Breaking Bad

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

So what's the new show to obsess over? For me, I was planning on The Killing.

 

[FCEEVIPER]

I had to make this, love this moment...

 

[Homer J. Fong]

So what's the new show to obsess over? For me, I was planning on The Killing.

Wasn't that canceled again?

 

[Lord]

I follow Game of Thrones, are Boardwalk Empire, Mad Men and Hell on Wheels good too?

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Wasn't that canceled again?

Sure ****ing was. Cancelled after their best and most gripping season that ended on a cliffhanger which begs to be followed up on.

 

[FailureByDesign]

You didn't like Salud?

Loved it. I got to about number 4 and realised there is no way i can simply do a top 10 for this show.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

Sure ****ing was. Cancelled after their best and most gripping season that ended on a cliffhanger which begs to be followed up on.

As much as I've complained about Futurama being canceled twice, I have to say that fans of The Killing have it worse, because that was canceled twice in the space of what, two years?

 

[StarLord]

Yip. It sucks. The Killing was awesome.

 

[Sawyer]

Kane,

It's Time.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

The Killing's 3rd season was quality. It's not a Breaking Bad. But it was good and it's a shame it got the cliffhanger-cancellation. I hate those.

 

[Slushy]

Fu**ing awesome.

 

[BestGirl]

Here's the thing I think there is a reason the character has brought out a lot of "hate" and it's not just due to people's own biases.

I think as a character she was written as a foil for walt at least early on. If you watch the first season before she even has any idea walt is a drug dealer, she is constantly undermining him. Whether she was right or wrong is debatable but "early" walt was a pretty sympathetic character so she sort of got off the wrong foot as a character for many viewers.

Maybe the problem is that I never found Walt to be all that sympathetic. He dragged his family into the incredibly dangerous world of drugs just because his ego was too big to accept money from his old business partners. Jesse never struck me as terribly likable or sympathetic until season 5, either. The two of them seemed like manchildren who dragged everyone they cared about into the drug biz with them and then couldn't figure out why others didn't want to deal with their BS.

This is exactly it. I didn't have a problem with Skyler past the second half of season 3 but I don't think anyone can deny that she was a complete ***** at least in seasons 1 & 2. It angered me to no end seeing her give Walter no privacy, assuming the worst of him even when he wasn't cooking, accusing him of lying about his fugue state solely based on emotions, etc.

I remember when Jesse first called the White household in episode 2. Skyler calls back, traces the phone call to Jesse, checks his website, then goes to his house. Who does that just because their husband sounded a bit weird on the phone?

Another example is the crap she gave Walter for wanting some time alone while on chemo. "Oh, you have cancer, are on strict meds, and might only have a bit of time left to live? Why would you ever want some time alone to reflect on yourself?! You're obviously cheating!" It doesn't matter that Walt was actually cooking meth. As far as she knows, he just wants some time to himself and she gives him crap for that.

Agreed that telling Jesse not to sell Walt pot was too much, but I can't blame her for being suspicious of him. I wonder if he hasn't lied to her before about things. Maybe her female intuition was kicking into overdrive.

A lot of people would also be pissy if their spouses disappeared for long stretches of time without at least telling where they were going and when they were coming back, especially if they were missing important events relating to the birth of a child. If Walt had just told her he needed time alone she may have been okay with that, but he kept trying to fob her off with obvious lies, which only made things worse.

Or how about trying to permanently **** up Holly with her smoking habits to get back at Walt? How would that conversation have played out when Holly was older if her idea worked? "Honey, you know why you were born with *insert genetic disease*? Because I smoked an entire pack a day when you were pregnant to get back at your dad who died of cancer years ago. I hope you can understand."

Are you sure she was doing that to get back at Walt? I thought she reverted to bad habits more out of stress.

Was Skyler still a ***** as the show progressed? No. She grew and matured a lot, and that is kinda the point. I think she was meant to be that way for the writers to develop her into someone else. Regardless, I don't see how anyone can deny that, at the start of the show, Skyler was a complete *****.

Still, nothing she did throughout the show, even during the first seasons, compared to the horrible things Walt was doing.

 

[BestGirl]

The difference is that Walter's intent, however misguided, was and has never been to betray her. It was always to save her, along with Walter Jr, and Holly, from the extreme hardship and financial burden left for them after his death.

Did you miss the finale, in which he admitted to Skyler that everything he did was done for himself? That was obvious as far back as the first episode when he turned down an offer for help so that he could make money his own, much more dangerous way.

Skyler's intent, with her passive aggressive, "I'm going to show you what it's like when your spouse leaves and doesn't tell you where they're going"...

...her coldness as soon as Walt comes home from the hospital from his faked fugue state, including her statement, "Maybe I did it in a fugue state" before she had any reason to doubt him(yes he lied but it stemmed from his desire to be back with his family after being abducted and almost killed)...

...her affair with her boss with her infant daughter lying feet away...

ALL were done with the pure and simple motivation of hurting Walt. There is no other way to spin it.

She was cold to Walter because she sensed he was lying. She was sympathetic at first when she thought his meds might be malfunctioning. As for wanting to hurt Walt...of course she did! He opened the family up to great danger by selling meth, not only from other drug figures but from law enforcement. No **** she was pissed.

I think Anna Gunn is a talented actress and she's done a marvelous job of portraying a woman every bit as emotionally damaged and immature as Walter(who won't take charity even if he has to resort to manufacturing and selling drugs) has been shown to be.

I'm also reminded of the scene in ABQ where she first mentions leaving and taking the kids to Hank and Marie's and Walt asks, "If I tell you everything, will you stay?" and despite his offer of honesty she leaves anyway telling him something like, "I'm too scared to know."

How does that work? She's angry at him for lying but won't let him tell her the truth.

Because she's figured out that he's not having an affair but is terrified as to what's really going on. She knows it's something terrible. Letting Walt tell her the truth wasn't going to help. Was she really going to be happy of he told her, "Don't worry, honey, I wasn't sleeping around, I was just selling meth!"

Let's not kid ourselves, while she loves her children every bit as much as Walt, her motivation, at least as part of her early responses to Walt's (to her) frustrating and baffling behavior, was to hurt him.

In summation: Walt's motivation - "A Man Provides"
Skyler's motivation - "Hurt Walt, Get Revenge"

Hence my dislike of the character. Like I said, Anna's a great actress and she's done really well with all this IMHO.

Lol, yes, Walter loved his family and wanted to provide for them so much that he put them at the mercy of complete psychopaths and then didn't bother to tell them what kind of trouble they were in. How dare Skyler spurn such assistance?

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

While I liked Skyler for most of the run I found her completely hypocritical during the first half of season 3. She kicks Walt out of the house and denies him access to his family on the basis of his meth dealing. Sure, fine - I get that.

Then she goes onto become an active part of Ted's cooking the books. So it makes it seem less like the problem was Walt's illegal activity and moreso he cut her out of the loop. Or if you want to do a class reading, Walt's crime was blue-collar and thus unacceptable while Ted's was white collar and therefore just fine. Not to mention that if Walt hadn't gone on to make a ton of money to make that problem go away she would have landed right in jail and the IRS would have discovered all of that drug money they laundered into the car wash.

 

[Kane52630]

Kane,

It's Time.

It's Turbo Time.

Spoiler

I'm working on it. Give me time.

 

[Sawyer]

It's Turbo Time.

Spoiler

I'm working on it. Give me time.

You have one minute.

 

[Sawyer]

[YT]-rNBxsqCKzQ[/YT]
Love this.

 

[giveyourself12%]

Did you miss the finale, in which he admitted to Skyler that everything he did was done for himself? That was obvious as far back as the first episode when he turned down an offer for help so that he could make money his own, much more dangerous way.

No, I didn't miss the finale. I agree that from around the "I'm in the empire business" time, he was in it for himself until Skyler(and his cancer returning) convinced him that it was time to stop. He had a "Remember why you're doing this in the first place?" moment.

I don't believe, despite what Walt said in the finale, that everything he's done since day one was for himself and himself only simply because that's not what we were shown. I think he felt repentant toward Skyler and wanted to apologize and validate her feelings that he's made some selfish decisions, but he obviously didn't want or need to split hairs during what he knew was going to be his last visit with his wife and go, "Everything I did...for the past year, was because I enjoyed what I was doing".

She was cold to Walter because she sensed he was lying. She was sympathetic at first when she thought his meds might be malfunctioning. As for wanting to hurt Walt...of course she did! He opened the family up to great danger by selling meth, not only from other drug figures but from law enforcement. No **** she was pissed.

Right...but that's not what married adults do. Her first instincts weren't to go, "Walt...what's going on with you? You need to tell me right now...", it was to "play Walt" and copy his behavior, adding to the dysfunction. That's like if Walt ran over a dog and she went out and ran over one to show him how that feels. That's crazy.

Because she's figured out that he's not having an affair but is terrified as to what's really going on. She knows it's something terrible. Letting Walt tell her the truth wasn't going to help. Was she really going to be happy of he told her, "Don't worry, honey, I wasn't sleeping around, I was just selling meth!"

You can't lash out at someone for having, you suspect, a dark secret that you desperately want to find out and then punish them when they try to tell you. That's crazy.

Lol, yes, Walter loved his family and wanted to provide for them so much that he put them at the mercy of complete psychopaths and then didn't bother to tell them what kind of trouble they were in. How dare Skyler spurn such assistance?

Walt was handed a death sentence and didn't want to leave his family destitute so he took the only route that would allow him to make big money quickly. They were resorting to selling glassware on ebay to get by. I can see why he was desperate.

Was cooking meth a bad choice? Yep.

Was it especially bad after the Gretchen/Elliot offer? Double yep.

Did it have lots of unintended consequences that led to many people being hurt in permanent ways? Yep.

Did it eventually devolve (or evolve, depending on how you look at it) Walt into an impulsive, emotionally driven, immature, selfish, creature before he, at the very last, snapped himself out of it and showed exactly how resourceful he could be without his id Heisenberg persona? Yep.

Were we shown that Walt didn't love his family? Not ever. Not once.

Also, I agree with the person above who said that Skyler lashed out at Walt before she had anything solid to go on, and it made her seem petty and immature.

 

[A Necessary Evil]

Kane,

It's Time.

Me 4 Heisenberg

 

[Lord]

Is the plane crash from the end of Season 2 disliked by fans? I thought most like that twist.

 

[Hyde]

I'm not a huge fan of it, but I don't mind it.

 

[A Necessary Evil]

I like it, doesn't bother me in the slightest.

 

[Brother Jack]

"If you just do things and nothing happens, what does it all mean? What's the point?"

I loved the plane crash. It was a lesson in the Newtonian law of cause and effect linked with the Biblical idea of sowing and reaping. Walt's actions do not exist in a vacuum, they have consequences that extend far beyond he can see. This was a constant theme in the show, with much of the last eight episodes being those consequences catching up with him.

 

[A Necessary Evil]

I had to make this, love this moment...

"If you just do things and nothing happens, what does it all mean? What's the point?"

I loved the plane crash. It was a lesson in the Newtonian law of cause and effect linked with the Biblical idea of sowing and reaping. Walt's actions do not exist in a vacuum, they have consequences that extend far beyond he can see. This was a constant theme in the show, with much of the last eight episodes being those consequences catching up with him.

That's something I really loved about this show. Everything that had an action, had an opposite/equal reaction. There was always a consequence for everything.

 

[Kane52630]

Is the plane crash from the end of Season 2 disliked by fans? I thought most like that twist.

I loved it, all the teases leading up to it was great.