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

Yes, Jesse's previous job as a mere manufacturer of hard drugs was shown to be entirely stable and secure in the first episode, when his operation got busted by the DEA

Oh yeah, of course. He added pili (?) or something to the drugs as his trademark. I think I'm conveniently forgetting this to defend my opinion. ;-)

I don't like Cranston (the character, I mean).

He added Chili Powder

Unless they totally puss out, a la The Sopranos, the story being told in Breaking Bad can pretty much end only one way (hint: Goodfellas). Alternatively, Walt and Jesse buy it and the wife takes over, with Saul seamlessly switching his allegiances to her.

Or maybe it's just all a dream.

Walt basically has to kill Gus and take over his empire now, doesn't he?

maybe. i feel like since Walt's imminent death is a given they're not gonna kill off any of the other next 2 or 3 biggest characters, though, i don't know if even this show is bleak enough to leave no major character around to even mourn another.

Why would they continue the series without Walt?

this show could go any number of ways, I don't think anything is "imminent" or "given"

yeah...why waste your trump card...they've had plenty of opportunity to kill him

so you think there's a possibility of him surviving the cancer and living to be an old man? (xpost)

sure! a bitter, bitter old man. he could end up like tuco's uncle!

we all die one day, but i wouldn't say his death is anytime soon, more likely the end of the show.

any sign of the mooted mini-episodes that were meant to happen between seasons?

well "soon" is relative -- the timeline of the show is pretty compressed (i.e. a pregnancy spans the entire first 2 seasons) so they could squeeze several seasons out of the last few months of his life.

creator has said he's down for 1, maybe 2 more seasons

yeah i agree with that, i just mean i think his death will be dragged out to be the last event, if it does happen. the cancer scenario seems to be going quite well for him.

At this point he's more likely to be shot and dumped in the desert than die of cancer.

A happy situation I'm sure you'll all agree.

you know where you are with being shot and dumped in a desert

http://www.flickr.com/photos/orion_pax/5697421210/sizes/o/in/photostream/

xpost I suggest the way the show will end is obvious based mostly on pretty much every TV show of this ilk ever made. But yeah, maybe the show will surprise us all and do something totally different. But probably not.

Continuing the discussion from upthread - the show will never kill Jesse. He is, at this point, the closest thing the show has to a heart. If anything, come the last ep, he'll be the last (significant) one standing.

Can imagine this show killing/jailing everyone but Jessie, and leaving him exactly where he started, selling meth on the street corners.

wasn't he cooking meth/banging housewives?

The former at least. Regardless. Maybe it'll be a "Shield" finale special: all the money in the world but unable to spend it.

I can see him dying. I could see an ending where walt is the only major character left alive.

If they ever kill Jessie, it's going to be a second to last episode or something deal.

so psyched for this

There are people that still think the end of The Sopranos was a cop out?

ending of Sopranos was fucking genius imo

Given the tone of this show, I don't see how it can end without Jesse and Walt losing absolutely everything as the price for their success... Even Goodfellas seems too optimistic.

whatever happens, it will not end well. In the second season, I didn't mind all the suggestive foreboding (w/ the eyeball in the pool in what not) as much as some did, but it did kinda bludgeon w/ its symbolism. I just hope that Vince Gilligan keeps those creative impulses in check when it comes time for Walt & Jesse to reap what they have sewn.

I really hope he doesn't aim for more than 5 seasons.

Also, best/coolest music supervision on TV.

ending of Sopranos was fucking genius imo
― bloomps! (there it is) (Pillbox)
^ Thank you

Last night we watched the episode of Deep Space Nine with Tuco in it! He plays an angry, aggro soldier who is all strung out on battle fatigue and PTSD, so not much of a stretch. Also he had pointy side burns.

I am kind of hoping this show ends on a quiet bittersweet note instead of going all Tarantino everybody-dies-at-the-end or whatever. Like: Jesse somewhat gets his shit together, goes to Community college or something, is sadder and wiser. Walt's cancer comes back, but all secrets are in the open now, his family is still intact, and they figure they'll get by somehow with less money. Credits roll before Walt croaks - I don't want this show to ever expect us to cry for either of them at this point.

Trailer for new season out:

http://www.amctv.com/breaking-bad/videos/get-ready-for-breaking-bad-season-4

c'mon AMC, that's just a bunch of clips from s3

july 17 can't come quick enough

I'm excited for this! I have cable now, so I get to watch it in real time. There are commercials on AMC, though, right?

just watched all 3 seasons of this in the last few weeks... it really is one of the v best US tv shows. took me a while to really get into - in fact, i would say that i wasn't truly a 'fan' until s3 - and the only reason i stuck with it was the lack of any other deep-drama to watch on the reg. glad i did!!

the whole show is just so... finely crafted. i never saw sopranos so i can't compare, but the first comparison i thought of was 'damages' - it first occurred to me during the scene of hank, after he gets the hoax ph call about marie, arrives at the hospital and realises he's been had: the emotion on his face just instantly reminded me of that scene with glenn close on the beach, violently crying (the one they flash to repeatedly throughout the season).

walt is a dead-ringer for my dad, lol

it is incredibly good, the tension and pacing hasn't been matched by anything i've seen. maybe the fact it only has a couple of characters allows it to really thrive on storytelling.

i watched all six seasons of sopranos in the last 6/7 weeks as i've been out of work, it was enjoyable but i don't even see it as masterful or genius or anything even close. it was a pretty good show with tons of slack in terms of the number of episodes and loads of stupid parts or predictable whackings etc. endless "got myself a new boat, it's called the live forever" moments.

The third series of Breaking Bad is one of the best series of any TV show I can remember seeing, partly for the tension and excitement but also for the comedy. The dynamic between Walt and Jesse is pitch perfect and the scene where Sklyar and Saul meet for the first time is hilarious.

Yeah it's funny pretty much all the way through. It's also the most downright horrible show, so many grim moments. The comedy comes with the tension too, you want to laugh at of sheer excitement. Found myself shouting at the TV, throwing cushions etc. CAN'T WAIT for S4.

careful comparing this show favorably to The Sopranos. Next thing there will be versus thread, and somebody will liveblog their disappointment while watching Breaking Bad for the first time.

But it's kinda true! Good television has just been getting better and better, and I feel like we're moving into a new phase where certain show runners (Gilligan, Dan Harmon, Tina Fey, David Simon...hopefully David Milch again, when Luck kicks off) have seen enough of those good but slightly flabby shows that they have a better understanding of how to trim the fat and make the most effective and streamlined use of whatever little time they're gonna get to run a show. It's kind of awe inspiring to watch.

In Gilligan's case specifically, I'm sure his time working on The X-Files gave him an embarrassment of opportunities to say to himself, "Okay, that's how not to mold a long-form narrative..."

Yeah, Treme is a really good example of streamlining

Haven't watched Treme yet, so can't really speak for that. Was referring more specifically to The Wire as an example of Simon's demonstrable ability to streamline.

Both Treme and The Wire feel deliberately slowly paced, I'm not sure I'd bracket them in with series like Lost that have these clunky treading water episodes in the middle where it's obvious the writers have too much series and not enough plot arc to fit in.

In Gilligan's case specifically, I'm sure his time working on The X-Files gave him an embarrassment of opportunities to say to himself, "Okay, that's how not to mold a long-form narrative..."

Zing!/truth bomb

But didn't Gilligan say that they basically made up Season 3 as they went along?

they knew the long-form points to hit though

http://i.imgur.com/KKiib.jpg