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

I mean obviously building a meth empire is an extreme reaction to that, no one's arguing that Walt isn't fundamentally a dick here but he (probably) wasn't always as much of one.

I think the Nobel is one of the things that makes the plot seem a bit less credible: even if he got out of Gray Matter, you expect us to believe that a guy who won a Nobel price can't find any more lucrative jobs on the chemistry field than a hig school teacher?

think it's more meant to be that his asshole streak means he won't allow himself to be out there hustling for work. or to do the thing he should be doing. he is a bite your nose off to spite your face kind of guy.

If you're quite good (or maybe even really good; or just want to be really good) at something, but have a degree of insecurity about it, combined with a degree of ego, that can totally freeze you from actually doing it. Your insecurity absolutely fears rejection and failure, and but your ego demands that people respect you for the thing you're good at. This combination of insecurity, ego, and some kind of moralism too, can make you not want to do the thing at all unless it's on your terms. I can identify with that to a degree. So Walt, after trying and almost succeeding, but having circumstances foil, extricated himself completely, chose the path of least resistance, as it were, but could never reconcile what he tasted and lost with where he ended up. And then cancer and meth and Tuco and and and and and we end up here.

i agree with that.

Yeah I'd got with that, a lot hinges on whether Walt was fucked over or whether he fucked up. Or maybe made some kind of idiot Heisenberg power play that failed.

Even if he fucked-up, his addled, ego-driven, insecure mind may well have retro-fitted his understanding of what happened so that he feels like he got fucked-over.

If you're quite good (or maybe even really good; or just want to be really good) at something, but have a degree of insecurity about it, combined with a degree of ego, that can totally freeze you from actually doing it. Your insecurity absolutely fears rejection and failure, and but your ego demands that people respect you for the thing you're good at. This combination of insecurity, ego, and some kind of moralism too, can make you not want to do the thing at all unless it's on your terms.

But Walt still managed to become a project leader for a project that won a Nobel... I don't think that's a position you can reach if you always choose the path of least resistance and never want to make compromises.

You're misunderstanding: yes, he did that, but whatever event it was that foiled his ambitions happened AFTERWARDS, and from thereon in he chose the path of least resistance.

And teaching is the PERFECT path of least resistance; it's not actually 'easy' (though the science part of it might be for Walt, the engaging with young people etc wont be), it's morally acceptable (giving something back), you can do it anywhere, it's regarding as 'rewarding' (even though, to Walt, it clearly wasn't, cos he seems to be about the joy of science rather than the joy of pedagogy), etc etc etc.

Don't forget he's had several months to stew on it all in solitude so his thinking may be even more fucked up/ extreme Heisenberg

Good point.

Y'all are missing the point that Walt really hates Charlie Rose. Guys with colors in their name gotta watch out on this show.

I predict that Walt will get himself booked on Charlie Rose then pull a Howard Beale. "Remember my name! Remember ... cough cough ... my name!!!!!"

kind of sad that the show sort of seems to vilify high school teaching compared to being big pharma. Walt's life could have been "a success" if he had learned to appreciate it and live more openly and accept himself

solitary posts that effortlessly etc

They talk over and across each other constantly, their conversations cross-pollinating, topics bursting into side topics and tangents: Malcolm X, Andy Warhol, West Nile virus, Alaskan salmon, cruise ships, Rastafarians, back-in-the-day MTV videos, Schoolhouse Rock cartoons, drug laws, gun laws, cop shootings, the Ten Commandments, the Seven Deadly Sins. It goes on and on, ever-changing, devoid of weight. It is chitchat mania, right up until the discussion turns to why they're doing this, why they're sitting in a candlelit room on a workday morning, geeked out of their skulls.

when jesse was throwing money around he should have tossed 50k in the mailbox of that janitor from season 1

maybe...he did DUN DUN DUN

the twist ending is Jesse is Tuco's son - and Tuco is not dead - Tuco was really Hank -

Can't believe this Albuquerque show has gone so long without playing The Shins. Guess they were saving that one for the finale.

Yeah I mean the characters in this really look like fans of milquetoast indie.

Actually Walter Jr might be.

he's a fan of milquetoast acting

that janitor from season 1

HUGO

SAY HIS NAME

watched the "say my name" scene again recently, it really is as if walt is getting sexual gratification.

worth noting that s1 has quite a few sex scenes acting as a barometer of walt's self esteem, after that it's like his lust gets subsumed by his lust for power

Yeah Walt has really not seemed to care about sex since that time he tried to crack onto the principal. Even Skylar is there primarily as an accomplice.

Sex isn't high among the motivational factors of any of the characters really, except maybe Todd.

on the BB podcast, they made a big deal about only having a limited time to shoot the Charlie Rose scene with the actress who plays Gretchen because she was doing a play on Broadway when they were shooting - definitely made it sound like we wouldn't see Gretchen and Elliott in the final episode.

I don't think todd motivation is sex either

yeah i get the feeling that instead of having sex with lydia he'd be simply content to cut off her skin and wear it as a shawl

Saul is into getting massages. That's about it, as far as people even touching each other on BB last few seasons - outside of brutal beatdowns, of course.

cmon, todd isn't a gross shawl-making sicko, he's cold and ruthless. like gus. i'm sure he has a weakness, and i doubt it's lydia, but i also doubt we'll be given time to find out.

also in the BB podcast - Vince Gilligan says Todd looks proud when they're watching Jesse's confession because Todd likes Jesse, and is thinking, "Hey, Jesse's talking about me!" which is even creepier than how I interpreted it - as him thinking Uncle Jack would see him as a take-charge kinda guy

is he cold, though? he was so tender with skyler. a hand on the arm. very quiet, very gentle.

Todd likes Jesse, and is thinking, "Hey, Jesse's talking about me!"

omg

Thats an amazing interp

Gilligan's interpretation creepiest yet.

Ugh actually making my skin crawl.

Making my skin shawl.

Lol

irl lol

Todd's a weird kind of sociopathic teacher's pet, he's so starstruck by the bigger meth peddlers it's kind of sweet.

Todd's transition from B&E expert to psychopath master criminal is pretty amazing (albeit perhaps slightly implausible).

Those are some B&E moves though. American Ninzi.

is he cold, though? he was so tender with skyler. a hand on the arm. very quiet, very gentle.

good at faking it! gus pretended to be a philanthropic chicken man ffs. he could fake nice with anyone.

this past episode, the actor playing Todd did amazing work with his hands. the rubbing of skyler's shoulder with his thumb was immensely twisted.
I don't think he's faking it. i think he's meant to be mentally disturbed and he sees the world through this psychotic veil where it's okay to kill people but it's important to be nice while you do it. if/when he gets got by jessie, I think he'll go out saying "it wasn't personal" like he just spilled jessie's soda in the lunchroom and doesn't get the anger

yeah i dunno, i felt like that was genuine. even his friendliness with andrea seemed unforced and real.

it's really easy for us to project all of this onto him because we didn't have to sit through the rigamarole at all, he just showed up, was ruthless, invited the nazis and ever since the show has been all about them. they're like the invading biker gang at the end of weird science.

I think Todd hides his psychopathy behind his niceness but I don't think he's genuinely nice.

Todd probably has antisocial personality disorder or something. His politeness seems to have been learned, as if he observed other people doing it and adopted that style to hide in plain view. It's how he could shoot a kid so easily.

which is why I'm having disturbing visions of him bringing Lydia Skyler's head in a box and going "I DID IT FOR YOU, BABY!" with a toothy grin.

his determination to succeed is kinda creepy/menacing. like there's a resolve there, esp say, around the time he killed drew sharp.