not too far off from my own feelings.

First of all to all the people who whine about Skyler and that she sucks so much - she just pulled the smartest thing ever to knock some sense into Walt in the past 2 seasons. I salute her indeed.

Hey genius, use spoiler tags.

I haven't read the entire thread since I'm not caught up (last episode I saw was the train heist, S5), but perhaps I should stop read it because the rabid, irrational hatred for Skyler is genuinely pissing me off.

Walt is really a complete monster, but Skyler gets all the shit for her mild flaws in comparison (omg she fucked another man while being in a fucked up marriage, LYNCH HER)? This is just fucked up and shows that people have their priorities completely out of whack. Either that or good ol' fashioned sexism, I guess.

Yes, I said it, because I genuinely think it's part of it, even if the haters might not even realize it themselves. The same thing is happening to Catelyn Stark. People hate her for a bunch of bogus reasons, they forgive the same "flaws", or even far worse ones, in other male characters. Meh. I see it way too often: flawed males are always so deep and real and "human", flawed females are "annoying bitches who needs to die already".

Skyler is a fantastic character, superbly written, very real and very human, flawed but strong, she's clever and cunning (the "bimbo secretary" stunt she pulled on the auditor had me in stitches, as did her plan to get the carwash). She's not a paragon of virtue but compared to Walt she's still very morally solid and put up with so much of Walt's bullshit, and I am rooting for her, though I expect at some point Walt will feed her that ricin cigarette to kill her, though I hope not. (And some disgusting sickos here will cheer, no doubt...)

KING DIAMOND salute for Morrigan, the voice of reason!

I have never understood the hatred for Skyler or the distaste for Walt Jr. I find Skyler incredibly compelling and well developed as a character. How the HELL did you guys think she'd possibly react after finding out? It was a betrayal, plain and simple and whether you agree with what she felt or how she's acted since then, you have to acknowledge that it was a betrayal.

Walt developed into a completely different man than the one she knew right beneath her nose and while she was fulfilling her role as dutiful, compassionate wife in the wake of the devastating news of his illness, he was dancing outside the zones of his moral continent. She had no idea and to fully grasp what he had become would shake anyone.

Morrigan is right, there is an unwelcome hint of sexism in the way Skyler is hated on. She's being viewed as bitchy even when she is legitimately coming from a place of hurt and bewilderment. But she has proven time and again to be greatly resourceful and cunning, so enjoy her while you can.

The face I've been waiting all season/series for.

Skyler's alright in my book and I certainly hope she's alive at the end of the show. I do enjoy the more cunning side of her though and I hope we get more of that for the last part of the season. I really really wanted her to punch Walt in the face at the end of 'Madrigal'. I think I'm being vague enough as not to have to use spoilers. Those who've seen it know what I'm talking about.

As of this last episode, Skyler was even so much more badass than before.

It was a great episode, I love this show's subtlety. I will say that I wish they gave Jesse more attention, but I suppose this show is mainly about Walt.
It will be really interesting to see where it goes after the surprising end of the mid-season finale.
Also

http://i.imgur.com/WSTvu.jpg
Contains spoilers.

That is awesome. And it just might happen like that too.

Also, I declare spoiler tags unnecessary for this thread (though do use them in the general TV thread). If you haven't watched the season, then don't click the thread, or do so at your own risk (like I did, I stopped reading all posts that were posted after the air date of the last episode I had seen). Common sense, please.

I don't understand how Walt can just be out. He has new distributors now, who get a 35% cut of what is obviously a fuckton of money. They won't just let that slide, they will want that 35% to keep on flowing in indefinitely. I can't see how these new distributors couldn't be any more dangerous to him than Gus was really. What's stopping them from being psychopaths who would threaten him and his family at gunpoint to keep him cooking for them? Sure they could go back to the old cook, but they get more money for "coke classic". He could teach someone else to cook like him, but I don't see him giving away his formula due to his pride, and either way it would take weeks so he wouldn't be out straight away.

I think he has to have been bullshitting Skyler. I'm sure the creators can't have overlooked those issues I just mentioned with the new distributors

I felt the same way too. Those new distributors won't let him go that easily. Then again, his only contact is that nervous woman, so maybe he could get rid of her?

The writers have never let plot holes unresolved (although I always figured Mary's shoplifting would eventually lead somewhere but I guess it was just "character development"), so I'm confident this will be addressed.

Yeah seems like next year will pan out as the pic shows. The reason Walt is getting a gun in the beginning of Season 5 is cause of the distributors not Hank. This last episode might be a curveball.

In a touch of irony, what Skyler wanted would endanger the family cause Walt going out is the deadliest thing he could've done.

Hmmmmmm........damn have to wait a year to see what really happens.

Haha .. Marie's shoplifting seemed more of a character point because that's what passes for risk-taking in her life. Hank gives her a disgruntled slap on the wrist and a disapproving look and she can feel chagrined. She's actually one of my favorite actors on the show. Consistently painfully awkward. Gawd it's like the woman has never taken a deep breath in her life.

Hah, Mary (or Marie?) is hilarious. A well-meaning, caring person with good intentions, but sooo oblivious to how annoying she is to everyone. Poor girl. I kinda felt sorry for her when Hank was being such a grumpy dick to her, though.

I feel like she won't even be able to process when she learns the truth. She'll look like a pigeon on mushrooms.

The funniest example of this is when Walt threw the pizza on the roof, viewers were wondering why pizza was uncut. In season 4, there was a scene with Badger at the house party explaining why the pizzas he brought were uncut. Heh.

I admire the relative lack of loose ends in the story. For the mysteries that do exist, you can bet that it's going to come up in a future episode. In season 5, the Grey Matter story, something that was teased in seasons 1/2 and left alone, was used to manipulate Jesse while also telling the viewers what the hell happened. I thought that was great.

I can't get over what a complete throw away episode Fly was. Thankfully there hasn't been any more silly episodes like that.

I liked Fly, even though it was filler. It was pretty entertaining and really showed how neurotic Walt is.

That said, though I do consider it filler, I read a pretty good defense of the episode by someone who disagreed with me. He argues his case well, so here it is just for reference:

When that episode ended my room mate said "I don't want to sound negative but..." and I cut him off with "That was the worst episode of anything ever?".

I don't think the metaphor was lost on me, obviously it was about a lot more than a god damned fly, but the execution was just WOEFULLY boring and frustrating. It almost felt antagonistic towards the viewers, which maybe was the goal to help you identify with Walt or something. Either way, fuck that episode man.

Is it just me or did everyone else here loop the season 4 finale nursing home explosion aftermath OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER? I literally watched that scene over 100 times in one sitting. Quite possibly one of my favorite cinematic scenes of all time. Although it was extremely extremely unrealistic, I literally thought that Gus was a Terminator and that the series would spiral into a final season in the Terminator tv series. I was seroiusly looking forward to seeing a flap of flesh drooping over a metal exoskeleton.

Here is the scene, someone already beat me to it on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvvBXc55ddE

Yeah that Fly episode was pretty weak, though i see what they were going for with it. It's not one of those classic episodes of the show you could just watch as a standalone viewing, but if there's anything this show needs it's some more low key, realistic, down to earth moments to counter the insane hyperdrama, high octane, explosion/muderfests that seem to have become almost the entirety of the show. (Not that the early seasons weren't crazy, over the top, and high octane themselves).

Dexter needs a reality check, Breaking Bad is doing fine.

Breaking Bad gave me balls of Blue. That wasn't so much a cliff hanger as the store just not having the second disc.

Do you guys find anything Stephen King-esque about the character of Walter White and how he "breaks"?
Did anyone read "Roadwork"?

I've turned like 4 or 5 people onto this show, and I always tell them to just skip that one because I don't want them to get impatient and stop watching the show altogether. People have such short attention spans, it's quite pathetic.
But FUCK I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I kinda hope everyone in the show dies. Even the baby.

You're so edgy!

I thought the episode with the fly was actually pretty funny for a show that doesn't really have any humour. I mean, given the situation and all.

The show has tons of dark humour dude...

Yeah especially when he falls off the railing, and crashes into that large barrel thing stomach first. I don't know why, but that made me laugh so hard.

How about when Spooge's head was crushed by an ATM machine and Jesse became known for it? That was funny.