Bryce Lynch

I share your unpopular opinion. If Walt could cook 99.1% pure meth in a broken down RV, I'm sure he knew how much he lily of the valley he could give Brock without killing him. Yes, it was a horrible thing to do, but he was trying to save his own life and the lives of Hank, Skyier, Junior and Holly and did worse things. I think "I understood why he did it" sums up why I didn't really hate Walt. Nearly every move he made was understandable, logical and in many cases unavoidable unless he was willing to sacrifice his life and/or Jesse, Hank's, Sklyer's, Walt Jr.'s and Holly's. Jesse, on the other hand (who I also liked) did many bad things that were totally irrational and unnecessary. Stealing a half pound of meth a week from Frng and trying to entice recovering addicts at NA meetings to buy it, when he was making $500K a month? Really? The decisions that Walt made that could not really be defended at all, IMHO, were a) Killing Mike - Killing Mike didn't benefit him, as he still didn't get the names of Mike's 10 guys from him. That said, it was sort of a heat of the moment decision and could be said to be a result of Mike calling his bluff of killing him if he did not give the names. b) Turning down the $5 million dollar buyout from Declan. That was the one move that seemed to be driven purely by greed and pride, with no element of self preservation or protecting his loved ones involved.

I largely disagree. Jesse displayed at least as much greed as Walt. When they were working together for Fring, Walt was thrilled to be making $500K a month, while Jesse bitched about how much more Fring was making (ignoring that Fring invested millions in the super lab, provided all the precursor, distribution, security, etc.) and started stealing meth, in hopes of making a few thousand more. And who does he decide will be his target market? Addicts at NA meetings desperately trying to get or stay clean. I think that might have been more evil than anything Walt did. As for Walt's killings: Emilio - was done to save himself and Jesse from imminent murder Krazy-8 - was also necessary to protect his own life, the lives of his family and Jesse's. Despite that, Walt was about to release him, until he realized Krazy-8 was going to kill him with the plate fragment if he did. Tuco - Actually done by Hank in self defense. Obviously he and Jesse had to try to kill him to save their own lives. Jane - This was at least as much Jesse's fault as Walt's as Jesse got her back into drugs. Remember, Walt had gone back to Jesse's to try to save him, after the "Never give up on family" talk with Donald in the bar. His first instinct was to save her, but then I think he realized that her living would likely lead to Jesse dying from an OD a week, month or year later. I'm sure he also considered that she would have blackmailed Walt for more money after her and Jesse shot the $480K into their veins. Fring's drug dealers - This was done to save Jesse's life and Jesse was about to try to murder them in cold blood (though you could argue he was justified). Gale Boetticher - One of his worst, but done to save Walt and Jesse from being murdered by Fring. Plus, Jesse actually did the killing, so he is at least equally responsible. His alternative was to hand Jesse over to Fring to be murdered. Hector Salamanca - An assisted suicide and chance for Hector to get revenge. Tyrus and Gus - To prevent Gus from murdering Walt, "...his wife, his son and his infant daughter." Two guards at the lab - To save Jesse. Mike Ehrmantraut - No real justification for this one. 10 Inmates - Also one of his worst moments, though it was done to prevent he and Jesse from going to prison. Jack and his 6 henchmen - to get revenge for Hank's murder. Jesse killed Todd at the same time, of course. Lydia - also out of revenge and because she just deserved to die. :) True, but the alternative was "sending Hank to Belize". I'm not saying he should have, but Hank could have just let it go, especially since Walt was retired, and near death, and everyone could have lived, (relatively) happily every after.

Great point about Marie. The more times I watch the series, the more I like her, though originally I didn't. Sure she was annoying at times and a kleptomaniac, but she was probably the most noble of all the main characters. Before his PTSD, she loved Hank and let him be a man, and pursue his goals, rather than emasculate him, and hold him back, as Skyler apparently did to Walt. She was there for Walt and the family during his cancer battle and helped find the best doctors. She also supported Walt's right to make his own decisions about treatment. While he was dealing with the PTSD, Marie was supportive and understanding, despite Hank shutting her out and treating her like crap much of the time. After Hank was wounded and crippled, she fought for him, encouraged him, cared for him, while he really treated her like crap. When she found out Hank had Walt in custody, she did the right thing by making Skyler tell Walt Jr, rather than have him hear about it on the news. In the finale she put everything aside to call Skyler to warn her that Walt was back in town.

I liked both Jesse and Walt, but I do think Jesse gets treated with kid gloves by many fans, while Walt is judged far more harshly. A few points: 1) Jesse starts cooking meth so he can smoke meth buy weed (and Funyuns) and not get a real job. Walt starts cooking meth to pay for his cancer treatment and leave something behind for his wife, disabled son and unborn daughter. 2) Jesse smokes meth in front of Jane (though he did ask her to leave) getting her back on meth and then heroin. Yes, Walt let Jane die, but at that point Jane was already in a death spiral and was bringing Jesse down with her. Remember Walt had gone back to Jesse's to try to save Jesse after Donald's "Never give up on family" talk in the bar. 3) Walt sends Mike to clean up Jesse's mess and then risks his own life going to the drug house to save Jesse and then paid for his rehab. At this point, Jesse is of no use to Walt and is in fact a huge liability. He was a big obstacle to a lucrative deal with Fring and a risk to Walt's freedom , by either doing something stupid or being a witness against him. 4) After Hank beats him up, Jesse not only threatens to ruin Hank's life, but threatens to rat out Walt when he inevitably gets caught cooking or dealing. It should have been an easy decision for Walt to have him killed at that point. Instead, he makes him a 50/50 partner, costing himself $1.5 million and greatly straining his relationship with Fring. 5) Walt is perfectly happy making $500K per month, but Jesse bitches about how much more Fring is making (apparently ignoring the facts that Fring had invested millions in the super lab, provided all the precursors, including the hard to obtain methylamine, paid for a distribution network, security, etc. and took most of the risk of arrest. All Walt and Jesse had to do was show up and cook, and Walt really didn't even need Jesse. 6) Jesse starts stealing meth from Fring, putting both their lives in danger. He then starts selling it (or trying to sell it) at NA meetings to people in REHAB. That might be more evil than anything Walt ever did. And he did this for pennies, compared to the millions he was getting from Fring. At least Walt, like Gale B could make the claim that he was only producing a high quality product for people who were going to buy it from someone no matter what. Jesse was trying to tempt people who were going out of their way not to use it. Even Badger and Skinny Pete saw how wrong it was and couldn't go through with it. Again, I liked both characters, but the idea that Walt was pure evil and Jesse was an innocent, cuddly teddy bear seems totally off to me.

I like to think Jesse became a bush pilot in New Zealand. :-)

I'd love to see Saul in a bar where Twaughthammer is playing "Fallacies", with Jesse on the drums of course. I'd also like to see "KENWINS" represented by Saul, maybe on a vehicular homicide charge. And while I'm sure it will never happen, I think it would be great if they had occasional appearances by Walt and Skyler giving glimpses into how Walt's other transformation took place. By that, i mean how did this brilliant, highly educated, hard working, man, with an intense love passion for his field and both outstanding theoretical and practical knowledge of it, ended up becoming a milquetoast high school teacher, who for a 2nd job, didn't think he could do better than working a cash register and occasionally wiping down cars for the world's worst boss, with the world's worst eyebrows. In some ways, I think that story could be as fascinating as his journey from "Mr. Chips to Scarface".

While Walt clearly became very, evil, I think he gets a bit too much of a bad rap. He started out cooking just to make some money to provide for his family before he died. Yes, it was illegal and wrong, but do fans view Gale Boetticher or Jesse as monsters for cooking meth? His first killing (Emilio) was clearly in defense of his own life and Jesse's. He really needed to kill Krazy 8 to protect the lives of himself, Jesse, Skyler, Walt Jr. and unborn Holly, but he was going to let hm go, until he realized Krazy 8 would immediately kill him with the plate fragment. Regarding Jane, I'm sure all sorts of things would run through his mind. His first instinct was to save her, but a) She probably would have OD'd soon anyway. b) She was dragging Jesse (who originally dragged her back into addiction) down with her and Jesse probably would have died if she lived. c) Even if she and Jesse had managed to stay alive, Jane clearly would have blackmailed Walt for more money after she and Jesse shot the half million into their veins. He risked his life at the drug house to save Jesse's life and put him in rehab, rather than keep Jessie's $480K for himself.(or perhaps split it with Saul) At that point he didn't need Jesse for anything and him dying would have profited him and tied up a major loose end. He partnered with Jesse with Fring to costing himself $1.5 million for the first 3 months, to save Hank and Marie's future, despite Skyler divorcing him. He also declined Saul's (wise) suggestion to kill Jesse, when Jesse threatened to turn him into the DEA if he were ever caught cooking or dealing. While Walt became extremely greedy, later, at that point he was perfectly happy with the $500,000 per month and it was JESSE who was being an idiot complaining about not getting his "fair share" from Fring, when he really wasn't needed at all. Jesse then started stealing meth from Gus, putting both he and Walt in jeopardy, but Walt covered for him. If Walt really didn't care about Jesse, he could have told Gus, who would have had Mike kill Jesse, doubling his salary and getting rid of a loose cannon who might get him arrested and his money confiscated. He tried to save Jesse from himself with the ricin plot against the dealers who killed Combo and then killed the 2 dealers and destroyed his good relationship with Gus to save Jesse's life. When he "manipulated" Jesse into killing Gale, it was to save BOTH of their lives. Even after Jesse tried to burn down his house (but "changed his mind" by Walt's estimation) he wanted to forgive him. He reluctantly decided to have Jack's gang kill him, but insisted it be painless and with no fear. It wasn't until he saw that Jesse betrayed him to Hank, that he really wanted to kill him. In the end, he was willing to give up his freedom and money (by telling Jack and the Nazi's not to show up) to save Hank's life, and then was willing to give up all his money to Jack to save Hank. He made the phone call where he put all the blame on himself and falsely admitted to murdering Hank, to try to protect Skyler from the police, probably knowing it would make Walt Jr. hate him forever. Of course he did horrible things like kill the 10 witnesses in jail, kill Mike and poison Brock, but even those were all done out of self preservation rather than out of malice. Probably the most purely immoral decision he made, when he really had a choice was turning down the $5 million buyout from Declan, which led to many deaths. Getting greedy and forcing Combo onto the other dealers' corner was also bad, but Jesse was in on that as well. I find it odd that Jesse gets such a free ride, when he was a loser, stoner and 2 bit meth cook when Walt got involved with him and he could have been a happy millionaire if not for all his own horrible choices, greed and pride. Jesse was more responsible for Jane's death than Walt was, as he got her back on drugs. Jesse was trying to sell (stolen) meth to addicts in recovery, when he was already making $500K a month cooking with Walt. All that said, I liked Jesse, but I also didn't hate Walt.

He did try to kiss Carmen in her office, after he found out Sklyer "effed Ted", leading to his firing or sabbatical or whatever he called it. I do agree that his passionate moments with Skyler were more about him feeling powerful after committing crimes. .

The nature of the purchases matter to the purchasers, but in terms of seeming feasible to nosy family members and the authorities the amounts of the purchases and source of funds are what matter. The IRS isn't going to say, "Walt and Skyler are indulgent, spendthrift parents for buying Jr. a Challenger, let's audit them!" They are going to say, "Where did the get the money to pay for the Challenger and more importantly the $800,000 car wash?" If they have a reasonable explanation, which they did (Walt's gambling winnings backed up by fraudulent, but authentic looking W-2Gs from Saul's casino buddies) they will be fine. If not, there could be an audit or criminal investigation into the source of the funds. There is no doubt that the $800K investment and the hundreds of thousands of Walt and Hank's medical bills paid would be FAR more suspicious than the car. The IRS is not thinking, "Wise investment, no problem, extravagant spending..red flag." They are thinking, "Where did the money come from and were taxes paid on it?" LOTS of people drive cars they really can't afford, so I don't think the Challenger would raise any red flags with the IRS. They have hundreds or millions of taxpayers to keep tabs on. They don't have the resources to look at everyone who overspends on a car. Plus, I assume the car would be in Walt's name, not Junior's so on paper it would seem even less unusual.

I get what you are saying. My point is that if she was convinced the gambling story would fool everyone (and it seems it did) why couldn't they simply say they had enough for the car as well. When Walt got the 2nd muscle car for Jr. and one for himself, Hank made a comment, but he totally bought Walt's story about the "attractive lease rates". :) By far the most suspicious purchase they made was the car wash. If you can afford an $800K car wash you can also afford $50K for a car. Of course $80 million in cash in a storage locker is even more suspicious. I bet Dave Hester has dreams about that. :) Skyler's quote would have made more sense in terms of her sending the kids to Hank and Marie's or kicking Walt out. Have an A1 day! :)

That was a great quote, but I think Skyler was wrong in that context. If their "story" was that Walt won enough money gambling to pay all his medical bills, Hank's physical therapy bills and buy a car wash, and Saul had gotten his casino friends to supply phony W-2G forms to report the income to the IRS, as promised, why couldn't Walt afford to spoil his son with a new Challenger? It cost only about 1/30th as much as the car wash. With all that (falsely) documented gambling cash, why would she have to ask for extensions on utility bills and be afraid to be caught with an expensive bottle of wine and so on? She was truly an idiot when it came to money laundering and understanding what would and would not get them on the IRS radar. No wonder she was reading the Wikipedia article on money laundering before meeting with Saul to tell him how to do it "the right way".

Oh, I get that. My point was that when the audience first finds out that she is tossing Walt out, right after the surgery, it is, as far as we know, based only upon a possible 2nd cellphone. As she goes on in the next couple of minutes, listing all the other lies and inconsistencies she uncovered, her case was much stronger, but I turned against her before I heard all that. Also, I thought she was rather arrogant and presumptuous in thinking she could kick Walt out of "her house" and bar him from seeing his children, without either his consent or a court order. I'm guessing it is because she pushed Walt around during their entire marriage and couldn't imagine that he would push back. I loved the scene when she called the police, Junior takes Dad's side, while Walt makes him a grilled cheese sandwich and feeds Holly, and she looks like lunatic in front of the police.

Hank actually confirms at some point that the Tuco shooting had triggered his PTSD. I believe it was when he was talking to Marie just before his interview with DEA internal affairs about his beat down of Jesse. He said something to the effect that nobody ever deserved at bullet in his head more than Tuco but it still messed him up emotionally, and led to him losing it with Jesse. Funny about mistaking the grill for the tiara. The did sort of look alike. I wonder if the writers intended any sort of parallel between them. Both were obtained illegally, not appreciated by the recipients, though they pretended to like them, and eventually "returned" in one way or another.

I don't think Skyler can be held responsible for everything Walt did after "Crawl Space" when he found that she had given all the money to Ted. First, I seriously doubt, Walt would have just retired with whatever was left over after paying the vacuum cleaner guy to get new identities for the entire family. He would have been back cooking somehow, somewhere. Second, Walt could have taken the $5 million buyout from Declan, retired and his family would have had 7 times more than the original amount he said the needed. That was probably the single most purely immoral choice that he made, when he really had a choice. Most of his other bad acts were either in pure self defense or to protect himself or loved ones from capture, death or financial ruin. That choice was made based upon pure greed and ego rather than any sort of justifiable motive. I often wondered if the buyout had been $4 million or $6 million rather than the $5 million that mirrored the $5,000 he sold his share of Grey Matter and his family's birthright for, would Walt have accepted it, retired and lived happily ever after (until he died of cancer). The reason I really started to hate Skyler was that she told Walt she was throwing him out, right after his surgery, and initially indicated that is was merely because of the 2nd cellphone. That made me hate her. If she had gone through all the rest of the evidence she had against him BEFORE saying she was kicking him out, I probably wouldn't have hated her as much, but by the time she did it was too late. :) I wonder if the writers did that intentionally or not.

I thought the whole "make a dish that represents an author" concept was ridiculous and pretentious. But, what really annoyed me was the judges saying that someone eating the meal should immediately know what literary work the dish portrayed be looking at it. By that impossible standard they all failed miserably, and the only one who possibly could have fulfilled the requirement was George, if he had actually served up "Green Eggs and Ham". I'd be willing to bet that even if the judges knew the list of authors, the would not have been able to guess any of them (except Stephen King) by looking at the dishes, and if they didn't know the list of authors, they couldn't have guessed them in 10 tries. Also, most sunsets I have seen are not pure orange like carrot soup, but a combination of oranges, peach, pink, red, etc. Doug gave them "The Sun in a Bowl" not "The Sunset in a Cup". :) I am not criticizing him, though, as I thought he did a good job of coming relatively close to meeting the requirements of a ridiculous challenge.

I thought Skylar was annoying and often an idiot, bu I totally agree about her wanting Jesse dead at that point. Walt was the one being an idiot about Jesse at that point. He should have "sent him to Belize" long before that, in fact. The moment, after his beating from Hank when he defiantly announced he was going to continue cooking on his own and, if ever caught, would use Walt as his get out of jail free card, "Old Yeller" needed to be put down. Of course, Walt's loyalty to Jesse and Hank made his character far more likable and drove much of the plot, so I understand why the writers let him live, but I certainly couldn't blame Skylar's character for wanting Jesse dead.

Skylar had her moments, like coming up with the fake environmental charges against Bogdan, but she was an absolute moron when it came to money laundering. She claimed to know all about it and know more than Saul (who actually knew what he was doing) but she went to Wikipedia to learn how to do it. Then, she obsessed over the insignificant details of "The Story" and buying that one, specific car wash and much of her "logic" of "The Story" made no sense at all. They had supposedly won over a million dollars in gambling winnings, for which Saul provided phony 1099s, and had money to buy a car wash, but "The Story" was that they needed an extension on a utility bill, and couldn't afford a bottle of wine, a car for Junior??? She also should not have been working to grow the legitimate revenue at the car wash, as that only left less room for laundering the drug money. But worst of all, when Walt brought in more money than expected she not only failed to launder it, but piled it all up in a single self storage locker. Totally moronic. She could have at least spread it around across a few hiding places in case of a robbery, fire or government seizure.

When it comes to gear and silly costumes, I would stick to "Read the damn clue!". The racers are often required to wear their silly outfits to the pit stop, so removing them without reading the clue could be just as bad as not removing them.

Seeing Robbie and especially Brooke eliminated was nice, but part of me would have enjoyed seeing Brooke struggle through the final RB.

I totally disagree about the challenges. The contestants compete in them for their own benefit and only hurt themselves when they can't compete. If the others don't think they belong they can vote them out. Plus, an injured castaway could simply say they are "competing" in each challenge but do almost nothing to try to win. Healthy contestants have frequently thrown team immunity challenges. The idea of disqualifying an injured contestant who can't effectively compete in challenges is absurd.

Funny, last week I was going to crack a joke about being disappointed that they didn't visit the factory where they make all those envelopes and file folders, but I thought is was too corny. :)

As a Christian who had read the Bible and believes every word, I agree this is not the place to be discussing religion.

I am glad there was no penalty. I liked that the racers were resourceful and came up with a better way to get the task done. It was similar to when the cyclists took extra icing along to fix their cake. That sort of out of the box thinking should be rewarded IMHO.

I don’t think that Adam was saying that God was going to give them the race and the million dollars. What he said was more along the lines that they wanted to honor God by running a good race and being good to everyone along the way, which they have done.

The cab driver told her that putting on the AC would cause the engine to heat up and presumably overheat. I had a car like that many years ago. Not fun. :-)