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Breaking Bad - Season 5, Part 1 - Sundays on AMC

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Oh I think you give the writers too little credit. They are deliberately constructing a story in which you are encouraged to root for a person who's rotten to the core. I don't think it's reflective of anyone's moral compass at all, but a reflection of how carefully they've manipulated the audience. To the point that they've openly stated as much and people still don't believe it. What they've constructed is amazing.
I would have phrased it like "the writers have created a situation where the road to becoming a scumbag was motivated by logical decisions", but that's essentially the same thing.

I just don't like the implication that people are being "fooled" into rooting for a "bad guy". More like we understand why he's made these bad decisions, and is thus, in some way not a "bad guy"... (In the Hollywood sense of bad guy where people are telegraphed as being 'just rotten' to their core.)
 
I see this happening before Walt kills Skyler. This would actually be interesting and typical of Skyler. Desperate enough to disrupt peace because she completely cracks under pressure.

It's literally the only option I could see happening, and I think it will. Or she will get very close then Walt or Mike will kill her. But who knows, I could speculate all day!


Too late for that to happen. If she would have done that, it would have happened before she got into the whole money laundering thing.


EDIT: It also wasn't one of Skyler's "plans", when Walt asked her on today's episode. It remains impossible to happen.

I thought the same thing, but it's getting pretty intense. So I started to wonder if she might totally fold and just turn Walt and herself in. I think your right though, highly doubt this will happen. But gdamn if it does.
 
Lol, that intro was so bad.
It was supposed to be. That's the world through Walt's eyes, right now.

It's literally the only option I could see happening, and I think it will. Or she will get very close then Walt or Mike will kill her. But who knows, I could speculate all day!
I doubt Mike keeps tabs on Walt's family and Skyler could easily tell Hank and give him evidence without making a scene. If Skyler decides to tell Hank, it can only mean the end. I'm guessing Skyler tells Hank in desperation, and Walt leaves using the "cleaner". Everyone goes under, being connected to Walt, but Walt is missing. Eventually Walt reconnects with Jesse and things unravel from there maybe? I could see that happening. It'd be an easy way to bring down the empire but have Walt escape death one last time.
 
What if Skyler finds the Ricin and uses it to commit suicide and Walt mentions it to Jesse and Jess puts 2 and 2 together?

Now this I can see happening. It's weird thinking how Skyler would ultimately ingest the ricin after seeing it there randomly, but the Jesse-ricin link is where I believe Walt's relationship with him will start to disintegrate.
 
Can you guys explain to me the whole ricin thing w/ Brock? Did Walt really poison him?

I read some wiki's but nothing was very clear.

Far as I understand, Walt poisoned the kid on purpose right? I need to re watch season 3 and 4 damn it.


It was supposed to be. That's the world through Walt's eyes, right now.


I doubt Mike keeps tabs on Walt's family and Skyler could easily tell Hank and give him evidence without making a scene. If Skyler decides to tell Hank, it can only mean the end. I'm guessing Skyler tells Hank in desperation, and Walt leaves using the "cleaner". Everyone goes under, being connected to Walt, but Walt is missing. Eventually Walt reconnects with Jesse and things unravel from there maybe? I could see that happening. It'd be an easy way to bring down the empire but have Walt escape death one last time.

Yep good point, I forgot about the cleaner lol. Good ol Sal knows everyone.
 
I'm late here...have there been embarrassing Skylar meltdowns yet? Happens every time she has a legitimate reason to do something other than go along with Walt's plans.
 
Can you guys explain to me the whole ricin thing w/ Brock? Did Walt really poison him?

I read some wiki's but nothing was very clear.

Far as I understand, Walt poisoned the kid on purpose right? I need to re watch season 3 and 4 damn it.

Walt poisoned Brock to regain Jesse's trust, by tricking him to think Gus poisoned him, while it was Walt. It's all confirmed, as Walt talks to Saul about it in the first episode of this season.
 
I would have phrased it like "the writers have created a situation where the road to becoming a scumbag was motivated by logical decisions", but that's essentially the same thing.

I just don't like the implication that people are being "fooled" into rooting for a "bad guy". More like we understand why he's made these bad decisions, and is thus, in some way not a "bad guy"... (In the Hollywood sense of bad guy where people are telegraphed as being 'just rotten' to their core.)

His decisions are the antithesis of logical and always have been. Every one motivated by greed and ego, not logic. Id, not ego to get all Freudian. The show has manipulated you into thinking they are logical, though.

That's what makes this show amazing, and what will make it go down in history. It forced people to commit to and invest in a false image of its protagonist.
 
walt (with the help of saul and his guys) poisoned brock with that plant walt had and stole jesses ricin cig so that jesse would think brock was poisoned with ricin
 
Now this I can see happening. It's weird thinking how Skyler would ultimately ingest the ricin after seeing it there randomly, but the Jesse-ricin link is where I believe Walt's relationship with him will start to disintegrate.
Walt keeps his family and Jesse completely separate. If there is something Walt doesn't want Jesse to know, he won't know it. I don't see that happening. The ricin will come in handy the next season/other half, not now. They need to let the viewer forget about it. Maybe they might not even use it. Too predictable and too much of an AHA! moment for BB.

His decisions are the antithesis of logical and always have been. Every one motivated by greed and ego, not logic. Id, not ego to get all Freudian. The show has manipulated you into thinking they are logical, though.

That's what makes this show amazing, and what will make it go down in history. It forced people to commit to and invest in a false image of its protagonist.
That's why, ultimately, this show is better than its closest counterpart: The Sopranos. In The Sopranos, Tony and Carmela had a very similar dynamic to Walt and Skyler. But a) Carmela always knew what she was getting into, b) the mob was all Tony ever knew, c) Tony legitimately loved his family in the best way he knew how. Though the thrill and prestige of being the mob meant a great deal to him, he didn't have many options. It's safe to say he wasn't going to find a career making similar money. He wasn't going to walk away from the business. Tony was man with a ton of heart and love but limited in his ability to understand it or show it.

Walt was a good man, good father, and a complacent but endearing husband. But he was absolutely miserable doing all that. When given a death sentence, he was given freedom to end his life providing his family with SECURITY, being the man he best knew how to be, very similar to Tony. A good man. As time progressed, his health stabilized and greed took over, we saw him slowly desire more, still with the intention of providing for his family. It was when he met Gus, that I believe things changed. He saw a man of similar stature to himself. To the world, Gus was everything that Walt was. A gentleman of few words (though Walt has been getting loud lately, the cars for example), mild mannered, etc. Walt saw this and saw the power Gus truly had and was drawn to THAT. That was the end of Walt. Walt is a power hungry man.

Tony Soprano is not a power hungry man. He, like Walt, is scared, alone, and vulnerable. But unlike Walt, his bravado is to prove it to everyone else in hopes to prove it to himself. Walt's already proved himself. There isn't a doubt in Walt's mind. And now he's literally asserting it to everyone else.

So both are anti-heroes, nearly border lining villains at some points, but Walt has clearly overstepped that line a long time ago. Which makes this the more interesting show, because he is still the most interesting character and the character you want to see prosper. You've watched his struggle and YOU, as a viewer, feel like he justified and deserves the money, his family, his power, etc. As much as Walt does.
 
Walt keeps his family and Jesse completely separate. If there is something Walt doesn't want Jesse to know, he won't know it. I don't see that happening. The ricin will come in handy the next season/other half, not now. They need to let the viewer forget about it. Maybe they might not even use it. Too predictable and too much of an AHA! moment for BB.

Yeah he did a great job of that when he was going under for the surgery. I think there are situations where he will just not be thinking straight. Especially if his wife commits suicide. I mean, it's not even that she's dead, it's that she killed herself and in so doing defied his understanding of their family life and defied him directly, robbing him of power over her. Also a little that his wife is dead.
 
He is 100%, irrefutably, factually bad. Not neutral. Bad. This 5 season show about Walter White and his transformation has provided enough examples to show why he's bad. It was Gilligan's intention from the start of the show.
The intention was to show someone become a thug and a gangster.

The idea of being "just bad".. Again, that really tells me more about your strong moral compass than the show itself.

People haven't been "fooled" into rooting for a bad guy. They just have more of a greyscale morality than you, I'd imagine.
 
Walt poisoned Brock to regain Jesse's trust, by tricking him to think Gus poisoned him, while it was Walt. It's all confirmed, as Walt talks to Saul about it in the first episode of this season.

K I was like 95% sure, that couch scene basically said it all. Just wanted to make sure I knew what was going on. Thanks a millllion.
 
The intention was to show someone become a thug and a gangster.

The idea of being "just bad".. Again, that really tells me more about your strong moral compass than the show itself.

People haven't been "fooled" into rooting for a bad guy. They just have more of a greyscale morality than you, I'd imagine.

It's a show bro. I am able to seperate reality from TV. Ya I root for walt. He is a god damn meth dealer, pumping one of the worst drugs ever into the community. He has killed. He has lied. He has done like everything you can do that is wrong except rape and adultrey. (Well he kind of raped Skyler .... so yeah nvm that)

But I still root for him because it's Walt, in real life I would want this dude in prison or probably not on this planet. Drug dealers are the worst. I don't think you can tell anything about someones moral compass from a TV show, but that is just me.

Then again this is coming from a guy with a Mel Gibson avatar ...... so my credibility is kind of fucked on this subject.
 
The intention was to show someone become a thug and a gangster.

The idea of being "just bad".. Again, that really tells me more about your strong moral compass than the show itself.

People haven't been "fooled" into rooting for a bad guy. They just have more of a greyscale morality than you, I'd imagine.

Breaking BAD
 
His decisions are the antithesis of logical and always have been. Every one motivated by greed and ego, not logic. Id, not ego to get all Freudian. The show has manipulated you into thinking they are logical, though.

That's what makes this show amazing, and what will make it go down in history. It forced people to commit to and invest in a false image of its protagonist.
I'd still call them mostly logical, at least in the early seasons.

The original intention was to deliver money. That required telling a lie. Every lie inevitably leads to more lies to cover them up. Drug deals with other gangster types have motivated the reality of "offense is the best defense". Everything was in service to the original goal.. At least in the first few seasons.

The times that have not been logical have been the moments on insisting more money, more power, etc. That's clearly the trend in Walt's life now, and it's no longer logical, but it was for a long time.

I think the writers will go down in history too.. But I see it more as a rather amoral narrative that doesn't telegraph good or bad, rather than a "trick" narrative where you are "fooled" into rooting for a bad guy.
 
Lol, that intro was so bad.

Aside from that, fantastic. I've felt very uneasy watching Breaking Bad this season (in a good way). I feel that something huge is going to happen, and the episodes so far have just built and built this tension.

Also, people who defend Walt and hate on Skylar really have to be trolling at this point.
Different opinion = Trolling
 
Really really good episode this week. The Skyler/Walt scenes were just incredible. (The Skyler hate in this thread is maddening) The episode was very well directed, (by the guy who directed "Fly". I liked that there was a picture of a fly behind Walt when they were discussing the GPS tracker) with some of the most visually striking scenes in the show's history. Great stuff.
 
I'd still call them mostly logical, at least in the early seasons.

The original intention was to deliver money. That required telling a lie. Every lie inevitably leads to more lies to cover them up. Drug deals with other gangster types have motivated the reality of "offense is the best defense". Everything was in service to the original goal.. At least in the first few seasons.

The times that have not been logical have been the moments on insisting more money, more power, etc. That's clearly the trend in Walt's life now, and it's no longer logical, but it was for a long time.

I think the writers will go down in history too.. But I see it more as a rather amoral narrative that doesn't telegraph good or bad, rather than a "trick" narrative where you are "fooled" into rooting for a bad guy. Walt is just a real life criminal... And in real life most of them got there through logical means too, rather than being infected with Satan or whatever.

Yeah, but Walt's original choice doesn't make any sense whatsoever, since he was offered a job in season one, but refused to take it out of some sense of pride.
 
Really really good episode this week. The Skyler/Walt scenes were just incredible. (The Skyler hate in this thread is maddening) The episode was very well directed, (by the guy who directed "Fly". I liked that there was a picture of a fly behind Walt when they were discussing the GPS tracker) with some of the most visually striking scenes in the show's history. Great stuff.

I used to love skysky! Oh how times are ah changin.
 
They definitely broke bad on that intro. I got so spoiled watching like all 4 seasons back to back forgot how slow this show moves. I jus need a lil bit more
 
Skylar is being unreasonable. If you don't agree with that, then you're watching a different show than I am.
 
Yeah he's a criminal and a thug. It's a bad lifestyle.

No where does bad imply "you are supposed to hate him, and if you like him, you have been fooled."

He's an anti-hero.

Keep twisting the intended meaning.
 
GAF hates Walt to the bones. It's fucking irritating. This isn't a reality TV show.

Skylar has been a bigger piece of shit and she's disrupting the family in more ways than Walt possibly could right now.
 
Yeah he's a criminal and a thug. It's a bad lifestyle.

No where does bad imply "you are supposed to hate him, and if you like him, you have been fooled."

He's an anti-hero.
Him being an anti-hero requires some degree of heroism. Terrorizing his wife and poisoning a child doesn't even have the faintest tinge of heroism. Your interpretation of the show is at odds with both the evidence provided by the progression of the storyline itself and the numerous interviews Gilligan has given. Walt is not an anti-hero. Saying otherwise is a distortion of the facts and a gross misconstruction of Breaking Bad.


GAF hates Walt to the bones. It's fucking irritating. This isn't a reality TV show.

Skylar has been a bigger piece of shit and she's disrupting the family in more ways than Walt possibly could right now.
I can't remember any other show have a bigger contingent of blithering sexist dolts than Breaking Bad. This is just ridiculous.
 
GAF hates Walt to the bones. It's fucking irritating. This isn't a reality TV show.

Skylar has been a bigger piece of shit and she's disrupting the family in more ways than Walt possibly could right now.
It's gaf I expected to be banned for saying I hate skyler. Don't let it get to ya bro. Team walt Mike Jesse for life.

Sorry for bad typing , mobile.

Also gremlin good post. What has walt done to be a hero rofl. Maybe a hero to meth addicts for cooking awesome blue, that's about it.
 
Keep twisting the intended meaning.

You stated this:

It's baffling how myopic some people are. Any tv show that is released, everyone will root for the protagonist; it's just some of you aren't open minded enough to realize the creators' intention and blindly try to rely on the protagonist to be the "good guy." Totally not the point of the show, but some of you persist anyway. You will always try to squeeze something good out of Walt and twist scenes so like Walt's innocent and Skyler's the bitch. It's like he brainwashed you guys, like Jesse.

Nowhere does Walt "breaking bad", becoming a gangster and thug, imply that we aren't supposed to empathise with his actions and find him likeable. No where does that imply that we are "supposed" to side with Skylar over Walt.

breaking bad does not imply we are supposed to hate him, dislike him, or not understand his actions.
 
Guys am I am a bad person for hating Skyler? So tired of her drama!

Wish they would just kill her off at this point.

I know that is a very basic way to put things but every time I see her face I just role my eyes. She's the only thing wrong with this show in my opinion. Kill her!!! Kill Kill Kill. Shit have Mike do it I don't care, Walt probably could do it himself though at this point.

Rational human being: "Walt, this drug business scares the shit out of me and I fear for our children's safety. I think it would be best if I took the kids and left for a while. We'll call it a vacation or something."

Skylar: "I'M MOODY BUT I'M GOING TO BE REALLY VAGUE ABOUT IT THEN I'M GOING TO ATTEMPT SUICIDE IN FRONT OF OUR FAMILY AND IF THINGS DON'T CHANGE I'M GOING TO CUT MYSELF AND IF THINGS ARE STILL THE SAME I'M GOING TO TELL EVERYONE YOU BEAT ME! THESE ARE HORRIBLE IDEAS AND I WANT YOU TO GET CANCER AGAIN." *chain smoke*

Ugh.

I always wonder if a lot of people think this way, instead of seeing a character pushed to their limit by a malicious bastard. I guess so!
 
I'm surprised Mike took getting outvoted without much protest. Since when does he allow a vote about business and his own survival dictate his actions in this new arrangement?
 
Yeah he's a criminal and a thug. It's a bad lifestyle.

No where does bad imply "you are supposed to hate him, and if you like him, you have been fooled."

He's an anti-hero.

Huh? You are supposed to like him. But you have been fooled. That's what I'm saying. And what Vince has said pretty much all along. It's all the more amazing a feat for how transparent they've been about it.
 
Him being an anti-hero requires some degree of heroism. Terrorizing his wife and poisoning a child doesn't even have the faintest tinge of heroism. Your interpretation of the show is at odds with both the evidence provided by the progression of the storyline itself and the numerous interviews Gilligan has given. Walt is not an anti-hero. Saying otherwise is a distortion of the facts and a gross misconstruction of Breaking Bad.
.

He is an anti-hero in that he is both a criminal and the protagonist. Done.
 
I think about her side believe me. I just don't care because she's so annoying to be honest.

Lol I don't think you know what anti hero means.
 
What exactly is he a hero of?

Meth-addicts?

Took care of his family.

Turned a soul-crushing domestic life into that of a power player.

It's like a story that started out American Beauty and ended up Scarface.

He's a nietzschean ubermensch.
 
He is an anti-hero in that he is both a criminal and the protagonist. Done.
No, not done. You seem to not understand what the term "anti-hero" means.

Took care of his family.

Turned a soul-crushing domestic life into that of a power player.

He's a nietzschean ubermensch.

It's like a story that started out American Beauty and ended up Scarface.
I think it's time to take a step back and not take Elite Daily so close to heart.
 
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