Breaking Bad

I just saw the part where he tried to argue Jesse into continuing to work with him, after Mike finally split with the money. He really has Self-defeating personality disorder. It's like he tries to piss him off. Either that, or he has no grasp whatsoever of Jesse's personality. When he told Jesse to take the week off, that he was feeling as sad as Jesse was about the kid and couldn't sleep about it, while certainly looking in perfect condition and then cheerfully humming to himself while he worked.

What'd he have to go and kill Mike for anyway? Killing the guys cost him about the same as giving them the hazard money!

I think Walt really was a major contributor to Gray Matter and they couldn't have succeeded without him. But he was just one part of a team and failed to recognize that he was a contributor and not the contributor. The man's uncontrollable ego completely warps his sense of reality. The Schwartzes genuinely seemed like decent people and Walt's bitterness of his mistake in leaving the company led him to hate them without much justification. Whatever the incident that led to his departure was, it was probably something petty on Walt's part and not him "getting cut out" as he likes to claim.

You'd really think Walt would at least try to pretend a kid getting killed bothered him in the slightest.

He killed Mike because Mike bruised his ego. Killing those guys was the only way he could guarantee they'd stay quiet for good. Plus getting them their money would be tricky.

edited 26th Feb '14 12:50:04 PM by millardkillmoore

Why doesn't Walter bother to correct his son about Hank's death?

And how in the world does Isaac abbreviate to "Hank"? I always thought it stood for Harry or Harold.

ASAC; It stands for something like assistant special agent in charge.

LOL.

Ah, the Schwarz gambit was very elegant. I found it hilarious that he insisted that not one cent of their coin should contribute to it. 100% Libertarian. I guess that's why he got along so well with those asses. Also, I think I heard the name Ron Paul dropped somewhere.

Ah, the youtube comments. I don't get this Fan Dumb. Why does Mighty Walty have so many fans?!

Evil Is Cool combined with people being gullible enough to believe his, "I'm just doing this for my family!" excuses.

edited 26th Feb '14 4:52:37 PM by millardkillmoore

But he said he did it Because I'm Good At It.

Didn't like the ending. He got both a redemption and a final victory? The fuck? Either make him an unredeemed Karma Houdini dying on his bed surrounded by a loving, grateful family, or have all of said family die horribly and Shoot the Shaggy Dog, have all of his deeds amount to nothing, have him die, alone, in that cold cabin, ignorant of it all, even. He's getting off easy!

edited 26th Feb '14 5:05:40 PM by TheHandle

I don't think it was a redemption. He still stubbornly held onto his pride when dealing with the Schwartzes by adding those conditions about not spending any of their own money. Somebody who just wants his family to be taken care of wouldn't have cared. He got them the money just to stroke his ego before dying. He ruined his whole family's lives, but doesn't so much as offer his wife or Marie an "I'm sorry." He didn't even have any intention of saving Jesse when going to the compound. The plan was to take revenge and rescue his meth: the one thing he truly loved. He died as Heisenberg, not Walter White.

Yeah, but he still got everything he wanted.

Also, strolling around the place with a barrelful of money... I get why Badger and SP didn't kill him, they're not that hardened, but what about the Vacuum guy? Who in the world would ever know if he iced Walter then and there? His rep as a disappearer would be intact.

edited 26th Feb '14 5:39:43 PM by TheHandle

Yes

Makes all of Hank's efforts moot, too.

Not everyone willing to murder out of greed. Vacuum guy seems to be a Consummate Professional. He offers a service and delivers on what is promised. Or maybe he just planned on collecting the money once Walt died of cancer. It could be either one.

Walt corrupted and/or destroyed everyone around him. Everyone's lives were ruined because of him. It is a tragedy after all.

edited 26th Feb '14 5:51:55 PM by millardkillmoore

Season 5 was one long Deconstruction of the Heisenberg persona. Mike was the one character not wiling to "play ball" with Walt, and Walt's killing him was symbolic of him finally leaping off the Moral Event Horizon. Everyone of his previous kills had a least some (extremely debatable) rationale behind it, but Walt killed Mike over pettiness.

On that same token, when people complain about Uncle Jack not being as good as Gus, I don't think he was meant to be. Gus was Walt's Final Boss to get to the top. Uncle Jack represented just how far Walt had fallen to secure his position.

As for the ending, I think it was rather suiting. In the end, Walt really didn't get everything he wanted since his son outright despised him and his daughter is going to grow up without really knowing her father.

edited 2nd Mar '14 7:27:34 PM by Lionheart0

The thing looking back on the series is how nuanced the show managed to portray all of the various psychopaths. Tucco was more of a standard Ax-Crazy unhinged drug dealer that you see in many of these kind of stories while Gustavo had this chillingly calm and business-like approach to all the evil he would do. Mike was basically a Punch-Clock Villain, he got paid well to do what he did. Uncle Jack and Todd were casually indifferent to the immoral acts they were doing. And Lydia was perfectly willing to do horrible things but didn't have the constitution to see it or have nearly the same "unfazed" persona the other characters had.

With that in mind, Heisenberg certainly had a more "reluctant evil" personality. Everything about Walter White's descent is that he makes a couple of steps one direction hoping he can come back from it, only to find himself getting further and further involved. He had crossed a lot of lines but still felt there were some lines he wouldn't cross. Killing Mike was petty and unnecessary and even he realized it after the fact, but it was another line he crossed that he had to cover up and recover from. The final line crossed was Hank's death, which he knew he hit the breaking point. No more cover ups, no more negotiations, no more outsmarting the enemy or fancy science projects to solve the problem.

I like to think that after he killed Gus that Walter's personality was in constant flux, he no longer knew who he was and was adapting his personality according to the situation he was in at that moment. He was Heisenberg dealing with cooking and distributing meth, he was Walt with his family and with Jesse he was Mr. White, doting father figure. He let himself get unshackled from any sort of anchor.

I'm up to Season 3 and I think I hit the sweet spot. Part of the show's renown was the mysterious "Heisenberg" character, and honestly, while the fulminated mercury incident caught my attention, it's the "Stay out of my territory" threat that really got me.

The 10th episode, "Over", is just... that ending. Walt and Heisenberg are becoming, have become one in the same. The Hidden Depths of Hank, Skyler, and Jesse; the lead-in to the season finale and the Cold Open of the teddy bear in the water.

And now I'm on Season 3's first episode, and that cliffhanger has me aching for more. This show is a goddamned drug.

And damn, Jesse's Wham Line, "I accept who I am."

Walt: What's that?

Jesse: The bad guy.

Can't wait to see how his character moves forward.

edited 28th May '14 7:51:34 PM by FOFD

He becomes a Whiskey Priest. Unlike pretty much everyone else, Jesse has and maintains a moral compass about him, and every time he has to grit his teeth and ignore it, it hurts him deeper and deeper.

Walter seems to have some morals, but he's just inhibited, impotent, and afraid. Once he gains confidence and gets comfortable, he has a bad case of It Gets Easier.

I tend towards the view that Walt never left the hole in his House. That episode's ending with the insane laughter is the last we see of Walter White. Only heisenberg is seen thereafter.

Bryan Cranston/Aaron Paul interview on Conan about Bryan's "erotic" letter from a fan.

edited 31st May '14 8:50:46 PM by FOFD

Just watched Gus's death scene, and him walking out with half a face.

One person described it as Breaking Bad shifting into "violent fantasy", but I'm conflicted on that scene. Its an awesome send-off for Gus but at the same time, like the scene with the fulminated mercury, it doesn't really make sense. I'm torn, because Gus has these Terminator-like traits throughout Season 4, and the explosion really hammers it in, but that scene was just way too bizarre. The nurse actually saw him get up and fix his tie, how's she going to explain that?

Fans say, "Oh don't worry, adrenaline". Thing is, I'm no biologist, and even I know that no amount of adrenaline in the world is going to keep your limbs from being blown clean off. Hector and the black dude were effectively obliterated; I find it hard to believe Gus's shock was enough for his body to walk out and fix his tie one last time - supplement me with stories of marines reloading their weapons after being torn apart by claymores or whatever, but that whole final scene with Gus was surreal.

I imagine Walt's descent into evil begins now... about time. Its incredible that he was able to predict Jesse's reaction to Brock's poisoning within moments of seeing the kid, that Jesse would blame Walt, Walt would be able to turn him against Gus, that Jesse would speak with Saul, and that Hector would be unguarded - and that Gus would take few safety measures approaching Hector.

The rest of the season finale was a fantastic thrill to watch, though, no real complaints there.

edited 25th Jun '14 11:54:42 AM by FOFD

Gus stopped checking himself after he got rid of the Cartel. It was his undoing.

I think Walt's descent into evil began in the Pilot.

That too. He was going to open fire on the cops. What an asshole.

Exactly. Then he loses his excuse to cook meth when the Schwartzes offer to pay for his treatment. Those just the terrible things he does in the first season. He only gets worse from there. Poisoning Brock is merely the moment he became a Complete Monster rather than an Anti-Villain.

edited 25th Jun '14 4:24:18 PM by millardkillmoore

Especially since he could have simply let his brother-in-law die, which he ended up doing anyway.

Hell, if he hadn't spent that money helping him with physical therapy, none of that crap would have happened.

To be fair, he considers shooting at the cops in the pilot, but quickly switches to deciding to shoot himself.