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Latecomer to Breaking Bad - just binged watched the entire series..my thoughts..


Free Northman Reborn

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So having watched the entire Breaking Bad series, all I can say is that it leaves me feeling...soiled.

The way this monster of a man destroyed his entire family, and destroyed so many innocent lives around him, while you as viewer were forced to first root for him and then follow his utterly selfish and sociopathic path to the very bottom of hell, well, I actually feel sick.

Maybe I experienced it much more intensely due to watching the entire 5 Seasons in two weeks, but my take from the Show appears to be different to that of most of its many fans.

How is it that anyone feels any empathy or sentimentality towards Walter White's death at the end. The scumbag should have died long before, and so many lives would have been saved. The death of Hank Schrader really ripped my heart out and I absolutely loathe Walter White for what he did to Hank's wife and to his own family.

I despise the man, and maybe I'm missing something, but it seems that the Show's intention was to create some sort of ambivalance or emotional conflict in the viewer about Walt. If so, I don't get it, as he has no redeeming features. Just overhwelming pride and a burning desire to make up for being a loser all his life, missing his opportunities - through his own bad decisions - and screwing over anyone necessary to get what he wants.

As I said, an utter monster. I actually have a headache from hating the bastard's guts so badly. No grey character there. He is all black.

I love how he lost everything he holds dear in the end, and how his own family hates him. Serves the psychopath right.

Bastard.

As for the Show as a whole: It was kind of entertaining, but didn't nearly live up to all the hype I heard about it for the last 5 years or so.

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I'm about half way through season 4 (not concerned about spoilers) and I can agree with the last bit about not living up to the hype. I don't feel gripped to watch the next episode or to finish the season (I will eventually though). Although I think the idea of the series was good on the whole, I feel as if it's dragged out.

I think the viewer feels compassion for Walt because of his intentions to provide for his family after his diagnosis, at least that's why I like Walt. As I said I haven't finished it yet so maybe my opinion on him will change, but I still understand his way of thinking/working. His wife has already left him, yet he wants to make sure she is provided for and furthermore when she asks for money (for her brother in law) he gladly helps her. So I don't see him as a bastard just yet :)

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I think the viewer feels compassion for Walt because of his intentions to provide for his family after his diagnosis, at least that's why I like Walt.

 

Yeah, watching weekly, episode by episode, from the beginning you probably do start off developing a more lasting sympathy for WW.   That changes throughout the series, for sure, but I'm sure bingeing straight through the whole series gets you to that final place of disgust a lot earlier in his arc.  

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Post-S1 Walt quickly grows worse and worse, and I'm sure that's even more notable if you watched it as quickly as you did. I certainly didn't feel as strongly as you did, I was still rooting for him at the end. But there were months between when I watched the first and the last episode.

 

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It's funny. Initially I didn't really like Hank. He came across as a bully and a loudmouth at Walter's 50th birthday party. But then you get to realize that's just his style, and he is a man of real substance.

By the end, I found I had grown deeply attached to Hank. I was utterly devestated by his death. Walt once said to Marie that he is not half the man Hank is. Walt of course didn't really mean it, and was just saying it to manipulate Marie at the time. But the irony is that is the real honest truth.

Hank was the hero of this story. And like he once told Walt Junior, the books always get written about the Pablo Escobar's of this world, and never about the men who gave everything to bring these monsters down.

I must say, this Breaking Bad series has actually affected me more deeply than I cared to admit in my first post. I keep thinking about it. The first instinct I have after completing it is to appreciate my family all the more. The way in which Walter White destroyed the lives of the very people he loved - his family - was heartwrenching to me.

But not for Walter's sake. I couldn't give two shits whether it hurt Walter. For the sake of the very good people that his son, his brother in law and his sister in law are. I'm ambivalant about Skyler. When she meekly went along with Walters disgusting fake video to discredit Hank I lost a lot of respect for her.

In any case, that scene where Walter recalls the family that he has lost and the image slowly fades away to be replaced by the harsh reality he has now wrought was poignant. And the scene where Hank stays true to himself right to the end, was lump in the throat stuff.

Walter White is the devil. As evil a man as you can imagine. I began realizing it when he let Jane choke to death. And in Season 5 it became crystal clear.

I really, really hate the man.  I loved it when his son told him to just go and die already. Bastard.

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I think this might be the first and last time we agree on something. Walter White was a fucking asshole of epic proportion. 

Hey Relic. Well, it is nice for me too to agree with you on something.

I was suprised to find out after doing some googling that there are a host of people who were rooting for Walter White right to the end.

It seriously bothers me that so many people identify with his plight. People who openly say that they feel that similar to him they  missed out on much in life, or got screwed over by others, and could see themselves doing similar things to White in his situation.

People who justify his actions to the end.

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It's funny. Initially I didn't really like Hank. He came across as a bully and a loudmouth at Walter's 50th birthday party. But then you get to realize that's just his style, and he is a man of real substance.

By the end, I found I had grown deeply attached to Hank. I was utterly devestated by his death. Walt once said to Marie that he is not half the man Hank is. Walt of course didn't really mean it, and was just saying it to manipulate Marie at the time. But the irony is that is the real honest truth.

Hank was the hero of this story. And like he once told Walt Junior, the books always get written about the Pablo Escobar's of this world, and never about the men who gave everything to bring these monsters down.

I must say, this Breaking Bad series has actually affected me more deeply than I cared to admit in my first post. I keep thinking about it. The first instinct I have after completing it is to appreciate my family all the more. The way in which Walter White destroyed the lives of the very people he loved - his family - was heartwrenching to me.

But not for Walter's sake. I couldn't give two shits whether it hurt Walter. For the sake of the very good people that his son, his brother in law and his sister in law are. I'm ambivalant about Skyler. When she meekly went along with Walters disgusting fake video to discredit Hank I lost a lot of respect for her.

In any case, that scene where Walter recalls the family that he has lost and the image slowly fades away to be replaced by the harsh reality he has now wrought was poignant. And the scene where Hank stays true to himself right to the end, was lump in the throat stuff.

Walter White is the devil. As evil a man as you can imagine. I began realizing it when he let Jane choke to death. And in Season 5 it became crystal clear.

I really, really hate the man.  I loved it when his son told him to just go and die already. Bastard.

If the Show made such a big impression on you, I think it did its job.

By the end, Walter is the devil.  He ruined the lives of everyone around him.  And, yes, I think I'd agree that Hank was the true hero.

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 I think that it was the skewing of expectations that made this show as compelling and good as it was. It is probably my favorite TV show of all time, and it is precisely because Walt was a monster. Even monsters have to justify their actions to themselves, and this show did a fantastic job of walking you through his decision making processes. What is even better on the second and third watches is that you can see how consistent his behavior is the entire way through. The monster was always inside of him. 

 I have heard of people "rooting" for Walt the entire way through, and I think that those people missed the point of the show entirely. What this show was about was a breakdown and explanation of how and why people do evil things. When viewed in that light, the show becomes brilliant.

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Yeah, bingeing on Breaking Bad (and several other shows, frankly) does make one miss the main points the show's making.  In a show like this, you really do need things to sink in, as hard as it is to wait sometimes. 

I was never rooting for WW, but I did get a thrill when he'd come up with some off-the-wall scheme, generally taking an idea from Jesse and applying SCIENCE! to it in some spectacular fashion.   I guess the only laudable thing Walter ever did was finally deliver Jesse from the neo-Nazi's clutches - and his motivation there was probably 90% aimed at getting back at the Nazis. 

 

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I think your getting a little.too heavily invested in the show. Walt is dealt a SHIT hand and his intentions at first are noble. He is a "normal" person who would have never  went the meth route were it not for his disease and family. that and the fact that he tried to do to not hurt people.while zelling meth makes me have sympathy for him.

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 What is even better on the second and third watches is that you can see how consistent his behavior is the entire way through. The monster was always inside of him. 

 

Thing is, Walt was a monster even in the flashbacks in season 1. It wasn't cancer that pushed him to be an opportunistic vituperative asshole: he was always that asshole. As such, I didn't have a whole lot of sympathy for Walt even during the first season. 

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I think your getting a little.too heavily invested in the show. Walt is dealt a SHIT hand and his intentions at first are noble. He is a "normal" person who would have never  went the meth route were it not for his disease and family. that and the fact that he tried to do to not hurt people.while zelling meth makes me have sympathy for him.

Walt was the same egotistical megalomaniac at the very beginning of the show as he was at the end.The meth thing was never really about his family. It was just an excuse to let the monster out.

 

edited to say

XRay...

 

That is funny, we were saying the same thing at the same time.

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Thing is, Walt was a monster even in the flashbacks in season 1. It wasn't cancer that pushed him to be an opportunistic vituperative asshole: he was always that asshole. As such, I didn't have a whole lot of sympathy for Walt even during the first season. 

me too xray, glad someone else doesn't like him lol. He's NOT a nice, or good, or noble man. His family is an extension of himself and so he loves them and wants to care for them but he's narcissistic, manipulative and kinda sociopathic most of the time. 

i do love him as a character tho i just hate him as a person whereas i love jessie 

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