Breaking Bad - Season 3

[Mojochi]

Still think Heisenberg isn't going to come in to his own?

Who me? I always said that murder was going to be imminently forthcoming for Walt, but if you mean being a drug baron, like Gus, then yeah, I still think he has a while to go, to get there. This was a BIG step though

 

[Capt. Vulcan]

Holy fuck that was pretty awesome.

Let me get some complaints out of the way first. I'm not really a fan of just how the wife is getting involved here. I dunno, seems kind of corny and done for the sake of the character more than the story. Actually this is the only complaint I had.

I thought the episode was stellar. It's interesting to see how things are changing now considering Jesse was the one initially saying he was the bad guy. But now he's the one making moral objections to the results of their criminal enterprise. God, just the scene after the meeting where Walt looks at Jesse and says "You know your actions affect other people" and you just know Jesse is fuming inside about how much of a hypocrite Walt is.

I wasn't sure I was very much interested in where Jesse was going to go with this, but I'm really liking it. Going from more petty bullshit to doing something because he cared on some level about he consequences of what he was doing. It all seemed to progress very naturally for the character. He really is dumb enough and enough of a jerk to try to sell drugs to a support group. But I also think he cares enough to be offended with what was happening to that 11 year old. Well acted by pinkman, and he actually brought up some good points about his Ricin plan.

I thought the monologue from the PI was great, with Walt sitting there in silence trying to figure out what the horrible consequences would be of the point the PI was trying to make in his story. The meeting later with the drug dealers was great too, with Jesse standing up to Mr. Pollo, and Mr. Pollo being in total control the entire time.

The Schrader bit was a little slow, but it's nice to see him get out of the hospital.

The ending? I don't remember the last time I was so tense for the end of a tv episode. Just so many possibilities on how it was going to end. Jesse doing meth again, which I was beggin him not to in my mind, or at least hoping Walt would bang on the window before he could. Then he grabs the gun and walks up, and I'm hoping he'll turn around or someone will grab him on the arm or a police car will drive by. But the two gangbangers see him and know what's going on and get their guns, but Jesse doesn't care. At this point I actually expected Walt to run them over with his car. It was the only way. What I didn't expect was walt to just walk up and execute the guy before telling Jesse to run.

Shit if Cranston doesn't get another emmy there's something wrong.

 

[Roshi]

Holy shit that was intense!!!

 

[Agent Richard07]

My first thought when I saw that last scene was... Jesus!

I was also wondering if that message Walt left Jesse will surface somehow.

And Jesse's being an idiot. They've all got a good thing going, nice and easy, and he's wrecking it.

 

[Mojochi]

And Jesse's being an idiot. They've all got a good thing going, nice and easy, and he's wrecking it.

You know, I'd been saying that all along, but this time it actually played well. The fact that one of Jesse's close friends got killed by these guys is finally a valid motivation. Not brilliant, but at least valid

 

[stj]

Walt leaves his family, then comes out of nowhere to save Jesse.

Goodness, that's unexpected.

Good thing those guys weren't watching to see if Jesse brought any friends.

 

[T J]

That made up for the last two episodes big time! Spectacular ending! Will Gus let it pass given the circumstances... or will there be bloody yet efficient bloosdhed?

 

[Checkmate]

I'm just wondering what the hell the actual cliffhanger is gonna be. This one was enough to have me chewing my nails for the summer.

 

[sidious618]

That was amazing. This show really is quite fantastic.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Eh...I don't buy it. Walter may like Jesse, he may feel sorry for Jesse, and he may feel responsible for Jesse, but starting a drug gang war isn't going to be very healthy for his family or his cover story, and Walt would naturally put his family first. Is Walt secretly in love with Jesse or something? That's the only way this rather unexpected plot twist works.

The writers just did it because they need to up the stakes for the season ender, not because it makes any damn sense!

Jesse is emerging as more interesting than Walt, despite being a four-star hypocrite. He's enraged about his friend, disgusted that children are being abused, but he apparently is oblivious to the lives destroyed by his meth. Silly boy.

 

[Snaploud]

Walt likes to feel in control, and he likes to feel that he has moral superiority. Both of those feelings were called into question by the Jesse situation (both Jesse's willingness to buck Gus where Walt was not and Jesse's questioning of the way children were used). I see Walt's actions as his way of taking charge of the situation.

It's messed up, but I think Walt sees this as an opportunity to re-assert his alpha dog status (both morally and criminally).

 

[Mojochi]

Eh...I don't buy it. Walter may like Jesse, he may feel sorry for Jesse, and he may feel responsible for Jesse, but starting a drug gang war isn't going to be very healthy for his family or his cover story, and Walt would naturally put his family first. Is Walt secretly in love with Jesse or something? That's the only way this rather unexpected plot twist works.

The writers just did it because they need to up the stakes for the season ender, not because it makes any damn sense!

Jesse is emerging as more interesting than Walt, despite being a four-star hypocrite. He's enraged about his friend, disgusted that children are being abused, but he apparently is oblivious to the lives destroyed by his meth. Silly boy.

I don't think Walt did it for Jesse. I think he thinks he did it for Jesse, but Walt didn't need to bust a cap in that dude's skull, to save Jesse. Wall did that because he wanted to. I'm just feeling like Gut Reaction Walt (A.K.A. Heisenberg) does what he does because he wants to. He is out for himself, but will take care of those with him, because Walt wants to be Da Man

 

[stj]

Vehicles silently roaring down on unsuspecting pedestrians haven't been used that much but are so absurd it doesn't take much exposure to turn into a cliche. The car coming silently out of nowhere is a good metaphor for the plot twist.

I don't think hypocrite is a good word to apply to Jesse. Being a meth user, he has difficulty in thinking of meth users as victims of meth.

The audience and the writers may have developed a kind of affection, or at least interest, in Jesse. But there is no real grounds for thinking that Walt has any interest. If it had been established that Walt was fearful of Gus' intentions for Dale, having someone like Jesse around could be important to him. But the writers made sure to turn Walt bringing Jesse on board into his way of helping Hank while shutting up Jesse. I fear the writers are imposing our affections onto Walt rather than being true to the character. "Having history" is not quite the same thing, despite the shout out.

Viewers might have trouble accepting a realistic shootout. Handguns at that distance are extremely inaccurate. If Jesse had been straight and the thugs a little high, he could have won. Those guys could have emptied their guns at him at long range to no avail. Then Jesse, finally at close range, could have gotten them. But TV and movies have trained viewers to accept ridiculous gunfights with impossible accuracy at long ranges. The producers might have figured that viewers would be convinced that no one could miss that many shots, even though they most certainly could.

 

[Checkmate]

Eh.

Walt's been through a lot with Jesse. He may not respect him, or truly care for him, or even like him, but he has a bond with him nonetheless. They've been kidnapped together, have committed murder, disposed of a body in the most gruesome fashion imaginable, made pacts, and have been involved in some serious crimes for years now. They're partners even if they don't consider that they are.

And that's really where Walt's motivation comes from here. He tried to resolve the issue through other means, even blowing the whistle (albeit indirectly) on Jesse to Gus. But after Walt heard what happened to the kid, and knowing Jesse as well as he does (even if subconsciously rather than consciously), his options were limited. He had to do something, and he had to make sure that nothing connected to him. As soon as he hit the accelerator in his car, all the decisions were made. Blowing the drug dealer's head off was already resolved in his mind before he got out of the car.

But why did he feel he had to do it? That part is easy. If Jesse goes down, that means there'll be an investigation. He's already tied to Jesse through multiple ways, the least of which being Hank's awareness of him "buying pot" from him. But Walt's been able to keep all of that at a safe distance through lies and deceit... but those lies would easily go up in a puff of smoke the moment a serious investigation took place. And worse, with Hank in a wheelchair and not working, that means there'd be people he couldn't easily manipulate looking into his affairs. And Walt can't have that.

None of that addresses the issues Walt had when he saw Jesse stand up to Gus, either, which is a whole other world of crazy going on in Walt's head.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I can't wait to see the season finale. I heard it's going to a specially exteneded one, about a hour and 40 minutes long or so.

Yep. Just a reminder folks... We're getting an extended finale.

 

[Joeman]

Best ep since the one in which Hank got shot, and it definitely made up for "The Fly".

Walt shooting that guy in the head was crazy. At this rate, by the middle of season 4 he'll pretty much be Scarface.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Walt killing the thugs because he wanted to, not to save Jesse, is an interesting theory but it didn't seem how the scene was meant to be interpreted. Walt seemed desperate, with not even an iota of gloating or I'm-bad-ass posing.

Jesse's a hypocrite. An unconscious one, sure. Hypocrites usually aren't aware of what they're doing, or they wouldn't do it.

Anyway, Breaking Bad has been renewed for S4.

And if anyone misses the preview for Rubicon tonight, here it is. Looks like it could be fun...or a mess...conspiracies are too often an excuse for flabby writing but I'll give it a few episodes.

 

[sidious618]

I can't wait to see the season finale. I heard it's going to a specially exteneded one, about a hour and 40 minutes long or so.

Yep. Just a reminder folks... We're getting an extended finale.

No, sadly we're not. It's only an hour and the extra forty minutes is a preview for another show. I got excited at first, too.

 

[sidious618]

I predicted none of that. Really, really good stuff.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I can't wait to see the season finale. I heard it's going to a specially exteneded one, about a hour and 40 minutes long or so.

Yep. Just a reminder folks... We're getting an extended finale.

No, sadly we're not. It's only an hour and the extra forty minutes is a preview for another show. I got excited at first, too.

Yeah, I only found out when the episode ended. I never saw any prior indication that they were going to show the first episode of Rubicon. That came as a total surprise too. Even when they were advertising the sneak preview, I thought it was going to be an extended trailer or something at the end of Breaking Bad. I was looking forward to Rubicon, but it wasn’t that exciting and hasn’t grabbed me. I’ll keep watching though to see where it goes.

As for Breaking Bad...

A very engaging finale. You guys were right about Gale being set up as a replacement for Walt. As for them hunting down Jesse, that seemed forced and overblown. Why go after him with such fervor when all he did was stir up some crap with some street thugs? Loved the cliff-hanger ending too. I wonder if you guys are also right about Walt and Jesse taking down Gus and running his operation. At this point, it’s the only way they can go if they’re going to save themselves.