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

One question I had, and this is neither here nor there, was whether Walt felt anger when he saw them on Charlie Rose, or was that just his realization that they offered a way to get money to his family?

Both! Almost all of the either-or propositions being pushed around this thread like brussells sprouts are not either-or propositions!

actual footage of me removing my bookmark from this thread:
http://24.media.tumblr.com/145bf46175269c90dc82caeeadd1e2fd/tumblr_mtzse9IVgZ1qglx18o1_250.gif

Brussels sprouts shredded and pan fried with bacon are awesome.

I love 'em seasoned and roasted with grapes.

What about hank's geodes? Prbly still sitting in storage somewhere, waiting for hank to come home.

Poor geodes.

No closure.

They were just a fad. They're in storage with the Beanie Babies.

Storage wars cameo

Daryl will trade them for a half smoked cigarette

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u1XSp-Q9x3A/S3XWrQPSQ_I/AAAAAAAAASY/eb8clidnHSg/s320/geode.jpg

I want a Meth Lab Rescue spinoff where Cranston comes to your meth lab, criticizes your yield, and fires one of your cook staff

lol

"You call this pure? This is 72% tops. This is garbage. I wouldn't sell this to the Czech market, for god's sake."

gr8080 otm

Walt thinks he checked these things off his to do list, but as has been the case for the entire show, he was being dishonest with himself. There was very little actual redemption in his character even if he did set things into motion that he thought would eventually succeed.

― carl agatha, Tuesday, October 1, 2013 10:30 AM (55 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i agree with this but i also suspect that this irony is more true of Vince Gilligan himself than something he knowingly engineered.

Also don't forget Gretchen and Elliott offered to pay for the best cancer treatment money could buy, and give Walt a cushy job - which he refused out of pride. So he could have got what he said he wanted - financial security for his family - without destroying his family, killing Hank, etc. He might even be alive a lot longer... So I don't think the Schwartzes are unsympathetic at all - and all the banal yuppie talk is making fun of them a bit, but also a rueful glimpse of what Walt and Skyler's lives might would have been like. But that path is repugnant to Walt. He wouldn't have gotten what he really wanted - to be Heisenberg, to be alive, to be able to say "I did it for me", to be a sociopath... So it's hard to look at his plan for Gretchen and Elliott to pass on the money as a real win - he'd already refused that security - but he did get what he wanted because he did it on his own terms. But what he wanted was horrible for everyone else - as everything he's done.

otm

I know we don't capital n Need the info, but it would have been useful to learn how an accomplished chemist who had a hand in creating/founding a Nobel Prize winning billion dollar venture wound up teaching high school. Surely the former afforded plenty of pride, or more than the latter. Backstory is only so important, but given that rage and resentment is what's driven Walt all along, it would have been helpful.

dude it was pride that made him leave the company! the details are hazy but it's pretty clear he got up on his high horse and hightailed it out of there.

I think it's interesting the way that the show has occasionally manipulated the viewer into sharing Walt's warped perceptions about his world. Gretchen & Elliott are in no way villainous or antagonistic, and Walt's ire towards them has been shown to be baseless and petty, but people still cheer when Walt gets one over on the feckless yuppies. The existence of a Team Walt comprised of unsophisticated viewers is somewhat understandable.

I also think part of the viewer enmity towards the Schwartzes is generated by the fact that BB is to some degree a cautionary tale of what can happen when frustrated and overly-intelligent people find themselves backed into the 99% corner. Misdirected anger in the midst of a class struggle and all that.

xpost

agreed but I think the episode where they revealed that was almost too long ago for people to remember.

before that there were hints that the company was somehow "stolen" from Walt and I think that's still the impression ppl have of Gretchen and Elliott

that the same conversation and episode though. gretchen reacts with the line "you.. can't REALLY believe that's what happened" or something thereabouts, and knowing Walt she's definitely more believable

I like that it's not 100% clear whether Walt was legitimately wronged or not - but knowing Walt, I got the impression that Gretchen was being honest when she said he just stomped off in a huff.

It's consistent with everything else - he could have made millions with Gus, or by cooking and paying off "Mike's guys", or by taking his 1/3 from selling the methylamine when Mike and Jesse wanted out. He always fucked it up out of pride. Never exactly a team player.

ha "knowing walt"... spent too much time thinking about this show, clearly

he's a great character!

Quitting a billion dollar company you co-founded to take a job as a high school teacher with a part time gig washing cars is a pretty far leap for even a prideful dick like Walt. Maybe he'd been working his way down from the top for years!

He got paid $5,000 for his 1/3 of the company - it was just a little start-up when he quit.

he also didn't become a high school teacher immediately after. he bounced from job to job first.

there are gazillions of overqualified employees these days.

source: a blog

Ha.

i had a hs biology teacher who was on a team that did some pretty groundbreaking research on heart disease in the 70s and 80s and then their funding ran out and he floated from job to job until becoming a biology teacher

breaking news: the economy is terrible

funny people are saying they dislike elliott & gretchen based on that scene - if anything, i was like "oh, nice to see these long-marrieds still banter happily about the fireplace" in between thoughts of "OMG WALT WATCHUGONNADOOOOO"

they've always been mildly dislike-able to be fair, even from the first season; they're uber-rich posh dweebs (though still likely to be good ppl at heart, I think)

it's not as if the scene would have been improved by them walking in silently or bickering. It was a cheesy, over the top convo, but it wasn't much different than the one Dr. Melfi and her date had on the Sopranos prior to being pulled over by John Heard's character.

they did go a little OTT with Elliot's wussiness but I think that was more for comic relief.

xpost
Also they had a disabled kid, so I thought it was implied that he started teaching for a steady income and health care and got stuck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12ZTMG7xxmg

Elliot = owner of a Clapton-autographed Strat

http://www.gifti.me/i/4xfUlbaz.gif

haha nice

I dont get it - why woudl the dea not seize money given to walter jr by gretchen shwarz? surely it would be suspicious??

It doesn't really matter because we'll never know if it worked or not.

until saul and hurley spinoff anyway

I dont get it - why woudl the dea not seize money given to walter jr by gretchen shwarz? surely it would be suspicious??

― Brian Eno's Mother (Latham Green), Tuesday, October 1, 2013 2:48 PM (11 minutes ago)

Not necessarily, because Gray Matter is swimming in money.

I wonder if it's even worth it for them to try to deposit Walt's tainted meth cash instead of just burning it and writing a cheque?

they can't do that for fear of laser pointers

http://24.media.tumblr.com/4281d927ca069de94c3648a6434ac43b/tumblr_mu08ruO0bV1qb73tpo1_500.gif
http://31.media.tumblr.com/af4ed53c7ee3118ddae0d27ede0dc086/tumblr_mu08ruO0bV1qb73tpo2_500.gif
http://31.media.tumblr.com/a46c97fb808be4e8cb1bf2033dae3c44/tumblr_mu08ruO0bV1qb73tpo3_r1_500.gif

xpost yet another reason it's hilarious people think he's got things wrapped up all nice & tidy any more than he did when they bought a car wash.