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Breaking Bad - Season 5, Part 2 - The Final Eight Episodes - Sundays on AMC - OT2

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jtb

Banned
in short, the main theme to Breaking Bad (along with every tragedy ever) is succintly encapsulated in Solo's tag. It doesn't get simpler than that, folks.
 

Veelk

Banned
No.

She isn't.

She's done bad things. But not nearly as bad as Walt.

It's like some of you guys are incapable of making distinctions.

I'm struggling to think how skyler was even involved in this without going through long leaps of causality. The closest thing I can think of is her refusal to testify against walt, which caused hank to search for alternatives, which caused Hank to team up with jesse, which cased them to do the plan to trick walt, which caused walt to call the nazi's, which caused his death. The closest link of events that happened has her 5 steps away from being the cause that made it happen, atleast. You could easily argue for more.
 

-griffy-

Banned
Why shouldn't he "talk his way out of Hank being dead?" He had no idea that Hank would show up and did everything in his power to save him once he did.

Skyler is literally just as culpable in Hank's death as Walter is.

You misunderstand. Hank is dead, but when Skyler and Junior confront him about it he says they "negotiated" and does everything he can to avoid the subject, saying their "priority" is to pack and leave, everything will be fine, he will explain everything later. Hank is dead because of Walt, Walt is trying to talk himself out of it again so they will come with him. If he can just explain it everything will be fine.
 
He was protecting his mother. I know it's only Skylar, but any son would do the same for their mother, it's instinct. Admittedly, though, I did still want to punch him. He may be the most innocent out of every character in the show, but he's preventing #TeamWalt from walking away as the winner.

please it the best thing that ever happen to Walt
Now he doesn't need to be slow down by those two anymore
Yup, Walt future is looking brighter and better already.
 

SeanR1221

Member
Man forget a Saul spin off or a Walking Dead spin off. We should get a spin off based on Holly when she's 16 and she's having trouble with boys because she never had a father figure.

The pilot could be of her sweet 16s and finding the tape they made during her baby shower.

Please, no.
 

NotLiquid

Member
I love the fact that all season long Gilligan had people thinking that the flash-forward scenes hinted at some sort of Walt redemption. "He's going to rescue his family!" "He's going to rescue Brock!" "He's going to rescue Jesse!" when in reality it's looking like they are the result of him snapping and becoming a complete sociopath.

Really? I'm starting to believe more that it's the complete opposite. I originally thought the diner scene in the opening of Season 5 hinted at Walter being on the run from cops, but recent episodes have me thinking otherwise. Coupled with the fact that he's reluctantly vilifying himself for the safety of his family and consciously detaching himself from them, what reason would he have to buy a gigantic rifle and return to his home, the riskiest spot of all?

Ricin yeah, but I'm seriously not going to believe that they're stretching this out two more episodes just for Walter to evade cops or go on a rampage. That'd be the most disappointing finale ever since he's already hit his all time low.
 
I watched it again this morning before work.

Walt really thought he could still make everything ok and he still had control, right until Hank died. He thought he could talk and trick his way out of another bad situation.

Also, it's painful how Hank was shot while saying his last words. 'You go ahead and do whatever you ha' brutal.
 

Tookay

Member
Can we reaaaaaaaaaaally say that one crime is worse than another?


Wait, what, you can!?

Haha brilliant.

It is pretty crazy. I'd say that a large part of that is testament to how well she and Cranston have played their characters, as well as the writers doing such a great job with them. But I think it's also that some people are incapable of rational thought.

I'm beginning to think it's more this than anything, sadly.

Like some of the slanted analysis and pretzel logic in this thread is actually seriously concerning.
 

Kraftwerk

Member
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:"(
 

Mononoke

Banned
Remember that scene where Walt was willing to turn himself in, but Skyler encouraged Walt not to, because he could get away with it?
 
I think the next two will be more action oriented, now that all the secrets and emotions are out. I saw somewhere Cranston mention the finale is going to be full of classic breaking badesque action.

Do you have a link to Cranston saying this? Last I heard, Cranston said the ending was going to be very breaking bad style, I don't recall him saying it would be full of action?

Though with the m60 being involved there will probably some action in the finale at least if not the next 2 episodes.
 

crozier

Member
No.

She isn't.

She's done bad things. But not nearly as bad as Walt.

It's like some of you guys are incapable of making distinctions.
Sure she is.

She may not have been doing it as long, but she's fully in it now. She's laundered money, blackmailed her sister and sister's husband, and even ordered Walter to kill when Walter himself was hesitant. And while she may not have done as many bad things herself, per se, that only makes her akin to Lydia...an even bigger coward than Walt.

She knows most of the things Walt had to do for the business in the past, so she's not ignorant of the facts, yet continues to go allow with it. She's like Lydia plugging her ears and covering her eyes to shield her senses from the unsavory aspects of their business, but this doesn't reduce her culpability one iota.

So what makes Walter more culpable in Hank's death? Remember, Walter never even told the nazis he had a brother-in-law in the DEA.
 

jtb

Banned
He was willing to turn himself in, in the last episode. He was just too foolish to realize his actions have consequences that he can't control.

He also wanted to turn himself in before but skyler encouraged him not to because the money would be useless.

She's complicit but ultimately Walt set this in motion. Like he said, nothing stops this train. Not even him. Skyler having broken bad isn't mutually exclusive with Walt breaking bad but if we're comparing guilt, I don't even think it's close—ultimately, Walt set just about everything that's happened in this series in motion.
 

Tookay

Member
I'm struggling to think how skyler was even involved in this without going through long leaps of causality. The closest thing I can think of is her refusal to testify against walt, which caused hank to search for alternatives, which caused Hank to team up with jesse, which cased them to do the plan to trick walt, which caused walt to call the nazi's, which caused his death. The closest link of events that happened has her 5 steps away from being the cause that made it happen, atleast. You could easily argue for more.

Yeah, I mean she is no doubt indirectly responsible for Hank's death (just through the act of going along with Walt and laundering his money, as well as her refusal to help Hank), but you've got to go through a lot of hoops in reasoning to make her just as culpable as Walt, especially considering how little power she's had to change things throughout the whole series (a position Walt placed her in).

But then this thread is full of collapsing degrees of casualty and making things morally equivalent because distinctions are hard.

It's really intellectually lazy and simplistic, but I guess I shouldn't expect better.
 

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
Marie isn't on Talking Bad next week, right? That would be a bad sign.
 

Mononoke

Banned
She's complicit but ultimately Walt set this in motion. Like he said, nothing stops this train. Not even him. Skyler having broken bad isn't mutually exclusive with Walt breaking bad but if we're comparing guilt, I don't even think it's close—ultimately, Walt set just about everything that's happened in this series in motion.

Sure, I understand the rationale of why she did it. But it doesn't change the fact that - there was still a better choice that could have been made, and wasn't. That is a theme you see throughout the show. Walt should have listened to Jesse in the arcade room, instead of killing Gale - they should have went to the DEA, and took a plea deal by giving up Gus.

And so I go back to the scene where Walt was willing to turn himself in, and Skyler encourages him not to. I mean think about that. Walt, was actually willing to turn himself in. That a was pretty big moment in the series, I never thought Walt was capable of this. I figured with the arc of Walt, he was beyond that sort of thing. That he would rather die, then let himself be taken in by the cops. That his ego/hubris and his need for control, would never allow him to consider that a viable option.

Yet here we are. And he's willing to turn himself in. Even in the episode before this one, he would rather go in handcuffs, then fight his brother in law.

Yes, Walt is evil. Of course. But we have to acknowledge these other aspects of Walt. It's what makes him interesting. That even has lines he won't cross.
 

Buzzman

Banned
he's preventing #TeamWalt from walking away as the winner.

No offense but I find this kind of opinion baffling. What is Walt even winning at this point? He's ruined his family's lives and is on the run from the police, with terminal cancer. All the misery and death that Walt's actions have brought upon others and himself just shows that nobody wins here, they only lose.
 

SeanR1221

Member
Sure, I understand the rationale of why she did it. But it doesn't change the fact that - there was still a better choice that could have been made, and wasn't. That is a theme you see throughout the show. Walt should have listened to Jesse in the arcade room, instead of killing Gale - they should have went to the DEA, and took a plea deal by giving up Gus.

And so I go back to the scene where Walt was willing to turn himself in, and Skyler encourages him not to. I mean think about that. Walt, was actually willing to turn himself in. That a was pretty big moment in the series, I never thought Walt was capable of this. I figured with the arc of Walt, he was beyond that sort of thing. That he would rather die, then let himself be taken in by the cops. That his ego/hubris and his need for control, would never allow him to consider that a viable option.

Yet here we are. And he's willing to turn himself in. Even in the episode before that, he would rather go in handcuffs, then fight his brother in law.

Yes, Walt is evil. Of course. But we have to acknowledge these other aspects of Walt. It's what makes him interesting.

Gus' men would have killed them so fast
 

crozier

Member
You misunderstand. Hank is dead, but when Skyler and Junior confront him about it he says they "negotiated" and does everything he can to avoid the subject, saying their "priority" is to pack and leave, everything will be fine, he will explain everything later. Hank is dead because of Walt, Walt is trying to talk himself out of it again so they will come with him. If he can just explain it everything will be fine.
If it was all about himself, why even bother coming back? He has a truck and the money, so why not disappear? Why risk everything to get your family out the door too?

Hank was a conversation they would have to have, but right then and there in front of Junior was not the time and place.
 
This was a brilliant episode but I'm not sure I actually liked it better than last week's. The time from Walt telling the Nazis to stop coming to the Nazis actually showing up had more tension/anticipation than any other moment in the show except for the Salamanca cousins attack on Hank.
 
You are assuming everyone that is #teamwalt thinks he's a sympathetic hero. Some support Walt because he's a villain. In that case him telling Jesse about Jane was awesome.

Im #teamwalt cause Cranston is a hell of an actor but Im in the camp that jesse had a hand in Hanks death. All he had to do was go to alaska ;___;
 

Veelk

Banned
"If all this is true, and you knew about it...Then you're as bad as him."

-Walt Jr.

Morally, I agree. But that does not mean they are equally culpable to all crimes. It's the same way a person can be morally reprehensible by, say, protesting a funeral without having ever committed a single crime.
 

Tookay

Member
Sure she is.

She may not have been doing it as long, but she's fully in it now. She's laundered money, blackmailed her sister and sister's husband, and even ordered Walter to kill when Walter himself was hesitant. And while she may not have done as many bad things herself, per se, that only makes her akin to Lydia...an even bigger coward than Walt.

She knows most of the things Walt had to do for the business in the past, so she's not ignorant of the facts, yet continues to go allow with it. She's like Lydia plugging her ears and covering her eyes to shield her senses from the unsavory aspects of their business, but this doesn't reduce her culpability one iota.

So what makes Walter more culpable in Hank's death? Remember, Walter never even told the nazis he had a brother-in-law in the DEA.

Maybe this is just the law school student in me, I think you need to look up the legal definition of proximate cause.

Skyler's causation is very attenuated. She has a part to play, but it isn't as direct as Walt's, nor has she been able to exercise the control he has over the situation or even put the wheels in motion the way he has.

She isn't "just as culpable." That's really intellectually dishonest to flatten their actions along the same moral plane.
 

Tookay

Member
If it was all about himself, why even bother coming back? He has a truck and the money, so why not disappear? Why risk everything to get your family out the door too?

Hank was a conversation they would have to have, but right then and there in front of Junior was not the time and place.

You make the mistake of thinking that the surface level "it's all about the family" rationale isn't ultimately all about Walt in the end.

Hank said it best: "You don't give a shit about family."
 

Blader

Member
It's so bad at this point. All the show has to do is throw "bad ass stuff" out there and they'll eat it up. I wonder if "talk like Christian Bale's Batman for the blue collar, sexually frustrated crowd" was a specific direction.

You sound like you're projecting.
 

Brera

Banned
I disagree that Walt is evil.

He has done some very bad things but they have always been for self preservation or to save someone else. Usually Jessie.

He went out of his way and got into serious shit because other people were fucking shit up by being dumbasses (Skylar, Hank, Jessie).

He was just a desperate dude in over his head! He was always reluctant but his hands were tied. He was pushed too far when jessie betrayed him and caused the death of hank.

Remember, Jessie set this whole thing up. WW told the Nazis not to come and was willing to go down.
 

Mononoke

Banned
You make the mistake of thinking that the surface level "it's all about the family" rationale isn't ultimately all about Walt in the end.

Hank said it best: "You don't give a shit about family."

Yeah, people fail to realize that Walt wanting to leave behind money for his family - is about himself feeling his life had meaning. That his life had worth. So while the object is to leave money for his family, the motivation is really selfish in that it's about proving his life had a real impact/purpose.

Walt's motivation to Break Bad might have been surface level about providing for his family after he was gone, but deep down it was about pride, and the fact that he was going to die with nothing to show for his life. It was his anger that he never achieved his potential in life.
 
Now, this is my opinion. My opinion is that many others' opinions in this thread seem backwards and completely unfathomable. The insanity of all these clashing opinions is almost as insane as the emotions Walt must have felt during his call with Skyler.
 
wasn't anyone surprised at how walt Jr. was able to grab Walt and throw him away from his mom?

season 6 spoilers:
Starts with Walt Jr.saying he's going out with some friends (retrospective).
we see him driving to somewhere out of the town. He enters the building.
We see him entering a fight ring with a luchador mask
*breaking bad intro*
 
"Your honor, I'm not responsible for the death of my arresting officer, it's all the fault of the cop for trying to arrest me and the informant who led to my arrest. They're the real criminals here."
 
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