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

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

shit like this is always helpful when you're playing IT'S A CLOCKWORK UNIVERSE on the outside looking in and second guessing everything. Character arcs shift drastically because of on-the-job pay issues!
― blinded by aggro (forksclovetofu), Monday, August 12, 2013 7:37 PM (48 minutes ago)

well yeah, the clockwork universe is what goes down on the page, not what happens in the real one. doesn't mean the writers don't actively try to connect as much stuff as possible, including rolling with the reality punches, which have included jesse not dying (he was supposed to be gone S1), the actor playing tuco leaving after S1 (he was originally going to play a bigger role). they're quite good at it.

Walt is a monsterrrrrrr. Hank/Walt scene was undeniably amazing but the part that gave me the chills was Walt saying to Jesse over and over, "I need you to believe me." So manipulative and gas lighting and skeevy. Hank socking Walt in the head was super satisfying though.

I think somebody said this up thread but that scene is so amazing because they're both going through the motions, Walt's boldfaced lying, Jesse knowing damn well that Walt is lying, but what's the point of either of them doing otherwise besides going through this stomach-churning talk

Dean Norris looked incredibly scary in the opening scene - i don't know if he lost weight between seasons, it was amazing makeup, his acting or some combination of all of these but damn

shakey is totally off-track comparing skyler to carmela soprano, the better comparison would be angie bonpensiero, the mob wife who considered her options and dove into the underworld laundering money through her car business

there's a small part of me that is hoping that skl'r is playing a long game and is going to somehow make off with the giant cube o' cash

Also appreciated the Star Trek bit but must point out that tulaberries are a Gamma Quadrant/Deep Space 9 thing. Voyager was in the Delta Quadrant.

Okay bye.

I expected better from you, Skinny Pete :(.

mr veg doesn't even watch BB but he overheard it from the other room and came and hung out of the whole speech, got joyful lols out of it

i very much enjoyed the GUTS IN SPACE punchline

I want to start a Breaking Bad Death Pool.

can I skate it?

Breaking Bad Death Pool

1. Pavel Chekov

2. Anton Chekov (via ricin)

i'm calling it now - 8 more kids die this year. one from breaking his neck (bad)(eh?) after falling off his bike after being hit in the head by a wad of cash jesse threw. the guilt!

not counting holly there (obv a goner). i'm talking innocent children.

next episode will open with Walt running over that kid who was zooming his RC car around.

that "kid" is definitely todd in forced-perspective disguise

I was thinking list every character, answer if they live or die - if they die, in what episode and at whose hand. Point for each variable guessed correctly.

Walt, season finale, cancer

can you do that in another thread please

was that a request out of interest or just so I'll stop talking about it here (which I'll do now in any case)

ehh i just feel like it's probably better suited for its own thread rather than clogging up this one which already has a million posts

s1ocki, thread exhaustion, soon

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

Well...

The 4 Best Dramas Of The Last 25 Years

no deadwood no credibility

^^^

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.

Well yeah, obviously Todd will show up too, but probably only as an enforcer, or (this is more likely, given how they showed him studying Walt's method in the previous season) as the new replacement meth cook. But what I meant is that Lydia will play the role of "Walt's foe" in the criminal underworld, Todd is too low-level and/or dumb to serve that function.

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.

shit like this is always helpful when you're playing IT'S A CLOCKWORK UNIVERSE on the outside looking in and second guessing everything. Character arcs shift drastically because of on-the-job pay issues!

If Gomez was supposed to die during first season, maybe that would explain why he's had no character arc of his own, though? Or maybe he was just too minor a character to be given an arc? His role has always been pretty much that of a vitriolic best bud to Hank, nothing more. Though they played that dynamic between him and Hank really well, so it's sad he's been kinda phased out of the series. I guess with Hank getting promoted, they couldn't really do the cop partner banter thing anymore?

well yeah, the clockwork universe is what goes down on the page, not what happens in the real one. doesn't mean the writers don't actively try to connect as much stuff as possible, including rolling with the reality punches, which have included jesse not dying (he was supposed to be gone S1)

I've always kinda wondered what would've happened if they had killed Jesse back then? Did they have any long-term plan for the show? Obviously Walt would've eventually needed another "moral anchor" character to contrast him with, but would they have used Skylar for that, or would they have invented a new character for the role?

i like the flash-forwards - they encourage speculation - ie they make BB a more particpatory text

I've no problem with this season's flashforwards, as they seem to point out to the actual conclusion of the story. But I think many people dislike them because of how they were used in season 2, since they essentially cheated the viewer into drawing the wrong conclusions, and in the end proved to be totally inconsequential.

I'm really glad I'm watching this week-to-week rather than shotgunning the entire season after the fact. The pall of dread and foreboding that hung over this episode was totally exhausting, amazing as it was. I don't think I could deal with that level of intensity for hours.

http://i.italiansubs.net/BHg4vzA.jpg

Someone posted this on the net, I guess it could be seen as further proof of the "crazy theory"..?

Though personally I think Walt killing both Skylar and Jesse would be a bit too grim, even for this show.

just re that buzzfeed theory quickly (and now also to tuomas): walt is such a savage now that nothing he does would surprise me any more. walt being walt in the garage just felt in line with his trajectory; it was hank's reactions that made it unpredictable. i'm so very pleased this year isn't just the inspector hank mysteries btw.

I'm not saying Walt wouldn't go so far, I'm saying the show wouldn't go so far. Even though BB is a violent and unpredictable series, so far it has avoided killing any main character that's not an outright villain. I think it's credible Walt will end up killing either Hank, Skyler, or Jesse, but killing two of them (or all of them) would probably be considered too much for the viewers to stomach.

i think the show would do it

it's a tragedy, so that sort of outcome is in some ways very likely

i don't really want to hear about any buzzfeed theory

the theory is that in the flash forwards Walt has already killed skylar as evidenced by the fact that hes taken on some if her characteristics which is what he does after killing people

glad we stopped dancing around that and just flat out said it

its just a theory

Yeah, and if the theory is true, the pic I posted would hint Walt has killed Jesse too.

Personally, I don't really like the theory. I had previously noticed that after killing Krazy-8 and Mike, Walt copied some of their habits (cutting the crust off his sandwich, ordering his drink on the rocks), but I thought it was just a neat little way of showing that Walt feels kinda guilty for killing them, and because of that he subconsciously imitates them. But in the recend episode you see him imitating Gus's towel folding, and I don't think it makes sense anymore, because Walt would never feel guilty for killing Gus... And more importantly, Walt never even saw Gus folding the towel and throwing up, so if the theory is true, the whole thing stops being a psychological quirk and turns into Grand Symbolism, and I think the show already has enough of that.

(xxpost)