Breaking Bad on AMC (4 Viewers)

[Agent 47]

Ok forgot about him getting arrested. But that wasn't as bat#### crazy as acting like this fly was a teradactyl that was a threat. I assume Walt Jr. pounding liquor was a season 1 episode I missed.

You gotta realize that Walt doesn't see himself as a cooker of meth, but rather as an established chemist.Now that he is in a real lab, he wants to keep up the good lab practices, and he's taking this very seriously. This is been shown through his morning routine, through his change in mood and behavior since getting this 'job'. He's treating this job as if he were a chemist working for Pfizer or Johnson and Johnson, trying to exert some professional control over an otherwise unprofessional type of job.

I thought it was more about him being a control freak and the fly representing something out of his control.

It was, but that doesn't mean he can't try to control it.

 

[Tough As Nails]

Loved it. When Walt was holding the ladder and talking about Jane...edge of your seat stuff there. I really thought he was going to tell Jesse about Jane's death and I was nervous about it. Great tension.

 

[Sam Quentin]

Ok forgot about him getting arrested. But that wasn't as bat#### crazy as acting like this fly was a teradactyl that was a threat. I assume Walt Jr. pounding liquor was a season 1 episode I missed.

You gotta realize that Walt doesn't see himself as a cooker of meth, but rather as an established chemist.Now that he is in a real lab, he wants to keep up the good lab practices, and he's taking this very seriously. This is been shown through his morning routine, through his change in mood and behavior since getting this 'job'. He's treating this job as if he were a chemist working for Pfizer or Johnson and Johnson, trying to exert some professional control over an otherwise unprofessional type of job.

I thought it was more about him being a control freak and the fly representing something out of his control.

or the fly representing how his whole life is spiraling out of control

 

[AhrnCityPahnder]

Loved it. When Walt was holding the ladder and talking about Jane...edge of your seat stuff there. I really thought he was going to tell Jesse about Jane's death and I was nervous about it. Great tension.

Can't understand how anyone who enjoys this show wasn't riveted by this scene.Fantastic episode.

 

[pantherclub]

This series will go down as the best of all time. Better than Sopranos or The Wire. Simply because each episode advances the story. Each episode is crucial to the series. You could make a case that this last episode was a filler but in retrospect it shed a lot of light on Walts mindset and his feelings toward his family at the moment. Its leading somewhere, fast.

 

[higgins]

Loved it. When Walt was holding the ladder and talking about Jane...edge of your seat stuff there. I really thought he was going to tell Jesse about Jane's death and I was nervous about it. Great tension.

Can't understand how anyone who enjoys this show wasn't riveted by this scene.

Fantastic episode.

Can someone help me out with this -- I missed the episode where Jane died -- what happened, and how was Walt involved?

 

[Tough As Nails]

Loved it. When Walt was holding the ladder and talking about Jane...edge of your seat stuff there. I really thought he was going to tell Jesse about Jane's death and I was nervous about it. Great tension.

Can't understand how anyone who enjoys this show wasn't riveted by this scene.

Fantastic episode.

Can someone help me out with this -- I missed the episode where Jane died -- what happened, and how was Walt involved?

She OD'd. Walt walked in while she was puking/gagging in her sleep. He sat there and watched her die instead of helping her. And it was intentional. In other words...it's not just that he froze in horror, he made the conscious choice to let her die because she was a 'threat' to expose him.

 

[higgins]

[quote Can someone help me out with this -- I missed the episode where Jane died -- what happened, and how was Walt involved?

She OD'd. Walt walked in while she was puking/gagging in her sleep. He sat there and watched her die instead of helping her. And it was intentional. In other words...it's not just that he froze in horror, he made the conscious choice to let her die because she was a 'threat' to expose him.

Whoah -- thanks!

 

[mr. furley]

very boring episode last night

at people saying that those of us who didn't like it "don't understand the show" or "shouldn't watch it".

 

[Dexter Manley]

very boring episode last night at people saying that those of us who didn't like it "don't understand the show" or "shouldn't watch it".

I've come to the conclusion that all the people saying this episode was "fantastic" are inventing reasons to like it so much. Ironically, they are acting quite irrational, just like Walt.The bottom line is the show sucked by BB's standards (which are very high, obviously).

 

[Christo]

Just admit you didn't understand it.

 

[Dexter Manley]

Just admit you didn't understand it.

Quit being irrational.

 

[Christo]

Just admit you didn't understand it.

Quit being irrational.

That would mean something to me if I felt you understood what you were saying.

 

[Dexter Manley]

Just admit you didn't understand it.

Quit being irrational.

That would mean something to me if I felt you understood what you were saying.

It was a joke, Dr. Serious.

 

[Flying V]

very boring episode last night at people saying that those of us who didn't like it "don't understand the show" or "shouldn't watch it".

I've come to the conclusion that all the people saying this episode was "fantastic" are inventing reasons to like it so much. Ironically, they are acting quite irrational, just like Walt.The bottom line is the show sucked by BB's standards (which are very high, obviously).

It was well written.It was well acted.It was boring except for the last 5 or 10 minutes. Kind of reminded me of a Tom & Jerry cartoon.

 

[The Gator]

Can't believe Walt was so dumb and anal about a freaking fly. Ridiculous.

You're reacting the same way Jesse did. What's that say about you, yo?It was completely in character for Walt to respond that way.

It says that I was getting nearly as annoyed as Jesse watching Walt obsess over a stupid fly.I don't ever recall Walt acting as irrational as he was this episode. Yes, he has some ODC tendencies, but I don't recall anything like this.

Not when he got arrested? Not when he made Walt Jr keep pounding liquor? Not when he refused free money from a couple that he felt really owed him money?

How many of those scenarios were hour long borefests?

The ones you mentioned were all great parts in greater episodes.

 

[mex]

Loved the episode, I was dying when Jessie was explaining Ebola to Walt

Jessie's use of Yo and ##### has me when it annoyed me season one.

 

[mex]

Can't believe Walt was so dumb and anal about a freaking fly. Ridiculous.

You're reacting the same way Jesse did. What's that say about you, yo?It was completely in character for Walt to respond that way.

It says that I was getting nearly as annoyed as Jesse watching Walt obsess over a stupid fly.I don't ever recall Walt acting as irrational as he was this episode. Yes, he has some ODC tendencies, but I don't recall anything like this.

Not when he got arrested? Not when he made Walt Jr keep pounding liquor? Not when he refused free money from a couple that he felt really owed him money?

How many of those scenarios were hour long borefests?

The ones you mentioned were all great parts in greater episodes.

get out of here drunktank

 

[fsufan]

Probably the worst episode of the series I've seen. I lol'd twice in the beginning, then the whole thing dragged on and on until the last 10 minutes.It was pretty obvious that this was sort of a "filler" episode. The writers completely mailed it in on this one.Can't believe Walt was so dumb and anal about a freaking fly. Ridiculous.

i just figured it was a filler episode b/c they knew they where up against lost. it was boring

 

[jdoggydogg]

Fantastic episode. The moment when Walt says he wished he'd have died at that perfect moment in his life is about as poignant as anything I've ever seen.

 

[southeastjerome]

very boring episode last night at people saying that those of us who didn't like it "don't understand the show" or "shouldn't watch it".

I've come to the conclusion that all the people saying this episode was "fantastic" are inventing reasons to like it so much. Ironically, they are acting quite irrational, just like Walt.The bottom line is the show sucked by BB's standards (which are very high, obviously).

I agree. That part would have been great if it were condensed to 20 minutes. The dialogue was fantastic and the overall metaphor of "contamination" was good, but man what a boring episode overall. It reminded me of one of the bad Sopranos episodes where nothing happened and they just wasted time trying to shove symbolism down your throat.

 

[The Dude]

I've come to the conclusion that all the people saying this episode was "fantastic" are inventing reasons to like it so much.

You should see the Lost thread.....

 

[Agent 47]

I've come to the conclusion that all the people saying this episode was "fantastic" are inventing reasons to like it so much.

You should see the Lost thread.....

And like a fly drawn to ####, so is The Dude drawn to any chance to whine and ##### like a woman.Awesome.Get out.

 

[Jefferson the Caregiver]

Great acting by Aaron Paul and Cranston in this episode, the way they played off each other was fantastic.

I can see how people would call this a filler episode but the conversations between Walt and Jesse were great. Obviously this episode did not have a lot of action but the scene with Jesse on that ladder built up with as much tension as when Walt and Jesse were in the camper, with Hank trying to get in. They did a great job creating tension out of simple props and dialogue, which I give a lot of respect.

 

[Jefferson the Caregiver]

I just don't get why there's so much hate for Walt Jr.

"Hate" wouldn't be the correct word in my case, and I can't speak for the others, but I'll tell you why I want him gone.When I have to hit the mute button every time a character speaks, it probably wasn't the greatest casting decision ever.

No matter what word you use to describe it, I don't get it. Kid has an condition and he talks a little funny. It doesn't seem mute button worthy to me. Anyway, you can celebrate a week off this week. Maybe they'll do a Jr-centric episode next week.

Definately not worthy of the mute button. I suppose I am in the minority too, I like the Flynn character.

 

[identikit]

I thought the 'Fly' episode was very, very well done.

Nothing wrong with an introspective, stripped down storyline look now and then into the characters and their relationships with each other.

 

[pecorino]

the word of the day, girls and boys, is "metamorphosis." Kafka, anyone?

 

[Maelstrom]

Finally caught up, friend turned me onto the show and I've been working my way through from the beginning. Enjoying it immensely!

 

[Eviloutsider]

I thought the episode was pretty good. I am not much of an action guy so I think I like this better than the shootouts that happen from time to time.

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Looks like I am going to miss my first episode ever tonight. I'll need to find a replay on the net someplace.

 

[pantherclub]

So what was the mistake that Gus warned him about?

 

[Raider Nation]

So what was the mistake that Gus warned him about?

Being light on the product weight, I'm assuming.

 

[pantherclub]

So what was the mistake that Gus warned him about?

Being light on the product weight, I'm assuming.

They were not light to gus, they gave him the 200lbs. That was a confusing but still pretty good episode.

 

[Raider Nation]

So what was the mistake that Gus warned him about?

Being light on the product weight, I'm assuming.

They were not light to gus, they gave him the 200lbs. That was a confusing but still pretty good episode.

Oh, then I don't know. Christo is usually here by now to explain the episode to me.

 

[Raider Nation]

After an episode that was all about our two leading men stuck in the lab together, "Breaking Bad" expands its world again, showing the corrosive effect Walt and Jesse have on the world in the past, present and future.

We open on a flashback to the brief golden period of Jesse's relationship with Jane(*), which not only showed us how the lipstick-stained cigarette wound up in his ashtray, but reminded us of how much Jesse has lost, and of how much damage he and Walt did to her. And that serves as a fitting prologue into his new relationship, which starts out as a continuation of Jesse's evil plan to sell the blue meth to his 12-step group but then becomes something else when the woman, Andrea, turns out to have a young son - and, in one of those quirks of fate like Walt and Jane's dad sharing a drink together the night she died, to have a little brother who was the one who shot Combo.

(*) For you "Breaking Bad" continuity nerds, that would set the scene around the time period of last season's "Over," since Jesse blew off the Georgia O'Keefe exhibit to cook with Walt in the desert in the previous episode ("Four Days Out"), and they were doing drugs together by the next one ("Mandala").

Jesse's adrift right now, feeling on the outside looking in with Walt's dealings with Gus, unable to get Badger and Skinny Pete to be more competent than they really are(**). Getting to meet an innocent boy like Brock, whose life could be destroyed by the product Jesse makes and sells, and then meeting a related kid whose own childhood was stolen by the gang culture that the drug game supports, has clearly spooked him. I don't know whether he bought the drugs just as an excuse to meet Tomas, or if this knowledge will knock him off the wagon, but he's in a precarious position right now, again sleeping with a recovering addict, again questioning the harm he causes, and not particularly popular with boss-man Gus.

(**) I laughed a very long time at the notion that those two are working the steps rather than going along with Jesse's plan. Of course, Badger did sell a 'teenth to Pete, so they don't seem to be working all the steps quite right.

As for the woman that Walt lost at the end of last season, things are more complicated. Skyler never filed the divorce papers for legal reasons(***), and having pushed Walt into paying for Hank's rehab, she now decides it's time to become part of his money-laundering operation.

(***) Okay, I know some lawyers read me. Can anyone definitively answer the question of whether spouses can be compelled to testify against each other? There was a whole "Sopranos" episode built around Adriana believing this (because she heard the concept in an episode of "Murder One"), only to be told it wasn't true. Which TV shows should I be taking my legal advice from?

We can argue over a lot of Skyler's behavior since she found out the truth about Walt, and about how much was her own choice and how much she was forced into by the horrible circumstance Walt helped create. But if she had only moral high ground left, she cedes it here by joining Team Goodman and becoming an active co-conspirator. She can rationalize it all she wants by thinking about Hank - and even blaming Walt for Hank's predicament - but by now her rationalizations would be just as bogus as Walt's. You're either in, or you're out. She's in now, and the only difference between her and Walt is that she hasn't been directly responsible for any deaths yet.

Late in the episode, Gus invites Walt over for dinner so they may break bread as business partners, and so he may offer Walt some advice on navigating the drug game that Gus himself has so clearly mastered. His most important lesson: "Never make the same mistake twice." But to what is he referring? Walt's decision to reteam with Jesse the junkie thief? Walt again partnering with Skyler, at least for business purposes? Or was Walt's biggest mistake of all the one he talked about last week: that he's lived too long and shouldn't be cooking meth anymore? Given Gus's interest in Walt's continued production, I highly doubt that, but Walter White has left a trail of impressive, deadly mistakes over the last three years, and with two episodes to go in this terrific season, we'll see if any are repeated.

Some other thoughts:

[*]At this point, the greatness of all the performances should go without saying, but still: just watch Aaron Paul in the scene where he realizes that Andrea's little brother killed Combo. This is a man whose sense of the universe has just been torn to shreds, and Paul plays the shock and confusion beautifully.

[*]Also superb: Dean Norris in both of Hank's big scenes, first with the terror and pain as he attempts to rehab (I've witnessed people scream at supportive loved ones in moments like this, and it rang absolutely true), then with the venom as he ordered Marie to get the hospital bed out of his house. There was some of the old, pre-"One Minute" Hank Schrader in that, albeit an uglier version of him, and if he does regain the use of his legs, God help anyone in his path.

[*]Because we have a much wider view of Walt's world than most of the people living in it (except Gus; I imagine Gus probably has detailed files on the whole "Breaking Bad" audience), it can be fun to see how one character views another without that knowledge. Skyler hasn't seen Saul work his magic, so of course she would be horrified by the clientele in his waiting room, by his tacky jokes, and by his master's degree from the University of American Samoa. And I loved Walt's mortified reaction at looking at Saul's business through Skyler's eyes.

[*]Walt's bogus holding company is named after the 1968 Rock Hudson movie "Ice Station Zebra." Any theories on how that fits either Walt or Saul's characters? Or has one of the writers mentioned an affinity for it in the past?

[*]God, Gus is so confident that he hands Walt (a man he knows is afraid of him) a giant carving knife with the blade pointed directly at his own stomach and thinks nothing of it.

[*]I liked how the creaking sound of the equipment Jesse was moving in the Walt-cave sounded like the intro music to "Lost" (and/or the many Bernard Herrmann movie scares that inspired it).

 

[NYRAGE]

Once again, Saul was hilarious. Yoko.

 

[Raider Nation]

The wisdom of Badger:

"Selling to these people (in the support group) ... it's like shooting a baby in the face. It's not natural."

 

[Finless]

Baffled how they didn't actually show the color of the meth Jessie bought at the end.

I assume the mistake he was talking about is letting Jessie be his partner.

 

[PlasmaDogPlasma]

Baffled how they didn't actually show the color of the meth Jessie bought at the end.

It seems like a forgone conclusion that it's going to be meth Jessie and Walt cooked. But the show has fooled us, or at least me, before.

 

[ang12]

Saul gets funnier every week. Loved the opening scene showing where the cigarette came from, too.

 

[wildbill]

So what was the mistake that Gus warned him about?

Being light on the product weight, I'm assuming.

They were not light to gus, they gave him the 200lbs. That was a confusing but still pretty good episode.

Gus has disapproved of Jesse from the beginning. If he has been watching them, like Walt thinks he has, then he knows that Jesse is stealing and either using or selling his product. Either way, he knows Jesse has to go. I think Gus inviting Walt over for dinner was part of his plan to get Walt on board with it.

 

[wildbill]

IIRC, in the first scene where Jesse and Andrea are alone together, you can hear a train in the background. I think that was included to remind us that Andrea lives near the tracks, since Jesse remembers that Combo was shot near the tracks. But, IMO, I think it was foreshadowing the figurative train that is closing in on Jesse.

 

[AhrnCityPahnder]

So what was the mistake that Gus warned him about?

Working with someone (Jesse) who he can't trust.

 

[Jojo the circus boy]

what season is this? I saw all of season 1, how did Hank get shot?

 

[ScottyFargo]

what season is this? I saw all of season 1, how did Hank get shot?

Season 3; hank was shot by Tuco's cousins, but that didn't stop him from crippling one and killing the other. Hank is a total bad ###.

 

[beer 30]

So what was the mistake that Gus warned him about?

Working with someone (Jesse) who he can't trust.

My take as well. Jesse needs to get his head int he game or it will end up on a tortoise slowly making it's way south.I thought his character was awesome last season but this year he's been portrayed a sniveling little ##### that constantly complains about every sweet opportunity his is given. It's annoying the hell out of me.

 

[Christo]

I assume the mistake he was talking about is letting Jessie be his partner.

 

[ang12]

 

[Sebowski]

Baffled how they didn't actually show the color of the meth Jessie bought at the end.

It seems like a forgone conclusion that it's going to be meth Jessie and Walt cooked. But the show has fooled us, or at least me, before.

I don't think it has to be the blue meth. Could be a local cook. If it is though it would give us more reasons to come up with about why he was so angry walking away. Is it because he is contributing to this kid's and his new girl's demise? Nah, it's probably because they're selling for $300 a teenth and he is getting paid ####. Do the the math, yo.

 

[AhrnCityPahnder]

...why he was so angry walking away. Is it because he is contributing to this kid's and his new girl's demise? Nah, it's probably because they're selling for $300 a teenth and he is getting paid ####. Do the the math, yo.

I thought he was fuming because he just figured out who killed (or at least who called the hit) on Combo and we're about to see some YoBiatch revenge.