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

the marathon is such a bad thing btw, stayed up 2hrs past bedtime watching 1st season

one thing I noticed on catching the marathon last night - Walt's weird tinnitus/space-out while the dr. is telling him he has cancer = Skyler's weird tinnitus/space-out while the lawyers are talking to her in the last episode

my friend pointed this out while we were watching, apparently there have been tons of specific little references to the pilot this season.

xps she blames it on his work at los alamos, not having the right kind of ventilation hoods, something like that

― dan m, Thursday, September 26, 2013 4:49 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ahh that's what it was. thx.

wonder if the finale is going to be some Last Temptation of Christ shit with Walt snapping to in the doctor's office after being told he has cancer and running around cheering that he can die with dignity now in front of a very stunned doctor.

apparently there have been tons of specific little references to the pilot this season

was half-expecting the native american guy who digs their RV out of the ditch in the first episode to be the guy Walt buys a car from in this past season

It's not any one thing, there are like four or five reasons for him to change his mind and as many motivations not to just give himself up. Walt is mad paranoid, we already know he believes in tying up loose ends and there's no way he'd let a loose end like Jesse keep walking around. That plus hating the idea of Jesse and the Nazis getting rich(er) off his product, compounded by the Grey Matter slight.

― Matt DC, Thursday, September 26, 2013 8:00 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That's never how this show has worked and itd be pretty weak if that was their last move... the pressure is on as Walt is driven to desperate measures by... you know, a lot of little things!

Walt also hasn't been knockin on death's door before, which may have a weeeeeeeeee bit to do with the way his brain is functioning now (whereas he was able to plan before knowing he had a future, or at least time to wait things out).

Xpost Choose one that is most important to Walt. One will likely emerge as most important this Sunday on the breaking bad gridiron

it's interesting how in the first two episodes Walt does not mention at all that he's cooking meth/making money for the sake of his family. when Jesse asks him why he's doing it he just says "I am awake". And the cooking meth seems as much a part of just lashing out as beating down some teens or telling his former boss at the carwash to go fuck himself.

xp

ie it seems like from early on his prime motivation was to be a badass/get respect

Otm. So I think/hope they will save that bar scene when we see what Walt actually does.

http://www.vulture.com/2013/09/breaking-bad-uncle-jack-michael-bowen-interview.html

Hmm - I need to rewatch from the beginning, that's interesting. Part of it is probably that, in his mind, he's lived his life playing by the rules, acted as a decent family man, and has little to show for it but a mountain of debt and people mocking him. The "being awake" was probably a realization that working within the system was fruitless, as there was way more money and success to be found outside of it, and fuck what society thinks because it's dog-eat-dog or whatever BS rationalization he came up with.

It is interesting to see Walt struggle with killing someone in the early going, that whole Krazy 8 bottle episode.

That's never how this show has worked and itd be pretty weak if that was their last move... the pressure is on as Walt is driven to desperate measures by... you know, a lot of little things!

Little things like cancer.

one thing I noticed on catching the marathon last night - Walt's weird tinnitus/space-out while the dr. is telling him he has cancer = Skyler's weird tinnitus/space-out while the lawyers are talking to her in the last episode

Also kinda like Jane's dad spacing out while on the scopes

(Same audio fx, I mean...different situation obv)

Little things like cancer.

― Evil Juice Box Man (LocalGarda), Thursday, September 26, 2013 5:55 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You're saying the reason he changes his mind about turning himself in after he sees his old buddies on TV is... cancer?

screensplain how BB works again

Dude none of those things I mentioned are little things, to Walt they're all huge.

Did you create a backstory for Uncle Jack and Todd? I'm curious as to whether Jack raised Todd and what Todd's parents were like.

Yeah, absolutely. Jesse and I did that. We felt like Todd was in danger as a little boy with a drug-addicted mother — my sister. She had a revolving door of abusive boyfriends that Jack was tired of murdering constantly, so Jack got Todd out of there.

Like if you really don't get why that report would have caused a turnaround in Walt 's behaviour then you just fundamentally don't get the character, or at least a big part of him.

otm I feel like this thread is a bad short story workshop sometimes

Don't look at me I'm pretty much the only one here who hasn't written like 50 posts of hopeful fanfic

This is a pretty good short story workshop imo

your motivation for distorting the joking nature of those posts is clear to me xpost

the narrative works

You're saying the reason he changes his mind about turning himself in after he sees his old buddies on TV is... cancer?

you're right, he is only capable of making decisions based on the thing that happens immediately before those decisions. seriously, you are like a dog with a bone here.

some massive point-missing going on here

like matt's point was "it's not any one thing" and you both ridicule that on the basis of it being "lots of little things" and then also assume someone saying they aren't little things is saying "it is one thing". make up your mind.

In the cold open of the finale, we learn that jack snuck into the bar, gave Walt a wet willy, and ran away

s1ocki's point is that it's poor writing to have your character's central motivation going into the final episode hinge entirely on the coincidental viewing of a tv show, largely unconnected to all the plot machinations that have preceded it, and that this is rather atypical for how the show's seasonal arcs have been constructed.

(correct me if I'm wrong s1ocki)

several posts have explained how the content of this tv show connects to previous plot machinations

So much of what has happened in this show has hinged on coincidence

otm

I mean not to go big on this, just I actually reckon, if you look back, for most of this thread I agree with you on almost all speculation, slocki, and I do see your point that this show is quite chain reaction, but I don't think it's a massive error, that last ending.

xpost yeah and others saying it didn't hinge on that tv thing alone.

I don't know. We saw at the end of Ozymandias Walt saying "I still have business" then we find out at the beginning of this one that he was talking about going after the Nazis. Over the course of the episode he was broken down by cancer, loneliness and finally rejection by his son, to the point that he was ready to give himself up. Sure, seeing G&E on TV was a plot convinience, a trigger, but the motivation was there all along.

wait

...

does charlie rose air anywhere during the daytime?

that's it i'm not watching the finale.

lol

Over the course of the episode he was broken down by cancer, loneliness and finally rejection by his son, to the point that he was ready to give himself up

over the course of the episode it was to all appearances made abundantly clear that he had no way of finishing this "business" (ie, getting the money to his family), I don't really see how his seeing Charlie Rose changes that.

Found it more implausible that Walt would give up so fast just because Flynn went off on him. Dude's been telling him to just fuckin' die already forever now.

I think it wasted clear that it'd be very difficult, yes. But there's still the Walt's versus heisenberg's business thing

wasted = was made

Dude's been telling him to just fuckin' die already forever now.

Flynn? Isn't this the first time?

It's not the coincidence that bothers me, it's the general looseness of the action in what is otherwise a pretty flawlessly tight show

Every single action leading up to this has felt urgent and necessary. It's disappointing that the show seems (and who knows, I could be wrong, I'm still waiting to see what happens next) to have run out of that insane narrative steam at the last minute

Naw, this ain't the first time. Hell, the fact that him going by "Flynn" is no big surprise supports that.

i have a feeling that when we find out what happens next it's not going to feel quite as loose as it does now. i mean cliffhangers do need to have an indeterminate element to them (other than "will X happen or not")

Listen, I'm no stan for this show. Shit like the plane crash has rubbed me wrong too. But - if there's any way to get this guy out of a cold little cabin in the woods, to go back on the run and meet up with whatever destiny and fate have in store for him, it's this Gray Matters business. You can make a valid point that Oh yeah? His former partners are on the damn Charlie Rose program two seconds after he decides to give himself up? But calling that the root of his motivation is no stretch. If there was any fire left in the smoldering pile of coal that's Walt's soul right now, it was his hatred, his supposed betrayal by GM that spurned this whole run on in the first place.

- phone dangles
- cops close in
- walt turns to bartender and says "that TV show just made me think of a tremendous way to launder my money. excuse me, i need to leave before the police show up"
- BWOWNGG.... DONK-AH BWOWNGG.... BWOWNG BWONGGGGGGG