So I just sat down and watched all of Breaking Bad and I wanna talk about it.

[Dizchu]

I still liked Walt at the end. I mean, yeah, he's a bad guy and everything, but, well, he did his best. And that's all anyone can ask you to do. Your best.

Edit: for clarity, I'm not joking. I found it really difficult to dislike Walt, probably because you follow his journey from the beginning and can see his descent and the reasons he ends up where he does. Jesse was okay too. Don't care for Nazis though.

I understand what you mean. It's a testament to the quality of the writing and Bryan Cranston's acting that such a pathetic, despicable person such as Walt still gets a hold of the audience's sympathy even till the very end.

Breaking Bad is a tragedy. A smart, kind man with some bitterness bubbling away underneath the surface (none of us are perfect) gets completely destroyed by his cancer diagnosis and the subsequent "end-of-life crisis" that makes him do the awful things he does. The worst part is that most of it was entirely his fault. Even if he stopped at $700k like he initially planned to, so many people would have survived.

A lot of people feel that Heisenberg is the "real" Walt while Walter White is a decoy. I disagree. I see it as a Jekyll and Hyde scenario. Two completely conflicting personalities (one that wants dominance and another that just loves his family) that struggle constantly through the series (maybe even before the diagnosis). It's actually very similar to Star Wars. Replace Anakin with Walter White, Darth Vader with Heisenberg, the dark side with the meth business...

Though I think the most tragic aspect of Breaking Bad is Walt Jr. It is not until a couple of episodes before the finale that he realises that the father he loved so much, thought the world of, always wanted to be with was actually a serial killer and drug manufacturer, one that absolutely destroyed their family. It actually makes me feel extremely uncomfortable thinking about it.

 

[mmmikey]

It's basically boils down to Walt is unreliable.

Gus didn't want to have Walt on the operation when Jesse fucked up their initial meeting. Gus didn't trust Walt's judgement. Walter & Gail talked him into taking him on but first Walt had to deliver all their Meth to the truck stop in a limited window of time. And Walt barely made it happen.

There is also the fact that while Hank is hospitalized Walt refuses to work and lies directly to Gus about his whereabouts. After he has Gail canned, which I'm sure raised some sort of red flag for Gus. And while Gail could've kept the operation moving along to meet the 200 pound quota that was part of his "contract", he brought in Jesse who was incompetent without someone else directing him. Gus shows up at the hospital and Walt knows he fucked up.

Flash forward to the point it's plainly obvious to everyone that what Gus says goes after the meeting in the trailer. Walt acts the behalf of Jesse and throwing everything he had in the gutter. He is clearly unreliable and dangerous to his operation.

I found it harder to believe that Walt would protect Jesse after the point where he said if he got pinched he'd turn in Walt. Jesse had fucked up seriously at several points and Walt stood to gain nothing from him.

 

[L. Declis]

Which was Walt's decision. The implication is he sold his shares in a huff when his ex-girlfriend started a relationship with his friend. That's his hot temper and ego on display, going back as far as his early 20's.

I thought he sold them because he needed the money for the house once Skylar was pregnant with Walt Jr? My recollection is pretty hazy though, it's been a while.

It's kinda both. There is the "Fuck you guys, I'm going home" aspect and the "I need the money now, and it's not like Grey Matter will ever go anywhere" aspect. He also then had to watch this shitty company he thought would fail grow into a multinational success while he worked at a carwash to make ends meet.

I found it harder to believe that Walt would protect Jesse after the point where he said if he got pinched he'd turn in Walt. Jesse had fucked up seriously at several points and Walt stood to gain nothing from him.

I have this feeling that Jessie represents a lifeline to Walt's humanity. He is kinda a surrogate son, a protege (which his ego LOVES to have) and someone who he as a teacher failed, but Hiesenberg can succeed at making better. Plus it was another lackey to control, which makes him another piece in Walt's game.

But I also think there was a softer side to Hiesenberg, the side that was still Walter, who honestly felt for this child who had been let down by society much like Walt had and wanted Jessie to be happy one day. Finally, I think Heisenberg also needed someone to know. To know how far he had come, to know how brilliant he was. It's all very well being amazing but you need someone to show it to.

I came to read about Breaking Bad...
and got Game of Thrones spoilers...

It has been half a year. There are 40 episodes. You could watch one episode per day and have caught up from the beginning in a month and a bit. You could watch 2 episodes a day and have caught up in 2 weeks. You could binge watch it and finish it in a three day holiday.

And the books have been out for much longer. The spoiler tag doesn't last forever.

 

[shootthebandit]

Walt wanted to run the drug empire and he was a drone working for gus. As a result of this there was a tension between him and Gus. Walt wanted to take over the business and Gus wanted to stop him

 

[L. Declis]

I still liked Walt at the end. I mean, yeah, he's a bad guy and everything, but, well, he did his best. And that's all anyone can ask you to do. Your best.

Edit: for clarity, I'm not joking. I found it really difficult to dislike Walt, probably because you follow his journey from the beginning and can see his descent and the reasons he ends up where he does. Jesse was okay too. Don't care for Nazis though.

I understand what you mean. It's a testament to the quality of the writing and Bryan Cranston's acting that such a pathetic, despicable person such as Walt still gets a hold of the audience's sympathy even till the very end.

Bryan Cranston though is a fantastic actor. He is also apparently a great guy. The writers of Malcolm in the Middle kept doing worse and worse things to him, to see at what point Bryan would finally call it off, and he just kept doing it. They stopped trying to injure him or hurt him before they killed him.

There is also the fact that originally, they decided to remove the underwear in the desert scene which is now one of the quissential shots of Breaking Bad, but Bryan asked "Is that what Walter would do?" and they said yeah, so he said that he'll do it then with no complaints.

Also, you know the infamous pizza scene? He did that in one take. ONE! One try, pizza on the roof. They thought it would take hours to do. Everyone was so shocked by how perfectly he did it.

 

[Dizchu]

Also, you know the infamous pizza scene? He did that in one take. ONE! One try, pizza on the roof. They thought it would take hours to do. Everyone was so shocked by how perfectly he did it.

The roof pizza scene was the most tragic scene in the entire series.

What a waste...

 

[L. Declis]

Also, you know the infamous pizza scene? He did that in one take. ONE! One try, pizza on the roof. They thought it would take hours to do. Everyone was so shocked by how perfectly he did it.

The roof pizza scene was the most tragic scene in the entire series.

What a waste...

On the plus side, when they had ordered like, twenty of them for the retakes, they ended up just eating the rest among the crew. A pizza in time saves nine, kinda thing.

I don't know, it's like 10pm here.