Support NeoGAF

[Fry]

 

[daw840]

Holy shit. I forgot about that.....how thing's change.

 

[Cornballer]

Content Roundup:

Reviews:
- Sepinwall
- Onion A|V Club
- Maureen Ryan
- Ken Tucker
- Rolling Stone
- Ongoing discussion on episode 6 from Slate.com
- Salon.com
- Zap2It
- TV.com
- Poniewozik
- Andy Greenwald @ Grantland
- Matt Zoller Seitz
- Alyssa Rosenberg
- The Atlantic
- Esquire

Other Content:
- Inside Episode 506 (youtube vid)
- The Making of Episode 6 (youtube vid)
- Promo for Episode 7 *please spoiler tag any discussion* (youtube)
- Sneak peek at Episode 507 *please spoiler tag any discussion* (youtube)
- Breaking Bad Insider Podcast
- Emily Nussbaum on Breaking Bad in The New Yorker
- Onion A|V Club: Friday Night Lights’ Jesse Plemons on Breaking Bad, The Master, and Frank Zappa
- Rolling Stone: Q&A: 'Breaking Bad''s Jesse Plemons on Todd's Killer Instinct
- NY Mag talks to Gilligan about last Sunday's episode

Please remember to spoiler tag any and all sneak peek and promo discussion. Thank you.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Wooooot insider podcast. Listening now. I totally forgot!

 

[Cornballer]

Haha.

 

[Carbonox]

That dinner scene...I was laughing pretty much all of the way through due to Jesse. So awkward. :lol

Dat promo.

 

[crimzonflame]

I think Im gonna skip next weeks episode's live airing and save it for the following week so I cant watch 7 and 8 back to back.

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

Somebody needs to make a version of the Zuckerberg note pass with Mike and Gomez.

 

[btkadams]

I've never understood clapping at the end of movies or whatever

It's not like there's anything there to receive your praise. It's a screen.

Eh.

i completely agree. it's totally weird. do these people clap when they listen to an album?

 

[Mister0079]

Mike is so great. The "FUCK YOU" note made me laugh out loud.

 

[FantasticMrFoxdie]

this show. THIS SHOW.

I've been watching each episode at a local movie theater in Dallas (for free). It's always packed. Everyone is just silent throughout the episode. And then most of the people clap at the end. I've never seen that kind of atmosphere and reception for a tv show.

That sounds great. I wonder if any other places are doing something like that.

Haha.

bwahahah

 

[rekameohs]

Mike is so great. The "FUCK YOU" note made me laugh out loud.

The last time someone gave a "FUCK YOU" message to the DEA, he was blown up a few hours later. Watch out, Mike!

 

[BigAT]

It sounds like they aren't giving out the last two episodes early to critics this season. I wonder if this is a reaction to half-a-face Gus leaking out last year.

 

[Cornballer]

It sounds like they aren't giving out the last two episodes early to critics this season. I wonder if this is a reaction to half-a-face Gus leaking out last year.

It wouldn't surprise me if that's the case. AMC have leaked a ton of stuff recently, so it makes sense as a precaution.

 

[dave is ok]

I'm pretty sure the half face Gus picture came from someone in visual effects.

At any rate, Walking Dead had its final couple episodes spoiled too.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

So on the podcast Vince and company discuss the thought process and idea of people rooting for walt or against him or whatever. Long story short, they say there is no right answer, it's understandable why people would root for this and that for these reasons and those reasons, etc...


meanwhile on neogaf being #teamWalt is akin to being a sociopath. LOL.

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

I only get to watch Breaking Bad when I come home every few weeks. I watched the first three episodes in one go, and just watched the next three. The next time I watch it, it will be the last two of this half-a-season. I'm hoping they ramp things up, and the two episodes go together hand-in-hand. That's normally the case with the final two episodes of each season, and I'm hoping they do the same for this mid-season break.

 

[dave is ok]

I still root for Walt, even though I know he's an asshole. I think that is pretty normal

It's people like Puddles who shitpost the thread with why Walt isn't an asshole and why everyone else is that is completely indefensible.

 

[Talon]

It sounds like they aren't giving out the last two episodes early to critics this season. I wonder if this is a reaction to half-a-face Gus leaking out last year.

Mad Men didn't give out press copies of any episodes this season. I'm sure Gilligan sees the wisdom in that move.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

I still root for Walt, even though I know he's an asshole. I think that is pretty normal

It's people like Puddles who shitpost the thread with why Walt isn't an asshole and why everyone else is that is completely indefensible.

yeah but puddles is clearly trolling and laughing hard in front of his monitor, and it's hilarious.

 

[BigAT]

Tossed this together:

 

[goodfella]

What about the fantastic part 3?!

Haven't watched it yet. Don't know if I want to, even though I have the Bluray collection.

 

[Cornballer]

- GQ: Breaking Bad's Jonathan Banks on Playing Our Favorite Deadpan Hitman, Mike

Back in season three, just when we thought we couldn't be loving Breaking Bad any more, creator/executive producer Vince Gilligan found a way to up the antiheroic ante by bringing on Jonathan Banks to play Mike Ehrmantraut, henchman and bag man for Gus Fring's (Giancarlo Esposito) chicken-and-meth empire. Banks, 65, who cemented his place in the serial-TV pantheon with his role as FBI agent Frank McPike in Stephen Cannell's baroque crime drama Wiseguy (1987—1990), took some time to reflect on his second legendary role, what it all means, and where it's going.

 

[bonesquad]

It sounds like they aren't giving out the last two episodes early to critics this season. I wonder if this is a reaction to half-a-face Gus leaking out last year.

Sounds like the classic Hollywood move of not letting early access to the media because your show/movie/whatever is terrible.

Spoiler

 

[Cornballer]

Sounds like the classic Hollywood move of not letting early access to the media because your show/movie/whatever is terrible.

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[btkadams]

So on the podcast Vince and company discuss the thought process and idea of people rooting for walt or against him or whatever. Long story short, they say there is no right answer, it's understandable why people would root for this and that for these reasons and those reasons, etc...


meanwhile on neogaf being #teamWalt is akin to being a sociopath. LOL.

i don't know anyone IRL who is cheering for walt, so i don't see why this an insane idea. he's completely destructive and is essentially keeping his wife as a prisoner. he is a fucked up person.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

i don't know anyone IRL who is cheering for walt, so i don't see why this an insane idea. he's completely destructive and is essentially keeping his wife as a prisoner. he is a fucked up person.

the many people who root for walt don't root for him to destroy skyler and kill jesse and fuck up everybody's life. Though I'm sure some do. We root for him to just overcome. Win. Get what he wants. Preferably with Mike and Jesse alive.

Anyway it's not absurd, that's the point. People on this forum make everything black and white or 100% definitive, it just isn't.

 

[btkadams]

the many people who root for walt don't root for him to destroy skyler and kill jesse and fuck up everybody's life. Though I'm sure some do. We root for him to just overcome. Win. Get what he wants. Preferably with Mike and Jesse alive.

Anyway it's not absurd, that's the point. People on this forum make everything black and white or 100% definitive, it just isn't.

i think you're wrong! ;P everyone seems to hate skyler.

 

[goodfella]

i don't know anyone IRL who is cheering for walt, so i don't see why this an insane idea. he's completely destructive and is essentially keeping his wife as a prisoner. he is a fucked up person.

Everyone I know IRL is pro Walt, apart from me.

 

[cbox]

i think you're wrong! ;P everyone seems to hate skyler.

At the beginning I wanted Skyler to feel bad for walt, and understand his troubles. But she went and fucked ted, so fuck her.

 

[Cornballer]

By the way, I wanted to highlight a nice article from Emily Nussbaum in The New Yorker this week taking a long view at what's transpired this season and overall on BB. Lots of discussion on the audience and their relationship with Walt. Good stuff worth a read. She also refers to Walt as "Macmeth" which is awesome.

In an ordinary drama, this would be true: causing a child’s death is still the rare TV taboo, at least for those characters whose cause we are meant to be invested in. But “Breaking Bad” has always put children in danger, to the point that it’s practically the show’s trademark. Walt’s rationalization is that he is protecting his family, but his most memorable targets are other people’s children: first, Jesse’s junkie girlfriend, whose air-traffic-controller father ended up crashing a plane in his grief over her death from an overdose, and then, last season, Brock, the son of another of Jesse’s girlfriends. A video-game-loving five-year-old, Brock was the definition of collateral damage. Walt poisoned him so that he could frame his old boss for it, thus luring Jesse back as his partner, since he knew that Jesse would be horrified by anyone who would harm a child. When Brock was near death in the I.C.U., I spent hours arguing with friends about who was responsible. To my surprise, some of the most hard-core cynics thought it inconceivable that it could be Walt—that might make the show impossible to take, they said. But, of course, it did nothing of the sort. Once the truth came out, and Brock recovered, I read posts insisting that Walt was so discerning, so careful with the dosage, that Brock could never have died. The audience has been trained by cable television to react this way: to hate the nagging wives, the dumb civilians, who might sour the fun of masculine adventure. “Breaking Bad” increases that cognitive dissonance, turning some viewers into not merely fans but enablers.

 

[mxgt]

Walt is a despicable asshole and I hope he loses but that's what makes him such a great character.

I wouldn't consider anyone who roots for him akin to being a sociopath, it's just a work of fiction.

 

[SD-Ness]

I've always thought the evolution of Walter from good guy with cancer to asshole with no cancer was a questionable strategy from a scriptwriting POV. The beginning of the series is so successful exactly because Walt is a good guy who is likely going to die soon from cancer and wants to leave his family with some cash. This puts an existential spin on his actions. Justifies them. Gives the show an urgency. He's not a normal "drug lord."

I also think they don't make use of Walt's Grey Matter jealously/regret often enough.

But whenever the cancer went away I felt something was lacking from Walt's character. And it's especially strong now because now he's just cruel and greedy.

Maybe the cancer will come back, as Skyler hopes, and this will knock him back into the good Walt.

 

[jett]

Walt is such an idiot. He becomes more unlikeable with every season. Jesse and Mike ftw.

 

[BY2K]

I just started to watch the show this week.

I'm at Season 2 Episode 3.

SO GOOD!

 

[mxgt]

Maybe the cancer will come back, as Skyler hopes, and this will knock him back into the good Walt.

Who would really want to see this? I know I wouldn't

 

[Angry Fork]

i don't know anyone IRL who is cheering for walt, so i don't see why this an insane idea. he's completely destructive and is essentially keeping his wife as a prisoner. he is a fucked up person.

It's way more fun to root for Walt. We just like him too much and want to see him succeed with Jesse and Mike.

The moment Walt does something terrible to Jesse like put a gun to his head and is 100% serious about shooting him for something trivial is when I'd hop off the Walt train. But until then CHOO CHOOOOOOOO

 

[big ander]

Who would really want to see this? I know I wouldn't

yeah definitely not. the point of him turning into this full-on villain is for us to see it and think back on when he was at least partly doing it for his family. him being so purely awful has been mighty captivating to me.

 

[Forsaken82]

Who would really want to see this? I know I wouldn't

Well, i think its already confirmed by the season opener that the cancer does eventually return... My guess is that coupled with a loss close to him might actually make him rethink the direction we currently see him heading to. That flash forward in episode 1 really makes it seem like Walt is filled with a hell of a lot of regret.

 

[rekameohs]

i don't know anyone IRL who is cheering for walt, so i don't see why this an insane idea. he's completely destructive and is essentially keeping his wife as a prisoner. he is a fucked up person.

I'm rooting for Walt in so much the fact that his capers are what make this show great. I love watching this show build up, and if he got caught, that'd ruin the point of watching the show!

Now, in the end, I hope he gets his comeuppance, yes.

 

[JaseMath]

Walt trying to break free last night was the first time I was actively rooting against him. Up until then I've always been, "Yeah, but it's Walt...". I'm officially off the Walt train.

 

[Cornballer]

- Dean Norris interview with The Morning After on Hulu

 

[A Human Becoming]

By the way, I wanted to highlight a nice article from Emily Nussbaum in The New Yorker this week taking a long view at what's transpired this season and overall on BB. Lots of discussion on the audience and their relationship with Walt. Good stuff worth a read. She also refers to Walt as "Macmeth" which is awesome.

I wouldn't call Jesse's girlfriend a child.

Fantastic episode. I was sad when it ended. I'm excited about their new scheme seeing their last two were phenomenal.

 

[kingocfs]

Walt trying to break free last night was the first time I was actively rooting against him. Up until then I've always been, "Yeah, but it's Walt...". I'm officially off the Walt train.

It's gotten to the point that he needs to be tied to a goddamn radiator to keep under some kind of control, it's sad to watch.

 

[TrumanBurbank]

- GQ: Breaking Bad's Jonathan Banks on Playing Our Favorite Deadpan Hitman, Mike

Crazy to think that Mike was just something they wrote in because Odenkirk wasn't available for the episode. He's the best character on the show!
I think this show must be some kind of miracle.

 

[Speevy]

It's incredible.


They've made Walt as ferocious as a lion. Every time he steps into a room with someone, you're afraid he's going to kill them.

 

[ToyBroker]

So on the podcast Vince and company discuss the thought process and idea of people rooting for walt or against him or whatever. Long story short, they say there is no right answer, it's understandable why people would root for this and that for these reasons and those reasons, etc...


meanwhile on neogaf being #teamWalt is akin to being a sociopath. LOL.

#teamWalt here too. I hope he gets darker and darker.

 

[Heisenberg]

GQ: If you'll forgive a nitpicky fan quibble: In last night's episode, "Buyout," we see that the DEA is tailing Mike. But wouldn't they have had him under surveillance for weeks now, seeing as he's a "person of interest" in the Fring investigation? Wouldn't they have known about the magnet caper and Mike's casing of the exterminating operation? Did that come up?
Jonathan Banks: Not for me it didn't. Wow, I'd have to go back and really think about it. I think that's a Vince question.


Hadn't really thought of that - it's a good point and I'm surprised they didn't address it.

 

[Speevy]

He threw the tails. Pretty basic stuff. Duh.

 

[A Human Becoming]

GQ: If you'll forgive a nitpicky fan quibble: In last night's episode, "Buyout," we see that the DEA is tailing Mike. But wouldn't they have had him under surveillance for weeks now, seeing as he's a "person of interest" in the Fring investigation? Wouldn't they have known about the magnet caper and Mike's casing of the exterminating operation? Did that come up?
Jonathan Banks: Not for me it didn't. Wow, I'd have to go back and really think about it. I think that's a Vince question.


Hadn't really thought of that - it's a good point and I'm surprised they didn't address it.

I thought they did in a previous episode - their other leads weren't going anywhere so they decided to tail Mike.