Breaking Bad

[moqui]

Br Ba was different - it elevated the medium. I never mentioned it in comparison with Sopranos or Lost, but since you brought it up - Br Ba's finale was vastly superior to both. But that is not the point of my criticism. I purposely called it Dostoevskian because it was that good. It was not just disposable, television entertainment, it was high art, or at least the among the very highest artistic achievements in the television medium. The conclusion, though satisfying, simply was not up to the previous standards set by Br Ba itself. That still makes it better than almost everything out there.

what I'm saying is that something can be good and disappointing at the same time.

 

[MCC]

I concur the finale was disappointing... so much so that I find myself unable to muster sufficient enthusiasm to enter the dialogue here. I think Moqui has pretty much nailed it, which makes it easier for me to stay out of the debate.

Also concur that Breaking Bad was better than Sopranos (although it pains me to say so) and about as close to art as this medium gets.

I'll only suggest that a finale can tie up all the loose ends and still be spectacular: the finale to The Shield was IMO as good as it gets.

 

[AZOrange]

I loved that show from day one and by early in the second season I was telling all who would listen (and many who would not) that it was the best show ever . . . I am not just being contrarian; I am a true aficionado, disappointed by a finale that I believe somewhat lessened an otherwise significant artistic achievement. To me, the greatness of Breaking Bad was in its thematic structure and development, not its set pieces (which were great in and of themselves, too).

if you liked it, you liked it, and I can't argue anyone out of that, nor do I want to, but in the fullness of time I believe that the finale will be recognized by critics as the kind of lazy writing more typically associated with Dexter. Gilligan himself has said all along that the show was about the moral destruction of a man and the devastation that it wreaks all around him . . . until it wasn't.

Gilligan wrote a Dostoevskyian tale wherein everyone associated with Walt was visited with death or ruin, but then wrapped it up with a Peckinpah finish where suddenly Walt got to be the hero and save his family and partner after all - it was a 180 degree swerve out of character with the show to that point and with the interviews Gilligan has been giving for six years, in which he has consistently stated that all sins must have a reckoning.

Gilligan told darth vaders story.

 

[PeteCalvin]

Gilligan told darth vaders story.

And even better than George Lucas did in the prequels!!!!

 

[themole]

You should listen to the insider podcast if you don't already. Gilligan basically said this was the only season they wrote "inorganically" as in they knew roughly where it was going to go and had to put the pieces together to get there. I def think this season hurt because of that.
In previous seasons they allude to them "organically" writing episode to episode without knowing where it would head.

They definitely knew where Season 2 was headed. I've read that before, plus it's kinda obvious it had to be given the teddy bear flashforwards. Season 3 was the one that was totally inorganic (at first the Cousins were to be the big bads, then they decided to kill them off midway through)

The thing with the not looking in the trunk is more a slight plot hole than a deux ex machina. That's when an outside force resolves an unresolvable situation. Like, when, say, a character wakes up and everything had been a dream. Problem solved! Another example is the amulet used in the finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or what happens in Las Vegas at the climax of the novel The Stand.

 

[Noexcuse]

They definitely knew where Season 2 was headed. I've read that before, plus it's kinda obvious it had to be given the teddy bear flashforwards. Season 3 was the one that was totally inorganic (at first the Cousins were to be the big bads, then they decided to kill them off midway through)

The thing with the not looking in the trunk is more a slight plot hole than a deux ex machina. That's when an outside force resolves an unresolvable situation. Like, when, say, a character wakes up and everything had been a dream. Problem solved! Another example is the amulet used in the finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or what happens in Las Vegas at the climax of the novel The Stand.

Here's my view of it (fwiw). Kenny was so taken by the classic car that Walt drove up in and was trying to figure out if it was the "500" or the "450" that it taxed his brain to the point that when he figured it out, he forgot to check the trunk. He was licking his chops thinking it was going to be his ride after they offed Walt.

 

[CuseCPT]

Mr. White finally built that robot.

 

[moqui]

They definitely knew where Season 2 was headed. I've read that before, plus it's kinda obvious it had to be given the teddy bear flashforwards. Season 3 was the one that was totally inorganic (at first the Cousins were to be the big bads, then they decided to kill them off midway through)

The thing with the not looking in the trunk is more a slight plot hole than a deux ex machina. That's when an outside force resolves an unresolvable situation. Like, when, say, a character wakes up and everything had been a dream. Problem solved! Another example is the amulet used in the finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or what happens in Las Vegas at the climax of the novel The Stand.

a remotely operated machine gun popping out of a perfectly placed trunk, aligned in the perfect direction, firing through concrete walls, and killing everyone who needed to be killed and nobody who the plot needed to survive is a deus ex machina - a literal machine that performs the godlike function of saving the screenwriter's ass

 

[CuseCPT]

Moqui, I actually don't think you're being contrarian on this one. As much as I found the ending to be satisfying, a satisfying ending feels a little out of place in this show. I thought the Lost ending was courageous for being so satisfying, here it was kind of a a cop-out. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but I think a Requiem For A Dream, holy this depressing ending would have felt more in tune.

 

[DNABB5]

So I have avoided the out of this thread for a while, but thanks to Netflix and some shady people in Russia/the Chech Republic I finally have seen every episode in about a 3 week span.

Having said that, and given that I am a smart mofo that just got into movie making and production and see every little continuity and lighting error in anything now, I am of the firm opinion that Breaking Bad is the best TV show ever made. Period.

See, for me, being a chemistry nerd who never finished (how many people have 195 credits and no degree?) I had always saved making meth as a last resort. I had said that since 1997. The chemistry is "easy" Now, I find my hometown in NY is ripe with actual meth labs. Many starting because of this show, which as Moqui has stated, really took the 1-hour TV drama to a level of art never before seen.

I was both disappointed and satisfied with the ending.

So I bumped the crap out of this thread.

 

[MCC]

So I have avoided the out of this thread for a while, but thanks to Netflix and some shady people in Russia/the Chech Republic I finally have seen every episode in about a 3 week span.

Having said that, and given that I am a smart mofo that just got into movie making and production and see every little continuity and lighting error in anything now, I am of the firm opinion that Breaking Bad is the best TV show ever made. Period.

See, for me, being a chemistry nerd who never finished (how many people have 195 credits and no degree?) I had always saved making meth as a last resort. I had said that since 1997. The chemistry is "easy" Now, I find my hometown in NY is ripe with actual meth labs. Many starting because of this show, which as Moqui has stated, really took the 1-hour TV drama to a level of art never before seen.

I was both disappointed and satisfied with the ending.

So I bumped the crap out of this thread.

I'm conflicted with the ending as well. I really liked Walter's antiheroic rise and was hoping he'd wipe out his enemies (including Hank) and be left with his $80M and no family to speak of - then the cancer comes back and he dies alone, just as conflicted as I would've been. I seem to lack a moral compass and I had no problems with the things Walt did, and if anything liked him more as the series progressed.

His denouement as depicted in the last episodes was predictable, but minimizing Jessie's screen time and engineering Hank's death via Jack's crew left me wanting.

Since you have a chemistry background, what did you think Walt's use of mercury fulminate in S01E06? I thought it was interesting but the effects of the fulminate overblown. Lead azide now... then again, no way Walter's carrying that around outside of an insulated container so probably a no go.

 

[Guinness]

I'm conflicted with the ending as well. I really liked Walter's antiheroic rise and was hoping he'd wipe out his enemies (including Hank) and be left with his $80M and no family to speak of - then the cancer comes back and he dies alone, just as conflicted as I would've been. I seem to lack a moral compass and I had no problems with the things Walt did, and if anything liked him more as the series progressed.

His denouement as depicted in the last episodes was predictable, but minimizing Jessie's screen time and engineering Hank's death via Jack's crew left me wanting.

Since you have a chemistry background, what did you think Walt's use of mercury fulminate in S01E06? I thought it was interesting but the effects of the fulminate overblown. Lead azide now... then again, no way Walter's carrying that around outside of an insulated container so probably a no go.

You should check out the Myth Busters episode that covers Breaking Bad. They tested the effects of mercury fulminate.


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[DNABB5]

Since you have a chemistry background, what did you think Walt's use of mercury fulminate in S01E06? I thought it was interesting but the effects of the fulminate overblown. Lead azide now... then again, no way Walter's carrying that around outside of an insulated container so probably a no go.

Overblown in that where did the flames come from and inconsistent in that fact the bag didn't explode from the shockwave? Plus I don't think they can be grown that big. If Walt was that close to detonation since he threw it, would he not have been deafened for good? It made for compelling TV though. Now, if he had used nitrogen triiodide it would have been cooler to me as my favorite bar gag was to put a microspatula of it in an ashtray and wait...

The Ricin extraction and use was very cool though. I did enjoy having the opportunity explaining the toxicity to anyone that asked, and even those that didn't.

 

[Ragman2000]

Whoa...watching Saving Private Ryan and the next in command under George Marshall who raises the issue of the three brothers killed in action is none other than a noticeably younger Bryan Cranston. Cool, had no idea.

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[jekelish]

Yeah, he plays a one armed dude and often tells the story about how he really didn't have a lot to do in the film, so he came up with this big thing about carefully making himself some coffee with just one arm, suggested it to Spielberg, who loved it, but told him it didn't really have a place in the movie since the film was going to be so long anyway.

 

[Noexcuse]

Yeah, he plays a one armed dude and often tells the story about how he really didn't have a lot to do in the film, so he came up with this big thing about carefully making himself some coffee with just one arm, suggested it to Spielberg, who loved it, but told him it didn't really have a place in the movie since the film was going to be so long anyway.

Fellini would have used it.

 

[Pearl309]

Gus Fring is in the prison scene in Trading Places after billy ray valentine (Eddie Murphy) gets arrested at the beginning.