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"How are they going to get out of THIS one?"

posted 4 years ago by ecarle (14979)
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Breaking Bad reveals its "plot tempo" early on and sticks to it for five seasons(six, counting one of those "split season" end runs.)

The plot tempo is this: "How are they going to get out of THIS one?" Episode after episode finds our "heroes"(NOT - -they're manufacturers of the most virulent and poor-people-killing drug of all, meth) facing some sort of danger that MUST end with their death(s) -- and yet(of course), every time, they wriggle out of it, escape and (sometimes) turn the tables and kill their foes. The Sopranos pitted Tony the Boss against encroaching outsider mobsters each season, but didn't put him in life-or-death cliffhangers on a weekly basis. Breaking Bad, does.

This made for a fun, suspenseful, easy-to-watch series that truly reveals "the wonderfulness of binge-ing" as one episode flowed into the next and all I had to decide was how many to watch tonight(usually, two.)

Since completing a watch of "Breaking Bad," I've seen the spin off movie "El Camino" -- and IT uses the "how is he going to get out of this one?" motif solely on the tale of Jesse's attempt to escape to a new life.

And "Better Call Saul" used this "how is he going to get out of THIS one?") approach to Saul/Bill's early encounter with the Death-Dealing Tuco.

Its a way of life.

Not to mention, at least two other series use the "cartel drug trade" to create a "how are they going to get out of THIS one?" story-telling technique, as well: Ozark(which has two more seasons to go) and Bloodline(which only ran for three seasons.)

[–] Iffy762 (1331) 4 years ago

All tv series have a formula that is repeated week-to-week, that's the tv series model. If they can hide the formula so you can't see it until the third season, then so much the better, but smart viewers will eventually figure out the pattern, I think. Welcome to The Matrix! Just kidding. You did good.

We are used to "hero" stories where the hero gets out of the danger by finding some way to do so while still being a good person (but often via some kind of deus ex machina or plot hole). I think Breaking Bad goes in a....different direction, since it's as if Walt gets out of the danger by becoming a worse person. So I find that interesting.

I didn't see The Sopranos, so I can't really compare with Breaking Bad. Right now I'm watching The Americans (it's terrific) and even though every episode seems different superficially, I can see the pattern.

Now that you've figured this out, the next step is to realise that the pattern that plays out week to week tells us something about the show's theme and what the show is saying about the characters and their relationships. Now that you've worked it out for Breaking Bad, I'm gonna challenge you to do the same for Ozark. Knowing this actually makes the show more fun to watch, in my opinion, because you don't have to worry so much about whether the plots will get repetitive (they will, by design, it's how tv works), and you can spend your time thinking about the theme and the characters.

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

SPOILERS for BREAKING BAD:

I'm gonna challenge you to do the same for Ozark. Knowing this actually makes the show more fun to watch, in my opinion, because you don't have to worry so much about whether the plots will get repetitive (they will, by design, it's how tv works), and you can spend your time thinking about the theme and the characters.

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Ha...I suppose this is pretty much "the necessary formula" for all "story telling TV" these days ("How are they going to get out of THIS one?") and Ozark has the formula down pat.

Word is out that Ozark -- with three seasons now completed for streaming -- will return for two more short seasons(one season split in two, like Mad Men and Breaking Bad did)...and end. But until COVID-19 concerns abate, nothing can be filmed, so we will be waiting a long time.

Meanwhile, yes -- and alas -- Walter White often "got out of this one" by doing something very bad -- or ordering it(what Jesse had to do to Gale the Assistant; the mass murders in the prison system, etc.)

Weirdly though -- if memory serves -- Walter simply shot the estimable character of Mike the Cleaner in a pique of anger -- which is doubly aggravating now that I'm watching "Better Call Saul" and getting an even better sense of Mike's code of honor.

And -- again -- I will note that The Sopranos didn't much use the "how will he get out of THIS one?" motif -- gang boss Tony Soprano was often safe from episode to episode.

[–] Iffy762 (1331) 4 years ago

Gosh, I should really watch The Sopranos. It sounds like it would be interesting to compare with the other shows you mention (I've seen Ozark, BB, and Better Call Saul). Are there are shows where "how they are going to get out of THIS one" is NOT the point? Or is it just limited to action/suspense shows? Hmm, I need to think about this more....

One revelation I've had about Ozark is that Marty Byrde is a weak man, or at least that's how his wife Wendy sees him. Wendy talks about it in an episode from the most recent season. I think that Marty thinks of himself as a strong but reasonable person (basically in Jason Bateman's standard mode of play). But he won't make the tough decisions that would really keep his family safe, one of which decisions might be ditching Wendy, who is nuts. I think Wendy thinks of herself as a strong person who is willing to do the tough things, but, see nuts, above. So even though the pattern of the episodes is similar to BB in the sense that the Byrdes keep doing terrible things to get the family out of trouble, I think the whole theme of Ozark is different than BB.

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

Gosh, I should really watch The Sopranos. It sounds like it would be interesting to compare with the other shows you mention (I've seen Ozark, BB, and Better Call Saul). Are there are shows where "how they are going to get out of THIS one" is NOT the point? Or is it just limited to action/suspense shows? Hmm, I need to think about this more....

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Oh, I suppose the "how are they going to get out of THIS one?" motif is common to all action/suspense shows -- and frankly, I'm afraid I haven't seen most of them (Homeland and 24 come to mind where I figure -- yeah, they probably used that motif, too.)

"Mad Men" didn't have reason to use the "how will they get out of this one?" motif TOO much, but even that drama did -- when, occasionally it looked like ad man Don Draper's REAL identity(Dick Whitman) might get discovered, or when the main advertising agency looked like it was going to get taken over or go out of business.

But a whole host of "serialized" TV series like Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, LA Law etc did NOT use the weekly cliffhanger as much as "Breaking Bad" and "The Americans" did. "IMHO."

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

SPOILERS for Ozark (big SPOILERS -- if you haven't seen the entire series to date, skip this)

One revelation I've had about Ozark is that Marty Byrde is a weak man, or at least that's how his wife Wendy sees him. Wendy talks about it in an episode from the most recent season. I think that Marty thinks of himself as a strong but reasonable person (basically in Jason Bateman's standard mode of play). But he won't make the tough decisions that would really keep his family safe, one of which decisions might be ditching Wendy, who is nuts. I think Wendy thinks of herself as a strong person who is willing to do the tough things, but, see nuts, above.

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And Wendy isn't the only "nuts" woman on the show. The "redneck crime boss woman"(whose name escapes me) is even more nuts -- and of course killed her crime boss husband.

Indeed, for awhile there, I thought that Ozark was turning into a "powerful women best weak men show" until they killed the female cartel lawyer right at the end of this final season to date. Still, the women are pretty power-hungry and vicious on this show.

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So even though the pattern of the episodes is similar to BB in the sense that the Byrdes keep doing terrible things to get the family out of trouble, I think the whole theme of Ozark is different than BB.

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Well, yes -- Walter White is the bad guy "pushing" his "normal" wife(Skyler) on Breaking Bad. Though Marty took the cartel job...Wendy has the mind for criminality(her background in hardball politics prepped her.)

Still, its Jason Bateman's show, so he may well come out on top when things "wrap."

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[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

Tying all these shows together -- Breaking Bad, Ozark, Better Call Saul, and the short-lived Bloodline, are the cartels as the most horrific of employers -- you don't get fired, you get killed. Hell, you don't get REPRIMANDED -- you get killed. Thus, "how are they going to get out of THIS one?" is almost the only plot(well, except for getting out of the cops arresting you -- a fate less horrific than what the cartels can dish out.)

And yet -- we had the redneck crime queen on Ozark kill a cartel man for CALLING her a redneck, and Gus on Breaking Bad took down a lot of cartel guys before meeting his fate -- they CAN be fought...

[–] Iffy762 (1331) 4 years ago

Very good points. I loved Gus, wouldn't mind a whole prequel just about him. I hope we see more of the actor.

The Ozarks crime queen (I think you mean Darlene?) is an absolutely brilliant character, probably an excellent depiction of an actual female sociopath. It's really interesting to see a character like this be a female. It's also really interesting that one of her values is the loyalty between the locals, so that Marty and his wife will never really be accepted by them.

What you say about bringing down the cartel is interesting in the sense that it makes you wonder if Marty is smart enough to bring the cartel down. That would be a fun game of reverse cat-and-mouse. But from the general tone of Ozark I doubt they will go in that direction.

Julia Garner is also fantastic.

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

Very good points. I loved Gus, wouldn't mind a whole prequel just about him. I hope we see more of the actor.

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Well Gus is in the prequel series "Better Call Saul" ...but we are still meeting him well into his career, we could always use more background.

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The Ozarks crime queen (I think you mean Darlene?)

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That's her! Thanks

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is an absolutely brilliant character, probably an excellent depiction of an actual female sociopath. It's really interesting to see a character like this be a female. It's also really interesting that one of her values is the loyalty between the locals, so that Marty and his wife will never really be accepted by them.

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As Season Three wrapped up, Darlene seemed to be putting together a "local redneck coalition" -- along with the male crime boss whose son's privates she shot off ("Nothin' can bring your boy's pecker back, but we can move forward") and the Garner character as confederates versus the Byrdes and the cartel.

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What you say about bringing down the cartel is interesting in the sense that it makes you wonder if Marty is smart enough to bring the cartel down. That would be a fun game of reverse cat-and-mouse. But from the general tone of Ozark I doubt they will go in that direction.

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Well, another route out (well travelled in movies and TV) would be for Marty and Wendy and family to fake their own deaths..so the cartel leaves them alone. Or...just kill off enough cartel to end it(which Darlene is intending with or without the Byrdes.)

An interesting series...someday maybe they will actually get to film the end.

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Julia Garner is also fantastic.

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She's a fine young actress. working a lot. You can find her in The Americans...

[–] Iffy762 (1331) 4 years ago

"She's a fine young actress. working a lot. You can find her in The Americans..."

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Yes, I just got to those episodes. I was so pleased! Another good thing about The Americans.

[–] Iffy762 (1331) 4 years ago

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

Yeah I think Homeland used it. The fun of 24, in my opinion, was not so much the "how they get out of this" but the conceit of events occurring in "real time." It always tickled me that when they came back from the commercial break, that the same amount of time on the show had passed as in real life.

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Yes, I've read that was the main gimmick -- with one season long crisis per year, and an ending to it.

I'm afraid far too many series have been put out for me to watch them all. But I am "catching up" via binging during this time of "home lockdown." I'll try to keep picking more to watch. "Its a journey into the past" -- these series are often from the 00s and the 10s.

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But, I seem to recall that as they got later in the season, they didn't hold themselves to that limitation and there were occasions when characters got from one side of DC to the other in times that I knew were impossible. Or maybe they didn't do that until season 2.

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Some gimmicks just "go away."

[–] aavfreak (2859) 4 years ago

All tv series have a formula that is repeated week-to-week, that's the tv series mod

100% accurate. I've just started watching Star Trek: The Next Generation from the beginning and it is just as you say. Every episode = "How are they going to get out of it THIS time."

[–] Iffy762 (1331) 4 years ago

A Temporal Anomaly will solve it!

[–] aavfreak (2859) 4 years ago

But only if they reverse polarity of the phase conduits and inject a modulated tachyon beam into the molecular ion generator.

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

The plot tempo (of Breaking Bad) is this: "How are they going to get out of THIS one?" Episode after episode finds our "heroes"(NOT - -they're manufacturers of the most virulent and poor-people-killing drug of all, meth) facing some sort of danger that MUST end with their death(s) -- and yet(of course), every time, they wriggle out of it, escape and (sometimes) turn the tables and kill their foes. The Sopranos pitted Tony the Boss against encroaching outsider mobsters each season, but didn't put him in life-or-death cliffhangers on a weekly basis. Breaking Bad, does.

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Since posting this, I have now watched the first five seasons of the Breaking Bad prequel series, Better Call Saul. (The sixth and final season has yet to be shot, COVID-19 postponing it.)

And it turns out -- to me -- that Better Call Saul, while having a bit of the "how are they going to get out of THIS one?" motif -- milks a DIFFERENT motif:

"What the heck is he setting up to do THIS time?

Its a different dynamic. Often it is Saul doing setting something up; sometimes it is Mike setting something up; it has even been KIM setting something up -- but we have to wait to see the payoff.

To save the bodyguard from a prison term ...why is Kim buying a bunch of colored pens?

Why is Saul filming commercials against a blue screen in the nail salon?

How is Saul going to get his client off THIS time?

And so forth and so on..the series creates confusion and anticipation and then...we see the plan pay off.

[–] davodikum (5968) 4 years ago

Which is just as manipulative. And I think less interesting. Especially cause the pay off is only a drip fed conclusion leading to yet another cliffhanger.

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

Ha. Yes. I suppose it is a curse to "see" the machinery at work; better to try to focus on the characters, I guess. But I can't!

[–] davodikum (5968) 4 years ago

I liked breaking bad, but could see how it was hooking me in. Same thing with sons of anarchy. But yeah I could only get through two seasons if that of better call Saul before I gave up. Just not enough was happening for me to get into it

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

I'm sticking Better Call Saul out mainly because of the actors and the "character stuff." Also, as one critic has said, there is a "tragic love story" in Better Call Saul that is yet to play out. Walter and Skylar were just sort of doomed from the beginning. Saul and Kim...where goes this?

But yeah..there's a lot of competition out there in quality TV series. If you aren't hooked...its over.

[–] davodikum (5968) 4 years ago

Yep. Over saturation in the market place. But I still watch shows that aren't 'quality'. At the moment I'm rewatching Castle. Which I don't pretend to be high quality, but I like it. I'm also rewatching the X files. I'm on season 3 ATM.

[–] Iffy762 (1331) 4 years ago

Yes, in Better Call Saul, I think it is the character relationships that are really the pull: his relationship with his brother, and finding out how the history of that relationship made Saul into who he is now, as well as how much of his current situation is his own inherent character traits.

Since the lockdowns, I have actually been reading a lot about tv writing, and actually they say that all tv shows are really about relationships. Sometimes it is the relationships between main characters, other times between the main character and one or other villain, and so on. The relationships are set up so as to speak to the show's themes. The regularity of the weekly plot structure is present in all episodic tv shows, and that is partly to facilitate exploring the relationships and themes of the show.

I think with Saul and Chuck, one of the things for me was that I recognised that relationship: the sibling who pretends he wants you to succeed, but really doesn't. It's an interesting exploration of sibling love. We all want to believe our siblings love us, but maybe sometimes they don't.

I really want to know how things turn out between Saul and Kim.

[–] Iffy762 (1331) 4 years ago

Good point!

[–] brux (14666) 4 years ago

I gotta say ... good points, bravo. These "cliffhangers" go back to radio serials, and book serials. The point being it is the stories that sell the commercials.

[–] Iffy762 (1331) 4 years ago

So true. And here we were thinking they wrote the stories to entertain us. Heh heh heh.

[–] BourbonKing (5612) 4 years ago

Good analysis. Yes, this series and other contemporary ones definitely follow this trope, but they also emphasize the main "heroes" as extra-ordinary people (suburban white people).

I personally think that Vince Gilligan dragged the show longer for the money and it should have ended with Walter killing Gus, but also in the end killing himself in the process (getting injured by the sabotage blast). When he makes his "final" call to Skyler who's at home watching the news and he tells her "I won" then hangs up and dies....roll credits.`