"Breaking Bad"...

[Lord Jim]

We finally got around to binge watching this, over the past few weeks...

And I can see why it's the only other show besides Game Of Thrones with a 9.5 IMDB rating...

Incredible casting, incredible writing, incredible direction...

I'm a big fan of dark comedy, and the early seasons had a lot of great dark comedy...(though it got progressively less comedic and more dark...)

Basically the story of a Michael Douglas Falling Down type poor bastard who'd had enough of getting the short end of the stick who wanted to do something to provide for his family...

But who ultimately went beyond that, and descended into complete madness...

Personally I would have been happy if the show had ended after Season Four, but I suppose Season Five was required to have the denouement; there's no way Walt could have been allowed to get away with everything he did...

There was Karma that had to be paid...

I think the supreme irony of the story line was that while Walter White never once used his "product" he became far more addicted to it then any meth head...

He became so consumed by the fact that his brilliant understanding of chemistry made him The Greatest Crystal Meth Cooker Of All Time that he completely lost his moral compass...

In the end, he couldn't give up his "baby blue"...

Guess he got what he deserved...

[Joe Guy]

Now that you've seen that you should watch 'Better Call Saul'. It's another great series. It's a prequel to Breaking Bad.

[Lord Jim]

Now that you've seen that you should watch 'Better Call Saul'. It's another great series. It's a prequel to Breaking Bad.

We've watched the first two episodes; another excellent show...

The scene in Breaking Bad where I completely lost all empathy for Walt, was the one where he stood over Jessie's girlfriend Jane, and let her choke to death on her own vomit when he could have saved her...

I think that's where Walt crossed the line from, "I'm dying of cancer and I just want help my family", into the realm of pure evil...

ETA:

My favorite line from Breaking Bad

"You two guys are just guys. OK. Mr. White – he's the devil. He is smarter than you, he is luckier than you. Whatever you think is supposed to happen, I'm telling you, the exact, reverse opposite of that is going to happen."

[Long Run]

I thought they did a great job from the beginning showing how Walt's personality lead to this path. He believed himself better than his teaching job, leading to disappointment with his station in life, blaming others for that, and casting himself as a victim. It was always about his ego more than it was ever providing a death benefit for his family.

[BoSoxGal]

I scrolled past the posts to make sure I didn't see any spoilers. Still haven't watched this series, but it's in my queue - which Netflix now calls 'my list', because too many people can't pronounce the word queue, or don't know what it means.

[Long Run]

That is perplexing given Netflix's high Q score.

[RayThom]

Blue Sky

[Lord Jim]

I scrolled past the posts to make sure I didn't see any spoilers.

I apologize BSG, I didn't realize there was anyone here who wants to see it that hadn't already watched it ;I should have put in "spoiler alerts" ...

DEFINITELY check it out...some of it's disturbing, some of it's hilarious, (at least if you have twisted sense of humor like I do... ) but overall it's incredibly well cast and well made, and lives up to all the hype...

[BoSoxGal]

I started the first episode a few years back and for whatever reason it wasn't right for my mood at that moment - but I've heard so many praises I knew I'd need to watch it someday. Perhaps I'll give it another look this weekend.

[rubato]

The brilliant thing was to make him pathetic so the viewer will sympathize with him and root for him before they reveal how evil he truly was. The actress who played his wife said she got hate mail from fans who saw her as a nemesis for doing things which were moral.


yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

The brilliant thing was to make him pathetic so the viewer will sympathize with him and root for him before they reveal how evil he truly was. The actress who played his wife said she got hate mail from fans who saw her as a nemesis for doing things which were moral.


yrs,
rubato

Worth repeating

[BoSoxGal]

I'm just dialing up episode 3, season 2. The past nine hours of viewing have been sheer pleasure!

[Lord Jim]

I'm only going to post the link for this, (because it contains a lot of spoilers)

http://www.tor.com/2013/09/09/the-stran ... eisenberg/

It's an excellent analysis of the parallels between Jekyll/Hyde and White/Heisenberg...

[MGMcAnick]

Now that you've seen that you should watch 'Better Call Saul'. It's another great series. It's a prequel to Breaking Bad.

I've been watching "Better Call Saul". The second season recently became available on Netflix. I can't get Mrs Mc to enjoy it, so it will probably continue to be a solo effort. i have not watched ''Breaking Bad", figuring I'll get the prequel out of the way first. Doesn't that make sense? I don't mind the "BB" spoilers at all as I'm already aware of the gist of the story.

[BoSoxGal]

I'm watching the 'Better Call Saul' episode:


eta: I haven't laughed this much in a long while - not just this episode but the whole series.

[BoSoxGal]

Halfway through season 3; will I ever find out more about why Walt and Gretchen broke up? Feels like that backstory was glossed over and I'm curious . . .

[Lord Jim]

will I ever find out more about why Walt and Gretchen broke up? Feels like that backstory was glossed over and I'm curious . . .

In the show, why Walt broke up with Gretchen is left pretty ambiguous...

About a year ago, the series creator Vince Gilligan fleshed it out more in an interview:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/vin ... 5c91838d57

[BoSoxGal]

We finally got around to binge watching this, over the past few weeks...

And I can see why it's the only other show besides Game Of Thrones with a 9.5 IMDB rating...

Incredible casting, incredible writing, incredible direction...

I'm a big fan of dark comedy, and the early seasons had a lot of great dark comedy...(though it got progressively less comedic and more dark...)

Basically the story of a Michael Douglas Falling Down type poor bastard who'd had enough of getting the short end of the stick who wanted to do something to provide for his family...

But who ultimately went beyond that, and descended into complete madness...

Personally I would have been happy if the show had ended after Season Four, but I suppose Season Five was required to have the denouement; there's no way Walt could have been allowed to get away with everything he did...

There was Karma that had to be paid...

I think the supreme irony of the story line was that while Walter White never once used his "product" he became far more addicted to it then any meth head...

He became so consumed by the fact that his brilliant understanding of chemistry made him The Greatest Crystal Meth Cooker Of All Time that he completely lost his moral compass...

In the end, he couldn't give up his "baby blue"...

Guess he got what he deserved...

I finished watching the series in the wee hours today - it was like a great book I couldn't put down.

I agree with everything you wrote in this post, LJ.

What a roller coaster ride, to go from really liking a character to despising him, to ultimately feeling sorry for his self imposed destruction. Bryan Cranston was absolutely brilliant.

[Lord Jim]

I agree with everything you wrote in this post, LJ.

That's a great line BSG...

You should post it more often...

[Burning Petard]

"Breaking Bad" "the Sopranos" All tv series that I have not watched, but read/heard alot about.

Once upon a time tv was a new creative media and there was lots of interesting stuff. But it evolved--IMNSHO, driven by the potential of big money in everybody's pockets. Look at the progression the History or Bravo channel. The program content began as a special niche appeal, then morphed into driven only by hope for a bigger audience. Major network (including Fox) shows continue long after any thing new to express have departed. I have not watched 'the Simpsons' or SNL for years. NCIS has created spin-offs that seem to be completely ignorant of what the "N" in the title is supposed to mean. Do any of the characters in NCIS-New Orleans even have a uniform?

The shows I listed at the beginning of this post seem to me to reflect a new possibility, a new theatrical drama mode. They go on for hours, but with an overall character and plot arch. And they come to an artistic conclusion long before the audience leaves in boredom--they don't stop because the show no longer brings in the desired level of advertising revenue. The writers do not seem to stumble along from episode to episode or season to season. Binge watching, one perceives seed of much later events in the early chapters. But unlike a book, the author cannot go back and change the beginning to fit better with the late chapters.

snailgate