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Breaking Bad - Season 4 - Sundays on AMC

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U2NUMB

Member
Pezking said:
How does buying a bottle of champagne for $320 raise more suspicion than the purchase of a car wash for $800.000?


It doesn't but they are both not good at this and are both paranoid. I think this whole storyline is pretty much just to get them back together.
 

CassSept

Member
Finally was able to catch up with the season, so here goes my opinion.

Box Cutter - a great episode to start the season, even if it felt more like an epilogue to Season 3. Jessie saying only a single sentence up to the final scene in the diner (which was reminiscent of Pulp Fiction for me right off the bat) was great. The Gus sequence was terrific, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and Victor's death surprised me. I really thought he'd rather cut Walter's finger seeing as how camera fixed on it several times as Gus was dressing up and walking towards Victor. Or perhaps mutilate them in some way. And God damn, was that death bloody.

Thirty-Eight Snub - Good episode, showing how Jesse is really taking it once the shock wore off. Poor guy, he really is breaking down. Other than that, well, not really much happened, this episode was more of a set-up for the later part of the season. Walt telling Mike to get him in the room with Gus doesn't seem like a great idea, though it seems to me Walt is making more and more mistakes every episode. I wonder if it will bite back later down the road. Oh, and I liked how they got the details of the games referenced right - doesn't happen too often on the TV.

Open House - Too. Much. Marie. Well, I understand they wanted to bring back her klepto habits, but it didn't need to last as much as it did. It was creepy how she made up all the details on the spot though, especially in the talk with the elderly couple. Though, at last the plotline is seeming to be going somewhere with Hank getting Gale's notebook. Not much focus on Walt this episode, though Skyler did good getting the car wash and showing how incompetent Saul is in fact. Now, Jesse. Jesus Christ. This is really painful to watch. The kid is completely breaking down, I felt weird watching how he threw the cash into the air and just sat back to watch people fight for it as if they were animals. Again, good episode, even if slow (though not as much as the previous one).



Overall, pretty good start of the season though I hope things pick up soon (and from episode summaries it seems it will, oh yes it will) because right now this is in my opinion the least interesting start to the season of the series yet. I appreciate lack of cartoonish plot points like S03's brothers (even if I liked it, they felt just odd), but this doesn't change the fact that so far, compared to the previous seasons, the start is awfully slow. Jesse is absolutely amazing though. Seeing how eerily stoic he was in the premiere and then slowly breaking down is painful. Other actors are lucky BB is out of Emmy consideration this year because it seems Aaron Paul has high chances of nabbing the award next year. Thus far, his performance this year outclasses what he did in Season 3.
 

jarosh

Member
holy cow, this show is stalling big time. it's been in limbo for a while, but man, it needs some drastic changes. i bet they're gonna wait until the end of the season again to turn up the heat and have something totally crazy or shocking happen, which will then once again have little to no consequences.

i mean, they've got great writers. they really know how to write dialogue, how to create interesting characters and interesting scenarios and interactions. the show looks great too. great cinematography. but gilligan needs to grow some balls and mess with his characters more. at this point i think he might be the one holding the show back. he's outright admitted that he's not willing to mix up the structure, the setting or the main players. he said that he "loves his characters and the setting too much". now if that didn't make everyone's alarm bells go off, i don't know what will.

i'm glad they seem to have gotten over the showy-ness of that one part in the first ep though. nothing similar has happened since. well, not much has happened since, really.

don't get me wrong, i actually dig the jesse arc right now. i understand it. i love how fucked up it is and how careless he is and that a minor disaster is inevitable for him at this point. i love that he still hasn't learned his lesson etc. and of course he's having a rough time dealing with his murder of gale. but you know, we've been there! we really have. we need something more or something else altogether.

marie, too - yeah, i like her character a lot and i buy it, i buy what's happening to her, again. and yes, that's what happens to obsessive people. they slip into the same old patterns again with minor variations whenever something goes wrong. it's believable and it's well written - BUT it makes for boring television. been there, done that, you know? especially when it's just one of many characters in a script that's simply going through the motions at this point. i think it's great what happened to hank and how he's dealing (aka not dealing) with it and i love the marie/hank dynamic and all the little details, because it's so real and so true. it is so precisely written; this is exactly who these characters are. it's painful, but totally believable. yet, of course, it doesn't seem to lead anywhere plot-wise. it's just stagnating. and to think that hank probably had the most interesting arc last season...

and as of now, skyler is probably the single most interesting character this season. the only one developing, the only one actually interested in moving things forward, making changes, desperate to DO something. it's curious how in yesterday's episode she actively had to fight walter's urge to simply plod along with no plan but plenty of paranoia; in a way she's fighting the whole structure of the show right now. interestingly, this is something that seems to happen a lot on breaking bad: character's acting or spelling out the problem with the show's writing. like walt in the first ep: "so what's our next step?". ouch, i thought to myself. they shouldn't have let him spell out the very thoughts of the writing staff. or walt's monologue in last season's "fly" episode, when he went on and on about how he had lost his purpose, how he's been in limbo for a long time, how everything's changed etc. all of it applied to the show at that point as well. but for once it was great of the writers to acknowledge walt's situation, instead of trying to fight it with the usual baby step sub-plots. and it would have been a chance to mix things up a bit more. but that didn't happen - not until the final episode at least, whose events once again turned out to have barely any repercussions.

that said, i'll continue to watch the show. and i hope it's not ALL downhill from here, but i'm not all that optimistic. for what it's worth, most of the characters are still great and have plenty of potential, the acting is superb and the writers CAN still write. they just need to grow some balls and come up with more interesting plots and introduce some major changes. kill off skyler or something, then let walt deal with the consequences and go nuts, abandon everything, destroy the lab, go on a hunt for gus. i don't know! do something! something tangible needs to be at stake again.
 
definitely agree about jesse.. finding it hard to care about his pain here.. feels like we just went through that with jane and it was more affecting

i was really hoping walt took jesse up on his go cart proposition.. something to lighten the mood a bit
 

Superimposer

This is getting weirder all the time
I really really love this show, and I have to agree with jarosh above. I feel like Seasons 3 and 4 have had this same serious problem in that the first few episodes didn't really do anything, and Season 3 never really got going in the same way as 2 did. Here's hoping that something happens soon
 

Puddles

Banned
Pretty amazing how Skyler went from the worst character in television history to one of the best in the series in just one season. Really shows you what a good writing team can do.
 
Dan said:
I can't handle this thread. It's like half of you are only watching for the times when Walt gets to be a badass. Have you even seen the show?

And good god, the fucking misogyny. Wah wah wah, Skyler's not the thinnest woman on the planet, therefore having her involved in plotlines is the destroying the show. And how dare they develop Marie's character when there are males who could be taking up screen time!

Skyler's ego and stubbornness is something Walt has exhibited for the whole series. Shit, it's why there even is a series. But oh no, Skyler wanting that car wash is offending viewers who desperately need more action.

Blah. This thread makes me angry.


When was Walt a hero? You know what would have been heroic? Swallowing his pride and letting his old friend help him with medical costs, not becoming a drug lord.

Fucking Bingo.

But it's like that with every great show. The Sopranos? "Ey yo PAULAY!! Where's the Russian?? When's Tone-o gonna go get someone got??"

But I so agree with this post it's not even funny. At least the show itself is still totally incredible.
 

jarosh

Member
Puddles said:
Pretty amazing how Skyler went from the worst character in television history to one of the best in the series in just one season. Really shows you what a good writing team can do.
not even close. skyler was always a good character. she had to put up with so much and her reactions to all the shit walt was doing and hiding were always genuine and very realistic. hell, i'm surprised she stuck around for as long as she did and that she tried to make things work despite everything, for quite a long time.
 
Also, I don't agree that Marie's storyline was been there done that. It was way more elaborate and thematically interesting AND way more reckless considering Hank's state. When the phone rang and he's literally stuck in bed trying to deal with it, that was a powerful moment.
 

Puddles

Banned
jarosh said:
not even close. skyler was always a good character. she had to put up with so much and her reactions to all the shit walt was doing and hiding were always genuine and very realistic. hell, i'm surprised she stuck around for as long as she did and that she tried to make things work despite everything, for quite a long time.

She fucked Ted, dude.
 

jarosh

Member
BenjaminBirdie said:
Also, I don't agree that Marie's storyline was been there done that. It was way more elaborate and thematically interesting AND way more reckless considering Hank's state. When the phone rang and he's literally stuck in bed trying to deal with it, that was a powerful moment.
yeah, no, i really liked that. as i said, i LIKE that story. i think the main problem is that it's just another factor contributing to the show generally not moving forward, since it's of little consequence at the moment and still basically a variation on her earlier problem, if much more interesting and detailed - i agree. if it stood in contrast to other, fresher sub-plots and characters developing and changing i would probably not be so dismissive of it.

Puddles said:
She fucked Ted, dude.
oh of course, silly me. that certainly outdoes the whole extent of walt's utter insanity.
 

CassSept

Member
BenjaminBirdie said:
Also, I don't agree that Marie's storyline was been there done that. It was way more elaborate and thematically interesting AND way more reckless considering Hank's state. When the phone rang and he's literally stuck in bed trying to deal with it, that was a powerful moment.
Yeah, it was more elaborate and interesting but it either happened too fast or took too much of the episode. If it was spread out over more episodes, maybe, but we didn't need half of the episode devoted to Marie. Maybe the plotline will have some greater meaning in the grand scheme of things but right now it seemed pointless to drag it out so much to me.

And while I thought the season so far is pretty good, I agree with some of the points jarosh raised. There weren't really any >huge< shake-ups to the formula since Walt began working for Gus. But we will see how the season will play out from now on.
 
CassSept said:
Yeah, it was more elaborate and interesting but it either happened too fast or took too much of the episode. If it was spread out over more episodes, maybe, but we didn't need half of the episode devoted to Marie. Maybe the plotline will have some greater meaning in the grand scheme of things but right now it seemed pointless to drag it out so much to me.

i don't see any deep meaning from it.. marie's going through hell dealing with hank so she relapses into kleptomania.

i get it, it doesn't make it interesting to me though

i thought that was one of the worst plots in the early seasons
 

big_z

Member
some of you must have A.D.D. or are new to the show expecting something it isnt.
breaking bad takes it's time to build up characters and plot points. sure it can move slowly at times but its done for a reason and the pay offs are the best on TV. personally i've been watching since the start and dont mind the slower parts because i like these characters and find them interesting.
 

Moofers

Member
I thought last night's episode was pretty good. Some good development going on there. And wow, Skyler has really started to turn into what Walter used to be like! Ha ha! She's totally on her way to being like him. It great and fun to watch. I was kind of wondering where Walter Jr. was last night though.

I feel nothing but bad for Hank and Marie. So sad. But, I do think that all of this has just set the stage for Hank to finally get back on the horse and start doing policework, even in if its from his bed. I think we all know he's going to wind up totally engrossed in Gale's notes and this will lead to his return to a proud, strong man. It may even start helping his relationship with Marie once he starts figuring out pieces of the puzzle.

Jesse is getting hard to watch. I like him. Yeah, he shot somebody in the face, but it was for his best friend. I don't give a shit if that keeps some of you from rooting for him, because I appreciate it and I don't want to see him spiral further into shit and piss than we've already seen him do in previous seasons. I really think this is the season where Jesse hits rock bottom and then keeps drilling south. The preview for next week suggests that I'm right. I'm worried!
 
big_z said:
some of you must have A.D.D. or are new to the show expecting something it isnt.
breaking bad takes it's time to build up characters and plot points. sure it can move slowly at times but its done for a reason and the pay offs are the best on TV. personally i've been watching since the start and dont mind the slower parts because i like these characters and find them interesting.

I love the slow episodes. In fact, they're my favorite. Walt talking about why he doesn't want to go through chemo, Jesse trying to fix his situation after Tuco's death, I always enjoyed those episodes more because there's so much more to absorb... But these 3 episodes have been a bad kind of slow. The problem is that the pay off from season 3 went to shit. Most of the episodes last season were slow, and all it built up to was... This... Season 4 deals with the fallout of season 3, and so far, we've had... Walt being irrational, Marie stealing, Skyler's contrived plot (I feel like she's only going down this route because the writers don't want to get rid of her), Jesse being emotional for the twentieth time, no Gus, etc.

I love Breaking Bad and all, but I'm a bit worried. Seems like the writers want to stretch this out to 5-6 seasons and I think that's a huge mistake.
 

dave is ok

aztek is ok
I remember these same 'Nothing Happpened' complaints during episodes 2-4 of S2 and episodes 1-5 of S3.

It's a slow show, guys. It builds.

There totally wasn't enough Walt in the latest episode, but I think he's such a reactionary character that they struggle to give him shit to do that isn't in reaction to something happening to him. I really thought that camera would be off the ceiling by the end of the episode
 
dave is ok said:
I remember these same 'Nothing Happpened' complaints during episodes 2-4 of S2 and episodes 1-5 of S3.

It's a slow show, guys. It builds.

Yeah, the first half of S3 was slow, and it ultimately built up to Walt/Jesse killing Gale... And look where that left us. Since they plan on making the show at least 5 seasons, how do we know that S4 won't repeat the same formula?

S2 was self-contained, S3 ended with a cliffhanger. Yet the start of S3 was far more captivating than these 3 episodes.
 
I've liked these first three episodes, specifically for the development they've provided for Skyler, Hank, and Marie.

They're kind of spinning their wheels with Jesse, though. He's in a downward spiral, we get it.

Oh, and how twisted was it to see Skyler and Walt toasting over conning a legitimate business owner out of his livelihood? And they qualify by saying he's a prick. Whatever helps you sleep at night.
 

dave is ok

aztek is ok
JoJoShabadoo said:
S3 was far more captivating than these 3 episodes.
I don't think so. I mean, it had the cousins sitting on Walt's bed but nothing actually happened in the first episodes of S3, people were complaining the exact same way they are now.
 

Vlad

Member
dave is ok said:
I remember these same 'Nothing Happpened' complaints during episodes 2-4 of S2 and episodes 1-5 of S3.

It's a slow show, guys. It builds.

Yeah, it's almost kind of a Breaking Bad tradition at this point. When we hit the slower episodes, the thread is filled with "Waaah, waaah, Breaking Bad sucks, I want Walt and Jesse to cook/Things to blow up/People to get shot/etc" but when the payoff to the slower episodes DOES come, then the sentiment flies way over to "Breaking Bad is awesome!".

Funny thing is, the Big Moments wouldn't be anywhere near as impactful if we didn't have the character building episodes in-between.

I'm sure that the other shoe will drop on Jesse's storyline soon. Not only did we get the crowd at his house fighting over the money, but there was also that look of pure desperation in his eyes when he was asking Walt to go to the go-karts with him. Once he finally completely loses it (and you know it's going to happen eventually), then it'll feel earned, since we've seen his descent towards the breaking point. If he just snapped at some point during the first episode, then it would have kind of felt cheap.

It's kind of like in True Blood at the moment, with the whole
Sookie and Eric thing. After all that Eric's done, Sookie ends up falling for him after a few days of caring for him after he lost his memory. What was supposed to be a big moment when they kissed just kind of felt flat to me, because the show didn't make it very believable.

Same thing goes for all the other main characters. From what I've heard, Hank's story isn't exactly all that unrealistic. While other shows would have a character get shot multiple times, then show up two episodes later walking around with just his arm in a sling, we're really seeing the emotional and physical toll this has all taken on Hank and, by extension, Marie. It all worked out into a great way to get Gale's lab notes into Hank's possession, and if Hank ever does manage to learn that Walt was indirectly responsible for getting him shot, then any reaction is going to feel much more authentic.

Still, as far as all the complaining about the show being too slow goes, especially considering that the show has ALWAYS followed this pattern, I have a theory: I'm guessing that most of the people who think the current stretch of episodes are too slow didn't watch the first three seasons as they aired, but instead watched the bulk of the old episodes on DVD. When you can blaze through half a season in a single sitting, then you tend to not notice when a given episode is slower than others.
 

big_z

Member
I don't see how anyone can say season 3 was slow. You had the cousins which was intense buildup to a great final scene. Walt came out to skyler and the addition of Gus. That season was packed. IMO the only season that was a bit weak was the second. It started strong thanks to the writers strike pushing the first seasons finale to the beginning of the second but the actual season finale was a let down.

Season fours slow pacing is there for a reason. It's developing character. All these character changes are a result of walts actions and were seeing the effects. Skyler is starting to like the criminal life style, Jesse is going to have a major change(you have some idea what it is if you saw the promo pics) and Hank and Marie are crumbling. You can't have characters magically change in one episode it's unbelievable. These episodes are here for a reason, if you can't see their importance then you haven't been paying attention to the show well enough.
 

xandaca

Member
Here's my review and analysis of last night's episode.

It wasn't the strongest, but had some interesting character development and shows signs of the show pulling off one of its most powerful tricks, holding back the action to build tension until it all explodes later on. So even though it wasn't amazing in its own right, it was compelling because of what it could mean for the future.

(And SPOILERS, obviously - it is an analysis, after all)
 
big ander said:
Haha. I hope there's a gif eventually too.

thefingerldkb.gif
 

jarosh

Member
i took the time to write several paragraphs outlining precisely what the show's problems are right now. but people still prefer to react to either real or imagined "lol show is too slow" criticisms. whether my post is being ignored with these one-size-fits-all defenses and people are focusing on earlier posts that simply boiled down to "too slow" or this is something that's extrapolated from what i wrote, i really don't know. but i really don't see anything else being addressed here than vague one-liners (that were or weren't said), with precious few people actually quoting and replying to anyone who said something that goes a little beyond the most hollow and lazy complaint ("boring", "slow", "awful", "worst tv ever" etc.) because do those really deserve much attention?

for the record, i absolutely LOVED season 1. and season 2 was excellent as well (except for the inconsequential foreshadowing of the plane crash, but we've all moved past that now). i have shared my thoughts on season 3 already, which i thought was a disappointment overall.
 
Vlad said:
Yeah, it's almost kind of a Breaking Bad tradition at this point. When we hit the slower episodes, the thread is filled with "Waaah, waaah, Breaking Bad sucks, I want Walt and Jesse to cook/Things to blow up/People to get shot/etc" but when the payoff to the slower episodes DOES come, then the sentiment flies way over to "Breaking Bad is awesome!".

That's generalizing. I love this show, including the Fly episode. This is TOO slow because it followed an end-season cliffhanger that felt a lot more promising.

I'm guessing that most of the people who think the current stretch of episodes are too slow didn't watch the first three seasons as they aired

Nope, I saw season 3 live and loved every episode.

EDIT: @Jarosh, I agree with everything you wrote in the other post and it bothers me as well that people are resorting to saying "Go watch Transformers if you want more explosions" instead of discussing valid arguments.
 

BigAT

Member
I cracked up seeing Bill Burr as the fake environmental agent. I would have never expected him to get a role on Breaking Bad.

Does anyone happen to know the name of the piece of music that was playing over Jesse's depressing go-kart ride?
 

DaCocoBrova

Finally bought a new PSP, but then pushed the demon onto someone else. Jesus.
big ander said:
And anyone who calls Aaron Paul's acting bad so far this season is just...ugh.


His acting is fine, but not stellar. I blame the writing more than anything. Even worse are all the goons he surrounds himself with...their acting is poor and has been since the first season.

This season, the Jesse scenes have been the weakest.
 

kehs

Banned
I think it's funny how some people don't see the build up that's happening right now. These are probably gonna be the same people that say"that came out of nowhere" or ""omg so trite".
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
There are too many 'this character stuff is okay but if it doesn't move the plot forward in obvious and significant ways, it's a waste of my time' posts.

Copernicus said:
I think it's funny how some people don't see the build up that's happening right now. These are probably gonna be the same people that say"that came out of nowhere" or ""omg so trite".
Who has time for build-up? We could be seeing Walt taking another full measure now!

JoJoShabadoo said:
That's generalizing. I love this show, including the Fly episode. This is TOO slow because it followed an end-season cliffhanger that felt a lot more promising.
That was a climax. Who was reasonably expecting that kind of action to continue? Breaking Bad isn't that show. It doesn't do endless climax, and not only that, it wouldn't make sense. I thought the premiere was pretty clear on why the show is where it is. Gus still needs Walt, and Walt is effectively powerless to do anything about Gus. There we go. The tension is high between them now, but but some kind of full-on war wouldn't make any sense. It'd also be pretty boring. Walt would be destroyed in an instant.

BigAT said:
Does anyone happen to know the name of the piece of music that was playing over Jesse's depressing go-kart ride?
Fever Ray - "If I Had a Heart"
 

TripOpt55

Member
I'm really liking the Jesse storyline at the moment. Also, digging that Hank's story may be looking up a bit with him getting the notebook. It's been a bit tough so far this season. Didn't love this episode, but it was solid. Looking forward to more.
 
BigAT said:
Does anyone happen to know the name of the piece of music that was playing over Jesse's depressing go-kart ride?
Fever Ray - If I had a Heart

I mistakenly thought it was The Knife, but now I learned that Fever Ray is one half of The Knife, lol.
 

Seanspeed

Banned
I've loved this show so far, but this season is boring the shit out of me. Something interesting needs to start happening soon or I'm not sure I'm gonna keep watching. I liked it when things were crazier.

TripOpt55 said:
I'm really liking the Jesse storyline at the moment.
What storyline? Nothing's happened with him at all.
 

npm0925

Member
I don't see Jesse returning to rehab as that would be a rehash of previous seasons. And since this is not the final season of Breaking Bad, something other than his own death will have to stop his downward spiral. I see Hank pinning the meth superlab on him and Gale, and Jesse winding up in prison / witness protection in the final episode of this season.
 

kehs

Banned
Seanspeed said:
Why would that be awesome....?
That way they don't drag out Walt going into remission, planting evidence to get Hank in trouble as Heisenberg, rising to mayor and living the happy ending as Walt buys out Grey Matter.

We could have something happen in this tortugaesque show.
 
Yeah, I don't get the hate. This show was never the Shield or something like that to begin with. I enjoyed last night's episode. I think it's important to work Skylar in slowly....to me it would suck if they just threw the two of them together and turned her into some drug empire queen over night. That's what shitty TV shows are for. The acting and the dialogue are what I've enjoyed about this show the most from the beginning.
 

BigAT

Member
willmiz said:
What happened to Walt's son?
I was going to ask this after they spent so much time in the house last night and Walt Jr. was nowhere to be seen. Has RJ Mitte been show even once this season yet?
 

LM4sure

Banned
Now I'm starting to understand why so many people hate Skyler. I'm on the hate train now. She is a terrible human being.
 
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