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  • Film & TV Moderators: ghostfreak

Television Breaking Bad

Is Nancy Botwin (Weeds) supposed to be likeable?


As cool as Season 4 was and as good as the opening of Season 5 was, this show is still not close to touching The Wire. Different shows, different stories, but I still think The Wire is supreme
 
AmorRoark said:
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whoever made this has entirely too much time on their hands.

P A said:
and that one-dimensional teenager with the speech impediment?
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"wow, what a great audience."

I realize the actor who plays him actually does have down's syndrome or whatever in real life, but it seems like he's hamming it up for the camera. throwing a couple extra stutters in there and what not.

23536 said:
show needs more Marie imho also more Flynnn.
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no, it really doesn't. at all.

I feel like Ted coming back has to play a role later on or else seriously why would they resurrect a minor character that was practically dead already? If you're gonna do that, might as well bring back a good one like Gale!

Overall it was a worthy season premiere, but at times it seemed like they were patting themselves on the back ("I won" is so last season, "Ted is dead" was powerful three years ago) or trying too hard ("Yeah bitch, magnets!" is a failed attempt to recreate "Yeah, science!"). That being said, I came hard when Walt replied, "Because I said so." Such a boss.
 
is this the only long-tenured show whose protagonist is intentionally unlikable? I can't think of any others.
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This is a much-talked-about element of the show, but I always find myself torn when I read things like this. I mean, I like Walt. Despite his horrid personality and regrettable behavior, I don't find him as hateful or repellent as people claim he is. I think the real draw to Walt's character is the quirky charisma with which Cranston endows him in his finest moments. There's also the whole 'realism' thing - Walt is just pathetic enough to be thoroughly convincing in his role.

If ever there was a character that I truly hated in a show, and if ever that show were Breaking Bad, I'd have to on record and nominate Flynn/Junior/whatever the fuck his name is. Before I get flamed by disability advocates and laughed off by ardent fans (Breakfast Club, etc.), I have to wonder out loud: What is he doing in this show? What essential dramatic or narrative purpose does he fulfill as a character? And don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with disabled people as such appearing on network television - in fact, I welcome it. But if their appearance serves no better aim than the shameless insertion of a token character in order to promote 'awareness,' then I have to call bullshit. Now, if they had just given him more lines, made his character more accessible (by, for instance, making him out to be something deeper or more interesting than "He's an Average American Teenager with a Disability So Look How Normal He Can be In a Supportive Environment"), and woven him into the plot somehow, I would have no complaints. As it is, his character is cringe-worthy and worse than useless.
 
P A said:
If ever there was a character that I truly hated in a show, and if ever that show were Breaking Bad, I'd have to on record and nominate Flynn/Junior/whatever the fuck his name is. Before I get flamed by disability advocates and laughed off by ardent fans (Breakfast Club, etc.), I have to wonder out loud: What is he doing in this show? What essential dramatic or narrative purpose does he fulfill as a character? And don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with disabled people as such appearing on network television - in fact, I welcome it. But if their appearance serves no better aim than the shameless insertion of a token character in order to promote 'awareness,' then I have to call bullshit. Now, if they had just given him more lines, made his character more accessible (by, for instance, making him out to be something deeper or more interesting than "He's an Average American Teenager with a Disability So Look How Normal He Can be In a Supportive Environment"), and woven him into the plot somehow, I would have no complaints. As it is, his character is cringe-worthy and worse than useless.
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jxHRA.gif
 
I realize the actor who plays him actually does have down's syndrome or whatever in real life, but it seems like he's hamming it up for the camera. throwing a couple extra stutters in there and what not.
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Not to be a prick, but I think the guy is supposed to be portraying a nervous palsy, not a Borat-esque 'funny retardation.' At any rate, you're actually spot on, by the actor's own admission. The guy had to intentionally focus on worsening his condition for the camera. Again, shameless.

I'm sure Gilligan (or one of his staff members) has a close friend or relative with CP, but come on. Why not disfigurement? Dismemberment? Or FFS, psychiatric illness, anyone? Those are infinitely more accessible, but disproportionately less talked-about, forms of disability than rare neuromuscular disorders. As an apropos example within the show itself, Hank Schrader is a solid, enjoyable character. Flynn, on the other hand, is not.
 
Does anyone know the actual timeline of the show?

Like from Season 1 episode 1 to Season 5 episode 1, how much time has gone by in the Breaking Bad world? I'm pretty sure it's been 18 months, at most, maybe even closer to 12/13 months since Walt first got diagnosed with cancer. I think that since the show for us has been going on so much longer it can take away from the fact that for the characters in the show everything hasn't been so spaced apart.

Gale getting killed seems like ages ago, but in the show it's what 3 months? or so since Jesse killed him.
 
^season 1 episode 1 starts with Walt's 50th birthday. Season 5 episode 1 starts when Walt turns 52. That's the flash-forward.
 
Does anyone know the actual timeline of the show?
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"How long? Not long!"

http://www.vulture.com/2011/07/breaking_bad_calendar.html

"...Breaking Bad is not running at the same speed as the real world. The show started airing three and a half years ago, back in January of 2008, but its three seasons haven't covered anywhere near three years in Walt's life. By our count, come Sunday, Walt will have been breaking bad for little more than seven months."

They perform a systematic temporal analysis of the show, using each episode's treatment of time as a benchmark upon which to base speculation about the next episode's temporal placement, up to the final episode of the third season. Now, supposing that the fast pace of Season 4 doesn't allow for much more than a few months, we're looking at something close to a year's time.

season 1 episode 1 starts with Walt's 50th birthday. Season 5 episode 1 starts when Walt turns 52
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Hmmmm...
 
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In Season 4 Walter says, "I've been living with cancer for the better part of a year...". It's at the beginning of an episode where he is in a waiting room and this younger guy is asking him which test this is and then starts complaining how cancer is changing his plans in life.

It's near the end of season 4, but wouldn't that mean it's been more than a year?
 
^I'm not sure about the specific dates, but the timeline of the show seems awfully slow moving if Walt's still in his first year of having cancer. That's crazy how much has happened to him in 1 year, which brings me to:

Dre1990 said:
Unlikable? I guess you mean realistic?
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Realistic? Maybe at one point in time...but you're a sociopath if you think Walter White is likable...lol

How anyone could go from Malcolm in the Middle's dad to being responsible for dozens of deaths within the ranks of several organized crime syndicates without getting himself killed is totally unrealistic. I feel like people would stop giving a shit that he knows how to cook the blue meth after only a few deaths he causes. Gus certainly was way too soft on him for being portrayed as such a cold-hearted gang leader.
 
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How anyone could go from Malcolm in the Middle's dad to being responsible for dozens of deaths within the ranks of several organized crime syndicates without getting himself killed is totally unrealistic. I feel like people would stop giving a shit that he knows how to cook the blue meth after only a few deaths he causes. Gus certainly was way too soft on him for being portrayed as such a cold-hearted gang leader.
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Consider real-life organized crime and the international death toll it incurs and you will be decidedly underwhelmed by what you see on even the most violent episodes of Breaking Bad. Also, I think that, for Gus, no number of Evil Henchmen killings could ever dissuade him from the multimillion dollar figures he made by selling dat blue en masse. And 'soft,' isn't quite the word that I would use to describe the statement "I will kill your wife, your son, and your infant daughter," or something to that effect.
 
CoffeeDrinker said:
Realistic? Maybe at one point in time...but you're a sociopath if you think Walter White is likable...lol
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So I guess I'm a sociopath. Ok, he killed nine people...but so what? They were "all in the game".
They would have done the same thing.

And remember in the beginning of the season, when Gus WAS going to kill mr. White and Jesse.
 
From LA Times Emmy nominations article (see link below)

Cranston, who has won the lead actor award for the series three times, warns viewers not to expect too much in the way of redemption for Walter White, his meth-making character in "Breaking Bad."
"He is spiraling into hell. There's no turning back. The egregious acts that he has committed are beyond forgiveness, and he has dragged everyone down with him, sacrificed his soul," the actor said. "Somewhere, somehow, it's going to all come crashing down. It's like the host body has been devoured by the visitor. There's little to recognize from the old Walter."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-emmy-round-up-20120720,0,2904276.story

PS. Check out the podcasts for each episode (incl S05 Ep01) from the "horses mouth" - with regular guest appearances from show writers, actors and creator Vince Gilligan.

http://www.amctv.com/shows/breaking-bad/insider-podcast-season-5
 
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Dre1990 said:
So I guess I'm a sociopath. Ok, he killed nine people...but so what? They were "all in the game".
They would have done the same thing.
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Personally, I don't care about the people he's killed. It's the fact that he's an incredible asshole that makes me dislike him. I'm still entertained by him, but I wouldn't want to be his friend (though I would like to be his student).

The child-poisoning and the using his neighbor as a shield didn't help either, but morality gets sucked into a vortex when one becomes a drug dealer. The reason I gave up dealing is that it was impossible to do it without becoming brutally violent. I'm fairly certain that among the people who started dealing after they reached adulthood, most will have come to a point where they had to make a decision to either be violent or get out of dealing altogether. I'm not sure I would've liked myself if I had chosen to do the things I had to do to stay in it. It's one of the consequences of prohibitionist policies, that the number of killers and torturers in society is greatly amplified.
 
As a matter of interest Season 5 is being split into 2x 8 episodes with the 2nd 8 episodes being broadcast in 2013.
Listen to the podcasts to hear why the writers and creator have welcomed this format.
(see link in my previous post if you are interested).
 
Just watched the entire series in 6 days and managed to work, 5th here I come!
I actually didn't like Walter, Jesse or Gus. Yay for Mike?
 
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