Breaking Bad - Season 5

[davejames]

Watched the episode last night and I too though that scene odd.

Umm ok so you caught me putting cash into a safety deposit box in a bank, BFD.

I would think the real crime would be you coming into said private area without any kind of warrant or provocation to do so and one would think a lawyer would quote that straight away.

Well that's probably why the producers made this particular lawyer be so wimpy-- because they needed someone who looked like he would easily fess up to the DEA. And even Saul says the guy was a moron.

Of course that begs the question of why Mike didn't do a better job selecting someone to handle his money in the first place.

 

[Beagleman]

It's part of the visual fabric of the show.

Awesome video!

 

[gblews]

Todd is a better version of Jesse in the sense that he's eager to learn from Walt and respects him from the start. As for now, he also seems to be more disciplined and ready to do what needs to be done. When Todd said they should talk about money only after he had learned to do the cooking right, Walt seemed to approve of the sentiment. I don't think this bodes well for Jesse.

I had a different read on that scene. It seemed to me that Walt was slightly pissed at Todd because he was so unlike Jesse, the irony being that Todd is exactly the sort of assistant that Walt would have wanted when the show began, but now Walt has changed. I may be wrong.

You might be, but an interesting take on the scene nonetheless. I also thought the look Walt gave Todd fell consideraly short of "the look of love". Bottom line; Jesse is smart, Todd is dumb. I never thought I would ever hear Walt state that he AND Jesse were the two best meth cooks around.

Lily of the Valley. Who the hell saw THAT coming? Nobody, that's who. It's not about what happens. It's about how it happens

Actually, the lily of the valley thing was a pretty hot fan theory going into the season finale last year. It's the reason why I've shied away from BB fan sites this year, it was still fun to see my favoured theory for how Brock got sick proven correct, but the season 4 finale lacked that gut punch for me as I was already expecting it.

I remember this from the thread last season. Most of us thought it was Ricin and that Walt was definitely the culprit because Walt had more to gain from it (poisoning Brock) than Gus did. Don't recall anyone knowing Walt used the plant though.

Todd's dumb like a fox. Those "prison connections" will come into play, mark my words. I, too, think Walt would rather have Jesse. It's more of an ego boost if he can "woo" Jesse back, so to speak. Also, Jesse's developed a brain along the way and Walt always appreciates that. I think Todd's sucking up with the "we can talk about money when I get it right" business. He's stealing the formula. He has to be.

That all seems likely.

But who would he be stealing the formula for? The Phoenix group is now in partnersip with Walt and even though that could change, how likely is it they could have already contacted Todd and got him working for them? Or, how would Todd know about them to be able to contact them?

Besides, even with Walt's formula, it isn't likely anyone who didn't also know Walt's cooking technique could produce the blue meth. But besides all that, I think it is too late in the game (with only 8 episodes) to bring in someone new for Todd to sell the formula too.

I have a feeling that Todd may play a future role in Walt's problems because he kept the kid's bottle. And as far as his prison contacts are concerned, from the preview scenes for next episode, it looks like they are going to be used REAL soon. Other than this though, I think Todd's just simple "plot lubricant".

 

[Trubinator]

People who side with Gus Fring or say Walter was always bad have no understanding of the show at all. Vince Gilligan has ALWAYS been on record that Walter's transformation from meek family man to ruthless killer was done gradually. It's why we saw him cry when he had to kill his first guy and why he threw his drug money into the barbecue and burned it when he realized he was starting to lose his family. Only after four seasons of transformation and the realization that Walter has no more obstacles in his way has he become the villain you all speak of. And I would argue it was only in this most recent episode where he became truly bad.

 

[Harvey]

He poisoned Brock, knowing that the kid might die, at the end of last season. Walter's been "truly bad" for a while now.

That was a calculated move, however. His murder of Mike was a crime committed in the heat of the moment, and suggests to me that Walter's control of the situation -- and himself -- is swiftly unraveling.

 

[sidious618]

Walt has been bad for ages. He attempted to rape his wife at the start of season two and he, y'know, cooked meth since season one.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Walt didn't try to rape her. He thought, or thinks that she still love/d him then/now... She's so damn passive aggressive that he was completely ignorant to HOW she was saying "no".

Walt thought it was consensual.

She was too horrified to school him otherwise.

 

[sidious618]

Do you not remember that scene? She most certainly told him no and she got slammed into the fridge. Now, granted, Walt was barely conscious himself but it goes right to the heart of his dominance issues, which have always been there. He was a regular guy, yes, but a regular guy who was more than willing to make decisions that he knew were wrong. He's always been an asshole.

 

[Trubinator]

Do you not remember that scene? She most certainly told him no and she got slammed into the fridge. Now, granted, Walt was barely conscious himself but it goes right to the heart of his dominance issues, which have always been there. He was a regular guy, yes, but a regular guy who was more than willing to make decisions that he knew were wrong. He's always been an asshole.

You misread that scene. Walter was portrayed as being scared out of his mind by recent events and was seeking closeness with his wife. When you're that rabid with emotion it can be hard to see straight sometimes, but you will recall that he stopped as soon as she said no.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Do not recall the fridge.

I was thinking of when she was lying in bed and he cozies up behind her where from he can't see the single tear strolling down her face.

 

[gblews]

Do you not remember that scene? She most certainly told him no and she got slammed into the fridge. Now, granted, Walt was barely conscious himself but it goes right to the heart of his dominance issues, which have always been there. He was a regular guy, yes, but a regular guy who was more than willing to make decisions that he knew were wrong. He's always been an asshole.

The show hasn't shown us any evidence that Walt was this bad prior to his cancer diagnosis. We may have been shown that he wasn't the happiest guy pre-cancer, but he didn't seem all that much different from other men his age and in his situation.

This was no accident. Vince and his staff meant for us to know that Walt may have had the capacity for evil but it may never have physically manifested were it not for his circumstances.

Hell, I don't think Walt even knew. The question then becomes; what might we all be capable of under the right circumstances. As someone stated upthread, this is part of what makes the show so compelling.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Do you not remember that scene? She most certainly told him no and she got slammed into the fridge. Now, granted, Walt was barely conscious himself but it goes right to the heart of his dominance issues, which have always been there. He was a regular guy, yes, but a regular guy who was more than willing to make decisions that he knew were wrong. He's always been an asshole.

You misread that scene. Walter was portrayed as being scared out of his mind by recent events and was seeking closeness with his wife. When you're that rabid with emotion it can be hard to see straight sometimes, but you will recall that he stopped as soon as she said no.

That's not true, she said "no" more than once. He didn't listen until she basically screamed it at him and moved in such a way that he couldn't continue.

 

[stj]

I'm still of the opinion that Walt was broken by his fear of death, making the cancer absolutely essential to his degeneration. And agree that's what makes his personal tragedy so interesting to (some of) us: We know we might react the same way. (But I still insist that the show is approaching the point where it has to decide whether it meant that Walt was destroyed by his fear and turned bad, or whether it's celebrating a weakling turned bad ass.)

Anna Gunn does pretty well trying to make a humanly consistent character out of Skylar but Mrs. White is really too baffling to assess Walt's badness from his marital relations. She slept with Ted and commited tax fraud for him for apparently no reason at all: At other times the series portrays her as a selfless wife, an upright citizen and much to honorable to be dazzled by Ted's superficial gloss (aka apparent wealth.) Letting Jane die for what were in the final analysis trivial reasons seems like a better indication that Walt's moral collapse was pretty severe straightaway. What's been going on is the progressive clearing of the ruins of his integrity in the pursuit of money and power.

Yes, Mike was wrong in claiming that only Walt's ego messed up things with Fring. But the most interesting and best played aspect of the episode I think was Jesse walking away from the money. Then the episode stomps on it by having Walt accidentally overhear a major plot twist (and a shaky one, as noted by others above) driving Mike and Jesse back into Walt's orbit.

 

[Guy Gardener]

A more disturbing last episode...

Walt squeezing Skylar's corpse into a barrel, then drowning it in acid.

Walt seems like the sort of guy who would think kids trump wife.

 

[sidious618]

Do you not remember that scene? She most certainly told him no and she got slammed into the fridge. Now, granted, Walt was barely conscious himself but it goes right to the heart of his dominance issues, which have always been there. He was a regular guy, yes, but a regular guy who was more than willing to make decisions that he knew were wrong. He's always been an asshole.

The show hasn't shown us any evidence that Walt was this bad prior to his cancer diagnosis. We may have been shown that he wasn't the happiest guy pre-cancer, but he didn't seem all that much different from other men his age and in his situation.

He definitely wasn't as bad before getting the cancer, of course, but he always had it in him.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

I think if they had an extra episode or two this half season, it would have taken a little longer for Jesse to get back into Walter's orbit. I do agree that Jesse leaving without the money was an extremely well played beat of the episode.

 

[Trubinator]

I would still like to see Walter redeemed in the end somehow, even if he dies in the process. I think he will realize he needs to make good and possibly buy it in the process, but the end of his journey needs to be on his own terms.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Final episode...

They've bared Walt down like a dog, he's surrounded, there's no way out, Hank is going to kick him in the nuts and then cuff his brotherinlaw.

Which is when Hank's cellphone rings.

"You're kidding. No shit. Well? Walt. Buddy. Walt, this is your lucky fucking day. Congress just legalized meth... So why don't you show me and the boys how this blue shit of yours works."

 

[Count Zero]

 

[davejames]

I would still like to see Walter redeemed in the end somehow, even if he dies in the process. I think he will realize he needs to make good and possibly buy it in the process, but the end of his journey needs to be on his own terms.

I don't need to see him "redeemed", but I do hope we still see plenty of the sad, fragile Walt at the end, and he doesn't turn into just another grim, soulless Gus Fring type.

Because as hard as the writers try (and as depicable as he can often be), I don't think I'll EVER be able to see Walt as purely evil.

He does some evil things, but most of that originates from his feelings of inadequacy and low self-worth, and not because he truly enjoys hurting people or anything.