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

Flashback episode w/walt drinking the secret formula, becoming spiderman

its kinda too bad that breaking bad isnt a network show w/longer seasons cuz then maybe wed get an alternate history episode where walt stitched together his pride and ambition and went to work in product development for dupont eventually rising to become middle management and lived a quite life of regret and ennui in suburban delaware

― so solaris (Lamp), Wednesday, November 9, 2011 2:15 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

until a certain kid named jesse pinkman pulls in across the street in a slammin' sportscar

ironically he becomes addicted to meth in an attempt to escape the boredom and cruelty of his life, his failing marriage and spoiled, healthy kids and then realizes he can cook his own meth and itd be cheaper and purer... a voice rings out at the end of the episode I WIN AGAIN WALTER WHITE

he turns into a hulk

... spider hulk.

Walt is batman the dark night crystal meth

walt murders his orginal business partner steals the business idea becomes fabulously wealthy libertarian recluse funds assassination of comrade obama

The point is - why did they have to portray him like as a super genius slumming? especially if they were going to leave that top secret lab stuff so undefined for 4 seasons? Why couldn't they have made him just a really smart HS science teacher? it would have been a more believable premise. Great show, otherwise.

Being a really smart HS chem teacher is the opportunity, but the resentful slumming genius portrayal is totally necessary for motive.

Really? A really smart HS teacher who happens to be dying of cancer, who is put down because of his job, has to work an extra job because of his low salary, that's not reason enough to turn to dealing drugs? There are many people who turn to dealing drugs as a means of escaping a bad financial situation, that's not uncommon.

Because really, you don't have to be Einstein to cook meth, even great quality meth. People do it every day without PhDs.

John are you aware of how 'television shows' work

cuz its way more fun to watch a show about a frustrated angry genius who finally takes control of his world than a guy who's not?

John Lennon from what I read in this thread your idea of the ideal Breaking Bad is where Walter manufactures meth, sells it for a small profit each episode, and in the season finale, he does his taxes.

Well, to be fair the creator has always said the idea of the show was Mr. Chips deals drugs or whatever. But nowhere do they ever say/show that Walt is a good high school teacher, or even a beloved high school teacher, or even a liked high school teacher. They start him out pretty far down the descent, so we never see him "corrupted" per say. He's a put-upon crank from episode one, which I concede hinders the effectiveness of his transformation, as such.

If anything, I sort of wish the show had shown the sacrifices Skyler "aspiring novelist" White had made, too, or been subjected to (I get the impression, don't know why, that Walt Jr. may not have been planned? Or their marriage, for that matter?). But they've always portrayed her as sort of, I dunno, Pollyannaish? Naive?

the less they show of skyler the better imho

Oh, for sure. Just talking in a critical vacuum here, what would make it a better "narrative." I don't really give a shit about any of the characters' backgrounds.

How come they never show the baby

she's the mastermind

If a guy works in a top secret lab for a large salary, and he has a falling out with his colleagues and quits the company - CAN'T HE JUST GET A JOB AT ANOTHER TOP SECRET LAB FOR A HIGH SALARY INSTEAD OF HAVING TO TAKE A SIDE OB WASHING CARS?

he did iirc

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltxykoNZec1r0ufaco1_400.gif

Did I miss something about the lab being top secret? I mean I just got the sense it was run-of-the-mill biotech startup that happened to do well or whatevs--nothing secret or sinister.

We really haven't been told much about Walt's life before the series starts. Maybe his partners screwed him over, maybe he was somehow disgraced, who knows. There's a reason that portion of his life hasn't been the focus of the show.

Here is my understanding:

Walt, Gretchen, and the guy to whom Gretchen is now married were working on some Nobel Prize-level chemistry stuff.
Walt <3ed Gretchen.
Gretchen and the guy to whom she is now married became a thing.
Walt got pouty and quit working on the thing they were working on.
Gretchen and Mr. Gretchen made boatloads of money on the thing that Walt helped them develop but Walt did not get any of the money (either because he left before it became a money-making endeavor or because he refused the money due to his poutiness).
Walt became a high school science teacher. (Isn't there some implication that Walt chose the stability of public employment because Walt, Jr.'s disabilities necessitated stable income/health insurance? Or am I making it up?)
Being a HS science teacher doesn't pay enough to support his wife (who stopped working to write a book, IIRC) and son so he works at the car wash, too.
Gets cancer, makes meth, blows up major drug kingpin.

Sounds about right. Certainly Gretchen seems to feel some kind of guilt towards Walt (assuming offers of financial aid weren't just altruistic) and Walt seems resentful towards Gretchen (assuming it's not just his usual macho provider stuff). Maybe it'll get explored more next series, but I wouldn't expect so.

she made one brief comment that hinted at it the episode where he screamed at her in teh restaurant...something about him packing up his things and leaving at her father's house or something one weekend.

Walt left before Gretchen and the other guy became a thing while he was still w/her - that was an important reveal - he just took off man

They set it up to make u assume he left because of a love triangle but really he just left

they showed that clip of him as a hippee writing stuff on a chalkboard and her being there, and then she asked if he wasn't taking the money cuz of her, too...

yah ur supposed to think that she left him but then it turns out it was the other way

I love how that entire thread is just left in an early season. When was the last episode where we got a Walter flashback?

I think midway through Season 3

cold open during the season 3 finale when Walt and Skyler are looking to buy their house.

The guy who plays Badger did an IAMA on Reddit a few days ago, looks like a long but fun read:

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/mdu7h/i_am_matt_jones_i_play_badger_on_amcs_breaking/

well the key to killing gus is making it seem like the cartel did it, tho gus is prob v hard to kill, still they are going to have to kill gus

― ice cr?m, Friday, July 2, 2010 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Best prediction ever. Finished Season 4 during the Sandbox, and have been waiting to catch up with this thread.

yeah same

i finally watched the whole run while ilx was down...

i think it might be my favorite show ever.

fav character: Hank, runner up Saul

fav scenes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxgTHBF_UB4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm7ldziIpJ4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBrhI8au3N4

i wouldve been a little broken hearted if those two hadnt been yr favorite charcacters tbh

when does this come back? getting antsy.

ice cr?m and tracer were highly otm in this thread, i think.

hank's such a great character. i didnt really 'get' what they were doing with him in the beginning, and his arc was the hardest for me to pin down because he's such an internal character, but dean norris is outta-this-world good in that role. at first i honestly didnt buy that the 'welcome to the nfl' tortoise exploding incident would derail him so badly, but they way they developed it and had it stick with him was great. the scene where the cousins put the hit on hank was the biggest nailbiter in the show for me, because i was really worried that he was gonna die. that scene wouldn't have worked with walt or jesse, because they're in it for the long haul

i was expecting skyler to be the worst character ever, based on what i heard, but i generally found her to be sympathetic with believable motivations? she was sort of a thinly drawn caricature early on in the show, but it wasn't long before they were establishing how canny and resourceful she could be. having her figure out walt's a drug dealer was a credible and smart solution to what seemed to be the show's biggest, i dunno, looming obstacle - how/when/why do you get walt to spill the beans to skyler. i honestly thought they might have put it off until the final season.

the moment she became a sympathetic character for me was early in s2 when she's been leaving the house every morning and walt has no idea what she's doing all day. walt gets exasperated about it and so do we, because we've been experiencing her disappearances from his POV - and as walt is trying to get her to open up, we realize that this is how skyler has been experiencing his double life.

the scene gets even better when walt does his patented 'tell the truth without telling the truth' thing and swears that he's not having an affair - which is insulting, almost demeaning in its naked dishonesty re: what her concerns are, and of course she's not going to let him off that easy. what's great is how it also captures walter's satisfaction at having stumbled into a simulacrum of the truth which allows him to feel self-righteous about telling her something real - "hey, i'm NOT cheating, what are you so worked up about??"

is jesse not one of the most culturally accurately rendered screen characters ever - u know this guy - his ways of are those of a real person right now

― ice cr?m, Tuesday, December 29, 2009 8:23 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark

yeah totally. did it bug anyone else that they changed his wardrobe in season 4? he looks a lot less scumbaggy now, i dont like it

sorta hate that Jesse gets this sympathy-vote reaction. dude is a fucking scumbag, his druggie ethics are some bullshit, anything walt gives him he sorta has coming - not from walt, obv., walt doesn't have any right to fuck up Jessie's life, but Jessie as quasi-noble meth dealer is some heavy eyerolling stuff for me

― unlistenable in philly (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Sunday, November 6, 2011 10:14 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark

people like jesse because he feels remorse for his actions, whereas walter just immediately moves on. 'redemption' is possible for jesse, in other words - walter is only going to sink lower and lower

did it bug anyone else that they changed his wardrobe in season 4? he looks a lot less scumbaggy now, i dont like it

well he's loaded so now he gets to buy all the cool shizz he never could before. he probably went on a mall spree one day and bought like 40 shirts.

thanks for saying i'm otm about this show! i like to think so

walter is only going to sink lower and lower

I hope that season 5 proves this at least somewhat wrong. The show has a way of confounding expectations, so there's hope for Walter yet. And besides, how much lower can he get from where he is now?

dude, he won!

if by "won" you mean "removed all layers of protection between him and the cartels in Mexico" and "wore his already-tired support networks down to a frayed thread or two"

is jesse not one of the most culturally accurately rendered screen characters ever - u know this guy - his ways of are those of a real person right now

― ice cr?m, Tuesday, December 29, 2009 8:23 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark

he's my cousin, he sends me humorous text messages

hustla da bunny.... BITCH

Giancarlo Esposito did a IAMA today that I completely missed. Good stuff, and video responses too!

wow, thank you for pointing this out; it's awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K2ywM4YyVo

now that u guys are caught up u can make a donation

http://www.savewalterwhite.com/