Starting Breaking Bad (NO SPOILERS!)

[TheGodBen]

Likewise, Vic Mackey did horrible things but he was working to clean up the streets.

Vic Mackey was an out-and-out crook. Sure, he did some of the bad stuff he did to catch criminals, but a lot of it was out of self-interest. Remember, in the very first episode he kills another cop in cold blood just to cover up his crimes.

If that's the sort of "noble reasoning" you can accept then you'll have no problem with Breaking Bad.

 

[Mr Light]

But he was haunted by killing that guy for the rest of the series

Which affliction is Walt Junior supposed to have, and is the actor faking it or does he really have it? I'm too afraid to click on anything online cause then I'd find out when a character is killed off!

 

[Harvey]

Cerebral palsy. RJ Mitte has it in real life, although it is not quite as severe as it is with Walt, Jr.

 

[Shurik]

But he was haunted by killing that guy for the rest of the series

Which affliction is Walt Junior supposed to have, and is the actor faking it or does he really have it? I'm too afraid to click on anything online cause then I'd find out when a character is killed off!

Cerebral palsy. The actor also has it, though a milder case.

 

[Mr Light]

Okay, I finished Season Two. That ended on such a bizarre out of left field WTF ending. All of a sudden we find out Q is an air traffic controller and he makes two planes collide right over Walt's house?! What the hell was that?! Did people enjoy this twist?! It's particularly weird after the ominous season long buildup of shots of a bear in a pool (so weird).

That said, it is pretty messed up that Walt is indirectly responsible for an airline crash because he stood by and let the Bitch in Apartment 23 die

I wish he had just told Skyler what he was doing at the end because like I said it's painful how long this is being drawn out. Then again, she's so nasty to him she would probably rat him out to the cops.

OK I watched the first ten minutes of S3 and once again we start with a bizarre moment. A bunch of people crawling through a desert on their knees to get to a shrine and identical twin drug dealers

I think a large problem I have with this show is how the drug making is shown so inconsistently. It feels like he only does the drug thing every four episodes or so and the rest is just his personal life. But is that really enough to create a constant supply? It seems like a part time hobby he only does inconsistently.

 

[Gepard]

I think a large problem I have with this show is how the drug making is shown so inconsistently. It feels like he only does the drug thing every four episodes or so and the rest is just his personal life. But is that really enough to create a constant supply? It seems like a part time hobby he only does inconsistently.

The show is not happening in real time; the first four seasons take place over only one year of Walt's life. He goes and cooks as his day job, if you will, and then we spend the other three episodes seeing the fallout on nights and weekends, as it were. It would be easier to clarify why this matters if you were okay with spoilers, but trust us.

Again -- the whole point of the show is to examine a certain kind of character arc. The meth is not the point. What the meth does to Walt's life is the point. If you're watching this show with the idea that it's a procedural like Dexter or CSI or Star Trek or something, were certain reliable things happen each week aboard the Drugship Metherprise – it's not. It's a single, five-year-long movie that happens to be chopped into 50-some-odd episodes.

 

[Mr Light]

I'm on 3X4 now and Walt is getting increasingly unsympathetic and uninteresting to me...

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Season 2 is the worst season, IMO. Gets better and better from here.

I agree the plane crash ending was silly. Though it is interesting. Walt initiated the sequence of events that caused it, but that sequence of events was so random you can't really say it's his fault. It served as a way to remind Walt of the consequences of his action but in a sort of ambiguous way.

Like I said, if you have trouble rooting for characters who aren't good people, you will have issues with BB. For me at the point you are at, he's getting less sympathetic but MORE interesting.

 

[InklingStar]

I'm on 3X4 now and Walt is getting increasingly unsympathetic and uninteresting to me...

If you find the show uninteresting after season 3, then you may as well give it up. The intensity and emotional effects continue to be ratcheted up with each episode from here on out.

 

[Mr Light]

I'm compelled to finish it though, I'm DVRing the new episodes

I've actually found a happy medium of playing the show on my computer while I re-read a favorite old book on the couch, giving half attention to each thing.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

If you can actually give only half attention to Breaking Bad, give it up. You won't enjoy seasons 4 or 5.

 

[bigdaddy]

Season 2 plane crash thing was such a horrible storyline. I almost gave the show up after that because it was so horribly bad. However it did play a part into who Jess becomes.

If you can't like season 3 than you are doomed, the season 3 and 4 finales are a lot better than the plane crash crap.

 

[Mr Light]

I'm on 3X11... I miss the weirdo silent twin hitmen

 

[Mr Light]

I'm on 4X1 now. I think my favorite character is the Gus the polite professional drug lord. He's the kind of character I wanted Walt to be. Someone who used intellect and professionalism to run a responsible drug business. Someone who seeks to avoid violence and actually tries to peacefully resolve conflicts. Oh well.

With the 3X13 cliffhanger I assumed they weren't going to actually kill Gabe, and I looked him up on IMDB and saw he was in four more episodes, so I was quite surprised that he was actually killed! Poor guy. He was another person to root for. He was totally nice and pleasant and compliant. He's the way Jesse should have become

 

[3chordboy]

you know, if you want all your tv show characters to get along and be heroes you really shouldn't watch this show. i can tell you now that you will end up hating the show

 

[gblews]

you know, if you want all your tv show characters to get along and be heroes you really shouldn't watch this show. i can tell you now that you will end up hating the show

Seriously. Mr. Light, I think you should give up on the show now. I don't think it is for you. The tone of the show continues to darken as the series goes on and so does Walt.

 

[PsychoPere]

The kind of show that Mr Light seems to want Breaking Bad to be would be horribly uninteresting.

 

[InklingStar]

Since you have made it to season 4, I guess you should finish the show. Gus is a businessman on the outside, but he is still a drug lord and a murderer. Walt is new to the business still. Perhaps if he worked at it for twenty years he could be like Gus.

The way the camera moves before Jesse pulls the trigger made it seem like he purposely missed, but the writers say that was never the intention. The cliffhanger is not "Will Jesse actually shoot Gale?" but rather "Holy crap, Jesse just shot Gale!" This show takes a normal slacker young man and a normal milquetoast middle aged man and puts them through the crucible. The journey is the best part.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

He's the kind of character I wanted Walt to be. Someone who used intellect and professionalism to run a responsible drug business. Someone who seeks to avoid violence and actually tries to peacefully resolve conflicts.

Uhh...wait.

Well, you've already seen Gus kill a child to manipulate Jesse into getting himself killed. And if you've seen 4X1 you've seen him in action with a box cutter.

I suppose they could have taken Breaking Bad in the direction to have Walt continue on his original mission to run a drug business without being involved in the violence. It could have still turned out a good, but very different show that way.

 

[TheGodBen]

I'm on 4X1 now. I think my favorite character is the Gus the polite professional drug lord. He's the kind of character I wanted Walt to be. Someone who used intellect and professionalism to run a responsible drug business. Someone who seeks to avoid violence and actually tries to peacefully resolve conflicts. Oh well.

So because Gus has people to do the killing for him, that makes him a peaceful, respectable man? He sent the cousins after Hank, he sent Mike to kill the surviving cousin in hospital, he set up members of the Cartel to be killed by Mexican authorities, he sent Mike to kill the Cartel guys in the season 3 finale, and he probably ordered the murder of Andrea's brother. Then there's all the deaths he's responsible for in the coming seasons. I don't know for certain, but I believe Gus's body-count exceeds Walt's.

Gus is soulless. He's a wolf in a respectable fried-chicken merchant's clothing. He's just better at concealing his pride than Walt, and is playing a much longer game. He's an excellent character, persuasive at times, but absolutely a monster.