www.debbieschlussel.com

Access the detailed review of the best online casinos in the UK? Its legal status, which makes a good casino and games more. Day by day, the offer of online casinos is getting bigger and bigger. But what are the best online casinos? They are reliable online casinos, that is, they have legitimate software and they pay players correctly. From the famous Las Vegas casinos to the not so well known ones. We could have just completed this list bonushitlist.com of the best casinos in the world.

August 11, 2013, - 8:47 pm

“Breaking Bad”: What Will Happen to Walter White? Here’s What I Think. Predictions?

By Debbie Schlussel

I don’t think having terminal cancer is an excuse for becoming a drug dealer, killer, and maker of lethal drugs. And, so, I was surprised when I got hooked on AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” the first of the last eight episodes of which debuts tonight. As longtime readers know, I don’t have cable, so I watched the show on DVD, which I mostly checked out of my local library. The show–about high school chemistry teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston)–has developed a cult following.

To those who do not watch, here’s a “Debbie’s Notes” version of the show. White, a smart, middle class teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He figures out that he’ll need almost a million dollars in cash for his family–his wife is pregnant and he has a teen son who has cerebral palsy–to survive after his death. His brother-in-law is DEA Agent Hank (Dean Norris), and while on a ride-along with him, he spots his former student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), involved in the meth trade, getting away. Soon, White comes up with the idea of cooking and selling meth to make the money he needs for his family before he dies.

White and Pinkman become partners, kingpins, and killers, but the viewer is always rooting for them, even though what they are doing is wrong and illegal. That’s what troubles me about the series, even though I can’t stop watching and want to know what happens up through the end of this season. (I’m also troubled by the incredible violence in some seasons of the show.) Through it all, White goes into remission after expensive cancer treatment, and his brother-in-law is always on the hunt for “Heisenberg”–White’s drug dealer name on the streets. White and Pinkman best and outsmart all of their competition, including many evil criminals who are competitors and want to put them out of business, as well as kill the bro-in-law DEA Agent Hank.

We know little about White’s past or family. The only thing we do know is that in college, he and a lover and another friend had a start-up company, which today is worth billions. But he was pushed out, losing the girl to the friend, and they went on to become billionaires, while he is just a poor teacher, who has resorted to meth cooking and dealing.

The show, despite my reservations and the situational ethics of it all, is one of the best written on television. It’s incredibly suspenseful and entertaining. And there isn’t a minute of boredom. I like that Jesse Pinkman, even though he’s an uneducated slacker loser, develops a conscience where Walter White loses his. He’s sort of the moral compass of the show, objecting when an innocent young boy is shot and killed and so on.

My favorite scene in the series is the one in which White convinces an old Mexican cartel godfather in a nursing home (played by an old Jewish actor, Mark Margolis) to become a suicide bomber of sorts, using a bell and his wheelchair to murder drug kingpin, Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), a bigtime mobster and drug kingpin. Fring parades as a charitable benefactor to the community and the DEA via his chain of fast food chicken joints, Los Pollos Hermanos (The Brothers Chickens).

And my favorite character is sleazy, unethical lawyer Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk), an Irish American who changed his name to a Jewish sounding one in order to get clients. He is the typical low-life lawyer who advertises on TV and will do anything to make money. And he even has a live website–Better Call Saul–with actual ads on it (see some of them below). Reports say that there will be a spin-off show featuring his character.

So, to my readers who do watch “Breaking Bad,” what do you think will be Walter White’s end on the show, if there will be one? Will his cancer resurface, as I think it will? Will his DEA agent brother-in-law Hank, who finally discovers that White is Heisenberg (at the end of the last episode last year), put him in jail?

Will another drug dealing competitor murder him? Will Jesse Pinkman rejoin him in the biz?

I predict that Walter will go to jail and ultimately get out, no thanks to Saul Goodman. But I think he will die at the end, either by murder from someone in the meth biz or from a resurgence of the cancer.

I think they’re ending “Breaking Bad” at just the right time, since there’s not much more that they can do. But I’m interested to see how it all ends. In any event, I’ll have to wait until it comes out on DVD to watch these final eight episodes and find out for myself.

What do you think about “Breaking Bad”? Post your comments here.

Tags: Aaron Paul, Better Call Saul, Bob Odenkirk, Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston, DEA Agent Hank, Dean Norris, Giancarlo Esposito, Gus Fring, Hank, Jesse Pinkman, Los Pollos Hermanos, Mark Margolis, Meth, meth cooker, meth dealer, Saul Goodman, Walter White

43 Responses

I have been trying to watch this show for a bit now (on high recommendation!) but every time I had the opportunity, it was not offered “On Demand” and I was told this series must be watched in progression and not just anywhere in the seasons.

Now I know I’ll love this show! I am so far behind!!

“Fresh Airs” critics RAVE about this show and even go as far as to say it’s one of the best series EVER. I can’t believe I missed such a gem.

I know “Hell On Wheels” is starting again (but I am so far behind on that one…never saw season 2 but I know the ending, unfortunately, already) but this show sounds heaps better. I had better get to it then!

Skunky on August 11, 2013 at 9:15 pm

AMC keeps coming out with hit shows like “The Dead,” “The Killing,” “Breaking Bad” etc. Cable TV shows are written for a niche audience, which is why they’re of such high quality!

I have the standard Charter/Optimum package and I find I really don’t miss the premium channels. If I want them, I buy DVD anyway or they show up later in syndication on one of the standard channels.

In my part of the country, the only way to watch TV is cable. A small town can’t support a TV station and the nearest major city is over 2 1/2 hours away.

Cable has has high quality and HD is always free if you have an HDTV set.

NormanF on August 11, 2013 at 10:00 pm

Just yesterday, I came across yet another news story about a guy on meth who beat a baby senseless and killed her. I’ve lost track how many of these news stories I’ve read in the last few months.
A few years ago, I visited relatives in TN. Over the course of my extended stay, I met several people who shared stories of family members and acquaintances whose lives were being destroyed because of the meth head in their midst. And when I was following the Casey Anthony case live-stream on a West Palm Beach station, I couldn’t help but be drawn to the sidebar of local mugshots. Every third or fourth face showed the unmistakable signs of meth…sunken eyes, dark circles, pimple-blisters, concave cheeks and thinning hair.

So, no…”Beaking Bad” poses no dilemma for me. In my younger days as a liberal rabble-rouser (late 60’s and 70’s), I indulged myself with situation ethics, utopian govt., pot and a short stint with coke (as long as it was on someone else’s dime). But I lost too many friends, and even a husband, to drugs that seem almost childish compared to the ravages of meth.
These meth cookers have destroyed so many homes, making them uninhabitable. They don’t care. Use it up and walk away. In TN, the police were struggling with yet a new variation on the lab. The cookers were stealing vans, hiding out in rural areas, make the meth and trash the vehicle.
So, again, no, I don’t give a rat’s behind what ‘Walter’s’ reasons are. Why on earth watch a show about a guy who does despicable things and ruins so many lives so that his own family has a financial edge? SMH

P: You make some good points about that. The show does not show nearly enough about the horrors caused by meth, meth use, meth addicts, etc. There are a few instances–Walter White and his meth trade cause a plane crash and lots of deaths on it, and Jesse’s girlfriend–a former addict–ODs on drugs and dies. But not enough of these incidents are portrayed. However, it certainly does not glamorize the life they are leading. As I said, I am bothered by the fact that the show makes you root for Walter, when he’s a crook and a killer, and there is no justification for his actions, cancer or not. Still, it’s a very entertaining, well-written show. DS

Patty on August 11, 2013 at 10:42 pm

@Patty, I totally agree with you on the meth position, how could anyone not be? I personally lost my family to a meth head and her wealthy parents with lots of bad situations mixed in so I didn’t watch it for a few years. Then once started I couldn’t stop. It’s an excellent show, sometimes a little far fetched with how things might pan out in a situation involving facing down hardened criminals and the cops being as incompetent except for one guy.
The shows premise of making poison for scum bags that don’t matter anyway was explored in the actors dialog a few years back in some scenes. At the base of it, that’s what it is. The episode where WW watched a horrible, nasty female friend of his partner, choke on her own vomit had many people taken off guard and horrified. It showed the possible fall out from a persons actions of their own, coupled with yet another persons agenda colliding like the airplanes later in the show which can have terrible consequences. Much like the meth business.
Let me make myself clear, I HATE everyone that does the stuff, makes the stuff, sells the stuff, but the show is great. I think the show is a good example to people to not get involved in any way with the crap. Getting tired of Walking Dead, used to love it, but shoot the zombie gets tiring.

samurai on August 12, 2013 at 9:01 am

I’ll take your word for that, Debbie. Charles Boyer had a line in one of his movies…someone wanted him to go see a sad, tragic play and he replied, “There’s enough sadness in the world. Why would I want to pay for my tears?” I guess I just feel the same about violence.

Patty on August 12, 2013 at 12:02 pm

Nope. Won’t be watching this. The unintended consequence of this trash will be more wannbe meth manufacturers and college age kids who have the bright idea they can succeed as a Walter White … because they’re smarter than Walter.

Jack on August 12, 2013 at 12:36 am

I think the same story could be re-written w/ Walter getting on the payroll of Muslim sheikhs, and then pimping Islam, or being a central organizing unit of al-Qaeda, all for a wad of cash that his surviving family can use.

There too, he’d have the same justification – he’s dying, family needs the gravy train to survive, and so he fleeces the sheikhs and gets them what they need. He’d need no conscience over the fact that he’s causing death & misery to millions, just like he needs none for the havoc he’s causing thru meth.

Infidel on August 12, 2013 at 12:51 am

Infidel,

There are bad guys who are charming and delightful people IF you don’t know they compromise themselves to do whatever they’re doing.

I can’t say I like or I approve of them. I can’t! The bottom line is they’re despicable human beings whatever I think of their personal qualities. Someone who harms others belongs in jail, not in society.

That’s true regardless of whether they are meth dealers like Walter, mob bosses like Soprano or Islamic terrorists like Bin Laden. There’s no doubt they have families who love them. But that doesn’t excuse what they do. And possibly dying only compounds the nature of their offenses against society.

Anti-heroes aren’t attractive to begin with and keep in mind whatever you think of what they have in the way of attachments to people close to them, their activities are downright unethical, illegal, criminal, immoral and repulsive. Its hard to have genuine sympathy for the bad guy.

NormanF on August 12, 2013 at 2:46 am

Miss Schlussel, Et Alii:

When I was out in Jensen, Utah, I drove along one of the narrow country roads where the sign said, “SPEED LIMIT 15”, apparently indicating that good, law abiding citizens should restrict themselves to taking only fifteen methamphetamine tablets.

Gosh, gee whillikers, I’ve never even heard of this television show, “BREAKING BAD”!

I get the AMC channel on my SENIOR TV subscription, but I rarely watch it, because it just ain’t as good as it used to be.

I can remember way back, many long years ago, when there were ONLY movies on the AMC channel, – – – no television shows, just movies, AND there were NO commercial advertisements at all.

Not only that, but I remember when cable television first began, and there were NO commercial advertisements at all, on any cable television channel.

Not only that, but I also remember when a program of this sort wouldn’t be permitted on ANY television channel.

But, I reckon I’m a bit hypocritical, because I have ALL of the HANNIBAL LECTOR movies in my DVD collection, and I also enjoy watching my DVDs of “PULP FICTION” and “BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES”.

The movies, “ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST”, “CHATTAHOOCHEE”, and “SLING BLADE”, are in my personal DVD library because I actually lived through that horrible experience in real life, when I was a teenager.

Due to being an uncontrollable adolescent, I spent several years of terrifying hell locked up, tortured, molested, and abused in the maximum security wards for the incurably criminally insane at the state mental hospital, where my ONLY associates during those formative years were murderers, deviants, and perverts.

One of my more recent jobs, prior to my retirement, was at a state penitentiary, where I worked every day with some of the most dangerous sociopaths you ever read about in the news, or see on television documentary productions even today.

And of course, there was the United States Army and the Republic of Viet Nam, where torture, murder, rape, and illegal substance abuse were common occurances, in spite of command condemnation and/or consequences of military disciplinary action.

When I think about those things, I’m surprised with the stark realization that I’m still alive and still have my freedom.

I reckon this sort of television show that you’re describing painfully reminds me of how EVERYTHING that I cherish and hold dear, i.e., traditions, values, morals, heritage, are gone forever, i.e., our long lost republic, our beloved United States of America, our divinely inspired Constitution of the United States of America, and/or my chosen faith, The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints.

So, in the final analysis, what am I trying to say, and what is my point?

I reckon it’s that the AMC television series, “BREAKING BAD”, which I’ve not seen, and hadn’t even heard about, is symptomatic of the ongoing perversion and outright destruction of all things good and decent.

Thank you.

John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Gulfport, Mississippi 39507

John Robert Mallernee on August 12, 2013 at 1:45 am

Thank you for your service. God bless. BTW, your “Who Was That Girl” song is doggone nice.

Patty on August 12, 2013 at 11:55 am

Miss Patty:

Thank YOU, Ma’am!

Thank you very much!

John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Gulfport, Mississippi 39507

John Robert Mallernee on August 12, 2013 at 1:33 pm

JRM, I think you might be going a little deep for a t.v. show. It’s the world that we’ve got at this time. It’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for getting blasted on chemical intoxicants. Check out my opinion and you’ll see what I mean. Spent some time dealing with crazy murdering bastards? As an adolescent? Not cool. Sorry to hear that, and thanks for your service.

samurai on August 12, 2013 at 5:19 pm

Samurai:

Alas, you’re absolutely correct that, “It’s the world that we’ve got at this time.”

Don’t you see that’s the problem?

EVERYTHING is gone, gone forever, all the cherished traditions, values, beliefs, and heritage!

What we need now is bloody armed revolt to restore our lost republic, and organized night riding vigilante justice.

As for what happened to me in my youth, did you know there were others like me, who as teenagers (or younger), were locked up with hardened convicted criminals in state mental hospitals, but somehow, quite miraculously, later went on to perform honorable military service during the controversial and unpopular war in the old Republic of Viet Nam?

My point was, and remains, that my own personal ordeal was far, far WORSE than anything Hollywood depicts in the movies, “CHATTAHOOCHEE”, “ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST”, and “SLING BLADE”.

But, that’s all behind me, for following those years of horror, I was a soldier, and later became a police officer, a firefighter, a paramedic, a cowboy, a singer/songwriter, and an actor in community theatre plays.

Now, I’m retired, and the years of intense action, danger, and adventure have caught up with me, as my physical health rapidly, and mysteriously, continues to deteriorate each day.

Mox nix.

Xin loi.

Thank you.

John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Gulfport, Mississippi 39507

John Robert Mallernee on August 12, 2013 at 10:41 pm

YesJRM, I do realize that’s the problem. I’ve adapted to my environment as much as possible, like you had to for a while for pure survival. There is an element of vigilante justice in the show I confess to enjoying.
As history has shown us, bloody revolts do happen on occasion and I think we sort of have a slow unreported one going on right now. Problem is it’s not the good guys that are doing it. It’s the bad guys pulling people out of their cars, murdering them, or torturing an innocent couple like in 2007, in Tennessee. Doubt me, just check out the “wildings”(they had to come up with a new term for “Youths”, mostly minority, ganging up on unsuspecting people)when all the innocent people are beaten severely for no reason. There was one in the wonderful “comeback” city of detroit a few weeks ago and they took over a coney island throwing chairs around for no reason at all. The DPD responded quickly, caught many of the low lives, and they were released to their thug parents immediately to the tune of about 90% of the rotten scum bags. I pray I never have to be in the vortex of one of those. I don’t like people throwing chairs at me.

samurai on August 14, 2013 at 5:44 pm

Powerful, powerful episode. It keep s getting better the closer to the end. I didn’t think they could top some of last year’s ones, but they did.

I, as always, still hate Jesse Pinkman’s character.

My prediction is that Walt and his family ultimately escape with his money, but he succumbs to the cancer so that his original plan of taking care of them after his death is fulfilled.

DS_ROCKS! on August 12, 2013 at 7:46 am

I agree with Debbie’s assessment of the show and watch it every Sun night. At first, I would not watch it for the reasons people outlined above, but changed one night when I could not sleep and decided to watch it. However, I do not see Walt being glorified, but rather as a pitiful, evil soul who is wasting his talents. Jesse as a stupid stoner without a care in the world. It becomes interesting as the show developed, where Walt becomes meglo-maniacal and Jesse gains a guilt conscience and insightful (especially in last night’s episode)way too late in his life. Yes, there is more evil that occurs from people using meth, but it is shown; I will cite the innocent child on a bike who witnesses the stealing of a meth component. The show is only 40 min an episode! Any thinking person can deduce the evil at work. It also shows that we should pay more attention to what is going on around us (schools, drug use, bad behavior, politicians) and take action to correct it. I will tell you last night’s show took me by surprise, especially with the last scene! It is very well written. I will say no further.

Lou on August 12, 2013 at 9:31 am

I too have heard rave reviews about this show, but never got into it. One of my buddies even told me its as good as “The Wire.” Now THAT’S a pretty big endorsement to me. I’ll catch “Breaking Bad” on DVD, just like Ms. Debbie.

Does anyone here think that “Breaking Bad” is as good as “The Wire”? I’ve heard that comparison made about many shows & its always turned out to be false.

Cicero's Ghost (NB) on August 12, 2013 at 10:07 am

Yes. Just as good or better. Every episode makes you cannot wait to findout what happens next. Just like the Wire, plots, subplots and stories. If you liked the Wire (I saw them all), you’ll love Breaking Bad, BUT get the first five seasons on DVD and watch to bring you up to speed and show all the characters as they develop to present. Just like the Wire, you would be confused if you saw only the last season.

Lou on August 12, 2013 at 10:46 am

@ Lou:

Thanks for your response. I’ll make sure to hit the library & start the show from the beginning. Hearing such an endorsement from another “Wire” fan is good to hear. Of course, the thing I always loved about “The Wire” was the unflattering portrayal of the Democratic machine that runs Baltimore. And, of course, I used to love watching Omar rob the drug dealers!

Cicero's Ghost (NB) on August 12, 2013 at 12:46 pm

The first 5 and half seasons are on Netflix. If you have Netflix do not spend your money on DVD’s which can be costly. My wife and I started watching the show about 2 weeks ago and like Debbie, we got hooked. We are midway through season 4 and are recording the last 8 episodes on AMC to watch later when we get caught up. I had the same reservations as Debbie mentioned at first. I thought it glorified criminal behavior, and even though they get rich, it shows very well what the cost is, their souls.

John on August 12, 2013 at 11:13 am

Correction, the first four and a half seasons are on Netflix.

John on August 12, 2013 at 11:15 am

I liked the suggestion I saw elsewhere that has Walt going into Witness Protection and becoming the dad on Malcolm In The Middle!

Toby Flenderson on August 12, 2013 at 11:53 am

The correct translation should be The Chicken Brothers.

F: I should stick to translating languages I actually speak and understand. DS

Federale on August 12, 2013 at 12:14 pm

I think Jesse will commit suicide from guilt. The son will somehow get killed. Saul will enter witness protection and help to prosecute Walter, who will die of cancer. Now Hank….I just can’t figure out what happens to him. He’s a big hero I guess. And Skyler will marry Saul and go off into witness protection with him.

Suz on August 12, 2013 at 1:45 pm

Which is better? To watch poor quality products that have a good moral message (i.e. the Tyler Perry movies that have religious messages) or high quality products that have purposefully immoral worldviews and are by design countercultural and liberal (i.e. Breaking Bad, Mad Men, the Sopranos, Dexter, Game of Thrones etc.)?

I don’t get it. If bashing the former while promoting the latter (even with all the reservations and moral conflicts cited it is still very much an endorsement) is OK, then why not go ahead and watch Leni Riefenstahl movies? I hear that Leni Riefenstahl was an outstanding filmmaker who put out very high quality stuff. OK, maybe Riefenstahl is too much. OK, what about “The Reader”? Sure it is a pornographic endorsement of statutory rape with a pro-Nazi tilt but it is so well done!

Maybe I am just old-fashioned, but if rejecting stuff because of poor quality despite its positive, moral messaging is justifiable, then rejecting stuff because of its evil content and worldview no matter its quality is even more so.

Also, please file these Hollywood anti-hero cable shows under the “liberal racism” category. They know that they can get away with making criminals sympathetic because they are white and middle class. But were Breaking Bad or Dexter or The Sopranos about black thugs from the inner city, would anyone find them to be anywhere near as compelling? Of course not. Conservatives would rightfully condemn it as liberal Hollywood bending over backwards to make excuses for black criminality and doing everything but depicting them to be the depraved hoodlums and products of dysfunctional cultures that they are. Hollywood knows this. So they make middle class whites the criminals instead, knowing that their manipulative humanizing of and being apologists for white criminals will be transferred to black ones. It is also a way to subversively shill for liberal public policy. If you wanted to make a commercial for universal healthcare, redistributing wealth and legalizing drugs, what better vehicle than a white school teacher with cancer selling meth to try to take care of his family? He is only able to afford the health care to get his cancer in remission by selling meth! Get it? He is only able to take care of his society by selling meth? Get it? What better way to send home the idea “from each according to his ability to each according to his need” or whatever? Again, make Walter White a black crack dealer from Debbie’s Detroit and the response would be “tell those people to get jobs, take stands against crime and illegitimacy and responsibility for their own neighborhoods and lives and I am sorry that you have cancer but everyone gets cancer regardless of race or class” so making him a white middle class teacher fits the liberal playbook. Oh yeah, and another thing: these cable anti-heroes are either male, or females reacting to terrible things that sexist men and a sexist society has done to them. Feminist deconstruction of men!

So in addition to having an immoral worldview, it is liberal, socialist, racist and feminist. But it is SO well done and SO entertaining that I am HOOKED! Ah well. I guess I will go see if there are any Leni Riefenstahl films on Netflix or HuluPlus. But no D.W. Griffith films though. Gotta draw the line somewhere …

G: You make good points. But I don’t think “Breaking Bad” has a liberal moral message. The life Walter White is engaged in is frowned upon and he is involved in many unsavory and tragic incidents. Also, one of the best movies ever made is “The Godfather,” which is similarly engaged in somewhat “glorifying” the life of mobsters. Is “The Godfather” filled with a liberal moral message? It also, like “Breaking Bad,” does show that being in that life leads to death and misery. But I agree with you somewhat, and that’s why I am troubled that I’m hooked on it. As I’ve said, his being stricken with cancer is no excuse for taking on the life of a meth cooker and dealer, so I have the same attitude toward him (mostly) that I would against someone like him who was Black. I think, also, it’s about class. If there were a middle class Black meth cooker in his position, I might be more sympathetic to him than a White hillbilly from Appalachia who is a meth cooker. Maybe that makes me classist, but it’s just that it’s more interesting for the show. Also, I liked “The Wire,” and that was filled with Black drug dealers who were also glamorized. So what do you say about that? DS

Gerald on August 12, 2013 at 1:54 pm

@Gerald, Tyler Perry is a good example and so forth? Are you hearing the main characters threaten to kick the crap out of everyone they meet? Madea or whoever is always getting into confrontations which I think is a piss poor role model for black kids, females especially. Big coincidence that there are so many of them beating the crap out of somebody on these online sites that they’ve become predictable. I have to admit that last year, when the fast food employee got slapped around by the customer that resembled Madea but was about 20 years old, I thought she had it coming the way she got hit back. The black, undersized, employee actually retreated to the back room. She hopped over the counter to finish him off but didn’t know who she was messing with. He was a ex con. Yeah, he beat her back and then was prosecuted for going too far. But if she’d been decent and nice to the young man…

samurai on August 12, 2013 at 5:31 pm

Gerald, I think Leni Riefenstahl is worth knowing about because of her “art” in conjunction to what she tried to lie about for over 100 years. Knowledge and admitting she was good at filmmaking (and acting, if you believe it…) BUT also coming straight up and saying she was a Hitler facilitator are NOT mutually exclusive. It makes her a subject of fascination because she was gifted BUT used it for evil and then lied and lied about it. And she tried to hide it but history can’t let her get away with it.

She was creepy and evil. There are TWO bios on her that are worth reading. I read them because I wanted to know IF she was a liar and SHE WAS. She then went on to photograph the Nuba tribe in Africa. What I saw of her work was related to my research…I had ZERO interest when I found out she was a liar. Even if her photos were smashing. It’s up to the individual to decide. If someone glorified her work even though the truth is out I would judge them by it (like Jodie Foster!). Some will choose NOT to view her work and that is ok too, but I like a whole lot of knowledge behind my strong stance…not to be like an ostrich with head in sand & tuchis in air.

I LOVED Dexter. Great show! It’s all fantasy. A sociopath CANNOT choose to kill only “bad” peeps in real life (if ONLY!). A true sociopath is born with deficits…no empathy, no conscious and an inability to feel guilt. Plus, they think they are the only thing in the world that matters so to them, life is a game…of them WINNING. They don’t like to lose. What they do and who they do it to depends on the game and IF they are winning or losing. A sociopath can’t take losing.

Some people wanna be all “Holly Hobbie” with their “religious” lifestyles while I put more into actually living as well as I can and shun the overtly religious stuff (like Christian music and Christian shows…I just can’t stand the stuff…) and I will actually consume some of the “evil” stuff and then use my own judgement whether it’s worth it or artistically great. I always end up properly shunning what should be. Funny how that happens. Because I am into the truth and values more than the facade of righteousness.

It’s more important where your heart is and if you’re admiring the art and comedy etc…it’s not the same as being a holy roller and secretly watching and getting off on porn or something. If you’re true, your character will keep one away from porn and it’s not artistically great ANYWAY. Not like “The Godfather” or “Good Fellas” or “M”.

DS reviewed that film “Arbitrage” (did I spell it right???) and she was CORRECT. And I don’t even like Richard Gere, but that was a good film. One of my favourite films is “The Vanishing” (not the Yank version! YUCK!) and I like it because it’s well made, creepy and doesn’t crap out on the ending…life is not always fair, clean and righteous and I stomach truthful and dirty truths better than antiseptic lies.

Skunky on August 12, 2013 at 6:02 pm

Samurai made some great points. In the mainstream media and conventional culture, the Black experience and archetype is the ‘Ghetto Fabulous’ one. I hate that. I’d like to see more diversity, Gerald, but it just isn’t gonna be made. THAT’s what I hate.

One of the best shows EVER was “I’ll Fly Away”. It died and had to go to PBS to finish up what they started. But everybody loved the crappy “Cosby” show. When they tried to have a comical “Blackadder”-type Yank show, “The Secret Life Of Desmond Pfeifer” not only did it die after 4 amazingly funny episodes, people were up in arms about how raaaaaaacist it was and it was a huge controversy. But “Friends” lasted forever (almost!). Give me SLDP ANYDAY! They won’t even release ANY of the episodes on DVD…to this day!!

I hate “The Borgias”. I watch it because the costumes and decor are to die for but the show ROTS because everyone on it is despicable and I find myself (happily!) waiting for all of them to die and get theirs because I hate them and they are evil and sick. “Breaking Bad” sounds better in art and execution in all realms. I hope I’ll be able to judge it rightly once I get to see the show! 😀

(I didn’t like “Spartacus” because it was too filthy. The now dead FIRST actor was amazingly handsome and the storyline could be compelling at times but it was too porny and sleazy for me. It could have been a great show but it was too interested on the skank angle than the plot…and then poor Andy Whitfield died and that was it for me…)

Skunky on August 12, 2013 at 6:22 pm

I truly wish there was some internet button that disallowed the uninformed from posting.

Walter’s cancer has already returned. It seems that no one noticed when Walter was racing through the house to get in the crawlspace and retrieve his money (only to discover that Skylar had given a LOT of it to her lover for his tax problem) that he was coughing. No one heard that?

Then Walter went for a routine CAT scan. Did no one also notice that after it was over Walter punched the towel dispenser in the locker room?

Walter is dead. He was dead when we met him.

Really, pay attention folks, THEN start making your predictions. thanks

sean on August 12, 2013 at 2:24 pm

I think that Walter White will lose everything and everyone. I think he is the only one who will survive — that would ble the ultimate punishment for him.

MominMinnesota on August 12, 2013 at 3:08 pm

As I don’t have much practice in forcing myself to watch things that I don’t cotton to, I haven’t been able to watch beyond the first half of the pilot episode, but from the sounds of it, it’s darker than my usual fare. Weeds was entertaining for a while, and starts from a similar premise as a comedy (widowed mom starts dealing pot to maintain her upper-middle class lifestyle), but beyond season three it got yawn-worthy. Gosh, I miss Heylia.

R: “Breaking Bad” is far better than “Weeds” on every level. The people in “Weeds” are neither likable nor clever. I can’t stand them. DS

Robert on August 12, 2013 at 4:02 pm

Ah, art imitates life once again:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2204954/Life-Imitates-Breaking-Bad–Again–Texas-Chemistry-Teacher-Charged-Cooking-Selling-Meth.html

Dave Turson on August 12, 2013 at 7:18 pm

There was a long scene when Jesse was in a house with a couple of meth addicts and their little boy (I think someone had stolen an ATM machine) and it showed very well the horrors of meth addiction.

The only thing that Walt loves is being a drug lord, thinking he’s a genius and king of the underworld because he’s the one eyed man in a world of blind people. But since the show has sped up the Hank/Walt confrontation – I didn’t expect that would happen until the next to last episode – all Walt can be now is on the run.

But he’s going to be dragged back into drug making; his being “out” of the business is just a lie he told Skylar and himself. I think that the female executive (can’t remember her name) is going to get him back into it; maybe because the feds will have seized all Walt’s money before they can move it from the storage unit.

But everything from the set up scenes suggest when the end comes, he’s alone, broke and on the run. He’s heading for some final retribution, but against who? No one’s betrayed him. Killing Hank won’t get the police off his back. Either someone has harmed his family and he’s getting even, or he’s being chased down by some larger drug cartel.

Jesse won’t live. His conscience is overwhelming him, and he doesn’t have the fantastic ego that Walt has. He knows the Walt is lying about not killing Mike, and Mike was Jesse’s only protection. Jesse always had a fondness for small kids and the murder of the boy in the desert won’t stop haunting him. He’ll end up killing himself or dying of a deliberate overdose.

The business executive gets murdered, maybe by Walt, maybe by the European drug lords, because I think her pleas to Walt to help out for a short while longer in some way suggest that she’s been cheating her partners (I haven’t figured out how though; she’s delivering product, she could only short them on that).

Hank isn’t going to die. Skylar may, but I’m thinking their teenage son gets killed. Maybe in a botched hit put on Walt by the female business executive who is afraid that Walt’s identity having been revealed puts her freedom in question.

Saul Goodman doesn’t die because everyone knows there is a spin-off for him being considered.

My prediction is that the show ends in the desert, with Walt standing in the middle of the road, with a gun in his hand, hearing sirens approaching. But this time, it’s not a firetruck, it’s the police. And Walt has the amulet of ricen clenched in his teeth.

gmartinz on August 13, 2013 at 12:31 am

http://www.today.com/entertainment/mythbusters-tackle-breaking-bads-bathtub-meltdown-6C10887715

Worry01 on August 13, 2013 at 1:56 am

I have watched this show from the start. I love it, the acting is superb and the storytelling is first rate. I do not root for Walt, but rather for Hank. My favorite episode would probably be “One minute” with Hank taking on the homicidal twins while unarmed. Second favorite person in the show is (was) Mike, while he was ruthless he also could have a decent side, as evidenced in taking Jesse under wing and building him up. Mike is old school bada$$, his assault on the warehouse being held by cartel members is evidence enough of that. And he loves his granddaughter.
Theories for the final 8 episodes – Hank builds a solid case against Walt. Search warrants are served on the White home and everything is seized. But Walt goes to the wind and vanishes for a few months. His name and photo are published across the Southwest as Public Enemy #1. (thus the reaction his neighbor Carol has to seeing him at the start of this past Sunday’s episode)
Hank will probably get killed by the East European connection to the drug trade. Skylar will go to prison for tax evasion. Walt Jr will die as collateral damage in a firefight between the regional drug factions. The baby will go into a foster family under a new name. And Walt will end up backed into a corner of some dive home, with his M-60 aimed at the front door, his ricin capsule in his pocket, and about to be overrun by a SWAT team. Will he go out in a blaze of gunfire, or take the ricin? Ultimately, the story will be one of how involvement in the meth business leaves you with nothing. Not a mountain of cash, not an intact family, and certainly with no life to speak of.
If you don’t have cable Debbie, the video service Vudu is advertising that they will be carrying repeats of the final 8 episodes.
Buckle your seatbelts viewers, I am sure Vince Gilligan has a wild ride ahead for us.

Disgusted with Media on August 13, 2013 at 2:25 pm

I quit watching BB after the 3rd season as the writing became erratic and nonsensical. It really appeared that two or three different writers were involved — and not communicating with one other.

The characters –especially Walter and Hank–changed from episode to episode. It was maddening watching Walt cry to his wife in one scene and act as a calculating criminal in the next. The only difference? That silly face he would put on when he was “angry” and playing the “mastermind.”

At first I found it embarrassing and frustrating, then just sad and funny.

Ridiculous.

Dan Diego on August 14, 2013 at 12:33 am

It took me three seasons to not keep thinking about Walter White as “Hal” in “Malcolm In The Middle.”

DS_ROCKS! on August 14, 2013 at 2:50 pm

Thanks Debbie, I’ll be sure to give this one a skip.
I don’t care if it’s the best thing on TV because I think I lost my curiosity.

Was it Yeats that wrote?
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

Frankz on August 14, 2013 at 3:56 pm

I have cable and I could probably watch this show. But from what you describe (giving a “cover” to a moral reprobate who sells drugs ’cause he has terminal cancer) — no thanks. I can find better ways to spend my time.

J.S. on August 16, 2013 at 3:55 pm

I don’t know how it will play out but I believe Walt will be “offed” by Lydia (or Todd) after he refuses to bake it for her and Todd can’t pin down the cook process. Who knows?

Ruckus_Tom on August 19, 2013 at 5:35 pm

Anyone still rooting for Walter at this point should take a long, hard look at themselves. I can see both sides of most of the issues raised here, but once he poisened the boy, well, he lost me. I didn’t want to see him ‘win’ before that, but now I want to see him die in the most painful way they can come up with. Peace everyone!!!

Joe Mama on September 17, 2013 at 8:07 am

Posted 12-12-’03):A while back you mentioned “Breaking Bad”. You had asked what others thought of it but I don’t remember any response. The series deserved your mention and I’m guessing the lack of response could only have been because few, if any, site readers had been fortunate enough to have seen the series.

I’m up to episode 9, third year. What a treat it’s been, so far; so high quality in what it does superlatively, it’s gained for itself a place in the rarest air of quality TV. TV quality is such a rare commodity, does “Breaking Bad” even belong stuffed between the sewage? Where perhaps it’s diminished by water treading “24” hourish-like stretches of believability–The latest example of such in my viewing would be the parking lot confrontation death scene between Hank and the cartel glum brothers–is smothered by the depth of character definition.

These are real people, dealing as real people with life and the attendant choices we get presented with or we make for ourselves in the face of it. The length and breadth this series stretches out for us reaches a quality level seldom to be found in any entertainment medium. Too many examples of the exquisite subtle bluntness the writers have achieved would be too numerous to recall without note-taking.

How deep a breath of fresh air it is that these characters (Walter, Skylar, Marie, Hank, and, don’t miss it, even Jesse) are written with compound human complexity! These individuals, each in themselves, go from admirable to deeply flawed. Eugene O’Neil would be envious.

We’re given relief from the character cut-outs of standard TV fare. When asked of her marijuana use in college by Skylar, there’s nothing cool in the usual sense of the word of Marie’s embarrassment at the question. Not the ” Oh, yeah, those were the days” hippish reply; but probable false was her “I did it once”. Not just Marie, but all four of the main charterers are written not just uncool but un- boastfully “square”. How refreshingly different is that? How cool is that?! How cool is that that it works! It can be done!

Of course, I’m not even scratching the “BB” surface. Since you brought the show up, I just got the itch to tell ya, I’m liking it bunches and bushels worth.

==LB

lee of the lower case "l" on December 12, 2013 at 4:14 pm

There’s a danger with this type of game that
the repetitive nature that you love to one extent can become dull
quite quickly. ? Whatever actions you have chosen to
replace the old behavior, you must now constantly repeat those actions until you know the job is
done. Enter the gate that you broke through and fight
off a couple more bad guys.

Kristofer on March 14, 2014 at 5:04 pm

Debbie Schlussel

Support My Work

Join My Mailing List!

Follow Me

Search

Categories

Sponsored Links

“Breaking Bad”: What Will Happen to Walter White? Here’s What I Think. Predictions?

43 Responses

Leave a Reply

Sponsor My Work!

Advertisement