I'm going through a pre-Christmas binge, too. Just started season 3. I've been meaning to re-watch before Better Call Saul starts, and finally got around to it a little while ago.

Upon re-watching, I think season 2 might be my favourite. Never really had a 'favourite' season of this show, but season 2 really stood out to me this time.

 

I went to the Breaking Bad Fest in ABQ last month. Met a bunch of the cast (none of the leads were there, sadly), went sadly go-karting, and ate pizza with cast and writers. They even offered an RV location tour. Rumors say they'll host it again next year.

 

About time

 

I dislike Jesse more each time I watch it. Also can't stand the actor.

 

i did not like the character either,,,,for the same reasons walter didn't like him. i am glad the writers wrote jesse as they did. they were uncompromising about how they dealt with all the characters and that is why i love the show. there's not supposed to be anything to like about jesse....he was a no account dropout getting by on moving dope and spent his money getting high. in the big picture, he was along for the ride but should have stayed at home drugged out playing video games and end up wasted. he was a pawn and things moved around him on a bigger stage, and he couldn't keep up.

if the writers had written their characters each to have some kernel of goodness, it would have been a compromise for the sake of commercialism. i thought each character was written perfectly.

i dont think aaron paul will have any career beyond this. his delivery is indeed hard to take,,,,but perfect for BB.

 

Huge fan of Breaking Bad... More than I am Walking Dead honestly. Such a good show!

 

Just finished watching the series. I enjoyed it a lot, although I think the first three seasons were the strongest. It ended basically the way it had to end. I spent a fair share of time being annoyed at Skyler, for being every bit as guilty as Walt yet still playing the part of the poor 'coerced' partner. Near the end when she started demanding that Walt kill Jesse [while Walt tried to explain that there was a less drastic solution] while at the same time trying to retain her status as unwilling participant to Walt's 'evil', I could have slapped her. Her hands were just as dirty as Walt's, yet she still retained her family while Walt wasted away in an isolated shack. The least she could have done was had sex with him for old time's sake when he visited her at the end.

I got the sense that they were manipulating colors quite a bit in the show. Many names had colors incorporated in them, [White, Pinkman, Schwartz, right down to 'Holly' which to me, implied 'green'] And I noticed that during some of the most greedy scenes, people were wearing green. Walt's apron was green when they started their meth cooking, etc. During some of the darkest, more violent scenes, I think I noticed a lot of black and red.

 

I thought Season 4 was the weakest of them all. I really enjoyed the final 8 episodes though, which became known as Season 5 Part 2. But unlike TWD we had to wait a whole year following the Hank bathroom scene.

I thought the demise of Gus in "Face Off" was a little over the top and I found the magnet truck scene unbelievable. But overall Breaking Bad is one of my favorite shows of all time and I think Vince Gilligan did an amazing job with it. I've always said that the best thing they did was to end the show, rather than milk the story further. That's a tough temptation to resist, particularly since Breaking Bad was still gaining an audience as it went off the air. But they told their story and got out, so they get a lot of credit in my book for doing that. I also can't think of a series that ended better than Breaking Bad. The final 8 episodes were excellent.

And yes, I don't think anyone liked Skyler very much.

 

In reality, the bomb would've blown Gus through the door, but that scene is a classic. I'm sure when Gus stepped into the hallway, viewers were saying "How the hell did Gus survive—oh my God!"

The magnet testing and the later attack were brilliant (and Jessie's idea!) but it turned out to be another domino in Walt's fall (the magnet erased Gus' laptop, but the collapsing shelves revealed more evidence hidden behind a picture frame).

I wholeheartedly agree that they ended the show at the right time. Too many great shows don't know when it's time to call it quits.

I never liked Skyler (or her sister) either. If Skyler didn't meet with Hank, maybe things would've ended differently, because until that meeting, all Hank had on Walt was a hunch. I personally think Walt married Skyler because he had given up on life. At least she's now stuck in a dead end job, a baby, and a teenage boy with cerebral palsy who hates both parents and is obsessed with breakfast.

 

When Gus stepped into the hallway my reaction at the time was, "Oh no they didn't," thinking they were going to let him live. I loved the double meaning though of the title "Face Off."

Skyler did get what she deserved in the end too. She was also willing to go along with Walt's plan to turn the whole thing back around on Hank. But I also think Hank blew it too with the way he approached Skyler in his meeting. He was too aggressive and was acting like the DEA guy when he should've played the role of brother-in-law. At that point she figured she might as well stick with Walt.

I remember reading a Vince Gilligan interview that year prior to the airing of Ozymandias and he said he felt it was the best episode they had done. I agree with him. It was brilliant. I also like the honesty involved there. Breaking Bad still had two more episodes left and he wasn't afraid to say they were about to run the one that was in his view the best.

If people haven't seen it too there is a great AMC trailer for Breaking Bad from 2013 where Bryan Cranston reads the poem Ozymandias while they show shots around New Mexico. It was extremely well done.