Television Breaking Bad

[ferrisjso]

This.

My biggest gripe with BCS is that it ends with f'ing Jimmy McGill "atoning for" and taking the fall for everything that Walt orchestrates in BB. That's just... stupid. That would be like Tinker the fat lackey being held accountable for all of Brad Wesley's shit at the end of Road House, after he spent the entire final scene (with all the shooting and killing) KTFO'ed under a stuffed polar bear.

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From reading interviews at the time I got the sense the creatives were exhausted by working on the franchise 15 years straight and the writers were much more merciful to the BBs characters then they were to Saul because by the end of BCS they were all just super done with this franchise. Covid obviously contributed to that and I've wondered how the ending would have looked without the pandemic or Odenkirks heart attack. Going by their interviews they did not have an overarching vision for how the show would end they came up with it on the fly(pun intended). Of course the same was true in BB and it turned out amazing. In BCS it felt like Chuck McGill wrote the finale.


Recall an interview after the finale where Gilligan(maybe Gould easy to get them mixed up) was basically like "well SOMEONE had to go jail?"(paraphrasing). Well if he believed that should have made a stronger case thats what the character deserved. Live or die in BB the end of every characters story made sense in some way and Saul just falling on his sword for no reason was a big departure from this.

Remember when you were doing a school project it's 90% done and its amazing but you're exhausted? There was always that temptation to flub the last 10% knowing you'll be just fine regardless and I just have a feeling thats what happened here.

Note-I am taking care to avoid referencing exact examples because Mr "yall have no goddamm idea wtf you're talking about" hasn't seen BB either. Of course BCS spoiled a lot of that for him already but I don't want to make it worse.

 

[ChickenBrother]

From reading interviews at the time I got the sense the creatives were exhausted by working on the franchise 15 years straight and the writers were much more merciful to the BBs characters then they were to Saul because by the end of BCS they were all just super done with this franchise. Covid obviously contributed to that and I've wondered how the ending would have looked without the pandemic or Odenkirks heart attack. Going by their interviews they did not have an overarching vision for how the show would end they came up with it on the fly(pun intended). Of course the same was true in BB and it turned out amazing. In BCS it felt like Chuck McGill wrote the finale.


Recall an interview after the finale where Gilligan(maybe Gould easy to get them mixed up) was basically like "well SOMEONE had to go jail?"(paraphrasing). Well if he believed that should have made a stronger case thats what the character deserved. Live or die in BB the end of every characters story made sense in some way and Saul just falling on his sword for no reason was a big departure from this.

Remember when you were doing a school project it's 90% done and its amazing but you're exhausted? There was always that temptation to flub the last 10% knowing you'll be just fine regardless and I just have a feeling thats what happened here.

Note-I am taking care to avoid referencing exact examples because Mr "yall have no goddamm idea wtf you're talking about" hasn't seen BB either. Of course BCS spoiled a lot of that for him already but I don't want to make it worse.

Lol at "Chuck McGill wrote the BCS finale." Indeed. Pretty sure I could have written a better ending as a student who procrastinated on his history paper or whatever and trying to finish at 3 am while chugging a 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew. As it was, BCS would have been a better series had they just concluded at S6 E9 without any of the B&W sequence. An ambiguous ending about what Gene is doing at that Cinnabon and how does his character arc end would have been infinitely superior to confirming that his ending fucking sucks.

 

[SSgt Dickweed]

Rewatched this randomly.

Spoiler

This has to be one of thethe dumbest written scenes in the show.

Why doesn't Hank just high tail out of that parking lot? Those two "assassins" have to be the most incompetent in history. Why don't they dress down dnd get rid of the guy in the most efficient way possible? Fuck your machete you dumbass!

 

[Leon]

Rewatched this randomly.

Spoiler

This has to be one of thethe dumbest written scenes in the show.

Why doesn't Hank just high tail out of that parking lot? Those two "assassins" have to be the most incompetent in history. Why don't they dress down dnd get rid of the guy in the most efficient way possible? Fuck your machete you dumbass!

Because it's an overdramatized tv show.

 

[ChickenBrother]

Rewatched this randomly.

Spoiler

This has to be one of thethe dumbest written scenes in the show.

Why doesn't Hank just high tail out of that parking lot? Those two "assassins" have to be the most incompetent in history. Why don't they dress down dnd get rid of the guy in the most efficient way possible? Fuck your machete you dumbass!

Spoiler

If you watch it with no context then yes, it looks stupid. But Hank's actions are consistent with his character and storyline to that point. He had just been suspended for beating the shit out of Jesse and his gun taken away (after cornering Jesse and Walt in the RV before being duped into leaving). He has some residual PTSD from the gunfight with Tuco and surviving his squad being blown up by Danny Trejo's head. So he's pissed off sitting in a parking lot when some unknown clown tells him hitmen are coming for him in 1 minute.

He thinks it's a prank but if it's not, he's smart enough to know that hitmen will try again. And being a macho cop, if the threat is real he might as well confront it now than drive away and wait for them to come again. He's also probably curious to know if it's a prank or not.

I'll give you the assassins were incompetent and kind of ridiculous in this scene. But again, consistent with their characters. These are guys who walk around in custom alligator boots with diplomas from the Anton Chigurh school for over-the-top assassin pimps. They're also macho so want Hank to suffer since he killed their cousin Tuco.