Breaking Bad

[smartdude1212]

Okay, so thanks to FFRGreen, I was able to watch episodes 12, 13, and 14 in one shot.

Holy fucking shit.

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

The cold opens in this show are always incredible, and one of my all-time favourites is the sauce-sampling suicide, but the cold open for this episode combined with ALL THE SHIT THAT WENT DOWN... so fucking heartbreaking. During that whole Walt-Skyler-Flynn scene, from the second Skyler grabbed the knife until she was practically collapsing in the street, I'm not confident I was breathing.

Holyfuckingshit.

[Tps222]

Imagine having to wait a whole week between the shootout scenes.

[smartdude1212]

I did imagine that, and I'm only slightly glad that I didn't have to endure the wait.

I need to add:

-- The shootout, in a bizarre way, was beautifully shot. Despite the results, I loved it.
-- Skyler wearing white and Marie wearing black at the car wash was such a great attention to detail. Even in the side-shot of them sitting, the majority of things in the left half of the frame seemed to be lighter, while the right half was dominated by darker objects (including on the walls). I love that about this show: there may be nobody talking at that moment, but you can still glean a shitload from the visuals.

Edit: Perfect 10 on IMDb... wow. Never have I agreed more. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2301451/?ref_=tt_ep_pr

[Tps222]

Yes, that especially holds true in the last phone call scene between Walt and Skylar. You can really read a lot into the motivations behind that scene simply by reading their facial expressions instead of listening to what they're saying.

[Reincarnate]

I love the zoom-in shot of the neo-Nazis when they pull up in their trucks and unload their weapons -- badass.

And there's just something about that shot when Skyler and Walt start fighting... it's super eerie and visceral. After Walt gets his hand cut, there's this quick cut to when they start wrestling with the knife (and the music immediately cuts out and goes silent). It just seems too real to me and especially jarring. I don't know what it is... but yeah this was an emotionally-taxing episode to watch. Amazing stuff.

What do you guys predict for Granite State?

[Xiz]

Jesse was on the price is right 10 years ago, yo!

[awein999]

Originally Posted by Xiz

Jesse was on the price is right 10 years ago, yo!

the foreshadowing of the crash and burn for jesse. the writers planned this teehee

[Tps222]

Granite State will most likely feature Skylar getting questioned by the DEA, Walt getting his new identity set up, Jesse being tortured even more by todd and his meth nazi gang. Lydia and Jesse meeting and establishing some sort of pact/plan. Walt preparing to get back what he lost. Time lapse to machine gun buying, beard wearing denny's parking lot for the final episode?

Something along those lines.

[Reincarnate]

Originally Posted by Tps222

Granite State will most likely feature Skylar getting questioned by the DEA, Walt getting his new identity set up, Jesse being tortured even more by todd and his meth nazi gang. Lydia and Jesse meeting and establishing some sort of pact/plan. Walt preparing to get back what he lost. Time lapse to machine gun buying, beard wearing denny's parking lot for the final episode?

Something along those lines.

Walt will clearly get a new identity, that much is known. We may get a flashback scene where Saul and Walt talk before Walt gives that final phone call to Skyler (evidence: the promo -- "If they don't have you, they're going after her", which means Walt had to clear Skyler's name before disappearing)

I think the Nazis will come looking for Jesse's tape at Marie's house.

Flynn will be the one who writes HEISENBERG on the wall (IMO there's a rather strong power to this, and I can't think of who else is better suited for this action). When you consider that Walt had that talk with Flynn over "how he'd be remembered," it'd be pretty ironic if Flynn were the one to solidify his memory by writing his "real" name on the wall.

Cue the Nazis killing Marie and Skyler during their quest to find the tape (and possibly Flynn). And since the police think Walt killed Hank, they're also going to think Walt called a hit on his own family (hence Carol's surprise in the flashforward). For a long time I thought Walt was going to choke Skyler to death (possibly foreshadowed in an earlier episode + the eggs and bacon thing when he turned 52 + taking the name Lambert) but I doubt that will be the case now.

Jesse helps Todd and the purity/blue color comes back up to snuff.

Walt learns (likely through national news idk) that his entire family is dead and that the Nazis are pumping out the blue stuff. People think Heisenberg is behind it all. Walt realizes Jesse is still alive and cooking, due to this. Not only did the Nazis kill his family and jack his formula and frame him for it all, but they took Walt's money and didn't follow through with the hit-job.

So yeah, Walt's coming back to blood, Scarface style -- hence the M60.

Jesse will kill Todd with an epic bitch-moment, and later, he will be the one to kill Walt. I actually think it may be fitting if Jesse sacrifices himself to kill Walt in some way. Makes sense to me on a symbolic level, at least -- sort of like how an acid + base come together and neutralize each other's properties. Also ties in nicely to "the reaction has begun" which was an obvious reference to their entire relationship going forward. The reaction's gotta end sometime! Jesse is also looking for a way to redeem himself, but he's also done some horrible things, too. Sacrifice makes sense in his case, IMO.

The ricin is the only thing I have no fucking clue about. It's possible that Walt takes it himself before he goes in, just to make sure that in the event he is disarmed and captured, he can't be tortured indefinitely. But IMO that seems kinda lame. Having Walt poison Lydia's tea is too predictable and everyone fucking thinks that at this point. It's possible he poisons a batch of the blue so the Czech guys will take care of Lydia naturally. Who knows at this point ;-;

The fake confession video Walt made... I feel like it should make another appearance somehow. Seems a bit elaborate if all it was meant to do is neutralize Hank and incentivize him to back off. It may very well be the case that the Nazis come back for Jesse's video but find Walt's instead (since Skyler agreed to give Marie the CDs in Ozymandias) -- and maybe people think Hank isn't dead, but rather the real Heisenberg who is holding Walt hostage and who forced him to say all that shit over the phone. Nobody would be able to contest it, either, if Walter's family is dead. I don't think this will happen but it's interesting food-for-thought IMO.

I also wouldn't be surprised if the finale ends with Holly, grown up, finally watching this home movie that was recorded years earlier:

Anyways my ultimate prediction is that "everyone dies in the end" turns out to be true. The song during the mid-episode credits of Ozymandias though kinda hint to this: "Say goodbye to everyone..."

Most of this shit is probably wrong but I've given it a lot of thought and w/e this is what I'm going with.

[Tps222]

That's fucking brilliant. I don't know if they'll kill Walt's family or not, but this is Breaking Bad. I would be satisfied with most of that coming true.

[Reincarnate]

Was right about some things, not on others -- namely because no one died in this ep and I didn't see how Grey Matter would light a fire under his ass again, lol.

[Tps222]

Originally Posted by Tps222

Granite State will most likely feature Skylar getting questioned by the DEA, Walt getting his new identity set up, Jesse being tortured even more by todd and his meth nazi gang. Lydia and Jesse meeting and establishing some sort of pact/plan. Walt preparing to get back what he lost. Time lapse to machine gun buying, beard wearing denny's parking lot for the final episode?

Something along those lines.

boom, headshot.

grey matter was also surprise. connected to madrigal?

[A2P]

Fuck Todd

[smartdude1212]

Originally Posted by Reincarnate

no one died in this ep

Except Andrea... man, what a heartbreaking moment.

Great cinematography again in this episode. When Skyler was sitting in the room with the lawyers, I again noticed that it was white/light on the left, dark on the right.

As for the music, wow... it made Jesse's attempted escape that much more intense, and the title screen music at the end was fantastic because everything is coming full circle!

One week aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[FictionJunction]

ok it was pretty cool how they brought back grey matter but I would've been honestly content if the series had ended with ozymandias.

Sure, there was that flashforward Heisenberg graffiti on the wall scene but without it Ozymandias would've been a pretty great exit.

[smartdude1212]

The more I think about Ozymandias the more I love this goddamn show... even more than I already did.

I think as soon as I get back to Canada I'm going to buy all five seasons and marathon through them during winter break; the continuity is commendable, and it's certainly a show worth owning.

[Reincarnate]

smartdude: err, yes, you're right -- I meant to imply family members, but yeah.

Aaron Paul mentioned on the podcast that his reaction scene to Andrea's death was the hardest thing he's had to shoot all series

[Kibblre]

Originally Posted by Reincarnate

Aaron Paul mentioned on the podcast that his reaction scene to Andrea's death was the hardest thing he's had to shoot all series

In terms of emotional attachment or just in terms of acting skill?

[Reincarnate]

Both, most likely. Good actors usually have to get their minds in the right emotional spaces in order to be convincing -- and then they have to do it repeatedly for multiple takes.

http://www.amctv.com/shows/breaking-...dcast-season-5

Go to the one hour mark or so, listen for maybe 10 minutes

[Tps222]

I can't think of any loose ends that they haven't tied up yet. The attention to detail in this show is astounding. Chekov would be proud.