Breaking bad, you watching it?

[gbeenie]

Just started watching this show last night. Looks like it should be fun. 

You're in for a hell of a trip. We picked up the show late, too.

[Thrifty]

I picked up the season 4 DVD set a few days ago.  Even though I'd seen them all when they first aired and they're all available on Netflix On Demand, it's still worth it to own the series.  The commentary tracks and special features are pretty good too.  Cranston brings his comedic talents to the commentaries.  It's a real treat.

I hope they do some more back story on Mike.  It'd be fun to know how he got to be Gus's right hand man, and why he quit the police force.

[Sideswipe]

Its interestind to see Mike go from loving grandfather in one scene to ruthless bastard in the very next scene.

[wurwolf]

Watched the second episode, where Walt and that other guy had to kill one guy/dispose of the other, and I have to admit it's starting to lose me a little bit. I got bored about halfway through but the bathtub brought me back. Of course, that was the end of the episode.

[Bob]

Ah, the bathtub.   I learned so much up there

[D.B. Barnes]

Watched the second episode, where Walt and that other guy had to kill one guy/dispose of the other, and I have to admit it's starting to lose me a little bit. I got bored about halfway through but the bathtub brought me back. Of course, that was the end of the episode.

There is a significant amount of slow burn to this show, especially in the beginning, where they take their time developing characters and exploring situations. I've always seen the desired effect of this to be a kind of gradually building intensity leading to something really exciting and often completely unexpected. To add to this, several of the characters go through incredibly significant changes.  For me, once I was invested in the characters, I could just sit back (or on the edge of my seat!) and watch it unfold while enjoying some of the finest acting on television.

As the show moves on, the overall intensity builds as the stakes get higher and the danger increases. If you can stick with it, you'll be treated with almost non-stop intensity that doesn't let up over the course of several episodes. And it gets seriously intense, so much so that I would sometimes experience a physical reaction, as in accelerated heartbeat and forgetting to breathe.

I know that might sound crazy, and it's possible you won't experience it the same way, but I guess what I trying to say is it's a hell of a show. In my opinion, one of the best dramas in at least the last decade.

[Thrifty]

Watched the second episode, where Walt and that other guy had to kill one guy/dispose of the other, and I have to admit it's starting to lose me a little bit. I got bored about halfway through but the bathtub brought me back. Of course, that was the end of the episode.

You're only on the second episode.  You're judging it a little quickly.  And the 2nd and 3rd episodes were pretty slow paced too.

[Thrifty]

Poor Skyler.  I'm rooting for the cancer too.

[Thrifty]

This show is starting to get too close to a gangster movie, where evil men reap in huge profits while spreading misery and death and the police can't stop them.  I don't like gangster movies.

[Lembach]

Dear Breaking Bad,
Please kill off Skyler. I am so sick of that whiny shrew. If I have to see her constipated pinched face screech at Walt anymore about how bad HER non-cancer-having life is, I may do something violent. She should be on her knees begging for forgiveness.
--thank you.

[Thrifty]

Dear Breaking Bad,
Please kill off Skyler. I am so sick of that whiny shrew. If I have to see her constipated pinched face screech at Walt anymore about how bad HER non-cancer-having life is, I may do something violent. She should be on her knees begging for forgiveness.
--thank you.

Yeah, being bullied around by an abusive husband who is putting you and your children in danger is so easy.

[JimJ]

That scene in the bedroom with Walt and Skyler is one of the best scenes of this entire series IMO. So intense and claustrophobic. That bedroom seemed about 10x smaller than usual.

It astounds me that anyone still takes Walt's side over Skyler. I'd never claim that Skyler was a saint, but next to Walt she looks like Mother Theresa. Her character isn't easy to like but I've always tried to look at things from her point of view. Her mild mannered chemistry teacher husband has become a drug kingpin. Even before she knew about the drugs, she knew SOMETHING was up, and she was more right than she could've imagined. She's obviously not innocent, as she let herself get pulled into Walt's world (and I'm glad the show had her acknowledge that there was blood on her hands as well) but Walt is just a monster at this point. One of the recaps compared the shot of Walt pulling Skyler from the pool (Fucking BEAUTIFUL scene BTW) to the shark from Jaws, which I thought was apt.

[JimJ]

The devolution of Walter White's birthday celebrations:

Spoiler

[Thrifty]

I do hope they explain what's going on at that diner by the end of the current 8 episode run.  Even if it ends on a cliffhanger that I have to wait 10 months to see resolved.

[JimJ]

I do hope they explain what's going on at that diner by the end of the current 8 episode run.  Even if it ends on a cliffhanger that I have to wait 10 months to see resolved.

My guess is something huge will happen that causes Walt to leave at the end of this run, and then next year is him coming back and the diner scene will be the opening scene.  There's going to have to be a huge time jump somewhere and it makes sense to make that leap during the long break.