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Breaking Bad - Season 4 - Sundays on AMC

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F

Fry

Member
Exclamation-One said:
Not that big. We can't even tell if that's
the laundromat
or
car wash
in that shot.
Click to expand...

True. At first I thought it would be the laundromat, the car wash didn't even go through my mind. But when I read 'officer Joseph Romero on set with his German shephard partner, Sasja, who played a drug-sniffing dog', I got all excited.
 
Y

yacobod

Banned
i didn't really like this episode. maybe it was all the additional focus on skylar, i can't stand john goodman in drag. and now making her an enterprising criminal genius wants me to roll my eyes.
 
D

dave is ok

aztek is ok
drag1.jpg
 
D

dead souls

Member
Puddles said:
Darabont left The Walking Dead?

Well, that was a nice run, guys. Nothing more to see here.
Click to expand...

Darabont was a big part of s1's problems, given that he extensively rewrote most of the scripts. He's also reportedly a gigantic prick, which lends credence to the rumors that he didn't leave but was fired. Either way The Walking Dead had an atrocious first season, and while I hope the second is better, I'm not exactly holding my breath.
 
D

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
Exclamation-One said:
AMC goes public.

Idiot investors want to make AMC 'profitable', thus putting unreasonable pressure on creative showrunners like Frank Darabont and Vince Gilligan.
Click to expand...
AMC tried to grow way too much, way too fast, and now in order to pay for that they're attempting to do every show half-assed in terms of financials. Should've canceled The Killing and refocused on what they already have. Who thought that attempting to go from 2 shows to 6 shows over the course of a year was smart or feasible?
 
O

OpinionatedCyborg

Member
Good episode after the last one, which was a dud.

I want Jesse to die, though. He sucks at everything he does and fails at life. He's not a bad person so I really should feel sorry for him right now, but I am too sick of him to muster up much sympathy. I find him completely uninteresting (and annoying).

Skyler adds so much to the show.

Marie was great this episode. Glad to see Hank might try making himself useful again.

I was a bit down on Breaking Bad at the season's start, but every season has a few episodes that easily could've lost 20 - 30 minutes, so I shouldn't be too negative...

But yeah, hopefully the zombie junkies will beat Jesse to death and eat his flesh. Or he'll try to escape the drug trade. Or he'll do something crazy. I dunno - anything except this rehashed shit, please. He's such a bore.

e: what was this nonsense about Walt and Skyler supposedly being broke? Walt's been living in an upscale condo for months now...
 
B

big ander

Member
jarosh said:
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.
Click to expand...
I understand your concerns. I've been loving the season so far but I wouldn't even try to say that it's not spinning its wheels. I kind of like it, but I do see where others wouldn't. Still, I wouldn't get too worried about Gilligan's comments. those may be his words, but he's also said hundreds of times that the show is all about change and that's what he loves to do. I'm expecting big evolution from all of the characters by seasons end
runningjoke said:
thefingerldkb.gif
Click to expand...
Perfect :lol

OpinionatedCyborg said:
Good episode after the last one, which was a dud.

I want Jesse to die, though. He sucks at everything he does and fails at life. He's not a bad person so I really should feel sorry for him right now, but I am too sick of him to muster up much sympathy. I find him completely uninteresting (and annoying).

Skyler adds so much to the show.

Marie was great this episode. Glad to see Hank might try making himself useful again.

I was a bit down on Breaking Bad at the season's start, but every season has a few episodes that easily could've lost 20 - 30 minutes, so I shouldn't be too negative...

But yeah, hopefully the zombie junkies will beat Jesse to death and eat his flesh. Or he'll try to escape the drug trade. Or he'll do something crazy. I dunno - anything except this rehashed shit, please. He's such a bore.

e: what was this nonsense about Walt and Skyler supposedly being broke? Walt's been living in an upscale condo for months now...
Click to expand...
Jesse's far from worthless. You seem to forget that, in season 1, he really didn't know shit about cooking meth the way Walt does. And now he's an amazing sous-chef. In addition we've seen several instances over each season showing how his past mistakes make finding success harder for him. It's not a lack of capabilities, it's past slip-ups that keep him from going anywhere.
 
M

Mr. Saturn

Member
OpinionatedCyborg said:
e: what was this nonsense about Walt and Skyler supposedly being broke? Walt's been living in an upscale condo for months now...
Click to expand...

I think what Skyler was saying in that scene, is that on paper her and Walt are broke because Skyler isn't working for Ted anymore and Walt was fired from his job. Obviously the reality is quite different.

That's why Walt can't go around purchasing 300 dollar bottles of champagne, because it arouses suspicion. Now as for the condo itself, I'm not sure how the show is going to explain that or if they ever will.
 
O

OpinionatedCyborg

Member
Jesse can follow a recipe, which is something anyone can do. He's can also draw superheroes, a talent I don't respect, particularly since he went nowhere with it. He is a loser - he sucks at everything, fucks up constantly, and takes forever to progress. I hate the way he dresses (like a 16-year-old stonder) and talks, the losers he associates with, the humour he enjoys, etc. I just cannot stand him. He reminds me of people I used to be friends with. They enjoyed my company and always wanted to hang out, but whenver I was with them I would either be bored or disgusted with their behaviour...

I'm so tired of seeing Jesse make bad decisions, get in over his head, and then fall apart emotionally once the shit hits the fan. He is a good person at heart, so when the terrible consequences of his actions come to frution, he resorts to drugs, alcohol, and partying to cope emotionally. This has happened 4 - 5 times in the series already. I'm bored of it. I want him evolve in a significant way. Evolve or die, bro. Actually, I'd love it if he killed himself. That would be a great end to his character and would resonate powerfully with me.

I think what Skyler was saying in that scene, is that on paper her and Walt are broke because Skyler isn't working for Ted anymore and Walt was fired from his job. Obviously the reality is quite different.

That's why Walt can't go around purchasing 300 dollar bottles of champagne, because it arouses suspicion. Now as for the condo itself, I'm not sure how the show is going to explain that or if they ever will.
Click to expand...
I understand what she was saying. My point is that Walt has been living quite a conscpicuous lifestyle for awhile now, so what's a bottle of champagne? It seems like this conundrum should've been addressed earlier in the series. This seems like an after thought.

e:
jarosh said:
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.
Click to expand...
I agree with quite a bit of this. Perhaps Jesse's current blowup will pay off magnificently... I am just particularly annoyede with his character since I marathoned S1 - 3 a few months ago, so he's a bit on my nerves.
 
M

Mr. Saturn

Member
OpinionatedCyborg said:
I understand what she was saying. My point is that Walt has been living quite a conscpicuous lifestyle for awhile now, so what's a bottle of champagne? It seems like this conundrum should've been addressed earlier in the series. This seems like an after thought.
Click to expand...

Yeah you've got a point there. Hopefully they address this matter in the future.
 
B

big ander

Member
OpinionatedCyborg said:
Jesse can follow a recipe, which is something anyone can do. He's can also draw superheroes, a talent I don't respect, particularly since he went nowhere with it. He is a loser - he sucks at everything, fucks up constantly, and takes forever to progress. I hate the way he dresses (like a 16-year-old stonder) and talks, the losers he associates with, the humour he enjoys, etc. I just cannot stand him. He reminds me of people I used to be friends with. They enjoyed my company and always wanted to hang out, but whenver I was with them I would either be bored or disgusted with their behaviour...

I'm so tired of seeing Jesse make bad decisions, get in over his head, and then fall apart emotionally once the shit hits the fan. He is a good person at heart, so when the terrible consequences of his actions come to frution, he resorts to drugs, alcohol, and partying to cope emotionally. This has happened 4 - 5 times in the series already. I'm bored of it. I want him evolve in a significant way. Evolve or die, bro. Actually, I'd love it if he killed himself. That would be a great end to his character and would resonate powerfully with me.
Click to expand...
Okay, so we do agree. I think he has talents and a great heart and it's tragic to watch him fall apart every so often. But I'm not tired of that tragedy yet. I also think that murder was a low point for him and I do see him either dying soon or becoming a real monster. I want the evolution you want, I'm just not tired of waiting for it yet.
 
P

Puddles

Banned
dead souls said:
Darabont was a big part of s1's problems, given that he extensively rewrote most of the scripts. He's also reportedly a gigantic prick, which lends credence to the rumors that he didn't leave but was fired. Either way The Walking Dead had an atrocious first season, and while I hope the second is better, I'm not exactly holding my breath.
Click to expand...

It was a good first season until they started deviating heavily from the source material. 4/6 episodes were great, IMO.
 
C

computers putin'

Member
Jesse's character is regressing pretty badly. It does seem like more of the same old,only difference being motivation; but it feels like a build up to something bigger this time around. Now more than ever, Jesse's behavior just seems like a way for him to run from his problems, by doing only thing that comforts him, partying. But we're starting to see that his need to party and engage in reckless behavior is almost insatiable because of the magnitude of his current problems and because he can't come to grips with what he's done.

I find it interesting too that Jesse took a break from his party binge and invited Walter to go carts, only to be told no. Maybe I'm making too much out of the go-kart thing, but this could become a running theme of Jesse discretely reaching out to Walter, with Walter not realizing what Jesse is actually trying to do. Sooner or later we're gonna see Jesse meltdown again for sure, but I wonder how bad the meltdown will be this time, what the aftermath is, and if he'll actually recover this time.
 
S

Sloane

Banned
Not the best episode but people complaining about the pacing? Really? It's like season 1, 2, and 3 never happened.

Also, AMC can go fuck themselves -- 6 to 8 episodes for the final season, lol. Guess they need the money for really great shows like, uh, The Killing.
 
B

big_z

Member
mysticwhip said:
mmmhm... a buzzcut,everyone on the show is becoming a baldy, I wonder what episode this happens in.
Click to expand...

the next one i'd guess considering all the meth heads are still in his house
 
C

CiSTM

Banned
Sloane said:
Not the best episode but people complaining about the pacing? Really? It's like season 1, 2, and 3 never happened.

Also, AMC can go fuck themselves -- 6 to 8 episodes for the final season, lol. Guess they need the money for really great shows like, uh, The Killing.
Click to expand...
I actually wouldn't mind shorter last season since I have this feeling that the show really doesn't have too many roads to take. Or maybe I should just trust the writers but in the end I hope this show doesn't run for too many seasons. 4.5s would be enough for me.
 
S

Sloane

Banned
CiSTM said:
I actually wouldn't mind shorter last season since I have this feeling that the show really doesn't have too many roads to take. Or maybe I should just trust the writers but in the end I hope this show doesn't run for too many seasons. 4.5s would be enough for me.
Click to expand...
If Vince Gilligan wants to do a 13 episode final season, why is there even an argument? He deserves our trust, the ratings seem to be okay, it's the best show AMC has, and without Breaking Bad and Mad Men, nobody would even watch the network. They had a good run with BB, MM, and Rubicon but it's starting to look like it was more luck than competence.
 
B

brianjones

Member
it's too early into season 4 for me to have much opinion about season 5 but at this rate i wouldn't really complain about a shortened final season.
 
S

Saty

Member
The series' worst start continues. Nothing really happened, stuck on repeat.

1. Jesse is in exactly the same state as the last ep, now with go karts. Again, no subtlety in how they convey his situation, it's all pretty banal and uninspired. Irritating to watch.

2. Hank and Marie. God. Yes, i understand that because of her current life, Marie regresses back to her kleptomania and that she even lying about herself as a form to escape her ordeal, but common. Who do we need multiple and lengthy secens of her visting houses, making up identities and so forth. We got it the first time, and while we might have appriciated it the first time, doing it again&again, griding it out more is just making me hate it. Move along already! That's the show's biggest problem: drawing out stuff that shouldn't be, a puprose that has been sereved but still being shown, padding the ep and diluting it.
We get it, can we move along? Thank god the notebook showed up at the end. Hank's justification in the series was always around the investigation, so it's good he is getting involved again. I can't bare alot more of Hank's rehab eps.

3. Thank god for Skylar, the saving grace of the episode. Beating common sense into Walter: we know who has the brains in this pair, saving the day with her elegant solution and reminding Walt about the little details that he overlooks. I wonder how Skylar haters going to twist this ep to show her negatively.
After the conversation with Saul, it was almost a sure thing Walt will go berserk and kill the car shop owner or some other extreme action (especilly that he learned that the guy insulted his manhood). But Skylar showed him how it's done.

Same 'ole Breaking Bad.
 
U

UrbanRats

Member
I've seen this yesterday.
I kinda agree with Jarosh about the tame nature of "action-->reaction".
But it was still a very beautiful episode to watch and it wasn't bad like Lost-bad or anything, so..
Every show can have some lows, BB never had a real one yet, in 4 seasons, so it's understandable and it would be also safer to judge this plot point once the season it' over, to see if it was worthed.

Marathoning Deadwood, i remember some episodes being far more static than others, but in the long run, they all payed off, so it's best to judge season per season, instead of episode per episode.

Also, the Go Kart scene was amazing.
 
T

TheOddOne

Member
Just watched the last two episodes, so kind of late to the party but not feeling it. Seems nothing big happend, maby in the long run it will have effect but this is -- I am sorry to say it -- kind of boring.
 
S

shadowsdarknes

Member
I'm holding out til this season comes out on DVD. I just can't watch a series like this on TV. I need to just power through it all at once. I don't like being left hanging each week.

But I must watch! Season 3 left me hanging sooo much!
 
SOME-MIST

SOME-MIST

Member
BigAT said:
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?
Click to expand...
I was so confused. I was watching the episode with a couple of buddies and I mentioned that he looked a lot like bill burr - but he wasn't being funny and he seemed shorter on TV than he does in real life. Only one buddy knew who I was talking about and agreed with me so of course I had to look it up on my phone.

It was a pretty surprising but awesome guest appearance.
 
C

chessnut

Member
I finally watched the episode last night. Who was that black guy in the car outside of Jesse's house? Was it the new guy that replaced that mexican that was killed in episode 1?
 
B

big ander

Member
b.mak said:
I finally watched the episode last night. Who was that black guy in the car outside of Jesse's house? Was it the new guy that replaced that mexican that was killed in episode 1?
Click to expand...
Yea tyrus
 
J

JBuccCP

Member
That whole champagne thing made no sense to me either, considering they just bought an 800k car wash from a person who knows and hates them.
 
D

dave is ok

aztek is ok
JBuccCP said:
That whole champagne thing made no sense to me either, considering they just bought an 800k car wash from a person who knows and hates them.
Click to expand...
They haven't bought it yet - they just agreed to purchase it.

The cover story for buying the car wash is Walt's gambling winnings. I think Saul is going to use some casino managers to report false losses to give the story validity, but he hasn't yet and they have paid no taxes on any winnings so they can't act like they have the money already.

Something like that
 
K

kehs

Banned
dave is ok said:
They haven't bought it yet - they just agreed to purchase it.

The cover story for buying the car wash is Walt's gambling winnings. I think Saul is going to use some casino managers to report false losses to give the story validity, but he hasn't yet and they have paid no taxes on any winnings so they can't act like they have the money already.

Something like that
Click to expand...

That's what I thought too....but they are already paying hank's bills.

Which could possibly mean they are clusterfucking themselves with the finances. Would be awesome to see skyler's meticulous plans blow up in her face though.
 
D

dave is ok

aztek is ok
Persona7 said:
How the hell does Jesse explain buying his house back from his parents?
Click to expand...
The property is probably owned in the name of a Trust, which is owned by another Trust.

Typical drug money shit
 
B

BigAT

Member
Persona7 said:
How the hell does Jesse explain buying his house back from his parents?
Click to expand...
Audit me...BITCH!

The real big purchase that would need to be explained was when Walt bought that condo straight up, presumably with cash.
 
K

kehs

Banned
BigAT said:
Audit me...BITCH!

The real big purchase that would need to be explained was when Walt bought that condo straight up, presumably with cash.
Click to expand...

Laundromats are some of the highest paying jobs in the country, what's to second guess?


(saul's been laundering their money for a while now....)
 
D

dead souls

Member
Sloane said:
Not the best episode but people complaining about the pacing? Really? It's like season 1, 2, and 3 never happened.

Also, AMC can go fuck themselves -- 6 to 8 episodes for the final season, lol. Guess they need the money for really great shows like, uh, The Killing.
Click to expand...

They need the money because they vastly overpaid for Mad Men.
 
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