[germanico]

I hate television. Yet I live in a world that is mediatically controlled.

As much as I try, I cant avoid watching, absorbing bits of television every now and then. And most of the time this bits are enough for me to know what is going on around the media.

And every once in a while, something catches my attention.

And I keep on watching.

Breaking bad is one of these shows.

[NFallin]

I enjoy hunting down new tv series' and then just crushing through them if I find them worthwhile.

I find it helps me to unwind and see different viewpoints. Breaking Bad has been satisfying except I've been hoping that walt gets even darker.

I can't recommend the new House of Cards series enough with Kevin Spacey if you're looking for another strong series with dark tendencies. It's not your lame west wing bullshit.

[Captain Ahab]

(03-10-2013 10:35 PM)_GQ_ Wrote:  

Walt has always been evil, even before his cancer.

Feel like writing for some reason so enjoy.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!


I think Walter was a man of great intellect, heart, and ambition who was treated like a beta bitch all of his life.

Eventually, he gained the power over others that he didn't have any other outlet for via his genius level ability to create meth and navigate the criminal underworld unscathed and outplaying everyone (from the criminals to the cops).

I think his desire for power (now that he has changed his ambition from selling meth to cure his cancer to being the best meth dealer in the world, as evidenced by the last season) has completely taken him over. I contend it is the result of an emotional wound that has been constantly opened all of his life-him being a beta bitch, being treated like shit, etc has resulted in him seeking revenge via his desire for power.

Honestly, this guy is just Anakin Skywalker with a chip on his shoulder and no experience in understand the effects of accumulated power.

The great sin of Anakin was he believed his own hype. He was the chosen one, had amazing ability to back it up, and people didn't give him the acknowledgement he deserved (except for the one who turned him, the emperor).

Walter never got the confidence he was missing all of his life until he started selling meth. It gave him the power he always wanted but he has no idea how to control it.

Before Walter was a scientist, rational man, but was too timid and controlled by his nerd side. He had no outlet to express his power, confidence, etc, or even if he did, he didn't have the balls to do it. His cancer in a way was his balls in that it forced him to do things he was afraid of because his life was on the line. Sadly, having not navigated that power before, and never having had the experience of navigating the new found power of confidence and ambition in a mature way, he has gone off the deep end.

He is like the Cyclops in the Odyssey who was the king of his domain all of his life but never ever tasted alcohol (and thus had never been drunk). He was weakened to uselessness by Odysseus, who was much weaker than the Cyclops, but had the experience of strong drink and knew how to navigate its debilitating effects.

The Cyclops did not know how to navigate the debilitating effects of alcohol because he never experienced it, hence he lost his eye.

Walter never had the experience of being a man with power. And now he is going to pay for it.

Walter is completely controlled by his ego and desire for power. His "fall to the darkside" is great to watch but I kinda fear the ending might be cliche.

Unlike Vader, Walter has no path towards redemption other than turning himself in, which would be a pretty shitty ending given he could have done that since Day one. Vader's redemption was perfect in that he tossed the antagonist of the series down a shaft and reconnected with his son. Walter has no great antagonist to destroy, other than himself, and that is where I fear the risk of a cliche is very apparent.

What would be the event that makes him do this? His wife getting pregnant again? His son finding out and saying he wants his dad back?

Another ending is him getting jailed by the cops, a logical conclusion. I figure it would be a safe bet and I could live with it. That won't get the ratings/awards though. The writers will reach for something more creative/ambitious.

I'm assuming the series will go out with a bang, and Walter might find a way to get away or get killed in the end.

Similar to how I felt about Tony Soprano, I started out empathizing with Walter since he had been fucked over by life.

He lost out on his money and status by selling out his stake in the company he help found which became successful ((it has been a while since I have seen the whole series but I think that is what happened)), and had to beg his former partner for money to help save him from cancer (ego blow) had to work at a car wash as a middle aged man while teaching science in high school (ego blow), unable to fuck his wife hard like he used to (ego blow).

Tony was fucked over by his psychotic mother and abusive father...I didn't like that he was a criminal but I understood his pain.

Both these guys I felt sorry for in the beginning.

But like Tony, as the seasons went on, Walter was slowly revealed to be a ruthless criminal, even so much as poisoning an innocent child for his own selfish ends.

He doesn't even resemble who he was in season 1. "Meth-Scarface" finally got all the money and the power....

And now he is completely lost.

He might as well be sniffing shit tons of coke right next to Tony Montana. He is that far gone.


He is Anakin coming out of the lava pit and being fitted for the breathing machine and black helmet.

Exciting to watch but nothing new. Typical hero who has a fall from grace. I guess the writers borrowed a lot from the Greeks.


Maybe he has always been a sociopath. I don't know. I kinda feel it was something that evolved with time due to different life events.

I am anxious to see how it ends though. Thank god summer is right around the corner.

Kinda long winded and sloppy as hell but whatever. I'm tired and drunk.

[NFallin]

He's a man who realized that there was a profitable and exciting way out of his shitty ordinary life that would make use of his unique gifts. He took control of the situation and did what was necessary to continue to thrive in his new chosen line of work.

Either he played the game or he got played. He's playing game for criminals.

[FretDancer]

Ahab, Great post!

[Captain Ahab]

(03-11-2013 01:18 AM)FretDancer Wrote:  

Ahab, Great post!

Thanks. I kinda felt like I was all over the place, slurring speech and what not, but yeah....Walter is quite a case study.

Breaking Bad is the truth.

[InternationPlayboy]

(03-10-2013 10:50 PM)germanico Wrote:  

I hate television. Yet I live in a world that is mediatically controlled.

As much as I try, I cant avoid watching, absorbing bits of television every now and then. And most of the time this bits are enough for me to know what is going on around the media.

And every once in a while, something catches my attention.

And I keep on watching.

Breaking bad is one of these shows.

I'm the same.

All I want to say though, is FUCK HALF SEASONS. I don't watch TV often or have cable, so I watch breaking bad through the internet. You can imagine how pissed off I was when I went to stream episode 9, only to come to find out I had to wait a whole other year to see it. Why must you fuck with me like that AMC?

[FretDancer]

(03-11-2013 07:18 PM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  

(03-10-2013 10:50 PM)germanico Wrote:  

I hate television. Yet I live in a world that is mediatically controlled.

As much as I try, I cant avoid watching, absorbing bits of television every now and then. And most of the time this bits are enough for me to know what is going on around the media.

And every once in a while, something catches my attention.

And I keep on watching.

Breaking bad is one of these shows.

I'm the same.

All I want to say though, is FUCK HALF SEASONS. I don't watch TV often or have cable, so I watch breaking bad through the internet. You can imagine how pissed off I was when I went to stream episode 9, only to come to find out I had to wait a whole other year to see it. Why must you fuck with me like that AMC?

Not sure about the "whole other year" thing. I think the last part of the last season will come this summer, probably around June.

[Suits]

I'm curious what other forum members feel about the depiction of women on the show.

In the end, its Walt who gets things done. He establishes himself on several occasions as pretty damn alpha, despite some severe personality problems that prevent him from being completely actualized.

However, his wife and the DEA agent's wife are obnoxious.

While I think that they are usually good depictions of women, as useless creatures, two things bother me.

(1) Are the director/script writers too kind in their depiction? Walt's wife is annoyingly female lots of times, but she has the ability to get things down, like convincing a locksmith to open a door for her or convincing the IRS that she's just a dumb, floosy accountant. I find these sequences pretty unbelievable, due to her poor acting ability (is this scripted) and the stupidity of the scripting around these scenes altogether.

(2) Is the intention of the script writers/director to use these female characters as a realistic second side to the battle of the sexes? If so, I think the effort fails horrible, because as obstinate as Walt is, the women still come across as super useless.

However, Walt makes some strategic errors large enough to make his wife seem clever, such as buying his son an expensive sports car when they are supposed to be super poor. What's up with this? If it wasn't for his stupidity like this, she wouldn't even have a leg to stand on.

[TheSlayer]

(08-06-2013 06:24 PM)Suits Wrote:  

I'm curious what other forum members feel about the depiction of women on the show.

In the end, its Walt who gets things done. He establishes himself on several occasions as pretty damn alpha, despite some severe personality problems that prevent him from being completely actualized.

However, his wife and the DEA agent's wife are obnoxious.

While I think that they are usually good depictions of women, as useless creatures, two things bother me.

(1) Are the director/script writers too kind in their depiction? Walt's wife is annoyingly female lots of times, but she has the ability to get things down, like convincing a locksmith to open a door for her or convincing the IRS that she's just a dumb, floosy accountant. I find these sequences pretty unbelievable, due to her poor acting ability (is this scripted) and the stupidity of the scripting around these scenes altogether.

(2) Is the intention of the script writers/director to use these female characters as a realistic second side to the battle of the sexes? If so, I think the effort fails horrible, because as obstinate as Walt is, the women still come across as super useless.

However, Walt makes some strategic errors large enough to make his wife seem clever, such as buying his son an expensive sports car when they are supposed to be super poor. What's up with this? If it wasn't for his stupidity like this, she wouldn't even have a leg to stand on.

The entire show is about Walt's ego/personality/sense of humanity. His descent into madness and a complete transformation from a bumbling beta to an evil owner of a meth empire. Walt started the show as a defeated middle aged man, the kind we often talk about in this section ('Everything Else') and vow not to become as we get older. He has been defeated by life and could have been a billionaire but instead works a shitty job as a teacher making 50k.

The women on the show serve two purposes. For one they serve as a moral compass (although Skyler herself as broken bad) and secondly, they do portray the modern day narcissistic North American woman (Marie).

Skyler sleeps with Ted, gets into money laundering, gives away his money, intimidates Ted and then becomes scared and starts hating Walt. Marie on the other hand is the narcissistic, a little superficial, and a slightly dumb woman on the show. Her role is to really be someone whom Skyler can share her feelings without telling her the truth. Marie also is unable to keep a secret and anytime anyone tells her anything she can't keep her mouth closed.

I wouldn't say Walt is really an alpha or beta. He is shown as someone who was defeated by life and now thinks that the world owes him a little. This is why he was so unwilling to quit during the middle of the season 5 when Jesse and Mike wanted out. The women in his life are important but only because he really cares about family. The entire show is about how his changing into a criminal impacts the people around him in direct and indirect ways. For this purpose, Skyler and Marie are important.

In the end, I hope Vince Gilligan doesn't end the show as some sort of lesson in morality. I do think Walt will die but it would be cool to see him escape and be on the run forever.

[Mack Four]

@Suits.

If you think women are useless creatures, son, I feel sorry for you. I think you may be in for a life of tremendous unhappiness. A good woman, and I stress the word "good", can be an incredible lift on your life. Hard to find and generally not worth keeping long term (as they tend to sour like milk over time) they are out there. Find them and enjoy them while they're bodies are still young, their minds still free and their hearts still unencubered by bitterness.

As to your larger point, Skyler is a cunt. She was disloyal to a man who is loyal to her to a fault. Many men in his position would have killed her ass.

And this is why I'm a Walter White fan. For all his faults he remained loyal both to his family and to his partner. Risking his life and freedom, on multiple occasions, to protect them all. As a Libertarian I am not a fan of laws and rules so I don't see him as evil as most others do. I see him as capable and effective if deeply flawed. Yes he poisoned that kid, but he's a chemistry expert and it was a non lethal dose. That should tell you something...

[Tigre]

(08-06-2013 06:58 PM)TheSlayer Wrote:  

The women on the show serve two purposes. For one they serve as a moral compass (although Skyler herself as broken bad) and secondly, they do portray the modern day narcissistic North American woman (Marie).

Great analysis.

While the events of previous episodes are not fresh in my mind right now... I never got the feeling that either of the wives were so awful. Suits, how exactly do you reach that conclusion?

If you wanted to write a cuntish female character, Marie would leave Hank once he's in rehab to overcome his injuries. That doesn't happen.

When Walt's children need to stay at Marie's house for weeks on end, it's no problem. They have an open invitation. I really don't see her as a selfish character. Maybe I'm forgetting something in past seasons?

[TheSlayer]

So the first of the final 8 episodes airs tonight. Let's have some predictions.

My prediction:

Walter kills Hank.

Skyler and Walter Jr. die. Holly (Walt's daughter ends up with Marie).

Jesse either runs or gets killed.

Final prediction: Walt is able to escape (although it was shown in the flash forward that the cancer is back) and has his money but he has lost his entire family. The reason he started cooking meth has ceased to exist.

I don't think Breaking Bad is the kind of show where they have to show Walt dying violently because he was bad and they want to preach some sort of morality lesson about drugs. It is very possibly that Walt will die but I think some of the more innocent people around him too (Hank, Skyler, his son).

What do you guys think?

[Spider]

Was super hyped for tonight, but the resort I'm staying at in Puerto Rico doesn't have AMC (it has every other channel tho, fuck)

Any ways to stream it HD?? I have wifi but I'd rather wait till I'm home if its gonna be blurry and laggy...

I think Walt will get killed or it'll wind up like Godfather III where someone (or multiple people) close to him get killed...and his life is essentially ruined.

[TheSlayer]

(08-11-2013 05:35 PM)Spider Wrote:  

Was super hyped for tonight, but the resort I'm staying at in Puerto Rico doesn't have AMC (it has every other channel tho, fuck)

Any ways to stream it HD?? I have wifi but I'd rather wait till I'm home if its gonna be blurry and laggy...

I think Walt will get killed or it'll wind up like Godfather III where someone (or multiple people) close to him get killed...and his life is essentially ruined.

If you have decent wi-fi you can just wait an hour or two after the show is aired and download a very good quality HD torrent. I would rather do that then watch it blurry and laggy online.

[bodmon]

(08-11-2013 05:35 PM)Spider Wrote:  

Was super hyped for tonight, but the resort I'm staying at in Puerto Rico doesn't have AMC (it has every other channel tho, fuck)

Any ways to stream it HD?? I have wifi but I'd rather wait till I'm home if its gonna be blurry and laggy...

whatever you do, tread lightly

[Nonpareil]

(08-06-2013 06:24 PM)Suits Wrote:  

I'm curious what other forum members feel about the depiction of women on the show.

There seems to be some big hate-on for Skyler, and I really don't get it. Did she fuck up? Yeah. Has she made some boneheaded decisions? Yeah. Is she at times a cunt? Yeah.

But given her situation, none of which she asked for, no more really than any average woman, and she obviously cares about her family and wants them to be safe, it's not like she's Betty Draper, who has the keys to the kingdom but gets upset when Don engages in some (socially acceptable at the time) side action. Sure she could have handled it better, but she's just not very bright (Walt's only where he is because of his great intelligence).

Marie is intolerable. She can't keep her mouth shut, constantly spouts off answers to questions that nobody asks, and despite having wide-set eyes, a high forehead and nice lips, has an enormous manjaw. I suspect that she has a mild form of some Obsessive Disorder.

HOWEVER, her sticking with Hank when he had his injuries was very admirable of her.

Lydia, who was introduced last season, I definitely don't like. Neuroses visible from space, snobby, uptight and probably suffering from Asperger's, I really hope she isn't the one who fucks up Walt's roll. Mike should have shot her in the head when he had the chance.

About the only chick I really liked was Jane, who Walter let die back in season two. She was feminine in a gothy way, she didn't bullshit and up until Jesse came around and fucked everything up, she had her shit together.

So in conclusion, despite articles bemoaning the show's treatment of female characters (why some people need to look at entertainment through the lens of social dynamics is beyond me), I really don't think any of the women are treated poorly or with inaccuracy.

My only beef with the show, and the reason I still prefer Mad Men (despite finding the most recent season a little lacking)? Outside of the long-time-coming clash between Walt and Hank, the family stuff? I give less than two shits about Skyler not wanting to fuck him anymore, or his relationship with his whiny emo son, or Marie stealing anything that isn't bolted down. It was cool and good to show the contrast when everyone was in the dark about Walt's meth cooking, but now I'm like 'What's the point?', the family stuff feels like just more space in between the next crazy scheme Walt hatches.

Tonight's premiere...pretty damn good. No spoilers, but shit is going to go down and it is going to be awesome.

[Eirykr]

(08-11-2013 10:53 PM)Nonpareil Wrote:  

About the only chick I really liked was Jane, who Walter let die back in season two. She was feminine in a gothy way, she didn't bullshit and up until Jesse came around and fucked everything up, she had her shit together

Walt let Jane die because she was trying to blackmail him and manipulating Jesse, which got in the way of their team dynamic. She was a bad influence on Jesse too, getting him into drug binges and the like. For all we know she could have left Jesse after a fight and either turned him in or stolen all his money (something she seemed especially interested in). Better she died.

[Nonpareil]

(08-12-2013 12:06 AM)Eirykr Wrote:  

(08-11-2013 10:53 PM)Nonpareil Wrote:  

About the only chick I really liked was Jane, who Walter let die back in season two. She was feminine in a gothy way, she didn't bullshit and up until Jesse came around and fucked everything up, she had her shit together

Walt let Jane die because she was trying to blackmail him and manipulating Jesse, which got in the way of their team dynamic. She was a bad influence on Jesse too, getting him into drug binges and the like. For all we know she could have left Jesse after a fight and either turned him in or stolen all his money (something she seemed especially interested in). Better she died.

No doubt she needed to go; 90% chance that with Jesse's money, the two of them are dead within a few months, and her death is still one of the most haunting, evil things Walter has ever done.

However, I disagree with Walt here. It's not his job to hold on to Jesse's cash for him, especially since they were going to start working for Fring (who can keep a lid on things like that), just more him being self-righteous and buying into his own hubris. As Captain Ahab pointed out; Walter White buying all the hype about Walter White will be his downfall (and you could argue that keeping Gale's copy of Leaves of Grass by the toilet, like an idiot, was the first step in this...though I'm questioning Mike's choice to go all the way from the backyard to the toilet in the master bedroom to take a shit, when everyone was already outside and there was definitely a closer bathroom available).

I'm pretty sure that Jesse got her back into drugs, not totally, though, all I meant is that I dug the character; didn't take any shit but wasn't a bitch about it (until she unwisely tried to fuck with Walt), had a talent (art), liked Jesse even though she had some idea who he was (drug dealing lowlifes never get good pussy... ... ...), easily bangable etc,. etc,.

[reaper23]

I would fuck the hell out of lydia. thats just the kind of bitch i like to turn out. ones that think they are all tough. make them mine. and then dump them.

[JimNortonFan]

http://www.uproxx.com/tv/2013/08/what-th...years-ago/

Critics on Breaking Bad.

[Dantes]

(02-04-2012 09:18 AM)Laner Wrote:  

That is an excellent video for sure.

Also one of the best TV series ever.

Even the biggest betas can access the badass in themselves. I remember from the first season Walt's wife was tormenting him about sending a few bucks at Staples and he just took it. I love the development of his character.

[Roadrunner]

Today's Breaking Bad is THE BOMB!! Hank Schrader is the leader of a drug empire!

[Ensam]

God Damn. Who knew Walter White was as good of an actor as Bryan Cranston?

[la_mode]

Decent show but panders heavily to American white trash at the same time.