BS: Breaking Bad

Subject: RE: BS: Breaking Bad
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 26 Sep 13 - 07:06 AM

I was recently reading the actress Anna Gunn's analysis of how the audience have reacted to her character Skyler in Breaking Bad. This is how she summed it up:

"most people's hatred of Skyler had ... a lot to do with their own perception of women and wives. Because Skyler didn't conform to a comfortable ideal of the archetypical female, she had become a kind of Rorschach test for society, a measure of our attitudes toward gender."

I found that statement - implying that dislike of Skyler reveals mysoginistic attitudes about women - verging on offensive. While I appreciate that 'hating' an actor for the part they play is plain retarded, asserting that disliking their character implies some kind of personal moral failing, is pretty stiff stuff.

While I don't "hate" Skyler (apparently there is a FB page called "I hate Skyler White") I do deeply dislike the character's emotionally cold, rigid and controlling personality traits. And I've disliked the character's personality from day one, long before her own involvement in criminal behaviour.

I think the problem people have with Skyler, isn't that she's a 'strong' 'non-submissive' women as Gunn asserts, but that she's just not a person you can warm to. I like strong non-submissive women in drama and fiction, Skyler's simply not a likeable character. I don't think it has anything to do with "attitudes towards gender" but simply "attitudes towards people."

Subject: RE: BS: Breaking Bad
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 25 Sep 13 - 06:18 PM

Heard a rumor somewhere that there's a spin-off in the works involving Saul "better call Saul" Goodman.

Subject: RE: BS: Breaking Bad
From: Suzy Sock Puppet
Date: 25 Sep 13 - 03:56 PM

I predict Jesse might turn into wiz kid and figure out a way to escape. And it will involve science and/or chemistry.

Subject: RE: BS: Breaking Bad
From: Wesley S
Date: 24 Sep 13 - 04:04 PM

One thought I heard on the "Talking Bad" show was that Walter might use the ricin on himself - then turn himself into the DEA and make sure his family was off the hook.

Subject: RE: BS: Breaking Bad
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 23 Sep 13 - 09:06 PM

One more week and it all ends. I love the show, obviously, but tend avoid the discussions. I do think it is, like much great art, about a lot of things that are not immediately obvious.

One thing worth thinking about is that Walter White started out looking and sounding a lot like Ned Flanders, and he ended up looking and sounding a lot like Dick Cheney.

Subject: RE: BS: Breaking Bad
From: Wesley S
Date: 23 Sep 13 - 08:18 PM

I've done the same thing.

Subject: RE: BS: Breaking Bad
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 23 Sep 13 - 02:08 AM

For those who have missed it, AMC will air a five-day marathon of all seasons of "Breaking Bad". Seasons one through four will air from 8 p.m. Sept. 25 to late Sept. 27. Season five will start at 11 p.m. Sept. 28 and run up to the series finale at 9 p.m. the following day.

I won't be watching, because I did a marathon viewing (or binge, if you like) before the last half season started. It's just as good the second time...

Subject: RE: BS: Breaking Bad
From: Suzy Sock Puppet
Date: 22 Sep 13 - 08:39 PM

Oh Nooooo! That redneck spawn of Satan has Jesse!

Subject: RE: BS: Breaking Bad
From: Suzy Sock Puppet
Date: 26 Aug 13 - 02:13 PM

I have everything that has come out on DVD to date. I love this series but I don't want to discuss it because I don't know exactly where everyone is. Don't want to give any spoilers.

Subject: RE: BS: Breaking Bad
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 26 Aug 13 - 01:57 PM

We've just caught up with this and have been glued to it for a couple of months now.

Subject: RE: BS: Breaking Bad
From: Wesley S
Date: 26 Aug 13 - 12:36 PM

From Wiki - "Werner Karl Heisenberg (5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist and one of the key creators of quantum mechanics.In 1927 he published his uncertainty principle".

Yes - ending number one is from The Sopranos. Number two is from "St Elsewhere" and the last one was the ending from one of the Bob Newheart shows.

Subject: RE: BS: Breaking Bad
From: Suzy Sock Puppet
Date: 26 Aug 13 - 08:27 AM

Wesley, your first suggestion as I'm sure you are aware has already been done on the the Sopranos. 2 and 3 are too funny.

Last night's episode was awesome. I want to know what Walt is going to do with that ricin too. It's not like me to say this but I hope he offs himself with it. Friggin Nazi. Heisenberg is a good name for him.

Subject: RE: BS: Breaking Bad
From: Wesley S
Date: 25 Aug 13 - 02:23 PM

I'm wondering what Walt is going to do with that Ricin ?

Subject: RE: BS: Breaking Bad
From: GUEST,BigDaddy
Date: 25 Aug 13 - 02:19 PM

At this point I think Walt should begin depositing huge sums of money into Hank's bank account. Or open an offshore account for Hank and deposit it there. Then tell Hank if he doesn't leave him alone, he'll make an anonymous tip to the FBI. Hank is already in danger of looking bad. For the finale? I'm guessing it will be more realistic than we might think, yet still surprise us. Great show. Looking forward to watching it in its entirety someday without commercials, via DVD or whatever. Y que viva Los Cuates De Sinaloa - Negro Y Azul : The Ballad Of Heisenberg!

Subject: BS: Breaking Bad
From: Wesley S
Date: 25 Aug 13 - 01:55 PM

I love this series - I'm going to miss it when it's over. I'm looking forward to the finale and wonder how it's going to play out. My suggestions for the last scenes are these:

Walt's having dinner with his family at a chicken restaurant when the camera focuses on his face and the screen goes blank.

The camera pulls back and finds that Walt Jr is actually an autistic boy with a snow globe of Albuquerque. He shakes the globe and crystal meth rains down on the city.

Walt wakes up next to Suzanne Pleshette and tells her he had a dream that he was a drug dealer.

Any other suggestions?

What a bizarre series it's been. Never has the protagonist changed so much in a series before. As the creator of the series explained in his pitch to the networks - I'm going to take Mr Chips and turn him into Scarface. Just brilliant writing all the way around.