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

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Woohoo! After mainlining BB for the last 3 weeks (and reading through the previous GAF BB season threads), I'm up to date! I'm not sure how I'll adjust to this nutty "only 1 episode per week" crap, though. Overall thoughts:

-Probably the most entertaining show on TV right now. Hard to say where it ranks all-time yet, but it's up there.

-I have a big-time man crush on Aaron Paul. He's really the soul of the show and has done the best acting overall.

-Skylar hate is overdone and a little creepy at times, but the main flaw of the show is that the "home" stuff has never been nearly as interesting as the "work" stuff, and Skylar's the face of that. Her character simply isn't done as well as Jesse/Walt/Hank. I'm hopeful that she can turn the tables on Walt at some point and do some badass stuff, though.
...before Walt probably does something awful to her...
 
Cudder said:
IMG_0807_2.jpg


This is Aaron Paul's girl? Gotdamn.
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I'd go look at vagina paintings with her.
 
Emerson said:
This.

Walt is just completely gone (delusional) at this point. He still loves his kids, and he still loves his wife to a certain extent. What he wants is for everything at home to pretend to be normal while he runs a meth empire. He's absolutely insane, not actually this cool and collected master manipulator that people seem to make him out to be (and he believes himself to be). I guarantee that underneath all of his persona is still a cowardly science teacher and I wouldn't be shocked to see it come out again before the series is through.
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Single greatest post in this thread. Sometimes I think you, me, and Pyromaniac are the only three that actually get it.
 
Emerson said:
This.

Walt is just completely gone (delusional) at this point. He still loves his kids, and he still loves his wife to a certain extent. What he wants is for everything at home to pretend to be normal while he runs a meth empire. He's absolutely insane, not actually this cool and collected master manipulator that people seem to make him out to be (and he believes himself to be). I guarantee that underneath all of his persona is still a cowardly science teacher and I wouldn't be shocked to see it come out again before the series is through.
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Ehh, I think that part of him went away long ago in the series.

He's always had the sociopath inside of him, he gets a rush from living like a criminal mastermind, being a family man isn't enough for him, he's willing to sacrifice his family for what he thinks is right. Not to say he doesn't have any weaknesses, but Walter really is talented at what he's been doing, being talented in organized crime though doesn't really protect you from anything.

Gus was the most professional and talented criminal in the series until Walt came along, Walt was able to manipulate situations and people more than Gus, Gus was the better leader, Walt was the better manipulator. That's the only reason Walter is still around.

The only thing that can make Walter break down is if he realizes that him dying of cancer would've been a better outcome than everything he's done for a year, that he himself has caused more damage and pain than anyone else around him, and that simply laying down and dying would've been better for his family.
 
MormaPope said:
Ehh, I think that part of him went away long ago in the series.
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We saw the goofy Walt as recently as Face Off. Final episode of season 4 Walt breaks into Sauls office and get shaken down by Sauls secretary. They go out of their way to make Walt look bumbling and weak the way he stumbles around the broken glass door and get's worked by girl. It was the perfect opportunity to bust out a "dont fuck with me" line when she tells him a new door is gonna cost 25k, but he doesnt. He runs home to get the money.

After he killed Gus though it's been all Heisenberg.
 
Dash27 said:
We saw the goofy Walt as recently as Face Off. Final episode of season 4 Walt breaks into Sauls office and get shaken down by Sauls secretary. They go out of their way to make Walt look bumbling and weak the way he stumbles around the broken glass door and get's worked by girl. It was the perfect opportunity to bust out a "dont fuck with me" line when she tells him a new door is gonna cost 25k, but he doesnt. He runs home to get the money.

After he killed Gus though it's been all Heisenberg.
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Definitely true, but he was rushing and he was pretty scatterbrained at that moment. The way he treats Saul in the Season 5 premiere proves he's lost part of who he used to be.

There were also a lot of moments in Season 4 when Walt got his ass handed to him, him beating Gus I think has given him an insane amount of confidence.

The idea that Walter still has this innocent, weak chemistry teacher inside of him though isn't exactly true.
 
I guess I kinda miss goofy bumbling Walt, but I honestly didn't realize that we were having a Heisenberg overload until just now when I came into this thread. I mean I've noticed how he's just extra crazy now, and the show just makes out to be a villain all the time, but I'm sure we'll see old Walt come out through the season.
 
Dr Eggman said:
Damn, just found an interesting connection.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0aud-0CNuQ&feature=related

It's basically what Walt believes, and told Skyler the night where Walt almost raped her. Some interesting connection perhaps? Will Walt end up as a cripple?
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just rewatched this episode last week, first time watching it since season 4 aired...the conversation Tio has on the phone right before this part is pretty awesome after seeing the season 4 stuff with Gus in Mexico. longer clip here

Seems like he's talking to someone (possibly the generalissimo) about Gus but I'm not sure what vote he's referring to...maybe the vote for Gus joining the cartel or something...pretty cool to see something like that a full season before all that stuff was shown
 
UrbanRats said:
Walt's manipulations are twice as disgusting, for this reason (even though there was a point in the series where Walt's affection for Jesse was sincere).
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It still is, we haven't seen anything to indicate otherwise, yet. He endangered everyone, including himself, when he killed the two drug dealers to save Jesse's life.

He poisoned a young boy and manipulated Jesse to save his life and the lives of like 5 other people, one of whom is a 2 month old baby girl. As long as we're following ageist cultural standards, that trumps disabling a young boy for 3 days
 
Zen said:
It still is, we haven't seen anything to indicate otherwise, yet. He endangered everyone, including himself, when he killed the two drug dealers to save Jesse's life.

OMG POISON CHILD MANIPULATED JESSE!

Yeah, to save his life and the lives of like 5 other people, one of whom is a 2 month old baby girl. As long as we're following ageist cultural standards, that trumps disabling a young boy for 3 days.
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lololol jesus the justifications continue. too bad he couldn't have known if he would have 'disabled' the young boy, as if that makes it any better or something. He was gambling with the boys life, the action automatically proved that Walt is so bad at this point that he has no problem with killing a child if it got in his way, and his family was in danger because of a situation he caused. Which he could have left half a dozen times or more and had his and his families skin in tact.

So lolol @ you justifying the poisoning of a boy, as if the boy should pay for the fucked up horrific choices Walter White has made
 
It's perfectly reasonable that in the show universe, he could calculate a non-lethal dose.

So basically he blew up a door and gave Brock a really bad weekend in order to save like a dozen people and put a major kingpin with connections to mass cartel violence out of action.

As "evil" as some of you are making Walt out to be, at this point, his unjustified kill count still stands at a big fat zero.
 
Puddles said:
It's perfectly reasonable that in the show universe, he could calculate a non-lethal dose.

So basically he blew up a door and gave Brock a really bad weekend in order to save like a dozen people and put a major kingpin with connections to mass cartel violence out of action.

As "evil" as some of you are making Walt out to be, at this point, his unjustified kill count still stands at a big fat zero.
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When you put it like that, Walt is a saint!
 
UrbanRats said:
That is basically confirmed from Gilligan in the 1 hour interview from a page back.
When asked about that he said we should've had patience, because it may not come back this year.
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Yep that cold open wont be back till next season minimum. The way Vince phrased it I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't until the last couple of eps. It would be hard to justify a whole year jump considering the current time structure.
 
Souless_PJ said:
Yep that cold open wont be back till next season minimum. The way Vince phrased it I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't until the last couple of eps. It would be hard to justify a whole year jump considering the current time structure.
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The way I see it it has to be either the opening of the season, the opening of the fourth episode or the opening of the final episode. I wouldn't be surprised if the reason for the fifth season being split in two (besides the contract obligations) was so that the gap between when Part 1 ends and Part 2 opens is the same same as the gap between the seasons, possibly with a montage to show us, roughly, what has happened in the gap. Otherwise I can't really see how they'll advance a whole year in the space of twelve episodes when currently fifty episodes has been one year.
 
To clarify: he just had his 51st birthday breakfast in the last episode (or the one before); the show started in Season 1 with his 50th birthday breakfast, and the S5 cold open was his 52nd birthday breakfast?
 
The One Who Knocks said:
The way I see it it has to be either the opening of the season, the opening of the fourth episode or the opening of the final episode. I wouldn't be surprised if the reason for the fifth season being split in two (besides the contract obligations) was so that the gap between when Part 1 ends and Part 2 opens is the same same as the gap between the seasons, possibly with a montage to show us, roughly, what has happened in the gap. Otherwise I can't really see how they'll advance a whole year in the space of twelve episodes when currently fifty episodes has been one year.
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Its just such a juicy scenerio that I would hate to see it only play out in the final episode. But it seems so finite and last standish that it makes sense to hold off.

Its also a great contrast from the 50th bday bacon in the pilot that I kind of want it to be the last episode to be like a fitting bookend.
 
PezDispenser said:
If this has already been posted, feel free to stone me to death:

http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6701398/breaking-bad-rpg
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Haha..."You killed your friend's girlfriend and caused planes to crash"

**Walter loses all his lives (Hearts)

"You've reached a new low, enter you initials ...AMC"

Truer text has never appeared in an RPG!

Puddles said:
To clarify: he just had his 51st birthday breakfast in the last episode (or the one before); the show started in Season 1 with his 50th birthday breakfast, and the S5 cold open was his 52nd birthday breakfast?
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I still think it's kinda dumb how season 1 to 4, all those events took place only within a year, just seems a little too crammed. That is one hell of a year for anybody!
 
Emerson said:
This.

Walt is just completely gone (delusional) at this point. He still loves his kids, and he still loves his wife to a certain extent. What he wants is for everything at home to pretend to be normal while he runs a meth empire. He's absolutely insane, not actually this cool and collected master manipulator that people seem to make him out to be (and he believes himself to be). I guarantee that underneath all of his persona is still a cowardly science teacher and I wouldn't be shocked to see it come out again before the series is through.
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I've been saying this forever, Walt will never be Heisenberg
 
Dany M said:
I've been saying this forever, Walt will never be Heisenberg
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Walt can never be Heisenberg, because he never created Heisenberg, All he did was try to cover his real identity with a fake ID. and also try to look tough with some new wardrobe at the weakest point in his life while going through cancer treatments. The street gangs and the drug dealers gave him that image, blew it out of proportion... The delusional idiot that he is, he went with it, it helped him stay off the radar for a while. Heisenberg is just an ironic image/idea...It's not even a persona that he can put on, but he sure is trying this Season (After taking down Gus).
 
Been loving this season thus far but the whole it's only been 1 year thing was a bit jarring. I mean I guess the baby is still a baby but that felt a little suspect to me in terms of believability. A LOT has happened for it to only have been a year.
 
Meier said:
Been loving this season thus far but the whole it's only been 1 year thing was a bit jarring. I mean I guess the baby is still a baby but that felt a little suspect to me.
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If you do the math on it, the timeline adds up. Certainly surprising to see this much happen in such a short time, but they have been pretty meticulous about planning it out.
 
Cornballer said:
If you do the math on it, the timeline adds up. Certainly surprising to see this much happen in such a short time, but they have been pretty meticulous about planning it out.
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Oh no doubt, they've taken steps (the baby's lack of notable aging being the largest one) and once they mentioned it I was kinda like huh, yeah, okay... but there are some sideplots that just seem like they wrapped up too tidily for it to have been one year. Jesse's period of depression and partying, Junior's period of isolation from his parents and subsequent name change, all of Hank's rehab, Hank's time in El Paso and subsequent return to ABQ, Skyler's new job and affair/all of the legalese with clearing Ted's tax issues, the fact that Junior has clearly gotten older, etc. make it feel significantly shoehorned.
 
I love what they've done with Skyler this season, she's been developed into a much more interesting character. I really hope we get a Jesse-centred episode soon, it feels like he hasn't been in it as much as usual.
 
Meier said:
Oh no doubt, they've taken steps (the baby's lack of notable aging being the largest one) and once they mentioned it I was kinda like huh, yeah, okay... but there are some sideplots that just seem like they wrapped up too tidily for it to have been one year. Jesse's period of depression and partying, Junior's period of isolation from his parents and subsequent name change, all of Hank's rehab, Hank's time in El Paso and subsequent return to ABQ, Skyler's new job and affair/all of the legalese with clearing Ted's tax issues, the fact that Junior has clearly gotten older, etc. make it feel significantly shoehorned.
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The only really big problem is Hank's rehab. Way too fast. Everything else could've easily been three to six month phases.
 
Meier said:
Oh no doubt, they've taken steps (the baby's lack of notable aging being the largest one) and once they mentioned it I was kinda like huh, yeah, okay... but there are some sideplots that just seem like they wrapped up too tidily for it to have been one year. Jesse's period of depression and partying, Junior's period of isolation from his parents and subsequent name change, all of Hank's rehab, Hank's time in El Paso and subsequent return to ABQ, Skyler's new job and affair/all of the legalese with clearing Ted's tax issues, the fact that Junior has clearly gotten older, etc. make it feel significantly shoehorned.
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Like any show, I think you can poke some holes in the internal logic if you want to. It just comes down to how much they're stretching things and whether the level of suspension of belief that's required interferes with your enjoyment of the show. For me, it's not really something that's crossed my mind until people brought it up here, and I feel like they do a great job of balancing the realism along while still providing an abundance of entertaining plotlines.
 
_Isaac said:
I guess I kinda miss goofy bumbling Walt, but I honestly didn't realize that we were having a Heisenberg overload until just now when I came into this thread. I mean I've noticed how he's just extra crazy now, and the show just makes out to be a villain all the time, but I'm sure we'll see old Walt come out through the season.
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I definitely miss the old Walt. I like Heisenberg when he's facing down the bad guys. A Tuco or Hector Salamanca. A Gus or Tyrus. My favorite Heisenberg moment was when he finds that kid in the Home Depot store buying stuff for meth, follows him out and tells the scary looking dude to get out of his territory.

That's the brilliance in the show, the timid Walt finding his nuts and pushing back against a criminal. This season it's all tough guy and there's no need for it. He's got no foil, he's only manipulating his family, Hank, Jesse and Mike. It's the obvious conclusion I guess but I preferred it when he fought the (other) bad guys.
 
Dash27 said:
I definitely miss the old Walt. I like Heisenberg when he's facing down the bad guys. A Tuco or Hector Salamanca. A Gus or Tyrus. My favorite Heisenberg moment was when he finds that kid in the Home Depot store buying stuff for meth, follows him out and tells the scary looking dude to get out of his territory.

That's the brilliance in the show, the timid Walt finding his nuts and pushing back against a criminal. This season it's all tough guy and there's no need for it. He's got not foil, he's only manipulating his family, Hank, Jesse and Mike. It's the obvious conclusion I guess but I prefered it when he fought the (other) bad guys.
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I think they're slowly building to the other bad guys. There's still the only Germany thing, no one knows how deep that runs, and the cartel might pop up again at a moments notice.
 
Meier said:
Been loving this season thus far but the whole it's only been 1 year thing was a bit jarring. I mean I guess the baby is still a baby but that felt a little suspect to me in terms of believability. A LOT has happened for it to only have been a year.
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It annoyed me too. Perhaps it feels more natural if you watch all seasons at once.
 
blainethemono said:
just rewatched this episode last week, first time watching it since season 4 aired...the conversation Tio has on the phone right before this part is pretty awesome after seeing the season 4 stuff with Gus in Mexico. longer clip here

Seems like he's talking to someone (possibly the generalissimo) about Gus but I'm not sure what vote he's referring to...maybe the vote for Gus joining the cartel or something...pretty cool to see something like that a full season before all that stuff was shown
Click to expand...

he's talking to another cartel guy, possibly bolsa. he refers to gus sarcastically as a "generalissimo...more like king fry cook" and it's implied this is only days/weeks before the season 4 flashback with gus and max meeting the cartel.
 
Thinking about the season 5 premiere, the flash foward to Walt at the New Hampshire Denny's has an insane amount of foreshadowing.

The cashier tells Walt "I would take free any day". Walt accepts the free meal and pays for it anyway. The state motto is "Live Free or die".

Walter will pay for all the actions he's done, and with the state motto, Walter won't be free much longer, he'll be dead.

Another moment of foreshadowing is with the movies that have been in the show obviously, Scarface being one of them, and with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N40YNUBxG2I

Heat is a very great movie about Cops vs. Robbers, and the robbers in the movie for the most part don't get away with what they did. De Niro's character loves the lifestyle he's lived, even though it gets him and some of his friends killed, he says he wouldn't have it any other way.

Al Pacino's character has been a lifelong homicide detective, he's sacrificed his personal life to keep being a detective, and like De Niro, he wouldn't have had it any other way, he loves doing what he's doing.

De Niro and Pacino even have a great scene together where these feelings are put right in front of the viewer, De Niro and Pacino admit that they're pretty similar and that besides being on different sides, they both would be best friends otherwise.

Walter and Hank almost have that same exact chemistry, Walter and Hank are pretty great friends, but if Hank knew what Walt does, he would have to hunt him down. Hank is very much like Walter, he loves the rush of chasing extremely dangerous people and crime organizations.

They both have egos that have to be fed by what each other does.

It's also humorous that Walter was watching Scarface, which is the rise and fall of a drug kingpin. And Hank is watching Heat where the cops win.
 
As the show continues to unfold, I can't help but think it's just an intentional DSM textbook example of Borderline Personality Disorder.
 
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