tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post5052853095536003793..comments2024-03-25T19:18:14.047-04:00Comments on What's Alan Watching?: Breaking Bad, "Down": Lies and the lying liars who tell themAlan Sepinwallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03388147774725646742noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-25576262283842562052009-04-07T21:03:00.000-04:002009-04-07T21:03:00.000-04:00I still feel for Walt who made horrible, destructi...I still feel for Walt who made horrible, destructive decisions while experiencing the crisis of facing death Sklyer, on the other hand, is awful. As far as she knows, Walt's behavioral changes may be attributable to depression, anxiety, fear--all the feelings people facing death experience. Why would her first reaction be suspicion (even if she's right), rather than patience and understanding--particularly since she pushed him into debilitating treatment she knows he doesn't want. If Walt were really beyond redemption, he would use (or manufacture) physical and psychological pain to deflect Skyler's suspicion, but he doesn't.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-54884545189202948902009-04-03T16:26:00.000-04:002009-04-03T16:26:00.000-04:00I liked how when Skyler pulled out a cigarette and...I liked how when Skyler pulled out a cigarette and saw that other pregnant woman shooting her dirty looks she just gave her a look back and inhaled like, "You have no idea what I've been through so back off."<BR/><BR/>How untruthful did Walt sound as he rattled on to Skyler about the alarm sound on his phone? When Skyler was first giving Walt the silent treatment, I was irritated at her and then I remembered how in the dark she's been, cooped up at home not knowing where her dying husband is and expecting a child she didn't plan for.<BR/><BR/>I definitely agree with the comments on "The Godfather" feel to the episode. Skyler, like Kay, is not one to stick around her lying husband.Anna Weaver Lopiccolohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18197423494451183926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-61462975896581017212009-04-02T17:26:00.000-04:002009-04-02T17:26:00.000-04:00Wondering why no one has yet mentioned that fact t...Wondering why no one has yet mentioned that fact that the GUN was missing from the heating duct when Walt gathered up Jesse's share of the money. I can only conclude that Walt Jr. found it. Skyler would have confronted Walt with it, and with the money.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-72038625584792444332009-04-01T21:00:00.000-04:002009-04-01T21:00:00.000-04:00At this point? Haven't they made it clear by now t...<I>At this point? Haven't they made it clear by now that they're gonna move a tortoise pace?</I><BR/><BR/>Not exactly. The first three episodes were packed with gunplay and tight squeezes. This episode was almost entirely character development.<BR/><BR/>I'm as ADD as the next guy, and very capable of getting annoyed at TV episodes wherein "nothing happens", but I thought this one was magnificent. Cranston and Gunn are dynamite together.digammahttp://digamma.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-66431242679811703192009-04-01T20:47:00.000-04:002009-04-01T20:47:00.000-04:00Great comments and a great episode.Perhaps I'm rea...Great comments and a great episode.<BR/><BR/>Perhaps I'm reading way too much into this, but I thought Skylar's smoking was linked to Walt Jr.'s condition. My guess is Walt is also aware that her smoking during the first pregnancy could have caused their son's cerebral palsy(and something they both would have decided to keep from Walt Jr.)<BR/><BR/>Now, she's lapsed and fighting her own personal demons.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-42508773035150382002009-04-01T20:44:00.000-04:002009-04-01T20:44:00.000-04:00Great comments and a great episode.Not sure if I'm...Great comments and a great episode.<BR/><BR/>Not sure if I'm reading way too much into it, but Skylar's smoking seemed to be linked to Walt Jr.'s cerebral palsy. I would think that Walt is also aware that her smoking during the first pregnancy could have caused the disability (something they would have both decided to keep from their son). Now she's lapsing while fighting her own personal demons.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-86232865079264700662009-04-01T12:03:00.000-04:002009-04-01T12:03:00.000-04:00What do you guys think Walt & Jesse should do ...What do you guys think Walt & Jesse should do about the mechanic/tow truck driver they screwed over? Go back and pay him his money or kill him?<BR/>Afterall, he knows what they've been up to and now that he's out of money he may go to the cops.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-84873483272085675072009-03-31T18:54:00.000-04:002009-03-31T18:54:00.000-04:00I think it's interesting that commenters are havin...I think it's interesting that commenters are having such a reaction to Skyler's smoking! I myself thought, wow, I bet that cigarette tastes good!! Yes, it is very dangerous to smoke while pregnant, and I would never do it myself (except maybe if I were married to a meth-dealing cancer patient), but smoking one cigarette is not going to "abort" her baby, as "Holden Caulfield" would suggest.<BR/><BR/>I did, however, see it as a sign of Walt poisoning everything around him. If Skyler leaves him (which I hope she does), it will be interesting to see how the new baby--and whether she lets Walt see him/her--comes into play as a bargaining chip.<BR/><BR/>On the other hand...what if Walt tells her and she's cool with it? We assume she'd leave him immediately, but she IS badass enough to be SMOKING during PREGNANCY!!Jennifer Boudinothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00474532822351545580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-77110404940903416652009-03-31T13:11:00.000-04:002009-03-31T13:11:00.000-04:00Skyler is the worst. Her kid has cerebral palsy -...Skyler is the worst. Her kid has cerebral palsy - whch can be caused by smoking during pregnancy. Now she has a high risk pregnancy, and is deliberately smoking to passive/aggressively punish her family. Walt at least wants to leave something for his family so he won't be remembered (or forgotten) as a loser. <BR/><BR/>What does Skyler want her legacy to be? I prefer Tuco to her.chiefdeputyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00933899351786081664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-37745757756550647812009-03-31T04:28:00.000-04:002009-03-31T04:28:00.000-04:00And going WAY out on a very thin limb here.. Pink ...And going WAY out on a very thin limb here.. Pink bear & Pinkerton ... any kind of link?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13305730530627318438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-38376832836223346592009-03-31T03:57:00.000-04:002009-03-31T03:57:00.000-04:00anonymoose said...(The toy had its eye fished out ...<I>anonymoose said...<BR/><BR/>(The toy had its eye fished out of the pool, it was clearly Walt's pool.)<BR/><BR/>I guess some of us are still gun-shy in the wake of the great BSG earth swap caper of 2008. Maybe it just looks like Walt's pool; I didn't see any distinguishing lawn furniture! Aaak!</I><BR/><BR/>Actually the pool furniture was pretty distinguishing if you were investigating, but never mind that. At the start of Episode 1 of season 2 (Seven Thirty-seven) we see the first flashback, and one shot at the very start goes backward briefly to the house and shows the covered area where in Episode 4 of season 1 (Cancer Man) we saw everyone outside at the BBQ before Walt spilled the beans. More definitively, Cancer Man had a scene later where Walt and Jesse argue outside the same area in front of the concrete chimney which has an extremely distinctive logo/graphic on it which can clearly be made out in the Seven Thirty-seven shot. It is certainly Walt's house.<BR/><BR/>Kinda interestingly (don't you think) I was wrong when I commented earlier that the eyeball had been fished out of the pool previously and is then seen in the evidence bag. The eyeball of course actually went down the filter system... meaning whoever is gathering evidence has actually gone through the contents of the pool filter and emptied it...<BR/><BR/>Kinda even more interestingly (I'm pretty sure you'll think and nobody has mentioned...) in each of the two flashback scenes the pink bear is the only damn thing seen in color with everything else shot in black and white. Gilligan the visuals magician - so subtle and so obvious - and yet so not...<BR/><BR/>And correct me if I'm wrong... but to take a moment hare and harp back on the "oh these episodes move so slow" theme, and my response that "yes but then again they spin you so far forward via these flashbacks too" etc, also add to that something else I don't recall anyone mentioning before: the incredible and repeated previous use of stunning time-lapse shots in setting scenes and passing time. Another utterly brilliant and utterly opposite visual direction to that deliberate "long-drawn-out" aspect of the show.<BR/><BR/>There's what looks like a lipstick and a definitely a hairbrush in those evidence bags as well - what kind of a possible "set-up" might that foretell? If it perhaps was one, is Skyler by then in on it too?<BR/><BR/>Kinda really interesting (if you're still with me and haven't fallen asleep here) is that Mr Pinkybear is in a swimming pool (not a place known to generally be conducive to a state of combustion) and yet he is all burnt down one side... Just what happened to him and how did he get here.. and just quietly what the hell value is THAT to a set up scenario??<BR/><BR/>Kinda super seriously interesting (for totally anal people like me and you folk that go how the hell did you SEE this sh**) is that Mr Pinkybear is all burnt down his LEFT side with his LEFT eye missing in episode one... and then upside down (which itself is wrong but might be explainable if you were Jesse on 99.7% pure Meth, but still couldn’t explain that...) with his RIGHT side all burnt and his RIGHT eye missing in episode 4... Rotation and direction both inverted... I so love to hate your brilliance Mr Gilligan.<BR/><BR/>Oh how much you can get out of 145 seconds of television!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13305730530627318438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-60953574228652010002009-03-31T01:04:00.000-04:002009-03-31T01:04:00.000-04:00Also becoming more sympathetic towards Jesse for s...<I>Also becoming more sympathetic towards Jesse for some reason...anyone do a slight fist pump with him running away with his van?</I><BR/><BR/>Yep, I sure did. I also can't believe how much sympathy I have for the little druggie now.<BR/><BR/>The more the season goes on, the more I dread finding out why that pink teddy bear is floating in the pool.deznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-31284484776219382542009-03-30T23:26:00.000-04:002009-03-30T23:26:00.000-04:00Dan --I'm in total agreement here. Walt is really...Dan --<BR/><BR/>I'm in total agreement here. Walt is really smart. He's already lied about his "fugue state" to get him out of a jam, so why wouldn't he stage something to attempt to fix all of this? And considering his luck, his plan will be successful, but something unforeseen at the end will ruin it anyway.<BR/><BR/>(I have not seen or read any spoilers yet, this is just speculation based on the flash-forwards and my understanding of Walt)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-70097359109945373222009-03-30T23:12:00.000-04:002009-03-30T23:12:00.000-04:00The toy had its eye fished out of the pool, it was...<I>The toy had its eye fished out of the pool, it was clearly Walt's pool.</I><BR/><BR/>I guess some of us are still gun-shy in the wake of the great BSG earth swap caper of 2008. Maybe it just looks like Walt's pool; I didn't see any distinguishing lawn furniture! Aaak!<BR/><BR/><I>I still reacted more viscerally against Skyler smoking . . .</I><BR/>You're probably not alone in that feeling since most perceive the unborn child as an innocent 3rd party in this context and that the mother's role should be to protect & even sacrifice for her child if necessary. (That's intended as a simple assertion of our collective psychology & not as a partisan point. I'm pleading agnostic on where it falls on the social construction-biological imprint continuum.)<BR/>--<I>anonymoose</I>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-16001497307385121402009-03-30T21:17:00.000-04:002009-03-30T21:17:00.000-04:00Excellent observations, one and all. My take on th...Excellent observations, one and all. <BR/><BR/>My take on the flash-forward is that it is a set-up by Walt to hide his disappearance. The DEA is moving in on him, and he has to manufacture a way out of getting nailed, so this is it.Cinemaniahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12742365356939303431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-41932942311928528762009-03-30T19:55:00.000-04:002009-03-30T19:55:00.000-04:00Oh Alan just how did this one not start:Spoilers f...Oh Alan just how did this one not start:<BR/><BR/>Spoilers for episode four of "Breaking Bad" season two coming up just as as I find someone to repair my antique Irish bicycle... " ?? <BR/><BR/>Alan pointed it out before, and its being continued here. We are seeing a series of flash forwards being linked together, slowly expanding what is going to happen, presumably continuing to the point where the event itself unfolds, perhaps at the end of the season.<BR/><BR/>The toy had its eye fished out of the pool, it was clearly Walt's pool. Now the entire toy is fished out, and we see the eye already in a bag, along with a wallet and what are almost certainly walts glasses, and various other items all in evidence bags. So this is the police, or the DEA, this is Walt's house, and they are wearing biohazard suits and breathing apparatus. So self spolier - clearly the house has been used for something that has caused toxic fumes to be present, and clearly something has gone seriously wrong and forced someone to leave in a hurry or possibly worse be taken against their will.<BR/><BR/>Has someone blown up a cooking attempt and brought the police to the site? Is Walt in custody? Has someone given them away to the DEA? Has someone made a last second escape from a VERY tight situation? Is Vince Gilligan planing the end of the series at the end of these 13 episodes or is all this just setting up season 3?<BR/><BR/>I too am glad Skyler has called Walt's bluff. He's gotten away with way too much for far too long, and it's appropriate that when he finds he cant push any further it has ending up being the catalyst for he himself finally losing it completely. He has indeed treated everyone like garbage, and I found even his idea of "fun" with Walt Jr to be quite "out there" taking him on a driving lesson - something it seemed quite apparent WJ wasnt all that into and certainly wasnt appreciating by the end of the excercise.<BR/><BR/>Even though he's certainly made his share of mistakes to get him where he is you almost end up sorry for Jesse. By the time Walt's made the bad decision of going back to Tuco and started the whole scenario that got his share of the money lost, his parents have disowned him and gotten him homeless, nobody will give him a roof, his bike gets stolen and hes fallen literally into deep Sh**, you've got to wonder just how much worse it could possibly get for him. In all the sadness that is Walt's desperately sad life it was almost improbable that anyone elses could be made to look more bleak and yet Jesse's did this ep. <BR/><BR/>Walt's got little left to lose except his family and his life. I strongly suspect the family is about to go, and strangely like Alan I find the beautiful fairness in life that in real life so often gets thrownb out the window will indeed get tossed here too, in that his one self argument that well he can just lose is own life now too and it wont matter will not happen and life will laugh at him and put his cancer into remission. If that were to happen I can not wait to see if it brings a sense of passion for life or as i suspect simply just utter rage against everything in his the world.<BR/><BR/>I know there are comments about the deliberate slow speedwith which the main body of each episode moves, but personally I find that SO refreshing, so full of detail and so realistic and lifelike, and so UNlike how TV episodes usually work, that it just continually rivets me to the screen and the episodes just seem shorter and shorter. Then there is this very subtle but very infomative lead in sequence that Gilligan is playing out, so totally like his story telling style at its best in the X-Files. (A show I all but prayed to in the 90s). It's all going so slow in one sense, and yet you're also being so massively fast tracked in another sense: and it's that juxtaposition and the suspense in how and when the two aspects will inevitably be brought together that makes it all the more enthralling.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13305730530627318438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-34597210000014448042009-03-30T19:20:00.000-04:002009-03-30T19:20:00.000-04:00Is it weird that for all of the terrible things th...Is it weird that for all of the terrible things that Walt did in this episode and has done in the past, I still reacted more viscerally against Skyler smoking than I did for anything Walt's ever done?Question Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00267485396018087075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-38081677579656324942009-03-30T18:31:00.000-04:002009-03-30T18:31:00.000-04:00Both Robert Cervantes and K J Gillenwater comment ...Both Robert Cervantes and K J Gillenwater comment on a pregnant Skyler smoking a cigarette to help ease the pain of knowing that her husband Walt, dying as he is, is lying to her for reasons she can not comprehend. It is an exquisitely constructed scene where she, with a glance at a disapproving stranger, silently acknowledges the social approbation of the healthy lifestyle and willfully violates the recommended prohibition anyway. <BR/><BR/>In an age where life is understood to be a complex system of chemistry, the role of psychoactive molecules is topic of dispute. Biochemistry in the pursuit of happiness by organic chemical constructions is apparently dependent on the definition of happiness. The Shield and Sons of Anarchy both touch upon the drug market in their storylines, however, Breaking Bad makes drugs the central axis around which family, money and murder revolve. This is a tremendous episode in one the best overall series on the tube.Mark Bnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-75638418905015085212009-03-30T15:33:00.000-04:002009-03-30T15:33:00.000-04:00I was glad to see Skyler call bulls**t on Walt. I...I was glad to see Skyler call bulls**t on Walt. I was afraid that he would lie his way out of this. When she walks out on his cell phone lie, it was great. She knew it was a lie and wasn't going to listen to another word of it. Is she trying to perform a self-abortion with the cigarette or is it that her whole life is so messed up she doesn't care either way? It seems as thought the charred bunny in the pool is some long incredibly slow reveal that will coalesce in the season finale.Holden Caulfieldnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-35149411782677430812009-03-30T14:06:00.000-04:002009-03-30T14:06:00.000-04:00I saw Skyler's smoking as a sign that she is detac...<I>I saw Skyler's smoking as a sign that she is detaching herself from her baby...Walt's baby. She doesn't care anymore about her child...which was a little disturbing to me. I could be wrong about that...but I am assuming this is what she's been doing while Walt waited for her at home. Instead of playing the good wife and pregnant woman, she's saying to Walt, "screw you."</I><BR/><BR/>I was thinking more in terms of how with his actions - and his turn toward the 'dark side' of morality, Walt was dragging down everyone around him, even those who weren't specifically involved with the meth.<BR/><BR/>I also think it would be an interesting twist if Walt is in remission, too. Can't really see him going back to teaching chemistry.<BR/><BR/>And OT, I apologize, but upstream someone mentioned the beloved Wire - <B>Alan</B>, did you see David Simon's comments about how the disappearing newspaper business would increase corruption overall? I'm paraphrasing dreadfully, because there were more nuances to what he said, but you get my drift.Yet another anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-25425473897484615172009-03-30T12:16:00.000-04:002009-03-30T12:16:00.000-04:00“I guess it's a good juxtaposition with what Walt ...“I guess it's a good juxtaposition with what Walt hath wrought - he's more "normal" so my sympathies are more with him (and his family) than with Jesse”<BR/><BR/>Interesting, I actually see Jesse as being more normal. I don’t find a family man deciding all of a sudden to cook meth to get money normal. Expectedly when he has other options open to him. <BR/>However, some druggie kid whose family has to give up on him. My guess is that this situation happens way more then Walt’s in the real world. <BR/><BR/>About Jesse not deserving 50%, don't forget that Walt took Jesse's gun and left him without any protection. This made it easier for Tuco to kidnap him. <BR/>And it was Walt's idea to get involved with Tuco to begin with, Jesse was very much against it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-73869258825148901972009-03-30T10:43:00.000-04:002009-03-30T10:43:00.000-04:00Jesse wasn't being careless with the money, though...Jesse wasn't being careless with the money, though. He was trying to get out of town with it when Tuco kidnapped him, and he didn't exactly have time to get it out of the Monte Carlo when Hank pulled up to Tuco's trailer. That Walt still had his cut (which he was getting ready to move when Jesse and Tuco showed up) and Jesse didn't is simply blind luck.Alan Sepinwallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03388147774725646742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-69065301439608934462009-03-30T10:34:00.000-04:002009-03-30T10:34:00.000-04:00Even with the fight and their 50/50 arrangement, I...Even with the fight and their 50/50 arrangement, I don't think Walt would have given in to Jesse. That money really does belong to Walt. Jesse by being careless has just stumbled into a 75-25 split. That's just not fair and someone as self absorbed as Walt wouldn't back down.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-62308984173357778112009-03-30T08:09:00.000-04:002009-03-30T08:09:00.000-04:00That was definitely Walt's house with the pool and...That was definitely Walt's house with the pool and the teddy bear...and the guy in the full-on breathing apparatus/biohazard suit. I am going with the idea that, yes, he turns his own house into a meth lab. I'm guessing AFTER his wife and son move out. <BR/><BR/>If he believes he is going to die (which I'm still not buying), and the wife and son leave b/c of his lies and deception, all he would have left is the meth money to leave his family when he is gone in order to appear as a 'good guy' to them after he's dead. It's the only thing he CAN do at this point, since he's dug himself such a huge hole.<BR/><BR/>I saw Skyler's smoking as a sign that she is detaching herself from her baby...Walt's baby. She doesn't care anymore about her child...which was a little disturbing to me. I could be wrong about that...but I am assuming this is what she's been doing while Walt waited for her at home. Instead of playing the good wife and pregnant woman, she's saying to Walt, "screw you."<BR/><BR/>Very dark, but very very good. The whole incident with Jesse was heartbreaking and hilarious at the same time. In some ways, I was cheering for Jesse when he attacked Walt. Because, face it, since Walt came into his life, things have really gone downhill.K J Gillenwaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12023089365553324315noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-73756125116718468382009-03-30T04:58:00.000-04:002009-03-30T04:58:00.000-04:00cal said...The flash forward is of the same pool, ...<I><A>cal said...<BR/>The flash forward is of the same pool, and as anonymoose notes the evidence chain ended with what looked like Walt's glasses. </A></I> <BR/><BR/>The scene struck me as a flash forward too. It wasn't as clear this time, but the first time we saw the pink teddy bear, it was half burned. That seems foreboding. I'm thinking meth labs explode. Could this mean Walt will cook in his own home with bad results? Hope not.Eldritchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02247921343535184791noreply@blogger.com