Breaking Bad Final Half Season

[Chuck Finley]

I'm surprised there's not a Breaking Bad thread yet. We are five days away from the final half season. As much as I don't like these half seasons, it's nice to stretch it out a little bit. I can't imagine this ending well for Mr. White. I feel like Jesse may walk away, but not unharmed. I see Skylar taking the kids and disappearing and Hank, who knows. Anyone else looking forward to this final escapade into the world of meth?

 

[bigdaddy]

We know it doesn't end well because of the way the 5th season started with Walt in a car full of guns. Then the rest of the 8 episodes dealt before that.

 

[davejames]

Yeah somehow I get the feeling Hank and Jesse won't make it out of the season alive-- just because there's obviously going to be a body count in this thing, and killing off Skyler and his family seems a little too obvious and cliched a move for this show.

Whatever they come up with though, I'm sure it'll be as gripping as ever.

 

[sidious618]

Had you asked me during season four, I'd have said that Walt would end up in terrible shape. Now I'm not so sure. If the end message of this show is just "crime doesn't pay" then it'd be a letdown. I don't think that's the way they're going to go.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Bullets spraying everywhere, the end is near, Butch and Sundance moment, Walt and Jessie holding hands like preeschoolers run into a hail of nothing... "Never mind, they just legalized Meth. Everybody pack up!"

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Obviously it's not going to be a happy ending. I don't think there's going to be a huge main cast body count but obviously the main cast won't get through unscathed either. But somehow I see Jesse as possibly getting out with a decent life, more likely than the Whites and Schraders. I know they were going to kill him in season one if it weren't for the writer's strike, but at this point it just seems like his arc.

Secondary characters, though. Lydia, Todd, zero percent survival chance.

I think the season is going to focus around Hank trying to protect his family from the fallout of Walter's crimes. His first impulse will be to want to come after him, then his next impulse would be to make Walter go away without destroying Walter Jr's life.

My estimation of survival percentages for the main cast:
Walter 40%
Hank 60%
Jesse 70%
Skylar 75%
Holly 95%
Walter Jr 99%
Marie 99%

 

[CaptainCanada]

If the end message of this show is just "crime doesn't pay" then it'd be a letdown.

That pretty much is the message, I think. Breaking Bad is a morality play about how it's impossible to be "a little bit evil", or to use evil means for good ends. In that sense, it's pretty much a deconstruction of the TV antihero drama, which trades pretty heavily on those ideas.

 

[DalekJim]

That pretty much is the message, I think. Breaking Bad is a morality play about how it's impossible to be "a little bit evil"

I really wouldn't like that. Especially as I view everybody as "a little bit evil". I don't think any sort of socially aware drama should view things in such absolutist terms.

 

[sidious618]

If the end message of this show is just "crime doesn't pay" then it'd be a letdown.

That pretty much is the message, I think. Breaking Bad is a morality play about how it's impossible to be "a little bit evil", or to use evil means for good ends. In that sense, it's pretty much a deconstruction of the TV antihero drama, which trades pretty heavily on those ideas.

That's a different message than crime doesn't pay, though. You're talking about examining Walt's heart and how much he allowed it to be corrupted and how much circumstances forced him to be corrupted. But the idea that Walter chose to cook meth so he's therefore evil isn't nearly as interesting.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I'm really looking forward to this. I considered waiting until the season was over so I could watch all the episodes at once, but I don't know if I can hold out or if I want to sit out the discussion. We'll see.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

I hope Jesse doesn't die, but I wouldn't put it past Vince Gilligan to kill him off at the eleventh hour precisely because he's the heart and conscience of the show and people seem so attached to the character. Personally, I think Walt should go to prison with a life without possibility for parole sentence...and then find out he's in complete remission and will probably live to be 100. That'd serve him right.

 

[Gepard]

We know it doesn't end well because of the way the 5th season started with Walt in a car full of guns. Then the rest of the 8 episodes dealt before that.

Because of that scene, the only thing I feel comfortable predicting is that Walt will pull the trigger on that "vanishing act" new identity service that Saul offered him in season 3. In addition to the guns, he's changed his appearance, is in a totally different part of the country, and has fake ID with a different name. Somehow, he's going to figure out that Hank has found him out and he'll get the hell out of Dodge before he can be taken in.

 

[TheGodBen]

If the end message of this show is just "crime doesn't pay" then it'd be a letdown. I don't think that's the way they're going to go.

I don't think the message is that crime doesn't pay, but that ego doesn't pay. Walt has had several opportunities to walk away with a healthy profit, but his ego kept bringing him back even as the stakes and the body-count kept getting higher.

 

[Agent Richard07]

And funnily enough, he did walk away only to get done in by a book that was found in his bathroom. I can't wait to see how Hank handles all of this. That's something I've been waiting for since the show began.

Maybe I will stick around and watch the episodes live. Discussion seems to be in high gear and I forgot about Talking Bad, the half-hour show that will air at 11pm. They really should have put it on right after Breaking Bad.

 

[davejames]

Yeah I forgot about that. The last episode jumped forward a little bit to show life returning to normal, and Walter just being a regular guy again.

It'll be interesting to see if he has to resume cooking again for some reason, or if Hank will have to rely solely on piecing together evidence from the past. In which case you wonder how many other clues Walt missed or forgot to cover up...

 

[Chuck Finley]

We know it doesn't end well because of the way the 5th season started with Walt in a car full of guns. Then the rest of the 8 episodes dealt before that.

Because of that scene, the only thing I feel comfortable predicting is that Walt will pull the trigger on that "vanishing act" new identity service that Saul offered him in season 3. In addition to the guns, he's changed his appearance, is in a totally different part of the country, and has fake ID with a different name. Somehow, he's going to figure out that Hank has found him out and he'll get the hell out of Dodge before he can be taken in.

Do you think Walt could make the case to Hank to not take him down. Walt has a way of justifying things to himself and others, perhaps he can convince Hank that it would be better to take out some larger entity? Walt can give Hank "Heisenberg" in one form or another without actually having to see his family suffer. We may see Walt going out in a way that saves Hank and everyone else by sacrificing himself. Jesse may walk away, but I see him walking away with some sort of painful reality ahead.

Yeah I forgot about that. The last episode jumped forward a little bit to show life returning to normal, and Walter just being a regular guy again.

It'll be interesting to see if he has to resume cooking again for some reason, or if Hank will have to rely solely on piecing together evidence from the past. In which case you wonder how many other clues Walt missed or forgot to cover up...

This is an interesting thought.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Do you think Walt could make the case to Hank to not take him down. Walt has a way of justifying things to himself and others, perhaps he can convince Hank that it would be better to take out some larger entity?

One problem... Walt is that larger entity.

 

[Chuck Finley]

Do you think Walt could make the case to Hank to not take him down. Walt has a way of justifying things to himself and others, perhaps he can convince Hank that it would be better to take out some larger entity?

One problem... Walt is that larger entity.

Yes, but doesn't he have some deal with the Germans or someone else? There's got to be somebody else out there that wants him to keep working. It's been so long, I can't remember.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Given that massive stack of money I don't see Walt having to resume cooking for any reason. And they've done the 'Walt goes back because he realizes he really wants to' thing so many times in the series it would be lame if they did it again.

I don't see the series as having any moral message. I see it as more of a character study of Walt. Here we have this man who was always brilliant, who always had the capability to do amazing things with science, but he always played it safe and never took risks. Then he realizes he's going to die and suddenly unleashes himself just out of spite and anger that he spent fifty years of his life holding himself back. Walt always wanted to be a MAN, Sergio Leone movie style. He wants to be the mythology. His name is fuckin' HEISENBERG.

If the show was trying to let you know crime doesn't pay, it's miserably failed. Look at that nine or ten figure pile of cash. Look at all the money Fring was making, and would have kept making it if he'd just listened to his instincts and not done business with Walt. The show tells you that it's impossible to deal drugs without having to deal with the violence, which is true. But that's not a moral message, it's a real world response to Walt's conceits about being a criminal.

If there is a core message of the show beyond being a character study, it's that moral lines are easier to cross than we think and even easier the second time. Once you 'break bad', it's broken.

@Chuck

Walt has two major arguments for Hank not taking him down.
1) Here's a few million dollars Hank.
2) Ruin the lives of his children.

 

[Gepard]

Do you think Walt could make the case to Hank to not take him down. Walt has a way of justifying things to himself and others, perhaps he can convince Hank that it would be better to take out some larger entity?

One problem... Walt is that larger entity.

Yes, but doesn't he have some deal with the Germans or someone else? There's got to be somebody else out there that wants him to keep working. It's been so long, I can't remember.

You mean Madrigal Electromotive? It's an interesting thought, and one I wouldn't put it past Walt to try. The only problem is, the DEA and related agencies already know about Madrigal's involvement, along with Mike, Lydia, and other elements of the supply chain. I'm not sure there's anything Walt could supply that would get his own neck out of the noose.