i've also read a few people argue that that sort of reaction is possible because the body goes into shock or something and just carries on its usual business. but that could be total bullshit. i have no idea.

[teh b0lly!!1]

yeah the head on the turtle was contrived. could happen with psycho mexican druglords though, you never know. but the liquified corpse on season 1? that shit was brilliant.
i always get the feeling that on television\film, its always just a little bit too convenient and easy to murder someone\dispose of corpses, etc. it just sort of happens and life goes on. thats why i loved the first season so much - its relentlessly real. of course the idea of dissolving a corpse with acid is out there, but the guy's a chemist, so its at least probable. the point is it's a crazy hassle that you have to deal with, and if you don't you're in a world of shit (also i loved how krazy 8 didn't die and they had to kill him cold, when they were still two 'normal people'). it's gone from that, to walt running over two people, shooting one of them in the head from point blank, completely public place, and two episodes later it's poof - gone.

this aside, man im gonna miss gus. what a great character. i watched some youtube interviews with the actor and he's the absolute opposite of the character he plays. amazing. he's all loud-laughing, cheery dude.
turns out he had a small role in trading places

[Eulogy]

a few weeks ago i saw a guy that looked like gus on the train and it was terrifying. he was also just completely stoic and put together and everything.

[killtrocity]

Originally Posted by teh b0lly!!1

of course the idea of dissolving a corpse with acid is out there, but the guy's a chemist, so its at least probable.

That's not out there at all. You and I could do it. Mercury fulminate, on the other hand, is out there.

Good breakdown/critique, though. I generally agree with everything you said although I had not articulated it or organized the thoughts so concisely yet.

I think the pivot point of the series is really the plane crash. After that, it strays away from a generally totally plausible story (save the freaky tortuga moments) towards men with axes and total insanity. Which is awesome in my opinion but it absolutely represents a shift in narrative. Seasons 1-2 are Walt kind of stumbling through this new world he's gotten himself into and 3-4 just hold nothing back. 2 and 4 are my favorites.

[Banana]

I blame Breaking Bad for this plot happening.


http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...-Militia-Plot/

[killtrocity]

New York, The New Yorker, Stephen King Name Breaking Bad 2011's Top TV Series

http://blogs.amctv.com/breaking-bad/...undup-1209.php

with all the TV show threads, I just had to remind everyone which one is king

[Elvis The Fat Years]

[killtrocity]

'Breaking Bad': Vince Gilligan talks the final episodes

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/s166/br...-episodes.html


How is work going on the final two seasons of Breaking Bad?
"Work is going very well. We are working away on the last 16 episodes and we just finished breaking episode five yesterday. We're starting today on episode six. And we started shooting the first of the episodes two days ago, in Albuquerque, and I was there for the first day - that was a lot of fun. It's just very frantic and very exciting and we're looking forward to doing the best job we can do on the last 16 and ending the series in a satisfying manner, in the right way."

Do you know how the show will end, and if so how long have you had that ending in mind?
"I have had, for a couple of seasons now, hopes and dreams for the characters. I've had very broad-stroke ideas of how I want individual characters to end up. Having said that, I've had no hard and fast ideas about how things should end until this season, with the help of my six excellent writers.

"The seven of us, putting our heads together for the past several months, have indeed come up with how we think the show's gonna end. That's what we're working towards, but we're still somewhat in the early days - we've outlined about the first third of the last 16 episodes.

"As such, these ideas that we have for the endgame of our series become more and more defined, and more and more a reality. But there's still room at this point to change things up if we get a better idea of how to end things! But as it stands, we have a pretty good idea of where it's all going to end up."

The show's featured flashback scenes in the past - can we expect more of those?
"I'm trying very hard not to give anything away, but I can tell you for sure that we have talked for many hours about doing just that. Looking back at Walt's 'Grey Matter' days - when he helped found the company 'Grey Matter' - and worked with Gretchen and Elliott.

"At the risk of sounding a bit coy, I don't want to say whether or not we did much more than talk about it. But we try to never forget about characters' pasts on the show. We try to remember details, no matter how small, and bring them back in current episodes.

"We have a great deal of fun doing that, so we do indeed love those flashback scenes. We use 'every bit of the Buffalo' on this show - we mine those moments from the past as much as we can, because they make the show feel more real and have a resonance. So yeah, look for more of those kind of moments as the series progresses."


http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/s166/br...st-coming.html

"I hope we're going to end this thing in as satisfying a manner as possible and stay as true as we can to the extent of the show from day one," said Gilligan. "We've just got some crazy s**t coming up!"


'Breaking Bad's final season to be split in two, says Bryan Cranston

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/s166/br...-cranston.html

AMC is preparing to wrap the journey of Cranston's character Walter White in the show's fifth and final season with 16 new episodes.

Cranston revealed to Entertainment Weekly: "We're splitting it. We're going to shoot the first eight, then take a four-month production break, then the rest will air next year."

On the fifth season's opener, the actor revealed that it will pick up "right where [they] left off".

"We're cleaning up the pieces from last season's huge ordeal where Gus Fring was forced to meet his maker," Cranston added. "It's not as easy as Walter thought.

"And as we've discovered over the years, you don't really know who Walter White is. I'm still discovering who he is and I'm trying to allow myself to be open to him going darker and darker.

"There's physical danger to himself and his family, plus there's the emotional danger due to his anger and hubris. It's about the evil that men do and where that takes him."

[Order 66]

i wonder if the last season is going to be more or less an epilogue or more cartel carnage. hard to see where else it could go without having at least two more seasons to set up a post-gus villain. kinda wary about where they'll go from here but i have faith in vince at the end of the day

[Eulogy]

walt is the villain now

[killtrocity]

fascinating new insight there

that still doesn't answer the question of where exactly they're going with the show
he's still the main character and needs an adversary and we don't know who that is

[killtrocity]

obvious adversary


possible adversary

well yes we know hank and the DEA will be investigating but i somehow doubt this show will not go for more fireworks than that

also wouldn't jesse be a more likely adversary than mike? despite his loyalty to gus mike doesn't seem to be the type to do revenge killings to me. it would be a shame not to have him involved because he's awesome though. i don't know. who knows what they're gonna do. i'll watch the whole thing anyway

there's no way jesse doesn't find out about brock and jane this season and he is definitely up for revenge killings

edit: "there's no way"
ugh i'm contradicting my whole who knows/who cares/just watch already. i mean there's a strong chance he won't and the tease from the fly episode is the closest it'll ever get. i feel they'll find some way to turn them against each other.

[killtrocity]

Yeah, I think you are right. Two things need to happen before the series ends: Hank needs to find out everything, and Jesse needs to find out everything.

And Mike is too pragmatic for revenge, like you say.

Originally Posted by Order 66

from the perspective of it being a tv show i can see walt and jesse going back to business as usual and digging their hole further. but from a critical standpoint, i look at things like, were there cameras in the old folks home? did workers at the lab/washateria detail walt and jesse to feds? did the FBI profile and monitor walt at the hospital? if so i would think the whole next season would be them evading the law because their figurative and literal fingerprints are over everything. but then again, its not real, so those things may not bite them in the ass until the end

Mike has a lot of work to do, but even he can't clean all of this shit up


As for more fireworks, I bet it will have something to do with Gustavo's past in Chile and the Pinochet government. The cartel was afraid to kill him for some reason

there's also the huge multinational corporation that was bankrolling gus' operation

[killtrocity]

apparently some crazy shit is going on at the Schrader residence

[reprise85]

so ready for this to start again

[killtrocity]

http://tvline.com/2012/05/16/breakin...jesse-plemons/



My guess is either A. Federal agent, or more likely B. German dude from that corporation

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2081647/

Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
James Martinez ... Max Arsiniega

Ryan Schaefer ... Madrigal Suit

Flashback with Gus and his partner (Max), and graveflower you're right, that corporation (Madrigal Electromotive) is gonna play a role

[BumbleBeeMouth]

hopefully i'll have caught up in time for this, currently in season three. its fucking awesome!!

[killtrocity]

What part of season 3?

[BumbleBeeMouth]

i just finished watching fly, stupid episode really... its one of those duologs that they likes to do.