[FairfieldLife] Re: Breaking Bad, the last season
turquoiseb: Speaking as a fan, and as someone who has watched the series get better and better, culminating in what will be taught in university classes of the future as The Perfect Season Of Television last year, I didn't know what to expect with the new season. For someone who dosen't watch much TV, you sure are watching a lot of TV! LoL! I know I'm a little behind the curve here, because all of the other fans of the series got to see this new episode on Sunday, but I've been moving, and didn't get my copy until today. So how could they possibly follow up The Perfect Season Of Television? Easy. Start with the first episode of what looks like it will be The Even More Perfect Season Of Television. Stay away from most popular entertainment. Most of what passes for legitimate entertainment is inferior or foolish and only caters to or exploits people's weaknesses. Avoid being one of the mob who indulges in such pastimes. Your life too short and you have important things to do. Be discriminating about what images and ideas you permit into your mind. If you yourself don't choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will, and their motives may not be the highest. It is the easiest thing in the world to slide imperceptibly into vulgarity. But there's no need for that to happen if you determine not to waste your time and attention on mindless pap. - Epictetus
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Breaking Bad, the last season
On 07/23/2012 10:28 PM, turquoiseb wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, azgrey no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@ wrote: [ For those who have not watched the series but plan to someday, be warned: HERE BE SPOILERS ] Wow. I hadn't seen the second episode when I wrote the above. Thank you for the spoiler alert which came thru loud and clear in message view. My own viewing of the episode was not until about 10 hours after your post and the element of surprise is an especially delicious one with BB that I cherish. A couple of quick thoughts and i will get back to yas later in the week about this and the NM links you provided. Promise. I've never been very responsive to extended dialogue here on FFL, but we do have a week until the next episode and its almost civilized in here with what's her name in timeout corner. Mike violated his prime directive, as stated last season, of never again employing half measures, by letting Lydia live. What was the quote last week? I can see a lot of outcomes to this and none of them involve Miller Time. Heisenberg Uber Alles, bitch! Yup. It all gets interestinger and interestinger. You're going to want to read this, an in-depth interview with series creator (and writer of these two first episodes of season 5 we've been discussing) Vince Gilligan. It reads like a manual of How To Write For Television (or for any medium). http://www.salon.com/2012/07/23/vince_gilligan_ive_never_googled_breaking_bad/ Of course to break the rules of television writing one has to know what those rules are to begin with. And Gilligan has some experience with those rules and comments on it. And I like that he points out it is easier to do a good series when you only need to produce 11 or 13 episodes compared to the broadcast networks wanting 24 or 25 to fill time up. That's quality versus quantity. Even easier has to be the BBC's 6 or 8 episode seasons. IOW, no bottle episodes.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Breaking Bad, the last season
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, azgrey no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@ wrote: Yup. The inexplainable season opener flashforward is now a well-known device on BB. The teddy bear in the pool, which made no sense at all until the last episode of the season, etc. I suspect we won't know fersure why Walt is investing in such heavy iron until the last of these 16 episodes. And that it'll be a real trip getting there. Word. I'm down for any direction the writers wanna take it, but my intuition tells me that we are going to find out why the Cartel gave young Gustavo a pass when they killed and bled out his chemist partner in the swimming pool. It just feels like we are going to learn who it is in Chile that Juan Bolsa with the Juarez did not wish to offend. I suspect you're right. I hadn't thought about the progression thing from small crook (small fish) to big crook (big fish), with Walt becoming more and more of a predator as he breaks badder, but it really works as a theme. So he's bound to meet and have to deal with even bigger fish than Gus. [ For those who have not watched the series but plan to someday, be warned: HERE BE SPOILERS ] Wow. I hadn't seen the second episode when I wrote the above. T'would seem you were right about the German connection, and about the bigger fish who will enter the picture now that middle-sized fish Gus Fring is out of it. I've opined in the past that Walt has never *really* broken bad, in that he's always struck me as being in self-denial of how bad he'd become. That is now a thing of the past. He's BAD, and he knows it. It isn't just I am the one who knocks posturing for his wife. He is one badass motherfucker. I really loved Lydia. It's such a wonderful play on the New Agey side of New Mexico and on the multifaceted nature of villains that one of the big players in the international drug trade tries to order camomile tea with soy milk and stevia in a diner where they don't know what she's talking about, and is forced to settle for hot water with lemon, all while passing a list with eleven names on it over the table and asking the person she's passing it to to kill all eleven. I'm seeing an eventual showdown not only between Walt and the international big fish who ran Gus, but between him and Hank. It's previewed and hinted at in the scene in which Hank's DEA boss is saying goodbye, having had to throw himself under the bus in the wake of having hob-nobbed with Gus, who was posing as a police supporter. He laments, I had him out to my house...Fourth of July...cooked out in the back yard...my son shucked the corn, my daughter cooked the potatoes...Fring brought sea bass. Every time I grill it now I make a little foil pouch, just like he showed me. The whole night we were laughing, telling stories, drinking wine. And he's somebody else completely. Right in front of me. Right under my nose. And the camera then shows us Hank's face, for seven or eight seconds, which is an eternity in TV editing time these days, and allows us to pre-imagine what that face is going to look like when he finds out about Walt.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Breaking Bad, the last season
On 07/23/2012 06:10 AM, turquoiseb wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, azgrey no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@ wrote: Yup. The inexplainable season opener flashforward is now a well-known device on BB. The teddy bear in the pool, which made no sense at all until the last episode of the season, etc. I suspect we won't know fersure why Walt is investing in such heavy iron until the last of these 16 episodes. And that it'll be a real trip getting there. Word. I'm down for any direction the writers wanna take it, but my intuition tells me that we are going to find out why the Cartel gave young Gustavo a pass when they killed and bled out his chemist partner in the swimming pool. It just feels like we are going to learn who it is in Chile that Juan Bolsa with the Juarez did not wish to offend. I suspect you're right. I hadn't thought about the progression thing from small crook (small fish) to big crook (big fish), with Walt becoming more and more of a predator as he breaks badder, but it really works as a theme. So he's bound to meet and have to deal with even bigger fish than Gus. [ For those who have not watched the series but plan to someday, be warned: HERE BE SPOILERS ] Wow. I hadn't seen the second episode when I wrote the above. T'would seem you were right about the German connection, and about the bigger fish who will enter the picture now that middle-sized fish Gus Fring is out of it. I've opined in the past that Walt has never *really* broken bad, in that he's always struck me as being in self-denial of how bad he'd become. That is now a thing of the past. He's BAD, and he knows it. It isn't just I am the one who knocks posturing for his wife. He is one badass motherfucker. I really loved Lydia. It's such a wonderful play on the New Agey side of New Mexico and on the multifaceted nature of villains that one of the big players in the international drug trade tries to order camomile tea with soy milk and stevia in a diner where they don't know what she's talking about, and is forced to settle for hot water with lemon, all while passing a list with eleven names on it over the table and asking the person she's passing it to to kill all eleven. I'm seeing an eventual showdown not only between Walt and the international big fish who ran Gus, but between him and Hank. It's previewed and hinted at in the scene in which Hank's DEA boss is saying goodbye, having had to throw himself under the bus in the wake of having hob-nobbed with Gus, who was posing as a police supporter. He laments, I had him out to my house...Fourth of July...cooked out in the back yard...my son shucked the corn, my daughter cooked the potatoes...Fring brought sea bass. Every time I grill it now I make a little foil pouch, just like he showed me. The whole night we were laughing, telling stories, drinking wine. And he's somebody else completely. Right in front of me. Right under my nose. And the camera then shows us Hank's face, for seven or eight seconds, which is an eternity in TV editing time these days, and allows us to pre-imagine what that face is going to look like when he finds out about Walt. That was one helluva episode and more like a movie than a TV episode. I like that they step out and innovate in this series. Comparatively, the True Blood episode which I watched following was rather flat. BTW, for folks who like quirky shows, AMC's Small Town Security is a hoot. You've got this woman who with her husband runs a security firm somewhere in Georgia. You'll have some expectations from that but the show will confound them. The woman, who is now 61, was even in a movie or two as a teenager. This is a reality series but I suspect it is still somewhat scripted.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Breaking Bad, the last season
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: [ For those who have not watched the series but plan to someday, be warned: HERE BE SPOILERS ] Wow. I hadn't seen the second episode when I wrote the above. Thank you for the spoiler alert which came thru loud and clear in message view. My own viewing of the episode was not until about 10 hours after your post and the element of surprise is an especially delicious one with BB that I cherish. A couple of quick thoughts and i will get back to yas later in the week about this and the NM links you provided. Promise. I've never been very responsive to extended dialogue here on FFL, but we do have a week until the next episode and its almost civilized in here with what's her name in timeout corner. Mike violated his prime directive, as stated last season, of never again employing half measures, by letting Lydia live. What was the quote last week? I can see a lot of outcomes to this and none of them involve Miller Time. Heisenberg Uber Alles, bitch!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Breaking Bad, the last season
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, azgrey no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@ wrote: [ For those who have not watched the series but plan to someday, be warned: HERE BE SPOILERS ] Wow. I hadn't seen the second episode when I wrote the above. Thank you for the spoiler alert which came thru loud and clear in message view. My own viewing of the episode was not until about 10 hours after your post and the element of surprise is an especially delicious one with BB that I cherish. A couple of quick thoughts and i will get back to yas later in the week about this and the NM links you provided. Promise. I've never been very responsive to extended dialogue here on FFL, but we do have a week until the next episode and its almost civilized in here with what's her name in timeout corner. Mike violated his prime directive, as stated last season, of never again employing half measures, by letting Lydia live. What was the quote last week? I can see a lot of outcomes to this and none of them involve Miller Time. Heisenberg Uber Alles, bitch! Yup. It all gets interestinger and interestinger. You're going to want to read this, an in-depth interview with series creator (and writer of these two first episodes of season 5 we've been discussing) Vince Gilligan. It reads like a manual of How To Write For Television (or for any medium). http://www.salon.com/2012/07/23/vince_gilligan_ive_never_googled_breaking_bad/
[FairfieldLife] Re: Breaking Bad, the last season
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, azgrey no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@ wrote: Speaking as a fan, and as someone who has watched the series get better and better, culminating in what will be taught in university classes of the future as The Perfect Season Of Television last year, I didn't know what to expect with the new season. I know I'm a little behind the curve here, because all of the other fans of the series got to see this new episode on Sunday, but I've been moving, and didn't get my copy until today. So how could they possibly follow up The Perfect Season Of Television? Easy. Start with the first episode of what looks like it will be The Even More Perfect Season Of Television. I'm thinking the story arc of a progression from Krazy8/ Emilio to Tuco/Hector/ the Cousins Salamanaca to the Cartel to Gustavo may continue, hence the foreshadowing with the M60 in the cold opening scene to begin season 5. Each opponent was another rung on the same ladder. Each, in turn, much more formidable, determined, and cunning. I could be wrong, but red herrings haven't been a plot device employed often in Breaking Bad. The linkage, last season, of Gus's businesses to a multinational parent based out of Germany together with his mysterious history in Chile and the erasing of his past, indicates to me that Walt is going to find himself facing a foe with far reaching assets that somehow is connected to the lineage that began with the first person Walt murdered, Krazy8. Yup. The inexplainable season opener flashforward is now a well-known device on BB. The teddy bear in the pool, which made no sense at all until the last episode of the season, etc. I suspect we won't know fersure why Walt is investing in such heavy iron until the last of these 16 episodes. And that it'll be a real trip getting there. Word. I'm down for any direction the writers wanna take it, but my intuition tells me that we are going to find out why the Cartel gave young Gustavo a pass when they killed and bled out his chemist partner in the swimming pool. It just feels like we are going to learn who it is in Chile that Juan Bolsa with the Juarez did not wish to offend. Or not. I at least have faith that Vince Gilligan and his posse aren't planning on having Walt and Jesse picked up by a UFO or fade to black Soprano's style. I can't remember ever feeling this much anticipation before for a tv series. Season 1 was outstanding, but each season has improved on all levels to a remarkable degree. The many unique and signature touches are masterful. The nature photography, the way a scene is shot from a camera mounted inside an object such as a car trunk/ refrigerator/suitcase as the subject peers inside, the lack of musical score in key places, the use of natural and industrial background sounds instead of a composed score in others, the way that minor characters are introduced and seem to already have a fully fleshed-out sense of place...I could go on and on. New Mexico is a beautiful land and truly Enchanted. I love it deeply. It exists in my very spirit and I return there regularly for refreshment. Gotta agree. I loved New Mexico, too. Albuquerque itself, not so much, but the land...magnificent. Church. I generally avoid ABQ completely. It always struck me as another big uninteresting city with brown air. Might have to take a couple days and explore the neighborhoods a bit to give it more of a chance. September has been a good month in the past for me to begin a NM trek. I usually find myself so Enchanted that I get lost in the moment for a couple of months. Ideally, the weather is willing and I head over to the North Rim of the Grandest Canyon before the concessions close then head north into the canyon lands of southern Utah or Utawer if yas wanna blend in and channel my inner Edward Abbey. It is amazing how friendly those Mormon girls can be. Are ya happy to see me or is that a monkey wrench in your pocket? I'm thinkin' its an evolutionary thang where the impulse to bring new genes into the pool overrides local mores. Lucky me, but Samuel Langhorne Clemens would disagree, having once observed: Our stay in Salt Lake City amounted to only two days... snip I had the will to do it. With the gushing self-sufficiency of youth I was feverish to plunge in headlong and achieve a great reform here until I saw the Mormon women. Then I was touched. My heart was wiser than my head. It warmed toward these poor, ungainly and pathetically homely creatures, and as I turned to hide the generous moisture in my eyes, I said, No, the man that marries one of them has done an act of Christian charity which entitles him to the kindly applause of mankind, not
[FairfieldLife] Re: Breaking Bad, the last season
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, azgrey no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@ wrote: Yup. The inexplainable season opener flashforward is now a well-known device on BB. The teddy bear in the pool, which made no sense at all until the last episode of the season, etc. I suspect we won't know fersure why Walt is investing in such heavy iron until the last of these 16 episodes. And that it'll be a real trip getting there. Word. I'm down for any direction the writers wanna take it, but my intuition tells me that we are going to find out why the Cartel gave young Gustavo a pass when they killed and bled out his chemist partner in the swimming pool. It just feels like we are going to learn who it is in Chile that Juan Bolsa with the Juarez did not wish to offend. I suspect you're right. I hadn't thought about the progression thing from small crook (small fish) to big crook (big fish), with Walt becoming more and more of a predator as he breaks badder, but it really works as a theme. So he's bound to meet and have to deal with even bigger fish than Gus. Or not. I at least have faith that Vince Gilligan and his posse aren't planning on having Walt and Jesse picked up by a UFO or fade to black Soprano's style. Not a chance. I'm envisioning more the last scene from De Palma's version of Scarface, with Walt either going out in a blaze of glory wielding his M60 or being the last one standing, saying I won. :-) New Mexico is a beautiful land and truly Enchanted. I love it deeply. It exists in my very spirit and I return there regularly for refreshment. Gotta agree. I loved New Mexico, too. Albuquerque itself, not so much, but the land...magnificent. Church. Exactly. I generally avoid ABQ completely. It always struck me as another big uninteresting city with brown air. Might have to take a couple days and explore the neighborhoods a bit to give it more of a chance. September has been a good month in the past for me to begin a NM trek. I usually find myself so Enchanted that I get lost in the moment for a couple of months. Ideally, the weather is willing and I head over to the North Rim of the Grandest Canyon before the concessions close North Rim is the best. then head north into the canyon lands of southern Utah or Utawer if yas wanna blend in and channel my inner Edward Abbey. It is amazing how friendly those Mormon girls can be. Are ya happy to see me or is that a monkey wrench in your pocket? I'm thinkin' its an evolutionary thang where the impulse to bring new genes into the pool overrides local mores. I have had similar experiences. Nothin' like a little religious repression to unlock the libido. Lucky me, but Samuel Langhorne Clemens would disagree, having once observed: Our stay in Salt Lake City amounted to only two days... snip I had the will to do it. With the gushing self-sufficiency of youth I was feverish to plunge in headlong and achieve a great reform here until I saw the Mormon women. Then I was touched. My heart was wiser than my head. It warmed toward these poor, ungainly and pathetically homely creatures, and as I turned to hide the generous moisture in my eyes, I said, No, the man that marries one of them has done an act of Christian charity which entitles him to the kindly applause of mankind, not their harsh censure and the man that marries sixty of them has done a deed of open-handed generosity so sublime that the nations should stand uncovered in his presence and worship in silence. Go figure. But I digress. ;-) Great digression. I love Sam. Thinking about New Mexico got me thinkin' about some of my fave places there for a friend who is about to visit, so I came up with the following short list of Places Of Power I used to enjoy there. I share it with you, since you're in the general neighborhood, and might be inter- ested: New Mexico The Santa Fe labyrinth -- a full-sized copy of the labyrinth at Chartres, outside at the Folk Art Museum, so you can walk it by moonlight. Fun. http://www.internationalfolkart.org/visitors/labyrinth.html Bandelier -- nice Anasazi site. http://www.americansouthwest.net/new_mexico/bandelier/national_monument.html Chaco -- the mother of all Anasazi sites, with buildings larger than the Colusseum in Rome. http://www.americansouthwest.net/new_mexico/chaco_culture/national_historical_park.html Tsankawi -- a small site that many don't know about, part of the Bandelier Natl Park complex. It used to be my closest Power Place to duck away to from Santa Fe for a rejuvenating walk. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsankawi The haunted bar at La Posada, Santa Fe -- where I used to hang out. Good drink, good people, and its own ghost.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Breaking Bad, the last season
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, azgrey no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@ wrote: Speaking as a fan, and as someone who has watched the series get better and better, culminating in what will be taught in university classes of the future as The Perfect Season Of Television last year, I didn't know what to expect with the new season. I know I'm a little behind the curve here, because all of the other fans of the series got to see this new episode on Sunday, but I've been moving, and didn't get my copy until today. So how could they possibly follow up The Perfect Season Of Television? Easy. Start with the first episode of what looks like it will be The Even More Perfect Season Of Television. I'm thinking the story arc of a progression from Krazy8/ Emilio to Tuco/Hector/ the Cousins Salamanaca to the Cartel to Gustavo may continue, hence the foreshadowing with the M60 in the cold opening scene to begin season 5. Each opponent was another rung on the same ladder. Each, in turn, much more formidable, determined, and cunning. I could be wrong, but red herrings haven't been a plot device employed often in Breaking Bad. The linkage, last season, of Gus's businesses to a multinational parent based out of Germany together with his mysterious history in Chile and the erasing of his past, indicates to me that Walt is going to find himself facing a foe with far reaching assets that somehow is connected to the lineage that began with the first person Walt murdered, Krazy8. Yup. The inexplainable season opener flashforward is now a well-known device on BB. The teddy bear in the pool, which made no sense at all until the last episode of the season, etc. I suspect we won't know fersure why Walt is investing in such heavy iron until the last of these 16 episodes. And that it'll be a real trip getting there. I can't remember ever feeling this much anticipation before for a tv series. Season 1 was outstanding, but each season has improved on all levels to a remarkable degree. The many unique and signature touches are masterful. The nature photography, the way a scene is shot from a camera mounted inside an object such as a car trunk/ refrigerator/suitcase as the subject peers inside, the lack of musical score in key places, the use of natural and industrial background sounds instead of a composed score in others, the way that minor characters are introduced and seem to already have a fully fleshed-out sense of place...I could go on and on. New Mexico is a beautiful land and truly Enchanted. I love it deeply. It exists in my very spirit and I return there regularly for refreshment. Gotta agree. I loved New Mexico, too. Albuquerque itself, not so much, but the land...magnificent. The way the show is able to juxtapose the natural beauty with the depraved ugliness of human behavior while *making me laugh* astonishes me. Expectations for the next 15 episodes are high. Breaking Bad has a way of exceeding expectations. Well said. A member of my househould is playing catch-up on BB, and still on season 3, and I'm re-watching them with her. So I'm getting to bounce back and forth in time, seeing in season 5 the culmination of some plotline, and then the next night seeing it being set up way back in season 3. It really is a remarkable piece of television/filmmaking craftsmanship.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Breaking Bad, the last season
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, azgrey no_reply@ wrote: New Mexico is a beautiful land and truly Enchanted. I love it deeply. It exists in my very spirit and I return there regularly for refreshment. Gotta agree. I loved New Mexico, too. Albuquerque itself, not so much, but the land...magnificent. Just for the record, I don't know where you've been in New Mexico, and what for you constitutes refreshment, but if you're ever in the market for some cool Places Of Power to visit, drop me a line.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Breaking Bad, the last season
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: Speaking as a fan, and as someone who has watched the series get better and better, culminating in what will be taught in university classes of the future as The Perfect Season Of Television last year, I didn't know what to expect with the new season. I know I'm a little behind the curve here, because all of the other fans of the series got to see this new episode on Sunday, but I've been moving, and didn't get my copy until today. So how could they possibly follow up The Perfect Season Of Television? Easy. Start with the first episode of what looks like it will be The Even More Perfect Season Of Television. I'm thinking the story arc of a progression from Krazy8/ Emilio to Tuco/Hector/ the Cousins Salamanaca to the Cartel to Gustavo may continue, hence the foreshadowing with the M60 in the cold opening scene to begin season 5. Each opponent was another rung on the same ladder. Each, in turn, much more formidable, determined, and cunning. I could be wrong, but red herrings haven't been a plot device employed often in Breaking Bad. The linkage, last season, of Gus's businesses to a multinational parent based out of Germany together with his mysterious history in Chile and the erasing of his past, indicates to me that Walt is going to find himself facing a foe with far reaching assets that somehow is connected to the lineage that began with the first person Walt murdered, Krazy8. I can't remember ever feeling this much anticipation before for a tv series. Season 1 was outstanding, but each season has improved on all levels to a remarkable degree. The many unique and signature touches are masterful. The nature photography, the way a scene is shot from a camera mounted inside an object such as a car trunk/ refrigerator/suitcase as the subject peers inside, the lack of musical score in key places, the use of natural and industrial background sounds instead of a composed score in others, the way that minor characters are introduced and seem to already have a fully fleshed-out sense of place...I could go on and on. New Mexico is a beautiful land and truly Enchanted. I love it deeply. It exists in my very spirit and I return there regularly for refreshment. The way the show is able to juxtapose the natural beauty with the depraved ugliness of human behavior while *making me laugh* astonishes me. Expectations for the next 15 episodes are high. Breaking Bad has a way of exceeding expectations.
