SPOILERS for those time-shifted viewers out there
I don't know about you, but as far as I'm concerned, Breaking Bad was the best entertainment on television. And I'm not sure what, if anything will take its place... except maybe the prequel, Better Call Saul. Nope... not a joke.
But to take the story of a man, and to watch him go from jilted business partner, to high school chemistry teacher, to cancer victim, to drug king pin... seems like four distant points that don't relate, and yet connected so seamlessly as to make almost perfect sense.
And through it all, we watch the man, Walter White (Bryan Cranston) go from milk-toast to a very dominant player on the field of thugs. And it was quite the transformation.
Do you remember when we cheered for the guy when he upped and quit that crap job at the car wash? Yep... that was step one. And we were happy for him, considering his circumstances.
Do you remember his trying to be smart and hide his extra cell phone in the chemistry class?
But then one thing led to another and every success led to a failure, forcing his hand at doing it again...until he found himself working for Gus.
Sure, cancer forced his hand beyond quitting his 2nd job and we sympathized for him. Heck, we were making excuses for him, hoping he'd succeed. But he traveled down a slippery slope into this monster that Walter has become, and as we ponder, we realize he became that which he was capable of. Or he'd never be able to do it.
Walter White: Family Man and Mass Murderer
I don't know about you, but I call Walter a mass murderer. Over the seasons, he's either directly or indirectly caused the death of over 180 people.
The people Walt has killed himself include
Emilio (self-defense from pilot episode)
Krazy-8 (chained up guy in basement, who disappeared)
Combo (killed by rivals dealing Walt's blue stuff)
Jane (He could have saved her)
Nameless rival dealer #1 (run-over with his Aztec)
Nameless rival dealer #2 (run-over with his Aztec)
Gale (Orders Jesse to kill him to save themselves from Gus)
Anonymous Gus henchman in lab (Walt pops him in Gus's super lab)
Gus (Direct threat removed, using Hector)
Hector “Tio” Salamanca (Means to an end)
Tyrus (Guy with Gus when bomb goes off)
Guard #1 in laundry lab (When Walter blew up Gus's lab)
Guard #2 in laundry lab (When Walter blew up Gus's lab)
Mike Ehrmantraut (THIS is when I slipped out from under Walt's fan club)
Those he indirectly killed, include folks like the 167 passengers on those airliners... Jane's father was mentally out of it from her death and he lost track of air traffic. The kid on the bike in the desert.
Now Chavez and Hank. And he's ordered the hit on Jesse, not to mention Andrea (Todd work) catching it too, as a side effect.
As time winds down, we're starting to watch Walter get desperate and it's obvious he's suffering in solitude and in health.
But do you feel bad for Walter?
NOPE... not this kid. He killed Mike, ordered the hit on Jesse, is repsonsible for Hank's death (regardless of his pleading) and took that last, evil jab at Jesse, telling him about Jane.
No, my empathy for Walter is gone. He's gone over the edge and he's done. I want to see him cooked and fried.
But
AMC has made a few mistakes along the way with season "five."
For one, when AMC announced the double length fifth season, it seemed too good to be true. But what came of that was two 8-episode seasons. I'm sure they'll be packaged separately for DVD home sales.
Then there was the exciting announcement of the last two episodes of Breaking Bad will be seventy-five minutes in length.
That did sound exciting... except in the episode last weekend, it seems that for those extra minutes, we got ourselves an awful lot of New Hampshire footage, filling out that time.
-
Eh, if this were any other show, they'd be catching grief for it. But it's Breaking Bad and everything Bad is great!
We have one more episode left that will finish it off.
The teaser scenes from this and last year, with Walter and his M-60, or retrieving that poisonous cigarette from his house have yet to play out. So look for those in this last episode.
And what do you think will happen in that last seventy-five minutes? That does not seem like enough time to deal the last cards from the deck, but it is what it is.
Will Walter smite Frank, Todd and the gang to get his millions back?
Will they all fall at the hands of Todd?
Will the DEA catch and or kill Walter?
And why has AMC always given us "Rich and Alone" or "Poor and Alone" as options in their survey that caps off their story sync? Misdirects?
But I have to say one thing... as things have turned south for our anti-hero and his family is now more screwed than before when he first got sick...
Though I'm not that worried about this series ending episode, (because I trust Vince Gilligan), they better not have Walter wake up from some bad dream or just fade to black.
Gilligan has said the ending will be very "Breaking Bad." WTF does that mean? Well, if you look at the title, all of Walt's efforts have succeeded then collapsed in on themselves.
And right now, he's focused on heading to Frank's to get his money and give it to his family. But it's obvious his family is pretty f*!d right now.
All I can say is I can't wait!
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I don't know about you, but as far as I'm concerned, Breaking Bad was the best entertainment on television. And I'm not sure what, if anything will take its place... except maybe the prequel, Better Call Saul. Nope... not a joke.
But to take the story of a man, and to watch him go from jilted business partner, to high school chemistry teacher, to cancer victim, to drug king pin... seems like four distant points that don't relate, and yet connected so seamlessly as to make almost perfect sense.
Do you remember when we cheered for the guy when he upped and quit that crap job at the car wash? Yep... that was step one. And we were happy for him, considering his circumstances.
Do you remember his trying to be smart and hide his extra cell phone in the chemistry class?
But then one thing led to another and every success led to a failure, forcing his hand at doing it again...until he found himself working for Gus.
Walter White: Family Man and Mass Murderer
The people Walt has killed himself include
Emilio (self-defense from pilot episode)
Krazy-8 (chained up guy in basement, who disappeared)
Combo (killed by rivals dealing Walt's blue stuff)
Jane (He could have saved her)
Nameless rival dealer #1 (run-over with his Aztec)
Nameless rival dealer #2 (run-over with his Aztec)
Gale (Orders Jesse to kill him to save themselves from Gus)
Anonymous Gus henchman in lab (Walt pops him in Gus's super lab)
Gus (Direct threat removed, using Hector)
Hector “Tio” Salamanca (Means to an end)
Tyrus (Guy with Gus when bomb goes off)
Guard #1 in laundry lab (When Walter blew up Gus's lab)
Guard #2 in laundry lab (When Walter blew up Gus's lab)
Mike Ehrmantraut (THIS is when I slipped out from under Walt's fan club)
Now Chavez and Hank. And he's ordered the hit on Jesse, not to mention Andrea (Todd work) catching it too, as a side effect.
As time winds down, we're starting to watch Walter get desperate and it's obvious he's suffering in solitude and in health.
But do you feel bad for Walter?
No, my empathy for Walter is gone. He's gone over the edge and he's done. I want to see him cooked and fried.
But
AMC has made a few mistakes along the way with season "five."
For one, when AMC announced the double length fifth season, it seemed too good to be true. But what came of that was two 8-episode seasons. I'm sure they'll be packaged separately for DVD home sales.
Then there was the exciting announcement of the last two episodes of Breaking Bad will be seventy-five minutes in length.
That did sound exciting... except in the episode last weekend, it seems that for those extra minutes, we got ourselves an awful lot of New Hampshire footage, filling out that time.
-
We have one more episode left that will finish it off.
The teaser scenes from this and last year, with Walter and his M-60, or retrieving that poisonous cigarette from his house have yet to play out. So look for those in this last episode.
And what do you think will happen in that last seventy-five minutes? That does not seem like enough time to deal the last cards from the deck, but it is what it is.
Will Walter smite Frank, Todd and the gang to get his millions back?
Will they all fall at the hands of Todd?
Will the DEA catch and or kill Walter?
And why has AMC always given us "Rich and Alone" or "Poor and Alone" as options in their survey that caps off their story sync? Misdirects?
But I have to say one thing... as things have turned south for our anti-hero and his family is now more screwed than before when he first got sick...
Gilligan has said the ending will be very "Breaking Bad." WTF does that mean? Well, if you look at the title, all of Walt's efforts have succeeded then collapsed in on themselves.
And right now, he's focused on heading to Frank's to get his money and give it to his family. But it's obvious his family is pretty f*!d right now.
All I can say is I can't wait!
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