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

http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/24200000/Bruce-bruce-dickinson-24287777-500-646.png

I really dont know what to expect

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLaWiUWEX1k

I'd love to read a thorough exploration of the ways in which this show upends narrative convention and viewer expectation. I was just thinking today about how we've slowly been led to accept that anything can happen and that anyone can die...within reason. Hank's death was shocking but somewhat less so than it might've been because he was in the shit and in pursuit of violent criminals so, y'know. Occupational hazard. So they follow up a shocking death with the knife fight scene last week where we think surely someone's gonna get stabbed, but then everyone comes out of it okay. And then this week we see Todd & Co. in Holly's room and it seems like bad shit could still happen (especially since we know what he's capable of) and it doesn't. And then a handful of scenes where Todd displays a lack of willingness to kill someone and shows some compassion towards Jesse. So when Todd shows up at Andrea's, I (and I can only speak for myself here) had been lulled back into a false sense of security based on those scenes and on the narrative convention of most TV shows, thinking Todd was just going to remind Jesse that they have access to Andrea or maybe just kidnap her at worst. It was a masterful set-up that knocked the legs out from under me. I hope someone in that writers room writes a book about their experience.

yeah I agree with that, it's interesting. It somehow didn't even come to mind that Andrea would be a goner at the beginning of Todd's visit, whereas e.g. after Hank got shot I was fully believing that Jesse was gonna go too just a couple of minutes later.

I was pretty sure that Andrea would survive the (inevitable) post-escape warning by Todd, based solely on the Skylar visit. But then she didn't. Plus, I think the ONLY reason Skylar and Holly (and likely Flynn) aren't dead is because of the apparent student-teacher respect from Todd to Walt.

I know this has been said A LOT - but damnit if Todd is one of the scariest characters I've ever seen on television. Totally divorced from any right and wrong, and just focused on what his goals are. God help you if you get in the way of those goals. This includes everyone.

it's one of the best portrayals of a true psychopath we've seen, I think. No silly window dressing, just a dude who is straight up beyond morality.

The Marty Robbins Theory:

http://previously.tv/breaking-bad/breaking-bads-upcoming-felina-finale-explained/

Dude, forreals. I cannot think that this ability to be TOTALLY divorced from any sense of external morality might just lead to Todd turning on his brethren during the final episode.

I think Todd kills those dudes, Jesse kills Todd, and is mortally wounded in the process, Walt dies an ignominious death, and . . . I have no fucking idea what will happen to Skyfall, Flynn or Marie. Holly won't die. Please GOD, Holly won't die.

tbh i'd rather have a disappointingly off 'happy' ending than a full blown scorched earth tragic ending, i have the fear it could get so dark that it would make a rewatch, and even in some sense retrospective enjoyment, very difficult.

Should have said ". . . kills those dudes over a Lydia beef, . . ."

I can't even imagine what a happy ending would possibly be at this point.

Totally - the shit that has been (re) visited upon Jesse alone renders this pretty much incapable of a happy ending, imo.

mrs. aero says she's been running across felina = FeLiNa (iron + lithium + sodium) which is an idea I kinda like but I don't really see how it'd play out. esp. lithium, what's lithium in? batteries? iron and salt you could say "blood and tears" but I can't make the lithium work

i saw that too, and Lithium was for meth.

Walt finds out he's bipolar.

like there's lithium in batteries maybe idk maybe blood and tears and walt blowing shit up remotely

xp lithium for meth seems super-weak to me they don't really compare imo

a bomb made from laptop batteries?

bomb detonated remotely? there's lithium in all manner of batteries idk work with me here wk

We will all be prescribed lithium after this undisputed DOWNER of a finale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJLcGUgqlrk

Feel like this episode could be polarizing. It's kind of set up to where any and all loose ends can't possibly be tied up, and that whatever conclusion they trot out may not please some of the folks that are huge fans of closure.

I do like that it's so open-ended right now though. Like literally, anybody could eat it at any given moment. Huell could choke on a chimichanga.

take it back

the chimichanga?

whatever you must do. To save him.

agree it will be polarizing, but the sheer ballsiness of putting that flash forward in without knowing themselves how they were going to get there - to paint themselves into that corner and, like Neanderthal says, still managing to leave the possibilities wide open for the final episode... it would have to go down in flames pretty hard to undo the goodwill I've got for the people behind this show for me, anyway. Big orange flames.

Excepting a couple of minor quibbles (plane crash being a little heavy handed, Brock poisoning a little incredible, maybe some of the Hank trap of Walt a bit convenient) I don't think there is much precedent for this show being polarizing and I don't think they've set it up in a way that it could be really.

felina also = finale fwiw

lithium's a reductant and used in a lot of different meth cooks, particularly yr more potentially explosive ones including what is generally known as the 'nazi method' (thx google). I remain skeptical of 'iron lithium sodium' having special significance just as i remain skeptical that bromine and barium are gonna suddenly reveal their significance. the 'el paso' theory otoh i've been thinking over since i first heard it.

that el paso theory seems like some srs

http://www.salespodder.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/saul-completes-carries-nazir-timeline-in-homelands-s01e11.jpg

shit

i mean like what would it even mean to be right about that

walt returns to albuquerque to his love (a waitress he also holds a weird contempt for in addition to love), despite knowing it will bring his doom.

meant to add i'm pretty sure walt's cook doesn't involve lithium (i could be totally wrong on this) but having read about different meth cooks and how they're described (80% was a superhigh number) i can imagine that walt's ninety something percent yield would blow minds and be a big deal indeed. this story (pre-breaking bad) basically describes what crystal blue would be in the marketplace: http://www.westword.com/2003-09-04/news/72-hour-party-people/ .

What's the El Paso theory?

http://previously.tv/breaking-bad/breaking-bads-upcoming-felina-finale-explained

the Marty Robbins/Felina/El Paso theory

I loved the theory til the conclusion & then it lost me. I'm a sucker for Marty

But I tip my hat to the dude, he's fuckin nuts

old marty robbins song 'el paso' - megahuge country oldie and something i could totally imagine breaking bad using - has a cowboy get friendzoned by a waitress named felina, he kills another cowboy out of pride and rage and jealous, flees town, decides his life is boring and worthless, heads back to town despite knowing it's his death, shot the fuck up by a bunch of dudes upon arriving in town, dies in felina's arms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmtkfyGzBZo

this story (pre-breaking bad) basically describes what crystal blue would be in the marketplace: http://www.westword.com/2003-09-04/news/72-hour-party-people/ .

― balls, Tuesday, September 24, 2013 11:27 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

interesting!

lol apparently felina is spelled feeleena - so much for that theory!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch4tc-uyaUc

hah

yeah, that's where the theory goes awry....

There's no Fi or Le in the periodic table so it has to be FeLiNa for the FiNaLe of BrBa.

Really doubt there's anything more to it than that.

I hope it's as simple as Walt hearing Marty Robbins on the radio at an interesting moment.

bomb detonated remotely? there's lithium in all manner of batteries idk work with me here wk

I didn't notice that you mentioned the remote detonation. was just speculating that laptop batteries explode so maybe walt can make some kind of lithium bomb right?

I don't think Marty Robbins's poor spelling necessarily rules out a connection.

naw i think hes just gonna shoot some dudes w his big gun xp

and i feel like maybe it will be pretty epic

last ep felt like a lil cooler where we are meant to think about what weve done before they give us the goods

xpost while shouting chemistry-related one-liners

last ep felt like a lil cooler where we are meant to think about what weve done before they give us the goods

walt is going to do something fucking cool before he dies. He's not going out like a complete chump.

xp balls:

I so desperately looked for a GIS result for the Shabu meth goddess figurine, but came up empty.

I hope the final ten minutes of the finale are shown in 2.5 minute increments following each commercial break during lws