se-alum;1506519 wrote:Please do.

Manhattan Buckeye;1506553 wrote:The writers tried to do too much with too much time (in the Breaking Bad universe) taking place. It ended up disjointed.

Obviously months have transpired. Walt has his hair grown back indicating such.

1) Why is Saul also being "cleaned"? The dude has been involved in sketchy actions all along...now is the time for him to pull this? That scene was thrown together.

2) Speaking of thrown together, Todd's scene with Skyler? WTF? We already know that Walt wants to get revenge on the Nazis (see 3 below) because he explains to Robert Forster everything and Robert Forster tells us everything (and I love Robert Forster, he's an underrated actor) even that the authorities fenced off Walt's house. The scene was completely extraneous.

3) In writing, it is better to show rather than tell. Yet most of this episode told us everything that happened rather than showing us.

4) Poor Jesse's MacGyver sequence could have been left out. Again, it seemed thrown together.

I think it would be very difficult for the writers to have pulled this episode off. They had to deal with a timing sequence that was completely different than what they have had in previous episodes. IMO, they fell short.

Manhattan Buckeye;1506553 wrote:The writers tried to do too much with too much time (in the Breaking Bad universe) taking place. It ended up disjointed.

Obviously months have transpired. Walt has his hair grown back indicating such.

1) Why is Saul also being "cleaned"? The dude has been involved in sketchy actions all along...now is the time for him to pull this? That scene was thrown together.

2) Speaking of thrown together, Todd's scene with Skyler? WTF? We already know that Walt wants to get revenge on the Nazis (see 3 below) because he explains to Robert Forster everything and Robert Forster tells us everything (and I love Robert Forster, he's an underrated actor) even that the authorities fenced off Walt's house. The scene was completely extraneous.

3) In writing, it is better to show rather than tell. Yet most of this episode told us everything that happened rather than showing us.

4) Poor Jesse's MacGyver sequence could have been left out. Again, it seemed thrown together.

I think it would be very difficult for the writers to have pulled this episode off. They had to deal with a timing sequence that was completely different than what they have had in previous episodes. IMO, they fell short.

se-alum;1506562 wrote:Saul has been involved in some sketchy stuff, but not with someone who is accused of killing two DEA agents. That scene was completely realistic. I agree Jesse's escape sequence was a bit far-fetched. Points #2 and #3 are just drabble.

Manhattan Buckeye;1506576 wrote:It is drabble to point out that the writers didn't show us anything? For the first 30 minutes of this episode I wasn't even sure I was watching Breaking Bad.

Fab4Runner;1506597 wrote:Yep, it is. Especially after reading Peter Gould's thoughts on all of it.

Manhattan Buckeye;1506615 wrote:Is that the Rolling Stone guy? Hmmm, in that event, not a fan.

The episode didn't work for me. Sorry if it offends people's sensitivities. I love Seinfeld, but the last episode was terrible. I love The Wire, but the fifth season had its problems. I at one point loved The Simpsons and The Family Guy but can admit that both shows ran their course. The Office (US version) after the third season.....well.

I watched the past episode of Breaking Bad, and I almost had to fast forward through parts of it. I'm not sure what Vince Gilligan (X-Files, love that too, but it started getting bad after season 5) and company were thinking.

I still have it on my Apple TV so I can re-watch it. But I don't think I will other than to see Robert Forster.

BoatShoes;1506157 wrote:You've gone full Manhattan Buckeye with this post. Just enjoy one of the greatest shows on T.V. man!

gut;1506642 wrote:No I didn't. I didn't say this season sucked or that Breaking Bad hasn't been an all-time great show. I guess I forget that sometimes threads aren't intended to discuss something but just a circle jerk.

I've only said the writing and wrap-up has not lived up to the very high bar the show set for itself in previous years. But I sometimes forget this board is full of simpleton's like Tiernan who are enamored with the amazing amount of redundant closure Vince is shoveling.

They actually alluded to that on Talking Bad. Vince doesn't like that people like Walt, so he's practically beating it into thick skulls with a shovel.

Manhattan Buckeye;1506489 wrote:Just watched and completely agree. That was the worst episode of the season, if not the series. It seemed disjointed and completely out of the blue.

gut;1506642 wrote:No I didn't. I didn't say this season sucked or that Breaking Bad hasn't been an all-time great show. I guess I forget that sometimes threads aren't intended to discuss something but just a circle jerk.

I've only said the writing and wrap-up has not lived up to the very high bar the show set for itself in previous years. But I sometimes forget this board is full of simpleton's like Tiernan who are enamored with the amazing amount of redundant closure Vince is shoveling.

They actually alluded to that on Talking Bad. Vince doesn't like that people like Walt, so he's practically beating it into thick skulls with a shovel.

I Wear Pants;1506646 wrote:Not that it makes us right, but from what I've seen the vast majority of critics and viewers disagree with you and think this has been the best season. .

Manhattan Buckeye;1506649 wrote:The series was supposed to end at Season 4....even the writers and Vince Gilligan admitted to that. They (the writers) had to make up something on the fly. Some of it worked, some of it hasn't. The last episode didn't.

"At least you haven't been saying the episodes were horrible like Manhattan Buckeye has,"

If you can explain to me this past episode, I'll be in your debt. No part of it made sense.

Manhattan Buckeye;1506649 wrote:
If you can explain to me this past episode, I'll be in your debt. No part of it made sense.

gut;1506655 wrote:I think somewhere, even before the season started, I said Walt was going to lose absolutely everything and be totally isolate (I was cheating, that was based on Vince saying he cried and Walt's wasn't riding off into the sunset). And we knew the brotherhood would figure prominently - I just didn't expect them to be a lump of clay that Vince would constantly re-mold into whatever suited his purpose at the moment.

But that's what I mean about being obvious. They chose to LITERALLY isolate Walt to drive that point home. But then that posed a challenge as to how to bring Walt back. I mean, for crying out loud Walt is sitting there waiting to be arrested, but then he just happens to see his former partners on tv disrespecting him. And the thing is, NONE of that was necessary (or particularly compelling/believable).

Manhattan Buckeye;1506656 wrote:No, no I'm not.

Can you explain to me Todd's scene with Skyler? What purpose did it serve?

I Wear Pants;1506661 wrote:You don't think a large publicly traded company that was co-founded by Walter would be doing poorly and have its executives doing interviews to explain his past and current role in the organization? I do.

gut;1506642 wrote:No I didn't. I didn't say this season sucked or that Breaking Bad hasn't been an all-time great show. I guess I forget that sometimes threads aren't intended to discuss something but just a circle jerk.

I've only said the writing and wrap-up has not lived up to the very high bar the show set for itself in previous years. But I sometimes forget this board is full of simpleton's like Tiernan who are enamored with the amazing amount of redundant closure Vince is shoveling.

They actually alluded to that on Talking Bad. Vince doesn't like that people like Walt, so he's practically beating it into thick skulls with a shovel.

gut;1506651 wrote:That doesn't particularly surprise me. People LOVE them some closure, and Vince is indulging us.

But if you take the final Sopranos scene as an example, almost universally it was initially a "wtf?". To this day a lot of fans hate it, but that scene was absolutely brilliant. They hate it because everything didn't get wrapped up in a neat little bow.

Manhattan Buckeye;1506553 wrote:The writers tried to do too much with too much time (in the Breaking Bad universe) taking place. It ended up disjointed.

Obviously months have transpired. Walt has his hair grown back indicating such.

1) Why is Saul also being "cleaned"? The dude has been involved in sketchy actions all along...now is the time for him to pull this? That scene was thrown together.
Skylar is getting heat. Most likely they go after her for tax evasion. Saul set all that up.

2) Speaking of thrown together, Todd's scene with Skyler? WTF? We already know that Walt wants to get revenge on the Nazis (see 3 below) because he explains to Robert Forster everything and Robert Forster tells us everything (and I love Robert Forster, he's an underrated actor) even that the authorities fenced off Walt's house. The scene was completely extraneous.
She could roll on Lydia. Todd doesn't kill her because he does like/respect Walter. It's the only reason, as he has no problem putting a bullet in the head of a single mom. It's unclear if the purpose of the visit was a business decision (as Lydia is their partner) or simply to please Lydia who Todd has a crush on. Probably both.

3) In writing, it is better to show rather than tell. Yet most of this episode told us everything that happened rather than showing us.
Agreed. And somewhat out of character for the show, they've also frequently manufactured drama this year.

4) Poor Jesse's MacGyver sequence could have been left out. Again, it seemed thrown together.
Not the best example of manufactured drama I was referring to. The threat has already been implied with the picture. But they needed Jesse to quit or escape so they could go kill his girlfriend. Also somewhat of an example how they boxed themselves in - they are beating us over the head with Jesse being redeemed, sympathetic and worthy of saving, but [presumably] they still need Jesse alive at that compound. They have to literally show us Jesse is willing to die to get out of the business so, ok, now we have to go kill the girlfriend.

I think it would be very difficult for the writers to have pulled this episode off. They had to deal with a timing sequence that was completely different than what they have had in previous episodes. IMO, they fell short.
I think that kind of sums up the season. They have this story arc they want to tell/wrap, but a limited time to do it. As a result, some of the twists/turns they've thrown in have felt rushed and/or forced. That maybe wouldn't have to be the case if they weren't so repetitive and redundant with some of the other things going on.

Manhattan Buckeye;1506656 wrote:No, no I'm not.

Can you explain to me Todd's scene with Skyler? What purpose did it serve?

I Wear Pants;1506661 wrote:You don't think a large publicly traded company that was co-founded by Walter would be doing poorly and have its executives doing interviews to explain his past and current role in the organization? I do.