tv show: Breaking Bad

[hip priest]

Another season with Walt as 'Scarface' sounds horrible. I just can't see how they can get another 16 episodes out of it without some contrived storyline/reveal or without repeating themselves.
I ain't watching no shark jump.

Are you joking? Gus's death opens up a lot more doors than it closes.

How about:

Let's take a look:

1. Gus's car is still in the hospital parking lot and hospitals have security cameras noticing Jesse Pinkman hanging around for days. Hank is going to take notice here.

CONTRIVED - why would Hank be checking the hospital security tapes?

2. Gus could not be killed by Don Eladio because of how well-connected he is in Chile. Now the entire cartel is wiped out and there for the taking.

CONTRIVED - Walt doesn't need the money. The only thing that's kept him going is his safety/the safety of his family

3. Now that the majority of Walt's cash is in the carwash and he has no capital to be the 'Scarface' you see him as right now. Does he just go back to the register selling air fresheners?

Yes, that's all he wants (I don't see him as 'Scarface', I expressed my discomfort at him becoming 'Scarface')

4. Jesse is probably going to eventually put it together that it was Walt who poisoned Brock.

CONTRIVED - Really? How? And even if he does, so what? Even Jesse will see with hindsight it was for the best. At the end of the day, he trusts Walt implicitly.

5. It's still not entirely clear whether or not Hank, while putting the pieces together on Gus, has no suspicion of Walt. This cat and mouse situation will probably be the central focus of the last 16 episodes. This is where it started and this is probably how it has to end.

REPETITION

6. What happens when they find Ted Beneke's body?

He tripped and smacked his head on furniture. No reason for suspicion when they find the body.

[AlBStern]

CONTRIVED - Really? How? And even if he does, so what? Even Jesse will see with hindsight it was for the best. At the end of the day, he trusts Walt implicitly.

There is no situation, NO SITUATION, where Jesse will see that poisoning an innocent kid, the son of his girlfriend, is for the best.

[enframed]

Watched the pilot and one more episode. It was OK. Not interested in pursuing it. Cranston is really good in it but the story seemed played out by episode two. I'm positive this will end up sucking by the end because they will milk it for every penny they can.

[hip priest]

CONTRIVED - Really? How? And even if he does, so what? Even Jesse will see with hindsight it was for the best. At the end of the day, he trusts Walt implicitly.

There is no situation, NO SITUATION, where Jesse will see that poisoning an innocent kid, the son of his girlfriend, is for the best.

They're all still alive, that's for the best

[BClark]

Watched the pilot and one more episode. It was OK. Not interested in pursuing it. Cranston is really good in it but the story seemed played out by episode two. I'm positive this will end up sucking by the end because they will milk it for every penny they can.

it's a very popular show (though not as much as amc's other big one, mad men) but isn't being continued past the next season. if they were trying to milk it for every penny they can, they'd continue it.

the fact that they're stopping it, as opposed to indefinite prolonging (as with lost), speaks well to their creative intentions and to their not wanting to "milk it" for cash but rather end it on a properly conclusive note, without unduly dragging it on.

i can say that, since there is only one season left, it's already pretty close to "the end" and hasn't "ended up sucking" at all. so if you're really that positive of the show taking such a trajectory, i suppose it would have to take that turn in the final season. i don't see it. i have high expectations.

spoiler ahead:
and as for those who don't see where it can go past this last season, i think you're putting too much weight into the death of gus as an element that concludes the series' plot very finally. there are still loose ends, as have been pointed out by others in this thread: where is mike? what if jesse finds out about the poisoning (many ways this can happen, plus he may already suspect it)? how about hank's crusade to find "heisenberg," which is only going to be piqued more by the vindication he gets from seeing gus killed and the meth lab exploded. how about ted's neck being broken (presumably killing him) and the investigations that will follow? and we know that walt's supply of money is cut way down ever since that $600K was given to ted by skylar (he didn't have the $500K to pay saul's dude to covertly re-locate his family), so why wouldn't he go back out and cook again? this final possibility is something i don't quite read as "walt as scarface" but rather "walt as george jung at the end of blow," in other words, someone who was a dealer and needs to do that "one last deal." of course with walt this will only lead to trouble.

also what about the video the cartel made of jesse in the lab? don eladio's casa, with him and the dead capos, will surely be investigated as a crime scene -- anyone who finds that tape will watch it. either it's a mexican federale or DEA agent who will want to investigate, or more likely a corrupt mexican federale who will pass the info to another cartel in search of the blue meth chef.

anyways though, i think the fact that so many people perceive gus's death as lending a finality to the series, speaks highly to what a huge impact gus has had on the show.

i think y'all are a little too quick to dismiss any direction it could take in this one last season. the examples i listed above only scratch the surface. this is one of the more imaginative and creative (plot-wise) shows i've seen, i have no doubts the last season will be really good.

but if it isn't, i won't say you didn't tell me so. and anyhow, as much as it would disappoint me to see a mediocre final season, it wouldn't undermine my immense appreciation for the first four -- as was exactly the case with the wire.

[BClark]

CONTRIVED - Really? How? And even if he does, so what? Even Jesse will see with hindsight it was for the best. At the end of the day, he trusts Walt implicitly.

There is no situation, NO SITUATION, where Jesse will see that poisoning an innocent kid, the son of his girlfriend, is for the best.

They're all still alive, that's for the best

no. no way jesse would forgive walt. as for the kid still being alive, that was a risk that walt took and they're lucky it turned out that way -- jesse could not possibly be convinced that taking such a risk with the kid's life was "for the best." and we've seen through the last season that he actually does not "trust walt implicitly." in fact he suspected that walt poisoned the kid right off the bat.

[madlee]

I think someone posted an interview here with the series creator who said that because it wasn't looking like there would be another season, wrote this season thinking that it would be the end.

[BClark]

I think someone posted an interview here with the series creator who said that because it wasn't looking like there would be another season, wrote this season thinking that it would be the end.

yea, as was the case with the making of every wire season, the show creators thought it might end on this one, and so they made the plot so that the conclusion of the season could plausibly be the conclusion of the finale.

and it so happens i've just looked into the issue of why they didn't think there would be another one (and why there's only one more).

it seems that it has to do with AMC's budget, as the channel is pouring tremendous amounts of money into mad men and all other shows have suffered as a result. they asked breaking bad to only do a half season for this last one and the creators said no, it's a full one or nothing. that's why they thought it was going to end, but eventually amc caved in and signed them on for one more. breaking bad, of course, is every bit as critically acclaimed as mad men (if not more), but as we've seen with the wire, this doesn't equate to ratings, and mad men dominates ratings (and has always had a very high standard for their budget).
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/09/amc-ceo-josh-sapan-downplays-tensions-with-programmers.html

[jimmy two hands]

Watched the first episode last night on netflix streaming. I don't need another tv show to obsessively watch, but I think I got one anyway.

[cmay]

Just finished watching Seasons 2-4 over the past month, wrapping with the final 2 episodes of Season 4 last night.

Holy fuck. The tension in the last 3-4 episodes was terribly palpable. Elements that stood out to me included:
- the sound design - those banging tympani/bass drums and escalating synth/horns during the high tension moments really underscored the high stakes
- the aforementioned coen brothers tone - certainly combining the absurd with the criminally mundane. Beneke's end was straight out of Fargo, in the best way possible. I also got some Kubrickian overtones. Particularly in the old guy's (Hector?) death stare at Gus before his last moments, and in Walt's momentary slips into insanity/absurdity and his haunting cackles
- the color pallete - that one shade of deep purple was so omnipresent in the last half of the 4th season. Maybe underscoring the pulpiness of that season?
- the general bad assery of Gus and Mike. They're quietly competent professional criminals, which made them so much more haunting. Those two are two of my favorite characters of any show ever, I think.

As for possible arcs next season, I think Gus's Chilean past/connections are going to come back to haunt Walter. If Don Eladio, clearly a chief badass cartel leader for at least 20 years, couldn't touch him, that points to serious connections in Chile. Mike is the wild card; he seems to have played every angle for the duration of the show. It'll be interesting to see his choices in season 5. And obviously Jesse will have some sort of vengeance motive for Brock and then Gus, who was apparently grooming him for more. I'm really hoping Saul comes back and serves as Walt's semi-bumbling consigliere.

Overall, the show had some slow moments and season 2 was a chore to get through, but it all paid off in the 4th season. I can't wait to re-watch it.

[krs]

1. Gus's car is still in the hospital parking lot and hospitals have security cameras noticing Jesse Pinkman hanging around for days. Hank is going to take notice here.

CONTRIVED - why would Hank be checking the hospital security tapes?

Hank is hot on the trail. His prime suspect, Gus, dies in a freak explosion, along side a known gangster. Yeah, that's not suspicious. Hank is going to be all over this shit.

I feel silly making any sort of predictions about where this show might go, however. Given their past record, the writers will turn shit on it's head and make a fool of us all.

[krs]

[MWilke]

SPOILER

That's Hector. Eladio was the guy who backed Gus into a corner until Gus poisoned his entire entourage.

But the point remains, the most powerful man in the cartel couldn't kill Gus due to who Gus was connected to in Chile.

Watched the pilot and one more episode. It was OK. Not interested in pursuing it. Cranston is really good in it but the story seemed played out by episode two. I'm positive this will end up sucking by the end because they will milk it for every penny they can.

Let me get this straight. You saw that partially dissolved body in a bathtub fall through a ceiling and your reaction was 'Meh, I guess that's about all this show's got....'?

[greg]

Just finished season 4. They should have ended it right there. I would love if it kept being good for 5 for my entertainment, but I can only see the family stuff being the future. The only tense moments left seem to be with Hank, and Jesse, and more Threes Company-like misunderstandings.

[bogusaurus]

Just finished season 4. They should have ended it right there. I would love if it kept being good for 5 for my entertainment, but I can only see the family stuff being the future. The only tense moments left seem to be with Hank, and Jesse, and more Threes Company-like misunderstandings.

There are 16 episodes in the final season. This still leaves a lot of room for the writers to spin something amazing out of the remaining threads. I would not be surprised if the shadowy group behind Fring makes an appearance, either to confront WW or to offer him something.

[givemenoughrope]

....or you know, the fucking CANCER could always come back! (not sure if anyone has said this...)

This is really the only series I've liked maybe ever, although I have never set time aside for The Wire (which will happen after BB is done).

[BClark]

....or you know, the fucking CANCER could always come back! (not sure if anyone has said this...)

This is really the only series I've liked maybe ever, although I have never set time aside for The Wire (which will happen after BB is done).

indeed none of us have mentioned this. there are simply so many ways they can proceed with the next season that offer all kinds of potential narrative weight.

I feel silly making any sort of predictions about where this show might go, however. Given their past record, the writers will turn shit on it's head and make a fool of us all.

this. as has been said, it's a 16 episode final season. so even if the best they can do requires a very fresh new direction in the plot, they have the time to do so in a plausible time frame.

[krs]

The only tense moments left seem to be with Hank, and Jesse, and more Threes Company-like misunderstandings.

Ummm...Hank?

[MWilke]

Just finished season 4. They should have ended it right there. I would love if it kept being good for 5 for my entertainment, but I can only see the family stuff being the future. The only tense moments left seem to be with Hank, and Jesse, and more Threes Company-like misunderstandings.

There are 16 episodes in the final season. This still leaves a lot of room for the writers to spin something amazing out of the remaining threads. I would not be surprised if the shadowy group behind Fring makes an appearance, either to confront WW or to offer him something.

Not sure if it's been said already, but they wrote that season not knowing if they were going to have a deal with AMC for season 5. Whereas Season 3 had the security, therefore it could end on a cliffhanger. It had to feel tied up in case AMC passed (and then what network can get behind a show for just a final season? Particularly one that costs around 3mm per episode) but also had to leave a ton of roads paved. The result from that perspective is a marvel.

You really have to hand it to FX for primarily working with low budget comedy shows like Always Sunny, Louie, Archer, Wilfred, etc. while AMC is bankrupting themselves on their really expensive shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Walking Dead, etc. Both are garnering respect as networks, but FX is getting so much more value for what they do.

[Major]

DOUBLES