Breaking Bad Season 5 Thread

The Rolling Stone review of the episode takes the premise that Mike is getting old and tired and that's the reason for his slipping, as if that was intentional by the writers rather than the writers taking shortcuts to reach a certain spot on the story arc. I actually have no problem with that idea. It's been a tough year for Mike, with Walter in his life, and he is getting old and tired. If he can get his money, he want out. Listening to his final speech to Walt about Walt ruining a good thing, maybe that's been another reason for him slipping. Walter disrupted a system that Mike ran and knew all too well. Too unpredictable for him.

 

yeah, but he was able to repeatedly slip DEA tails, arrange for the logistics of the train heist and then forgets to tie Walt up properly (after staying up with him all night for some reason).

 

Let's not forget the incredibly deft move he made to get out of the hit that was put on him and kill the guy sent to kill him. Sorry, no sale on the Mike is a shell of himself angle.

 

I think he was a bit out of his element. With Gus, everything ran smooth for years in a controlled environment. Once that ended, there were too many variables to count and he was clipped. Trying to start over is quite an obstacle and obviously some skills were lacking. I don't think Mike envisioned Walt would kill him.

 

Exactly. That's what I was talking about in a previous comment. Gus ran that shit to near perfection and Mike was a lot of times doing what he was told. He certainly showed he can handle himself, but with Gus gone, shit got crazy and I think overwhelmed Mike. Plus, and I can't say it enough, the depth of the character wasn't revealed much until this season. Perception was reality for us in seasons 2, 3 and most of 4, yet reality was he wasn't the super sleuthing badass.

 

I mentioned this elsewhere, but since this is a different crowd, I'll put it here as well for discussion:

I still love the show, but I am finding that I'm getting worn down by it. I definitely understand some of the issues raised from people who feel it is cracking at the seams some, but the bigger issue for my enjoyment of the show is that following someone as morally decrepit as Walt has become is really tough.

When I see the shit he does and the way he tries to manipulate people and the way he gives himself these corny catchphrases, I think those all fit the character he has become. The problem with that is that when he's on screen, I really can't bring myself to give a fuck about him at all. Like I said, it's just kind of worn me down.

I've basically hated Walt since he let Jane die. However, in between then and now, there was lots of great stuff with other characters going on (Gus, Saul, Mike, Jesse, Hank, Skyler, etc.). At this point, though, the show is back to being mostly just a spotlight on Walt, and I don't give a fuck about him. I think Anna Gunn has done an amazing job with Skyler's scenes this season, but you can tell how worn down and depressed she is and so those scenes are depressing.

Jesse and Mike have been great, as usual, but I basically was just waiting to see how Mike would die, and I just want Jesse to get out. Any other decision by him will just infuriate me because I want nothing else for him than to find a little peace in his life. Hank's part has become less interesting. So yeah, that leaves it to Walt, and I mostly just want him to die.

 

Artistically, I'm really interested in what the show is doing. Taking a protagonist that the audience previously had a lot of sympathy for, for a long time, and flipping him into someone you just can't justify anymore. I don't think even "The Sopranos" went this far.

Whether this works for me as a viewer, I'm still undecided. Right now, yes. I'm very invested at this point. I also still have Jesse as an emotional touchstone I can sympathize with. I've been wondering lately how I'd feel if they killed him off, and I think that would make the show unwatchable for me, despite its quality.

 

I guess the point is how much worse can he get? He's a totally transformed person who has admitted that it is not about the money for his treatment or even financial security for his family -- which cooking for Gus would have easily provided. He knows that he's selling drugs which are death to people, but he doesn't care because he's the best at something for once in his life.

While he has affection for Jesse, he constantly manipulates him when the mood suits him. He's killed or caused to be killed people for reasons that less and less for self preservation. To me, that is why the moments of humanity -- crying and apologizing to Mike for example -- seem less genuine.

Causing anyone except his kids to be harmed would not shock or surprise me at this point. He cares about nothing but himself and the recognition from others that he is the king. So really, it isn't how far down the rabbit hole he can go, because he is already beyond redemption.

 

Walter White doesn't exist anymore. That's the simple point this half of the season has relentlessly beaten us over the head with this season. And frankly, it's not as fun to watch as it used to be.

 

Although ... he sure looked like Walter White after he shot Mike and the car sped off and Mike disappeared. Scared shitless and then remorseful once he found Mike — that was Walt, not Heisenberg.

 

My take on Walt is: he desperately wants to be Heisenberg, he is playing the part of Heisenberg because he gets off on it, but at his core he's still just faking being a bad-ass criminal.

 

He's killed a dozen people. I'm not sure he's faking anything.