Breaking Bad

[modage]

Spoilers

Tonight's episode is good.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Oh God why did I read that?!? Make your spoiler text red next time!

http://collider.com/vince-gilligan-western-breaking-bad-interview/184215/

Vince Gilligan talks Post Breaking Bad with interest in maybe doing a Western and there's no truth to the Saul spinoff only that he would like to see it happen.

Nothing certain.  Just sounds like a guy who's current project is coming to an end and searching for something to do next.

I hope he takes his entire writing staff and production staff and does a new show with all of them. VINCE GILLIGAN 4 LIFE!

Also... *whose

[©brad]

Damnit to hell I just moved apartments and won't have cable for several weeks! Is this show streamed anywhere? Anyone know how I can watch it tonight online somehow? I know I can download it tomorrow but ughhhhhh.

Mod can I come over?

[Jeremy Blackman]

I will PM you something. It's usually online within 20-60 min of the show ending, depending on whether it's 480p or 720p.

[Brando]

Oh God why did I read that?!? Make your spoiler text red next time!

http://collider.com/vince-gilligan-western-breaking-bad-interview/184215/

Vince Gilligan talks Post Breaking Bad with interest in maybe doing a Western and there's no truth to the Saul spinoff only that he would like to see it happen.

Nothing certain.  Just sounds like a guy who's current project is coming to an end and searching for something to do next.

I hope he takes his entire writing staff and production staff and does a new show with all of them. VINCE GILLIGAN 4 LIFE!

Also... *whose

The Western sounds fun. I assume he was talking about a television show.  It will have a very hard time to live up to both Breaking Bad and Deadwood. I notice a lot of Wire love on the board but haven't come across any for Deadwood. Deadwood is one of my favorites.  I've rewatched it more recently than I've seen The Wire so I'm loving the former over the latter right now. I think it gets overlooked just cause it was cancelled before finishing.

What If Vince took a few writers to create a new show leaving one or two of the best to create their own series.  The Sopranos spawned Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire. I'm not the biggest fan of Boardwalk but it's an entertaining watch.


Also... *I see gramatical errors in almost everyone of my post when I read them again.

[Brando]

I'm sitting here waiting till BB to begin and I thought about something that threw me for a loop.  Have The writers began writing the next season?  Because up to now I thought the flash forward was flashing forward to the end of the entire show or sometime next season. Now I would think it strange if they would flashed forward to a time they haven't scripted out and planned yet.  I  never considered the possibility of it happening this season. That flash forward from season one when Walt is walking out of that blown up building with a newly shaved head comes to mind cause when I saw that for the first time it blew my mind and had no idea how they would get there in one episode but they did. Am I the only one who didn't consider the possibility of it happening this season? I think the time jump of a year threw me cause they never had that significant of a time leap.  I can recall two but those were within a couple of months I think.

Also, I am refusing to say BB season 5 is split into two parts.  I'm sticking to its two shortened seasons. You can't call it two parts with a year in between.

[ono]

Spoilers!


The writer/director of this episode is SO a fan of Magnolia/Julianne Moore.

[modage]

Ha, I was picturing PSH from PDL.

[MacGuffin]

I'm sitting here waiting till BB to begin and I thought about something that threw me for a loop.  Have The writers began writing the next season?  Because up to now I thought the flash forward was flashing forward to the end of the entire show or sometime next season. Now I would think it strange if they would flashed forward to a time they haven't scripted out and planned yet.  I  never considered the possibility of it happening this season. That flash forward from season one when Walt is walking out of that blown up building with a newly shaved head comes to mind cause when I saw that for the first time it blew my mind and had no idea how they would get there in one episode but they did. Am I the only one who didn't consider the possibility of it happening this season? I think the time jump of a year threw me cause they never had that significant of a time leap.  I can recall two but those were within a couple of months I think.

Also, I am refusing to say BB season 5 is split into two parts.  I'm sticking to its two shortened seasons. You can't call it two parts with a year in between.

But before that can happen, Gilligan needs to wrap up "Breaking Bad" and he reveals that he and the writing team are still putting the touches on the scripts. "My writers and I are sitting down to break the final eight episodes now," he said. "We have quite a bit figured out, but you would be surprised perhaps how little we do have figured out. Because you want to dot all of the i's and cross all of the t's and make sure you're not forgetting anything major, but also because you want to stay as flexible as you can for as long as you can when coming up with these stories. You want to stay open to better ideas as they come down the pike."

He adds: "To that end, I think things about the ending of 'Breaking Bad' are going to hew pretty close to ideas I had from day one. But I most certainly did not have the whole thing figured out from Day One. And there's quite a bit left to figure out, so there's a lot of invention left to us to come up with before it's all done."

[Brando]

I'll reply to the PTA comments about this episode tomorrow if i have a response. right now I am not sober or seeing any PTA comparison but If I do tomorrow when I rewatch the episode I will comment but right now I don't and will comment on the episode itself.  It was a great episode.  The best of this season. It had all the BB elements we've come to love. It was funny, it was clever, it had Walts nerdy side while also having a bunch of his crazy/Heisenberg side. Walt meeting that kid was so suspenseful.  When he agreed to stay for the beer, was terrifying.

Skyler seeing Walt, Walt Jr and the baby watching Scarface has to be foreshadowing the future right?

[Jeremy Blackman]

Totally loved this episode. And even more than E1 and E2, this one requires a rewatch.

That Scarface scene was the best part for sure. Vince references Scarface in nearly every episode of the podcast, so it was thrilling to see it finally manifested in the show. When I saw that Walt had cheerfully gathered the kids to watch all the bloodshed, I think I gasped. He's just rubbing it in Skylar's face now, tormenting her. He also wants to get his message across: "I am Scarface. We are a Scarface family now. Deal with it."

The fumigation tent reminded me of this X-Files episode (which Vince unfortunately did not write). This was such a visual episode all the way through.

Overall, I think they're getting better at creating iconic images and iconic scenes. Season 4 had its slow passages, but it also had far more iconic scenes than any other season. It seems to be escalating now, even. I love it.

@ Brando - It took me a second, but the Julianne Moore/Magnolia and PSH/PDL comparisons are in reference to Skylar's "shut up" scene. I thought that was a great scene. And original enough that the PTA parallels didn't occur to me. On your other question... from what I've gathered, they planned out the season pretty early and will most likely return to that flash forward. I personally hope it comes as close to the end as possible. Also, despite my initial bitterness, I think it should be called one season. They are only taking the production break because of how much time the writing is taking for this season (i.e. the writers are not really taking a break, even if the production is).

With that last scene, are they really teasing a Walt/Mike standoff? Or is Walt hinting that he wants to kill Mike's guys? I couldn't exactly tell.

The podcast is up, but it's 1 hour and 25 minutes long. Wow. I'll have to listen to it tomorrow.

Side note. I rewatched E1 and E2, and Anna Gunn's "scared of Walt" acting does not always hold up. I mostly forgave it on the first viewing, but some of it is absolutely cringe-worthy... not in the intended way, but in a "she really doesn't know how to play this so she just kind of smushes her face and looks generically frightened" way. I honestly think she will be embarrassed to watch it back and see how it doesn't quite work. She might have made up for some of that in this episode, though.

Another note from rewatching... It now seems even clearer to me that, in the flash forward, Walt is not down on his luck or on the run. He's just sad, no doubt about something family-related.

[malkovich]

Holy shit, tonight's episode displayed by far the best time-elapsing montage this show has ever done. What a fantastic forty seven minutes of television.

[Brando]

Mentioning the Shut up scene makes since and I would have have never made the connection without you referring to it. The thing I most remember bout the Scarface scene was the dialogue of "we all must die" or "we're all gonna die."  I will rewatch it but think that's what was said and I'll update once I rewatch it. 

My impression to that last scene was Walt was seeing things how he wants to see them.  He was upset he has to pay for Gus' mistake.  Gus wasn't sending Walt a secrete message bout how to run a drug business when he cut Victor's throat.  It's Walt's arrogance and everything is about him. he sees it to suit his current situation/ setting up Jessie that Mike might have to be killed.

Does anyone have a count on how many creepy/crazy Walt situations/scenes in this episode?  I have alteast eight I can remember:  Walt sitting next to the kid on the couch 1, Walt moving in without notifying Skyler 2, Walt telling Marie bout Beneke 3, Walt convincing Jesse to break up with his girlfriend 4, Saul asking if Walt is alright with Mike handling the business side of things and Walt saying He handles Mike 5, I think Walt said something creepy when they were discussing the tent house situation 6, the scarface situation 7and then him in the final scene talking about Gus' message 8.

[Pubrick]

The other PTA connection was Jesse Plemons as Todd, one of the fumigation guys.

When Mike was pointing them out you knew he was going to be featured somehow since everyone had a nickname except him. Then later he spotted the nanny cam and I'm pretty sure he'll play a significant role in the story as that guy wouldn't take on the role just for one line, he got into the master for God's sake.

Shut up rankings
1. Julianne Moore
2. PSH
(very distant) 3.  Anna Gunn

[tpfkabi]

Same thing I'm thinking.
He gets to do Friday Night Lights, The Master, and now Breaking Bad?
Lucky dude.