Breaking Bad (AMC) TV Show • Page 21

It’s not that it simply lacks realism. It’s that it is counter to what “realism” is within the context of the show. The build up/explosion itself is great. But then for some reason they decide to have Gus’s last shot be something out of a cartoon. That’s not iconic at all.

 

I mean... I mentioned the phrase "zombie Gus" and everyone assumed I meant his last frame on screen, so I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that it was a pretty iconic shot, even if you didn't like it or thought it didn't match the tone.

 

Ah okay we’re not watching the same show.

 

Most shows would not do something so ludicrous, so it has to be the same show.

The whole thing is a silly way to try and blame Walter for deaths that he is only tangentially related to. Jane could have overdosed or choked in any other moment, and her father could have taken more time off or not let it affect his work. The entire season uses the flash forward to present all of this dread and mystery, and it all adds up to nothing. After that really awful scene in the gymnasium with Walter giving the speech, it is not even relevant to the plot anymore.

 

Even so, I can handle Walt being the cause of stress to an air traffic controller who’s failure causes two planes to collide as opposed to a bomb going off a foot away from someone and that person walking out of a room with half a face in no pain, straightens his tie, and collapses. Still my favorite show ever though haha.

 

Nobody uses “iconic” to describe something they think is bad. No one is calling the Star Wars prequels iconic just because all the bad lines are memorably bad

 

Yeah. *You* think it's bad and non-iconic. Plenty of other people feel the opposite, which was my point.

 

That’s not how your original post was framed at all lol

 

K.

 

The definition of "iconic" is "widely recognized and well-established"

The use of that word definitely applies

 

Jane’s death gives a human face to the destruction that Walt is causing through his meth cooking. The plane crash is a cosmic extension of the repercussions of his actions, including a deliberate choice to let her die that up to that point was the most horrific way Walt had “broken bad” in the series. His increasing disregard for human life and justification for harming others in the pursuit of his interests starts with Jane, and the universe rains fire down from above as a result. It is 100% central to the plot, as the whole show is about Walt’s moral descent.

I guess we just disagree about the flash forwards, but for my money that was when I knew this show could be an all-time classic. It’s the kind of bold stylistic maneuver that 99% of series wouldn’t even attempt, let alone introduce as a framing device for just four episodes of a second season. I imagine you found it cheap to subvert the expected cartel/DEA attack that they seemed to suggest, but I found the alternative much more satisfying.

 

The show is about the actions of people; it has never had religious or supernatural elements. The implication that Walter is somehow responsible for two planes crashing together is ludicrous. It is not subversion; it is a random event jammed into the narrative. It would be unexpected if Jesse turned out to be an alien and it would be shocking if Walter Jr. turned out to be an FBI agent, but those would not be subversive.

The show generally had a micro-focus on the effect of Walter's actions. You never really saw the users of his meth, but instead the show focused on the personal. That is a perfectly fine approach to take, but it gets itself twisted when we try to say that the guy drinking coffee in the 17th row of a plane is dead because a guy did not save someone choking to death while on drugs which led to her father's depression which led to him failing at his job. If the plane crash is Walter's fault, it would be really easy to absolve ourselves of any situation in our lives. If someone gets yelled at by their boss and then gets in a car accident, it would be the boss' fault in this sort of logic.

The first two seasons in general are just really spotty. The show picked up in the third season and was very strong in the fourth season and most of the fifth season, but there is so much in the series that feels cheap and lazy. It is part of what kept it from reaching the heights of stuff like The Sopranos or The Wire or Deadwood or Mad Men.

 

Bit of a slippery slope argument there with the aliens and secret FBI agents, no? While I agree that the show doesn’t focus on “supernatural” elements, I’d argue there are a number of moments where the universe itself seems to force the characters to reckon with their moral choices. For example, in season 1 when Grey Matter offers to pay Walt’s whole treatment, removing his need to to do any of the things he does to make money. Or in season 3, when Skyler goes to the four corners to escape Walt and flips a coin twice into the same state, telling her to leave. In both of these situations, the characters exert their own will over what advice the universe seems to be offering them.

Yes, the implication is EXACTLY that it’s Walt’s fault. And whether that’s directly true or not (of course there are other factors at play in a midair plane crash), the protagonist’s reaction to the event is the goal of the narrative choice. And rather than do any kind of self-examination or change the path he’s on, Walt tries to absolve himself of the guilt of the plans crash in that “really awful scene in the gymnasium” where he equivocates about the death of hundreds of people that he clearly feels subconsciously guilty about. He angrily dismissed the ribbons for the community and their need to mourn dead bodies literally falling from the sky as performative pain (resonant much in 2020?) because he can’t allow himself to think about how his direct culpability in Jane’s death contributed to — not caused — the plane crash. It’s why one of the series’ best and most celebrated episodes is “Fly”, which is where Walt is in a vulnerable enough position to reckon with the damage he’s caused to his loved one and others.

The eye of the teddy bear (another one of the more iconic visuals of the series) symbolizes the death of innocence that was the result of his actions, and the ever-present “eye” of his conscience not letting him forget his culpability in the pain of others. It reappears multiple times in seasons after the plane crash as a motif, and the way he responds to it reflects where he is in his journey. (The damage to the half-blown-apart bear is also echoed when Gus steps out of the room in that season 4 scene you dismiss as unrealistic.)

The reason why Breaking Bad doesn’t reach the heights of the other shows you mention has nothing to do with lazy plotting. On the contrary, the potboiler plotting for Breaking Bad is among the most celebrated in recent television history. For me, the reason it doesn’t rise to the heights of those other shows is because — as you said — it has such a focused view on Walt’s story. There’s less to think about on a macro sense and more to appreciate on a cinematic and immediate plotting level, which is cool but not the stuff that my favorite shows are made of.

P.S. You’re just flat wrong saying that you never saw users of his meth. The damage caused as a result of their actions is littered across the series, most obviously in Jesse’s personal arc. As the “street level” view in Breaking Bad, he has to deal with the horrible person-to-person repercussions of what they’re doing more frequently than Walt, including in his own life.

 

We got to the “I am the one who knocks” episode yesterday.

It’s weird to encounter these things that were cultural moments years ago, years after they happened lol

 

I agree that omitting the plane crash and the Gus death scene would have been wayyy better. Those moments really took away from the show.

while we’re at it - the s5 shootout between the nazis and Hank where 200 bullets were fired and no one gets hit and the sheet metal of the cars blocks large caliber bullets. Omit that too.

 

This show is still the best show I’ve ever seen but I bet it could stand to have somewhere between 4 and 10 episodes cut to make it closer to “perfect”.

 

Better than The Sopranos or The Wire?

 

I love Gus's death scene. I realize it's unrealistic and ridiculous, but I still enjoy watching it every time. Super satisfying

 

Yeah taking out that moment would make me angry. I get that it’s outlandish, but it works for me personally

 

at this point I’m wondering if I will ever watch those. maybe sopranos one day.

 

I'm going through Sopranos right now, it's great. Only on season 3 but I doubt it'll connect with me like Breaking Bad did. The Wire is fantastic too. Definitely recommend both for any BB fan.

 

if you watched breaking bad and not sopranos you effin up

 

Never seen Sopranos or The Wire, but something I should probably look into

 

its because I’m not a gen Xer