Breaking Bad

[Pubrick]

why would the nazis go after walts family?

as far as uncle jack is concerned they are "square" and regardless of what walt said on the phone to skylar any investigation would just show that walt did not shoot a MILLION rounds out in the desert. whether they find the car or not.

believe it or not i called it in my mind that the money was going to be the major factor in deciding the outcome of the shootout, wish i'd posted it now so i could get my cookie. i think it's something everyone forgot about, it was the whole reason they were out there after all.

i've never felt more psychologically connected to a scene as i did in the home confrontation. even walt jr's constant confusion seemed to perfectly represent a part of what i felt at that point. it was fucking awesome when they had the phone and the knives next to each other as Skylar approached the bench, she even looked at the phone the whole time to throw us off. she could've called the cops as walt jr did instinctively when he decided to act (hero moment for the kid). but instead she chose to go all stabby.

this episode is a master class in a lot of things, including how to do tone changes seamlessly. after shitting myself during the shootout and its aftermath, i was LAUGHING when he was pushing the barrel across the desert. then i was near tears (fuck it i was teary ok) in the home confrontation.

if walt returns to save someone it will be primarily in two forms:

1 to give some money to skylar, although i'm sure she'll be fine with her car wash business.
2 to save JESSE from the nazis if it becomes clear to him that they are threatening brock. he could redeem himself that way, saving brock and liberating jesse and then THEY will be square.

i think i'm completely wrong in the second prediction only because it was so clear that walt was happy for jesse to die right there on the spot. but he also was reluctant to make a deal with the nazis. i think his beef with the nazis is now personal in that they stole his money and totally fucked things up by shooting everyone.

the reason this episode was probably the best is because the stakes could not have been higher. from now on it feels like it will be a personal vendetta, a revenge thing as cine said. either jesse wants revenge on walt for jane, brock, etc. or walt wants revenge on the nazis for the money and throwing everything into chaos. those are the two strands that could push the show along. but it seems boring compared to the annihilation of walter white and his precious family that we have just seen.

i'm happy to just let it happen at this point. it won't get better than this.

[cine]

i'm happy to just let it happen at this point. it won't get better than this.

i'm still waiting for the Scarface-esque massacre featuring Walt's little friend Mr. M60 in his trunk.

also, the reason i said the thing about Walt going to save his family is because the ep 15 teaser alluded to the nazis coming for his family. so i don't know the context of all that but looks like IT'S-A COMIN'.

[Fernando]

if Walt returns to save someone it will be primarily in two forms:

1 to give some money to Skyler, although I'm sure she'll be fine with her car wash business.
2 to save JESSE from the Nazis if it becomes clear to him that they are threatening brock. he could redeem himself that way, saving brock and liberating jesse and then THEY will be square.

1. Sky wont be able to keep the car wash because it was bought with drug money, cant see DEA, APD or any other authorities letting her keep it just like that.

2. even if that happens which I also think is a long shot, no way Jesse let bygones be bygones. btw, still cant believe Walt how gave him up to the Nazis, that shit was beyond cold, and the Jane thing to top it all off...damn


that fight with Sky and Jr. was flawlessly executed, and the acting, when Junior protects Sky Walter just shouts "what the hell is wrong with you ,we're a family!" then he sadly whispers ''my family'' realizing then that it's over, they're done. Bryan Cranston FTW


my god Todd is the biggest psycho ever, poor poor Jesse, one way I can see him getting out of that (without any help) is he uses some magic chemistry trick on Todd ala Walter vs crazy 8 or some shit like that, other than that he is done.

[Pubrick]

the ep 15 teaser alluded

this is ridiculous.

GUYS THIS IS A PLEA: i didn't realise that AMC actually goes out of its way to actively spoil (however vaguely) the next episode in the form of teasers. what kind of shit is that? the torrents i watch are free of commercials and teasers, only the "catch up" clips at the start of the episode remain, and i could do without those as well.

but to think that all this time you people have actually been shown footage or hints at what comes next is beyond ridiculous. i know it's common practice for many shows to have this, but i've always assumed that everyone just tuned out before then. especially at a time like this on the show.

i understand now the comment that someone made that at the end of the shootout next weeks "teaser" just showed more of the same shootout. i was like.. teaser? what the fuck? but goddamn

NEW RULE FOR THE ONE REMAINING EPISODE WHERE THIS CAN POSSIBLY HAPPEN:

NO references to anything AMC is stupid enough to put in any teaser. if you want to discuss that shit post it with spoiler warnings.

[samsong]

spoilers (sorry p.  posted before seeing yours.)

i don't see how or why uncle jack would go after walt's remaining family, except maybe to cut off all loose ends.  todd has been to the car wash and... does he meet skyler at some point? 

the vo in the promo seems to be saul's half of a conversation between him and walt wherein i'm guessing walt expresses some intent to ensure his family's safety from the granite state, and the "they" going after her would be the DEA et al.  there's too much heat surrounding skyler for walt to try to help in any way from a distance and i don't see saul getting involved in that. 

also based on the flash forward there's quite a bit of time that elapses before walt decides to come back, which i think at this point is clearly going to be a suicide mission.  in the first episode of the season he alludes to having driven directly for 30 hours straight from new hampshire.  i feel like one of two (or both?) things would bring this on.  the rest of walt's family are murdered after jesse divulges information about just how much skyler and marie know and he's going down in flames and taking down as many nazis as he can, or walt catches wind of jesse still being alive and he comes to try to finish him off.  after this episode, walt letting jesse go in anyway way is unfathomable, and i don't think redemption is in the cards for walt at all.  i don't think i want it to be either.

either way i do think this shit is ending a la scarface.

[Lottery]

that fight with Sky and Jr. was flawlessly executed, and the acting, when Junior protects Sky Walter just shouts "what the hell is wrong with you ,we're a family!" then he sadly whispers ''my family'' realizing then that it's over, they're done. Bryan Cranston FTW

my god Todd is the biggest psycho ever, poor poor Jesse, one way I can see him getting out of that (without any help) is he uses some magic chemistry trick on Todd ala Walter vs crazy 8 or some shit like that, other than that he is done.

Man, I thought Jr was going to get stabbed or something. I was on edge, totally.

Todd has to be the most curious character in the series. He's not actively evil or decidedly malicious but he's this simple psychopath who only aims to please.

[Pubrick]

the internet is abuzz with theories about the chessboard:

(pic his high res)

everyone is trying to assign roles to each of the white pieces, but here's my theory which i haven't seen anywhere else:

The king is obviously walt. the knight is most likely Jesse because he is surrounded by the dark team, the nazis. the other two pieces, the pawns flanking Walt are NOT characters.. people have mentioned Saul or even Skylar. i doubt either of these people would come to Walt's rescue at this point, and besides, pawns are disposable pieces which neither of those characters are.

so the pawns are the two things he will use to defend himself as he goes towards the opposing team:

The ricin and the M60.

this shot on the chess board is not predicting anything but just foreshadowing the final "end game" scenario which walt has just committed himself to. this shot having occurred just after his phone call to Skylar which was a calculated move on his part to protect her.

if we assume the "i did everything and you were not responsible" spiel was successful then skylar and his family is, for the moment, off the hook. whether he cares about the knight or not, he's gonna need it when he comes for the black team and it may incidentally be saved in the process.

the black king is uncle jack and the queen i believe could be the invisible piece barely noticeable behind the white king. that being lydia as she travels all over the world. the piece is lined up with a pawn which if taken would place the white king in check. that pawn is there to entice the queen but also leaves her vulnerable to the pouncing of the other pawn. after the queen goes for the first pawn, which is tainted with RICIN, and she gets taken down, the black team sees how vulnerable the king is and follows. the last defense is the m60.

the metaphor only visualizes the current scenario, without giving away any final moves. it also fulfils the role of the recurring "cornering" that happens in every episode.

[HeywoodRFloyd]

[Mel]

That was great finale or it would work as such for me (Walt driving away). Writing room decided to go with epilogue - it isn't first time we see it (The Wire anyone?), but I bet more series will choose this route in future. Payload is here, now get used to the idea it is over: that will be the role of the last two episodes.

As for Walt rescuing/protecting anyone, I believe he is now all alone and only cares for respect. Will he try to save or kill Jesse? I would say that second option is more likely to happen: someone didn't keep promise. Protecting family? "You cross me, you pay for it" - this is main factor driving Heisenberg (it's his ego not affection toward other people). Till next week.

[modage]

Well if we're going full douche and calling dibs on predictions:  I called that Hank was going to die at the beginning of the episode and that Walt was gonna disappear via Saul's guy, Now where's my cookie!?

Yeah, except you called that last week (and both were fairly obvious) and I called this 6 weeks ago.

EDIT:  I just thought. I'm pretty sure Walt knew the cops were listening in on the convo and that's why he said all that stuff. He said Skylar didn't know anything about his meth business and never supported him (basically exonerating Skylar from any wrong doing) , he basically said he was the one that killed Hank, he said a bunch of stuff that only incriminated himself. He knew he was going to leave right after that. That's why he was crying so hard, because a- he didn't truly mean what he was saying and b- he knew he had to leave after that and he won't be talking to or seeing his family for a long time. Fuck, a rewatch is a-coming.

Considering your history of appropriation of other people's ideas, I doubt you had this thought on your own but yes this was completely obvious that this was the only reason for his call: to let Skylar off the hook. The entire dialogue was bullshit because he knew the cops were listening. 

You can watch the transformation happening. When Hank is shot and Walt falls to the sand, that is Walter White's death. The remainders of his humanity are expelled in that mournful wail. He collapses, drained, then rises as Heisenberg. Now he is a predator. He finds his prey, Jesse Pinkman, and just watches it for a while.

I don't buy this because he still goes home and tries to pack up his family afterwards. It crushes him that they won't go with him and he knows that there is no way after all the lies that Skylar will believe he did everything he could to try to stop Hank's death. When he looks down at Junior protecting Skylar, it crushes him to see them looking at him like he's a monster. He's spent the last few episodes doing incredibly selfless un-Heisenbergian things: giving up his money to attempt to save Hank, preparing to go to jail rather than have Hank killed, the entire phone call to Skylar and leaving Holly behind, etc. The Jesse thing is a specific Heisenbergian outburst because he blames Jesse for Hank's death and the whole mess because he broke the criminal code. He may still go full Heisenberg but he's pretty defeated now.

why would the nazis go after walts family?

They're definitely going to go after Jesse's confession tape, which is at Marie's house. So that'll get messy. The other thing to consider is where is Lydia in all this? After all the drug cartels and Gus' that Walt has been through it seems weird to have him brought down by a couple of rogue Nazis. Lydia has to play a role in this before the end too.

and i don't think redemption is in the cards for walt at all.  i don't think i want it to be either.

Gilligan did say in earlier interviews he did see the ending "as some kind of victory for Walt" which would probably allow for Walt coming back to fight against the bad-baddies to save Jesse or his family before biting the bullet himself. We've seen everything been taken from him but we don't want to watch 2 more episodes of Walt getting kicked in the teeth, we want to see his Heisenberg genius rise up and pull one last coup to get those bastards. Gilligan wants to deliver. He won't get to live probably and he definitely wont get his family back but he probably will get some sort of redemption, esp. after what he did for Skylar.

[©brad]

We all to varying degrees of success predicted the big moments, but this show isn't like Lost where the fun comes from unveiling loopy "answers" so much as marveling at the creators as they perfectly execute the scenes you knew were coming and have been dreading. Hank confronting Walt, Jesse finding out about Brock/Jane, Junior learning who his father really is - these are big, almost impossible scenes to write and the show keeps nailing them one after the next. It's astounding. Gilligan mentioned that sometimes the most unpredictable thing is what seems the most logical and predictable on the surface. I don't know, he said it better than that but you get the idea.

Mod I have to disagree on Hank's death. That hit me in the gut, as did every other second of the episode. And the knife fight in the living room was the most agonizing thing I've seen on TV since (spoiler FOR THE SOPRANOS alert)...... Adriana's death in the Sopranos.

admin edit: added the thing i said below

[Pubrick]

(spoiler alert)......

if you really intend a spoiler alert to be effective you should try saying what the spoiler generally relates to before you post the spoiler, eg. "spoiler for the sopranos".. otherwise how the hell will anyone know if they can read the spoiler or not? especially when it's a spoiler for a completely different show that no one was expecting to be spoiled.

also:

this show isn't like Lost

stolen from reddit of course.

[Drenk]

I try to understand why some people (not the I HATE SKYLER people) would think that Walter express with true feelings with the phone call. Of course, Walt didn't want Skyler involved with his business. He wanted to be the man with no wife involved. There is some truth, for him, in what he's saying. But he's acting them, for the cops. He's not talking to Skyler. And she knows.

Heisenberg is now a creation from the public (the cold open in 509). He's a myth. The myth is never the man. Walt acts like the myth in his phone call.

[©brad]

Thanks/sorry for spoiler gaffe.

I try to understand why some people (not the I HATE SKYLER people) would think that Walter express with true feelings with the phone call. Of course, Walt didn't want Skyler involved with his business. He wanted to be the man with no wife involved. There is some truth, for him, in what he's saying. But he's acting them, for the cops. He's not talking to Skyler. And she knows.

There was a lot going on in that phone call, including what I felt was a very meta moment with the writers calling out the Skyler haters. But just like Sopranos had two different audiences, Skyler haters are stupid and not worth thinking about.

[Reel]

There was a lot going on in that phone call, including what I felt was a very meta moment with the writers calling out the Skyler haters

Could you specify what that is? I didn't even catch that Walt might be changing what he said for the cops on the line, I just thought his ego had inflated to cartoonish proportions between his admissions to Jesse and this call. Why would he want to let them know Hank is dead, just to intimidate the fuck out of them, or out of sympathy for his family so they don't have to keep guessing? A little bit of both I would say, and another instance of Walt further incriminating himself when he has an out. He just really wants to see the shit hit the fan, doesn't he? Me too.