Breaking Bad

[The Narrator Returns]

Spoiler

I love how the first thing Lydia does after her blindfold is removed is primp herself in the mirror.

[domino harvey]

The sound mixing on some of this was really murky on my end, what was the gist of Skyler and Walt's conversation in the bathroom? I literally could understand every fifth word

[d-less]

Spoiler

It sounds like Walt buried the money and offered to turn himself in on the condition that Skyler give the money to the kids. Skyler told Walt that isn't option. Skyler added that Hank only has strong suspicions that Walt is Heisenberg, so thier best course of action is to remain silent. (Also, Skyler told Walt she knows his cancer is back.)

edited to add add'tl details

[domino harvey]

Thanks for the details!

Spoiler

I am concerned about Hank and Marie making it out now-- Walt seems adamant that nothing happen to them, but could Skyler do her Lady MacBeth thing after that attempted baby-napping?

[warren oates]

Spoiler

Just where do those GPS coordinates really take you?

[Noiradelic]

My memory for the earlier seasons is poor because I only saw them once, but this might be the best episode yet. One great, intense -- or hilarious -- scene stacked on another.

[Professor Wagstaff]

Spot the "Friday Night Lights" alum: Kevin Rankin who played Herc during that show's first few seasons was part of Todd's crew.

[domino harvey]

Also Devil on Justified

[Roger Ryan]

Spoiler

Just where do those GPS coordinates really take you?

Very cute...in a good way.

I also loved how members of Declan's gang have started to groom themselves like "Heisenberg" (shaved heads with goatees).

[domino harvey]

Spoiler

Stars of Breaking Bad offered free non-euphemistic trip to Belize

[Luke M]

That's great.

[Markson]

Anna Gunn writes an op-ed piece for The New York Times in which she responds to the vitriolic hatred for Skyler.

[flyonthewall2983]

I'm pretty passionate about this show, as a piece of art. It's television on the level of any great literature or music, and whether or not anyone here would agree with it there's a good chance in several generations' time when we're all dead it will be remembered that way. But that level of passion indicated in the article is something I'll never understand. This is going to come off as snobbish, but it's possibly because the people who do hold such grudges can't appreciate it as such.

Anyway, good on her to actually write it down and broadcast her own feelings about it. She's done a mostly fantastic job through the series, having to stay and maintain a caliber of performance that's shared pretty universally by the cast.

[knives]

Yeah, her and Betsy Brandt have had a tough go at it (and I really don't understand in the least for her) from the children who watch, but if anything being aware of that backlash has had their more powerful scenes of recent (the pool last scene last year for Skyler and the reason baby tug-a-war last week for both).

[matrixschmatrix]

Without Skyler as a character, the show would be infinitely less interesting- she's the standard bearer for the real emotional cost of Walter's activities, and as an adult who can fully comprehend what's happening, she's in a unique position to be destroyed by it. I think a lot of the hatred for her comes from simple misogyny, but I think that's compounded by how above and beyond simply objecting to what Walter does and being a 'killjoy', she keeps the series from ever simply being fun and exciting drug trafficking derring do. She's not alone in that- the show also gives us

Spoiler

Airplane explosions, murdered Gale, and dead children

but I think Skyler hits closer to home, and hurts more. Gunn's performance has been solid all along, but really took off in Season 5 pt 1, and I think even the dumbest viewers are coming around- from what I hear, the I Hate Skyler pagemaster on facebook is considering taking it down, as her purpose and value in the show has become obvious to everyone.

[Professor Wagstaff]

I think Skyler hits closer to home, and hurts more.

Agreed. I've been running through some of the first two seasons to sort out how my opinion of the show has changed over the years. When I first began watching, the experience of moving on to the latest episode became a grueling process, not because of the quality, but the bleakness of its content. We talk now about BB being as funny as any show on television, but those early seasons of chemotherapy and family struggle gave us a different kind of tension that was often painful to witness because of how real it played. If we were to exorcise the meth storyline from the series, you'd have about the saddest series on television. Gunn has to anchor the family storyline because Walt, more often than not, seems to be in the thick of the drug scenario. Whenever Skyler appears on camera, we know we won't be in Scarface mode anymore, but the woes of family drama and impending death that a large portion of the audience doesn't want in their entertainment. It's a shame that Gunn's been targeted for continually grounding the show in reality. I'm not remembering if similar vitriol was directed at the Carmela Soprano character or if she got off the hook for turning a blind eye to Tony's professional life.

[knives]

Not only that, and I suspect this is where the underlying misogyny that Matrix is talking about comes in, many of the things Walt causes are rather fantastical, but we all have a loved one (not necessarily a wife) that our dumb actions hurt and so the pain and distress Skyler feels is the most usual emotional experience on the show. Her reaction to so much is a complete mirror to a lot of ordinary situations with only what she is reacting to being fantastical. It functions both ways too as Walt isn't at this point the only audience surrogate. We can really stand in Skyler's shoes especially if you have known someone completely changed by disease (Walt going meth dealer isn't completely unlike someone's loved one suffering from dementia). Her side of the story is honest without exaggeration.

[flyonthewall2983]

I'm not remembering if similar vitriol was directed at the Carmela Soprano character or if she got off the hook for turning a blind eye to Tony's professional life.

I can't speak to that, but one example I can think of is Corinne Mackey on The Shield. More of it probably had to do with the fact that the show runner cast his wife in the role, but nonetheless she did a good job at conveying an eroding trust in her husband as the show went on.

[The Narrator Returns]

Spoiler

What you just saw, folks, is the "Walt is such a badass!" train getting derailed over the course of 48 minutes.

[knives]

For the last half hour I was sure somebody was going to kill somebody, that things winded up as they did is probably more shocking. There's only five more episodes, correct?

[flyonthewall2983]

Spoiler

What you just saw, folks, is the "Walt is such a badass!" train getting derailed over the course of 48 minutes.

Spoiler

He's been more of an evil genius than a bad-ass. And tonight was solid proof of that, for certain.

[Drucker]

Assorted thoughts:

Spoiler

If they tied up these loose threads, is Jane's death going to come into play? Or is that sufficiently laid to rest.

I also predict Hank is going to lose his job at this point. After all the bru-ha-ha about Hank chasing Walt, that has come to an interesting stand-still.

Lastly, the Nazis take Walt's family hostage?

[warren oates]

The single most jaw-dropping moment for me this time around -- and it gets tougher to pick one with each successive episode -- is when

Spoiler

Marie says to Walt: "This thing dies with you, right? So why don't you just kill yourself?"

[Black Hat]

Anybody else feel a bit let down by Walt's 'confession'? I appreciate the drama of it, the set up, the performances but it fell a little flat to me partly because Walt was hamming it up so much but also because I didn't buy that something like that would checkmate Hank.

Rest of the episode was amazing. Aaron Paul's gradual turn from broken down shell of a man to empowered, enraged man on a mission was amazing to watch. Also what was up with the ending? Didn't seem like the house had a fire from the first episode teaser. Curious choice to end this episode on but I'm sure there was a reason.

[warren oates]

Maybe consider some spoiler tags?

Spoiler

Yeah, it doesn't seem like the house was burned out in the one-year-later teaser we've been seeing. But we also didn't see Jesse light a fire before the end of this episode. I'm guessing Walt catches up with him moments later. Or even better/worse that he runs into Walt Jr., snaps out of his madness and scurries away. And, no, I absolutely didn't feel Walt's confession wasn't good enough. I don't think it's intended to play like the ultimate checkmate move on Hank. Just like a really ballsy table-turning threat that buys the Whites some more time. Letting Hank know that simply not catching him till now won't be the only cloud he's under if he presses on.