I agree with you, Bubble, and offer two points of evidence:
1) Walt's cheerful remark that "Everybody dies in this movie, don't they?" re: Scarface a couple weeks ago.
2) Walt's hubris will likely be his downfall (arousing suspicion with extravagant purchases, not listening to Mike, etc.), much like the heroes of classical Greek tragedies. And anyone who paid attention in high school English knows that those heroes are always punished by the violent deaths of all their loved ones.
But, who knows. Maybe Vince Gilligan just WANTS us to think everyone's going to die. Maybe he just WANTS us to think Walt's pride will get him in the end. Maybe they'll really all end up being one big happy sitcom-style meth empire family.
P.S. Gabe, you seem a little abashed at the end of this piece, with the "I don't know. I was just thinking about it." But you shouldn't be! This was great! I love it. More posts like this please.
I felt the same way--the mixed feelings about the show's merits and self-indulgence. It reminded me of going to your friend's improv show where everyone in the audience besides you is also an improviser, and what was a perfectly funny bit onstage suddenly takes a turn into a meta-commentary on The Art of Improvisation.
Louie has certain episodes that feel more like vanity projects than others--this one, obviously, and you all might disagree with my next choice, because it seems like everyone but me loved it, but I thought the Iraq/USO one did too. I loved last week's episode, because it mined comedy and pathos from recognizing the humanity of unsavory acquaintances. But I think the flip side of that empathy is sometimes this kind of boring, self-indulgent, public quest for personal honesty that comedians and writers and other wordy artists can fall into.
Seriously. Based on the picture I thought the big news was that Shia LaBeouf was arrested for disturbing the peace during a nervous breakdown at the supermarket. #hotstuff
I also hated it. (And I like Marie. But I liked Walking Gus, so. Win some, lose some.)
I hated it because I hate dubstep, and because I don't think that particular scene fits the style of the show. But I like that the directors of Breaking Bad try new things, so I take the ones that don't appeal to me particularly in stride, because obviously (somehow) a lot of people DID like this scene.
But two things I cannot abide: the overdone trope of an oppressed woman walking into the water, and the repeated closeups on that clock at the end. That latter one, particularly, felt like a parody. The former was just... misguided (but, admittedly, nicely shot).
Why does everyone hate Marie? I don't LIKE-like her or anything, and I wouldn't want to be her friend, because she'd probably just want to shop and get mani-pedis and eat lots of brunch, and those aren't really my things, but I love watching Marie the Character. She's funny.
It's rare to stumble across a fragment of the Internet that makes me think, "Great job, humanity! Keep it up." But this video is definitely one of those.
I just watched the Rolling Stone Breaking Bad interview and uh yeah. I felt obliged to say it is all too much, especially on the heels of the Idris Elba massacre.
When will the musical debut? What are some of the song titles? "Cheep-cheep-cheep"? "Great Story, Mark"? "She Already Ordered a Pizza (Finale)"?
Asking for a friend.
I have read enough of it to know how awful the writing is (and how it's mostly funny but sometimes creepy), but I know a (male) Ph.D. candidate for neuroscience who LOVES it. He writes stuff like, "Don't knock it until you try it!" about it on Facebook.
Me too, man. I'm thinking about making t-shirts that say, "I watched the first season of American Horror Story and all I got was this lousy mental image of Dylan McDermott masturbating and crying."
I second your second point. Well. I don't know if Hank suspected last season, but I do think a) he suspects now, and b) he will spend this season making deceptively innocuous comments about Heisenberg in front of Walt, to see if he can shake Walt's confidence enough for him to screw up big time.
Did anyone else want to throw up, sit under the spray of a scalding shower, and curl up in bed after that last scene where scary Walt is probably about to (nonconsensually) fuck Skyler?
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