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

It's all about having giant bags under your eyes at all times, I think. Or at least, that's a critical element.

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/interview-breaking-bad-creator-vince-gilligan-post-mortems-season-4

I want to get into the mechanics of the plan that Walt hatched. A big deal is made in the previous episode about the chain of custody of the ricin cigarette. What happened to it?

I think Jesse had the right idea. I think it was lifted off him by Huell. When he comes to Walt in the previous episode, and Walt asks how on earth would he could have done it, and Jesse says, "The big man mountain security guard of Saul's just had to see me, and he pats me down. You got him to get it off of me." So having done that, he could've just flushed it in the toilet, because as we find out, the child wasn't poisoned with ricin, he was poisoned with something else.

And Walt was somehow able to get access to Brock, to give him the berries.

Yeah. That part's probably the trickiest part. I can't remember the specifics, but we worked it out in the writer's room. He technically had enough hours to do it. How he found his way over there unseen is probably a little improbable, perhaps, but not impossible, is the way we figured it.

used an old lady to sweep his house for hitmen

This part made me very very nervous.

re: lily plant, i saw it as gus' henchman placed it there, to endanger walt's fam.. eliminating any doubt that (poisoning brock) wasn't gus' move. So walt orchestrated the poisoning to get jesse on his side?

i saw it as gus' henchman placed it there, to endanger walt's fam

Nobody past the age of toddler would eat stuff off a houseplant. It stretches credulity a little bit to think that Brock might. (S5, episode 1: "Brock, why'd you eat the berries off that plant?" "I didn't!" "Hmmm...")

So walt orchestrated the poisoning to get jesse on his side?

yes

Krysten Ritter, who played Jesse's dead girlfriend Jane, played a character named Lilly on another tv show. COINCIDENCE?

yes

Hank's DEA pals better give him some kind of medal or promotion or at least buy him a beer or something

well at least he can stop staring at those laundry pics now

Yeah, that's kind of funny. Hank still doing his diligent detective work on power usage etc. and then the place just blows up

I was kinda dreading opening this thread for fear of it being full of soulcrushing haters

do you have to say this every week, because people criticise the show based on its own high standards? or is it like a "shut up if you do not endorse every episode of breaking bad 100 per cent" thing? or presumably every episode ever made is the same standard and that's why we're on a messageboard talking about it? so nobody can say anything negative whatsoever?

really enjoyed this ep anyway, thought it was a little anti climactic but they decided to go all out a few episodes ago so no harm if they want to ramp things down a bit. i guess you sort of expect gus dying to be the last moment. the episode and series wound down v slowly then and i sort of expected another big reveal, not that the plant wasn't major, just it was tonally quite relaxed by then.

the zombie thing was kind of stupid but sort of funny too i suppose.

i think this show is still great but it's definitely stopped bothering to be as tight as it was. something about it is a bit rough around the edges at the moment.

this whole walt poisoning the kid etc...it just wasn't as beautifully sketched as other plotlines in the show.

still a great show but it reached perfection in s4 for me, v hard to keep up that standard, tho some amazing eps this season too.

dunno why people getting butthurt about complaints either, all long running shows, even ones where every season is v good, have different seasons that appeal for diff reasons.

I also loved Walt getting a proper dressing down from Saul's secretary.

― Matt DC, Monday, October 10, 2011 2:58 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

my favorite moment of the whole season

I paused it at that moment and said to the household that I'd be perfectly happy for the entire rest of the episode to be that woman telling Walt off, and everything else just cliffhangering until next year.

im like damn

And Walt was somehow able to get access to Brock, to give him the berries.

Yeah. That part's probably the trickiest part. I can't remember the specifics, but we worked it out in the writer's room. He technically had enough hours to do it. How he found his way over there unseen is probably a little improbable, perhaps, but not impossible, is the way we figured it.

!!!

One twist too many IMO

And at a certain point, it was going to be Walter or Gus. Back in the early days of plotting out Season 4, we did indeed realize that this was the season where it would all have to come to a head and there would have to be some resolution one way or the other. And we even briefly discussed, "What if it is Walt that gets killed"?

YES YES YES YES NOOOOO

I don't know why but the moment when Gus screamed and the bomb blew up, I just laughed.

ommmfffffggggg

That was BONZO. I totally hated Zombie Gus but then contradictorily I loved the entire episode. Wowie zowie.

The moment I realized he hadn't rung his bell since walt had been there and what that meant I got SO excited

dunno why people getting butthurt about complaints either, all long running shows, even ones where every season is v good, have different seasons that appeal for diff reasons.

― When a German communicates, you listen (LocalGarda), Monday, October 10, 2011 5:48 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

its because peoples criticisms seem genrally be of the 'complaining to complain' variety, which naturally leads to a 'not getting the show' pov

btw bomb plot only worked cause tyrus didnt search well enough via relying too heavily on his bug sweeping device, the bomb was not v well concealed - and the only reason tyrus was there to make that mistake is because the guy who shouldve been doing the sweep mike fucked up by not fully strangling a guy and got himself shot

xp Or also people who write off the entire show as having jumped the shark because they don't like one thing that happened. I mean, even Happy Days started sucking long before Fonzie jumped the actual shark. It's not like it was a great show and this one bad thing happened and then it's all down the crapper.

But I understand the urge, having been burned by shows that I loved, to try and get some emotional distance from a show before you realize it's season four of Lost and you've been suckered punched by the slow creep of badness. Kind of a break up with it before it dumps you thing.

ya - i wasn't crazy about zombie gus either. all in all a great ep tho. (not complaining!)

my favorite detail was how Hectors bell had a duller sound just before the bomb went off. i noticed it right away but didn't realize what it meant until after. also a very good explosion!

I was watching for him NOT ringing that bell as soon as Gus came in.

A car wash empire is totally going to be Walts Los Pollos Hermanos. Good cover for having vats of chemicals trucked in too.

Walt's

why did the writers write Mike off for the last few episodes?

so that walt could kill gus

Didn't the doc say Mike would have to be in the Mexican docs for a few weeks? Or am I filling in gaps?

yeah iirc correctly he said two weeks

and then gus said 'ill send for him' lol

wonder if walt will recruit mike for his drug gang

yeah it seems pretty obvious that Mike had to be out the way for this to happen (and only temporarily because he's too good a character to not come back next season)

can't wait for Mike to roll his eyes when he gets back

i like how they made it mikes fault that he got himself shot, it illustrated the cracks in gus' armor nicely

Oh, and please remind me about one thing. Mike started as Saul's man to take care of Jane's dead. Then how come he works for Gus later on the show and never had contact with Saul anymore?

Why did Gus paused with a bewildered looks on his face when he's about to inject the poison? It's not like Tio was doing anything. And then why did Tio cry before unleashing his vicious stare?

Here's what I would've done: Gus does pause and looks bewildered. The camera then cut to Tio's face with a devilish smile.

*Jane's death

Why did Gus paused with a bewildered looks on his face when he's about to inject the poison?

Because Tio finally looked Gus in the eyes after refusing to do so several times previously.

iirc mike was introduced as a "clean-up" guy. i imagine he mainly works for gus but does other jobs on the side.

feel like mikes employment history and loyalties were kinda fudged by the writers, like they thought mike was sweet and wanted to keep him around, there was that one scene where mike was all 'you know my real boss' to illustrate that he was just like moonlighting for saul or like gus had him there to keep tabs on saul, but really once it was revealed how central he was to gus' organization mikes employment w/saul doesnt really make any sense - only halfway legit explanation i can think of is that over that time span mikes involvement w/gus grew into a full time job

cause by this season he was gus' main dude

he was also introduced was also before gus had eliminated the cartel as a threat. maybe as things became more involved with walter's blue meth and production ramped up gus had more need of mike's expertise as an enforcer.

Saul's mentioned before how many of his top guys - hit men, cleaners, etc. - he got from Mike, who, as a sort of all-purpose middle man, has surely dealt with Saul before.

This show is so expertly made that I'm willing to cut it some slack when its goes total Hollywood crazy with Walt's nefariously perfect multi-tiered strategic planning. But good for them for neatly, more or less, tying up several loose threads in one episode.

I guess this means the final season will be Walt outsmarting the DEA.

But I understand the urge, having been burned by shows that I loved, to try and get some emotional distance from a show before you realize it's season four of Lost and you've been suckered punched by the slow creep of badness. Kind of a break up with it before it dumps you thing.

― pullapartsquirrel (Jenny), Tuesday, 11 October 2011 12:43 (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I try to see each piece (in this case, each season) in isolation. It's a bit like bands that do one earth-shattering album and spend the next 30 years churning out crap – some people focus on the 30 years of crap at the expense of that one masterpiece.

Really glad this is finishing soon though.

I guess this means the final season will be Walt outsmarting the DEA.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 11 October 2011 13:25 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I think the final season will first and foremost be about the ultimate consequences of Walt's cooking. All the consequences. Whatever plot devices act in service to that are in.

that baby's totally going to be eaten by a kimodo dragon. unless the writers think of something even more NOIZE

walt finally this episode got to the point where he kills dudes w/o really thinking twice or giving a fuck

Consequences OTM -- at some point he will have to come to terms with what he's done/doing. There's nowhere else to go really.

Aside from swallowed by a lava pit in the mouth of a Komodo dragon.