Anyone into 'BREAKING BAD'? (part 4)

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by MilesSmiles, Sep 15, 2013.

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  1. Paul J

    Paul J Forum Resident

    Location:
    Baltimore
    Only thing I felt cheated on was Walt's phone call to Grey Matter as a NY Times reporter, I would liked to have more of a setup for that, prior call etc. It kind of came out of nowhere. I guess they figured it would get a pass, and we'd get it. We did but for a second I thought I missed a scene.
     
  2. Macman

    Macman Senior Member

    The only good guys in this piece were Walt. Jr., Holly, Gomez, Jesse's second girlfriend and maybe Hank and Marie, although neither was particularly likeable. Three were murdered and the other three are scarred for life. Not much of a win in my mind. Everyone else had varying degrees of guilt, and of those, Jesse, Saul and Skyler, walked away in the end. I don't think it was Hollywood at all.
     
    Last edited: Sep 30, 2013
  3. jriems

    jriems Audio Ojiisan

    I think the Thomas Dolby ringtone was for Walt. But yeah, the Groucho Marx one for Lydia was a nice touch.
     
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  4. Macman

    Macman Senior Member

    I imagine he took a pack of sweetener, made a tiny opening in it, put some ricin in, and left it at the spot she always sits. A small amount can kill. They don't have to show absolutely everything.
     
  5. acjetnut

    acjetnut Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    I tend to agree - I wish they had inserted some quick flashback at some point showing how Walt slipped the ricin into her tea (or substituted the Stevia packet). Oh well.
     
  6. matthew5

    matthew5 Forum Resident

    Location:
    canada
    On the other hand, Skinny Pete and Badger are two naive and rather lost souls. Easy to get them to do your bidding for some cash.
     
  7. dgstrat

    dgstrat Senior Member

    Location:
    West Islip, NY
     
  8. dgstrat

    dgstrat Senior Member

    Location:
    West Islip, NY
    The fact that only one packet was left kind of told us that Walt got there first.
     
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  9. nbakid2000

    nbakid2000 On Indie's Cutting Edge

    Location:
    Springfield, MO
    They should have just left Lydia to live if they couldn't come up with something more believable for her poisoning. That poisoning came out of nowhere and made no sense in terms of setup.
     
  10. Sean Murdock

    Sean Murdock Forum Intruder

    Location:
    Bergenfield, NJ
    As I continue to reflect on this finale, I think Vince Gilligan tried to come up with an ending that wouldn't QUITE be redemptive for Walt, but would still allow him to go out "on his own terms." If there's anything missing, it's that maybe it was TOO perfect for Breaking Bad. Yes, it was unrepentant -- he never apologizes to Skyler or Jesse for destroying their lives, he still thinks the money will fix everything, and he chooses to die in the arms of "his Precious" (the meth lab). Walt does die in the end, but he expected to -- he WANTED to -- and it only happened after he checked off everything on his (admittedly downsized) bucket list.

    The thing missing from MY Breaking Bad Bucket List was unintended consequences. One of the hallmarks of the show was that every time Walt got himself out of ONE horrific situation, he CAUSED another one -- and it was invariably something that ate away at his soul. Immediately in the pilot, he avoids being killed by Emilio and Krazy 8 by poisoning them -- a true "kill or be killed" moment -- but later discovers that he actually has to physically, manually KILL Krazy 8 in a real, premeditated way. It happens again and again throughout the show -- but not in the finale. There were no messy complications to further damn Walter White and his grand plans; for the first time in two years, EVERYTHING went exactly the way he wanted.

    I guess if there's a time for that to happen, it's the series finale, but if I have any lingering regrets about the show, it might be that they let him off a LITTLE too easy in the end.
     
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  11. mikeja75

    mikeja75 Forum Resident

    Location:
    U.S.
    ...but if we see him doing it, the impact of seeing her put the Stevia into her coffee and watching it slowly disappear is lost...and this is the point in which the viewer "gets it". I wouldn't want to lose that moment or the reveal that it offered...you can fill in the blanks on how he did it. I think it's unimportant to the overall story. You know he did it...I think that's good enough.
     
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  12. Sean Murdock

    Sean Murdock Forum Intruder

    Location:
    Bergenfield, NJ
    If people have been predicting for weeks that Lydia would get the ricin, how can it "come out of nowhere"?
     
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  13. jriems

    jriems Audio Ojiisan

    During that scene, I was hoping they'd show Walt toss a packet of Stevia into the trash can on the way out of the diner. Something to get us thinking that he switched out the packet of Stevia at her table with his own.

    However, I have no problem buying that Walt was capable of replacing a packet of Stevia with a ricin-laced version off-camera, and place it at her table before Lydia made her appearance in the diner. He did say to her at the table he figured she would be there exactly at 10am, since her schedule was like clockwork (or something to that effect). I don't have to have the camera showing Walt pouring Stevia into a packet to figure it out. They did plenty - and with great effect - with the close-up of the packet and her stirring it into her tea.
     
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  14. Turnaround

    Turnaround Senior Member

    Location:
    -
    The finale should have been 2 hours long -- adding 45 minutes to explain how a character who makes thermite out of an Etch-a-Sketch, synthesizes ricin out of beans, blows up Tuco's headquarters with mercury fulminate, poisons a child with an exotic plant, disposes of entire bodies with hydroflouric acid, and builds a $100MM fortune by cooking 99% pure meth, could manage to put ricin into a sugar packet.
     
  15. matthew5

    matthew5 Forum Resident

    Location:
    canada
    :laughup:
     
  16. JL6161

    JL6161 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Michigan, USA
    We didn't need a flashback. This was the same guy who put lily of the valley in a juicebox and got it to Brock in his school.
     
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  17. Macman

    Macman Senior Member

    I don't find it unbelievable at all. The chance of Lydia hanging out with Todd and the Nazis was virtually nil. They all creeped her out, Todd in particular, so the idea that Walt would have to go outside of that environment to pick her off sounds reasonable to me.
     
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  18. vinyl anachronist

    vinyl anachronist Senior Member

    Location:
    Lakeside, Oregon
    People have been doctoring single-serve packets for a long time...so much so that if you go to a restaurant and take too many for yourself and try to return them after you're done, the employees are instructed to throw them away. Walt's a smart guy...I'm sure he could figure it out.
     
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  19. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    May be a little corny,but,I would've enjoyed an 'after-math' scene, with the characters that are still alive.
     
  20. kippy

    kippy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, USA
    Hank was definitely not a "good guy". He got Gomez killed. Walter White = White Whale. This was one of the major plot lines of the show. Hank was a victim of his own pride and obsessive desire to catch Heisenberg. He broke the law and procedure many times. He manipulated Gomez into breaking procedure which is what got Gomez killed. Federal agents never in a million years would show up to get a fugitive without 20 backup agents. If Hank just did his job by the book, he and Gomez would be alive. In fact, his lying to the bodyguard/associate of Saul, would probably have gotten the whole case thrown out or court. Hank selfishly put his life, his partner's life, and his career at risk to catch Heisenberg. Providing for his family was more important than catching Heisenberg. There will always be a new Heisenberg.
     
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  21. vinyl anachronist

    vinyl anachronist Senior Member

    Location:
    Lakeside, Oregon
    Deadly efficiency? Sure, other than the fact he didn't get out of the way of his own bullets.
     
  22. nbakid2000

    nbakid2000 On Indie's Cutting Edge

    Location:
    Springfield, MO
    Because it's impossible to get a doctored factory packaged packet of something within 24 hours. That's why. Even if he DID doctor it, there'd be signs of tampering that she would NOTICE.

    Everything on this show has SOME plausibility or scientific explanation behind it. THIS didn't. THAT is why it "came out of nowhere". Because there was no rational setup for it.
     
  23. LouReed9

    LouReed9 Village Idiot

    Location:
    Philly Burbs
    And we know this how?
     
  24. matthew5

    matthew5 Forum Resident

    Location:
    canada
    I thought he was struck by a ricochet? He was clearly on the ground when the rounds started to fire.
     
  25. noladaoh

    noladaoh Retired

    Location:
    Arkansas
    Actually, that was the easiest thing to predict after Walt got the ricin in the flash forward. It was set up well by the focus on Lydia's tea habits from the beginning. That's the reason we always saw her sweeten her tea, so we would "get" the future poisoning. Very well set up.
     
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