Talk Forum: What You're Saying
The season finale of Breaking Bad left the Talk forum with much to say. "The finale was a cliff hanger for sure!" Dr Jeseuss exclaimed. "Leaving it to end at that would be 'breaking bad.' There's so much room to grow going into another season."
Rickyjames concurred that the season tied up nicely: "We certainly ended on the right note, with Walt watching his latest 2 pounds drive off into the sunset, all set up to do more batches for quite some time to come, with the soundtrack wailing about the saving of his soul as we fade to black...." Pamala, however was more cautious: "Not a great finale, but that's to be expected as this was not originally written as the final episode. That fact in mind, I think it stood up very well."
Meanwhile, kgirl55 considered Walt's conversation with Hank about America's decisions about drug legalization. "Although I do believe Meth is a very dangerous drug," she writes, "society seems to arbitrarily dictate what we can do with our bodies and sometimes." Similarly, satireV wondered if we want Walt to get away with his crimes: "Will the powers allow...the bad guy to win?"
People hoping to win a model of Walt's Winnebago were asked to make predictions for season two. Tony Blackburn said, "Jesse is an awesome character....a deep down inside good kid gone bad. He just isn't quite as bad as a typical meth head is. I would like to see him get a girlfriend." Rob mused, "I think an interesting storyline would be to have some third party discover the meth cooking, but rather than turning Walt and Jesse in to the cops, he/she decides to blackmail them for part of their money." Mike D, however, spoke less optimistically: "I'll be happy to see a season 2, period." We still have more toy RVs to give away, so be sure to keep logging onto the Breaking Bad blog every week.
And as always, the discussions on the Talk forum continue to surge, so log on to join in any of them, or to start a whole new Breaking Bad topic of your own!
Contrary to some of the other comments, I would hate to see anyone "get a girlfriend" unless it's underplayed and fits into the story extremely well. Ugh.
That said, I very much enjoyed the season finale. It's exhilirating to see Walt turning into more of a badass, but as I alluded to in my more detailed comments on the winnebago thread, I enjoy the balance they strike. I.e. they let him show some of his newly confident "bad" side, but contextualize it in almost disappointingly nerdy ways, for example his pimpin' black-hat/coat-and-sunglasses get-up in the junkyard scenes. It's real; it's what a dorky old chemistry teacher might pick out in his aesthetic naivete. That's the key to the show's success -- letting things be exciting and cool, but also bringing us back down to earth with these little comic touches.
I love the subtle peeks we're getting into other characters' potential "bad" sides too; e.g. Marie's kleptomania, Skylar's willingness to be deceptive and resourceful to get out of a fix (in the dept. store.) Things of this nature. It gives the tone of the whole show the appropriate tenor of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. All these elements sort of drifting around in a perpetually unstable state, with the potential for sudden violent shifts at key moments.
Beyond that I can only repeat what I said on the winnebago thread: I have slowly become more and more impressed with the writers' sense of balance. Every time I fear a stumble -- e.g. I thought for sure the realtor "open house" situation was going to get too wacky for its own good -- it's as if the writers or director senses it, and nips it in the bud just in time. It's still funny to watch Jesse flip out and shoo everyone out, but it's almost anticlimactic. However, it's anticlimactic in the best way. "Should we draw this out into a sitcom-like sequence? No, we'll just give a little taste of that comedy, then kick everyone the hell out. Problem solved!"
Tuco's fantastic, too. The way the final junkyard scene plays out is brilliant, and shows a certain savviness to Tuco himself. I.e. beating his henchman to a pulp to -- in a roundabout way -- more dramatically illustrate the point the henchman was trying to make, even while punishing him for it: that although Walt & Jesse are now on Tuco's "good side," it's important they don't get too comfortable, and that they "remember who they're working for," as well as what "who they're working for" is capable of. It also brings home like a ton of bricks Walt's complete lack of an exit strategy, balancing out the rush of vicarious bravado we feel for Walt as an audience. I loved their facial expressions/reactions as Tuco leaves. "For better or worse, you're all the way in now," the scene seems to tell Walt (and us) -- and considering the strike's effect on production, that's a pretty good note to end the season on.
I can't wait to see these ideas develop. Keep that superb tonal balance, keep that nice, leisurely pace, keep adding new little surprises here and there, and you'll do fine. Breaking Bad is my favorite new show and I hope to see many more seasons reach the air.
B
Finally, the only original T.Vee show in the last 30 years. It is great! I had decided there was not a single writer with an original thought in this world. I'm so glad you have proved me wrong. My brother died at 52 with non hodgkins lymphoma after 4 years of treatment and finally losing out to PML-foul way to go. Can't say what I would not do under the same circumstance-if need be. Not much...I'm guessing.
Maybe Walt should get a big ol' heapin'-helpin' of meth-gas and find he has miracle cure for cancer. Meth lab gas can't be any worse than the pathetic joke of the black voo-doo medical world -chemo therapy. I watched that program from the front row.
Go Walt - Raise HELL !
The greatest show i have seen since the sopranoes! Hell Yeah!!!
This is the greatest show i have seen since the first season of the sopranoes. The show has a great story and great acting. And many people can identify with the show breaking bad like the sopranos.
Where is the Hat that I want to buy? !!!