Breaking Bad on AMCHD - Page 69

BBCA doesn't count? With DirecTV I just got it in HD, so new to me. Luther is great so far (one episode of the repeats) but hard to believe it won't hold up, and there's a new season coming. The Hour was great (repeated by DTV to promo BBCA HD I think.) Not sure about Copper, not my cuppa really, looks like something AMC would do, but others like it. Whatever, it's TV, drama and lots of potentially good stuff.

The Wire requires investment, which will repaid many fold if you're sensitive to it's wiles. In many ways the best serialized drama television has managed.

High praise indeed .. I've dropped the disks into my NF Q .. I may just have to take advantage of that free 30 days of Amazon Prime and stream it free ..

Yep, the cancer menace makes it insane for Walt to turn down the buyout offer.

We saw a glimpse of sane Walt at the end of last episode when he realized he could've gotten the list from Lydia. But from the flash forward, we know Walt has probably gone over the cliff. There's no turning back. Will he have an epiphany at the end and see how bad he's screwed up, or will he be Heisenberg to the last?

I'm not sure what's wrong w/ $5M tax free when you're living w/ the threat of cancer. And when you consider the downside in cooking and having to deal w/ Declan and all manner of other thugs, well it just doesn't make sense. But maybe I'm just not thinking big enuf.

edit: ^^^^^^^^^ Guess I took too long to type. ^^^^^^^^^

Another vote for the Wire. I think it was the best thing ever done for tv.

Walt would be bored if he took the $5 million and lived a semi normal life. He needs a purpose and creating an empire is it!

Yep .. he said himself it's not about the money .. he wants a legacy .. what he lost when he sold out on "Greymatter" ..

Agreed, cooking meth IS Walts life, family and friends come next, even thought you have a bro in law in DEA..

Not quite. Family still comes first for Walt, the children at least. Skyler has probably burned her bridges with Heisenberg, however. I'm thinking she'll be the one to finally bring him down, not Hank. Friends are easily at the bottom of his barrel; he doesn't have any unless you count Jesse.

The scene in this seasons first episode has Walt reconstructing the bacon birthday thing that Skyler used to do for him .. a year has gone by .. he's on the run, he's grown a full beard, he'e acting paranoid .. whatever he's running from, I doubt it's Skyler ..

as Jesse says, is that a legacy to be proud of?

In any event, Walt, you're not "in the empire business" Gus built an empire. You've got nothing. You killed the guy who ran your business. Your HS dropout ex junkie of a partner wants to get the hell away from you because he finally realizes what a delusional wackjob you are.

The only reason Declan didn't just beat the crap out of Walt until he gave up the methylamine is b/c it's a TV show and he's the star. Declan doesn't care if his meth is better. It's not like the junkies are going to quit b/c the stuff is 70% pure instead of 99%. "You know what, they don't make ice like they used, I'm going back to Red Bull". What Declan and his people want above all is control. They're not going to be Walt's distributor for 35% of the profit. They'd either make Walt work for them or kill him. Or work for them then kill him once they figure out his recipe.

I've mentioned before Walt's lack of an organization .. he absolutely believes he is the best and that's all that really counts .. of course, he's wrong .. sure, he may make the best product and he's proud of that, but if a backwoods hick from Harlan, KY can do it, how hard can it be .. ?? He's not the essential chemist he thinks he is .. and now, Todd has begun a notebook of all the info ..

The cartels like what Gus had have spent years building the business .. Walt remains an amature at what is likely the most important part .. the organization ..

Yeah but the backwoods hick from Harlan, KY don't make 99% meth, tend to either set themselves on fire or blow themselves up. (See Justified)

If Walt doesn't get a Mike replacement, I predict a bad ending for him.

If Declan is any sort of businessman he sure as hell does cares about the quality of the product. A purer product means much higher profits because it can be stretched to make an end product that the people who would be satisfied with the lower quality will use. Walt in fact laid all of that out when talking to Declan. It's a business, it's about making a product that can provide the highest profit for the same quantity/weight, and a 99% pure product is going to provide a much higher profit than any 60-70% stuff.

It's easy to make bath tub meth, the recipes are available on the Internet. It's very hard to make something like Walt makes, just look at the equipment involved, your backwoods KY cook is likely not going to have or even understand how to use such equipment, not to mention access to the chemicals needed for a purer end product. Anyone can make garbage, it requires money and talent to make a quality product and that's what Walt is selling/providing to Declan.

The reason for wanting a purer product I talked about in my previous post.

That's right, X amount of raw material is going to produce dramatically more product to sell at retail if the product starts out being 99 percent pure than it will if the product is only 70 percent pure. Declan saw and understood this, which is why he went along with Walt's demand that Walt cook the meth. It was a matter of simple economics.

Exactly, it's Econ 101.

So will Declan kill his current cook?

He'd better take a number.

You always needs a back up.

Tried The Wire. Could never get into. Treme... meh.

FX shows tend not to impress me, but I will try Justified.

I'm hearing Homeland is awesome so I will have to rent season 1.

Boardwalk Empire... Didn't hook me. Something fell flat with it for me.

I'm a bit picky.

FWIW, here are my top few dramas all-time:

The Wire - the levels of complexity in what is essentially a 60 hour movie is unparalleled in television history; someone once said, "I'm jealous of people who haven't seen The Wire yet because they still get to experience it for the first time."

Breaking Bad

Game Of Thrones - like The Wire, so many characters and levels of storytelling make this a must watch

Sons Of Anarchy - I actually watched the first 4 seasons this past Summer and was always left wanting more; they do a great job of keeping things fresh from season to season

Deadwood - if this would have been allowed to play out instead of being cut short after only 3 seasons, if would have been a Top 3 drama for sure; the Shakespeare-esque dialog alone is enough reason to check it out


Others that didn't make my list, but could have if not for their lack of consistency:

Justified - if they only aired seasons 2 and 3, it would be a Top 5 for sure; but season 1 took too long to find its rhythm (the back-n-forth between serial and procedural almost had me giving up early on)

Dexter - at this point, this show is running on borrowed time it got from the amazing season 4; last season was a disaster that I couldn't even finish; the previews for season 7 look intriguing, but it's definitely on a short leash

Lost - the best "network" drama for sure; had some up-and-downs in the "wow vs. meh" department; midway through, I was pretty much convinced they were just winging it, but it came together in the end

The Sopranos - I'll admit, I need to give this show another shot; I tried watching it years ago, but the scenes with the shrink bored me to tears


Just my two pennies.

That's really not my main point .. Walt thinks because he makes the 99% product, that puts him in the invincible catagory .. my point was, that's not really true .. I fully understand the economics of it (in fact surprised a bit about the knowledge regarding "bathtub meth" as I've never felt the urge to look into that) .. as I also noted, Todd is taking notes ..

So, to clarify .. Walt's ability does not make him an absolute essential .. you have Jesse, and now Todd may be coming up .. and then we had Gale as well ..

Is that the same guy that plays Daniel on Suits?

Walt is a putz. He has shown zero empire building skills. Almost all of his "brilliance" has been of the "how do I get out of this" variety.

I don't think he EVER thinks things through, as he screams at Jesse to do.

What he is, is a stumblin' bumblin' train wreck of a sociopath who has been screwing up the lives of everyone around him at least since he found out his girlfriend liked his partner better.

Almost anything that takes planning and foresight has been suggested or completely directed by someone else. He's a joke. Ruthless, but a joke.

When assessing well written shows like BB, it's always hard to tell if you're seeing something the writers intentionally put in, or it's your own internal filters creating the perception.

For me, one view of Walt is that his ultimate demise will be wrapped around the simple fact that he's not a criminal, but everyone he deals with is. Walt understands the rules of engagement, is willing to do what he feels necessary, but it's from an objective perspective - no actual criminal mindset. Walt would steal his mother's TV and rationalize it because he needed the money. A true criminal would blame his mother for trusting him.

I''m reminded of a line from 48 Hours that went something like, "Attitude and bs will only get you so far." A lesson Walt will surely learn.

I am simply flabbergasted by the description of Walter White as not a criminal. We know him to be a multiple murderer, a manufacturer of deady narcotics, a tax cheat, a breaker of firearms laws, and a user of illegal bugs against the DEA. If you thought about it, you could probably think of more crimes he has committed.

Walter White may not be a habitual criminal, but he's actually something worse: a person who makes calculated decisions to break the law without much consideration for how his decisions affect others. He is actually one of the worst criminals ever portrayed on television.
Edited by Gary McCoy - 9/1/12 at 1:54am

Spot on ... Although I would say he has turned into a habitual criminal .. he's gotten away with thngs so well, so far that it has done nothing if not reinforce his feelings of being invulnerable ..

I think the poster's comment was more on the order of Walt not taking the "typical" path into criminalhood. That's accurate. He followed the road less traveled - he was well into middle age before entering the genuinely scary arena of felony misbehavior and violent crime. Prior to that point,the show would have us believe he had been a model citizen. Of course, one of the points the show is making is that in order to break this bad he must have had it in him all along. Maybe, but it's highly doubtful he would have taken this road had he not gotten cancer/desperate. Just making gobs of easy money wouldn't have been enough to turn Walt to the Dark Side.

Actually he might not be a criminal. He might be insane, in the legal sense of not knowing the difference between right and wrong. The farther he goes down the path he's chosen the more his morality is defined by his own self interest. The sense of freedom he gained from facing his own mortality has seemingly led to the loss of any sort of moral code.