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Losing interest in Breaking Bad (S3) - worth continuing?

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Show gets better but only to "great" levels, nothing overly spectacular. (Just finished the s4 finale.)

Walt trying his best to be Light Yagami is a little funny, though.
 
I started feeling the same at around the same time in season 3. The show doesnt really change. It will continue to be a downward spiral in terms of character arcs. It's one of my only criticism against the show because you can see where the story is going and it's tough to sympathize with the major players.

However, it still remains a well produced show. The quality is always top notch.
 
This is the best show on television and one of the best cinematic and story telling experiences I've ever been though. But I had a very hard time with the episode Fly. Can someone explain to me how the most boring and pointless episode in the series is remotely good?
 
captainnapalm said:
So i just reached the end of season 2, more specifically the part where Walter
let's Jesse's girlfriend die in her own puke
.

Now I don't know, this just felt like a step too far for me. Maybe cause I found her ridiculously hot, but I find it really hard to view Walter as a sympathetic character now at all. Yeah,
she tried to blackmail him, but she wasn't a bad person and she didn't deserve that.
I think it may have killed the show for me.
Click to expand...


Don't get me wrong, he most certainly
killed her partially out of self-preservation (due to her blackmail), but I also felt strongly that there was another shade to his motivation there, which was saving Jesse. Had she lived, her and Jesse both would be dead probably within a few months the way they were going with the heroine. He scared Jesse straight by letting her die

And that scene pretty much encapsulates Walt to me. He's very much an ends-justify-the-means kind of guy.
 
Finish 3. It hasn't gotten any better since, so if you're not into it by then you should probably drop it. It's gotten progressively less good since then.
 
Solo said:
Don't get me wrong, he most certainly
killed her partially out of self-preservation (due to her blackmail), but I also felt strongly that there was another shade to his motivation there, which was saving Jesse. Had she lived, her and Jesse both would be dead probably within a few months the way they were going with the heroine. He scared Jesse straight by letting her die

And that scene pretty much encapsulates Walt to me. He's very much an ends-justify-the-means kind of guy.
Click to expand...

Dohoho, wait until you watch the end of s4.
 
Andrex said:
Dohoho
Click to expand...

I think that can be classified as a spoiler btw, as
there's a certain point of ambiguity in the end of who did it, so Solo will know it's Walt all along
 
I felt the show had some weak parts in S2 and S3, and you're just ahead of my least favorite episode of the show (Fly).

For me, the show really picked up in S4 and S5, so yeah it's worth watching.

It should be noted that while I do enjoy it thoroughly, I don't put it quite as high as some other people (who rank it as some of TV's best ever).
I enjoy it for the cinematography, acting and the 'oh snap' moments, but generally, the less I think about the plot, the better.
 
Breaking Bad is the undisputed best show of all time.
 
Season 4 may be the best season of any TV show I've ever watched. (Note: I'm not completely caught up on S5 yet)

But then again, I don't remember having any problems with S3.
 
Eggman said:
I think that can be classified as a spoiler btw, as
there's a certain point of ambiguity in the end of who did it, so Solo will know it's Walt all along
Click to expand...

There really isn't any though. What?
the guy needs to pushed around all day, but can get out of his chair and put the bomb under his chair himself? There's really no doubt there at all. They show Walt meeting him, hiding, we know he has the bomb from previous eps. Who else could it possibly come from?
 
Aiii said:
There really isn't any though. What?
the guy needs to pushed around all day, but can get out of his chair and put the bomb under his chair himself? There's really no doubt there at all. They show Walt meeting him, hiding, we know he has the bomb from previous eps. Who else could it possibly come from?
Click to expand...

I think Andrex is implying
Walt poisoning Brock
 
Solo said:
Don't get me wrong, he most certainly
killed her partially out of self-preservation (due to her blackmail), but I also felt strongly that there was another shade to his motivation there, which was saving Jesse. Had she lived, her and Jesse both would be dead probably within a few months the way they were going with the heroine. He scared Jesse straight by letting her die

And that scene pretty much encapsulates Walt to me. He's very much an ends-justify-the-means kind of guy.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I got that for sure, but for me the ends could never justify those means. He's clearly a deeply troubled individual. Anything he gets coming to him from now on I reckon he'll deserve.
 
Solo said:
Saul Goodman - great character/performance or best character/performance?
Click to expand...

Probably my favorite character. During my watch I was biting my nails hoping he wouldn't die all through season 4.

Eggman said:
I think that can be classified as a spoiler btw, as
there's a certain point of ambiguity in the end of who did it, so Solo will know it's Walt all along
Click to expand...

It wasn't ambiguous for me and I haven't see s5 yet.
 
Andrex said:
Probably my favorite character. During my watch I was biting my nails hoping he wouldn't die all through season 4.
Click to expand...

Hey man, can you please stop talking about S4? The OP (and also myself) are only up to 3.09.

Anyways, Saul makes me smile every time I see him.
 
alphaNoid said:
This is the best show on television and one of the best cinematic and story telling experiences I've ever been though. But I had a very hard time with the episode Fly. Can someone explain to me how the most boring and pointless episode in the series is remotely good?
Click to expand...

Fly is the top of the bell curve of Walt essentially breaking bad. It's a full on candid display of his obsessive compulsive disorder coupled with his fragile ego complex which pretty much drives the character forward from that point on. It's the show's take on A Tell-Tale Heart, hence it flirts with Walt's admission to Jesse . A lot of people are reading too much into it (Metaphores!) or not enough from it. It's a solid episode, but I can get how people wouldn't like it. Most likely because they have childish attention spans.

End of season 5.1 spoiler:
The fly is overtly referred to a contaminant over and over. In this case it's representing Gale. Once the contaminant was removed safety was established. The fly once again resurfaces at the end of the first half of season 5 rekindling the contaminant sentiment, and sure enough Gale through death provides Hank with information identifying Walt as Heisenberg. I feel that Gilligan may have retcon'd this into the show, however.

Puddles said:
Anyway, it isn't better than The Wire or The Shield.
Click to expand...

It's better than The Wire from an artistic stand point. However it's far less realistic than the Wire. People often mistake realism for quality. The Wire's poignancy and message trump anything that Breaking Bad has done. The Wire's ability to pace itself like a televised novel is something that hasn't been touched by any other show, something BB could have learned from.

Breaking Bad is better than The Shield by a country mile in every metric one can judge a show.
 
Solo said:
Hey man, can you please stop talking about S4? The OP (and also myself) are only up to 3.09.
Click to expand...

Best leave this thread now before you're accidentally spoiled. These types of thread always attract idiots who insist on discussing seasons and episodes further than they should. Even if they spoiler their post, it's still really easy to read between the lines most of the time. I mean, you already have people discussing the season four finale in a thread about season three.

Leave before you regret it.
 
I honestly don't understand the "Skylar is such a Bitch" remarks. Her husband cooks and deals meth, her only other option is to be a doormat. I think she shows tremendous patience and understanding in all honesty.
 
Why do people base their opinions of characters on likability?

So what if you can't empathize with Walt? That's the whole point. He has morphed into a monster.
 
Judderman said:
Says the president of the #TeamWalt fan club.
Click to expand...

Meh, I'm not really a Walt fanboy. But when I see ridiculous and illogical arguments being made willy-nilly in the Breaking Bad thread by such satirists as Eggman and Amir0x, I can't just ignore them. The good name of Walter White was being defamed long before he ever deserved it.
 
Spiffy_1st said:
It was a bottle episode created due to the budget being too low for the amount of episodes they were given, the writers had no plans for it and without it the entire show would be the exact same. Any special meaning or symbolism you're seeing in it doesn't actually exist.
Click to expand...

So was 4 Days Out.
 
Never thought someone would lose interest in the show when they're on the final act of S3. Wtf?

I suppose my question is whether it gets better re: the above and if it's worth persisting with. Many great shows go through little lulls before BAM! something amazing happens and it hits its stride again. Is this that? Or is it heading in the Dexter-you're-only-watching-this-because-you-enjoy-the-characters-so-we'll-turn-it-into-a-sitcom direction?
Click to expand...

Well, there's a HUGE 'BAM!' coming, so you might wanna keep watching.
 
Never imagined anyone would defend Fly. It's definitely the show's all-time low point. It's such a waste of time, advancing nothing and banging the viewer over the head with foghorn-blasts of redundant symbolism and themes handled much more deftly throughout the rest of the series.

I didn't know it was a bottle episode created to stretch the budget, but that makes perfect sense in retrospect. It felt like they knew they had to fill 44 minutes with something, so they pulled out their copy of Macbeth and went to town.
 
solo, i remember when you said you didn't want to get into b.b. because it was in its fourth (fifth?) season already, and you were thinking about getting into glee instead. or something.

i'm glad you made the right choice!
 
Salmonax said:
Never imagined anyone would defend Fly. It's definitely the show's all-time low point. It's such a waste of time, advancing nothing and banging the viewer over the head with foghorn-blasts of redundant symbolism and themes handled much more deftly throughout the rest of the series.

I didn't know it was a bottle episode created to stretch the budget, but that makes perfect sense in retrospect. It felt like they knew they had to fill 44 minutes with something, so they pulled out their copy of Macbeth and went to town.
Click to expand...
Plus I felt that the whole "entire episode in a single location with very little but dialog" has been done to death (I mean, even Family Guy did it).
That's not to say that you can't make a great show around that concept, but I think that on a show like Breaking Bad that draws a lot of it effectiveness from cinematography and unusual storytelling flourishes, it takes away most of its strengths.
 
Salmonax said:
Never imagined anyone would defend Fly. It's definitely the show's all-time low point. It's such a waste of time, advancing nothing and banging the viewer over the head with foghorn-blasts of redundant symbolism and themes handled much more deftly throughout the rest of the series.

I didn't know it was a bottle episode created to stretch the budget, but that makes perfect sense in retrospect. It felt like they knew they had to fill 44 minutes with something, so they pulled out their copy of Macbeth and went to town.
Click to expand...
The show's low point was
the plane crash
.

Thankfully, it didn't derail the show. But it was definitely a potential shark jump.
 
I thought S3 was a bit slow too. Not much happened until the last few episodes. Season 4 was a lot better and Season 5 was amazing. I'd say carry on.
 
Macmanus said:
Fly is the top of the bell curve of Walt essentially breaking bad. It's a full on candid display of his obsessive compulsive disorder coupled with his fragile ego complex which pretty much drives the character forward from that point on. It's the show's take on A Tell-Tale Heart, hence it flirts with Walt's admission to Jesse . A lot of people are reading too much into it (Metaphores!) or not enough from it. It's a solid episode, but I can get how people wouldn't like it. Most likely because they have childish attention spans.

End of season 5.1 spoiler:
The fly is overtly referred to a contaminant over and over. In this case it's representing Gale. Once the contaminant was removed safety was established. The fly once again resurfaces at the end of the first half of season 5 rekindling the contaminant sentiment, and sure enough Gale through death provides Hank with information identifying Walt as Heisenberg. I feel that Gilligan may have retcon'd this into the show, however.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your contribution, I appreciate it. I understood the symbolism while watching it, the OCD and the continued melting of Walt. What I mostly didn't like was that an entire episode was dedicated to it, and in the end it was painful to sit through. I do however understand that artistically it really hammered it home using that method but sometimes people don't want too much artsy fartsy in their content. I felt Fly spilled over the top with artistic flair and it ultimately made me dislike it in a sense. Too rich and I felt like they were trying too hard.

It still is my least favorite episode in the series, but a good episode nonetheless.
 
I stopped caring a couple episodes into season 2. I pretty much hate all of the characters. My friend insisted that I keep watching though. If I resubscribe to Netflix I'll give it another go.
 
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