I'm shocked that this isn't on here already, but thoughts about Breaking Bad's season finale? What it will mean for the final season? Hopes, dreams, desires for Walt and Jesse?
I'll start things off by saying that I hope Walter Jr. and Marie get killed in a fiery ball of destruction so that the plot can stop being bogged down by a pair of whiny characters with no personality.
Secondly, I'm interested to see Mike's role in this new order of things.
Finally, I really want to see the fulminated mercury make a comeback, but the bomb was more than could have hoped for. Other fun chemisty surprises you may want to see happen?
I'm with you on being surprised by no threads for this show -not just because it's a great show that you'd figure most writers would like -but in the other TV forums here and whatnot, you come across a lot of Breaking Bad fans.
I thought the finale was excellent, but it didn't exactly hold any surprises for me. Part of that was my fault -I check the reviews and discussions after each episode and someone called it as far as Walt's involvement in one of the discussions. Then I re-watched the penultimate episode, and it all made sense.
And Gus? I knew before the season started what his outcome would be, and when. What made it for me was seeing How it all went down and Walt finally getting into Heisenberg mode (he seems to wait until the end of each season to do that).
Have to say I loved the 2nd Half of the season -episodes 7 through 13 kicked some real ass, and so did episodes 1 and 2. It got slow for me from 3 on until 7, but damn did things go down toward the end.
AV Club (http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/tvshow/breaking-bad,37/) and Spinetingler Magazine (http://www.spinetinglermag.com) have the best weekly reviews and discussions for this show:
Season 5 will be 2 major things the way I see: 1) Hank discovering who Heisenberg really is, and then having to prove it with things getting nasty and interesting between Hank & Marie and Walt & Skylar, with Walt Jr. in the middle, and then of course 2) Walt vs. Jesse once their relationship goes sour, once and for all. We also have the matter of the Beneke loose end, and of course Mike to tie up -which I expect gets dealt with early on.
What I don't know is how they'll make more money or get back into the meth game. However they do it, it's going to be the end of them. They should both walk away now, clean, as they could do right now with things the way they are, but this is Breaking Bad after all -and it ain't over yet.
I love Breaking Bad...a lot. Definitely on my list of best shows ever. I would say that Breaking Bad just barely tops the other AMC shows that are just as amazing. A paradox- yes it is. I'm happy that the Walking Dead is premiering it's second season this month though, should take the pain out of not seeing new episodes of Mad Men and Breaking Bad for a while.
yeah, the two face redeux thing made me shit. it will be interesting to see where mike is in all the new stuff. Also, Gus's laptop is still in his office at Pollo Hermanos with the footage of walt cooking. The fuzz will no doubt find the laptop. hank needs to find out. Most sources say walt will die by the end. He is coughing more and more. My guess is his cancer comes back in full swing and he needs to cook again for the money, even though his wife has the car wash....whatever. For walt it is more the thrill anyway at this point.
Before it all ends, I would like a few things:
1) for skyler to find the tape walt made in the first episode.
2) for jesse to find out about walk and jane
3) to learn why walt chose teaching over making millions in Grey Matter
Hey look who it is! We better see you in the workshop! ^
Oh right, Jane. I forgot about Jane. Now with Brock...oh man. Fallout.
Also, as for Grey Matter, I totally thought that was who he was calling in the finale (when it was just his neighbor) and I couldn't imagine why, but I thought it was cool to bring them back. Especially maybe as a parallel to the Max character (Gus' chemist friend from years ago).
oh yeah jack, i'll be in the workshop. but it will be sparse, cause life is kicking my ass right now lol
@fortunewookie -Man is it nice to see you here. Hope you get to kicking life's ass back real soon. I didn't even consider that laptop in Gus' office -holy shit -good call on that. (Unless Gus records daily and erases daily -that would be the smart thing to do,and a very "Gus" thing to do in case his office ever did get raided). And those three agenda items you listed -yeah I'm thinking all of those will happen. Good stuff.
Fun article about Walt as anti-hero versus villain.
Also, up until the last few episodes of this season, did anyone else feel ike Walt was becoming something of a George Costanza character?
Amazing. Thought it was brilliant aside from the "just believe Walt poisened the kid" shortcut - which was fine but not ideal. I especially loved how Walt made the full turn from recently-whiney-ass-paranoid-dude to full metal jacket. If only he had worn his hat!
As sweet as victory tastes at this moment though, I think I'm most excited to see it all go to shit when Gus's inevitable contingency plan kicks in. Gus was calculating, and that can't just be... it. Is Mike that contingency plan? Perhaps someone from Chile?
So good. So excited for the next season.
(SPOILER ALERT)
@Meachman -yeah Walt was getting on my last fucking nerve this season. Until Heisenberg saved the day, Walt was Albuquerque's biggest whine baby with no redeeming or likeable qualities.
He shifts like that every season -he goes from an incompetent street-level drug lord of his territory to successfully bringing his product to the masses through Gus at the end of Season 2, then he goes from being a clock punching, bag lunch eating underling in the super lab to outsmarting the boss and keeping his position with some leverage when Gus tries to get rid of him at the end of 3, and then this season he was basically a crying, selfish bitch, unbearable to be around, and putting everyone within 10 feet in harm's way until finally getting off his ass and taking action to resolve his situation.
@BenevolentForce -that all reminds me -I don't think it's that unbelievable about Walt poisoning the kid because he does that too every season, just meaning takes another next step toward Scarface and away from Mr. Chips. He watched an innocent girl choke on her own vomit and die to protect his identity in Season 2, he has an innocent man killed in Season 3 to save his own life, and now he puts a child in danger to not only save his own ass but his family's seeing that Gus threatened them. The more desperate he becomes, the the more fucked up shit he does, and as long as he's able to still justify that he's doing it all to save himself and his family, I don't think there's anything he Won't do.
But what doesn't work for me was how Walt did it. I get that he was absent for half an episode, but how did he actually get that kid to take the poison? And without being seen? Saul? How? Just that we're supposed to accept he pulled it off is a little weak to me unless of course they reveal that next season.
@Nathan - Oh, I totally agree. I was just having this same convo last evening. At this point what's right for Walt has all but become relative. He's allowed to do anything he wants as long as he can justify that it will potentially alleviate a threat to the life of him, his family or Jesse. It's the skipped reveal that bothers me as well. It makes me wonder if the writers may be leaving it open on purpose. For what? I don't know. Seems like a pretty important piece to be left open just to save time on the narrative.
@fortunewookie - I had totally forgotten about that tape. It would be amazing to have that resurface.
I was pretty satisfied by the season finale of breaking bad. Strange, but I was sad to see Gus go, but I didn't want Walter to lose either. You somehow wanted them both to win due to their back stories. For instance, because of what Gus went through, you were sort of cheering when he poisoned the entire cartel. In a similar way, when Walter managed to finally get Gus, I had this contradictory feeling of joy and sadness. It was like... as an audience we both won and lost at the same time.
Its easily my favorite shows on television right now. Every Sunday, I'd get home from work and stay up for the one o'clock showing even though I work a double shift on Monday. Can't wait for the final season to see how they wrap it up, and to be honest, I'm kind of glad that they're ending things in a memorable way instead of dragging it out into a tenth season. Great shows always have a timeline.
If I had to guess.... I'm predicting that Walt ends up in jail for tax evasion like Al Capone and the cancer eventually kills him, but in prison he's a hero of sorts. Maybe even in prison he'd be scheming, who knows.
Crazy finale. Me and my brother were yelling like we were at a sporting event. When Gus walked out of the room I was like, "No way," and then I was like "THAT SHIT CRAY!" Walter's bitchiness for the season is entirely forgiven. Dude blew up a nursing home. He almost killed a kid. He's a fucking genius.
There's a lot of speculation about the consequences of killing Gus. If you remember when they showed that flashback, they killed Gus' partner but not him. And when Gus raised his arms to that sniper they couldn't do anything about it. People are saying it may have something to do with Gus' ties to Augusto Pinochet and the Chilean coup of 1973, but even Vince Gilligan doesn't know Gus' back story.
@Achillez -not to mention Gus was the head of operation that dominated much of the South West -not just a city or one state. His death is going to be felt, and his entire meth distribution collapses, so what now?
Walt will get some juice for this, and only Walt and Jesse have the formula -so that's their leverage against people coming out of the woodwork and trying to take them out for competition's sake. But Gus was major, major power player with the ability and resources to even fight the cartel -You don't take someone like Gus out without repercussions of some kind.
Madrigal Electromotive for example, who Hank discovered as the true owners of the laundry and los pollos hermanos -I'm assuming they'll be showing themselves in Season 5.
Don't those chemists in Mexico know the formula/process that Jesse taught them?
Not sure -I thought Gus wiped them all out at that nice sunny gathering they had, but then again maybe not. Plus they wanted to keep Jesse around before that went down, so not sure how much they were able to grasp or learn from watching one cook. I know Jesse and Gale both had to see it done a few times before they got it. I don't know. My wife just watched the finale for the first time after returning from a trip, and she liked it but says that shot of Gus and his half blown off face looks like shit. The GGI did not impress.
@Bill -speaking of tax evasion -never mind Walt, what about Jesse? He has no job, never has had one. How does he explain his house or his money? They could easily take him down if they wanted to. He's wide open.
