Breaking Bad

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Anyone else seen this show? I got sucked into a marathon of the whole first season last night, it's really good. The basic premise is that a highschool chemistry teacher is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and in order to pay for his treatment and leave some money for his family, puts his skills to use by manufacturing methamphetamine. It's one of those shows that really digs into shades of gray as far as whether the characters are heroes or antiheroes, sort of like Dexter or The Sopranos, both shows I really dig. The acting is good, the writing is good, it's pretty realistic, all the things I look for in a good show, and on AMC, who have rapidly got my attention as a network to pay attention to. All that, and it's darkly funny too, what more could I ask for?

Damn! I thought that was today. Crap! I just checked and its crappy, crap Sylvester Stallone tonight on AMC.

Yes - its a really disturbing and original show. Makes you think about what dirty little secrets people may have.

And its interesting to see how a teacher puts his chemistry and life experience in the legit world to run a meth lab. In his case, it really is about the money and desperation. Not about the meth. Hence the compelling story and characters.

And the photography is cool. Like Raising Arizona but more hellish.

I'm pissed I missed the marathon. I've only seen it off and on. I was planning on getting caught up.

Ya I got sucked into watching it too, great show.

I love that show, it's so weird to see Bryan Cranston going from his role in Malcolm in the Middle to this. And, while I think that the show would be so much better off on Showtime (rejected it because it's too similar to Weeds) or FX, I'm glad that AMC picked it up.

Also, that scene where the bathtub full of fluoric acid and other "stuff" eats through the ceiling and falls into the hallway in front of them, so messed up.

Jeez - he's the best part. You just keep thinking about the laid back goofy dad in Malcolm - then here's this deep, intense, intelligent, depressed character. Good for Cranston. The mom in Malcolm is so screechingly bitchy I think it hurt the actresses career. Jane K-something Eastern European. She has that show on TNT where shes a judge - but that's just like Malcolm's mom on steroids and with a better job.

Didn't know that about Weeds. IMHO - they are different because meth is so f-ed up and Breaking Bad hardly glorifies it.

Weeds is a little less depressing and a little more pro-drugs. But I understand why Showtime heads would see it that way.

If I were doing a show like this on a non-premium cable channel, I would film it exactly like I would have for HBO or Showtime in full hour episodes, then use what I had to cut out to get down to the 45 minutes or so that the commercials would require. Then I could either simulcast it online, and/or offer people who buy the DVDs a real incentive in the form of the uncut show. I think they must be thinking the same way, with the way they've handled the cursing and such, I can only hope that someone in the marketing department thinks like me.

I also like the way that the show feels fairly accurate about the chemistry, like I know that hydrofluoric acid will in fact eat glass or ceramic but not plastic, or that thermite is made with powdered metals, and that most meth cooks require psuedoephedrine as one of their base ingredients. I'm not one of those people who nitpick on the unimportant details, but I like to feel that the writers of a show know at least an inkling about what they are talking about. Verisimilitude isn't so much absolute accuracy but a feeling of accuracy, and this show has that in spades. They get little details like the lingo right, without that weird over-emphasis that sometimes happens when actors are trying to hard to come off as "street".

I'm actually excited for the premier tomorrow, it'll be the first time I've actually sat down to watch something specific in a while, lately I've just been hitting the infotainment as it comes, but I'm looking forward to this. Hope they don't let me down.

Last edited by Dox47 on 08 Mar 2009, 2:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

I was actually surprised by how incredibly accurate they were with their chemistry.

The best crime shows are based on real people - developed by serious writers - and researched down to the nth degree.

I don't have a taste for sci-fi - but when those guys start fighting - I know where they're coming from.

I happen to be a Law and Order FREAK - and I'll be damned if I haven't found any major errors on that show. Sometime the technology seems a little dated - but other than that - they have some seriously professional writers, researchers. and consultants.

I dig this topic.

I don't know if it's an "Aspie" thing, or just a me thing, but I really enjoy stories where the protagonist is something that would normally be reserved for the villain, I particularly like it when the writers have the balls to let someone who does "bad" things get away with it without any real comeuppance either, more Lord of War and less Scarface. In this case, there's something just wonderfully demented about rooting for the meth cook, other shows or films have done similar themes, but it's just funny hoping that the main character will be successful in cooking up and selling such a destructive drug. That, and the show actually makes cooking meth look kind of cool, not an easy feet by any stretch. Season 2 starts in just under 2 hours where I am, so I'll be getting my fix soon, hehe.

Holy s**t! Lord of War is like my favorite movie! (We should start a whole topic on it.) The opening credits with the lifecycle of a bullet - haunts me but also arouses the geek in me.

Almost every day I see something in the news or read some random opinion - and think of Lord of War. "Yeah...but if you saw Lord of War, you'd know..."

I also want to see Charlie Wilson's War. I've seen the History Channel version several times and its amazing! I bet the movie is awesome!

Meh, the movie is OK, the book is phenomenal IMHO. It really is one of those stories that if it wasn't so well documented you might not believe it, a coke snorting womanizing congressman from the Texas bible belt teaming up with a Greek-American CIA thug to kill some Russians, and waging the largest and most successful covert war in History. The book really captures all the great details that the movie had to leave out, truly unbelievable things like Charlie Wilson's personal secretary smuggling AKs back from Afghanistan rolled up in carpets, then sneaking out with the Muj and snorting opium and killing Russians... Again, it's those shades of gray that make it great, Charlie Wilson himself is quite an odd duck, everything from a congressional drunken hit and run accident to illegally commissioning weapons from Israeli arms companies, and more junkets than you can shake a stick at, yet he still comes across as a good guy at heart. His CIA cohort Gust Avrakotos is quite a character too, describing him as a bright thug isn't at all a stretch, and the rest of the people involved are fairly equally demented. Make the time to read the book for sure, I've read it three times and I still notice new details every time I go back to it.

As to Lord of War, I watch that movie and I wonder what is wrong with Nick Cage that he can do a movie like that yet keeps making National Treasure type movies over and over again. Is he that hard up for cash, or can the man truly not read a script? I liked that in LoW the character of Yuri Orlov confronts exactly what his product is used for and doesn't flinch or have an attack of conscience, he just goes back to work. That's what elevated the movie for me from just another anti-hero movie to one of my favorites, that total lack of repentance is far too rare in Hollywood films these days.

I just saw the Season 2 premier for Breaking Bad, looks like they're setting up a pretty exciting season for me. I continue to be impressed with the realism of the show, I was laughing because they were making a ricin from castor beans and Walt kept taking the words out of my mouth about things like the lethal dose, onset time and symptoms of ricin poisoning, along with a bit of history regarding the Bulgarian umbrella murder. I love it when people do their homework before writing a script, I haven't seen this sort of realism since The Wire went off the air, and that's saying something.

I will definitely get the book. Yeah - Tom Hanks does manage to screw up a movie if they try to make him too evil or too studly (DaVinci Code??? Can't wait to see how crappy Angels and Demons is. ) ANd yet - they can't show him doing coke and stuff too much.

Grey area - that's it. Seems as if some aspies see things in black and white -- but I'm quite the opposite. (But then I also worship Machiavelli and Darwin)

Re: LoW. Yet you also cheer the interpol guy and ache and cheer for his poor wife.

The other aspect that fascinates me about these anti-heros is how - just like the "legit" world - only the smart and charismatic minds survive. So, learning about these guys is a trip.

And yeah - the internal justifications are fascinating. I would argue we all do it a little.

Just saw "Thank You for Smoking" same kind of thing but taken to a wild extreme. (I was surprised how good the movie was. I loved the book and the movie was a fine interpretation of Christopher Buckley's twisted view of Washington!)

I work hand-in-hand with with oil & gas industry. Offshore oil drilling - Alaskan pipeline - all that lovely stuff. Yet - I am crazy whacko tree-hugger! Go figure! I'm 100% opposed to drilling off the coast of California and don't get me started on Sarah Palin.

I sell my soul everytime I make a penny from the oil and gas guys. Yet - I feel absolutely nothing. I seperate the two. I donate a lot of money to environmental causes to balance it out tao, karma-wise. But I don't agonize over it. Maybe Nick's character is an aspie.

Yeah - Nick Cage as a one-dimensional, superhero, crime-fighting, good guy sucks. He's best when he's evil or a loser. One of my favorite roles is "Honeymoon in Las Vegas". He does physical comedy very well! "Raising Arizona" is one of my all time faves.

Wow - back to Breaking Bad. I didn't see it. I'll look for it online. (I didn't read your comments about last nights episode. I want to be surprised.)

I'm watching a show about "private security forces" on the Military History Channel. This is another one of my fascinations - but not how they are presented in the media. I don't know if anyone has made a decent, unbiased movie about private contractors. The news makes them look like the keystone cops and/or evil members of Dick Cheney's private army.

Admittedly, Blackwater turned the concept into a punchline. Iraq aside, the idea has merit in Africa. (Back to the LoW)

Yet - its pretty un-PC to say you support private armies/paramilitary groups. You either offend the traditional military guys or piss off the peaceniks (like my mom). Again - black and white. I totally see the grey area. I guess the aspie in me is so emotionally detached that I only see the practical. Hmmm...yeah that about sums it up.