Breaking Bad

[actwithoutwords]

I thought the bit where Walt was able to predict his brother-in-law's actions in advance so he could bug his office/computer was really dumb. And the climax was like something out of a Bond movie with lots of shots of a time bomb about to go off, but in this instance it was a gauge on a tank.

In fairness, the point of the office scene was that Walt knew that Hank would panic in the face of a man emoting in front of him. It was tongue in cheek as well as convenient.
I would agree though that in general the writing of this episode was not up to scratch. A lot of clunky exposition and cliche. Still though, the last scene delivered a gut punch greater than anything I've seen in a while.

[B_Buster]

If getting gut punched is your thing, you might want to check out The First 48. Kids get killed senselessly every week. And it's true!

[buffcoat]

If getting gut punched is your thing, you might want to check out The First 48. Kids get killed senselessly every week. And it's true!

Such enthusiasm.

[not that clay]

I thought the bit where Walt was able to predict his brother-in-law's actions in advance so he could bug his office/computer was really dumb. And the climax was like something out of a Bond movie with lots of shots of a time bomb about to go off, but in this instance it was a gauge on a tank.

In fairness, the point of the office scene was that Walt knew that Hank would panic in the face of a man emoting in front of him. It was tongue in cheek as well as convenient.
I would agree though that in general the writing of this episode was not up to scratch. A lot of clunky exposition and cliche. Still though, the last scene delivered a gut punch greater than anything I've seen in a while.

I'm not callous and I'm not into the bad-ass thing either, so I was surprised that the kid getting shot cracked me up. I think it's because the show is a little "Oh my God! They killed Kenny!" when it comes to Jesse. Or maybe because their heist was so stupid I would have laughed at anything that happened next.

[dave from knoxville]

I never knew you were such a big fan of creaky writing and visual cliches, Dave.

They define me!

[dave from knoxville]

This week's outlook on Walt killing his entire family:

WEAK TO FAIR.


(And it's not capital-G Good Writing. It's capital-F Fun Writing. And Fun writing is good.)

Agreed. I am not looking for a life-changing philosophy from the show.

[~L]

Walt is a manipulator.  The new guy was the new pawn, set up to kill any witnesses (protect the mission at any costs, was the vow Walt had him take). In this case, the witness happened to be a cute, Thunderdome-ism kid out catching tarantulas. Walt and Jesse didn't have to deal with deciding what to do about the kid, and they, especially Walt, remain seemingly, innocent of the death.

[not that clay]

Ok, I guess a lot of people thought the ending was ridiculous:


Breaking Bad - Dead Freight End Scene Director's Cut

[cavorting with nudists]

Just an observation: Is there a sadder swimming pool in all of TV or cinema than Walter's? Nobody ever has any fun in it, whenever we see it it looks seedy and neglected, and it's always shown sunless, on the shaded side of the house.  And at least as of the end of Season 4, its only narrative functions have been to collect airplane-crash debris and drunk-son vomit, and to have Walter sit alone by it contemplating the horror of his existence.

[cavorting with nudists]

--oh, and also sit by it hatching a particularly evil scheme, of course, but no wonder--sitting by that pit of despair would drive anyone to desperate measures.

[Kormod]

Walt and Skyler go swimming in it in Season 5. It's pretty cute.

[cutout]

Breaking Bad Spin-Off Series!

[cutout]

Breaking Bad - Mentos Commercial

[cutout]

Happier times -

[thom]

This week's outlook on Walt killing his entire family:

FAIR to GOOD.