Shall we anticipate the FIFTH SEASON of the AMC series "Breaking Bad"? I think I may.

I dunno, I'm not saying Skyler's character doesn't make sense just that it doesn't feel like they've done anything new or interesting with it. her character feels like one of the most rote and unrewarding elements of the show.

xp

yet IFT is one of the most memorable and rewarding moments, weird

she likes to simmer for a long time before blowing up
lotsa people are like that irl

http://www.vulture.com/2013/08/breaking-bad-dean-norris-interview.html

did anybody link to this already?

as sieve-like as my memory is, I don't recall thinking "things are over for the sopranos if carmela ever finds out about tony's mafia biz", seems like the seeds of slippery morals were sown early on w/ carmela, whereas skybirdh had a moral authority at BB's beginning, and therefore farther to fall (tho I agree they ended up in the same place). and as diff as tony soprano is from walter white, they both evolve from relatively sympathetic positions to a point where their respective shows are nearly dedicated to rubbing the audience's face in how completely rotted their moral fiber is. at a macro level I'm not sure if breaking bad would even exist were it not for the precedent of the sopranos.

I wonder how a sopranos / the wire / breaking bad poll would go.

So, I just saw this episode, and I was kinda wondering, was Walt picking up the ricin pill supposed to be poetic/symbolic, or something? Because I can't think of any rational reason he would do it, instead of just making some new ricin? Judging by the Heisenberg tag and the neighbour's reaction his cover is already blown, so it's not like he has any reason to get rid of some discriminating evidence either.

I read that "crazy BB theory", but at the moment it seems they're building up to Walt killing Jesse, not Skyler, what with Jesse throwing money and acting all crazy, and Walt not wanting him to expose them both. Though I guess the shocking twist of the final season could be that Skylar threatens to talk to cops, Walt kills her, goes undercover, has a total breakdown, and as a final attempt at redemption tries to save Jesse. Jesse's been kidnapped by the Madrigal people so he could cook better meth than the 67% stuff, Walt saves him, but dies while doing that.

Though I'm not sure if they want to do even the slightest redemption arc for Walt at this point, that'd probably be too good a fate for him. Jesse'll most likely get redeemed in some way though, I'm still convinced he's not gonna survive. The show's been trying to make him into a "decent" person for a while now, by contrasting his awakening morality with Walt's eroding one.

was Walt picking up the ricin pill supposed to be poetic/symbolic, or something?

presumably because he needs to kill somebody who is difficult to kill

wants to make ricinbeans

Because I can't think of any rational reason he would do it, instead of just making some new ricin?

dude is on the run after driving 30 hours straight from new hampshire, buying machine guns in diner bathrooms, doesn't seem as if he's got the time or resources to be cooking up new batches of ricin

he also apparently doesn't gaf who knows he's there, so it def seems like a suicide mission

dude is on the run after driving 30 hours straight from new hampshire, buying machine guns in diner bathrooms, doesn't seem as if he's got the time or resources to be cooking up new batches of ricin

IIRC the episode where he first made ricin shows it's totally easy for him to make it, he just needed basic household items, not a lab or anything... Or am I misremembering that?

Maybe he just wanted to see his old house?

Because I can't think of any rational reason he would do it, instead of just making some new ricin?

You don't just look sideways at a handful of castor beans and get an effective ricin capsule, as that IRL guy in Tupelo who mailed ground-up castor beans to Obama probably discovered. Walt created the first one when he had access to Gus's lab. He has the know-how, but after months away from ABQ, not the facilities to make another. xxposts

He went to get it because it gave us a reason to show the current state of the house

did the DEA guys photoshop a schraderbrau logo into one of the crime scene photos in that file, or did i imagine it?

walt doesn't think lydia might be a threat, does he? wasn't mike the only person who knew that she was looking to have those 11 guys killed to avoid getting caught?

I think that photo was the really early one when Hank posed with Tuco's chump who got trapped under the scrapyard car.

In all seriousness, though, plot-wise having him pick up the ricin gives the writers a way to further establish the passage of time and the breakdown of the Whites' home. It's the only thing that Walt could conceivably go back for -- I don't think he would have left cash in the crawlspace and I'm sure the authorities would have searched the home if he had to flee, but it's unlikely anyone would be prying off all the electrical outlet plates.

We also get the implication that he didn't use all the measures available to him on the way out; still having the ricin there means that he wasn't poisoning people, which is a direction we've kind of expected. The episode before the break was the last time we saw it when he was considering poisoning Lydia if she didn't go along with the plan.

if he had any time to plan leaving that place you'd think he'd have taken that with him

That could be another clue! He was storing all the cash offsite so in the case he'd have to flee he'd never have to return home

walt doesn't think lydia might be a threat, does he?

No, I don't think so. Maybe she'll prove to more dangerous than she appears to be, though? They might even try to draw parallels between her and Walt; Lydia doesn't seem like a gangster at all, she appears more like a harmless middle-aged suburban parent, just like Walt does. Anyway, it seems obvious the writers still have some unrevealed plans for her... She'll probably act as the face of the drug underworld, now that they've gotten rid of every other character who previously served that role.

uh Lydia represents Madrigal, who has every reason to want Walt dead.

he is a liability to their operation, he knows the cook, their methods, their distribution contact - but he is not on the payroll.

I guess the ricin had to be included also because it's the only Ghekhov's gun they haven't fired yet (besides Gus's mysterious past, but that seems irrelevant now), and having Walt just make some new ricin wouldn't have the same feel of tying up loose plot threads.

well yeah

agree about Gus's past - that was a weird thing to allude to and then drop. would be pretty o_0 if they brought it back now.

That Norris interview is a good read. Seems like a cool guy.

did the DEA guys photoshop a schraderbrau logo into one of the crime scene photos in that file, or did i imagine it?

There was a very quick cut between a closeup of the pic Merdeyeux IDed and a shot of Hank reflected in a window with the logo in foreground during the Hank Detection Training Montage, the logo didn't appear in the pic itself

uh Lydia represents Madrigal, who has every reason to want Walt dead.

I don't think it's ever been established whether Madrigal as a whole was behind Gus, or whether it was just some corrupt executives within the company (Lydia, the German guy who kills himself, etc) who were willing to make business with him? It seems kinda unlikely that a German multinational corporation would get involved in crystal meth trade in the USA, but on the other hand BB is hardly a realistic show...

lotta moving parts amirite

Anyway, can I just say I found it amusing that (after the teaser) the story continued right from where it left a year ago, with Hank coming out of the toilet. He just took the longest dump in TV history!

omg @ this detail from the Dean Norris interview re the scary cousins

They’re brothers in real life — Daniel and Luis Moncada. I always bring my sisters to premieres, and they loved those guys because they were so nice and huggy. You may have heard this, but they each had “Fuck You” tattooed on their eyelids; they had been gangbangers, and that’s what they wanted people to see when they were lying in their caskets. I said to Luis, “Fuck man, didn’t that hurt? And he said, “Well, the ink hurt, but what really hurt was the spoon they had to put under the eyelid while they were doing it.” [Laughs.] But they were really good guys.

Lydia looks like trouble -- the sort of character who in a moment of crisis buries a pair of scissors in your back.

she looks like a rat

yeah she's so squirrelly, it's the thing that makes her most dangerous in my eyes

yeah skiler got plastic surgery between s3 and s4 i think?

She'll probably act as the face of the drug underworld, now that they've gotten rid of every other character who previously served that role.

― Tuomas, Monday, August 12, 2013 6:41 PM (22 minutes ago)

don't forget todd. he provided the means for walt to wipe out mike's guys, plus he's a cold-blooded kid killer.

ever since I heard Gilligan talk about the color themes he chooses for characters I've been obsessively noticiing in S1, and then in last night's season Walt & Skl'ar are wearing almost white, like they are drug-money-laundering angels in heaven's car wash

i wonder if they'll explain how madrigal got connected to pollos hermanos - it seems like that could be too complicated and not relevant enough to fit into what time they have left. but it's interesting that walt is arrogant enough to behave like he has the same kind of operation, when in reality he owns one car wash and can't figure out how to even put his money in a bank somewhere? and he thinks he can intimidate anyone into doing what he wants, but he doesn't have a mike ehrmantraut on the payroll or anybody else seemingly.. no security

declan is out there too, didn't he have some kind of deal selling to him that was separate from lydia?

he was just a competitor. he's probably glad walt's out of the picture, I would think?

“If you don’t know who I am, then maybe your best course would be to tread lightly,” was originally written to be like, “I’m a dying man who runs a car wash,” and then he switches to Heisenberg, and he’s a badass. The direction in the script was that Walt picks up his glasses and walks out of the garage. That’s the way it was written. And if Cranston had done it that way it would have been great; everyone would have loved it because everyone loves badass Heisenberg. And I think it was the writer, Peter Gould, who said to Cranston, “Think about what Hank just said to Walt — essentially ‘Who the fuck are you?’” And Cranston, in his greatness, synthesized that as Walt being sad, too. In the next take, his speech was much more heartfelt — more of a plea than a threat. I think he might have had a tear in his eye. I just saw it last night for the first time, but as I recall, shooting it, he, too, was almost in tears. It was more like he was saying, "Be careful." For real be careful. Like seriously, be careful!

awesome scene

I think the Declan thing does seem like a bit of a loose end, which would be uncharacteristic - Walt agrees to work with him, and then... he doesn't? And instead works with Lydia for a couple of months before quitting? And that's it?

I thought Walt gave Declan a one-time sale

Gomez was supposed to die but for the [2007–2008] writers' strike. I think the strike hit on episode seven, and he was supposed to die in eight. And I knew he was going to die, but he didn’t. We had rented a house in Corrales, a great little village outside of Albuquerque, and I was playing golf with Steve all the time. And I couldn’t figure out what to do: Should I tell him? It’s not my place to tell him. But maybe I should tell him in case he’s expecting things? But then the writers' strike happened, and they rethought everything.

(i always thought gomez would be a mole for the cartel so what do i know)

yeah. i love the mechanics of how this show is written. it's fascinating to hear Gilligan talk about how they'd freak out about how much they would enjoy writing Walt into the worst possible situations and then spend weeks freaking the fuck out that they weren't going to be able to resolve it. and as a fan you're hearing that like, wait you didn't plan the whole thing? jesus christ!

it's kinda cool

(remove first freak out)

thinking about that graffiti in the house
i wonder how 'heisenberg' would get spelled if you asked, say, skinny pete to spray paint 'heisenberg' on the wall

Highasabird

joe schmoladoo from 7-11 (Shakey Mo Collier)
Posted: August 12, 2013, 9:23:52 PM
I feel like her whole arc is lame retread of Carmela Soprano, more or less

sick arc bro

apparently the spock-chekov thing came from an actual conversation two of the writers had

i know we got hank's post mortem, did we talk about gilligans?
http://www.vulture.com/2013/08/vince-gilligan-on-breaking-bads-blood-money.html

kinda hope they do a media blitz after every ep tbh

i had forgotten that was a jim white song in the "putting the pieces together" montage! that dude is awesome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fijzo90Wznc