Shall we anticpate the AMC series "Breaking Bad"? I think I may.

man every season it just keeps piling on how sorry I feel for Jesse, like... damn.

very informative interview with Gilligan here, surprised how much they winged it this season, considering it's been the best imo!

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/interview-breaking-bad-creator-vince-gilligan-post-mortems-season-three

alright so the hero of this episode and the entire season is saul

i really hope jesse maybe like, shot gale's arm to leave a bullet hole in the wall and blood on the floor, and then absconded with him somewhere to get him out of the picture? cause to kill gale is just heartless, i mean the guy tended to succulents

nah, according to the interview it wasn't the intent of that shot - gale's dead period, no turning back for jesse now

WHOS GOING TO WATER HIS SUCCULENTS

(also, did rubicon put anyone else to sleep)

watched it for maybe five minutes, decided to wait for reviews and maybe a dvd release. but it looks as unappealing to me as Mad Men already

Gale wasn't an innocent. Gus made it very clear to him that he was going to kill Walt, and Gale made it that he would try to learn as fast as possible so Gus could expedite Walt's murder. Bitch fucked with the wrong chem teacher.

Between this and Justified going off, I feel like it's the long dark moment for quality TV.
Fucking good ending to the season. Still the best show on TV right now.

fucking nine months..

Between this and Justified going off, I feel like it's the long dark moment for quality TV.
Fucking good ending to the season. Still the best show on TV right now.

― I have been forks-style since day one (forksclovetofu), Monday, June 14, 2010 4:39 AM (52 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah honestly I don't care about any show other than BB.

The review coming up just as soon as I make myself a Nescafe... - called this btw

this, from the Sepinwall review linked to above, is OTM

But the beautiful thing about "Breaking Bad" is that Walt is even smarter, and far more dangerous, than even a man like Gus might recognize - or, in fact, more than we might. When Gus visited Gale's apartment and started laying the groundwork for murdering Walt without scaring off his replacement, I was terrified that Walt had no idea of the metaphorical shiny ax hanging over him. Instead, we learned in the visit to Lazer Base that Walt was already two steps ahead of both me and Gus - and, having accepted his status as a murderer with his actions at the end of "Half Measures," that he was prepared to end Gale's life to save his own.

As you'll read in the interview, Walt's emasculation for much of this season wasn't by design, but rather a byproduct of how the Cousins' story was unfolding. But the upside of Heisenberg's prolonged absence is that we grew to miss him while he was gone. It was cathartic to see Walt take out the two dealers last week, to see him don the familiar black porkpie hat, and to see him get the better of Mike at the laundromat and bark out Gale's address and a triumphant "Yeah" as Mike and Victor realized what was about to happen. (And I'll admit to being briefly fooled into thinking Walt was selling out Jesse to save himself, which made the phone call even better.)

Such a dark, sad, end - Jesse's tearful, slightly high face killed me. Easily the best season yet.

Bring on Mad Men in July and The Walking Dead in October...

re Rubicon: nothing that ridiculous should take itself so seriously.

gale singing along to the song is one of my favourite scenes from this series; that was brilliant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROf8KnDW4j8&feature=player_embedded

oo, i forgot that walking dead was coming to TV!
Thanks for the song link; I was just hunting for ;it!

That was simply incredible. In terms of pure storytelling chops, I'm hard pressed to think of a better TV show, like ever.

I think S2 will remain my favourite for its ruthless precision, but this one topped it in terms of character depth and assurance.

i forgot that walking dead was coming to TV!

Only just found out! I found what I read of the comic quite underwhelming, gotta say, but will certainly give the show a shot.

The comic is great in long runs and should translate amazingly to tv; it reads like a storyboard. My only regret is that there are numerous major plot twists I already know about.

xp Felt similarly about the comic, tried the first three or four volumes and was pretty underwhelmed. OTOH, though, there's a good chance they can adjust it well to the TV format, if they condense arcs further than the book did.

Good AV Club review:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/full-measure,42061/

I really liked that review, especially the intro enthusing about what a great TV age we're in right now - i think they posted a Community review recently espousing the same topic

yea i dig that review. the take on mike is otm for me. i kinda groaned when gale showed up again, but they managed to flesh out his character so much more in just a couple scenes, and then... man, jesse really should've run and never come back.

we're sure Jesse shot him in the face? with the way the camera pans to the right it's hard to tell if Jesse is moving his arm at all to maybe just wound him or miss him completely and get the neighbours to call the cops.

xpost - but if Jesse did run (which really would have been the smart thing to do from his standpoint) he wouldn't have been able to save Walt!

Seen two interviews with Gilligan today in which he categorically states that Jesse killed Gale and any ambiguity is unintentional.

xp - that's true and of course as tv watcher i am happy jesse stuck around. guess he might have to run now anyway. i was kinda getting into the idea of seeing his misadventures on the road. maybe loses everything, has to come back to walt, etc...

yeah I thought it was a bit ambiguous but then just discounted that theory as reading too much into it; glad gilligan has come out and categorically said jesse killed gale

thought it was kinda funny how at the desert meeting when gus expressed his displeasure at walt, his voice changed from typical even-tempered cool-headed gus into super fiery latino voz de la pasión!!!

i hope hank enjoyed his hj vacation cause i'm expecting him to return to the forefront of the story very early on next season. he's been out of commission for what seems like way too long now for a character that's every bit as central to the overarching story of walter white than, say, gus and the cartel. especially now that skyler (and therefore 100% more of his extended family) is in on it.

unlikely to happen but i also want to see walter jr. meet his new cooler older brother jesse, in fact i want to see the whole family cooking together and plotting against the cartel next season, except of course for what's her face, the baby. babies shouldn't plot or cook meth imo

^ lol

xps - Just re-watched the end & although it isn't immediately obvious by any means, it isn't that Jesse moves his arm, but that the camera angle tilts around so that u are looking directly down the barrel of the gun when the screen goes black & "bang!"

also - what do you guys think he was trying to illustrate with that opening scene?

i took it mainly as showing this ambitious side of walt's personality was there before his meth and boring teacher days. i felt bad for walt jr when he was talking about wanting 3 kids... fingers crossed "giant space lazers" was more of that classic BB foreshadowing

i took it as meaning that albuquerque real estate agents are the most considerate, most low-pressure real estate agents in all the land

oh man what a programme...have to say I like Mike more each episode. just to clarify, the scene with Mike getting those passports etc, what are we meant to conclude from that? who were those guys?

I actually roared "YEEEAH" at my TV when Walt pulled that stunt at the laundry.

also lol @ white family cartel and baby plottings, but seriously isn't it kind of amazing that the show's gone three seasons without jesse and sklyer having a scene together?? or am i forgetting something? no ongoing interaction anyway. i think part of what i missed at times in s3 was the tension from walt hiding his secret from skyler, but there's still plenty only walt knows.

what are we meant to conclude from that? - I believe this was mainly to showcase the dead cold professionalism & efficiency with which Mike conducts his duties (two dudes w/ one bullet!) & also to demonstrate that Gus & co. are, for the time being at least, successfully keeping the cartels at bay.

they had one or two scenes in s1 i think...

x-post yeah i figured it was something like that.

also long hair skyler > current cut

mike has an enormous gun

mostly silencer.

I think Skyler shows up at Jesse's house in season 1 under the suspicion that Jesse is selling weed to Walt.

You are correct. I believe that is their sole interaction.

I admit when we got little peeks into the secret non-work-a-day lives of Mike and Gale, I thought for sure they'd both be goners, as is the custom for these kinds of dramas. Especially Mike, since he kissed his granddaughter goodbye (she called him Pop Pop lol) before walking into Metal Gear Solid. Almost expecting him to hide in a cardboard box. Balloon thing was hilarious; by coincidence, Burn Notice had a similar bit this week, except with a stolen bike chain thrown onto power lines instead of foil balloons.

A flashback I'd love to see is Walt teaching Jesse is high school.

'in high school'

"teaching"

Echoing upthread about the lack of quality TV for a while now that this show and Justified have wrapped up their seasons. I thought the finale was going to be and hour and 47 minutes and then realized when Jesse shot (?) Gale that the last 47 minutes were going to be the sneak preview for Rubicon.

Oh, and I had to laugh when Gale used the temperature gun to check the temperature on the whistling kettle. Hmmm...lemme guess...I think the temp might be about 212 degrees! I asked out loud why he would do that and my wife said "It's because he's a nerd!" True that.

A flashback I'd love to see is Walt teaching Jesse is high school.

― rhythm fixated member (chap), Monday, June 14, 2010 6:46 PM

lol yes

Presumably Jesse spent much of his time cutting that class and smoking weed