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

Also, dude, The Conversation was awesome!

The Conversation is a better film than The Godfather.

and those seventies Oscar winners get a lot of cable time!

Sopranos, the Wire and Mad Men all went pretty big with their subtextual themes

BB isn't about anything beyond Walt's Mr. Chips-to-Scarface bit

xp

i'd almost love to see Walter White's story slipped into The Wire as a subplot. Where we see this meek schoolteacher in season 1 and then in season 2 we see him again in full Heisenberg mode and season 3 he goes missing and eventually gets body-bagged with a cigarette and an assault rifle

Remember in The Wire when the kids were watching Dexter? lol

BB gets me because the construction is just dead on - it's the best version it could be of what it wants to be.

Which makes it the Conversation, which is better than The Godfather.

S3 of the Wire is the greatest season ever (of any TV show).

I'm actually curious how dramatically satisfying the last two episodes of BB will be considering the fact that the stakes are actually kind of low? The only thing left is to let Walt Jr. and Holly and Marie (and maybe Skyler and Jesse) have some measure of peace in the end, but I feel like the meat of the ending was in this episode.

The stakes are still pretty high. We know approximately where Walt's going to be on step 8/10 from the flash forward. He's a few steps ahead of that, but how/why he gets to that what will end up to be purely interstitial step with a (phlegm?sweat?) stained shirt, Warby Parker frames and a big fucking gun in his trunk from where he is now? There is SO much that needs to be resolved, and needs to be with only a few more steps. They have put too much time and effort in creating this show to think they're going to victory lap the last two.

Kind of addressed here, but from a different point of view.

Richi Aprile, Marlo, and Snoop & Chris way real-life scarier than BB's Nazis & cartels. the external bad guys, other than Gus, were always a bit cartoony.

Jesse has basically been the only character i care about for the last couple of seasons so the stakes still feel pretty high. he's had so much misery heaped on him already that it's hard to envision a happy ending though

obv we don't have to choose but the sopranos gets to me in ways bb probably never could. I think this is where the messiness and sprawl of the sopranos makes it richer. bb is a well oiled machine by contrast. it's just a different aesthetic.

I didn't get what Walt's phone call was about on first watch - thought he'd crossed the line when he totally did for Jesse just because he wanted to blame it all on someone - so couldn't work out what his deal was with that, but it's obvious now.
The opening scene might actually be the only time we've witnessed a genuinely loving conversation between Walt and Sky? And even then he's bullshitting and practicing his shitty Walt lines.
Anyway in my heart I was kind of wishing that opening scene was going to link to Jesse doing some SCIENCE, BITCH! in the meth-lab-prison and he'd somehow taken in that science lesson from Walt and chuck some chemicals together. I'm sad we're past that level of shenanigans now :(

If Jesse's "best 'bitch' ever" was the one on the phone with Walt as he drives frantically out to the desert, I'm not sure I agree with Mr. Paul on that point.

xp ... or are we? ;)

I'm probably in the minority but i do miss the hijinks and black comedy of earlier seasons. but then I'm less enthralled and convinced by the darker turn of the show (obviously necessary for the story it wants to tell). the A to B construction is obviously the big pleasure of the show but it's very limited.

Also I'm really sad that everyone thinks Walt actually killed Hank.

I doubt "well I didn't do it myself, it was the nazi meth gang that I hired that capped him" really would play that much better

my assumption is that walt didn't want to sic the DEA on the meth gang, lest they seek revenge, and already knew he'd be leaving the fam either way

Or crazy-ass Walt wants to exact revenge himself.

either way, there's no upside to the gov knowing what went down in the desert, better everything's pinned on crazy heisenberg

that said, it IS sad, esp since walt jr gets the same story

yeah I meant Marie, Sky, Walt Jr. Walt did try *quite* hard to save him!

wonder if there will be a scene of skylar trying to provide nuance about dad's criminal activity and him just being like "well is he a monster or not?"

"Do I have to give back the Challenger now?"

Who do you guys think Charlie Rose is gonna interview

Todd.

Huell, who will be promoting his book "Wrong Place at the White Time"

Season 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 of The Wire started poorly but redeemed itself in spades by the end of the season, I thought.

I'm only halfway through Season 4 of the Wire, but I have noticed a pattern.

I am kinda dreading the Charlie Rose cameo tbh. if it is him interviewing Marie or something (and what else could it be?) it's gonna be very rmde

but I have noticed a pattern

gratuitous sex scenes?

xpost

hate to admit it, but it feels like it could only be Marie on Charlie Rose - but for some reason that just feels like a real bad move for the show to me.

It's plausible, it would be national news if a former high school science teacher was revealed to be a meth kingpin responsible for the deaths of two DEA agents I guess - but like somebody said way upthread (Shakey maybe?) - it feels like the some of the absurd elements of the storyline would be highlighted if it was presented as part of the real world's news cycle.

Still hoping a character is just watching Charlie Rose in a waiting room or something.

xp

Slow start, insane build-up and pay-off in final 2-3 episodes per season.

What if Saul is on Charlie Rose?

if they were gonna go with the media angle they should have gotten the America's Most Wanted guy

Feel like that could really work.

oh ye of little faith

i mean c'mon these guys have upended and improved on all our suggestions, you should be excited to see how the rose cameo goes

Nah, it's been great up to now, but I'm pretty sure Charlie Rose is going to ruin the show forever.

in the spirit of their left-field quirks, i'm going to guess it's lydia or skinny pete in the interview seat

Walt hires Charlie Rose to murder Jesse

Charlie Rose is the guy driving the van

guys its just gonna be a clip on good morning america none of the cast are going on the charlie rose show cmon

Charlie Rose holds the snowball in the final scene

you thought it'd be a snow globe, but it's a misdirect

it'll be the principal Walt worked for.

i hope it's a montage of people saying heisenberg on news shows ending with joel mchale making a jesse eisenberg joke on the soup

oh God, already in pain thinking of Leno telling a Heisenberg joke...

leno was actually part of a pretty good BB joke already