Support NeoGAF

[B33]

Episode 501: "Live Free or Die"

Lucy (Denny's waitress): "About how far is the drive from New Hampshire to here?"

Walt: "Around 30 hours if about the only thing you stop for is gas."

It's a small detail, but just one of the many intricacies of the series. I love that the writers and creative personnel involved were synergistic and put so much thought into the series across every level. It's tremendous work.

 

[Wilbur]

The real hero of BB.

Mitte really brought it. Wasn't confident he had the chops to sell the reaction when he finds out, and his acting style (or at least the one he uses for Jr anyway) hides any lack of ability he might have. But jumping on Walt and shielding Skyler was a fucking amazing piece of television.

 

[kehs]

The real hero of BB.

This is a scene out of smallville btw.

 

[Blader]

I really think the two scenes with Junior in this episode were among the saddest things on this show. It stings even more just thinking back on it.

I can't wait to rewatch this whole show from beginning to end but I'm kind of dreading going through this last batch of episodes again. :lol

 

[Cornballer]

- Emily Nussbaum for The New Yorker: That Mind-Bending Phone Call on Last Night’s “Breaking Bad”

 

[Wuthering_Heights]

The last shot of the series should be of Huell still sitting alone in that house with a confused look on his face.

 

[inm8num2]

Oh god, this made me laugh. I have a soft spot for Simpsons references.

 

[NotLiquid]

oh man I forgot all about Junior's fundraiser website... didn't Walt launder some money through it? lol

Yeah, he always kept it online even passed Season 3. Saul had the money laundered for him up to that point.

The website actually exists and took donations which was used for charity. Reading through everything that Junior actually wrote for it... Urgh. It hurts. It just makes me sad that Walter let him down.

 

[Riggs]

Jesus fucking christ this show.

I knew it was going to get dark, but I didn't think it would get this dark.

I am still rooting for Walt for the hell of it, Jesse is a fucking slave now ... wtf.

My boy Hank is gone

My boy Mike is gone ...

There is literally no one left to root for but Jesse and Walt. Skyler is just so fucking annoying, even though I know she's definitely a lot more innocent then Walt. Junior .... jesus

Holly ..... fucking christ

This show man, this show ..... I don't know what to think anymore.

 

[Cornballer]

Oh god, this made me laugh. I have a soft spot for Simpsons references.

Ha ha, that's quality.

 

[Personifried]

I'm not overtly #TeamWalt or anything, but it's just as much Hank's fault that Hank died.

Walt specifically told him to tread lightly, and Hank did the typical Hank bull in a china shop routine. No one should have known better than Hank what Walt's capable of, and you can't say he wasn't warned.

...this, of course, on top of literally everyone urging him to stay away from the Heisenberg case before he knew it was Walt. And on top of the fact that pursuing him would ruin his career and his family.

It was Hank's hubris, much much more than his sense of justice, that pursued Walt against his sincerest warning. If only he'd tread lightly, things wouldn't have gone this way.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Actually none of the "fucks" in season 1 made it on TV. They just allowed several more censored ones that year. AMC is pretty whack.

I'm probably misremembering then. Like those kids who used to SWEAR they saw the Biggs scenes in Star Wars.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

so what do you think the cold open for granite state will be

tv coverage of a massive police funeral for hank and gomez
reactions across albuquerque to the story of the High School Teacher Turned Kingpin
walt sitting in a dingy motel halfway across the country, looking at old photos
a flashback to the founding of gray matter
jesse watching as todd and lydia fuck on top of the grate over his pit

 

[TrumanBurbank]

I thought Gilligan wanted 13 to finish up, AMC countered with a 6-8 episode S5, and they compromised on 2 seasons of 8 episodes (which is written into the contract as one 16-episode season split in half over two years.)

Jerks.

 

[killertofu]

I'm not overtly #TeamWalt or anything, but it's just as much Hank's fault that Hank died.

Walt specifically told him to tread lightly, and Hank did the typical Hank bull in a china shop routine. No one should have known better than Hank what Walt's capable of, and you can't say he wasn't warned.

...this, of course, on top of literally everyone urging him to stay away from the Heisenberg case before he knew it was Walt. And on top of the fact that pursuing him would ruin his career and his family.

It was Hank's hubris, much much more than his sense of justice, that pursued Walt against his sincerest warning. If only he'd tread lightly, he things wouldn't have gone this way.

What.

Um, so what was he supposed to do exactly?

 

[Mononoke]

I thought Gilligan wanted 13 to finish up, AMC countered with a 6-8 episode S5, and they compromised on 2 seasons of 8 episodes (which is written into the contract as one 16-episode season split in half over two years.)

Yeah this is right. They strong armed them into doing more episodes. People forget that AMC told them okay: 6-8 episodes for your final season.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

I'm not overtly #TeamWalt or anything, but it's just as much Hank's fault that Hank died.

Walt specifically told him to tread lightly, and Hank did the typical Hank bull in a china shop routine. No one should have known better than Hank what Walt's capable of, and you can't say he wasn't warned.

...this, of course, on top of literally everyone urging him to stay away from the Heisenberg case before he knew it was Walt. And on top of the fact that pursuing him would ruin his career and his family.

It was Hank's hubris, much much more than his sense of justice, that pursued Walt against his sincerest warning. If only he'd tread lightly, he things wouldn't have gone this way.

next time you read in the paper about a police officer dying in the line of duty, drive to the funeral and tell the family that they'd probably still be alive if they didn't have such hubris and dared to cross criminals

 

[inm8num2]

Jesus fucking christ this show.

I knew it was going to get dark, but I didn't think it would get this dark.

I am still rooting for Walt for the hell of it, Jesse is a fucking slave now ... wtf.

My boy Hank is gone

My boy Mike is gone ...

There is literally no one left to root for but Jesse and Walt. Skyler is just so fucking annoying, even though I know she's definitely a lot more innocent then Walt. Junior .... jesus

Holly ..... fucking christ

This show man, this show ..... I don't know what to think anymore.

The way you wrote that made this song immediately come to mind.

Coyotes by Don Edwards

The tone and mood of the song express how I'm feeling right now. Not sure about anyone else.

 

[Batigol]

What.

Um, so what was he supposed to do exactly?

Stay at home and buy more minerals

 

[Personifried]

What.

Um, so what was he supposed to do exactly?

Tread lightly.

next time you read in the paper about a police officer dying in the line of duty, drive to the funeral and tell the family that they'd probably still be alive if they didn't have such hubris and dared to cross criminals

This is a lot different from an officer dying in the line of duty. This is the ASAC going full-on kamikaze on the most dangerous criminal the region has ever seen, because of a pre-existing grudge. Hanging aside not only the immediate risk of his life, but also essentially signing away his career and the stability of his family.

Realistically, his hands were tied. But Hank's the type of guy who'd rather die a hero than give up -- and in this case, it caused even more pain than if he hadn't. I'm not saying that it's Hank's fault and not Walt's. I'm just saying that Hank's motives can be questioned and his actions certainly didn't help the at-least-somewhat-controlled-mess-of-unquestionable-evil that Walt had left..

 

[killertofu]

Question:

When did they change the red wagon to a Ford SUV?

 

[Robot Pants]

Yeah this is right. They strong armed them into doing more episodes. People forget that AMC told them okay: 6-8 episodes for your final season.

Very odd move for AMC. It's like they don't want money or something, then they turn around and make two awful spin offs.

edit: er no wait. I read this wrong.

 

[MickeyKnox]

Wow, nice catch.

Not at all.

"I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

 

[UltimaPooh]

next time you read in the paper about a police officer dying in the line of duty, drive to the funeral and tell the family that they'd probably still be alive if they didn't have such hubris and dared to cross criminals

Haha.

Well played.

 

[Veelk]

What.

Um, so what was he supposed to do exactly?

Why, give up and hope that walt doesn't decide to kill more people of course! Walt said he was out, and he knows Walt would never lie or anything. Clearly, it was only his own ego that when confronted with one of the worlds worst criminals ever that he, a cop with a strong sense of justice, would even try to bring him in.


The dumbest thing about all this is that Walt didn't even want Hank killed. He is the reason for it, but it was never his intention to kill hank. Yet people are celebrating it as if Hank lost due to Walter's skill or something. Hank lost because Walt was too stupid to realize that nazi's aren't the most trustworthy of people.

 

[Blader]

I'm not overtly #TeamWalt or anything, but it's just as much Hank's fault that Hank died.

Walt specifically told him to tread lightly, and Hank did the typical Hank bull in a china shop routine. No one should have known better than Hank what Walt's capable of, and you can't say he wasn't warned.

lololol

yeah, fuck that police officer for trying to bring in a criminal. What was he thinking.

 

[Riggs]

The way you wrote that made this song immediately come to mind.

Coyotes by Don Edwards

The tone and mood of the song express how I'm feeling right now. Not sure about anyone else.

Oh shit dude I am playing this through my headphones and re reading my post now .... this is definitely the proper tune.

Fuck I just want to cry.

Holly hope you have a good life : (

 

[foxtrot3d]

Has it been note that on the White residence's counter the scene is altered between the initialy scene at the house involving the White family, and Marie's arrival and the telephone conversation, that the scene is altered, the fruitbowl specifically?

Before fight:

After fight:

It's possibly nothing, but with the association of oranges and death in The Godfather, something that Breaking Bad has utilised in the past to suggest extreme danger (but not to the same extent admittedly since Ted never died despite his severe injury):

Of course, again, it's possibly nothing, I just thought the addition of the orange within the fruitbowl was interesting; probably just over-analysing.

So many levels...

This fucking show, so much imagery and foreshadow that you can never tell what is deliberate and what is merely set dressing.

 

[Riggs]

I think the oranges tie into GTA V some how ....

Will try and confirm this.

 

[GolazoDan]

Flynn going all Action Jackson was great. Shoulda given Walt a Stone Cold Stunner.

 

[ZedIndyLil]

Tread lightly.

The irony is that Walt probably saw those words as an empty threat, but they ended up being the best advice anybody could have given Hank. Everyone in Walt's orbit gets destroyed, regardless of Walt's intentions.

 

[Dreaver]

Holy shock I'm in shock about last episode. So intense!

 

[Cornballer]

Content Round Up - Episode 6 - Ozymandias

Videos:

- Inside Breaking Bad 5x14 "Ozymandias" (youtube)
- Making Of Breaking Bad 5x14 "Ozymandias" (youtube)
- Promo for next week's episode (please spoiler tag any discussion)
- Talked About Scene Episode 514 Ozymandias: Breaking Bad (youtube, Hank's execution)
- Episode 514 Online Bonus Video: Talking Bad (youtube)
- Bill Hader and Dean Norris on Dean's Last Day: Talking Bad (youtube)​

Reviews:

- Sepinwall's review
- Alyssa Rosenberg's review
- Onion A|V Club review
- Chuck Barney
- NY Magazine
- Slate.com's continuing discussion
- IGN
- Tim Goodman's review for THR
- Poniewozik's review
- Maureen Ryan's review
- Chicago Sun Times
- Collider
- Denver Post
- Esquire
- Matt Zoller Seitz
- Zap2It
- Andy Greenwald's review for Grantland
- EW.com
- io9
- Wired.com
- Linda Holmes @ NPR
- Film School Rejects
- Salon.com
- IndieWire
- Newsday
- LA Times
- IndieWire #2
- Atlantic
- Digital Spy
- Rolling Stone
- Daily Beast
- Slant Magazine
- Warming Glow review
- Maureen Ryan's video recap for HuffPostLive
- Paste Magazine
- Emily Nussbaum for The New Yorker: That Mind-Bending Phone Call on Last Night’s “Breaking Bad”​

Other:

- Warming Glow: ‘Breaking Bad’ GIF Highlights: Ozymandias
- AMC Q&A: Dean Norris
- The Limeliters - Times are getting hard boys (barrel rolling song)
- NY Mag: This Week’s Breaking Bad GIFs: OMG Faces Galore
- Breaking Bad Insider Podcast
- Warming Glow: On Visiting The ‘Breaking Bad’ Set The Day ‘Ozymandias’ Was Filmed
- THR: 'Breaking Bad' Cast to Appear on 'Conan' Next Week
- THR: AMC Releases Ad to Thank Cast, Crew
- Verne Gay @ Newsday: 'Breaking Bad,' 'Ozymandias, 'The Sopranos' and the endgame
- NY Mag: See Director Rian Johnson’s Behind-the-Scenes Photos From Last Night’s Breaking Bad
- Rolling Stone: Aaron Paul Q&A
- Rolling Stone: Bryan Cranston Q&A
- EW: 'Breaking Bad' tribute: Hank's journey from plot device to hero
- Rolling Stone: 'Breaking Bad' Q&A: Rian Johnson on Directing One of the Last Episodes
- EW: The show's 10 most effective F-bombs
- Fairy Tales from Breaking Bad's Mike Ehrmantraut (youtube)
- Breaking Bad's Jonathan Banks is a Badass (youtube interview with Paul F Tompkins)
- Variety: ‘Breaking Bad’ Draws Record 6.4 Million Viewers Sunday​

 

[iammeiam]

I really think the two scenes with Junior in this episode were among the saddest things on this show. It stings even more just thinking back on it.

I'm so glad those scenes were effectively sad, though. They were the representation of the threat that initially brought Skyler to heel--Think of what this will do to Junior! He can never know!

And then it happens and it's awful... But Junior survives it and stands up to his dad. Flynn's tougher than his parents have him credit for.

 

[The One Who Knocks]

Question:

When did they change the red wagon to a Ford SUV?

It made its first appearance in Blood Money here:

EDIT: Haha, the below is probably right (and I know from the pet peeves thread this type of editting generally isn't liked but it doesn't warrant a new post I feel), I was mainly just curious to see what others thought.

 

[inm8num2]

.

 

[Jeff-DSA]

You guys probably went over it, but I was wondering if I was on the same page as everybody else here.

When Walt is calling Skylar, doesn't it seem as if he's just doing his best to make them sound like victims to keep them from getting into any trouble after he leaves them? He obviously knew about the phone call getting traced and listened to, so he decides to be as brutal as possible in order to trick the police into thinking that Skylar only went along with things because she was afraid for the family's safety as a result of Walt's threats. My guess is that it's part of Walt trying to set it right as best he can, though it's obviously a long shot to keep Skylar out of prison.

You know Walt is putting on an act, because he's sobbing while acting tough. He obviously knows that his is the last time he will speak with Skylar, and he's having to feign absolute hatred towards her. Even as awful as Walt has become, this was heartbreaking to watch.

WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GO DIGGING INTO FILES, HANK?!

 

[Bread]

.

gilligan is a god, how did we not see this before!?

 

[Wilbur]

.

holy shit (if true)

this show, the writers are geniuses

 

[Batigol]

Skyler really wants mustard is what I got from that

 

[Manu]

I actually haven't thought about that, lol

 

[Walshy]

I'm not usually a fan of aggregated scores on sites such as Metacritic, but Ozymandias has 10/10 user rating on IMDB, it's first ever perfect score.

 

[KarmaCow]

We're through the looking glass here people.

 

[rekameohs]

Skyler really wants mustard is what I got from that

That's honey, for sopapillas.

 

[Spectral Glider]

The real hero of BB.

TeamJr!

 

[Perspicacity]

Episode 501: "Live Free or Die"

Lucy (Denny's waitress): "About how far is the drive from New Hampshire to here?"

Walt: "Around 30 hours if about the only thing you stop for is gas."

It's a small detail, but just one of the many intricacies of the series. I love that the writers and creative personnel involved were synergistic and put so much thought into the series across every level. It's tremendous work.

I'm missing something, did they call back to this in Ozymandias?

 

[NotLiquid]

What.

Um, so what was he supposed to do exactly?

He probably could have handled it better than he did. He got promoted to ASAC, and with that job he has bigger fish to fry than just the Heisenberg case, let alone going rogue and investigating himself when he has people to do it for him in a more professional matter. His job description required more from him, not investigating through unsolicited means.

That said of course, there was no way he'd have gotten Walt for that split second if he didn't do what he did, so there's definitely that side of the coin. His death became pretty damn awesome and it was an honorable way to go out.

 

[ZedIndyLil]

That's honey, for sopapillas.

Love me some ABQ sopapillas...Green chile is cool, too, but I'm not a big fan overall of New Mexican cuisine (or at least what I've had).

 

[Raiden]

Yeah, he always kept it online even passed Season 3. Saul had the money laundered for him up to that point.

The website actually exists and took donations which was used for charity. Reading through everything that Junior actually wrote for it... Urgh. It hurts. It just makes me sad that Walter let him down.

Oh my god this is the greatest thing ever ..

It feels so real and it is quite sad ..


Goddamn this show.

 

[Batigol]

That's honey, for sopapillas.

Honey in a bottle?! What sorcery is that