Television Breaking Bad

Some thoughts on character development

At the beginning of the season we had Walt and Jesse seemingly in unison, although we knew Walt was willing to use Jesse as a pawn he does have a loyalty to him, maybe a last sign of a moral code of some sort?

Bringing in Mike seemed to imply a weakening of Walt's power as the weird headed one was an ally of Jesse and made it clear he didn't think much of Walt. What we have seen though is Walt and Mike aligning at the expense of Jesse who is becoming an annoyance to them as seen with his refusal to let Lydia die when the other two were in agreement it had to happen. After the ending of the last episode Jesse could quite easily go off the rails again and take the decision out of their hands but how long before Walt and Mike see Jesse as nothing more than a hindrance to their plans and decide to 'replace him'.

Which brings us to the introduction of Todd, a ready made replacement for Jesse but one that is willing to do anything to get the job done.

Also we'd only really seen Lydia as a nervous, loose cannon type character until this episode where I think she showed a new side to herself when dealing with Walt, she read him, his intentions and his ego and got herself out of trouble, could be a sign that she has a further part to play in their little business although I'm not sure how as they seemingly have what they wanted from her at the moment. Oh and it took me ages to realise who the actress was playing Lydia.

Screenshot of last episodes defining moment.

reactiona.png


The contrast in reaction is great, Jesse completely ape shit about it and Walt no reaction. Is he ok with it, does he see it as neccessary collateral or is he paralysed by the realisation of what is being done in his name.

Hurry up Sunday
 
Wibble said:
Specualtion is comment about possible future developments.

People should be given the choice to read this sort of thing or not. Spoiler tags do this. I post on an iPad and an iPhone mainly with no problem. Im not sure if Android is as easy.

I don't want to read what anyone has to say about the future of a show in case they are right. I want to be surprised. I have now been given many options for the future of the show, some of them I hadn't considered and if one of them is correct it will reduce my enjoyment.
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That's the point of these threads though. Discussing it. If you don't want to discuss it then what's the point? There aren't any spoilers because no one knows what's going to happen. It's not like with Game of Thrones where you have TV episodes based on the already published books.

I don't know how it can spoil for if you don't know what's going to happen.
 
Just finished watching season 2. Reading some of the earlier posts in this thread it seems the consensus is that 2 is one of the weakest with 3 and 4 being brilliant, which is good, because I enjoyed 2, even if it was a bit slow at times.

I really expected Jessie's girlfriend to screw him over, and run with the money. Surprised when she was killed off. S2 ended with the plane crash, not really sure what the next story-line will be but I'm looking forward to it
 
Snow said:
That's the point of these threads though. Discussing it. If you don't want to discuss it then what's the point? There aren't any spoilers because no one knows what's going to happen. It's not like with Game of Thrones where you have TV episodes based on the already published books.

I don't know how it can spoil for if you don't know what's going to happen.
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Yeah I agree. There has already been speculation as to how is going to end anyway.

But then if you watch Dexter, the Dexter thread on here ruined last season for me very early on. People on the internet had this theory, and it turns out they were right about it. It's one of those things that once you start to look for it, you realise they're right.

A bit similar to if someone during season 4 said Walt would use Hector to get at Guus. Pure speculation, but it might spoil the enjoyment for some people. Imo those type of people should just stay out of the thread completely.
 
Snow said:
That's the point of these threads though. Discussing it. If you don't want to discuss it then what's the point? There aren't any spoilers because no one knows what's going to happen. It's not like with Game of Thrones where you have TV episodes based on the already published books.

I don't know how it can spoil for if you don't know what's going to happen.
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Do you remember last season, the episode when Brock goes to hospital and Jesse realises the ricin cigarette is missing, then he confronts Walt who convinces him it was Gus? I saw on another message board that people were speculating that it was in fact Walt who had poisoned Brock, and that he had done it to trick Jesse into helping him. That thought hadn't even entered my mind until I read that, and straight after reading it, I came in here and posted the theory. After that, a bunch of people here read it and the more it was discussed, the more plausible it seemed. Then in the final scene of the season, the big, shocking reveal that Vince Gilligan had been building up for a good few weeks, was that Walt had poisoned Brock. Now, I'm sure that would have been a fantastic twist, and shocked me to the core, had it not been planted in my mind already by somebody who also didn't know what was actually going to happen.

kps88 said:
But then if you watch Dexter, the Dexter thread on here ruined last season for me very early on. People on the internet had this theory, and it turns out they were right about it. It's one of those things that once you start to look for it, you realise they're right.
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And this. Ruined the entire season for me... Along with the poor writing and numerous plot holes of course.
 
I don't have youtube access at work, but there's a hilarious "directors cut" of the end scene on the net somewhere, I suggest finding it.
 
Snow said:
That's the point of these threads though. Discussing it. If you don't want to discuss it then what's the point? There aren't any spoilers because no one knows what's going to happen. It's not like with Game of Thrones where you have TV episodes based on the already published books.

I don't know how it can spoil for if you don't know what's going to happen.
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Read the rules.

And yes, speculation about future developments does spoil the enjoyment for many. Thus the rules.
 
Reading back through the comments - not going to look at anything post s3 ep1, as thats when I'm up to. All I can say is that (in my humble opinion) its the kind of show that is good to watch in a run- consecutively rather than waiting every week to see what happened
 
Anyone use Netflix? I've watched the first 3 seasons, but it doesn't appear to have season 4. A quick Google search tells me season 4 was supposed to be out on Netflix on the 15th of July, but I can't find it. Any ideas?
 
Just finished Season 4. It's good viewing but to compare it to something like the Sopranos is wrong. They are completely different genres imo.

Sopranos
  • No soundtrack required to create a mood.
  • Very consistent characterisation - nobody ever acts out of character.
  • Deus Ex Machina never required.
  • Each episode self-contained - very rare to have a "cliffhanger".
  • Realistic (as far as we know)

Breaking Bad
  • Soundtrack to create mood.
  • Wildly inconsistent characterisation - lost count of the number of times I've thought "lol why the feck would they do that?"
  • Lost count of the Deus Ex Machina used.
  • Cliffhanger in almost every episode.
  • Clearly far-fetched.


I think the soundtrack point is possibly the most relevant one for me. Really good drama doesn't need one. Unless it's opera.
 
eric le roi said:
Soundtrack to create mood.
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It adds to the mood, but its certainly not required. The setting does a decent job of that by itself

eric le roi said:
Wildly inconsistent characterisation - lost count of the number of times I've thought "lol why the feck would they do that?"
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Its called character development. If a middle age chemistry teacher suddenly becomes a druglord then its inevitable you're going to see some radical, albeit gradual character transformation. Thats more or less the key theme of this show - Walt's transformation.

eric le roi said:
Lost count of the Deus Ex Machina used.
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It is perhaps guilty of this sometimes, but when it does happen its often a very minor intervention. But again almost every other TV show/movie is guilty of this...even the great ones.

eric le roi said:
Cliffhanger in almost every episode.
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We're clearly watching a different show then.

eric le roi said:
Clearly far-fetched.
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Disagree here too, I think the writers have done a very good job of covering up almost all the plot holes.


I'm not quite sure why you've seen the need to compare the two shows though.
 
Sopranos became very boring. Much prefer Breaking Bad.
 
I've said it before but season 4 of Breaking Bad reminded me more of a mellower The Shield rather than Wire or Sopranos.
 
eric le roi said:
Just finished Season 4. It's good viewing but to compare it to something like the Sopranos is wrong. They are completely different genres imo.

Sopranos
  • No soundtrack required to create a mood.
  • Very consistent characterisation - nobody ever acts out of character.
  • Deus Ex Machina never required.
  • Each episode self-contained - very rare to have a "cliffhanger".
  • Realistic (as far as we know)

Breaking Bad
  • Soundtrack to create mood.
  • Wildly inconsistent characterisation - lost count of the number of times I've thought "lol why the feck would they do that?"
  • Lost count of the Deus Ex Machina used.
  • Cliffhanger in almost every episode.
  • Clearly far-fetched.


I think the soundtrack point is possibly the most relevant one for me. Really good drama doesn't need one. Unless it's opera.
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So if something has a soundtrack it immediately rules it out of being 'really good drama'? Does this include movies too? You're ruling out a lot of brilliant tv shows/movies there then. There's no way you can say Berlin Alexanderplatz isn't great drama, for example.
 
So now if a show has a fantastic soundtrack, it's a negative, rather than a plus. Along with having characters, doing things that surprise you; I've never known any of my friends or family to do something I wasn't expecting, it just never happens. And damn those cliffhangers that leave you waiting desperately through the week for the next episode, such poor, cheap writing.
 
eric le roi said:
Just finished Season 4. It's good viewing but to compare it to something like the Sopranos is wrong. They are completely different genres imo.

Sopranos
  • No soundtrack required to create a mood.
  • Very consistent characterisation - nobody ever acts out of character.
  • Deus Ex Machina never required.
  • Each episode self-contained - very rare to have a "cliffhanger".
  • Realistic (as far as we know)

Breaking Bad
  • Soundtrack to create mood.
  • Wildly inconsistent characterisation - lost count of the number of times I've thought "lol why the feck would they do that?"
  • Lost count of the Deus Ex Machina used.
  • Cliffhanger in almost every episode.
  • Clearly far-fetched.


I think the soundtrack point is possibly the most relevant one for me. Really good drama doesn't need one. Unless it's opera.
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The Soprano family and specially the Tony character was inspired by a real life mob family from NJ named DeCavalcante

Breaking Bad is a very good and enjoyable show but not on The Sopranos,The Shield, The Wire level
 
kouroux said:
The Soprano family and specially the Tony character was inspired by a real life mob family from NJ named DeCavalcante

Breaking Bad is a very good and enjoyable show but not on The Sopranos,The Shield, The Wire level
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The Sheild and Sopranos are not on the Wire leve either.
 
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