Breaking Bad - 1 episode left

[Arshes Nei]

With one more episode left, I'm excited and a bit sad to see this show end.

BTW: if you want to post spoilers - use the spoiler tags.

On one hand I hope it ends with a "high note" meaning that it's done where I'm left happy it was a good show, vs seeing the show jump the shark and hoping it fades into obscurity. Oddly enough, I actually didn't have any interest in seeing this show till a friend recommended it after I talked about Game of Thrones.

Who would have known an anime voice actor (he went under a pseudonym) for Isamu Dyson in Macross Plus and Fei Long in Street Fighter the Movie would escape Malcolm and Lois (Malcolm in the Middle) to become a high school chemistry teacher with making some tasty rock candy Blue Sky and become a king of a meth empire.

I'm hoping they do reveal what was the deal with Gray Matter since it seemed to shape why he was the character who started out.

I have to say Gus Fring and Tio Salamanca made for the best moments of TV I've seen (though I was watching this on Netflix).

 

[Heliophobic]

I'm so torn. I want Walt to lose because he's an evil piece of shit but I also want to see him win because he's Walter fucking White. I have never felt so ambivalent for a character. Honestly, like a lot of people have said, it doesn't really matter what happens, because Vince will inevitably find a way to make it awesome.

I still can't believe it's all coming to an end in five days.

 

[Ji-Ji]

Going to watch last Sundays episode in an hour or so. I don't want it to end but at the same time I am dying to see resolve.


All I want of this is what I've wanted from the start (well few episodes in.)

I want Skylar to die, can't stand her.

 

[Kitsune Cross]

Shit went totally crazy, there is way too much stuff left for 1 episode

 

[Vaelarsa]

I want Skylar to die, can't stand her.

No. Shh. That makes you an evil misogynist or something. (According to the internet.) I fucking can't stand her either, though.

I've unfortunately not been able to keep up with the latest season. Both because it's not on Netflix, and because I haven't went scouring the internet for it and I have no cable.

Still rooting for Walt, though. Don't even care. Sometimes it's fun to root for the villain.

 

[Cyanide_tiger]

At this point, I don't care who "wins." I just want the ending to blindside me. I've never been able to predict what's going to happen, and I'll be sorely disappointed if any of my current theories for the ending pan out.

high school gym teacher

Chemistry teacher.

 

[Arshes Nei]

Chemistry teacher.

Yeah that was a typo I know he's a chemistry teacher - specially since it makes you wonder why he ended up there and walked out on Gray Matter for that.

Also from what it seems like he also got a much younger wife, ie Skylar after what happened. Was it a ...family issue? Which may be ironic since the theme is Walter is about family.

I dislike Skylar for many reasons, and there was a point I did feel sympathetic towards her but her motives seemed more about her than family than Walter's until near the end of the season.

The only character

Spoiler: about a character I didn't like at a certain point

Was Jr/Flynn's behavior after he discovered what his dad did. There's like no reason for him other than the loss of Hank, for his over the top freakout imo

 

[Cyanide_tiger]

Yeah that was a typo I know he's a chemistry teacher - specially since it makes you wonder why he ended up there and walked out on Gray Matter for that.

Also from what it seems like he also got a much younger wife, ie Skylar after what happened. Was it a ...family issue? Which may be ironic since the theme is Walter is about family.

I dislike Skylar for many reasons, and there was a point I did feel sympathetic towards her but her motives seemed more about her than family than Walter's until near the end of the season.

The only character

Spoiler: about a character I didn't like at a certain point

Was Jr/Flynn's behavior after he discovered what his dad did. There's like no reason for him other than the loss of Hank, for his over the top freakout imo

Not sure how much of the series you'd consider spoilers at this point, so I'll just lump it all in:

Spoiler:

I didn't like Skyler much at first either, but I fully understood her motivations, which made me respect the character to a degree. The one that I've always viewed as truly useless was Marie.

As for why Walt left Gray Matter, I believe it was explained shortly after Walt started taking chemo and told Skyler/Jr that Elliot and Gretchen were paying for it when he was actually using his cash from the meth. After Skyler called Gretchen to thank her, Gretchen met with Walt and I want to say it was revealed that he sold his lot of the company because there was a relationship between himself and Gretchen that went sour due to her interest in Elliot, so he GTFO'd. Of course, I could be mistaken since it's been a while since seeing that episode.

I can understand Walt Jr's reaction - we've been desensitized to Walt for a while now since we watched the transformation take place from an unassuming middle-aged suburban dad that never broke a law in his life while trying to reinforce doing the right thing and being good all the time, to a meth kingpin that murders anyone that threatens him and ruthlessly does whatever he feels is necessary for the protection of himself and his family. Walt Jr has been oblivious all this time, so he gets the full brunt of the shock that his father, who has never done anything wrong in his life, is no more outstanding than any other dad on the block, has been secretly cooking meth and murdering people for the past year and a half and keeping every single bit of it from him. That combined with the realization that all the marital issues between his parents wasn't caused by him gambling or his mom just being an insufferable bitch, and instead was caused because of his mom's problem with Walt manufacturing drugs and murdering - he was defending someone that the family he knew before wouldn't dare associate themselves with. It's all a huge betrayal of everything he thought he knew about his parents, especially his dad.

 

[Arshes Nei]

Spoiler:

I didn't like Skyler much at first either, but I fully understood her motivations, which made me respect the character to a degree. The one that I've always viewed as truly useless was Marie.

As for why Walt left Gray Matter, I believe it was explained shortly after Walt started taking chemo and told Skyler/Jr that Elliot and Gretchen were paying for it when he was actually using his cash from the meth. After Skyler called Gretchen to thank her, Gretchen met with Walt and I want to say it was revealed that he sold his lot of the company because there was a relationship between himself and Gretchen that went sour due to her interest in Elliot, so he GTFO'd. Of course, I could be mistaken since it's been a while since seeing that episode.

Well here goes..

Spoiler: Gray Matter

I don't think it was stated that she did have an affair, may have been implied since it feels that way. But she took Walter to her parents place one weekend so it may have been he discovered they were having an affair or she decided to break up with him there ...or.... The thing about Elliot other than being partners or friends...you kind of don't see his level of genius so much. So it makes you wonder if Walter's accusations of "stealing" from him may have had something to it. That it's possible that Walter less of a "face" to be frontrunner of the company since Elliot looks a bit more handsome. They may have wanted Elliot to be the face of the company more. Walter may have just wanted none of it given how he is about how he is about credit about his meth, and left. Now he's angry because they went on and used a majority of his research to get billions. For Elliot and Gretchen, "it wasn't like that" possibly that they felt that Elliot playing a role as the face was more of a benefit and they weren't trying to steal and would give him the money - but as other episodes stated Walt wanted an empire. It would also explain things like him saying it was his kids birthright.

It's entirely possible that part of the fallout with Gretchen is about having a family. As you see Elliot and Gretchen are childless.

The publicity stunt seems a bit too ...contrived for the situation given that Walt left long ago so it was only in name, there would be less of a problem. However, it could very well be there is a lot of research that has Walt's "name" in it. So I'm wondering if it really is a diversion to how much he was involved in with the research of the company that now produces pharmaceuticals.

Marie being useless I'll definitely agree with. Other than the purple and kleptomaniac diversion she has been somewhat useless. Though at least she did get the money and worked to help get Hank back on his feet .

Oh I just remembered. Gretchen was actually upset because Walt left her - so affair thing may be off the table

 

[Taralack]

I honestly just want to see what he does with that M16.

I'm curious too over whether that theory that he picks up the mannerisms of people he's killed is true. But I don't know if they have enough time in one episode to wrap everything up nicely.

 

[Arshes Nei]

Oh, I forgot to mention there will at least be a pre-quel spinoff of Better Caul Saul once this series is over.

 

[Captain Howdy]

I'm not excited in the least, the show has been one of the most disappointing popular shows in quite some time. I sat with my friend who is super into it and watched most of it, but was bored out of mind throughout most of every episode - It's one of those shows that is better in gifs and memes.

Though I'll personally watch the last two seasons if they have it end up being a prequel to Malcolm in the Middle. I'll watch the shit out of that, boring as it might be, but I loved M to M!

 

[Heliophobic]

Oh, I forgot to mention there will at least be a pre-quel spinoff of Better Caul Saul once this series is over.

Which is going to be awesome holy fucking shit.

I was hoping this would exist before it was even revealed that it would exist.

 

[PsychicOtter]

I have no clue what they're going to do with this last episode. There's a lot left to settle, and they probably have to tie in those flashbacks at the beginning of this season.

 

[Cyanide_tiger]

I have no clue what they're going to do with this last episode. There's a lot left to settle, and they probably have to tie in those flashbacks at the beginning of this season.

So many people are going to die. So many.

 

[rjbartrop]

So many people are going to die. So many.

That's my thought too. It's going to end like Hamlet. Walt destroys everyone he's close to, and there's still a few left.

 

[Taralack]

Oh, I forgot to mention there will at least be a pre-quel spinoff of Better Caul Saul once this series is over.

Wait, seriously? o_o

 

[Arshes Nei]

Wait, seriously? o_o

If AMC hadn't have picked it up it would be a Netflix series. http://entertainment.time.com/2013/09/20/what-if-better-call-saul-had-ended-up-at-netflix/

 

[Lobar]

I picked up and watched the very first episode like a month ago, and I just finished watching the penultimate episode just now. Holy fuck, this show. They clearly didn't want to end it with any feeling of "what could have been" left in the viewers' minds. It really feels like nothing is outside the realm of possibility for the finale.

It's weird, the first season, I found Walt to be the most personally relatable character, and even though now he's become a complete asshole I still hope he wins out.

No. Shh. That makes you an evil misogynist or something. (According to the internet.) I fucking can't stand her either, though.

Really, it's Marie that needs to be shanked.

 

[Cyanide_tiger]

I picked up and watched the very first episode like a month ago, and I just finished watching the penultimate episode just now. Holy fuck, this show. They clearly didn't want to end it with any feeling of "what could have been" left in the viewers' minds. It really feels like nothing is outside the realm of possibility for the finale.

It's weird, the first season, I found Walt to be the most personally relatable character, and even though now he's become a complete asshole I still hope he wins out.

The creator, Vince Gilligan, has said that every loose end will be tied up by the end of the final episode. Given how obsessive over detail some people are about this show, that's a tall order. I think he'll pull it off though - I've yet to see an inconsistency through any of the five seasons up to this point.

Really, it's Marie that needs to be shanked.

Agreed. If any character needed to be cut out of the show, I'd pick Marie. She's just been useless, bitchy, and nosey the whole time.

 

[Lobar]

The only errors I've noticed were chemistry errors, mainly in early episodes. Phosphine gas can't be made with just red phosphorus and hot water. For body disposal, they'd have been better served with a strong base like lye instead of hydrofluoric acid, which would never ever be found in a high school stockroom in the first place. Nor should HF have ever eaten through a bathtub, it's not even classified as a strong acid. As far as blue meth goes, blue-tinted crystals would actually indicate some sort of impurity tinting it blue, not that it was really really pure. Methylamine shouldn't have been nearly as difficult to get as it is in the show, either. And I'm pretty sure that one of the IV bags of yellow fluid Walt gets for his chemo treatments was labeled Lactated Ringer's Solution, which is neither chemo nor yellow.

Marie serves her purpose in the show, but fuck I hate her so much and I'll be disappointed if she doesn't bite the dust in the finale.

 

[Ranguvar]

It's weird, the first season, I found Walt to be the most personally relatable character, and even though now he's become a complete asshole I still hope he wins out.

REALLY?!
Walt is gigantic piece of shit, the only thing he deserves is a bullet to the head.

 

[Cyanide_tiger]

The only errors I've noticed were chemistry errors, mainly in early episodes. Phosphine gas can't be made with just red phosphorus and hot water. For body disposal, they'd have been better served with a strong base like lye instead of hydrofluoric acid, which would never ever be found in a high school stockroom in the first place. Nor should HF have ever eaten through a bathtub, it's not even classified as a strong acid. As far as blue meth goes, blue-tinted crystals would actually indicate some sort of impurity tinting it blue, not that it was really really pure. Methylamine shouldn't have been nearly as difficult to get as it is in the show, either. And I'm pretty sure that one of the IV bags of yellow fluid Walt gets for his chemo treatments was labeled Lactated Ringer's Solution, which is neither chemo nor yellow.

Marie serves her purpose in the show, but fuck I hate her so much and I'll be disappointed if she doesn't bite the dust in the finale.

I was speaking more on a story perspective about the lack of loopholes in the show than the chemistry or realism of it. Mythbusters actually proved that pretty much no amount of hydrofluoric acid will dispose of a body into an indistinguishable slurry, much less eat through a metal tub.

The scene with the fulminate of mercury is questionable as well. They attempted to test it on Mythbusters as well, but instead of refining it into crystalline shards as it's seen in the series, they left it as a powder(or paste, can't remember which). The amount that Walt used wouldn't have had quite as violent of a reaction as it did, and without a more unstable substance being added to it to make impact detonation easier(such as fulminate of silver, as cited in the episode), there's very little chance he'd get it to detonate by just throwing it on the ground. Of course, I have no idea what the effects of crystalizing the fulminate of mercury would have on its ability to detonate on impact, if any, so I'm giving a little latitude in both directions but still discounting the actual effect it would have versus what the episode shows.

Of course, you have to give TV shows that sort of latitude to an extent, simply for the fact that if it takes off the way BrBa did, they can't very well sit there and show the public at large how to dispose of bodies or what substances make for good bombs in the absence of an actual grenade. At least they don't take it to CSI levels of sciencefuckery.

 

[Arshes Nei]

REALLY?!
Walt is gigantic piece of shit, the only thing he deserves is a bullet to the head.

With Walt, you have supporting people around him fuck up some shit where you end up feeling more sympathetic towards him. It isn't till there's less people around doing that stuff where you start to realize the guy was crap.

Ie, you gotta work with Skylar and Jessie, though honestly Jessie is seen as one of the most complex characters with his moral code. Then you have Hank, and he was hard to like, Gomez was a more likable character. It's just that Hank was such a dick most of the time he was hard to like. Gomez was a good guy about his job. He didn't go around losing his temper and acting like a piece of shit. So it was easy to see why the guy who appeared most pussywhipped was more someone to be sympathetic to which at the time looked like it was Walt.

Then probably what brought in a lot of the good tension in the show was the cat and mouse with Gus.

 

[rjbartrop]

I think a lot of what makes this such a great show is the complexity of the characters. There are no black hats and white hats here. The best of them do terrible things, the worst of them slow flashes of decency, and for the most part, it all feels like it comes from a real place. If anything, the characters that are set up to be likeable ie Gomez and Walt Jr. come off as not having a whole lot to them.
Personally, I thought Walt was kind of a weasel even before he started doing the more heinous stuff, and that's fine with me. It's classic film noir tragedy about about a man who deviated from the straight and narrow and was damned for it. It's a beautifully crafted, slow motion train wreck that you just can't tear your eyes from.