Breaking Bad Final Half Season

[Mister Fandango]

Walt's hated Lydia pretty much from the beginning.

That said, his big plan at the end was to eliminate his loose ends so that his family would 1) be safe and 2) be well off. Lydia not only knew enough to be a threat, but Walt actively knew that she knew who his family was. She even had the audacity to approach Skyler at his cover job, as others have already pointed out. That, coupled with the fact that she was extremely eager to have people killed who were a possible threat to her, was more than enough reason to take her out of the picture. And the cruel, lingering way Walt chose to do it showed just how pissed he was about the approaching-his-family thing.

I'm not even sure why his motivations are in contention.

 

[J.T.B.]

I don't think there is another murder committe by Walt in the show's run where the reasons for the killing are not quite clear. I sure hope someone asks Vince about this.

Interesting; like I said I thought the "why" was quite clear. Why did Walt go back to Albuquerque? Because he thought he'd come up with a way to provide for his family. Lydia was a fearful, almost paranoid individual with ready connections to killers, no compunctions about using them, and a lot of motivation to do so. Going to the lengths he went to with the money but not addressing that very real, life-or-death threat doesn't seem very likely for thorough old Walt.

 

[marillion]

^^ Plus, after spending time in Vermont, he NEEDED a green chile fix... Who wouldn't?

 

[bigdaddy]

He was in New Hampshire, not Vermont.

 

[ALF]

"How about that guacamole?"

 

[gblews]

I don't think there is another murder committe by Walt in the show's run where the reasons for the killing are not quite clear. I sure hope someone asks Vince about this.

Interesting; like I said I thought the "why" was quite clear. Why did Walt go back to Albuquerque? Because he thought he'd come up with a way to provide for his family. Lydia was a fearful, almost paranoid individual with ready connections to killers, no compunctions about using them, and a lot of motivation to do so. Going to the lengths he went to with the money but not addressing that very real, life-or-death threat doesn't seem very likely for thorough old Walt.

I don't disagree with anything you write above (except the "clear" part). My argument isn't that Walt had no reasons to kill Lydia.

In "Granite State" we see Walt try to get money to Junior and throught the series Walt tells us that the money he makes is for his family. We then see Walt go back to Albuquerque in Felina and do just that.

Also in Granite State, Walt tells Saul that he wants to kill Jack for what he did to Hank. Walt then returns to Albuquerque and does just that.

What we don't see is Walt making the decision to kill Lydia. We the audience see that Lydia should be on Walt's hit list because among other things, she wants to see Skylar dead.

But we don't ever see Walt find out that Lydia has recommended to Todd that Skylar be killed and then Walt deciding to kill Lydia. Essentially, all we are actually shown is Walt killing her.

The show rather meticulously had Walt tell us, or show us his reasons for killing Jack and pretty much everyone else he has killed, but shows almost nothing of his reasons for killing Lydia.

Again, not arguing that he had no reason to kill Lydia, and if you want to go with the "for the protection of his family" angle, I would not blame you. Personally, I'm going with the ego/legacy reason because that is the one that I think was kind of shown on screen.

Where is the scene that shows us Walt deciding to kill Lydia and his reasons for the decision?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I rewatched "Felina" again tonight and I noticed something cool: When Lydia tells Walt he has two minutes to talk, he gets exactly that. Same thing happens when Skyler tells Walt he has five minutes (sans the Holly visit).

 

[J.T.B.]

I rewatched "Felina" again tonight and I noticed something cool: When Lydia tells Walt he has two minutes to talk, he gets exactly that. Same thing happens when Skyler tells Walt he has five minutes (sans the Holly visit).

You put a clock on it? Wow!

A very engaging interview with BB writers Peter Gould and Thomas Schnauz on NPR's "Fresh Air" today:
http://www.npr.org/2013/10/03/228813142/breaking-bad-writers-this-is-it-theres-no-more

 

[davejames]

Walt's hated Lydia pretty much from the beginning.

That said, his big plan at the end was to eliminate his loose ends so that his family would 1) be safe and 2) be well off. Lydia not only knew enough to be a threat, but Walt actively knew that she knew who his family was. She even had the audacity to approach Skyler at his cover job, as others have already pointed out. That, coupled with the fact that she was extremely eager to have people killed who were a possible threat to her, was more than enough reason to take her out of the picture. And the cruel, lingering way Walt chose to do it showed just how pissed he was about the approaching-his-family thing.

I'm not even sure why his motivations are in contention.

Yeah I agree she deserved to die. I'm just saying I couldn't help but still feel bad for her in that final scene. Probably because the actress (much like Cranston was able to do with Walt) was always able to make Lydia seem so sympathetic and real and human. No matter how many awful and despicable things she did behind the scenes.

 

[ThunderAeroI]

Let's say I know nothing of Breaking Bad. What would be the quintessential episodes to watch that cover the most of the meta arc?

 

[InklingStar]

Let's say I know nothing of Breaking Bad. What would be the quintessential episodes to watch that cover the most of the meta arc?

All of them. Seriously.

 

[Mr Light]

I might argue that you could skip from the pilot to first appearance of Saul/Gus/Mike and not miss much.

 

[Harvey]

The only episode that really could be dropped is "The Fly," from season three. And even that has an important moment in it (and is great in and of itself).

 

[Ethros]

^ Are you referring to "Gatorade me, bitch" ?


But yeah, if you wanna skip episodes you're watching the wrong show. This isn't like, frickin Voyager or something

 

[Sephiroth]

^^ Plus, after spending time in Vermont, he NEEDED a green chile fix... Who wouldn't?

That was the most unrealistic part of the show, who the hell comes back to New Mexico and his first thought is "Denny's?" That wasn't even the good Denny's Frontiers is two blocks down and a million times better

 

[TheGodBen]

Let's say I know nothing of Breaking Bad. What would be the quintessential episodes to watch that cover the most of the meta arc?

I agree with everyone else, episodes shouldn't be skipped. Not just because you'd be missing important story development, but because Breaking Bad is the story of the descent of one man from a good guy to a villain. The transformation only works because it's gradual and spread out across 62 episodes. If you start skipping episodes then the whole central concept of the show wouldn't be nearly as effective.

I might argue that you could skip from the pilot to first appearance of Saul/Gus/Mike and not miss much.

He'd miss the events surrounding Krazy 8, the Gray Matter backstory, the beginnings of Hank's investigation, Walt going on chemo, the Tuco arc, the invention of blue meth, Hector Salamanca, Jesse meeting Jane, Skyler working for Beneke, Hank's PTSD, and Walt and Jesse's attempts to build their own distribution network. All of these elements go on to play a part in the show after the introduction of Saul, many of them being quite important.

On the whole, there's very little fat on Breaking Bad. The only thing that comes to mind is Marie's kleptomania.

 

[Shurik]

This show is one long movie cut into 62 parts.

 

[Mr Light]

I dunno, the entire plane storyline was kind of its own thing. To me the show's plot (not necessarily the character arc mind you) was about the conflict with Gus and the aftermath of it. And I was never particularly enthralled by S1-2. It was Season Three where it really took off for me.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I agree seasons 1-2 aren't as high quality as seasons 3 and later. But without the period of the show where Skyler doesn't know yet it's not as powerful when she does know. Without the period where Walt was struggling to start up on his own, in season 3 he's just Gus's bad hiring decision, and it doesn't make any sense when he protects Jesse. Without Walt struggling to avoid getting violence into his business there's no shock when he gets deeply into the violence.

Gus was the beginning of the great part of the show, but it was great because it had themes established in season 1-2 to build from.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I thought that the first two seasons were fantastic. We got to see a teacher and neighborhood dad break into cooking meth with a former student and getting in over his head. That was some good stuff right there. The cartels and superlabs from later seasons were just a natural progression of that foundation.

The only episode that really could be dropped is "The Fly," from season three.

That was the first episode I thought of. Then I got to your post.