Breaking Bad Season 5 Thread

I wouldn't be "seeking them out" if they didn't keep happening. And yeah, I'll admit, compared to Leaves Of Grass, kid in the desert, and cigarette pack, this was one of the milder ones.

One coincidence or two, I can understand. But its become more than that and this show has demonstrated that it can move the plot better than that.

 

I guess I knew that it'd be impossible to keep the breakneck pace going all season and there would need to be some middle episodes where the plot is brought along but I do think tonight's episode was a little lackluster compared to the others. And a lot of it seemed a bit redundant and forced.

 

Isn't the greatness of Breaking Bad about the writing/character development? And hasn't Skylar's character developed over 4-plus seasons like the other characters? Also, hasn't the fact that Walt has had to deal with a "home life" while he was cookin' and killin' and dodgin' helped add layers and depth?

 

Jesse was not good with the plan from the beginning. Any minor thing was going to spook him, and in a public square in the middle of the day, there's a good chance he'd see someone who might look like they're working with Walt. That seemed a very logical step to me.

 

Man, I just finished tonight's episode. It was fantastic.
For the first time in this entire series, Skylar did something that actually made me interested in her. Her line to Walt about "What's one more?" was incredible in what it signified.
And while I agree the bald guy in the park was a bit too convenient for my liking (Both because he was perfectly placed where Hank and his partner couldn't see him and because, apparently, he was on Daddy duty but not paying any attention to his daughter and watching Walt instead) it was still great to see the plot leap forward tonight.
I also thought it very telling that BOTH Saul and Skyler told Walt he needs to take out Jesse but it wasn't until Jesse threatened Walt and blew the meeting off that Walt finally went there. It was like he was in denial about what he needs to do (Which I think, at this point, is crystal clear) but he wanted to give Jesse ONE more chance.
Damn. These next four episodes are going to be insane.

 

The episode in which Skyler White becomes Lori Grimes. We all knew it was coming.

 

Also, the scene with Marie and her shrink was awful.

I actually want to like Marie (unlike Skyler), but she gets outacted always and her individual plots are the worst.

 

Having been to ABQ, it's hard to be in a public space there without seeing someone who looks like they've done time. (I kid, I kid).
Minor peeve was Hank arriving home, but JUUUUUUST MISSSSING Hank and/or not recognizing his car as it drove away.
Had to be weird for Betsy Brantley to film her first scene with Aaron Paul with just a few eps left after a five year run.
Love Gilligan's teasers on Talking Bald- "farm raised salmon?" Hmmm.
Some part of me thinks there is going to be a big screw up ahead with Todd's "friends" mistaking Hank for Walt or Skylar for Marie, or Walt Jr. for Jesse. Or vice versa - I just don't know.

 

Pay phones? PAY PHONES? Are you kidding me?

 

They still exist.

And Jesse would have to memorize Walt's number because he probably was told not to program it in.

I didn't really have a problem with that scene, but the episode (like this season as a whole so far) was pretty mediocre.

 

Obviously, we're free to disagree. I think this episode was brilliant because it marked the very subtle beginning of the end for Walt/Heisenberg.

Even after Skyler of all people suggests that killing Jesse is the obvious course of action, Walt resists. You just know he's thinking, "I've got this, bitch. I'll handle Jesse like I always have."

But this episode was the first time in a long time that Walt was well and truly unable to get his way.

I think, for reasons practical and otherwise, that killing Jesse is one of the last things Walt wants to do:

1. Deep in that twisted mind, Walt does genuinely care for Jesse. The fact that Walt has manipulated Jesse at every turn and royally fucked him over a gazillion times is meaningful here -- that's what Walt does to everyone he's closest to. Fits perfectly into the narcissistic sociopath profile.

2. This may be a stretch, but I can see where someone like Walt thinks of killing Jesse as the absolute "point of no return." Crazy, I know, since he's already killed so many and ruined so many other lives.

But Walt got together with Jesse when cooking meth was still a mostly "innocent" side job to keep his family afloat financially, not to become some ruthless killer and drug lord. I can see a part of Walt's psyche wanting desperately to cling to that delusion. By killing Jesse, Walt is crossing a psychological Rubicon.

3. Walt is out of the business now. He knows there's no physical evidence tying him to anything or Hank would've already put him in bracelets. Jesse talking to Hank doesn't mean spit because (as noted last night) it's basically the word of a no-good junkie against a respected HS science teacher. Who's going to believe Jesse? And why risk getting bagged for a murder you don't really want or need to commit, when ...

4. Walt is certain he'll be able to win Jesse back once again. Why wouldn't he be? Jesse held a gun to his forehead before and couldn't pull the trigger. What's so different now?

Only after it becomes painfully clear that Jesse is gone, free from his influence and a significant threat, does Walt finally decide that Jesse has to die. It's a significant admission of defeat.

IMHO, losing his power over Jesse is Walt's first step toward losing it all. Everything the man has done over the course of this show -- all the cooking and killing, lying and scheming -- will ultimately be proven to be an enormous waste of time in the end.

 

Walt's been bumbling around all season, not getting his way on all sorts of levels.