Breaking Bad (spoilers welcome)

[Just Cal 461]

The final 2 episodes will be "extra long"

 

I'm sorry but copy pasta just makes it look a complete mess.

 

Each episode will be 75 minutes WITH ads. So if you're recording on a sky box or other DVR, make sure you add some extra time on to the end.

Or just watch it live or on Netflix.

[Cassidy 51]

So excited! This show is the only reason I wish weekends went fast.

[techno 3,521]

A bit off topic but saw this in a magazine the other day, a little bit of controversy.

http://www.kgw.com/lifestyle/Breaking-Bad-Lego-meth-lab-turns-heads-223944441.html

[spectre 633]

  On 9/22/2013 at 9:54 AM, techno said:

A bit off topic but saw this in a magazine the other day, a little bit of controversy.

http://www.kgw.com/lifestyle/Breaking-Bad-Lego-meth-lab-turns-heads-223944441.html

 

hahaha

[spectre 633]

as usual

 

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daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmmmnnnnnnnnnnnnn

 

and

 

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what the hell is his purpose for calling and leaving the phone for them to trace? We did learn that his call to skyler confessing everything was so she wouldn't be in trouble with him.  So I'm still hoping he has everything planned out, even though it looks pretty rough at the moment.  Among the endings I can guess

 

1. kill todd's gang and dies alone

2. dies trying to kill todd's gang

3. jesse kills walt

4. somehow finds a way to kill the gang AND get money to his family (unlikely)

5. dies chilling up in the cabin with disappearing man

6. ...... what else can you think of?

 

[Cassidy 51]

I agree with Spectre..

 

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Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn

 

and

 

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I thought that was such a cool episode. I think the ricin is going to Elliot, and the M60 is going to be used on the Nazi's. Still no idea how the show will end.

[spectre 633]

I know its long, but man is it interesting. Especially #1.

 

30 facts about Breaking Bad

 

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1. Walter White is real.

^{(Boston University; WCBV; ABC News; KLTV; Cladwell County Sheriff’s Department)}

While nobody has yet gone ‘full Heisenberg’, Vince Gilligan’s message about the perils of meth production and distribution apparently failed to reach a handful of hard-up educators. William Duncan, a chemistry teacher from Texas, was arrested for selling home-cooked meth within school grounds; in 2011, 74-year-old mathematics professor Irina Kristy was caught running a meth lab from her Boston home; North Carolina teacher’s assistant and meth chef Marc Hodges was arrested earlier this year after suspiciously purchasing 1,000 cases of matches; and Stephen Doran, a Boston teacher with stage 3 cancer, was found dealing meth and arrested in May. But perhaps the most striking case of life imitating art occurred before Breaking Bad was even on television. In 2008, an Alabama man (main photo, above) earned a place on the state’s Most Wanted list thanks to his thriving meth business. Admittedly, he was neither a teacher nor a cancer sufferer. But his name? Walter White.

 

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2. And so is Heisenberg.

^(AP)

The name Walt gives to his alter ego, “Heisenberg”, is a tip of the hat to Werner Heisenberg, one of the most important physicists of the 20th century. He won the Nobel Prize for developing the theory of quantum mechanics.

 

3. The cast is full of comedians.

^(ALAMY)

"If you can do comedy you can do drama," Vince Gilligan said recently of his approach to casting. "It doesn’t necessarily flow the other way." Consequently, Breaking Bad is packed with funny men – even if they’re not always given the chance to show it. Bob Odenkirk (Saul) is well known as the co-creator of US TV’s last great sketch series, Mr Show; Bill Burr (Kuby) is a stand-up comic, as are Lavell Crawford (Huell), Steven Michael Quezada (poor Gomie), and Javier Grajeda (Gus Fring’s boss at the cartel, and the man who put a severed head on a tortoise). And before he was a struggling actor, Bryan Cranston spent several months as a floundering comedian.

 

4. Gus Fring ended his life as a zombie.

For the aptly titled season 4 finale, Face Off, Vince Gilligan sought help from the prosthetic-effects team behind AMC’s zombie series The Walking Dead. Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger made a model of Gustavo Fring’s exploded Evil-Dead-meets-Two-Face head, which was then digitally blended with actor Giancarlo Esposito’s real noggin. According to Gilligan, “it took months”.

 

5. Wendy the hooker is much healthier than she looks.

^(AMC)

She was certainly perky when Jesse was around, but the show’s standout meth addict was never exactly a picture of good health. However, Julia Minesci, the actress who played the role of “Wendy S” from 2008-2010, has run the Hawaii Ironman six times, the Germany Ironman once and “countless marathons”.

 

6. Gale’s complete karaoke video – with Thai subtitles – is on YouTube.

 

7. And so is the Jesse Pinkman-directed video for Twaughthammer’s "Fallacies".

 

8. The White family home is an actual family home.

^(REX)

Far from being a drug baron’s digs or even a building dreamt up by Vince Gilligan, Walter White’s house in Breaking Bad has been the real-life home of a woman called Fran since 1973. She admits that “a lot of artistic licence” was taken with the property’s interior by the production designer and that Gilligan originally wanted to cover the pool up. And she doesn’t mind the hundreds of cars that slow down in front of her house every month.

 

9. Skinny Pete practised very hard for his piano solo.

Jesse’s wastrel sidekick gave a virtuoso performance of Bach’s Solfeggietto in the music shop at the beginning of season five. Charles Baker, a decent pianist and the actor who plays Pete, practised the piece for three hours every day for a month before filming. Much to Baker’s chagrin, only the intro made the cut.

 

10. The DEA's ‘Mustache man’ got the part by playing golf with Dean Norris.

^(AMC)

One extra has consistently stolen the show in Breaking Bad – the man with the enormous moustache often seen in the background at the DEA offices. Robert Sanchez, the man behind the novelty facial hair, knows actor Steven Michael Quezada (Agent Gomez) through softball and has admitted he got the part after playing golf with Quezada and Dean Norris. The retired fireman also competes in moustache competitions in his free time.

 

11. Walt’s Lotto code isn’t a complete dead end.

^(AMC)

The coordinates that Walt hid on a Lotto ticket (N 34, 59′, 20″, W 106, 36′, 52), which sadly proved fatal for Hank, don’t actually lead to $80 million in cash, or even a few plastic barrels. Instead, they point straight to Q Studios in Albuquerque, where Breaking Bad (plus Hollywood films such as The Avengers) is shot.

 

12. Breaking Bad helps beat addiction.

An Albuquerque clinic, the Sage Neuroscience Center, is using the show’s popularity to help get New Mexicans off narcotics. (The state has the highest rate of addiction in the US.) By sharing their stories of addiction, entrants have the chance to win one of two “Breaking Addiction” scholarships, which entitle them to 12 weeks of free rehabilitation treatment worth thousands of dollars.

 

13. Bryan Cranston was once wanted for murder.

In an interview for Marc Maron’s WTF podcast in 2011, the actor reminisced about the time he and his brother worked as waiters in a Florida restaurant where the chef was a tyrant named Peter Wong. “No matter how nice you may have been to him, he hated you,” said Cranston. “He screamed at you ... (with) a cleaver in his hand.” When the chef was found murdered, the police visited the restaurant and asked if anybody had ever expressed an interest in killing Peter Wong. "Everybody talked about killing Peter Wong," came the reply. "That's all we talked about." Unfortunately, the Cranston brothers had just resigned to ride cross-country on their motorcycles. For a while, they were suspects.

 

14. The Salamanca Cousins even have terrifying eyelids.

^(AMC)

Think the mute assassins who almost got Hank are tough? You have no idea. Daniel and Luis Moncado, the brothers who played the cousins, have both been in gangs and served time in jail. But Luis goes one better. He has the letters "F U" tattooed on his eyelids, etched there by placing a spoon behind each one. "Your eyelid is so thin the needle will go through and puncture your eye," he said. "You gotta put a spoon."

 

15. The first role Vince Gilligan wrote for Bryan Cranston was even more demented than Heisenberg.

 

^{(NETFLIX/FOX)}

Before creating Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan was best known for his work as a writer and producer on the sci-fi series, The X-Files. It was there that his and Bryan Cranston’s paths first crossed, on the Gilligan-written episode Drive. Cranston plays a crazed racist roofer who must drive due west at breakneck speed, or else his head will explode. Gilligan has said he “needed a guy who could be scary and kind of loathsome but at the same time had a deep, resounding humanity.” Sound familiar?

 

16. Blue meth really is more expensive.

Since the first series of BB, in 2008, copycat drug producers around the US have been adding blue food dye to their crystal meth in an attempt to dupe their customers into thinking it is stronger, like Heisenberg’s product. Possibly for that reason, the cost of blue crystal methamphetamine has been reported to be higher than that of normal, colourless “ice”.

 

17. ...but not necessarily better.

As many chemically minded pedants have pointed out, pure methamphetamine is not blue, but colourless.

 

18. Belize is actually a nice place to visit.

^(ALAMY)

When Saul suggested to Walt that he send Hank “on a trip to Belize” like he had done to Mike, everyone understood the euphemism – including the Belize Tourism Board. So keen were they to show that Belize was, in fact, a wonderful place, with “great music and friendly people”, that they extended an open invitation to the cast and crew of the series to take an all-expenses-paid holiday in the Central-American country.

 

19. Walt and Jesse’s cooking flashback in Ozymandias was the last Breaking Bad scene ever filmed.

Shortly afterwards, the cast and crew spent a drunken night in a local bar; Cranston ended up with a tattoo of the show’s logo on his finger, much to his wife’s disgust.

 

20. Seinfeld was a Breaking Bad training school.

Several BB cast members had roles on Jerry Seinfeld’s eponymous sitcom. As stingy dentist Tom Whatley, Bryan Cranston helped popularise the term ‘regifting’; Anna Gunn played Jerry’s supposedly cheating girlfriend in one episode; Bob Odenkirk played Elaine’s sexually frustrated boyfriend; and Jessica Hecht, aka Gray Matter’s Gretchen, appeared twice in two different parts.

 

21. Walt’s electrical wire trick (sort of) works.

It turns out that burning through plastic restraints while tied to a radiator isn’t the only thing live wires are good for. According to reports from Queensland, the technique popularised by Breaking Bad has been used by Australian inmates to light illicit cigarettes in their cells, causing the loss of some 425 television sets.

 

22. A 100-year-old cowboy almost starred in Season 3.

One of many discarded Breaking Bad plot lines – among them, Walt opens a pharmacy, Marie and Skyler go on a road trip – involved constant flashbacks to a cowboy in frontier times, which would somehow relate to the main story and star its own self-contained cast. Sadly, the writers couldn’t make it work.

 

23. Warren Buffett would gladly do business with Walter White.

^(GETTY)

The billionaire investor and Breaking Bad fan (above, with Aaron Paul) recently described Walter as a “good businessman”, going on to say that the druglord “would be my guy if I ever have to go toe-to-toe with anyone."

 

24. Jesse Plemons, aka baby-faced psychopath Todd, has a lovely singing voice.

 

25. Lydia was almost married to Nicholas Brody.

^(AMC)

In the original pilot for Homeland, Jessica Brody – pining wife of kidnapped Marine-turned-terrorist Nicholas – was played by Scottish actress Laura Fraser. When the producers had second thoughts, the pilot was reshot with the – in the words of co-creator Alex Gansa – “more vibrant, more sexual” Morena Baccarin. Fraser, meanwhile, went on to play Breaking Bad’s squeamish, Louboutin-wearing drug-runner Lydia Rodarte-Quayle.

 

26. There was no need for Walt to rob that train.

Methylamine, the chemical that incited the other Great Train Robbery of our time and led to the killing of Drew Sharp, isn’t really that hard to make. In fact, some chemists have suggested that it could be synthesised in a kitchen sink without too much difficulty. But that would have made terrible television.

27. Thanks to his father, Bryan Cranston will never run out of work.

A recent New Yorker profile of Cranston revealed that his estranged father Joe – a one-time actor/director/screenwriter whose career failed to ignite – has written “several” film scripts specifically for his son to star in, including an action caper called G.R.A.B. But it wouldn't neccessarily be the worst thing Cranston has ever made. That would be The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers:

28. The science is flawed for a reason.

Because of the fear that some of the series’ millions of viewers may try and use the action as a step-by-step guide to making methamphetamine, the real-life DEA advised Vince Gilligan and his team of writers on what science to include, and what to omit. “If you just simply followed the one synthesis as it's presented,” says the show’s science adviser Donna Nelson, “you wouldn't come out with methamphetamine.”

29. New Mexico is proud of Heisenberg.

^(REX)

Breaking Bad was originally meant to be shot in California but the location was ultimately changed to Albuquerque, NM. That change of setting has certainly been a boon for the New Mexico tourism industry. Local businesses have taken advantage of the hit show’s worldwide popularity and cashed in by producing all manner of Breaking Bad-related products. These include: blue-meth candy, blue-meth doughnuts, locally brewed Heisenberg “dark” beer, custom-made Heisenberg Pez dispensers, as well as more traditional trolley and Segway tours.

 

30. There will never be a bigger Breaking Bad super-fan than Kevin Cordasco.

^.

Last year, Vince Gilligan was contacted by the parents of 16-year-old Kevin Cordasco, who was terminally ill with an aggressive form of cancer and adored the show more than most. “There was something about the Walter White character,” explained his father. “The way he took control of his illness, and his life, that really resonated with Kevin.” Gilligan and the cast visited Kevin at home and in hospital, and during one of these visits he was asked by Gilligan what he felt was missing from the show. “He said, ‘You know what, I want to know more about Gretchen and Elliott,'” Gilligan said recently. “I want to know more about Walt’s backstory with them. I want to know what happened.’” This is how Walter’s former Gray Matter business partners ended up with a pivotal role in the final series. Gilligan even offered to tell him how the show would end; Kevin declined, saying he’d rather find out along with the rest of the world. Kevin Cordasco died soon after, and the ninth episode of season five is dedicated to him.

 

[spectre 633]

oh man, that last one is sad. He would tell him the ending and then the kid died and didn't find out what happened. Jeez.

[spectre 633]

oh man...

 

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That was the best ending of any tv series that I have ever watched. It was perfect. I especially loved the slow pan out, over head shot, which if you recall was used in a previous episode when Walt was looking for the money in his crawlspace, but Skyler had given it to Ted. 

 

All the loose ends were tied up nicely.

 

1. money to family ; check

2. Todd's gang killed revenge style ; check

3. Ricin + Lydia ; check

4. Jesse killed Todd ; check

5. Saved Jesse ; check

6. one last happy moment for Walt who died in the lab that he designed.  He had to die, this was inevitable; and perfectly fitting that he went out on his own terms.

 

what did you think?

 

[Cassidy 51]

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I really had doubts about halfway in the episode. I thought there was no way they could tie up all the loose ends. But Gilligan did it. It was a spectacular finale. I love how Walt died in the lab.. It seemed only fitting. I also like how Walt was able to also kind of end things on a decent note with Jesse. 

 

And the fact that Jesse got revenge on Todd.. That was awesome. Pretty much that whole episode was mindblowing. Really sad to see it go though.

[spectre 633]

I watched the last half again. It was just so good. I'm going to marathon re-watch the whole last season. I really like how there are all kinds of easter eggs in this series. If you go back and read about the lyrics to the first song in the last episode, you'll see what I mean.

[spectre 633]

man, I'm still tripping about this; all day.

[Cassidy 51]

  On 9/30/2013 at 7:27 PM, spectre said:

man, I'm still tripping about this; all day.

Me too.. I can't believe the show is actually over. But the ending was beatifully done.

[spectre 633]

I like how they made us feel sorry for Walt during his time up in the Cabin. Which up until then, most everyone despised him.  That forced sympathy for the character really helped with the final send off.  I remember when his ring fell off, that was the nail in the coffin for people feeling sorry for him from then on.  Also, his son asking why he wasn't dead yet, did something similar.

[spectre 633]

I can't believe only me, you (cassidy) and cal are the ones watching this.

 

check this out

 

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The postmortems are in for the most anticipated episode of television in 2013.

Reviews seem generally satisfied --  The Times' own Mary McNamara said, "Not only did Vince Gilligan's five-season, hyper-violent prose poem to midlife male frustration tie up virtually every loose end in sight, it contained the Holy Grail of all storytelling: an Actual Moment of Truth."

Not everyone agrees, but one aspect finding near-universal acclaim is the song selection for the series' finale. Spoilers to follow, so if you've already made it this far in your day avoiding them, congratulations and read no further.

 

As some suspected, the centerpiece of the episode was Marty Robbins' "El Paso," which yielded the final episode's title. The country-western murder ballad is an allegorical tale of a man who takes up with a Mexican woman named Felina, knowing full well that he could die for getting wrapped up in the violent world that surrounds her. But he goes in knowingly -- "Cradled by two loving arms that I’ll die for / One little kiss and Felina, good-bye."

In the episode, the songs cuts off before the narrator's death, but "Breaking Bad" prognosticators (and Robbins fans) knew from the first chords how that story would end. The song's themes of riding head-on to one's doom because of an insatiable guiding impulse proved apropos. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIHRgisdbeY

 

A more harrowing, darkly ironic song selection came just before the moment Walt told Lydia that he'd poisoned her. Todd's ringtone for her calls was the Marx Brothers' "Lydia the Tattooed Lady," which tells the tale of a man brought to fortune and prestige by taking up with a woman named Lydia. Needless to say, that's not the kind of luck enjoyed by the end by the phone's owner or "Breaking Bad's" Stevia-pounding Lydia. 

PHOTOS: Before they were actors on 'Breaking Bad'

But the sendoff song is a defining tradition in this streak of serialized drama. While the show's closing tune might not rival "The Sopranos" and its use of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin' " for gumption, the choice of Badfinger's "Baby Blue" helped seal the tiny shred of optimism (or at least justice) that ended the series. Naturally, the song's title calls back to Walt's signature brand of ultra-potent meth.

But the song's first lyrics ("Guess I got what I deserved")  punctuated the real big question at the show's finale -- will Walt get his comeuppance? The Badfinger tune is about being unable to fight an overriding feeling, no matter the consequences, and coming to accept it.

For a show that plumbed the murkiest depths of the human soul, self-awareness is about as satisfying an ending as you can hope for.

 

 

 

[Racist Giraffe 73]

Im really sad that it's over but im glad it was a nice ending. I preferred the first few seasons to the last few, but they were still excellent. 

 

After Under the Dome's cliffhanger of a season end and Dexters awful final episode, this was such a relief. 

 

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Mostly im just happy that Jesse made it out okay. For most of this season i've felt so sorry for him. 

 

 

Im going to miss that show..

[spectre 633]

I thought the Dexter ending was perfect. I know I'm in the minority there, but I enjoyed it.  He stripped away everything, no harry, not even a voiceover.  Self imposed isolation. Perfect for someone who is a serial killer with morals.  Would you really have loved for him to ride off into the sunset with hannah mckay?  The most predictable ending?

 

As for Jesse. I agree. He really irked me in the beginning of the second half though when he was having a breakdown and throwing money out the window. He could have got away then, but chose to feel sorry for himself instead.  Dude, you're a millionaire yo, let's throw a party.

[spectre 633]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p_8_cN29ww

[spectre 633]

well done edit, breaking bad in 2 hours.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml-a2HbtAWs

[spectre 633]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/18-fun-easter-eggs-in-the-breaking-bad-series-finale

 

Really awesome how the first episode scene mirrored the final scene between these two. If you look deeper there is always more to find. That's why this show was the best on television.

[spectre 633]

Best tribute video I have seen. Warning: Spoilers

 

[spectre 633]

damn

 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/robinedds/breaking-bad-easter-eggs-that-will-blow-your-mind

[Just Cal 461]

I'm quite late to the party here but by jove that was the most perfect ending to a TV show I've ever seen. I think Cass said it before me but half way through I was thinking that there was no way they could wrap up all the loose ends. They done it though so major props for that.

 

I was only saying to Lee that there is nothing I can say about it that hasn't already been said. It was just.....perfect. Finally something has taken the title to best finale since Friends ended those years ago. Call me gay if you wish but that is still one of the best shows ever xD

[spectre 633]

I watched Friends back in the day.  I needed something to do when I was in the guard shack in Bosnia. Then I got hooked. lol Gay.

[spectre 633]

LMAO