Season 2 Discussion

[Lisin]

Here's your place for season 2 discussion.

[Andromeda]

Well, that was a fun watch. I just started marathoning, and this show is like candy -- I have to see what happens next! Now I know what all the buzz was about.

 

I never thought I'd be cheering when drug makers find a distribution channel to offload their stock. I also had no idea I'd find this show as funny as I do, thought Season 2 was a lot less humorous than Season 1 (which was filled with black comedy moments.)

 

Yay, to finding out what the pink teddy bear teaser meant (I assume other viewers saw the pink teddy bear in the sky on the wall in Jane's room). During the season, we were given clues here and there about the teddy bear, but were led to think it might be a chemical explosion from a meth lab in the house, or later something to do with Walt hooking up the new water heater himself and dinking around under the house (like a natural gas explosion.)

 

Since I've grown fond of Jesse, I admit I was glad when Walt didn't rescue Jane (of course I'd condemn him and rescue her in real life). Her eyes got a little too bright when she discovered Jesse had access to a gold mine. I half expected her to steal away with it in the middle of the night. I thought early on she might be good for Jesse -- until she introduced him to the really hard stuff. I hated her for that. Then her saying that they'll get clean, only to decide to use up what they had (junkies are always rationalizing their use). Mostly I didn't want her to take his cash and waste it on drugs (and turn them into another Spooge couple.)

 

I keep hoping Jesse will see the wrecks that meth creates (how can Spooge and wife not be a huge cautionary tale?) and stay far away from partaking himself. (Pot, not a problem for me, just the meth and heroin.) It was so awful when Walt found him in that nest of junkies -- ugh, that was like the ninth circle of hell, wasn't it? Here's to hoping this will be his low point, and he'll turn it around.

 

John DeLancie was great -- it was nice to see him. So ironic how Walt inadvertently caused the plane crash. Or Jesse did by doping up with Jane. Or Jane herself did. Of course, her dad is really at fault, he shouldn't have been allowed back at work, but it's fun to trace the cause and effect backward. Will Walt feel guilty? Will Jesse? I don't want Jesse to blame himself for her death, but I can see that happening more than Walt blaming himself. Walt is nothing if not practical.

 

I was actually anxious for Walt to make the sale to Pollos -- I figured the baby would take at least an hour to come, before I realized she had scheduled a Caesarean, and mine took only 45 minutes from arriving at the hospital to having a baby. She ended up having a natural childbirth, but a really fast one, apparently.

Edited August 30, 2014 by Andromeda

[Chaos Theory]

I think season 2 is where they soften some of the rough edges from Hank and Marie who came off kind bitchy season 1. By giving Hank ptsd and Marie kleptomania while keeping them close to Walt and Skyler (my favorite scene was the one where the entire clan was sitting in the doctors office getting the news Walt's cancer was in remission) humanized them while the show was doing the reverse to Walt and making Skyler even more suspicious of her husband.

[Simon Boccanegra]

Marie already had the kleptomania in the first season. The shoe theft was really early, and then the Great Baby Tiara Caper was later in the season. But maybe you mean S2 is when they actually identify it as problem for which she's seeing someone.  

 

I'm only to the one in which Hank is having delayed stress reactions to the gunfight with Tuco. I must have been having a slow moment, or several -- the episode starts with the guys finding the thing in the lake, and then we see it later on Hank's desk, and it took me to the end of the episode to realize I was looking at Tuco's grill. I thought it was the baby tiara! 

 

In other season two newbie news, I wish someone had gotten a picture of my wince when I realized Badger was going to be a recurring character and I was going to have to listen to his voice more. (The actor is good, though.) 

Edited September 12, 2014 by Simon Boccanegra

[Portia]

In other season two newbie news, I wish someone had gotten a picture of my wince when I realized Badger was going to be a recurring character and I was going to have to listen to his voice more. (The actor is good, though.) 

Badger is very much worth it, in my opinion. Great character. You'll see.  

::coughPIEEATINGCONTESTcough::

Edited September 12, 2014 by Portia

[DangerousMinds]

I never realized that was Tuco's grill. Silly me.

[Simon Boccanegra]

Tuco's Grill, by the way, will be the name of my Mexican restaurant. Obviously, burritos will be a specialty (no chili powder). The tables will all have a little bell to ring; one ring means you want something else, and two means you're ready to pay. 

[Simon Boccanegra]

Since I've grown fond of Jesse, I admit I was glad when Walt didn't rescue Jane (of course I'd condemn him and rescue her in real life). Her eyes got a little too bright when she discovered Jesse had access to a gold mine. I half expected her to steal away with it in the middle of the night. I thought early on she might be good for Jesse -- until she introduced him to the really hard stuff. I hated her for that. Then her saying that they'll get clean, only to decide to use up what they had (junkies are always rationalizing their use). Mostly I didn't want her to take his cash and waste it on drugs (and turn them into another Spooge couple.)

 

I know what you mean, but I loved that character. I thought she and her father were among the great successes of the first two seasons. Everything was so clear, or it ultimately became so clear. She really was a "better" Jesse when we met her -- another illustrator, another doted-upon child from a stable family, another veteran drug user. The tragedy was that instead of raising him up to her level, she came down to his...and then took him even lower. But it all made sense; this is why she gave him a break in the first place despite his radiating shiftiness when he came to look at the apartment. A little at a time, he was wearing her down...not even him, really, but him as an embodiment of a world that still had a powerful hold on her. Just as her illustrations were more advanced than his, so were her drug skills. It was chilling, the practiced assurance with which she shot up, after 18 months or however long it had been. Using, too, seemed to be her "art." She did it beautifully.  

Edited September 14, 2014 by Simon Boccanegra

[walnutqueen]

Beautiful addicts and ugly addicts - they always manage to find each other, and they're all just ... addicts.  No shame, no blame.  Chemistry.  That is all it is.

[Simon Boccanegra]

She got along famously with Paul, Cranston, and Bob Odenkirk (who was not exactly part of her story), but John de Lancie, who played her father, was "icy." Interesting. (That comes around the 22-minute mark.) 

 

[Bryce Lynch]

Marie already had the kleptomania in the first season. The shoe theft was really early, and then the Great Baby Tiara Caper was later in the season. But maybe you mean S2 is when they actually identify it as problem for which she's seeing someone.  

 

I'm only to the one in which Hank is having delayed stress reactions to the gunfight with Tuco. I must have been having a slow moment, or several -- the episode starts with the guys finding the thing in the lake, and then we see it later on Hank's desk, and it took me to the end of the episode to realize I was looking at Tuco's grill. I thought it was the baby tiara! 

 

In other season two newbie news, I wish someone had gotten a picture of my wince when I realized Badger was going to be a recurring character and I was going to have to listen to his voice more. (The actor is good, though.) 

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.   

[ketose]

I got back to binge watching Breaking Bad after a little hiatus. I saw most of season 2 over the last couple of weeks. I've been fast tracking it because of Better Call Saul. Saul kind of cut out Jesse from the partnership by creating a dealer. By the end of the season, Jesse has so much money he wouldn't have to do much else for a long time. By the time he got the money, he was in no position to keep it.

 

John DeLancie was great -- it was nice to see him. So ironic how Walt inadvertently caused the plane crash. Or Jesse did by doping up with Jane. Or Jane herself did. Of course, her dad is really at fault, he shouldn't have been allowed back at work, but it's fun to trace the cause and effect backward. Will Walt feel guilty? Will Jesse? I don't want Jesse to blame himself for her death, but I can see that happening more than Walt blaming himself. Walt is nothing if not practical.

Walt is ultimately responsible for everything in BB. Jane's father caused the plane crash by not handling his job. He also was the one who told Walt not to give up on family at the bar, which prompted him to see Jesse and start the events that killed Jane. I happen to think Jane new Jesse was a drug dealer and she let him rent that apartment because she wanted to use again.

 

I know what you mean, but I loved that character. I thought she and her father were among the great successes of the first two seasons. Everything was so clear, or it ultimately became so clear. She really was a "better" Jesse when we met her -- another illustrator, another doted-upon child from a stable family, another veteran drug user. The tragedy was that instead of raising him up to her level, she came down to his...and then took him even lower. But it all made sense; this is why she gave him a break in the first place despite his radiating shiftiness when he came to look at the apartment. A little at a time, he was wearing her down...not even him, really, but him as an embodiment of a world that still had a powerful hold on her. Just as her illustrations were more advanced than his, so were her drug skills. It was chilling, the practiced assurance with which she shot up, after 18 months or however long it had been. Using, too, seemed to be her "art." She did it beautifully.  

Jesse seems to be an advertisement for the criminal life, but not a good role model. He was the gateway for Walt's empire and Jane's relapse and they both ended up being better at it than he was. Another parallel with Jane and Jesse. His parents let him live in a house they owned (the aunt) as long as he wasn't doing anything that could cause them to lose it.

 

She got along famously with Paul, Cranston, and Bob Odenkirk (who was not exactly part of her story), but John de Lancie, who played her father, was "icy." Interesting. (That comes around the 22-minute mark.) 

I can't say with any credibility what it's like to work with de Lancie, but I read about how well he got along with Kate Mulgrew back on Voyager. He might have been a little method in those few episodes, keeping a distance from Ritter. As she said, it worked for the performance.

[Mick Lady]

Re-watching Season 2 now.

 

The beat exchange on this show, or maybe ever!

 

Skyler White: I need support. Me! The almost 40-year old pregnant woman with the surprise baby on the way and the husband with lung cancer who disappears for hours on end and I don't know where he goes and he barely even speaks to me anymore with the moody son who does the same thing and the overdrawn checking account and the lukewarm water heater that leaks rusty looking crap and, and is rotting out the floor of the utility closet and we can't even afford to fix it but OHH, I see, now I am supposed to go 'Hank, please what can I possibly do to further benefit my spoiled, kleptomaniac, bitch sister who somehow always manages to be the center of attention, cuz God knows, she is the one with the really important problems.

Hank Schrader: Want me to take a look at that utility closet?

 

All I can say is: "You tell 'em Skyler! You go Girl!"

[John Potts]

Yeah, watching (for the first time) when Hank was saying "Marie has her problems" I was thinking "Are you seriously asking the 8 month pregnant cancer wife to think about her whiny sister!?" so I was cheering when Skyler came back with that (and at least Hank realised it was pretty insensitive and actually tried to offer help to Skyler in reply).

 

I'm told it's something of a morality test - "How far into the series are you still sympathetic to Walt?" - to which I'd respond "The end of Season 1" (which may make me a paragon of virtue or a judgemental asshole, depending on where your line is!). Up to that point, the only law he'd broken was to cook a substance that some people argue should be legal anyway (even killing the two drug dealers was essentially self defence). But throughout Season 2 he keeps pushing Jesse to expand his "retail" operation without any consideration for the fact that street dealers get killed/arrested all the time while Walt makes sure he's completely "hands off". And I was totally with Jesse in saying that it wasn't up to Walt what Jesse does in his time off.

 

I liked Jane. I floved the fact that she was so matter of fact in stating that Jesse was a drug dealer but it was rather tragic that instead of "saving Jesse" he dragged her back into using. It was a totally unforgivable for Walt to watch her die like that, even if I can understand why he did it.

 

Absolutely love Saul!

[rollerblade]

Why doesn't Skyler work? Pretty sure her character won't be as hated if she worked part time so Walt didn't have to work at the car wash. It's like... how dare she nag Walt (mostly season 1 and early season 2) when she doesn't even contribute financially? I get that Junior is special-needs child, but he's a teen now and seem to be able to manage on his own.

 

I'm on episode 2 currently on a re-watch, the one where Tuco dies. Still intense as ever, even though I knew Walt and Jesse made it out alive. Tuco was such an incredible character, it's a shame they had to write him out so early due to the actor's other commitments.

 

"How far into the series are you still sympathetic to Walt?" - All the way, baby! Ok ok. I don't necessarily sympathized with Walt beyond S1 and part of S2, but I still root for him to "win" in all the sticky situations he found/got himself into. But then again, I never felt anger or disgust when he let Jane die. (Karma, bitch. If she kept her grubby hands off the gold mine and not threaten anyone, she might have lived!) 

 

Honestly, I wouldn't know about the whole never-sleep-on-back for heroin addicts, nor would I know that someone could choke on their own vomit in their sleep.  How would I possess such knowledge, how would Walt? Doesn't the motion of vomiting wake you up? And I've always been told not to move victims that had been in an accident etc, because I might end up making things worse. Even if I don't despise Jane, in that situation, I wouldn't know what to do besides panicking and hopefully not frozen enough to call 911.

Edited August 1, 2015 by rollerblade

[John Potts]

Rollerblade Why doesn't Skyler work?

 

Because she's 8 months pregnant? We know she was working for Ted until fairly recently, I guess she gave it up to have Molly. And while I don't expect a pregnant woman to be waited on hand and foot, she does deserve some slack for that. Yes, Walt has cancer, but that doesn't give him the right to fly off the handle when he's accused of vanishing for hours at a time (I would have been a lot more supportive of Walt if he'd told Skyler what his plan for paying for his cancer treatment was before he was forced into it).

 

As for not rolling a druggie onto their back, basic first aid says you leave somebody in the "recovery position" (on their side, face downwards) to prevent choking. Also, somebody Walt's age would probably be aware of a whole spate of Rock stars (Janice Joplin for one, but there are many others) who died from choking on their own vomit after "partying too hard".

[rollerblade]

Guess I need to take some first aid classes. Never even heard of the term "recovery position", but I suppose a high school teacher would be prepped for that in case they have junkie students. Whatever I know was what I've seen on TV, chest compression, pinch nose and breath into mouth. Though there's no way I'd breath into the mouth of someone who is in the middle of vomiting. Yuck.

 

Nurses and EMT folks really should get paid more.

 

Sorry I should have posted the Skyler bit in S1 thread. I'm not "that far" into S2 rewatch and forgot when she went back to fuck Ted. It's also confusing since the entire BrBa timeline is only 2 years span across 5 (6 really) seasons.

[larapu2000]

I knew that you should put someone on their side if there's a chance they'll vomit, but I learned that in College 101, right after "liquor before beer, in the clear" and how to properly tap a keg.

 

I agree, Skyler's work history is a bit spotty.  I don't think she quit to have Holly, when she barges her way into see Ted, she looks surprised at how much the girls have grown.  I think there was a space of at least a year or more since she worked for Ted.  And she's a short story writer?  Did that just get dropped altogether?  It would have been hilarious in the last episode to see Walt show up to see Skyler and have her own experience as a significant inspiration, lol.

[ByTor]

Honestly, I wouldn't know about the whole never-sleep-on-back for heroin addicts, nor would I know that someone could choke on their own vomit in their sleep.  How would I possess such knowledge, how would Walt? Doesn't the motion of vomiting wake you up?

I assumed it wasn't "normal" sleep, that she was more or less passed out or that her state of consciousness was "deeper" than sleep. For the record, I agree with what you said about Jane & I didn't feel bad either.

Why doesn't Skyler work?

Because she's 8 months pregnant?

I didn't have a problem with Skyler not working (some men are into that traditional "I can provide for my own family" thing), and I understand she went back to work because of Walt's medical expenses, but it seems weird that she went back pretty much just as she was about to deliver.

[Babalu]

Honestly, I wouldn't know about the whole never-sleep-on-back for heroin addicts, nor would I know that someone could choke on their own vomit in their sleep.  How would I possess such knowledge, how would Walt? Doesn't the motion of vomiting wake you up? And I've always been told not to move victims that had been in an accident etc, because I might end up making things worse. Even if I don't despise Jane, in that situation, I wouldn't know what to do besides panicking and hopefully not frozen enough to call 911.

First time viewer; just finished S2.

Walt absolutely knew he was supposed to turn Jane on her side. That episode was very heavy-handed regarding that message. First, there was a scene where Jane told Jesse to lie on his side so he wouldn't suffocate in case he vomited; then, there was a scene showing Walt putting Holly on her side with a towel behind her so she wouldn't roll over onto her back. He purposely watched Jane die to save Jesse from her. And was filled with grief at the whole situation.

The discussion about how long you sympathize with Walt is really interesting. My husband and I were just talking about the whole teddy bear/body bags teaser and how it ended up not being a drug war or anything else we might have expected - but also how much the plane crash tied in to the main storyline and who was at fault, leading back from Jane's dad to Jane to Jesse to Walt. My husband said he thinks everyone is a victim, and I disagree with him about Walter. Okay - diagnosis, no savings, family, pregnant wife, blah blah blah cancercakes (am a cancer survivor myself), but I pretty much stopped feeling any empathy for Walter quite a while ago.

[ByTor]

Walt absolutely knew he was supposed to turn Jane on her side.

To take this point further, Walt didn't really need to know that there's a chance a heroin addict can choke on his/her own vomit while sleeping, the fact is that for whatever reason Jane was choking on her vomit in her sleep and Walt did nothing.  But me being the Walt apologist that I am, I absolutely understood why he did what he did.  He saw her as being the one who drove Jesse to heroin & she was blackmailing Walt.  The funny thing is, there is no way I'd condone/have sympathy for someone who did what Walt did in real life, but for show purposes I was perfectly fine with it.

Edited September 8, 2015 by ByTor

[Scout Finch]

It's amazing watching his face so perfectly show the change from one emotion to the next--from the fleeting moment of thinking he needs to save her, then getting tearful as he wrestles with the decision and realizes he's not going to do anything, and then all of a sudden you see him completely switch over to Heisenberg's uncaring coldness. When my mother watched the series, she stopped liking him at about that point because she just thought he didn't care at all about letting Jane die. I'd already seen the series but it wasn't until my first rewatch that I really paid attention to his face, and I noticed how very conflicted he looks during the first moments.

 

My other vote for best acting with just facial expressions was in Season 5, when Jessie

watches as Andrea is killed

. It blows me away every time I've seen that episode (have rewatched the whole series a few times).

Edited September 11, 2015 by Scout Finch

[Suomynona]

Anyone around is this an active forum?

 

On season 2 episode 2: Why did the ricin meth that was meant for Tuco "smell"? I thought that ricin is supposed to be odder-less and tasteless. 

[kieyra]

Rewatching BB. I was a latecomer to the show and I wasn't reading TWOP during the airing of S2. I just finished the S2 finale, after the final "737 Down Over ABQ" reveal, and thinking about how brilliant that whole thing was. I decided to dig back in the wayback machine to find posts on TWOP in the original BB thread when the S2 finale aired ... and wow, people hated the airplane reveal. I've only skimmed a few pages so I'm not exactly sure why yet, but I see it being referred to as some sort of huge mistake. 

Example posts:

Quote

Posted May 31, 2009 @ 10:05 PM

That was awful All the build up all season for that meaningless nonsense? It almost ruins the whole season as great as it was to that point. Writers of this series, please make it so that the last five minutes of this episode ends up being Walts bad dream, he wakes up in the beginning of season 3, and we all agree to forget that insult to our intelligence ever happened.

Quote

From that interview, Vince Gilligan says:
"In simple terms, we just wanted a giant moment of showmanship to end the season. And what better way than to have a rain of fire coming down around our protagnoists ears, sort of like the judgment of God? It seemed like a big showmanship moment, and to visualize, in one fell swoop, all the terrible grief that Walt has wrought upon his loved ones, and the community at large."

Please accept the gift of my middle finger raised in your face, Vince. Im done with this show.

Holy crap. Now I'm wondering how I would have felt about S2 had I been watching it "live". (I believe I didn't start until late S3 or whenever the snowball effect kicked in, buzz-wise.)

More here.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140407072620/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/3162453-breaking-bad-hal-becomes-a-meth-dealer/page-52

Edited May 29, 2017 by kieyra

[Nozycat]

I didn't hate it, thought it was brilliant too.

[Uncle JUICE]

On 5/29/2017 at 7:22 PM, kieyra said:

Rewatching BB. I was a latecomer to the show and I wasn't reading TWOP during the airing of S2. I just finished the S2 finale, after the final "737 Down Over ABQ" reveal, and thinking about how brilliant that whole thing was. I decided to dig back in the wayback machine to find posts on TWOP in the original BB thread when the S2 finale aired ... and wow, people hated the airplane reveal. I've only skimmed a few pages so I'm not exactly sure why yet, but I see it being referred to as some sort of huge mistake. 

Example posts:

Holy crap. Now I'm wondering how I would have felt about S2 had I been watching it "live". (I believe I didn't start until late S3 or whenever the snowball effect kicked in, buzz-wise.)

More here.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140407072620/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/3162453-breaking-bad-hal-becomes-a-meth-dealer/page-52

I'm like you, in that I didn't pick the show up live until S3. I blind bought the first season on DVD and then the second. I was less than thrilled with the whole thing being right over Walt's house basically, but I also liked the insight it gave into how Walter was able to rationalize even the worst possible circumstance to himself ("It wasn't even full!" at the student rally) in S3 early. I'm curious, besides the plane crash, how did you feel about Walt watching Jane die? I think the first time I saw it, I was like "what a scumbag," but on rewatches, I have to say I can see Walt has no other choice. I mean he could have killed her actively, but he didn't. 

[kieyra]

1 hour ago, Uncle JUICE said:

I'm like you, in that I didn't pick the show up live until S3. I blind bought the first season on DVD and then the second. I was less than thrilled with the whole thing being right over Walt's house basically, but I also liked the insight it gave into how Walter was able to rationalize even the worst possible circumstance to himself ("It wasn't even full!" at the student rally) in S3 early. I'm curious, besides the plane crash, how did you feel about Walt watching Jane die? I think the first time I saw it, I was like "what a scumbag," but on rewatches, I have to say I can see Walt has no other choice. I mean he could have killed her actively, but he didn't. 

One thing I was surprised about, on rewatch, was that he sobs while watching her die. I (mis)-remembered him already being pretty ice-cold by then. 

I also just rewatched The Fly last night, and I'd also forgotten he apologizes to Jesse and nearly confesses. 

I understand why he chose not to save her, from a pragmatic standpoint, but from a moral standpoint yeah, he sucks (even if you factor in Jesse's claim that they both would have been dead in a week anyway). But what I didn't remember was how much guilt he carried over it. 

[Nozycat]

6 hours ago, Uncle JUICE said:

I have to say I can see Walt has no other choice. I mean he could have killed her actively, but he didn't. 

I think he totally had a choice, he had the choice to save her.  And by not saving her he is complicit in her death imo.  He is active in his inaction.

[piequinn35]

He wasn't supposed to be in there, Jane was a hindrance between Walt and Jesse and their business, watching her die and not doing something was part of his breaking bad.

[ByTor]

On 5/31/2017 at 7:26 PM, Nozycat said:

I think he totally had a choice, he had the choice to save her.  And by not saving her he is complicit in her death imo.  He is active in his inaction.

In his mind, he didn't have a choice if he didn't want to get caught.  If Walt gave Jesse the money, as far as he knew Jane would keep blackmailing him for more, he had no idea they were just going to disappear. I always say this about the Walt-Jane situation...in real life I'd think it was disgusting to let someone die to save your own skin, but in the show I was fine with it.

[Nozycat]

Yeah I know that's how he justified and rationalised it to himself, that he had no choice, lots of people do that, but he did have a choice afaic - jmho.

[nodorothyparker]

I'm doing an intermittent rewatch of seasons 2 and 3 too because it's preferable to watching it be reargued point by point in Better Call Saul discussions.

That scene is kind of amazing because Walt first moves toward her to try to do something when he realizes Jane is choking.  But then he stops and you can see his face slowly harden as the realization washes over him that doing nothing is its own solution to the Jane problem.   He doesn't move at all and starts to cry only when she stops struggling and her eyes open and you know that it's over.  I can see how he logicked himself in that moment into thinking he wasn't even supposed to be there so she would have died anyway, that it's not like he actively did anything to kill her.  Of course the end result is that a young woman is still dead and he didn't even try to do anything about it.

[ByTor]

12 hours ago, Nozycat said:

Yeah I know that's how he justified and rationalised it to himself, that he had no choice, lots of people do that, but he did have a choice afaic - jmho.

Oh, sure he did.  I mean, he had no way of knowing what would happen had Jane lived.  Maybe she would have been so happy that Walt saved her that she would have gone away with no incident.  Or maybe she was only threatening and never would have gone through with it anyway.  As I said, though, in his mind he had no choice, so I agree with you, that's how he justified & rationalized it to himself.

10 hours ago, nodorothyparker said:

I can see how he logicked himself in that moment into thinking he wasn't even supposed to be there so she would have died anyway

The problem with this, though, is that Walt trying to shake Jesse awake is what caused Jane to roll on her back.  Maybe she would have done it on her own & died anyway, but again, we don't know that. 

And THIS is why BB is such a great show, there's always discussion, it's not simply cut & dry.

Edited June 3, 2017 by ByTor

[Absurda]

After 3 seasons of Better Call Saul, I finally decided to watch Breaking Bad (I was a bit late finishing season 3 of Saul).  I gotta say:  They have a long way to go still to turn Jimmy McGill into Saul Goodman. 

I agree that in real life, Walt would be condemned (and rightly) for letting Jane die, but I can also see how it was the only way to save Jesse.  They were a toxic couple who just brought out the worst (junkieness) out of each other instead of the best (recovery).  Money or no money, the two together would likely never be healthy.  There was a scene of Jesse trying to get Jane to go to the museum with him and he watched her light up some meth first and seemed to realize what had happened:  she'd lost her sobriety and become an addict again (her decision he tried to kick her out) because of him.

I loved seeing John de Lancie again and the look on his face when he saw the ambulance and stretcher was so subtle but very effective.  The plane reveal was a surprise for me, I thought it would be gangsters shooting out Walt's house or something.  Probably what we were expected to think.

Walt seems to care about Jesse to some extent but he sure does treat the boy like crap all the time. 

[ketose]

On 9/5/2017 at 0:59 PM, Absurda said:

After 3 seasons of Better Call Saul, I finally decided to watch Breaking Bad (I was a bit late finishing season 3 of Saul).  I gotta say:  They have a long way to go still to turn Jimmy McGill into Saul Goodman. 

I agree that in real life, Walt would be condemned (and rightly) for letting Jane die, but I can also see how it was the only way to save Jesse.  They were a toxic couple who just brought out the worst (junkieness) out of each other instead of the best (recovery).  Money or no money, the two together would likely never be healthy.  There was a scene of Jesse trying to get Jane to go to the museum with him and he watched her light up some meth first and seemed to realize what had happened:  she'd lost her sobriety and become an addict again (her decision he tried to kick her out) because of him.

I loved seeing John de Lancie again and the look on his face when he saw the ambulance and stretcher was so subtle but very effective.  The plane reveal was a surprise for me, I thought it would be gangsters shooting out Walt's house or something.  Probably what we were expected to think.

Walt seems to care about Jesse to some extent but he sure does treat the boy like crap all the time. 

Walt and Jesse are kind of a toxic couple as well. Throughout the series, Jesse does things to save Walt's supposedly criminal mastermind ass. Jesse is like family to Walt, he doesn't always like him but he will do anything to keep him alive. 

[green]

On 9/11/2015 at 2:36 AM, Scout Finch said:

It's amazing watching his face so perfectly show the change from one emotion to the next--from the fleeting moment of thinking he needs to save her, then getting tearful as he wrestles with the decision and realizes he's not going to do anything, and then all of a sudden you see him completely switch over to Heisenberg's uncaring coldness. When my mother watched the series, she stopped liking him at about that point because she just thought he didn't care at all about letting Jane die. I'd already seen the series but it wasn't until my first rewatch that I really paid attention to his face, and I noticed how very conflicted he looks during the first moments.   ...

 

Great paragraph.  On the marathon that ended a month or so back they had some interview show running after it and one of the nights, using the tye-in no doubt, they had Bryan Cranston on and he talked about this very scene.  He praised the actress a lot then went on to say something -about he hadn't planned the scene that way.  That he had some sudden moment in the middle of the scene (don't think he called it trancelike per se but something out of the ordinary) where he suddenly saw his own daughter in place of the character of Jane which was when he teared up.  I think he called it something like totally surreal moment and one of the most intense scenes he ever acted.

I guess that is one of the reason that that scene seems to be the main one discussed in this thread.

[Colorado David]

Starting a rewatch of BB beginning with season 2. Even tho I know the story, the performances are so strong it's still really compelling.

[Colorado David]

Oh god I forgot how depressing the Jesse storyline gets, getting evicted and having no money. Really sad stuff.