The Television Streaming Thread: Now With Felonies

[Basic]

@6ix

we’re in here bestowing the label of “bad person” for not being the nicest guy at all times

Only partially in jest: same vibe in cancel culture and ACAB ideology.

[6ix]

@ViridianDreams

I might need a refresher, too, but I thought when he killed Mike, Mike wasn’t trying to kill him. The “he tried to kill me in the past” justification isn’t really persuasive to me personally because I’m very much of the thinking that an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind school of thought.

I think it’s more like, once everybody is In The Game (or Broke Bad to not use a The Wire term) somebody trying to kill you in the past means they could easily try to kill you again in the future. I believe killing the woman from Madrigal (I don’t remember everybody’s name) was the only pure revenge kill.

[6ix]

@JohnnyTruant

Oh I see. You think that I think Walt is the worst when I say he is not good. Nah. He is us. That’s the point.

Playing the victim card doesn’t require not being a victim. I think where we are missing each other is the binary choice of who is good or bad. I don’t think anyone I know was like, ooooh, Walt’s a cop killer now. Poor Hank, just trying to make the world a better place. Like idk. Maybe someone?

Ok, I get that my rhetorical style is weird, in that references seem to apply to things current posters have said when really I use them as jumping-off points and they actually stringently apply to non-posters in the past, but yes, ~everybody said this. It’s only lvl1 nerd inflitration to read an AVClub review but it’s lvl2 and beyond to actually participate in comment conversations with other people and the critics themselves. I got into an argument with one of the authors of this book,

https://www.amazon.ca/Buy-RV-Start-Tomorrow-V-ebook/dp/B005CK4QDK/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=donna+bowman&qid=1620576434&s=digital-text&sr=1-3

so it’s one of those just-trust-me situations.

[6ix]

@JohnnyTruant

The point of the Hank moment is it was another one way gate where Walt chose Walt and further entrenched himself. Like idk. All that was spoon fed to your point and I’m not sure anyone missed it? We had mini arcs where we hated Jesse and wanted Walt to kill him. We had times when we hated Walt for what he was doing to Jesse. Skylar was one of the most detested characters for her hypocrisy and blame. I think I read the actress had trouble in public when that was going on in the show.

I didn’t hate any of them, man, it’s all in the game.

@JohnnyTruant

I mean I think the lesson is all very simple and I don’t think it got missed as much as you do. Whether it’s meth or working for a destructive company, we are doing the same thing. We all have our excuses for why we do things we know are wrong. Sometimes we “need” to. Sometimes we deserve it or are entitled. Sometimes we can’t pass up the opportunity. Sometimes if we don’t someone else will. Sometimes it is to prove we can. Sometimes spite to show others who doubted us we are worthwhile. Sometimes it is a mistake. Competition. Revenge. Greed. All of us.

I mean yeah, this was your original post so I wasn’t sure why you thought I was opposed to you. I made the mistake of assuming everybody had their finger on the pulse of the Breaking Bad meta, lol. It’s like, if you say Walt’s the ‘bad guy’ or even ‘a bad guy’ it logically entails that there’s a good guy for comparison in the show, and teenagers and babies don’t count. The idea that Walt got Jesse deep into the game and not the other way around have always been wild to me.

[6ix]

@JohnnyTruant

Got it. I mean when it comes to the worst things Walt did imo it was abandoning Flynn and letting Jane die. The first is like Cat in the Cradle and the second was a moment he was torn and didn’t act and maybe even would have taken back, certainly not black and white. We liked mike at the point he got got. That was the sin there.

The Jane situation was fucked up and I don’t want to lean to heavily on the “it’s all in the game” reasoning but she was trying to fuck his shit up and damn dog, it’s all in the game.

The Mike situation is the one that first and always stood out to me. It’s not about liking or not liking Mike unto himself, it’s having a separate set of judgments for Mike’s behavior and Walt’s behavior. Like, the first we’re introduced to Mike is him smacking the shit out of Jesse minutes after he woke up to the love of his life dead. I mean, wat.

@JohnnyTruant

The real breaking bad story is Saul.

This has always been my take, that BCS is the show Gilligan wanted to make, deep with the flashbacks and nuanced characters, but couldn’t because he had to lean in to the Walt Is A Bad Jerk ideas to not alienate his audience. I’ve wondered if people found it weird how there was that one vivid flashback scene at the beginning with Gretchen and then suddenly all the flashbacks died on the way back to their home planet.

[Basic]

Everyone likes Mike because nobody likes* half measures.

*will admit to publicly liking

[superuberbob]

Every significant character in Breaking Bad was a bad guy. It was to what degree they were bad.

[Melkerson]

I was rooting for Walt the entire way even up to the very end. I think that means I’m broken or something.

[6ix]

@superuberbob

Every significant character in Breaking Bad was a bad guy. It was to what degree they were bad.

Right, and Walt was the goodest boy of them all just trying to cook up a little drugs. He should’ve murdered every other character on that show save for the teenagers and the babies.

[6ix]

Skylar out there trying to Karen out on Jesse over potentially smoking weed with Walt, come on now.

[superuberbob]

At the end, you have to choose between Neo-Nazi shitheads and Walt. Pretty easy decision there.

Hot take: BCS is better than BB and they better finish BCS because how much time does Jonathan Banks have left?

[Melkerson]

Yeah, but I wanted more than that. My ideal ending has Walt beat cancer and become an even more bad ass Gus Fring.

[6ix]

@Melkerson

I think that means I’m broken or something.

It means me and you are the exact same person and I hope you were prepared for that.

[jwax13]

@anon46587892

Just like I was rooting for Tony Soprano the whole time.

Tony was an irredeemable piece of shit. And the second half of the last season drives that home hard. All the charm and humor is gone by that point.

[mosdef]

To learn about gabbagool.

[6ix]

@anon46587892

Sure, but if I’m not rooting for him, why am I watching the show?

It wasn’t very good so I dunno.

yeah I said it

[6ix]

I think it’s because the stories are supposed to be interesting and compelling and say something about something. I mean, I root for A Good Show but maybe I’m doing it wrong.

[jwax13]

@anon46587892

Sure, but if I’m not rooting for him, why am I watching the show?

Because the entire show is a metaphor for the corruption / dissolution of the American Dream? And it’s compelling ?

[Basic]

@6ix

I root for A Good Show

This.

The morality assessments tend to take care of themselves if the show is Good.

[6ix]

I have a feeling you’re gonna make me dig up some reviews.

But are you saying that this hypocrisy was solely in Walt?