Breaking Bad

[Flip]

Anyone watching Breaking Bad on AMC? It has sort of a Weeds plot where a normal high school chemistry teacher decides to start cooking meth to get mun for his family once he finds out he has cancer, but its not as humorous and i think it is pretty awesome.

AMC has been cranking out the hits lately since Mad Men also gets great reviews.

[Shrinweck]

This show is very well done. One of the main focuses, although they definitely cannot be accused of overusing this gimmick, is that the main character is crazy amazing with chemistry and a fair amount of the plot revolves around what he can do with these skills, especially with him being arguably wasted on a public high school. The show also focuses on what money does to people, what people will do for money, addiction, death, and family.

The god damned writers strike fucked over the first season which was frankly eight episodes of awesome. The second season wasn't as good but was still worth watching and it looks like they're picking up their game for the third which just started.

It's hard to believe how good at acting that dopey father from Malcolm in the Middle is.

[Blotus]

Walt White is the shit.

I'm re-watching the series with my lady now since she hasn't seen any of it. Fantastic stuff.

[SineSwiper]

Yeah, this is one of those things I need to start watching. Still need to catch up with Lost, too.

[Zeus]

Tough choice: watch Breaking Bad or Lost. I can see how you're struggling there...... ;-)

[Shrinweck]

Oh, and Bob Odenkirk is the lawyer.

Sold?

[Anarky]

It's hard to believe how good at acting that dopey father from Malcolm in the Middle is.

Brian Cranston is the shit!

Been watching this show since I heard about it 2nd season, love it!

[Zeus]

I actually just finished the first season (all 7 eps of it) over the last couple of days (this thread reminded me I needed to get to that show). It is pretty good. Now that they've finally got it moving, I'd like to see what Season 2 is like, it should move a fuck-lot faster. I'm d'loading it as we speak, should have it by tomorrow morning

[Zeus]

Just finished season 2. I have to say, I was pretty disappointed with it overall:

Spoiler: show

Not really sure why but I think it's related to the way it shifted more into a family/personal drama as opposed to the secret second life of the main character, which was very much pushed into the background. Also, they very neatly took care of any obstacles Walt and Jesse might have had, and took care of them very quickly. Tico? Gone in an ep and a half. Can't find a distributor? Hello Saint Saul (I like that character). Crazy bitch druggie girlfriend blackmailing them? No prob, she ODs within an ep. It's almost like the drug cooking/distribution became something they just needed to take care of as a secondary storyline plot where the real focus was on Walt's cancer or Jesse trying to have a "normal" relationship with druggie girl, or druggie girl's dad getting more screen time than he deserved, or Hank's other task force in El Paso.

[Anarky]

Zeus, all the issues you mentioned about season 2 are resurfacing in season 3 and they're pretty serious. They didn't just neatly go away.

But I gotta say Skyler is such a bitch, and I'm tired of how focused the episodes have been with her.

[Shrinweck]

I agree at best she is uninteresting and at worst she's annoying as hell.

[Zeus]

Zeus, all the issues you mentioned about season 2 are resurfacing in season 3 and they're pretty serious. They didn't just neatly go away.

But I gotta say Skyler is such a bitch, and I'm tired of how focused the episodes have been with her.

I'm caught up aside from the last two eps (Rescue Me has taken over). Yeah, it didn't get any "better" in season 3 so I'll see where it goes. Likely gonna just watch it in periodic chunks as opposed to week-to-week

[Shrinweck]

Holy. Shit. Now last nights was a great episode.

[Zeus]

Holy. Shit. Now last nights was a great episode.

I'm really havin' a hard time getting revved up about this show now. Yesterday's ep was probably the best of season 3 for sure but they'll need a few in a row to bring the show back from the mediocrity of the last season and a bit.

[Shrinweck]

While I'm glad it didn't become some flavor of the episode anime-ish gimmick, they should really bring back the doing cool shit with chemistry stuff that defined the first season. More of Walter flipping out would be equally awesome. I wish they'd kill off Skyler already because most of the lame soap opera-ish moments revolve around her character and that's my largest problem with the show. Either that or they need to come up with something that makes her even remotely interesting. I think one of the biggest reasons this episode was the best of the season was because she was only in it for like a minute and a half.

[Zeus]

While I'm glad it didn't become some flavor of the episode anime-ish gimmick, they should really bring back the doing cool shit with chemistry stuff that defined the first season. More of Walter flipping out would be equally awesome. I wish they'd kill off Skyler already because most of the lame soap opera-ish moments revolve around her character and that's my largest problem with the show. Either that or they need to come up with something that makes her even remotely interesting. I think one of the biggest reasons this episode was the best of the season was because she was only in it for like a minute and a half.

Yeah, I agree with a lot of that. Also....

Spoiler: show

What made the last ep pretty solid is it centred around the brothers, which are great characters, and Pollos, who's a really strong character too. What they did with Hank and the way all that went down was great, a nice ending to what's been building for a while. At the same time, with Jesse dropping the charges and becoming full partners with Walt again and the brothers dead and Hank out of the picture, they basically reset themselves and now need to come up with something. Skylar is a nothing character who needs to go away so if they focus on that (it's the only remote conflict they have left) the show will go downhill very, very fast. They need to really bring the heat down on Pollos and Walt and have them deal with it

[Zeus]

A fly, seriously? Every once in a while they really prove that the show is run by amateurs

[Shrinweck]

Well they needed an episode to reestablish a connection between Walt and Jesse and that one did it.

[Zeus]

Well they needed an episode to reestablish a connection between Walt and Jesse and that one did it.

I understand the point, I'm complaining about the implementation

[Shrinweck]

I was just worried that the fly would be in his mind. I was still let down when Jesse saw it, too, though. Didn't make for riveting television.

[Shrinweck]

Did that episode really just end like that? Jesus.

[Zeus]

Did that episode really just end like that? Jesus.

Thanks for reminding me, I'll have to go d'load it now

EDIT: Yeah, that was pretty dumb....and ridiculously predictable. Not sure where they think they're going from here but I guess we'll find out on Sunday

[Blotus]

Holy AIDS that last ep was a good one.

Also:
Breaking Bad as an ABC sitcom.
http://FunnyOrDie.com/m/41em

[Zeus]

Holy AIDS that last ep was a good one.

Also:
Breaking Bad as an ABC sitcom.
http://FunnyOrDie.com/m/41em

Good? Maybe. It started off poorly but recovered pretty decently. Personally, I would liked to have seen the ideas of that last ep be an on-going story arc for 4-6 eps but unfortunately, the writers aren't that talented. And that's really the problem with the show. It's not that it's poor it's that it really doesn't come close to realizing its potential.

[Shrinweck]

Okay I know this is a little late but what TV shows do you like that are currently airing, Zeus? Breaking Bad isn't perfect but it is certainly one of the best shows airing at the moment. The pacing is half the fun. If every show were as action packed as Hank defending his life and Walt outwitting drug kingpins then the show would just be incredibly stupid and it would trap itself into constantly having to outdo itself, leading to really, just dumb writing. Also character development would be zero.

Skylar should still probably die in a fire, though.

[Zeus]

Now that 24 is off the air, it's really only Dexter and Rescue Me. And Breaking Bad may be one of the better shows on the air at the moment, but the fact that such a flawed show with relatively amateurish writing is one of the best shows on TV is more an indication of the state of current TV than a reflection of the quality of the show itself.

Spoiler: show

And no, it wouldn't be stupid to have Walt outwitting kingpins. It's not a yet-another-Saiyan-level path you have to go down. It's a progression. He tries to do it on his own in the small time then gets caught up in the big time then has to deal with other shit. The very basic path they've gone but done much better. The show's main problem is it tends to resolve every single conflict aside from the season finale within 1 or 2 episodes. What's wrong with having the whole threat of Pollos getting rid of him being around for 4 or 5 eps and Walt doing some delay tactics instead of having that shit come to a head within 1 ep? Because they wrap things up so quickly, they have to fill the rest of the air time with bullshit family crap that ends up being more than half the show rather than being a strong secondary storyline throughout the series. Then you get situations where they don't even have much going on there so they have pure filler bullshit like the fly episode. You can take that ep out of the show entirely and it wouldn't be missed in any which way, shape, or form. It was a waste of time on the level of Lost

[Shrinweck]

Speaking of Rescue Me, season six started last night and while it wasn't an overly amazing episode - it does build my confidence in the coming season.