Posted on 04/13/2019 8:03:47 AM PDT by southern rock
I clearly forgot a lot of the show. So I look forward to watching the whole thing again. Best series I’ve ever seen, done better than anything else. Not easy though. I’d like a nonviolent (or much less violent) show done that well. Better call Saul approaches it.
Looks like she needs an exorcism.
Breaking Bad was the best. And I hate and avoid drug driven dramas. You know who loves their amphetamines> All the wealthy Asia tigers. S Korea, Taiwan, Japan etc.... Philippines too.
They love uppers, not downer marijuana
The one I had the biggest problem with was Jesse. Obviously he was a drug addict and a train wreck from the start so Walt definitely deserves blame for taking him on as a partner in the first place. That said, if I had been in Walt’s shoes I’d have probably snuffed him out when he was stoned out of his mind and his druggie girlfriend had just drowned in her own puke a la Tony Soprano snuffing out Chrissie after their car wreck. You just can’t have a loose cannon like that.
Even after Walt saved his life by running over the two drug dealers he stupidly picked a fight with, even after Walt took him back as a partner after he had flamed out AND even after Walt had given him several million dollars after Jessie dissolved their partnership, he STILL turned on Walt - just because he was such a whiny little b. That led directly to a couple people getting killed and Walt losing most of his money before his final kamikaze mission. I was sickened that Jesse survived in the end. If anybody deserved a miserable death.....
“It is a pretty spot on piece about what is arguably the most dislikable fictional character ever created.”
As opposed to the hero of the story who has the opportunity to rescue Jane Margolis from dying of an overdose, knowing that his friend and business partner Jesse has found in her a bright spot in his miserable existence, but lets her die? Mr. “I am the one who knocks” White?
Skyler’s bad choices are a catharsis designed to cause the audience to lose empathy for her, just like Walter White’s horrific choices.
“If I had been in Walt’s shoes I’d have probably snuffed [Jesse] out when he was stoned out of his mind and his druggie girlfriend had just drowned in her own puke a la Tony Soprano snuffing out Chrissie after their car wreck... I was sickened that Jesse survived in the end. If anybody deserved a miserable death...”
Jesse was the most compassionate character in the whole series. He was the one who acted the least selfishly of all of them. And Walter letting Jesse’s girlfriend die was the most treacherous thing he did in the series.
Do you remember what her last words to Walt were? He had asked her something to the effect of “how do I know you will keep your mouth shut”? And she looked directly at him and said “you don’t “. So she was basically threatening to blackmail him for the rest of his life. He was supposed to save her from herself after that? So he could live with that hanging over his head? If you’re going to threaten someone don’t expect them to rescue you.
People want to believe that relationships are clear-cut and that the more obnoxious party is always at fault, but couples have a way of bringing out each others' negative qualities, so that both of them are hard to put up with.
Walter only used Jesse’s addiction as an excuse to withhold payment. He broke his promises. Jesse was planning to use the money to start a new life and get clean, along with Jane. So, Jane’s attempts to help Jesse get paid were the result of Walter going back on his word. (Of course we are talking about honor among thieves basically here.)
Jane was in recovery for a year, and her relapse was directly caused by Walter’s continued commitment to a life of crime as a drug dealer, turning down opportunities to walk away. She also was a positive influence on Jesse so that he was ready to pursue addiction recovery as well. Walter knew this, but he didn’t want it to work out because it interfered with his criminal plans. Also, Jane didn’t just O.D. Walter caused her to roll onto her back when he was trying to wake Jesse up. He murdered her.
The hypocrisy was that Walter looked down on Jesse and Jane for being drug users, but he chose to become a dealer of those same drugs, causing endless suffering and pain to lots of people, including completely innocent ones.
Anyway, it’s just creative fiction. Very creative. I loved the tie-in with Jane’s father and the plane crash. Amazing cause-and-effect rippling through the Breaking Bad universe—a dark and sordid place.
“I thought she was hot”
Yep, nice rack on her.
Which in turn led to the deaths of 100+ on the plane that her ATC father (John DeLancie) mishandled.
Jesse was a loose cannon prone to melting down and doing something astoundingly self destructive and stupid at any moment. If he wants to destroy himself, fine. If I were in Walt’s shoes, there’s no way in hell I’d have let him destroy me with his incredible weakness.
His girlfriend WAS clean and sober when she met him. He’s the one who got her back on drugs which is what killed her. Jesse destroys everybody around him. With him out of the way, Walt had his operation locked down tight. He even walked away from it all and was in the clear. Then once again, Jesse happened.
I’d rate it below Sopranos, The Wire, The Night Watchman. And probably a few others that I’m forgetting.
Walter White basically had the same character as all of the scumbag parents who cheated to get their kids in college. Well that, plus homicide and major drug dealing.
Walter was his own personal worst enemy, not Jesse. Walter constantly made self-destructive choices as he descended into further and further madness with no way back to sanity.
He was decisive but then would change his mind about things he agreed to. How much was enough? Always just a little more. And that is the beauty of his character.
We discover quite deep in the series that part of his underlying motivation is resentment over being separated from a company, of which he was a principle member and helped to build, losing a potential fortune and all of the good life that goes with it, to become a high school teacher. He was far too smart for that. And then he gets cancer.
Every choice he makes is reasonable when seeing things through the lens of his character. But from outside it is possible to see the resentment and pride he has that ultimately become his undoing. His underlying commitment to doing the right thing was not based on principle but pragmatism, unlike his brother-in-law who was willing to die for what he believed in.
Walter was a stickler for doing things the right way, but only if the right way could clearly be seen to pay off in the here and now. His lack of faith in the afterlife and eternal rewards (and punishment) gave him no rational way to handle the injustice of getting cancer after doing all the right things. Rather than being willing to leave his wife and son with a legacy of faith and moral values, he felt he had to leave them money. In the end, the things he loved most—his wife, son, and unborn child—were damaged most by his choices.
Jesse was a deeply flawed person—an addict. He had burned bridges with his family, but we can see his disappointment in not being able to undo the harm he did in youthful foolishness. Yes, he fails to kick his addiction, even though he has tried. His girlfriend becomes a new motivation for him to get clean and sober, but he keeps getting pulled back into the drug life because of his relationship with Walter even when he is starting to head the right direction. It is true that IF he had kicked the drug life completely before meeting the girlfriend, she probably would have stayed clean too (and lived). He is the character of the whole series who cares most about other people. He is disappointed in himself for letting others down. This is why his character is the one who survives and gets a chance at redemption after the series ends.
Walter is deeply flawed no doubt. He is seething with rage and he’s also guilty of the “sin” of pride. Him getting involved in cooking meth - at Jesse’s urging - initially was understandable given his cancer. But then he went back to it for money/pride rather than just dire need. That was a choice and obviously given how destructive that crap is to others, it was not morally defensible at all. I do understand why Walt would feel the way he felt....ie underappreciated and like life had dealt him a pretty crappy hand despite his obvious brilliance...but you can’t just ignore the effects your actions have on others and he was willing to do that.
Jesse though was a train wreck. Yes he was “compassionate” - particularly about kids being harmed. But he was also not only incredibly self destructive but extremely destructive to everybody around him. His girlfriend gets sucked back into addiction and death because of him. He goes to Hank even AFTER Walt is retired and out of the business and thus gets Hank (and his partner) killed. This sets off a chain of events that gets his former girlfriend killed. It also gets Walt killed after Walt takes out the neo-nazi gang....I don’t particularly care that they all get killed that was like flushing the toilet for humanity.
Jesse is a constant whirlwind of destruction and you want to tell us he’s somehow morally redeeming in some way? He isn’t. He’s weak. He’s a danger to himself and everybody else around him. He’s also very whiny and annoying. I only wish he had gotten the gruesome death he deserved - and caused for several others.
That was the point. Breaking Bad. That was what was so cool about it as a series: it didn’t branch out or go in different directions and lose sight of it as a story in seasons. It had its beginning and its conclusion. WW was the protagonist and no matter how uncomfortable we audience felt after being attached to him, he really was a human being who was good and became bad.
When she was bent over...yes
My sons loved Breaking Bad
I bing watched it and enjoyed it yes
But for me I like Sopranos and GOT more...
BB is a strong bronze
Over 50 posts and no pictures yet! A definite sign that the Breaking Bad fans aren’t your typical FReepers!
I may have to re-watch the series with your comments in mind. It’s been a long time. My recollection of the beginning of Walter-and-Jesse’s partnership was Walter recruiting Jesse, not vice versa. I can’t defend Jesse from my memory of the show, but I do recall at the time having some empathy based on how all the odds were always stacked against him. Maybe they weren’t. Maybe there were other reasons I cannot recall any longer.
To me, Hank’s death was one of the most tragic because he always operated by moral and ethical principles, as best I recall. I don’t remember him doing anything bad. Of course, there was also the child that was murdered—equally tragic.
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