Breaking Bad II - Always say "thank you" to Walt.

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All caught up now in preparation for Monday, our time.

Three little thoughts on the last few episodes...

Many people here criticised the writing in S05E07, with Mike allowing Walt to bring him the bag. I'm fine with that. He was in a crazy state, trying to outrun a heap of cops and thinking of his daughter. Saul flat-out refused, and he cared too much for Jesse. If there was anything to be critical of re Mike's handling of Walt in the last few eps it was tying him to a heater with only a cable tie.

Love the tiniest show of regret on Walt's face when Lydia shakes his hand and says "we're going to make a lot of money together" in S05E08. Just impeccable acting from Bryan Cranston. He managed, in half a second, to convey a pang of regret over agreeing to expand his business, but losing part of the control that he has worked so hard to get, the control that feeds off his ego.

And that Crystal Blue Persuasion montage is sweet.
 
All caught up now in preparation for Monday, our time.

Two little thoughts on the last few episodes...

Many people here criticised the writing in S05E07, with Mike allowing Walt to bring him the bag. I'm fine with that. He was in a crazy state, trying to outrun a heap of cops and thinking of his daughter. Saul flat-out refused, and he cared too much for Jesse. If there was anything to be critical of re Mike's handling of Walt in the last few eps it was tying him to a heater with only a cable tie.

Completely the opposite. Tying him to a heater was in the moment where every second counted and where there was a high probability of rush decisions being made. In the second example, there were hours of preparation and thinking about many possible permutations that could go wrong - he was well aware that the gun was on the top of that bag, he was more than well aware that Walt is a back-stabbing bastard with whom he had so many disagreements and unbearable tension, and turning his back on him or not pulling a gun on him during their rendezvous, while being absolutely aware that he could have taken that gun, is just improbable to me and a sign of slippery writing. It's the one thing about this show so far I'm really critical about, since it was a very important character and I feel the circumstances leading to his death could have been handled better.
 
I get where you're coming from in the first instance, I guess I just see his death different to most. Either way, it sucked to lose him.

Hoping we get some Gus flashbacks in the remaining eps.
 
Besides the picture at the top and byline, you mean? There's been so much written about Breaking Bad this week that contextualization isn't the worst angle to take.
 
Besides the picture at the top and byline, you mean? There's been so much written about Breaking Bad this week that contextualization isn't the worst angle to take.

Yes. I read through the first paragraph or two and stopped when I realized I could give a fuck less about all of that BS.
 
Finished the rewatch on Wednesday, including that bonus scene on the DVD. It's set during the three month montage and confirms a couple of character points that were hinted at in the show:

Saul shows up at Jesse's place to tell him about the prison hits. Up until then Jesse was expecting to be arrested at any time and thinking of fleeing. Saul makes it pretty clear that Walt must have killed Mike or else he wouldn't have taken out his 'guys' like that. He then leaves Jesse with a gun (which was a 2 for 1 deal). Also, BOOBIES.

S'gonna be a long day at work with the new episode just waiting for me at home...
 
I thought it was unbearably tense. Like I did my whole pacing the room and wringing my hands thing which I haven't done since the Lilly of the Valley incident.

Beginning was a mindfuck. The middle was ok, not too sure about Jessie's actions but Aaron Paul has become quite a superb actor.

And that last scen was one I've been waiting for and it was virtually flawless.

I'll go into specifics when I am off my mobile but I wonder if Walter was lying even in that last scene.

TREAD LIGHTLY.
 
Great episode. I have to say I didn't expect

Hank and Walt getting to it that soon; I thought Hank was going to be collecting evidence and reaching Jesse for the first couple of episodes, so the final scene was a very pleasant surprise.

The one thing I'm not too sure of is Jesse. Now, it is not unreasonable for him to act this way, but the thing is, thanks to the still awkward 2x8 setup, there was no build-up to his depression and using in Gliding Over All. He was feeling down but he looked much better in his final scene before the break than now.

And I just love the eeriness of that first scene. The Heisenberg graffiti was a great touch.
 
Thinking about it, he has to be lying.

Unless he bought a wig and a beard along with that machine gun.

Or he could have recovered by that point and gone off the chemo. We have no idea how distant the future timeline is from the present timeline (or do we? I haven't watched that cold open since the season 5 premiere). It is entirely possible that he is wearing a wig, but in this case I'm not sure he's lying. The vomiting was something we haven't seen from Walt since the beginning. He could be vomiting out of sheer terror, but Walt has become such a sociopath that I doubt anything would tear him up that badly.

I thought it was a great episode, better than most of the season's first half.
 
We do know the future timeline. It's approximately 9 months away from the events that had happened in this episode; Walt's 52nd birthday.

He is very likely still suffering from cancer at that point - he is coughing and taking pills. His 6-month prognosis was off, but maybe he was just full of shit like he always is in order to gain Hank's sympathy.
 
Thinking about it, he has to be lying.

Unless he bought a wig and a beard along with that machine gun.

I don't think he's lying. In addition to the vomiting and pills that we saw in this episode, we also saw him actually getting the chemo treatment. Remember the scene where he's sitting in a chair getting the IV drip.

It's possible that he's just lying about the timeline. He may not have only 6 months to live.

This seems as likely as anything else:

He could just go off the chemo, no? He clearly seems to be in endgame mode.
 
That is what the flash-forwards are heavily implying since he does have plenty of hair.
 
He even vomits into a toilet like Gus now, taking out a washcloth to lay his knees on.
 
He even vomits into a toilet like Gus now, taking out a washcloth to lay his knees on.

He reminded me of Gus when he was at the car wash and Lydia was there, it was reminiscent of when Hank took Walt to Los Pollos Hermanos and Gus would smile at Walt and take his order.

Someone mentioned Jesse's depression, im not entirely sure he makes it out alive given his mental state.
 
He reminded me of Gus when he was at the car wash and Lydia was there, it was reminiscent of when Hank took Walt to Los Pollos Hermanos and Gus would smile at Walt and take his order.

Someone mentioned Jesse's depression, im not entirely sure he makes it out alive given his mental state.

Which makes all of Gus' frustration at Walt trying to equate himself to him all the more ironic; he actually has become Gus, in that respect.

Jesse'll either end up dead, get caught by Hank/The DEA (not as likely), or use that identity-wiping rip-cord that Saul offered Walt in the midst of the Gus drama in "Crawl Space." I can see that happening given Jesse's devil-may-care attitude he has toward any material possessions or money nowadays, but I doubt his rampant guilt will allow him to do that at this point in time.

Damn, I have no idea what'll happen but I wouldn't be surprised if Jesse pulls a Hamlet and offs Walt/his Claudius.
 
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