Breaking Bad, did it ever almost "jump the shark"?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by kevintomb, Jun 4, 2014.

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  1. balzac

    balzac Senior Member

    I should also mention, in case it seemed as such in my previous posts, I don't think the Fring moment is a "jump the shark" moment. Nothing nearly that bad. It was just a blip. I was more taken aback that it was so out of step with the quality of most of the rest of the show.
     
  2. Hightops

    Hightops Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bay Area, Ca
    Jesse's disdain for "skunk" weed in season 1 surprised me. In my day, "skunk" meant a high quality yield that was simply smelly. After a little research, I find it's now considered a strain that some find alarmingly dangerous. Is this just more "war on drugs" rhetoric?
     
  3. sloaches

    sloaches Forum Resident

    Maybe "The Dick Van Dyke Show" Didn't jump the shark so much as it "tripped over the ottoman"!

    ...I'll show myself out...
     
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  4. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

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    A nearly-perfect show. I say Dick Van Dyke never jumped or tripped.
     
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  5. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

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    I think they wanted something really over-the-top and incredible to provide a climax for the series (and the character) up to that point. If you watch the "making of" for this episode, Vince Gilligan gives good reasons for structuring it the way they did. I think you needed something absolutely insane to be this intense and unexpected. The making of doc also shows a lot of "before and after" shots showing how the VFX match-moving was accomplished, since there were several shots involved, all tracked and superimposed, plus the actor wearing partial green makeup for face-replacement. Given that this shot cost over $100K and took a couple of months, I give them an "A" for level of difficulty, and I don't expect the VFX to be absolutely flawless compared to a $200M feature. It worked as far as I'm concerned, and as jaded and cynical as I am, I didn't yell, "****ty effects!" when that shot came up. Instead I said, "my god... look at his face!"

    Giancarlo Esposito has said he himself came up with the idea of having Fring casually adjust his tie as he walked out, and to me, that single little gesture made the whole scene. I'm telling you, I was screaming at the set when my family first saw this episode. Really great, memorable moment.
     
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  6. DreadPikathulhu

    DreadPikathulhu Senior Member

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    There is no way you could watch the Gus Fring thing and NOT want to come back next season to see what happened next.
     
  7. Thomas D

    Thomas D Forum Resident

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    Bradenton, FL
    The season 4 ending was incredible, and IMO, one of the best season endings of any TV series EVER. period. And it was all theoretically possible, I believe. And Gus' adjusting his tie was a brilliant touch which helped make the scene. But actually, that wasn't the end of the episode. The camera zooming in on that lily of the valley plant was also great. (But that general zooming idea had precedent in "Lost", and probably done elsewhere as well ... but still great).
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2015
  8. Scott Wheeler

    Scott Wheeler Forum Resident

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    I think the face was the only moment for me. But even that was still fun
     
  9. DLD

    DLD Senior Member

    Location:
    Dallas, Tx
    We're currently re watching it on Monday nights on AMC (5 or so episodes a week). Upcoming episodes are To Haillea (sp?) and Ozymondais plus the final 2. Simply cannot wait til next Monday afternoon. Anyway, Gus adjusting his tie, Walt somehow getting poison to little Brock (he did that how exactly?), the poisoning of Lydia (well deserved!!), and the trunk gun were all stretching it a wee bit but good God, was it ever an entertaining series, the likes of which we'll probably never see again.
     
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  10. Thomas D

    Thomas D Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bradenton, FL
    Not to mention, among other things, the explosion Walt created by throwing down those chemical crystals. Or the quick liquidization of dead bodies in acid. All disproven on Mythbusters. All this stuff has to be taken with a degree of disbelief suspension. I think Gus walking and adjusting his tie was actually more believable than a lot of these other far fetched things. The great train robbery? come on .. too much crazy luck involved, among other things. The magnet caper? Give me a break. But it all contributed to the enjoyment - the show never jumped the shark or even came close. Much of it called for disbelief suspension, from the beginning.
     
  11. Lonson

    Lonson I'm in the kitchen with the Tombstone Blues

    I personally don't feel this show ever jumped the shark. But I confess I would like the whole series more if they had just ended at the end of Season Four. I don't hold Season Five as highly as many others do, it was a let down for me.
     
  12. balzac

    balzac Senior Member

    I did binge watch the series on Netflix, so I did probably have less awareness or sense of what was mean to be sort of season-ending intensity.

    I didn't quite yell "s****y effects!" when it happened, but it was a bit groan-inducing. It took away from the power of doing that with Fring's character. Even decapitating him with special effects or something would have seemed more plausible to me.
     
  13. DreadPikathulhu

    DreadPikathulhu Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    I'm surprised Mythbusters didn't take on the magnet thing. Wired made an attempt but said the car batteries wouldn't provide enough power, but no one, so far as I know, has tried it for real.

    http://www.wired.com/2012/07/breaking-bad-magnets-how-do-they-work/
     
  14. progrocker71

    progrocker71 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Who cares about scientific accuracy in a show this over-the-top? That's silliness. People without the ability for suspension of disbelief should just watch documentaries.
     
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  15. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

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    Ya ain't gonna walk 10 steps and adjust your tie if your head got blown clean off. That was the whole point: convince the audience for a few seconds, "wow, Fring survived that huge explosion!" and then discover, "oh, wait... part of him didn't make it." I think it succeeded perfectly, and many critics said the same thing.

    Again, I'm used to the type of VFX on big-budget TV shows like Lost and Fringe, where about 1/3 the time, the results looked like some hokey thing thrown together in a garage. There are various levels of VFX, all the way from a junior high kid with After Effects for school to ILM using Maya or Fusion on a $200M tentpole, and I think it's amazing TV effects can look this good -- knowing what their limitations are. There were episodes of Lost I worked on where they ran out of time and had to throw a temp shot in, and some of those were cringe-inducing. (I think in one case, they went back and fixed it for syndication and home video.)
     
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  16. rburly

    rburly Sitting comfortably with Item 9

    Location:
    Orlando
    That was the reaction I had. The explosion happened and he kept walking. I was dumbfounded. Then, I saw the front of him and "Wow!" It was an amazing effect and quite disturbing initially. Again, after my initial "He's going to walk away from this too?", it (the effect) stretched the reaction to a series of reactions.
     
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  17. Vinyl Addict

    Vinyl Addict Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA
    What about when Walt and Jessie went to the Police station and used the giant magnet to clear the Hard Drive on the laptop in the evidence locker?


    Edit: just noticed it was already mentioned
     
  18. Vinyl Addict

    Vinyl Addict Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA

    While some strains are quite potent none of the Skunks (#1,#3, etc) are THAT. Now, theres a strain called "LSD" that could knock you on your ass. Lol. Skunk is in many many strains
     
  19. Vinyl Addict

    Vinyl Addict Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA

    Zooming the camera in on one important object came along long before Lost. Hell, they did that on the 3 stooges
     
  20. Thomas D

    Thomas D Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bradenton, FL
    Somehow it didn't have the same sort of magical impact in the 3 stooges. LOL

    Major, end of season finale, effect for any show? not done that often.
     
  21. Vinyl Addict

    Vinyl Addict Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA
    Still, they way you worded it, soumded like you were saying Lost came up with the idea. My bad, I just misunderstood
     
  22. Hightops

    Hightops Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bay Area, Ca


    Agreed. When Gus steps out of the room the reaction is, "OMG, he survives?" Then they hit you w/ the other side and suddenly you're thrown 180 degrees in the other direction.
     
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  23. Scott in DC

    Scott in DC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    The murder attempt against Hank in the parking lot was pretty weak. The supposed hit men couldn't seem to get the job done and the one drags the ax to get Hank. Whatever happened to quick and clean? Think about it, would you hire those guys and have them fumble around, possibly get seen or photographed or even have a police car appear as they make all kinds of commotion in the parking lot?

    Scott
     
  24. misterdecibel

    misterdecibel Bulbous Also Tapered

    And it is comic, cartoonish even. But this show has always been as much comedy as drama.
     
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  25. Brian_Svoboda

    Brian_Svoboda Senior Member

    Location:
    Virginia
    Agreed also. It was brilliant direction, totally in keeping with the arc of the season -- in which Gus was virtually invulnerable, and had an almost Hitler-like supernatural defiance of death, as when he sensed danger in the parking garage the week before. You gotta ask yourself, how is the typical viewer going to see this? He or she is not going to say, this is unscientific and cheesy. He or she is going to say first, holy cow, he's alive! And then, WOW!
     
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