Tag Archive | Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad Episode 514 “Ozymandias”

“The reaction has begun.”

I’m just going to put this out there from the start: I haven’t recovered from the episode yet, so writing this has been difficult, much moreso than usual. My thoughts aren’t totally settled. That episode could induce post-traumatic stress, yo! How sad is it that I really wish I wasn’t single right now just so I could have someone to hold me after these epic, soul-crushing, dream-shattering, gut-wrenching, awe-inspiring final episodes? I’m kind of not okay still.

This episode was the most exquisite hour ever spent on a plummeting descent into the abyss of Hell. I was so calm after the end of “To’hajiilee,” but after “Ozymandias,” I couldn’t sleep again, all wired up and amped, wanting to stress eat or curl into the fetal position and feeling somewhat traumatized by what I’d just watched, but in the best possible way. With Breaking Bad, you get tortured in such a wonderful way you wouldn’t give it up for anything. That’s sure something. With every episode, even as it all crashes and burns, I’m even more glad that they’re taking this story to its awful conclusion.

No one on this show was having an A1 Day, except, perhaps, the writer (literally). What each character dreaded most came to pass. They pleaded to no avail, crumpled, collapsed, fell to their knees. Everybody cried. Just about everyone got dealt a fate worse than death, except of course, the one who actually got to die, and with some dignity. Yeah, Hank might be the best off out of almost anyone.

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Live Chat for “Ozymandias” (Breaking Bad)

Sep15

Hey everyone!

As mentioned in this post, there will now be a “live chat” post for each new episode. Feel free to post thoughts before, during and after the episode here. This will be a place for all the discussion on the new episode before the review post goes up.

I’m actually holding off till the second showing of the episode (people will be coming over for that one but not the first) so I’ll check back in in a few hours.

I don’t know about anyone else but I already feel all anxious and have butterflies in my stomach.

If you want to get even more excited, check out what Vince Gilligan has to say about this episode. Warning though, there is a small spoiler in that this article gives away one character who definitely makes it to 515. Kinda wish I hadn’t read for that reason. So read at your own risk.

Have at it!

The post for “Ozymandias” is now up!

~Emilia J

Breaking Bad Episode 513 “To’hajiilee”

Sep10

“Hank, why is there what looks like brains in our garbage can?”

ICE IN MY VEINS

WOW. Just…WOW. What an episode. Surprisingly, I had a strange sense of calm after last night’s episode. Much moreso than last week. Slept better too and I’ve been feeling calm all day. Maybe I have more bloodlust than I thought and just need a desert shootout every now and then. Or maybe it’s because this is the first episode in awhile that felt like it included just a smidge of release instead of all buildup, despite the excruciating cliffhanger. Maybe it’s that whole staying cool in a crisis thing, which I’ve definitely experienced before in real life, and the fallout will come later. The situation on this show is definitely a crisis. Threat Level Midnight, yo.

Anyway, on to the actual content of the episode. It’s hard to know where to start. This was one jam-packed hour. Almost stuck in too much awe to write about it. A calm awe, mind you, but still.

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Live Chat for “To’hajiilee” (Breaking Bad)

Sep8

Hey everyone!

Have at it!

The episode post for “To’hajiilee” is now up!

~Emilia J

A Bummer, A New Feature, An Opportunity and Quick Updates (all Breaking Bad Related)

Sep5

BUMMER

Let’s do the sad news first.

Yesterday tickets went onsale for the Breaking Bad series finale event at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and I couldn’t get tickets. I had two browsers going, but it just went from “not onsale yet” to “none available” with one click of the refresh button. I’m having a hard time shaking how bummed I felt after that. I’ve actually been keeping track of details about the event since the first whispers about it came out in February, and during this summer when more info was coming out, I always kept a page on my phone open to a google search for updates.

I imagined watching the finale under the stars in a cemetery (I mean can you get any cooler than that?) with a good friend in LA I haven’t seen in years, maybe meeting up with some of the AMC forum folks I’ve been chatting and discussing episodes with for all this time. It all sounded so magical. And when I found out there would be a Q&A with the cast and writers, it couldn’t get any better. I could picture it all, then coming home to write all about it here. It would be the perfect icing to writing about the final episode. Continue reading →

Breaking Bad Episode 512 “Rabid Dog”

Sep3

“Whatever you think’s supposed to happen, the exact reverse opposite of that is gonna happen.”

We finally meet Marie’s therapist, Dave.

And Jesse finally gets some lasagna sans scabs. Marie says she’ll heat some up.

This was a tough episode. It’s funny, in my big Predictions post, when I updated after “Confessions,” I was going to write (and at this point I’m not even sure I didn’t) that I had a feeling that “Rabid Dog” might be a bit of a low point, but that everything after (and I’m especially looking forward to “Ozymandias”) is just going to rock. And I’ve seen a lot of complaints already about “Rabid Dog”–and people are upset for a whole variety of reasons–and for me as a viewer, as a fan, it made me uncomfortable. It’s not a fun wild ride like some. It’s unsettling. I couldn’t sleep at all afterward. But after watching it a second time, I see it differently. I appreciated so many things about this hour of television. It’s a bitter wine, but good nonetheless

In a way, that title should’ve been plural. I look at the main characters who were featured in this episode–Walt, Skyler, Hank, Marie, Jesse and Saul–and almost all of them could be described as a rabid dog about something. In a twist, the only one who wasn’t rabid was Walt. That was a surprise.

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Breaking Bad Episode 511 “Confessions”

Aug27

“Eat me.” Jesse’s first words.

This was my favorite episode so far this summer. Holy shit. So much to discuss. But first:

I gotta do it. I TOLD YOU SO in last week’s predictions that Jesse would find out about Brock and the poisoning. Yeah bitch!

So, are we getting ourselves into a Chekhov’s Disappearer situation now? That’s the second time that someone on the show has tried to use Saul’s last resort and the second time it hasn’t worked out. Walt was going to do it back in 411 “Crawl Space” but then he went to the crawl space to get the money and Skyler had given it to Ted for his IRS fiasco.

Now Jesse gets even closer to using this “out.” Saul tells Jesse, “This is it. Once I make the call, no take-backs.” Saul makes the call and asks for “a new dust filter for a Hoover Max Extract Pressure Pro Model 60,” Jesse’s at the pickup site, it’s all good to go…and then he just wants to smoke a little pot and the whole plan goes up in smoke. (Much more on that coming up.) So a second attempt to use the disappearer is thwarted. Will the third time be the charm? Will Walt (and family?) end up using the guy later on? Is that how Walt ends up in New Hampshire? Will this “gun” ever go off?

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Breaking Bad Episode 510 “Buried”

Aug20

The question that was on everyone’s mind was answered in this episode. Yes, Saul is in fact still wearing the ribbon from the Wayfarer 515 plane crash.

And the question people didn’t even know they had was also answered. Yes, Saul’s office has a back door.

Seriously though. Lines in the sand.

This episode was all about laying out the loyalties. Everyone has chosen a side now. The only exception, the wild card, is Jesse. Jesse didn’t say a single word in the entire episode. We will have to wait and see if he starts talking once Hank enters the room. I have some theories about that, but predictions come at the end of the post. For now, Jesse’s just a money-tossing, depressed, guilty, scared Wild Card, the loyalest character whose loyalties are undetermined as yet.

Skyler chooses Walt. Walt actually assumes she wouldn’t. He knows on some level, more than he seemed to in the first half of Season Five, what a mess he’s made of his marriage. During last summer’s episodes, I was not on Team Walt at all, and I wouldn’t say that I’m on his side now, but a few things made me come around to his way of seeing things in this episode, made me feel for him, and in one instance, made me actually proud of him.

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Breaking Bad Episode 509 “Blood Money”

Aug13

“I gotta say, I don’t like the way you’re looking at me right now.”

Oh. My. God. Breaking Bad is back!!!

And holy shit, in that flashforward teaser, the White house has seen some better days. I think it’s safe to say that this scene is supposed to follow directly after the flashforward we saw last summer, where Walt, coughing and taking meds and making a 52 with his bacon, buys an M60 in a Denny’s bathroom. Not exactly a sign that times are dandy for Walter White. Next stop is his trashed house to retrieve the ricin and drive off for whatever mission or “last stand” he’s about to make. But of course, Future Walt must of course first survey the damage done to his house and the yellow “Heisenberg” painted on the wall. And scare or shock the living crap out of his neighbor, Carol.

Such a great teaser. Gives us a little continuation, a little more story, but asks more questions than it answers. Why is the house in this state of disarray? Has it become public that Walter White is Heisenberg? Did the whole family leave in a hurry together? Are the others alive? Who’s the ricin (and the M60) for? Why is Carol so startled by Walt that she drops her grocery bag (which of course contains oranges)? Will Walt survive his mission?

I wonder if there will be anymore flashforwards (my guess is no) before we catch up to this point in the story, (I’m making an educated assumption) in episode 515. It’ll be awhile before all these questions are answered. Plenty of time to guess, theorize and speculate in the meantime.

Until then, back to the present with Hank on the pot.

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Breaking Bad: Hank’s Dilemma in All its Dimensions

Jul23

WARNING: This post contains SPOILERS if you are not caught up on the first half of Season Five of Breaking Bad. If you did not see the episodes that aired in summer 2012, stop right there, watch them, and then you can come back. If the words “Hank on the pot” mean nothing to you, do not go any further!

You’ve been warned.

Okay, so, last we saw Hank, he was sitting on the toilet, just looking for some reading material while taking a dump. And let’s back up a bit before that. The Whites and the Schraders were having a poolside party. The women were talking about hair (Marie wants a halo) and the men were talking about home-brewing beer (Walt says it’s like chemistry). It was this odd, unexpected happy ending scene. Walt had retired from the meth, err empire, business after making shitloads of money. Walt had even paid Jesse back the five million he had withheld from the buyout. His debts were paid, his children were back home and life was sweet.

But then Hank just had to take a shit, and while on the pot he found Walt’s copy of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, with the inscription, “To my other favorite W.W., It’s an honour working with you. Fondly, G.B.” Gale Boetticher’s poetic justice from beyond the grave.

It left us all, at that mid-season finale, saying one thing over and over: HANK KNOWS.

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