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Swolbach (13)
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Agree - there were still a few spots that were over the top in earlier seasons as well, but for the most part, these seasons covered issues that more "normal" people could relate to. This includes some things that are often glossed over in other shows. For example, one entire episode (S1E2) on how to dispose of a body - not typically a humorous topic, but the way they mixed humor into it - flipping a coin to choose jobs, picking out just the right size plastic tub, your teacher smoking your pot instead of taking care of business in the basement, a normally timid guy finally asking his wife to "climb down out of my ass" for the first time, and the eventual collapse of the bath tub..."So there's that".
Though you hopefully don't expect to get into the situation where you need to dispose of a body (or kill a guy who's a threat to your family - in the next episode), you can put yourself in his shoes and ask "what would I do". It gets a bit harder to do this later in the series, IMO, for most of the types of jams Walt gets into.
There's always Phosphine gas, motorcycle locks, fulminated Mercury, ATM skull compaction, heroin OD, air plane collisions, car run down, ax to the head, box cutters, jail house shivs & gasoline fire, cartel poisoning of some sort, wheel chair bombs, hand-cuff strangulation, and of course - ricin (not to mention cancer). Missing any?
I'm sure they'd find a way to replace the gun killings.
I agree. The majority of fans prefer Seasons 4 & 5 as their favorite, but I'd chalk some of that up to a more refined show and a show that fits more of a crime drama than the dark comedy drama we get more of in the earlier seasons.
There's still some hints of dark comedy in the later seasons, but it's hard to inject that into a show that is moving the character more towards the Scarface goal they must eventually reach.
S1 & S2 are much more relatable to an ordinary person. Even though there are a couple scenes that are still a bit over the top for an ordinary person to relate to (such as the Tuco fulminated mercury scene), you can still put yourself in Walt's shoes for much of these seasons and ask "what would I do?". Crazy 8 in the basement, taken hostage by Tuco, Jane choking, etc. - would be some examples.
Hard to imagine anyone else playing WW, other than Cranston, but how do you think Laura Linney would have done with the Skyler role? Never thought much of her, only really seeing her in the Truman Show, but she may have been an interesting choice...would likely have given Walt a black eye or two by the end.
Haven't found a show as good as BB since the Finale.
But thought Ozark was pretty good on Netflix. Believe they were shooting for the BB flavor. Seems something like what BB would have been, if it were just Walt and no Jesse. The Walt/Jesse - father/son generation gap mix of characters is one of many reasons I think BB was so good.
However, it does certainly add to the humor when Walt's giving Junior his driving lesson...He called him Walt the whole time, which was a bit odd to hear, since he usually called him Junior - but you could tell he was purposely calling him Walt to remind him of his real name...then after Junior crashed into the cones, Walt sarcastically called him Flynn. Good stuff.
Agree - One noble act doesn't make someone a noble person. Walt was far from noble as the show went on. But he may have made a couple noble acts - even acts that aren't just "acting" but are honest, like the conversation with Junior.
Not that we can see. It was actually his wrist, but we don't see it in the final scene after burning it.
Yes. Skyler cut his hand with the knife in Ozymandias. He wrapped it with duct tape at the end of that episode (during the phone call to Skyler), then with a normal bandage in the beginning of Granite State (his scene with Saul, at the vacuum shop).
I wouldn't necessarily say that someone can't do something noble, because they've previously done bad things...so wouldn't rule anything out later in the series, due to letting Jane die, etc. But a noble act is defined as doing something based on high morals.
So, working backwards, the Finale acts were pretty much driven by revenge and directing his millions to his family - wouldn't call that moral. Same with changing plans and saving Jessie - that's pretty much common decency, not so much moral.
Giving back Holly and the Skyler phone call may be the most moral thing, working back from the end of the show, but again, he was just saving Skyler and had nothing to loose in the process.
Working all the way back to S5E6, he didn't have many moral moments, after his Empire speech to Jessie. At this point, he was well beyond "doing it for the family", and this is where he explains his position. If anything in Season 5, maybe his discussion with Skyler in the motel, where he tries to talk her out of her request to have Jessie killed...
Think I might go all the way back to Salud (S4E10), to the talk he had with Junior about his sickly father. A conversation may not be considered so much a "noble act", but it is one of few times, later in the show, where he wasn't covering up with lies or doing something for the sole purpose of building his empire. This seemed like the real Walt, talking to his son. Unfortunately for Walt, he didn't want Junior to remember him that way, but to his disappointment, Junior let him know he preferred seeing him that way, to the lying father he had been over the last year. Priceless expression on Walt's face when he hears this. In Walt's eyes, he's been noble all the time he's been covering up all his acts, for his family (and himself), but in Juniors eyes, he is only noble in this short conversation.
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