Any "Breaking Bad" Fans Here?

[rhymenocerous]

I wish that we had more episodes to get to know Todd, who has turned into a truly creepy psychopath.  In earlier seasons and episodes, it seemed like Todd might just be innocently going along with his uncle's criminal activities, but it now looks to me like Todd may be the most dangerous and psychotic person on the whole show.  He has this polite way about him that is very unsettling when he says "I want you to know that it's nothing personal" before shooting Jesse's girlfriend in the back of the head and leaving her son inside, no doubt to be the one who will find her later.

I might give away how much of a crazy BB fan I am here, but one thing I love about the show is that they give you so much background info and extras.  On the blu-rays, every episode has a full length commentary.  In addition to that, every episode has an hour long podcast here (that's released the day after the episode airs): http://www.amctv.com/shows/breaking-bad ... on-5.  Vince Gilligan, the creator, was talking about that quality in Todd in the last episode and called him "Opie Hitler."  He said that a bad actor would twirl his mustache and try to look scary, but the actor who plays Todd smiles instead, which is so much more creepy and unsettling.

[AdamA]

I am thinking that Jesse walks away from this alive, but then again he knows how to make the blue meth, so maybe not.

Maybe Jesse is the one who kills Walt, "Of Mice and Men"-style.

I'm wondering what Walt has in store for the ricin.  I wonder if some of it will wind up in Lydia's camomile tea.

Walt's conversation with Walt Jr. on the phone was painful to watch and listen to.

It was, but I love that the next scene was the Charlie Rose interview that pissed him off.  Putting those two scenes back-to-back
was a great idea.

I wish that we had more episodes to get to know Todd, who has turned into a truly creepy psychopath. 

Todd is an "Opie dead-eyed piece of shit." 

I laughed out loud when Todd's uncle says to Todd, regarding Lydia, "The heart wants what the heart wants."

[iwealth]

Todd is the best portrayal of a sociopath I've seen on television. Even his infatuation with Lydia is how I'd envision a sociopath "loving" another human.

[MediumTex]

Todd is the best portrayal of a sociopath I've seen on television. Even his infatuation with Lydia is how I'd envision a sociopath "loving" another human.

There is an awkwardness to the way Todd kills people that is really disturbing.  It's not like he enjoys it at all.  He just does it because he believes it is something the needs to be done, like taking out the trash or cleaning your room.

The way Todd killed the kid on the dirt bike and the stark contrast between the way it affected Todd, Walt and Jesse was really interesting.  It meant nothing to Todd, it was another unfortunate science project to Walt, but it seemed to just shatter Jesse emotionally.

[MediumTex]

I think that Walt sitting in that cabin for a few months made him see that survival isn't all it's cracked up to be.

At some point, a survivor finds himself alone with his thoughts, and maybe Walt is figuring that being dead couldn't be a lot worse than sitting around by yourself with nothing to do but ponder the destruction you have created for so many people, many of whom you really care/cared about.

I think that Walt really cared about Hank, even if he also resented him at times.

[dualstow]

I agree on all points quoted below.
Missus and I giggled about how Todd dressed up for his "date" with Lydia.
- Andrea's death was heartbreaking, and the fact that Todd was giving Jesse his favorite ice cream as a reward before his escape attempt--- it's a roller coaster ride with my nerves. Well done.
- Great to see Forster and without his native Great Lakes accent. Some of the fun is just exploring how disappearance *might* work, whether or not this approximates reality.
- The phone call with Flynn was...necessary.
- And it was so great that Walt's ego, his reaction to the Rose interview, got the Heisenberg engine stoked and running again. Perfect.
- He's got hair, MT!
- The motto of New Hampshire is Live Free or Die!

So did anyone else feel that the next to last episode fell a little flat?

Not at all!

I loved the addition of Robert Forster as the "vacuum repair" guy ("wanna cut the cards?").

Walt hanging his Heisenberg hat on the deer antlers and wasting away in the cabin was great too.  It makes the Charlie Rose scene at the end perfect.  Walt is proud of himself.  He prefers being the kingpin of a giant meth empire to  some rube who sold his stake in a multibillion dollar company prematurely, struggles to make ends meet, and dies prematurely of lung cancer. 

I love that it took that interview to pull Walt out of his funk.

Todd was even creepier than usual.  The scene where he murders Jesse's old girlfriend was tough to watch.

I think a great final episode would be if Walt takes that giant machine gun, has it out with Todd's uncle and his goons and then goes and turns himself in.  I think it will be cool if Jesse is somehow forced to help Walt out one more time.  At this point, he probably hates Todd and his uncle more than he does Walt.

[edsanville]

So did anyone else feel that the next to last episode fell a little flat?

Loved the fact that New Hampshire played prominently in this episode.  We hardly ever get a mention up here.

[rhymenocerous]

So did anyone else feel that the next to last episode fell a little flat?

Loved the fact that New Hampshire played prominently in this episode.  We hardly ever get a mention up here.

They shot it high in the mountains in California!

[edsanville]

So did anyone else feel that the next to last episode fell a little flat?

Loved the fact that New Hampshire played prominently in this episode.  We hardly ever get a mention up here.

They shot it high in the mountains in California!

I was wondering about that.  They picked a good spot, then.  It certainly looked like authentic New Hampshire.

I love this show.  It creeps me out to watch it though, because I lived in New Mexico, worked at Los Alamos National Lab (like Walt has), I have a couple degrees in Chemistry, and I moved back here to New Hampshire recently after quitting and making huge changes to my life.  I swear, Officer, I didn't cook no meth, though!

[dualstow]

Pleasant news in my inbox this morning:

Dear Customer,

We apologize for any confusion the naming of "Season 5" and "The Final Season" of Breaking Bad might have caused you. While the names of the seasons and episodes associated with them were not chosen by iTunes, we'd like to offer you "The Final Season" on us by providing you with the iTunes code below in the amount of $22.99.  This credit can also be used for any other content on the iTunes Store. Thank you for your purchase.

Detailed instructions for redeeming the code can be found at ...

Code ...

Regards,

iTunes Customer Support

I hadn't complained about this, but unbeknownst to me, there must have been an uproar.

[AdamA]

Pleasant news in my inbox this morning:

Dear Customer,

We apologize for any confusion the naming of "Season 5" and "The Final Season" of Breaking Bad might have caused you. While the names of the seasons and episodes associated with them were not chosen by iTunes, we'd like to offer you "The Final Season" on us by providing you with the iTunes code below in the amount of $22.99.  This credit can also be used for any other content on the iTunes Store. Thank you for your purchase.

Detailed instructions for redeeming the code can be found at ...

Code ...

Regards,

iTunes Customer Support

I hadn't complained about this, but unbeknownst to me, there must have been an uproar.

Amazon did the same thing (with the labeling of the seasons, not the refund).

[dualstow]

Amazon did the same thing (with the labeling of the seasons, not the refund).

Interesting. I almost forgot that I bought that Season Pass since it was a year ago, but I did think it was going to cover all episodes until the end.

[Lone Wolf]

Man, the things that Eliot said during that interview were just perfect to inflame Walt's pride and get him Heisenberged up for the endgame.

Todd is the best portrayal of a sociopath I've seen on television. Even his infatuation with Lydia is how I'd envision a sociopath "loving" another human.

Yeah, Todd's a really frightening character.  You could see him struggling to understand everyone else's reaction to the Drew Sharp killing, trying his best to awkwardly decipher human emotions that he's never actually felt.  Once I saw that I knew that he was a psychopath and probably the most dangerous person on the show.

You can tell that his "love" for Lydia is the real deal by the way he brought home her lipstick-stained coffee mug, presumably to place it on the shelf next to Drew Sharp's spider.   

Poor Andrea.    Walt may deserve everything that's coming his way, but before it's all over I hope that he makes those Aryan dirtbags stop wasting oxygen.

[AdamA]

This was probably not the most productive way I could have spent the last 2 hours, but I really enjoyed watching this 2 hour condensed Breaking Bad video. 

http://fansided.com/2013/09/23/breaking ... %20on%20FS

[dualstow]

This was probably not the most productive way I could have spent the last 2 hours

What about the person who produced it. : - D

[MediumTex]

I had a dream last night that I watched the final episode and nothing was resolved, not one thing.

I woke up pretty rattled.

***

I was thinking about the show today and an idea hit me.  Imagine at the end of the final episode with everyone laying there dead, and the scene moves to Brock back living in the ghetto with some distant relative, growing up without a mom or a dad and being surrounded by hoodlums from his neighborhood.  It would show scenes of Brock growing up and show him gradually turning into basically another Tuco...and then the credits would run. 

With about a 15 year lag, the meth scene would be exactly the way it was when Walt found it, sort of like the way vegetation grows back after a volcanic eruption.

As hard as Walt might have tried to put the genie back in the bottle with the poison and .50 caliber, it would be clear that once you unleash that kind of evil in the world it never completely goes away.

***

I was watching the 2 hour recap of the whole series, and I think that Gus might have been the best bad guy in the whole series.  I like Todd's creepy psychopath vibe, but his uncle's crew seems sort of low rent compared to Gus's many-layered persona and long history of brutally working his way to the top of a very large drug distribution organization.

I had also forgotten some of the people that Walt killed.  I love the scene where Jesse is walking toward the two guys who killed the kid and as he gets close to them Walt's goofy Aztek comes barreling into the scene and runs over both guys and Walt hops out and shoots one of them in the head.

Oh I'm going to miss this show.

[dualstow]

...
Walt's goofy Aztek comes barreling into the scene and runs over both guys and Walt hops out and shoots one of them in the head.

Oh I'm going to miss this show.

Good times.

If Jesse lived it would be nice if he could raise Brock, but at this point he's suffered so much pain that maybe it would be best if he took himself out and a few Aryan Bros with him.

With Walt suffering the death of a relative, most of his money gone and the rest rejected by his own son, I *already* feel a sense of closure. (Again, I'm comparing against 'Lost' so the bar is not very high.  )

I agree with you that Jack & crew are low rent. If they were sophisticated, it would be interesting to see them get away with the money at the end, but Americans don't usually create neo-Nazi characters and let them get away at the end, even in a tragedy. It would be highly unusual.

I can't figure out what would or should happen to Lydia. Maybe Todd could kill her accidentally and finally feel remorse?

P.S.
iwealth really called it.

Things are starting to clear up a bit. Here's my guess:

Gomie is dead. I don't see much more use for his character in the narrative. Hank is either dead or comatose.
...
Todd may be dead. That will heighten the Neo-Nazis' urgency to bring Walt into the fold. Either way, they need Walt (or Jesse) to assist with the cook. We know it's not Walt. Jesse must become their and Lydia's meth slave.
...

And of course Todd is a slave to love.

[iwealth]

If Jesse lived it would be nice if he could raise Brock, but at this point he's suffered so much pain that maybe it would be best if he took himself out and a few Aryan Bros with him.

With Walt suffering the death of a relative, most of his money gone and the rest rejected by his own son, I *already* feel a sense of closure. (Again, I'm comparing against 'Lost' so the bar is not very high.  )

I agree with you that Jack & crew are low rent. If they were sophisticated, it would be interesting to see them get away with the money at the end, but Americans don't usually create neo-Nazi characters and let them get away at the end, even in a tragedy. It would be highly unusual.

I can't figure out what would or should happen to Lydia. Maybe Todd could kill her accidentally and finally feel remorse?

P.S.
iwealth really called it.

Things are starting to clear up a bit. Here's my guess:

Gomie is dead. I don't see much more use for his character in the narrative. Hank is either dead or comatose.
...
Todd may be dead. That will heighten the Neo-Nazis' urgency to bring Walt into the fold. Either way, they need Walt (or Jesse) to assist with the cook. We know it's not Walt. Jesse must become their and Lydia's meth slave.
...

And of course Todd is a slave to love.

Ha thanks, I guess I wasn't too far off.

I agree the Neo-Nazis are dead. Just no way they survive. As far as Jesse raising Brock - I can't see any legal means he'd get custody. He probably went to the grandmother. And Lydia...she just reeks of a ricin killing, but I have no idea how Walt could orchestrate it.

[MediumTex]

Lydia will think that she escaped the carnage, yet again...and then she will start to feel ill.

[dualstow]

She does like her tea and stevia.

[MediumTex]

She does like her tea and stevia.

There must be some point to the stevia thing.  That makes perfect sense.

[rhymenocerous]

I agree that Gus was the ultimate villain.  That's why I thought that season 5 would all be Hank vs Walt, because there was no one left who is a worthy opponent for Walt.  Todd and the neo-Nazis aren't quite on the same level.  What I'm trying to figure out is Walt's next move.  It has to be some kind of ingenious and manipulative plan.  He can just bust down the door and start shooting.  How is he going to find he $70m?  Who is gonna die tot he ricin and how will he administer it?  They've been saving the ricin for the  finale, so I only think a few people could warrant such an extravagant death: Walt, Jesse, possibly Todd + Lydia, the entire Nazi gang all at once.  Lastly, that would be so depressing if Brock grows up to be Tuco, and nothing has changed; kind of like the Wire.

[Reub]

I am tweeting Vince Gilligan and demanding a fair up and down vote on an additional season of Breaking Bad. I am not adverse to a lengthy filibuster if necessary.

[dualstow]

One thing I like about poison in tv shows & films is that it allows two bad people to kill each other. First the poisoner dies and then the killer of the poisoner starts to feel the effects...

[MediumTex]

One thing I like about poison in tv shows & films is that it allows two bad people to kill each other. First the poisoner dies and then the killer of the poisoner starts to feel the effects...

Kind of like in Hamlet (I think).