Breaking Bad

[Carbo]

My theory: Gomie dies in the crossfire and Hank is gravely injured. Jesse and Walt are forced to bail or negotiate with Meth Damon and his White Power Posse. Hank will have lost everything including evidence, witnesses and his best friend due to his recklessness. But to make matters worse, adding insult to injury and permanently removing Hank as a variable completely - the confession tape is sent to the DEA, putting him out of pasture for good and effectively destroying his life.

Long-shot: Marie is responsible for ruining Walter's house or at least the spray-painting.

Aaron Paul teased on Twitter that things are about to get much, much worse from here on out. I shudder to think of that honestly.

Either way I see it, the DEA story line is pretty much over. Hank finally got what he wanted but he didn't heed Walt's warning - the stars aligned for him only for a few minutes and all the pieces he had to shut this case were laid out for him right in the desert. It's all going to come crashing down now.

[Brad]

Due to the fact the next episode spoiler gives zero footage of next week's episode and has a voiceover of Skylar asking for Walt, it's clear somebody is going to die out there. 

 

The episode this week started off slow, but the minute that Walt got a picture of the barrel? It just all kicked off from there. Every moment Jesse was talking shit down the phone to Walt was extremely enjoyable for me to hear, and when Walt found out he was tricked and blinded by his greed - and his one comeuppance was himself, I couldn't help but cheer. And if the show was trying to make me feel some sort of sad emotion for Walt after everything he's done, it certainly didn't work. And obviously, that cliffhanger was extremely exciting and when they cut off right in the middle of the action, I swear I almost yelled at the screen. Episodes like this remind me why Breaking Bad is just so damn good.

[Swiss]

I honestly thought the episode was going to end when Hank was shouting for Walt to show himself and I would have been so annoyed about the 7-day wait if they did. 

 

Well, I'm already having a hard time waiting for next week's episode so either ending did it really. 

[Carbo]

Oh my lord

[Strong Bad]

Managed to go the entire day without getting spoiled, then watched the latest episode. My feelings:

http://24.media.tumblr.com/159865722382d02e3530ff52e014ce92/tumblr_msv64xVl2L1suk0ryo1_1280.jpg

[Sean]

Breaking Bad literally depresses me. The main character is completely unsympathetic and the other leads are losing their fucking minds and making rash decisions leading to their downfall, yet deep down you truly wish things had been a little different for everyone involved and to see them come out okay, even though there's no fucking way it will ever happen by this point. I honestly cherished that short moment a few episodes ago in which Walt and Jesse shared one last hug (before Jesse found out about the risen) because I knew it would have been the absolute last we'll ever see of the two characters on a peaceful note.

[Chaos Incarnate]

Here's my question:

 

Why is everyone rooting for Walt over Jesse again?

 

I like Walt as a character, but the guy isn't sympathetic at all anymore, IMO. Jesse has a pretty good reason to be pissed off at Walt and bring him to justice, it's not like he didn't poison Brock or anything. I want to see Walt redeem himself it it involves saving Jesse, but he better go down hard.

Edited September 10, 2013 by Sean
Carbo has already stated to not use spoiler tags in this manner. Please refrain from using them unless talking about info revealed about episodes that have not been aired yet.

[Noir]

Here's my question:

 

Why is everyone rooting for Walt over Jesse again?

 

There are people doing that?

 

Honestly at this point I'm not rooting for anyone except, like, maybe Gomie and Marie. I'd absolutely be rooting for Hank until he became content endangering Jesse's life to catch Walt. Gomie and Marie go right along with everything Hank does but I'd say they're more or less only trying to support him even if his actions are questionable. I mean really I'm just grasping at straws because I want to back somebody on this show.

 

Jesse has become so obsessed with making Walt suffer and I think his sense of right and wrong is beyond clouded by now, he doesn't want to stop Walt for justice, it's all for revenge and that makes it so hard to stand by him when he was really developing only to get sent into a blind rage after realizing Brock was poisoned. Which is arguably justified but he's not exactly morally pure.

 

In any case Walt is by far the most corrupt and despicable character and there's literally no reason to root for him.

[Sean]

I have a feeling that Marie will fucking snap upon finding out about the shootout and will go after Walt herself, gun in hand.

[Chaos Incarnate]

There are people doing that?

 

Honestly at this point I'm not rooting for anyone except, like, maybe Gomie and Marie. I'd absolutely be rooting for Hank until he became content endangering Jesse's life to catch Walt. Gomie and Marie go right along with everything Hank does but I'd say they're more or less only trying to support him even if his actions are questionable. I mean really I'm just grasping at straws because I want to back somebody on this show.

 

Jesse has become so obsessed with making Walt suffer and I think his sense of right and wrong is beyond clouded by now, he doesn't want to stop Walt for justice, it's all for revenge and that makes it so hard to stand by him when he was really developing only to get sent into a blind rage after realizing Brock was poisoned. Which is arguably justified but he's not exactly morally pure.

 

In any case Walt is by far the most corrupt and despicable character and there's literally no reason to root for him.

Almost everyone on IMDB is rooting for Walt, I'm dead serious. That board is infested with trolls, but a lot of the posts defending him are actually serious. He's clearly evil, just because he shows remorse doesn't mean he's sympathetic. I completely agree with you, you hit the nail on the head.

[Sean]

I think Walt is a fantastic character but a despicable person. He's incredibly fucking well written as are most of the characters on the show, but anyone who thinks he should come out relatively scot-free is deluding themselves. Walt coming out alive while everyone else around him suffers would be the ultimate downer ending.

[Noir]

Yeah I almost want to say the people defending Walt do it because they mistake being a well-written and multi-dimensional character for being sympathetic

 

Like at first he obviously did everything believing it was in the best interest of the people he cares about and/or securing money for his family, he definitely does care a lot about Jesse and wants the best for him, he would never want his family endangered, etc., but he's become so consumed with a desire for power and he only does what's best for him and has put Jesse and his family in harm's way just to further his own goals

 

There's still a shred of that good nature and I think he does to some extent regret hurting people important to him but given the chance to do it all over he probably would change nothing because he feels it was all necessary. He's absolutely evil and just because he has more characterization to him than that doesn't excuse any of his actions or make him at all sympathetic.

[Carbo]

I'm not going to lie - I'm rooting for Walt. And I do think there's reasons to sympathize with him.

He's a fascinating character who's developed so much throughout the course of the story and the morality of him has been really interesting to delve into. Half of his actions throughout the story can be attributed to cleaning up messes he allowed to happen mostly on account of Jesse, who he genuinely cares for. Season 5 feels like the pinnacle of his character in this regard. He gets incredibly full of himself in the first half of the season, but the fact that he eventually manages to make such a turn by the first half of it is really admirable. Everyone - literally everyone expects him to relapse and break bad again. Skyler and Saul were all expecting him to murder Jesse. Even Jesse is so paranoid that he would never believe that Walt simply decided to finally make an exit and pay what he owes.

No one is able to absolve crimes that easily, but if this season has proved to me anything it's that morality of this show is a grey field and no level of quantity in crimes can necessarily cover up someone else's because it's ultimately turning characters into hypocrites. Walter has never had any qualms about being caught and he'd offered himself a tons of times that he'd turn himself in for family's sake, and him being so ingrained is only really a cause now because the closest thing he could call an actual friend or even son that he could be proud of, is out for his blood. When Hank shows up, he abandons the possibility of bloodshed and decides to do just what he wanted to do - give up. Season 5 has proven that all of the supporting cast can easily be just as much of a scumbag as Walter can be. The influence he has on people is fascinating and it's crazy how he, in comparison, is almost turning out to be the lesser of other evils. For that matter, I don't necessarily feel guilty for rooting for a criminal when it comes to this kind of TV Show - despite attempting to be scientifically accurate, half of the things in Breaking Bad are just plain unrealistic and done for action angles or even comedy.

Also, yes. I do in fact prefer Walter over Jesse right now and I'm starting to get insanely disappointed with where they're leading Jesse's character. I'm not really hating on him honestly, the reason I feel like he needs a wake-up call from Walter is because he's almost always been my favorite character. Hell when I go back in the series and remember scenes like Rice n Beans, as well as his talk about how he'd ditch town after he gave up on the idea of them ever meeting Tuco's demands, I always knew that he'd be one hell of a character and I found his development pretty believable, much like Walter. A series without Jesse would be a series without heart. That said, despite a fantastic speech on Problem Dog, I think that was just a blatant admission that the writers don't feel like evolving him anymore. He's practically given up and become the same tired, repeating cliche since then and he hasn't developed at all ("Walt did something? RAURHG, oh well better team up with him again after I've had my tantrum"). He's rarely, if ever acknowledged much of any gratitude and he's really not much more of a saint than Walter. Him "regretting" murdering someone is no less of a crime than Walt "regretting" that he had to poison a kid through non-lethal means. His character feels like it's been on a standstill - we know he hates it when you screw over kids. But relapsing and using again, deciding to bring that old distaste out after having the guy you're going after let you get off scotch-free after saving you a bunch of times doesn't really feel like progression. It's kind of a regression. Hell, Walter screaming his lungs out over the phone is honestly the closest thing I felt like I could relate to the character.

Oh and, setting aside some biases, humor and lack of context - this image is really good.

So yeah, Walter > Jesse for me right now, even if Jesse's usually been my favorite character. This kind of exit, teaming up with someone who has little to no regards to your life in order to bring down someone that does, is incredibly moronic.

Also Marie crossed the line for me when she wanted to steal Skyler's baby.

[Sean]

I agree with what you said about Jesse which is why I'm not siding with him anymore than I would with Walt. He has lost complete sight of what's important and he's so deep in his desire for revenge that right now he's probably the most deluded character on the entire show. And despite Hank being my favorite character, all of my sympathy for him went right out the window when he was willing to put Jesse's life on the line just to catch Walt.

You also bring up a lot of good points when comparing Walt's morality to other characters' in season 5. He's by no means a total monster, and he's shown a much more human side than anyone else in this season, so I suppose there is a shred of sympathy to be found in his character. Still, I just can't bring myself to want to see him come out of here on top considering all of the awful things he has done and still does, and it is impossible to accurately tell how much of what he expresses is truly regret and how much is a facade; Walt is a bit of an actor and sometimes I feel that even he manages to fool himself into believing something to be true even when it isn't. It's obvious that he cares about his family and Jesse, but he will never stop manipulating them for his own ends. He abuses his loved ones on a mental and situational level, and I just cannot get behind anyone who does that.

In short, what I'm saying is that currently I'm not siding with anyone and this fact depresses the fuck out of me, I really want to find someone to root for but at this current point I just can't. I wanted to see Walt taken down but not the way Hank and Jesse are doing so, and each twist in the plot is just one bitter turn after another.

[SuperStingray]

Walt stopped acting in his family's best interests back in season 1 when he turned down Elliott's offer for help.  Ever since then it's been about his own pride.  I'm still rooting for him though.  Not because I'm on his side, but because this is a fictional character study; I have a morbid curiosity to see what happens when a man whose done only horrible things for the past year of his life get impunity.

[LATER BUDDY]

Thought this was a pretty lulz parody, especially with the cameos XD:

 

[SuperStingray]

Thought this was a pretty lulz parody, especially with the cameos XD:

 

It was decent until Cranston threw the pizza.  Then it was perfect.

[Noir]

It's official it wasn't official yet was it - you'd better call Saul

[Kevin]

Holy shit! I'm speechless after watching this week's episode!

 

First Hank dies, and then the shit going down with Walt and his family? They're setting up for something big!

Edited September 16, 2013 by Kevin

[Noir]

this episode gave me a headache and makes me feel emotionally distressed

 

vince you can't do this to me

[King Frosty]

Final 4 eps are just Vince torturing every fan of this show

Only 2 episodes left

How will it wrap up 

Anything can happen

[Swiss]

I've never felt anything quite like the unexplainable things I felt whilst watching a TV show during this week's episode.

 

I'm speechless. 

[Shane]

Breaking Bad has become televised torture.

[Sean]

I actually feel sick after watching this episode. I have a headache, and also that feeling in my body that's like I spent the last four hours sobbing or something. I can't even articulate my thoughts right now.

[Carbo]

This episode must have been written by the mass internet community of Walter detractors. It was a chilling episode that's for certain, Breaking Bad just can't catch a break with the gut wrenching horror and all dem emotions. I actually screamed when Hank got murdered, and the family debacle.... lord, for a long moment I actually thought that I'd have to abandon the Walt support. But I couldn't have more respect for him for actually taking the fall for his family's safety and abandoning them forever.

Well. That's what I assume what he eventually came to realize.