Breaking Bad - TOO bad, this week?

Breaking Bad ^ | 8/13/12 | Mr. K

[Mr. K]

OK I love this show

It is the ONLY show I have watched ON PURPOSE in years (the first episodes of House and early My Name is Earl were up there too)

I loved how Mr White was the nerdy geek in over his head, dumb-lucking his way out of terrible situations in often hilarious ways

But this weeks episode when [SPOILER ALERT] they shot that kid [END SPOILER ALERT] I see no way of getting out of and still making good TV out of it. MY only hope is that the kids wasn't shot, he just passed out. I could see them sending him home with some ice cream being kind of funny

I also am not sure if Walter poisoned that kid of the girlo Jesse was dating or not (I think so, since he hid a dummy poison vile for Jesse to find on purpose)

But he is a getting to be a not-so-sympathic hero anymore...

I could see him killing the chicken guy- and running over the drug dealers jesse was going after, and also exploding the chrystal at the dealers location in one of the early shows...

But now he is hurting innocent kids? and feeling no remorse?

The shows popularity used to be its funny/quirkiness... now it is too much like a soap-opera drama

Hank is a great actor- and I have the major hots for his wife since the 'hospital scene'

but Walter is not as likeable and his wife is getting whiny-bitchy

[GunRunner]

My wife just got through watching all 4 seasons on Netflix and started season 5 on demand. She's all caught up and she watched that episode last night while I was poking around on my iPad.

I watched the ending where they shot the kid on the dirt bike, and unless the kid passed out from shock or was just injured, I won't be in the room when she watches this show again.

I can handle violence but I won't willingly watch violence against children for "entertainment."

[KMG365]

Actually it is and is not the final season. Seasons 2 - 4 had 13 episodes. This season (5), is going to be the final season and they made 16 episodes. However before season 5 started, AMC said they were going to break the 16 episodes into two halves, thus there are just 3 episodes left in the first half of the final season. This is similar to what AMC did last season with Walking Dead, where they had a three month pause in the middle of the season.

Also Vince Gilligan said recently that he would like to create a Breaking Bad spin-off focused on one of the character’s back story (possibly Saul Goodman).

[GunRunner]

The first four seasons are on streaming Netflix.

[erod]

I think the more we go on in Breaking Bad the more Walt becomes the bad guy and Hank becomes the good guy. I’m actively rooting for Hank to take Walt down now.

[Bernard Marx]

But he is a getting to be a not-so-sympathic hero anymore...

Anyone familiar with classic Greek tragedy recognizes the formula. I'd call Breaking Bad a "Geek Tragedy."

The thing that makes this form of drama so compelling is its inexorable progression. The viewer keeps waiting and hoping for the protagonist to come to his senses and redeem himself. Yet each decision he makes only mires him deeper in inescapable quicksand.

We have to keep in mind that Walter began with the highest of motives: protecting his family. And Oedipus really did love his Father and Mother.

[PUGACHEV]

Think about the opening scene. The spider was a symbol of the evil. The boy finds this ferocious looking spider in the desert, he lets it crawl over his hands, then puts it in a bottle. Watching, we wonder why the boy wasn't bitten. He seemed not to have a natural aversion to scary things, like the big hairy spider. The boy represents innocence.

At the end of the episode, the boy stumbles across the men robbing chemicals from the train from which they intend to make meth. They are, in their purpose, like the big spider, a symbol of evil. Once again, the boy does not flee but waives to the men. Only this time he is bitten (or shot) and the spider crawls free from the bottle as he falls. The writer is reminding that although the men experienced joy when they succeeded in robbing the train without killing the crew, and their accomplishment was really a technical marvel, it was still an evil thing leading to the death of many innocent people by way of the drug they intend to produce.

[Goldsborough]

As to the kid, the new guy did it, and it shocked Walt and Jesse IIRC.

Little is shocking to Walt anymore and he's developed a blind spot to just how evil he is becoming. Jesse has long figured out he wasn't capable of being a big league criminal, but he just doesn't know what to do with himself otherwise as he goes on mostly passively with the increasingly dark flow of events.

[TurboZamboni]

Jesse and Walt will die and Skylar will walk away with all Walt’s cash.

[LS]

Love the show. Last night great, but a shocker!

[bert]

-——I also am not sure if Walter poisoned that kid ——

For sure walt poisoned the kid. He did the deed to assure Jesse would come back under his wing. Walt said he did.

The Lilly of the Valley that generated the toxin was growing in a pot beside Walt’s swimming pool. When the final clean up effort was made of the equipment in Walt’s kitchen used to produce the toxin, Walt forgot to gather up the Lilly of the Valley. He came back and placed the potted plant in his trunk with the other incriminating evidence.

Breaking Bad to me is very complex and rewatching is necessary to assemble all the various pieces.

[Mr. K]

So do we want to start another thread next week?

I missed the preview of the next show- what did they have?

I can’t watch that unbearable ‘private security’ show- it is just too painfully stupid.

[Responsibility2nd]

The whole “robbing the train” episode was less than stellar.

I thought after watching last night’s show that BB is getting close - very close - to jumping the shark.

[emotionalcripple]

Very disappointed. I loved the show from season 1 but I won’t be watching anymore since they killed a child. Unacceptable, period.

[LS]

Merely the ads to “Private Security” make me puke.

[Hildy]

This is the last season.

[Hildy]

This is the last season.

[Hildy]

This is the last season.

[KosmicKitty]

I loved the show from season 1 but I won’t be watching anymore since they killed a child. Unacceptable, period.

Just wondering..

Why didn't you stop watching after Jesse's girlfriend's little brother got killed in Season 4?

[qman]

I new something bad was going to happen to that kid from the beginning, with him out on his dirt bike. The kid is dead and Mr. White did not kill him, the B&E specialist did. It’s not really clear what the kid saw, but I presume that the guy’s could’nt just transfer the chemical quickly and dig up the tanks.
Sadly the kid had to die! Of course, I loved it when his wife asked who he was going to go barrie under a bridge.
I understand walters desire to save his marriage, but sometimes you just have to cut your losses, move out, keep her as your money launderer.

[Carlucci]

I won’t be watching anymore since they killed a child. Unacceptable, period.

What the? What do you think Crystal Meth does? Guess how many lives Walt's product has ruined.

The show is called "Breaking Bad" for a reason. Walt has transformed from an affable idiot getting in way over his head, to a ruthless, murderous,drug warlord.

If by now you haven't switched from rooting for Walt to actively rooting against him, you're watching it wrong, IMO.