Anyone into 'BREAKING BAD'? (part 3)

I said I going to quit Breaking Bad with season 4, but I'm so immensely bored I just watched Season 5 Episode. It's wasn't very good. They just picked up again tying up loose ends. I could care less. So now it's just going to pick up from where we started. The cat and mouse game with Hank (which isn't that great). I was optimistic with the very start of the new show. It opens Cranston in a new town with a new look -- I was excited we were off to something fresh --- but then we flashback to the same scenerio as season 4. Too much worrying about mopping up from season 4. Very weak ending. "I forgive you." Sorry, this ain't Coppola. I'm gonna watch episode 2 for improvement, but I'll give it three shows max to start moving.

 

Not for $195. Goodbye, pork pie hat!

 

This isn't necessarily aimed at you, bopdd, but you gave me something to quote.... I find the criticism that all the characters didn't change as much as Walt and Jesse more than a little unfair. To begin with, the transformation of Walter White -- famously, "from Mr. Chips to Scarface" -- itself is virtually unprecedented in a TV show, where keeping characters recognizably the SAME is always the rule. It's taken to absurd extremes in sitcoms, where a character can have his head shaved in one episode only to turn up a week later with the usual full head of hair. But even in dramas, characters face adversity and life-changing challenges, but they still fundamentally remain who they were from the beginning. I thought The Sopranos had the chance to do something revolutionary in Season One -- the amoral mobster who desperately wished he was a good person. Tony Soprano had the ruthlessness of Walt and the fragile soul of Jesse -- or so it seemed. In the end, after six more seasons, Tony never really changed at all -- and after several years of him NOT changing, all the hand-wringing in Dr. Melfi's office started to feel like they were required only because Lorraine Bracco was under contract to appear on the show.

The same could be said of almost every single character on The Sopranos. People are sniping at Marie for not being a "developed" character -- you mean, like Silvio or Big ***** or Paulie Walnuts? Those deep, multi-layered portraits of humanity? What Breaking Bad has achieved with Walt and (to a lesser but still impressive extent) Jesse is remarkable, but that doesn't mean the show is responsible to do the same thing with Skyler or Marie or Walt. Jr. (pancakes, anyone?). The show is ABOUT Walt, so by design all the characters have to react to him and revolve around him. But I would still say that all of Breaking Bad's secondary and tertiary characters are unfailingly interesting, well-written, and well-acted -- the casting directors of the show are unsung heroes, and they do get frequent shout-outs in the official "Breaking Bad Insider Podcast."

Personally, I would list Hank as a "transformed" character -- not as dramatically as Walt, perhaps, but equally crucial to the arc of the show. In the beginning, he was a macho, d-bag cop type -- a stereotype, sure, but important to how we viewed Walt. Hank was there to make Walt feel small and weak -- he was the physical, emotional and intellectual opposite of Walt, and it helped viewers cheer (despite ourselves) when Walt started to man up. Ha! we thought, If that ass Hank could only see Walt now, he'd be more careful how he treated him! But the audience only saw the side of Hank that WALT saw -- the macho, thick-headed, Shania Twain-lusting knucklehead. Blustery but dim, and ultimately harmless.

As the story progessed, however, the show had a problem: as Walt descended into darkness and vacated the (shaky) moral high ground, the show risked creating a vacuum where you couldn't root for ANYONE -- someone had to fill the void left by Walt. For me, Hank has filled that void (and then some) -- but it's not that he's "transformed" as Walt did; it's more that we've seen him more as he IS and less as Walt saw him. We learned early on that he was a decent man and loyal to his family, and the aftermath of the Tuco shoot-out and the El Paso disaster showed us that Hank wasn't really a blustery loudmouth, he used that image to conceal his own insecurities and fears. We (the audience) learned something about Hank that Walt never knew -- that Hank was also a great cop, a skilled detective with great instincts, and that he had a ferocious desire to save his community from the scourge of crystal meth. Walt never considered Hank a threat OR a worthy adversary, and I think (hope) that will come back to bite him in his cancer-ridden ass. I'm a little shocked that more people aren't all-in on Team Hank at this point, and I suspect that it's because many viewers are locked into "stasis" (Cranston's word) -- they rooted for Walt in Season One, and continue to root for him despite being given every reason NOT to.

Honestly, if I can move to Jesse for a minute, I think he has grown LESS than Hank. I love the character and Aaron Paul's acting is brilliant -- and I'm rooting for Jesse to survive Walt's endgame -- but let's be honest: his character "arc" has been pretty predictable for most of the series. He was established early on as more than just a dumb stoner wannabe thug; "Peekaboo" and his fragile romance with Jane gave him much-needed depth. But at the end of EVERY season since (2, 3, 4, and 5A), something devastating happens to Jesse (Jane's death, shooting Gale, etc.) and he spends the first few episodes of the following season in a depressed, druggy, self-hating stupor. To Driver 8 and others who think Jesse is boring right now, I say -- give it another episode or two, and he'll be interacting with Walt and yelling "Bitch!" at everyone again. The Jesse we all love and root for will be back -- I just hope he survives.

And finally, a word about Marie. Sure, she's the least fleshed-out character of the main five, but that doesn't mean she's not an incredibly important part of the show. Her early kleptomania was clearly a device to give the character SOMETHING to deal with (as Gilligan has admitted), and it may not have gone far, but it DID allow us an early glimpse into Hank and Marie's marriage. Her behavior would naturally be terribly embarrassing to a law-enforcement figure, but Hank loves her and supported her, and their brief exchanges about her getting help spoke volumes about their unknown (to us) past before the show began. Personally, I think that Hank and Marie's relationship is one of the least-commented-on -- but most important -- elements of Breaking Bad. Contrast their marriage with Walt and Skyler's, and then try to imagine the show without Marie. I really believe that if Hank had been single (or divorced), he would have "broken bad" after getting suspended for beating up Jesse and becoming obsessed with Gus Fring. Without Marie's grounding influence, I could easily see Hank doing bad things (for good reasons, arguably) and getting himself arrested or killed. The difference between Walt and Hank is their wives: when Walt got dark and reckless, Skyler got mad at him and pushed him away, but when Hank got dark and reckless, Marie pulled him closer and loved him more. Breaking Bad without Marie leaves us with a much more terrifying possible future for Walt Jr. and Holly, and with Hank becoming Vic Mackey -- which could be interesting itself, I suppose, but I'm glad we've got Marie.

I actually think that scene -- where Jesse tells Walt he's broken it off with Andrea -- was very cleverly done. The writers knew by then how much the audience loved Jesse, and that we would want to see this important event (the breakup) happen, or at least be fully described. We see Jesse is subdued, so we kind of know that Walt's manipulation had probably worked, and when Walt says "So what do you think?" ... we're ready for some kind of emotional exchange between Jesse and his father figure over this traumatic breakup. But when Jesse starts to talk about it, Walt immediately cuts him off -- "NO, I mean about MIKE" -- and Jesse doesn't get to unload his feelings, and we don't get to hear about it. The point of that scene was to show how absolutely uncaring Walt was about Jesse as a human being, that he could emotionally bully him into breaking up with someone who could have led him to a better life, and then not even be interested in hearing about it the next day.

 

Totally understand -- because who wants a show that ties up loose ends? Continuing where the show left off?? Just bad storytelling. Stop watching now -- the cat-and-mouse game with Hank never goes anywhere.

 

Yeah, I agree. I'm giving them one more episode to turn this into NCIS El Paso or I'm out.

 

I like the direction that Jesse's character has taken recently. It might lead to his total self destruction or it would might lead to some sort of redemption.

Jesse at his worst was never as bad as Walt. Like Badger and Skinny Pete, he is a lost soul. A childlike lost soul.

 

Now let's get one thing here straight...of all the main characters, only ONE has been truly flat and undeveloped - Walt Jr./Flynn

 

He does love breakfast, though.

 

He's certainly had his moments, but I still feel the writers could have done a bit more with him...maybe they will!

 

Well the children are certainly the soft underbelly of Walt, so I'm guessing somebody is going there.

 

I hope this wasn't aimed at me, since I wasn't critiquing the show, nor was I saying it was unfair that the other characters didn't change as much as Walt and Jesse. In fact, I said it was what kept the show working.

Whether you find Jesse's arc predictable or not is sort of besides the point. Jesse is a different character than he was in the beginning of season one. He's undergone a lot of changes, even if those changes are sort of repetitive. Jesse's now a cold-blooded murderer. He's a great meth cook. And he's a jaded, depressed addict who's throwing money away. Kudos to you if you saw it coming, but this is not the same foolish, naive character I encountered in the first few episodes. Meanwhile, Hank hasn't really "changed" much at all. He's the same determined agent who's prone to panic attacks and a snarky joke or two that he was from the get go. His character has been fleshed out, sure, but I don't see any dramatic change in his temperament. If during this current season, Hank suddenly dropped the case for the sake of Walt's family, I would consider that a dramatic change in the same league as Jesse throwing money out a window.

I totally agree. I honestly think that by the last season of the Sopranos, people attempting to change and failing to do so became sort of the thesis of the show, and that the characters are ultimately trapped by their upbringings, their vices/habits, and their environments.

 

In the interview I read about him, he said his character had two people he could be like, i.e. his dad or Uncle Hank. When asked who he would likely be most like, he said Walt. It wasn't clear if it was RJ Mitte was talking about his character or himself, though I would suppose he was talking about his character in the show.

He seems to idolize both men in the show, but he has no idea what his dad (Walt) does or has done yet. It was sort of an interview, to say the least.

 

Well, since I said in my first sentence that the post wasn't aimed at you ... yeah, it wasn't aimed at you.

I agree that Jesse has changed significantly -- although being a murderer and a great meth cook aren't things I think Jesse would be proud of. But he hasn't grown to the point where he can escape his flaws and become the good person he desperately wants to be -- and I suppose that's the point of the repetitive tragedy/despression/rebound cycle he always finds himself in. Hank, on the other hand, HAS grown significantly -- to the point where he HAS been able to overcome his flaws and be the person he wants to be. While Jesse responds to every setback by medicating himself and wallowing in his misery, Hank had to stare his worst self in the face (after he got suspended and decided "I can't be a cop anymore") and grew as a person, ultimately turning away from his dark path, getting back on the job, and being better at it than before. His snarky quips have definitely toned down in the past couple of seasons, and his only recent panic attack came after only the most devastating personal revelation a guy could ever have. At this point at least, I'd still say that Hank has grown a good deal more than Jesse.

I haven't watched The Sopranos in a long, long time, but I feel that Breaking Bad has been a lot more gutsy and courageous with its characters than that hallowed mob show was.

 

Watched Season 5 episode 2. Much stronger than the first episode. Things are looking up!

 

Give us a summary!!

 

I don't want to ruin the story for others just watching it. But after trying to tidy up after the 4th season, Walter starts plots to get business rolling again.

 

I thought season 5, while good, was a bit of a letdown from 4....Gus was such a fascinating villain!

 

Just like my kids, I love all the seasons. I can't pick a favorite.

 

A lot of folks felt differently. Online orders are sold out.

 

The DEA does not take over the house as there was a sign out in front stating that it was now the property of the city of Albuquerque.

 

Thanks for clarifying that. I couldn't tell when I watched it what the signs said. Obviously I didn't pay close enough attention.

 

There would be no logical reason why that would or needs to come out.

Also, I'm surprised they didn't throw in a line in the garage about "Everything I've ever done is for my family" or something like that - not admitting he did anything of course, but making it clear he does care about the family. I guess they threw in the "this will destroy our family" line instead.

 

I'm happy for them.

 

I have a 'good' Goorin Bros. hat. They are amazing hats. They last forever. Great quality. Mine cost $125. So I guess with the special packaging $200 was about right. However I have found that pork pies are tricky to wear. On the wrong person, they can look horrible. I would never by this one without wearing it first. You can look like a real dolt in pork pie.