Breaking Bad Season 5 - Official Discussion Thread

[Kaido]

Breaking Bad has ruined TV for ever. It is the perfect TV series. 5 seasons of pure god damned perfection.

Sorry, but it was better than Lost all you Lost fans. Haven't done Lost, try it out?

Lost would have been as good as, if not better, than Breaking Bad - IF they had kept up the momentum they built up over the first 2 seasons. But they ruined it with the remaining seasons, and the finale was incredibly disappointing.

My hat is off to the writers of BB. I didn't know how they were going to keep it going the last couple seasons, but they kept surprising me. And a satisfying ending to boot! Fantastic job all around.

 

[squarecut1]

Lost would have been as good as, if not better, than Breaking Bad - IF they had kept up the momentum they built up over the first 2 seasons. But they ruined it with the remaining seasons, and the finale was incredibly disappointing.

My hat is off to the writers of BB. I didn't know how they were going to keep it going the last couple seasons, but they kept surprising me. And a satisfying ending to boot! Fantastic job all around.

Can't think of any show, including very popular ones, that have managed to sustain quality and focus the way BB did. Shows like GOT and Boardwalk Empire drifted into meandering. Others too. Seems impossible for the writers and creators to create something of sustained quality.

Another way in which BB stands out from the rest. Heads and shoulders above at that

 

[squarecut1]

As much as I want to see something similar, I almost wish they wouldnt make this spin off they are making. It just won't be the same and would feel like pure commercialism to cash on a popular show instead of doing something original

 

[Ichinisan]

As much as I want to see something similar, I almost wish they wouldnt make this spin off they are making. It just won't be the same and would feel like pure commercialism to cash on a popular show instead of doing something original

...but you have to admit: Saul "Goodman" was a brilliant character!

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Lost would have been as good as, if not better, than Breaking Bad - IF they had kept up the momentum they built up over the first 2 seasons.

Impossible. Lost was interesting early on because of the mystery on top of mystery on top of mystery, but they kept having to outdo themselves and everything just got too bullshitty. As the mysteries grew there was no way to resolve them plausibly. Breaking Bad always stayed in control, there was always a plan for each cliffhanger, a believable way for every arc to end. BB thought every idea through to the end before putting it on screen and if they couldn't end it they didn't start it. Lost just filmed every screwy idea they came up with and hoped a miracle would happen that would somehow tie it all together.

 

[Ichinisan]

Impossible. Lost was interesting early on because of the mystery on top of mystery on top of mystery, but they kept having to outdo themselves and everything just got too bullshitty. As the mysteries grew there was no way to resolve them plausibly. Breaking Bad always stayed in control, there was always a plan for each cliffhanger, a believable way for every arc to end. BB thought every idea through to the end before putting it on screen and if they couldn't end it they didn't start it. Lost just filmed every screwy idea they came up with and hoped a miracle would happen that would somehow tie it all together.

That hack "writer," Damon Lindelof, did the same BS to the Prometheus screenplay. I will never forgive him. In my mind, he has forever soiled Ridley Scott and Alien.

 

[squarecut1]

...but you have to admit: Saul "Goodman" was an brilliant character!

Oh yes, one of the best in the show! And that takes some doing, with so many other interesting characters in the show.

I see the same guy is in the recent Fargo show as well.

 

[Wingznut]

I see the same guy is in the recent Fargo show as well.

And he's awesome in Fargo, as well. Breaking Bad fans should check it out, the writing and acting is just as tight.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

And he's awesome in Fargo, as well. Breaking Bad fans should check it out, the writing and acting is just as tight.

And if not "as tight" it's at least in the ballpark. They're doing a great job on Fargo. Billy Bob is killing it, that's a character he was born to play.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I really like Fargo, but I wouldn't put it at the level of BB. Billy Bob is amazing on that show. Overall I think I am more impressed with Fargo than True Detective.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Its going to be a VERY long time until something is at BB level. Its possible it may never happen. They just had a chemistry from everyone involved in that show. It is pure brilliance, one shitty episode out of 62, " Fly ", I get why they made it, but it was still boring to watch.

 

[squarecut1]

Its going to be a VERY long time until something is at BB level. Its possible it may never happen. .

Almost impossible to see BB being topped by something else. For a while I thought Boardwalk Empire was of at least somewhat comparable quality, but it has meandered into just fluff by the third season. It is a dud season. One thing to create something good... quite another to sustain it

 

[Kaido]

I was hoping for a couple things:

1. I wish they had told Todd about Lydia being poisoned with the ricin before they killed him. He deserved to burn first for killing the kid at the train tracks. I think it would have played out better like this: they go to kill Walt and drag him off before he grabs his keys, so he knows he has to come up with something quickly, so he tells them their meth supply from Lydia is going to run short soon. Then they throw him back against the pool table (giving him a chance to grab the remote control) and tell him to explain - then Todd realizes the full extent of what Walt has done. I think that was a big missed opportunity & would have been a lot more satisfying.

2. I wish they had more back story on Gray Matter. I wanted a stronger reason for Walt to hate them, like maybe Gretchen cheated on him with Elliott, which is the real reason he sold his share - he couldn't stand to be around them anymore, then they used his research to make billions. That would have given more weight as to why he would have them live in fear of the "hitmen" in the last season, because it doesn't seem like money would have been a strong enough motivator for him to care.

There's not much else I can think of to criticize. They tied up every other loose end I can think of. I knew as soon as they killed Hank, the show wasn't going to end well. I was hoping Hank was wearing a bulletproof vest and that Walter would escape, fake his own death, and become a drug kingpin in Europe, while leaving his family out of the DEA spotlight & free to live their lives thinking he was dead. But he had too much to answer for...Jane, the airplane passengers, Gale, Drew, etc. Plus I'm still mad at him taking out Mike, haha.

 

[Kaido]

Its going to be a VERY long time until something is at BB level. Its possible it may never happen. They just had a chemistry from everyone involved in that show. It is pure brilliance, one crappy episode out of 62, " Fly ", I get why they made it, but it was still boring to watch.

Yeah, sustainability is just so hard in production TV shows. I absolutely loved the first couple seasons of Lost, Chuck, etc. but then they just start getting aimless. iirc Lost was only slated to be 3 seasons long or something, so it might have been good if they had stuck to their artistic guns. But I mean, look at what the writers did with BB - Jesse was scheduled to die in the first season, but they liked him so much that they rewrote the script & he became the real star of the show, which was awesome.

The only other show that I can think of that did it was well as Breaking Bad was Harper's Island, which was only one season long. But every episode was good, the storyline worked throughout the whole season, etc. Very rarely do movies make a better sequel...Terminator 2 comes to mind right off the bat, but then you remember how bad stuff like Transformers 2 & BTTF 2 were. Mad props to the BB writers for keeping it awesome the whole time. I enjoyed every episode :thumbsup:

 

[Kaido]

That hack "writer," Damon Lindelof, did the same BS to the Prometheus screenplay. I will never forgive him. In my mind, he has forever soiled Ridley Scott and Alien.

Prometheus was so disappointing. The Aliens series was on TV right after that and it was just soooooo much better. I had such high hopes, especially given the incredible graphics

 

[Kaido]

Impossible. Lost was interesting early on because of the mystery on top of mystery on top of mystery, but they kept having to outdo themselves and everything just got too bullshitty. As the mysteries grew there was no way to resolve them plausibly. Breaking Bad always stayed in control, there was always a plan for each cliffhanger, a believable way for every arc to end. BB thought every idea through to the end before putting it on screen and if they couldn't end it they didn't start it. Lost just filmed every screwy idea they came up with and hoped a miracle would happen that would somehow tie it all together.

There were so many options for them to use to tie Lost up...like the giant sandaled foot...throw something in there about the Egyptians & aliens, almost like an Edge of Tomorrow, but on an island. Or like Riverworld (TV series), where people are given a second chance. Instead they picked like the worst possible ending out of all of the available options

 

[Kaido]

I just finished watching BB again and I can't help but wonder if Walt ever cared about Jesse.

I think he always did. Walt got more selfish as the show went on, but deep down, he still loved Jesse like a son. The only time he turned on him was when Jesse called him from the pay phone and threatened his family directly; Walt's order of caring about his "family" went something like this, in order:

1. Himself
2. His family (baby, son, wife)
3. Jesse
4. Hank & Marie
5. Gayle

So as the game progressed, it went from #1 vs. #5 (Gayle's out), #1 vs. #4 (Hank's out, though not by choice), #1 vs. #3 (once Jesse threatened #2), etc. I didn't catch what he was doing on the phone to Skyler after he ran off with the baby until my wife pointed out it - he wasn't dumb enough to not know that the police hadn't tapped his lines, so he knew he could get a two-for-one deal - bail his family out in the eyes of the law, to some extent, and also make his escape.

 

[Kaido]

Finished it. Excellent...beyond that actually

Any other show to recommend?

I just started the Walking Dead. It's pretty intense. First episode was riveting :thumbsup:

 

[Kaido]

I watch a show once and I am done, I would never buy some expensive set

I only buy a movie on disc if it's good enough to watch again. That doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be bad not to watch again, because like with BB, the finale was pretty final. They wrapped everything up & I'm happy with how it ended. Stuff like Back to the Future, I can watch that every year because it's always good to see it again without feeling like things are too final, I guess.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I was hoping for a couple things:

1. I wish they had told Todd about Lydia being poisoned with the ricin before they killed him. He deserved to burn first for killing the kid at the train tracks. I think it would have played out better like this: they go to kill Walt and drag him off before he grabs his keys, so he knows he has to come up with something quickly, so he tells them their meth supply from Lydia is going to run short soon. Then they throw him back against the pool table (giving him a chance to grab the remote control) and tell him to explain - then Todd realizes the full extent of what Walt has done. I think that was a big missed opportunity & would have been a lot more satisfying.

2. I wish they had more back story on Gray Matter. I wanted a stronger reason for Walt to hate them, like maybe Gretchen cheated on him with Elliott, which is the real reason he sold his share - he couldn't stand to be around them anymore, then they used his research to make billions. That would have given more weight as to why he would have them live in fear of the "hitmen" in the last season, because it doesn't seem like money would have been a strong enough motivator for him to care.

There's not much else I can think of to criticize. They tied up every other loose end I can think of. I knew as soon as they killed Hank, the show wasn't going to end well. I was hoping Hank was wearing a bulletproof vest and that Walter would escape, fake his own death, and become a drug kingpin in Europe, while leaving his family out of the DEA spotlight & free to live their lives thinking he was dead. But he had too much to answer for...Jane, the airplane passengers, Gale, Drew, etc. Plus I'm still mad at him taking out Mike, haha.

1) No matter how it ended, someone would have come up with a different storyline that would have been more satisfying. Personally I wanted to see Skyler and the kids dead and Walt, cancer-free, rotting in a prison cell for the rest of his life alone and broken. Too dark for Vince to actually do it that way, but it would have been fitting.

2) The ending with Walt and Gray Matter was about Walt's ego, not about the money. Sure, he was angry about missing the gravy train, but by that time he was already rich and didn't need their money. What got him up off that bar stool and heading back to New Mexico was them dissing him on TV. The great Heisenberg could not stand to not get the credit he deserved, that was his motivation for the last couple of seasons. The hitmen threat was just to make sure they funneled money to Skyler and the kids because they couldn't/wouldn't take any from him.

 

[Kaido]

1) No matter how it ended, someone would have come up with a different storyline that would have been more satisfying. Personally I wanted to see Skyler and the kids dead and Walt, cancer-free, rotting in a prison cell for the rest of his life alone and broken. Too dark for Vince to actually do it that way, but it would have been fitting.

2) The ending with Walt and Gray Matter was about Walt's ego, not about the money. Sure, he was angry about missing the gravy train, but by that time he was already rich and didn't need their money. What got him up off that bar stool and heading back to New Mexico was them dissing him on TV. The great Heisenberg could not stand to not get the credit he deserved, that was his motivation for the last couple of seasons. The hitmen threat was just to make sure they funneled money to Skyler and the kids because they couldn't/wouldn't take any from him.

Yeah, I never really cared about Skyler. I felt bad for her at times, but that's it. I think things changed when they killed the dirt bike kid in the desert. Before it was more or less non-innocent people, people who were already involved in the scene & knew the risks of working in the drug-dealing business, like Gayle. And then, of course, you see Walt's true character after the death of the kid when he gives Jesse some time off, and Walt is whistling as he's working when Jesse leaves. Jesse should have just packed up & left permanently at that point.

I was okay with the Gray Matter ending, I just wish they had fleshed out more details throughout the series - they kept using flashbacks to when he was younger & excitedly showing Gretchen all kinds of sciency stuff. It feels like they were missing a plot device there, but I guess that would have turned the focus to cheating, rather than money & ego. Overall, they did a better job than any TV show I've ever seen, just all around amazing. I wish we had more shows that were as good as BB was!

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Its a good thing they didn't flash back too fay with Gretchen. Because she was a lesbian on friends. :biggrin: I also had an idea, about Walt Jr, not sure if I posted it already. Would of been kinda cool to have him fall on the knife in the episode Ozymandias, when Walt and Skyler are fighting for the knife. The guilt ot Walt killing his son would of been interesting to play out. Even without that happening, that episode is THE best of the entire series, by a long shot. I am almost done watching the series for the 3rd time.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Lost would have been as good as, if not better, than Breaking Bad - IF they had kept up the momentum they built up over the first 2 seasons. But they ruined it with the remaining seasons, and the finale was incredibly disappointing.

My hat is off to the writers of BB. I didn't know how they were going to keep it going the last couple seasons, but they kept surprising me. And a satisfying ending to boot! Fantastic job all around.

I loved Lost initially, but very quickly it became apparent that the show's creators hadn't thought through a way to keep the show interesting without revealing the show's core mystery (a mystery which, we now know, they don't seem to have known the answer to themselves). Personally I stopped watching during the second season because it felt like every week they were promising to finally reveal what was going on, then failing to do so.

 

[Ichinisan]

I just started the Walking Dead. It's pretty intense. First episode was riveting :thumbsup:

No. Writing is way too sloppy. I've watched seasons 1, 2, and part of season 3. I still can't get into it. I live in the same apartment building with the actress that plays Carol (Melissa McBride) and most of the episodes are filmed around my town; so I'm surrounded by obsessed TWD fans - even people who stalk the cast and crew as some kind of hobby.

 

[Kaido]

No. Writing is way too sloppy. I've watched seasons 1, 2, and part of season 3. I still can't get into it. I live in the same apartment building with the actress that plays Carol (Melissa McBride) and most of the episodes are filmed around my town; so I'm surrounded by obsessed TWD fans - even people who stalk the cast and crew as some kind of hobby.

Really? It takes a lot of work for a scary movie to get to me (i.e. the suspense in 6th Sense was scarier to me than the Ring or the Grudge); I thought they did a great job in the first episode of the Walking Dead. I may have yelled at the TV screen a few times