The TV Series discussion thread

[danutz_plusplus]

Considering Better Call Saul is ending this year, I believe, I decided to slowly start my run through Breaking Bad. I had only seen the first season a long time ago, and then just never got back into it, and then Better Call Saul came up so I decided to wait until that ended. So I'm just now getting to Breaking Bad. As good as I remembered it.

 

[JDR13]

Considering Better Call Saul is ending this year, I believe, I decided to slowly start my run through Breaking Bad. I had only seen the first season a long time ago, and then just never got back into it, and then Better Call Saul came up so I decided to wait until that ended. So I'm just now getting to Breaking Bad. As good as I remembered it.

Breaking Bad was phenomenal. I thought it was great from beginning to end, and it's the perfect length too. Thankfully, AMC didn't try to drag it out, and end up turning it into shit, like they did with TWD.

I still haven't watched Better Call Saul yet.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Breaking Bad was phenomenal. I thought it was great from beginning to end, and it's the perfect length too. Thankfully, AMC didn't try to drag it out, and end up turning it into shit, like they did with TWD.

That's what I hear, across the board, from most people. Too bad the ending was spoiled for me. Anyway, so it is.

 

[JDR13]

That's what I hear, across the board, from most people. Too bad the ending was spoiled for me. Anyway, so it is.

Well, it's kind of old at this point and one of those shows where it's hard to avoid spoilers because people talk about it so much.

Don't forget to watch El Camino afterwards.

 

[JFarrell71]

That's what I hear, across the board, from most people. Too bad the ending was spoiled for me. Anyway, so it is.

It's really about the journey in that show. From very early on, I would think it would be obvious that

Spoiler

things weren't going to end happily ever after for Walter.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

It's really about the journey in that show.

True, but it's one thing to suspect where it's going, and another to know it outright which makes me look for it. Also, I'd recommend you edit your post since I think it suggests too much. Just to spare some others from the spoiler.

 

[Carnifex]

Anyone that's not watched Better Call Saul yet is in for an awesome treat. Enjoy watching the best show that ranks number one for me over the past two decades.

I started series three of the Man in the High Castle last night, and it's off to a rip-roaring start. The power circles are getting more defined, and how the travelers actually function is starting to become a bit more clearer. The whole Thomas situation is pretty creepy as well.

And I'd no idea series two of Evil was out, so I've watched the first two episodes of that. I quite enjoy the guy from Good Wife/Luke Cage in it, the kids annoy me yet I tolerate them. Any chance to watch/listen to Emerson smirk and chew dialogue lines will always keep me intrigued!

 

[wiretripped]

I started series three of the Man in the High Castle last night, and it's off to a rip-roaring start. The power circles are getting more defined, and how the travelers actually function is starting to become a bit more clearer. The whole Thomas situation is pretty creepy as well.

The SO and me are somewhere in season 2 but ran out of gas there. I dunno, it wasn't connecting with us and kinda drags and plods along too slow, despite the intriguing premise.

 

[Carnifex]

It does get mellow in a few episodes, for sure. Well worth sticking out though, series three is pretty interesting so far.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

I'm about halfway through season 3 of Breaking Bad. It's been pretty great so far, but I'm either getting burned out on watching so much of it, or for the past 2-3 episodes I feel a lowpoint in the narative arc, compared to everything up until now. I hope and expect it picks up.

As I kept watching I also realized I had seen a lot more of it in my previous viewing attempt than I initially realized. I think I now remember I watched up until Walk starts working for Gus, along with some other lab guy. But I'm not sure, since some of the things I'm seeing I just don't remember at all. So it's possible that I maybe have seen some scenes, and not the full episodes? I don't know. Anyway, onto more of it.

Spoiler

The lowpoint for me is the domestic scandal between Skyler and Walt, with her finding out about what he does, trying to keep him away from his family. Her then trying to get some over Walk by sleeping with Ted. This whole thing is starting to drag for me, and I hope it picks up.

 

[JDR13]

Spoiler

The lowpoint for me is the domestic scandal between Skyler and Walt, with her finding out about what he does, trying to keep him away from his family. Her then trying to get some over Walk by sleeping with Ted. This whole thing is starting to drag for me, and I hope it picks up.

Yeah, that wasn't one of the better arcs imo. Although, I liked the scene where..

Spoiler: ….

Walt goes to Ted's work to confront him and tries to throw that plant through his office window. I thought that was genuinely funny.

 

[Carnifex]

I don't believe I've ever wished for a lead character to perish as much as I did for Walter White. Even Anthony Soprano had some limits, boundaries he wouldn't cross, White justified everything he did because he was sick beyond compare. Breaking Bad is a show I'd never re-watch, I'm glad I saw it when it aired yet I doubt I'll ever feel the need to revisit such a scummy show, at it's core. By the second series I realized I was only watching because I was fantasizing about the many ways I'd enjoy seeing White die.

 

[JDR13]

You can always count on certain obligatory follow-up posts here.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

I don't believe I've ever wished for a lead character to perish as much as I did for Walter White. Even Anthony Soprano had some limits, boundaries he wouldn't cross, White justified everything he did because he was sick beyond compare. Breaking Bad is a show I'd never re-watch, I'm glad I saw it when it aired yet I doubt I'll ever feel the need to revisit such a scummy show, at it's core. By the second series I realized I was only watching because I was fantasizing about the many ways I'd enjoy seeing White die.

Damn, that's what I call a reaction. And I think this is the second time I'm seeing it.

He did do some reprihensible stuff throughout, but I never had such a visceral reaction. I think the only one I had a visceral reaction to was with Jesse's girlfriend. That was really impressive in the callousness of it all.

I'm curious, did you have a similar reaction to Dexter? With all the ritualistic killing.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Just saw The Fly episode, in season 3. What great little episode this was. I love these kinds of little gems.

 

[Carnifex]

No, I didn't have a similar reaction with Dexter, as I believe the character was scripted to behave as he did. The death of his mother set him on a fatal course, and the fault for that would be those that caused her demise. His character was ingrained at an extremely young age, and without someone realizing and addressing it, he was never going to change or improve. I certainly wouldn't consider him a good guy, though!

You cited one of the more egregious actions White took, and a rather nasty one, yet the one that had me howling at the television was what he was going to do to that child. The Jane situation was almost as bad, but for me the child endangerment trumped it by a kilometer. The planning, the callous disregard for the child, and this coming from a former teacher?? Uggh, even now my stomach churns just thinking about it!! And even how he often treated his own family, and Jesse, and many others, beyond despicable. I was totally in deaths' corner all the way where Walter White was concerned. It just wasn't as brutal as it should have been.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

I don't know, I kind of see a duality to Walt. I mean he does all the shitty things he does for self-interest (but if you look at society nowadays, that's pretty much commonplace, even if not to that extreme), but I also like his constant flirting with death and disappointment that he didn't die when he expected to. Of course, you could interpret that as him not wanting to be present/responsible for the consequences he's caused. But I can empathize at least a bit with his plight. Episodes like The Fly, that I saw today, in particular flirt with those ideas of his.

 

[JFarrell71]

I also found Walt mostly irredeemable. After the cancer ceased to be an issue, he was revealed as the bitter, narcissistic, self-serving, egomaniac monster he always was meant to be.

But there were moments. One of my favorites was near the end when

Spoiler

he was talking to Skyler on the phone, and knowing that law enforcement was listening, viciously laid into her, calling her stupid, clueless, etc so that she would not be viewed as complicit in anything he had done. It was one of the last most selfless, loving things he did in the series.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Just finished season 3 of BB. Holy shit, was the ending tense.

I actually got a stomache ache.

 

[Carnifex]

Duality as in he's several different forms of scum, that I can see. And he could rant and whing like no other, lol. He almost made that a form of art! Walter Whing, now that's a handle!