spoilery breaking bad thread

[jebreject]

Gus walking out of the room and then the reveal that half his face was blown off was fucking stupid and nearly ruined the entire episode for me. Seriously how cheap was that. My first reaction was actually HOLY FUCK GUS IS A CYBORG and then oh no wait it's somehow even dumber that he's not. There are so many ways that moment could have been handled tastefully and realistically but they decided to go with shock value bullshit.

(Though, what L6L9 posted is pretty neat--still doesn't make up for how stupid that was, however)

[jebreject]

What I really hated about this episode is that I knew what all the broad strokes were going to be. This is a show that consistently surprises me, but there really weren't any surprises here. It did exactly what I suspected it to do. I did like some of the details though, especially that the bomb was rigged to Tio's bell. Also, that guy has an amazing face.

[hannah]

I wasn't spoiled at all. Thought it was fucking awesome!

[jebreject]

After digesting everything some more, I am coming out in favor of this episode. More thoughts later.

[Ashley]

Gus walking out of the room and then the reveal that half his face was blown off was fucking stupid and nearly ruined the entire episode for me. Seriously how cheap was that. My first reaction was actually HOLY FUCK GUS IS A CYBORG and then oh no wait it's somehow even dumber that he's not. There are so many ways that moment could have been handled tastefully and realistically but they decided to go with shock value bullshit.

(Though, what L6L9 posted is pretty neat--still doesn't make up for how stupid that was, however)

I think they just got too excited about having an opportunity to play with some new special effects.  They said they had the guys from walking dead work on it, and I think there was a spoiler image on AMC's home page of gus's face blown off for a week before?  Probably not the smartest decision, I can't tell if they pushed it it as well as they could or if they're just lucky it didn't fuck things up. 

[jm]

Man, maybe it's just that I don't pay attention to anything about the show other than what's on the episode in a given week, but I absolutely did not see Gus eating it this episode.  I genuinely expected him to be around for most of the last season.  I'm a little hot and cold on the execution—I thought them showing him all half-faced was more than what was necessary, but I also didn't hate it.

The only thing that I thought was dumb about that, come to think of it, was that he walked out of the room completely upright.  I'm no demolitions expert, but I'm gonna guess that if you're in an explosion that is enough to fuck up the structure of the room you're in, you're not going to be standing.  And that if you have half of your body blown to shit, you're going to be, at best, feebly crawling out of the room, not calmly walking out, all about to straighten your jacket.

[jebreject]

http://m.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/interview-breaking-bad-creator-vince-gilligan-post-mortems-season-4

[dieblucasdie]

I keep waiting to see pollo's name in last-posted; this episode was all the things about this show that he dislikes and I love ("Face Off" GET IT?!).

I was spoiled in that I'd seen that screencap of Gus.  What's hilarious is that most of the commentary I saw assumed that it was a set photo of Esposito goofing around between takes, and that Gus would die in a more plausible manner.  

I think people want this show to be The Soparanos or The Wire or a similar character study.  As much as we'd like to pretend it's not the show that had Krazy-8-gel crash through the ceiling, or had a plane fall out of the sky because Walt is a dick, or, hell, had our 2 protagonists chase a fly for an hour, this is a show driven by A) suspense B) the Walt/Jesse relationship, but C) yeah, mostly suspense.  I appreciate the fact that Gus went out like Wiley Coyote; it was an awesome moment.

[jebreject]

I would prefer that Breaking Bad would be more of a character study, yes. Those are the elements I find most interesting about this show. But that doesn't mean I mind the suspense--I like how tense this show is, how it makes my stomach hurt. They do that part of it incredibly well most of the time. Unlike Pollo, I guess, I'm still behind this show even when it gets fairly implausible. This isn't all or nothing, though. Just because I let this show get away with an awful lot doesn't mean that there are no lines or we can't call it out when it's being especially stupid and pandering or implausible.

[jm]

I agree with both of the above statements. And as far as my own nitpicks go (anything critical I've said in this thread, at least), they're just that: nitpicks. The show is still, in my opinion, the most enjoyable TV show I've seen in ages. At its worst, it's a little goofy or farfetched, but I'm usually able to get lost enough in it that it manages to take me by surprise and keep me amused. They're going to have to fuck up really bad in the last season (it kind of pisses me off, by the way, that they're probably going to split it in half) for me to change my mind.

[C of heartbreak]

this is a show driven by A) suspense B) the Walt/Jesse relationship, but C) yeah, mostly suspense.

This is why I think it was dumb that Walt poisoned Brock: the show does dramatic irony so well, and obfuscating the actions of a main character for the purpose of a major plot turn is really gimmicky.

I'm with you on all of the above. My favorite parts of this show have certainly been when it most resembled a gangster movie.

[elpollodiablo]

I thought this season (and its finale) was entertaining, exciting, far-fetched and very cable drama-y. The setpieces that blucas describes above are more in keeping with the show's ethos of weirdness, I think, than cartel wars, snipers, and poisoning plots. I'm conflicted about Gus' end, but do know 1) I'm glad that plot has been brought to a close because it got more ludicrous with each episode, and 2) that shot of Gus straightening his tie with half his face blown off hearkened back to the meticulous & purposeful weirdness that hooked me on this show in the first place. We didn't get a lot of that this season, and I really missed it.

[Thermofusion]

I've never really watched Breaking Bad but I saw an animated gif of the skull thing. That is some goofy shit.

[jebreject]

this is a show driven by A) suspense B) the Walt/Jesse relationship, but C) yeah, mostly suspense.

This is why I think it was dumb that Walt poisoned Brock: the show does dramatic irony so well, and obfuscating the actions of a main character for the purpose of a major plot turn is really gimmicky.

Sepinwall brings this up in his review of the finale, and in his interview with Gilligan, both of which I recommend.

I don't really have a problem with it. Though it's not something the show does very often, this isn't the first time the show has done this kind of thing. I thought it worked, especially in a season where Walt was often taking a backseat to the other characters.

[jm]

The funny thing about both of those Sepinwall pieces is that he was so into the ending, but after you (jeb) had posted that internet commenter's detective work prior to the airing of this episode, I was pretty completely unamazed by that ending. I mean, the assumption made perfect sense given the pieces that that person pointed out (logistically), and as we discussed, it fit in motivewise too. I probably would have been kind of disappointed if the explanation had turned out to be anything else.

[reebty]

Gus' death for the motherfucking win, I reckon. You're terminated, fucker.

[RoyBiggins]

This thread is amazing to me. I forgot about how you guys analyze the shit out of TV.  Which I like!  Without critical thinking, I've basically resorted to watching Big Bang Theory (actually alright!) and that "Persons of Interest" show (Not good!  You'd think Touched by an Angel But The Angel is Ben Linus would've been a sure thing for me.)

Edited to add: I Guess it's more "Early Edition, but Ben Linus is the paperboy."  Plus, no Kyle Chandler.  Now, some kind of Michael Emerson/Kyle Chandler show, I could probably do that.

[dieblucasdie]

Fuck a Chuck Lorre show, fuck a JJ Abrams show

[Chet]

So what about next season? Obviously someone bigger than badder than Gus is going to come along. How about the shady Germany company that owned Los Pollos Hermanos, or someone linked to Gus's past in Chile?

Also, I can't imagine Mike is going to be too happy about his boss being blown up.

[RoyBiggins]

Chet, I agree with everything you've said. 

Blucas, yeah yeah yeah whatever.  I at least agree fuck Chuck Lorre.  If we all form a OFWGKTA-type group, that can be our chant.

[dieblucasdie]

So what about next season? Obviously someone bigger than badder than Gus is going to come along. How about the shady Germany company that owned Los Pollos Hermanos, or someone linked to Gus's past in Chile?

Also, I can't imagine Mike is going to be too happy about his boss being blown up.

I doubt there'll be a big, badder villain.  Whatever fallout there might be from Gus' death, it's probably going to be of secondary concern, or dealt with completely in the first half of the season.  Probably next season is going to be about Walt as the biggest, baddest guy in to town, then about his downfall via Hank or Jesse or Skylar or all of them.

[dieblucasdie]

And yeah, it sounds like AMC is annoyingly going to air it as two 8-episode mini-seasons instead of one 16 episode season.  Gilligan was like, "Yeah, we'll just make sure the 8th episode has a big cliffhanger."  I will bet you any sum of money that that 8th episode will end with Hank discovering that Walt is Heisenberg.  

[Greg Nog]

I bet it's going to be a shot of Gus Fring's grave, and then at the end, his hand shoots up out of the earth.

[RoyBiggins]

Greg's right.  And then, in Episode 9, we'll find out it wasn't Fring, it was ABEL MAGWICH, who is responsible for that German front company.

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

finally caught up.

gotta say i love that gus died like a fucking supervillain