*Spoilers follow
So, Breaking Bad is back. Walter was able to survive his idiocy in season 4 by poisoning Jesse’s girlfriend’s kid and convincing Jesse Gus had something to do with it. Jesse let slip that Gus would sometimes visit the elder Salamanca in his rest home and a little home made bomb solved Walter’s pending death.
So Walt and Jesse are alive and season 5 opens with them moping up the loose ends and convincing Mike to not kill Walter. (if I were Mike, I would still have killed Walter) But they make peace and dispose of damning evidence. And after they use a clever ploy with a magnet to destroy Gus’s laptop without removing it from the police evidence room, they decide to move forward with cooking operations.
It makes sense. Walt is benefiting from Gus’s masterful, Corleone like beheading of the Mexican cartel leadership. There’s a market that has no service and money to be made.
The new gag is to cook in houses that are being fumigated. And the new setup is pretty mobile and slick. Even compared to the laundry basement lab.
And the shadowy part played by the Swiss company Madrigal is slowly coming to light.
Basically, it’s still great TV.
If I have one issue, it’s with Skylar. She’s been on board with the cooking and money laundering and all that. Not to mention cooking Ted’s books and committing fraud to lower the purchase price of a carwash. Then all of the sudden she’s almost catatonic with guilt about Walt and his criminal activity. Bullshit.
There are 2 possibilities. It could be bad writing. That hasn’t reared its head yet on the show, but it’s AMC. Other than BB and Mad Men (and The Killing you fucking assholes) they’ve been suspect. Hell on Wheels anyone? The other is, Skylar is just pissed she has no power in the new setup. She can’t go to the police because she’s complicit, she can’t challenge Walt directly, and she has no say in what’s going on. So, she’s decided to go all pouty bitch pious. Which is dissapointing. Walt would probably do whatever she wanted for a little head. But Skylar has always liked Walt better when he was weak/meek/accommodating. So as Walt has grown into himself and acted with more confidence; its pissed her off into depression. So she’s now Walt’s primary adversary.
So the 2nd possibility would be good writing and in line with the character so far; I’m just disappointed with the fictional person. Almost everyone else in the show has shown themselves capable of being pragmatic in the face of adversity. Skylar is a disappointment. I know I’m siding with the meth criminal; but I find Skylar to be hypocritical, passive aggressive, and stupid. But this is the fictional character I’m talking about. The show is still wonderful.
Lydia is an interesting character. She’s one contact the gang has with Madrigal and their chemical hookup. Another contact commited suicide very creatively. I’m kinda hoping Lydia hooks up with Jesse. She’ll end up being like a Walter he can fuck.
Anyway, the show is still compelling as all hell and I have literally no idea where its going.
Well, due to the cold open taking place roughly a year from now we know that Walt will eventually buy an M-60 at a Denny’s and grow his hair out. But none of us have any idea what the hell that means.
Right now its down to this show and Hard Knocks for me.
All other TV is highly stupid. I still watch True Blood, but you shouldn’t. Just watch some porn, you’ll be happier in the end.