This week's episode of Breaking Bad (SPOILERS)

[FlowerChild]

Ok, so just watched this week's episode last night. First, let me say that I seriously love this series and have since it first aired.

BUT, that gunfight at the end seriously pissed me off and completely broke suspension of disbelief for me, and given the whole series has been so stellar and it's rapidly drawing to a close, it made it all the worse.

I ran into this same problem towards the end of the past season with Walking Dead. I'm not sure if AMC has hired a consultant that's a total moron for such things or what, but man, if firearms were so utterly ineffective I think we'd still be using swords :P

Anyways...one of the cops at the very least seriously needed to go down there. The guy that fired the first shot had a bead on them with a rifle for Pete's sake, had plenty of time to aim, was in a supported firing position, the targets were at short range and standing out in the open, and he just had zero reason to miss that shot. Instead, it devolved into a GI Joe style hail storm of ineffectual bullets.

I'm really getting sick of this kind of thing in TV and cinema, but man, in a show that is so solid on the writing front as Breaking Bad, I find this totally unforgivable.

Here ends my fairly random off-topic rant :)

[agentwiggles]

Well, I see where you're coming from, but I've got a pretty strong feeling that neither cop is walking away from that fight alive, and that the only reason they didn't already die was for the sake of the cliffhanger. Still, kind of an over the top scene for sure, especially in a series that's been fairly realistic (giant magnets aside) thus far.

[FlowerChild]

Yeah, I'm hoping they kill at least one of them at the beginning of the next episode, or I know I'll have the same feeling watching the remaining episodes that I would if I used a cheat code in a game: that the world just doesn't make much sense anymore and is thus ruined :P

Still, that would basically be a patch for an existing blunder in my books, and yes, I understand why they do stuff like that to get the plot where they want it, but ultimately, if you want your characters to survive, don't write a situation that would mean certain death that you then have to fudge to get the desired outcome.

As for a cliffhanger: if the sidekick cop had taken a bullet and the brother in law dove for cover as the rest of the rednecks sprayed full auto at the start of that shootout, I'd be all good with it, and I don't think it would be any less of a cliffhanger. He's such a minor character anyways, it's beyond me why they wouldn't just wipe him out this late in the series. It's really that first aimed (and ineffectual) shot that really pissed me off. Heck, even if that first shot had been a misfire and everyone stood looking at each other dumfounded for a moment after the "click" before all hell broke loose I would have been more than happy given those neo-nazis didn't seem like the types that would be obsessive about weapon maintenance :)

[TallTyrionLannister]

I'm a big fan of the show, so I hope I'm not giving the writers too much leeway here, but I was ok with the shootout. Sure it was a little silly, but it fits in stylistically with the world that Breaking Bad has created (epic standoff, infinite ammo cheat etc). It's well established that Hank gets put in harms way and escapes with his life despite the odds against him (the battle in the parking lot with the mexican cousins, the head on the tortoise, the hail of bullets when he was fighting with Tuco). For his size, he's a surprisingly small and agile target. He appears to have skill on par with that of Mike. So that he could balance on knife's edge a little longer than normal before ultimately falling doesn't stretch the imagination. Perhaps Gomez should've been offered up as a casualty a little sooner, but I think the battle was tense and horrifying enough without first blood being let.

Breaking Bad likes to subvert expectations. While I hope cliffhanger wasn't done ostentatiously just to be different, it was more surprising to me that Hank wasn't ended than it would've been if he'd taken bullets. They foreshadowed the heck out of it with his premature victory lap and closing sentiment to Marie. I don't think Hank is long for this world, though. Whether he dies on the battlefield or in a hospital bed with Marie sobbing over him, I'm guessing he's on the way out. I don't really know how the episode was made better by allowing him to live a bit longer, but it did allow us to focus on the emotions of the other characters in the scene.

[BinoAl]

I expect Hank to hold Walt hostage to escape, or something. There's just no reason for the writers to have not killed off Hank at the end of the episode, unless he'll actually live. All that tension built up to... Well, nothing.
I gotta say, though, seeing Walt practically crying over Jesse burning his money was FANTASTIC.

[Ethinolicbob]

Someone starts unloading on you with an A-10 auto-shotgun at that range while having the gun supported, no way you are going to casually slink over to the nearest cover.
Three words.
Swiss, fucking, cheese!

[Gabecraft1234]

"have an A-10 day!"

[murillokb]

I have the same feelling. I said "they are both dead" right before the shootout started and then... i was disappointed.

But i agree that at least one of them are going down next episode.

[Gormador]

Unless those neo-nazis kept their contract as a "real" target and only fired at the cops to scare them.

Meh. Yeah, no way.

[obl1terat1ion]

if the sidekick cop had taken a bullet

Wait i thought Gomez did take a bullet in the leg?

[Sarudak]

I thought everyone knew that guns were totally ineffective and that the only sure way to take someone out is through hand to hand combat. Geez it's like some of you people don't even watch TV.

[obl1terat1ion]

I thought everyone knew that guns were totally ineffective and that the only sure way to take someone out is through hand to hand combat. Geez it's like some of you people don't even watch TV.

Heh Indeed, on an other note this picture sums up how i think we all feel about Gilligan after this week's ending http://i.imgur.com/gvyvvng.jpg

[FaceFoiled]

Only just saw the ep. last night. When the fight started off, I totally expected Hank to die. Simply because he just called his wife and stuff, would have been a fitting ending. Who knows though :P, it's not over yet! :D

[IzBatt]

I feel as though since Walt was yelling "Don't" and they want Walt to cook for them again, that they having more firepower and more than likely more ammo, were shooting to scare and take hostage. Because if they kill them while Walt yells "don't" He won't ever do what they want.
Of course only the next episode will tell the truth. But if they killed both cops there would be no point in the opening scene of the first episode of the 2nd half of season 5. (Where Walt comes home to a destroyed house). The cops seem to be doing this as a 2 man show and if they both die in this fight all the evidence is gone and he doesn't have to run...

Anyway that's how I felt as soon as the gunfight started and no one died.

[Yhetti]

I think we can assume that by the end of the series Walt will still have a but-load of cash since he can afford all of those gigantic guns, the car, and tipping that waitress with a Benji. I can't wait until the next episode.

[FlowerChild]

Wow, ok, either I am completely losing my mind or the beginning of this week's episode did not at all match the end of last week's.

Whatever man. I'm happy with what they did there. Ecstatic actually. I wasn't even daring to hope they'd turn it around like that :)

Spoiler

Show

Woot! Kill all the characters! Everything is going to hell! I love it! AAAAAAHHHH!!!!!

[BinoAl]

It was... Cruel. And I loved it.
I honestly think that the reason they didn't kill off Hank and Gomie at the end of the last episode was so that they could pack all the borderline painful shit into this episode, and it worked beautifully. Plus, Walt Jr defending Skylar from Walt like he was some kind of crazed animal was friggin' awesome.

[Gormador]

The part I liked the most is the one in which Walt's humanity re-emerges (briefly I imagine) : when he leaves his baby in the firetruck.

[FlowerChild]

I really like the kid character that's part of that neo-nazi gang, and love the whole interaction with Jesse there when he chains him up in the meth lab.

As a secondary character, I think he's been awesome. Totally looks, and mostly acts, like Mr Innocent All American or something, which I find makes the shit he does all the more creepy, especially given the very casual and almost humble way in which he goes about doing it.

Not sure if it's going to happen or not, but I think it would be awesome if that scene is the last thing we ever see of Jesse. Would be a totally satisfying conclusion to his story arc IMO.

[Gormador]

I really like the kid character that's part of that neo-nazi gang, and love the whole interaction with Jesse there when he chains him up in the meth lab.

As a secondary character, I think he's been awesome. Totally looks, and mostly acts, like Mr Innocent All American or something, which I find makes the shit he does all the more creepy, especially given the very casual and almost humble way in which he goes about doing it.

About that, I couldn't say it better. You know since it's been a year since the middle of season 5, first time I saw that guy in the recent episodes I thought: "yeah, he's the good bad guy, isn't he? and forced to follow his uncle, no ?"
As you said, great character. And yes, he gives me the creeps.

Not sure if it's going to happen or not, but I think it would be awesome if that scene is the last thing we ever see of Jesse. Would be a totally satisfying conclusion to his story arc IMO.

Not sure about that though... It would be cool for the reason you wrote, but at the same time he is such an important character that I don't see his story ending now. But then again, it's freaking Breaking Bad. Anything is possible.

[FlowerChild]

Yeah, I doubt they'll do it, but I was just kind of thinking that if in the last couple of episodes, we just don't see Jesse, it would be an almost after the fact realization for the viewer about what happened to him that I think would be very cool. It would be like he just fell off the face of the earth, which he kinda has, leaving us to ask "hey...what happened to that guy?" in the aftermath of whatever is to come. It would really emphasize the sensation that he just disappeared never to be heard from again in an almost meta-fiction way that I think is very in keeping with the spirit of the show.

Anyways, my faith has been restored by this last episode, so I'm eager to see what happens, whatever it is :)

[Ethinolicbob]

The part I liked the most is the one in which Walt's humanity re-emerges (briefly I imagine) : when he leaves his baby in the firetruck.

Well that part I imagine was planned to make sure Skylar called the police so when he called they would record him declaring that Skylar had nothing to do with him and what he has done.

[jorgebonafe]

The part I liked the most is the one in which Walt's humanity re-emerges (briefly I imagine) : when he leaves his baby in the firetruck.

Well that part I imagine was planned to make sure Skylar called the police so when he called they would record him declaring that Skylar had nothing to do with him and what he has done.

Yeah, that sounds right to me... Walt is always 3 steps ahead of everyone... Even when he's pretty much fucked already...

[tedium]

i'm with you on that gun fight scene FC. that was some poor directing to get a cliffhanger, which was weird when there was a perfect and natural cliffhanger 3 minutes later. i like your idea on jesse, but i really like what they did instead. really sets up the future, as the one thing we know from that first scene of the season is that walt lives long enough to grow his hair back to normal. any guesses who he'll go after with that rambo gun?

the one thing i've been missing recently is the directing. it used to be such a focus of the show, but recently things have been too fast paced and story driven to leave much room.

[Mr_Hosed]

i'm with you on that gun fight scene FC. that was some poor directing to get a cliffhanger, which was weird when there was a perfect and natural cliffhanger 3 minutes later. <snip>

Keep in mind that this is a TV show so they're on fairly tight length limits. 3 minutes later (or sometimes even 30 seconds later) many times requires cutting something else significant. That said, the whole scene felt shoe-horned in, as FC originally mentioned and everyone agrees, so yeah, it was still bad directing.