I'm sorry....Have we not done this here yet?

http://www.amctv.com/breaking-bad/videos/get-ready-for-breaking-bad-season-4

Fuck yeah.

Been watching this show on DVD for a few months now, and just finished season 3. It's raw, brutal, well-acted, complex... and one of those shows where things just keep getting worse, without much getting better. Don't know that I've got the patience or resolve to watch another season of these people making bad choices. But it was fun while it lasted.

For my money, the BEST show on a network not called HBO.

Yeah, this show's pretty killer, but I don't really know if they have another season of it in them. My only hope is that it doesn't get completely over the top just for the sake of being over the top. Walt rules though.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/magazine/the-dark-art-of-breaking-bad.html?_r=1&seid=auto&smid=tw-nytimes

Cool article about Breaking Bad.

Favorite quote: "The goal was to make Mr. Chips turn into Scarface."

Really looking forward to it. AMC owes me a STELLAR season after what a steamer 'The Killing' ended up becoming. The BB writing team is pretty adept at keeping these two breathing after they've seemingly painted themselves into a corner and this is how the last season appears to have ended. Poor Jesse, his descent continues. Walt can create/fabricate rational reasons for his actions, but Jesse is seemingly the wiser/more human of the two and has to live with his actions.

I read the other day that the main characters' last names were homages to two of the main 'Reservoir Dogs' characters (Mr White, Mr Pink). Pretty cool. If you're into Reservior Dog homages at least.

Best show on TV.

Great show, probably the best on tv right now.... I'm behind, though, just watched the first disc of season 3 last night. I was hooked again immediately. There's some elements of old westerns in there with all the shots of the wide open spaces and the constant border crossings.... I love the look of the show, it makes me want to move to New Mexico.

Finished season 3, and it smoked. What a cliffhanger, I might have to watch season 4 as it airs, don't know if I can wait until dvd this time.

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD


I'm kinda surprised by Walt's loyalty to Jesse... Is it totally believable? Personally, I think Jesse is often annoying and really volatile, but it's possible Walt has developed some paternal feelings for that relentless fuck-up. Or maybe Walt feels like sticking by Jesse is the lesser of two evils at this point, given the sordid shit that he has done, and of course there's the guilt factor with the way Jesse's ex-girlfriend expired.

I need to rewatch the last few eps On Demand again this weekend because it's been awhile, but that was my recurring thought in watching it when it aired; that there was no rationality behind Walt's loyalty toward Jesse. Gus gave him a fucking sweet deal. What was it, three months of work and retire a multi-millionaire? And you could see that Gus actually viewed Walt as somewhat of an equal. It doesn't synch up that Walt would throw away most of his morals and put his family thru the hell of everything they've been through and continually throw it all away on Jesse, who is an established fuck-up/lost cause and probably should have been a corpse a long time ago.

I watched a lot of "Malcolm In The Middle"-episodes with my son in the last few month. Will be strange to see Bryan Cranston as Walter again.

Yeah, it was not entirely convincing. I admit I'm biased b/c I find Jesse very annoying. He's one of those constant drama types who fears stablility. He even stole meth right under Walt's nose this season and yet Walt kills two people and alienates himself from Gus to save him, risking his family, etc. The other aspect that didn't totally work for me is the extremely unlikely coincidence of Jesse hooking up with the sister of the dude who killed his friend/partner. A bit contrived.

All in all an excellent season, though, despite some minor complaints. Skylar's evolution has been particularly interesting, and the gun battle between the two Mexican assassin brothers and Walt's DEA brother-in-law was about as good as the show gets.

I hope they go more into the Cartel a la Aldolfo Constanzo type of shit trying to get vengeance on Gus and Walt. Like that beginning scene in season 3 with the twins and villagers crawling was...macabre.

huh, outside of the pretty cheap plot teaser/twist that was the airplane crash of season two, the Twins are the thing I've disliked the most about the whole serial. And I was relieved when they both finally bit it. They were just way too fucking cartoonish. The whole revenge angle against Walt for Tuco could have been handled with a lot more subtilty/reality (a la Mike and the rest of Gus' minions).

Yeah, I forgot about the crawling bit... What the fuck was that about?



I liked the Zen-like methodicism of their style. It's certainly a bit cartoonish, but IMO not appreciably more so than Tuco. One of the distinct pleasures of the show is to watch them take an outlandish premise and make it believable, for the most part.

Can't wait for Sunday!

Hang out at any convenience stores in the southwestern (or West Coast in general) USA much?

The "cartoonish" elements in this show are necessary to me. I'm under the impression you have to view the reality of Breaking Bad through the prism of a nightmare. So for me, I don't want them to sacrifice the style of the show for the sake of realism, but rather they make the reality match the style.


Americas Nightmare. See you Sunday.

One cartoonish aspect of the twins were the suits. Operatives/employees/associates of cartels don't flaunt illicit money at all-quite the opposite in fact. I realize it's better for TV to have them look like that but it's unrealistic. Another far-fetched thing was Jesse's idiot crew slinging ounces on the street and not getting ripped off or busted more than they did. Those clowns would get eaten up quick...

I'm warming a bit to Skylar but she's still a bitch.

Again, I think trying to pull realism out of this show misses the point. The suits were less cartoonish and more comic book-ish (there may not be a difference to you, but there is to me). It's dramatized and a bit contrived, but in the way a Sergio Leone or a Tarantino film share the same kind of...I dunno, tongue in cheek quality. As I said earlier, I'd rather this show keep it's style (as hyperbolic as it could be) than anchor it down to what's realistic.

And Skylar still pisses me off.

Points taken Crutch...cheers.

S4 is moments away!

SPOILERS


Well, that was a scorcher. Gus has now been elevated to horror movie icon status. Between that scene and the preview for Walking Dead, R-rated violence now sits comfortably on regular cable.

I suppose Gus decided that Victor was a liablity because he was at the crime scene, and that in addition to his desire to put Walt in his place outweighed his value as a cook? Great twist both to reveal him as a cook and then just as quickly dispatch him.

Interesting how Jesse seems more tuned into Gus' predatory mindset than Walt at this point.

As for being cartoonish, as I stated previously, one of the distinct pleasures of this show is to watch them make the outrageous premise believable via the well-developed characters and story. After all, it's a show about a PhD chemist turned high school teacher who contracts lung cancer, decides to cook the best meth anyone has ever seen with a former student under the nose of his brother-in-law who just happens to be a DEA agent, etc. This last episode felt more horror movie than domestic drama, a natural evolution as the show likely feels pressure to continue topping itself.

Had to look up the ep. writer, because that was how you move a plot along! Always liked Vince Gilligan on the X Files, this was some of his best stuff, I thought. The chemistry is always better than CSI ever bothers with (HF acid is the stuff of nightmares) and the tension amongst all the characters is at max, a nice way to set-up a season of intrigue, gore and tweakers.

There's actually got to be a chemical analog to the BB characters, if you consider them valence electrons in shifting ionic, covalent or metallic bonds. Wheels within wheels ...

Fantastic fucking start! That ep was worth the price of admission just for seeing Mike's reaction toward Gus. Watching it again is chilling. Mike realizes this is more than a vocation/job for Gus, but a way of life. I could guess Gus got rid of Victor for multiple reasons:

1. He was seen at the Gale murder scene and could easily be IDed. Gus is very careful.
2. He believed Walt and figured Victor was bluffing on knowing the formula, so he decided to just send a message to Walt and Jesse instead.
3. At that point, Gus just needed to mother-fucking KILL something and Walt already ensured it wouldn't be him and/or Jesse.

Personally, I think #1 was the main reason. Man, if I were Gus, I'd be doing everything possible to covertly kill Jesse and make it look like an overdose. It's looking like that kid will be the end of this empire.

Jesse's turn in this ep was a bit of a reach, but more believable than Walt devoted loyalty toward Jesse last season.

Saul was fucking awesome as usual. He hangs up with Skyler after saying "Walt is fine, I guarantee it, 100%" and then proceeds to ask his bodyguard if he has his own passport. Fucking great.

I wonder who's hands Gale's lab notes will end up in? I'm pretty sure he doesn't name anyone in there, but it won't be long before Walt's formula ends up in another party's hands. The DEA, the cartel, another local drug warlord? And Walt will likely fly into murderous rage himself if someone else tries replicating his formula. It's gonna be a great season.

Also, #4. It was ultimately Mike and Victor's fault that Gale took a bullet to the eye, so one or both of them had to pay for that.

And I completely disagree with the premise that this is some sort of fantastical nightmare type of vision of reality. When I do tell people about this series, it does seem pretty fucking outlandish, but I think the writing staff, for the most part has done a very credible job of showing Walt's descent from just wanting to quickly provide for his family in the most practical means available to developing into this immoral, egotistical and careless personality. If you were to itemize all of his horrific experiences, from being diagnosed with terminal cancer in his late 40's to all the lying, harm and murder he has been exposed to, it is no wonder he has become numb to most of life's experience outside of pure survival.

Wondering if Gilligan's going to wait until season 5 to play the "out of remission" card. You know it's coming.

And Gus might well go down as one the bad guys ever. He's right up there with Stringer Bell.