Breaking Bad

[Drenk]

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.

Yeah, that's not what I think it is; he's "saving" Skyler. He knows the cops are listening. His wife threatened him with a knife. His son called 911. It's over. He gave up Holly too. We know that Skyler is not a victim; as Jr said, she's as bad as him because she was his partner. But the cops don't know that, that's why he acts "cartoonish".

[©brad]

Yeah he's definitely trying to save her as best he can at that point. That being said I feel parts of that phone call were sincere. It's messy.

The meta bit isn't a big thing, I just felt a small part of that was the writers saying "okay haters, this is what you wanted him to say all along right? You happy now?"

[modage]

As far as Walt's motivation goes, the only legitimate reason for him to make the call is to let Skyler off the hook. It's the biggest gift he could give her at this point (that and their daughter back which he does in the following scene). He did not just call up Skyler to call her a bitch and gloat. He called her to let her off the hook with the cops, taking all the blame, saying she had no choice. Period. If there were moments where his real frustrations slipped in there, it was only to help sell this lie. So maybe like 85% staged and 15% "real" Walt? He is breaking down crying at the end of the scene. That's real. Him calling her a bitch was just performance. He's crushed that his family views him as a monster and also knows that with the lies upon lies upon lies, there is no way he can explain to them that he did everything he could to save Hank, but it wasn't enough.

[Pubrick]

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.

did you read anything else in this thread?

it was primarily to absolve skylar of any guilt in the eyes of the law. the specific things he mentioned functioned thus:

- first the bit where skylar caught on: he starts mocking her and he fabricates a quote where she supposedly pleaded "walt you have to stop this, it's immoral, it's illegal someone might get hurt!" the camera slowly pushes in and you see her trying to make sense of what is really going on here, you see her mind working.. she knows he's not dumb enough to believe that the cops aren't there, Flynn CALLED THEM as he fled the house!

- the next few lines are really just keeping in line with what the cops already think of him, that he attacked his wife and stole their kid, he reprimands her for telling Flynn what he does and belittles her some more, the cops won't doubt he's a monster capable of subduing his family to his whim.

- after he says "you stupid bitch! how dare you.." then we see him breaking character visually, this is after we've seen skylar come to her own realisation, we are now shown what she knows, and i think she can even envision what we are seeing.. that this must be some real duplicitous act by walt for their own good. and that he has some humanity still, which we see in that moment of silence, and it is heartbreaking.

- when she says "i'm sorry" i think she really means it, but not in the way of apology, rather in a lamentation of the way things have had to go.  at this point she is also playing two parts in the scene, she's doing the exact same thing he is doing. she knows she was just as bloodthirsty as he was, all the shit he just said is very far from the truth, and she can't forget her part in that. if anyone is able to see any redeeming qualities in walt, skylar comes as close as anyone is able to get by seeing herself in him. she went heisenberg too.

- in the next part he goes on about how she has no right to discuss his business because only he knows, and all along she is just silently nodding as in yeah i'm with you i'm gonna let you play out the rest of your plan.

- why does he claim responsibility for hanks death? if he blamed the nazis they'd most definitely come after him and his family with full force for snitching. and it plays into the narrative he's creating anyway. i don't really think skylar is that shocked about Hank, it's marie who is hit the hardest.

- then skylar asks him to return holly and to come home.. i can't even tell what's true and not at this point. the first part or both?

i dunno, i think skylar understands walts actions better than she lets on. not just in the phone call but in general. just like walt has some humanity left deep down inside him, skylar has that same monster deep down inside her. this phone call was their final acknowledgment of this. they're kindred spirits really.

let's break down some more scenes!

[Brando]

Damn

Giving up Jesse. Telling Jesse about Jane

Family altercation Damn, Damn

Taking Holly. Goddamn

What the fuck did Todd do to Jesse? I'm glad they didn't show it cause it's so much more disturbing not knowing. Is Jesse Todd's pet now? Is he the spider? I rewatched the episode and Todd calmly suggests torturing Jesse and then suggest he could be the one to do it. Todd is creepiest and most disturbing characters ever while still being completely understated.

I don't think we've seen yet what bring Walt out of hiding. It looks like Walt is trying to do the best thing for his family which is taking the blame for everything and disappearing. Something elses is gonna have to happen to bring him back. I agree with a previous post mentioning that Lydia needs to be playing a part soon. They've set her a lot this season and doesn't make sense for her to be on the sideline for the remaining part of the season.

Surprised to see that some people were confused over Walt's phone call. I thought it was obvious what Walt was doing and obvious Skyler knew too.

Also surprised to learn people watch next week teasers. After a next week teaser on the final season of The Wire spoiled the return of a character, I have not watched another next week teaser.

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.

I called Walt using Sual's guy over a year ago after s05e01. Just ignore the things where I suggest Skyler did it too.

So his real birthday must be the same as the fake. This show continues to call back to previous plot points.  Maybe this new identity of Walt's was set up by Saul's guy from last season. Maybe he disappeared Walt and his family but Skyler refused to go with Walt so they disappeared separately. It makes since that Walt has been living a better part of a year alone with a new identity with no idea where his family is and he has nothing to lose so buys a huge fucking gun at a denny's. Its not the same Denny's from last season's first episode Box Cutter is it?

I don't know if I should be impressed you predicted Walt telling Jesse about Jane or disturbed. Those type of things Walt does only in pure evil I can never see coming and really get to me.

[Mel]

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.

He made his mind earlier - by stealing baby (recall how Skyler reacted, when Marie was about to take Holly). Would be phone call more hurtful than that? It isn't only a lie for me. After Hank's death, Walt starts coming to terms with himself. Phone call is almost a self-fulfilling prophecy - they have roles to play and this time there is no way back (positions on chessboard?). Is there humanity left in Walt or in this scene he cleansed himself from humanity for good?

Of course we can make things simpler, if we ignore some parts:
- Walt redeemed himself by almost saving Hank (if we skip part where he invited party to desert 5 minutes earlier)
- Walt redeemed himself by telling the truth about Jane (if we forget that he almost killed Jesse 30 seconds earlier)
- Walt redeemed himself by taking blame in phone call (if we ignore fact, that he was about to run away with Holly)

For me it is too late, too little. I no longer see Walt as protagonist.

[Pubrick]

Of course we can make things simpler, if we ignore some parts:
- Walt redeemed himself by almost saving Hank (if we skip part where he invited party to desert 5 minutes earlier)
- Walt redeemed himself by telling the truth about Jane (if we forget that he almost killed Jesse 30 seconds earlier)
- Walt redeemed himself by taking blame in phone call (if we ignore fact, that he was about to run away with Holly)

the third point is the only one that makes any sense. and even then not that much.

1 he didn't order the dudes to kill hank, he called them OFF because he specifically did not want that to happen.
2 no one thinks that telling the truth about jane is a redeeming act. it was a spiteful act said in the heat of the moment to further defeat jesse.
3 the fact he was about to run away with holly and then changed his mind is probably the whole catalyst for the phone call. THAT's an actual redemption, at least a change of heart for the better. which is kind of the definition of redemption isn't it?

walt has shown enough humanity in these last few episodes, especially this one, to earn a sliver of hope that some form of redemption may still occur.

[©brad]

Am I the only one useless at work today? My stomach is still in knots.

[Alexandro]

this was probably the best episode in the series and one of the very best things i've ever seen on tv.
did anyone else notice the godfather 3 style editing?
SPOILERS FOR THIS AND FOR GODFATHER 3

when walter reacts to hank's death his screams are in mute for a moment before turning on the sound just like pacino when sofia coppola dies in gf3.

[modage]

And also...



via... http://www.vulture.com/2013/09/breaking-bad-easter-egg-ozymandias-walt-gus-fring.html

[tpfkabi]

I kinda felt Walt taking Holly was the only way to probably ever spend time with his daughter. After everything that happened he would probably never be able to hold her again. Best case scenario would be that Walt spends life in jail and could only see her if she visited him. Most likely she would grow up resenting him and not visit - unless Skylar treats Walt as a hero to the children and encourages it. That's looking down many rabbit holes though. In current times, Walt will probably never hold Holly again.

In regards to the flashback - was that a direct scene from an early episode? I haven't watched any older episodes in a long time. Just curious if it was a direct lift, re-edit, deleted scene, or even a new scene made to look old.

[ono]

The cold open was the last scene ever filmed.

[Frederico Fellini]

And also...



via... http://www.vulture.com/2013/09/breaking-bad-easter-egg-ozymandias-walt-gus-fring.html

Uhm interesting. Jesse had half his face completely destroyed and the other half was fine. Just like Gus at his moment of death.

[©brad]

Pretend the flash-forwards never happened. If Ozymandias was the series finale, would you be satisfied? I wouldn't like how it ended for Jesse, rotting away as a meth cook/slave again, but overall I would say hell yes.

[Reel]

Pretend the flash-forwards never happened. If Ozymandias was the series finale, would you be satisfied?

Fuck NOOOOOO!!! I want to see Nazi brains EVERYWHERE.