Breaking Bad Season One Review

Dude, this isn't even seven grand, all right?

My guy wants 85. This is all the money I have

in the world. You're a drug dealer. Negotiate.

You are not how I remember you from class. I

mean, like, not at all. I gotta go. Wait, wait,

hold on. Tell me why you're doing this. Seriously.

Why do you do it? Money? Mainly? There you go.

Nah, come on. Man, some straight like you, giant

stick up his ass, all of a sudden at age, what,

60, he's just gonna break bad? I'm 50. It's weird,

is all, okay? It doesn't compute. Listen, if

you've gone crazy or something, I mean, if you've

gone crazy or depressed, I'm just saying. That's

something I need to know about, okay? I mean,

that affects me. Hello and welcome to Remote

Control. This is the GeekCast Radio Network's

Remote Control. It's a TV podcast from 2000 to

whatever now is, talking TV shows from that time

period. I am bringing it to this week in Geek

as well. I am, of course, TFJone Mike. Joining

me is Ryan the Uninvolved Markle. Hello, sir.

Yeah, hello. And today we're going to break bad.

And yeah, I... It's going to be a weird episode,

folks, because he absolutely loves the series.

When I first saw this, I'm like, I don't get

this. I don't understand why people love this.

It's like I'm sitting here watching an episode

of a television show that's supposed to be only

48, 58 minutes long, yet I feel like I'm watching

something that's two hours long. I guess I just

didn't get Breaking Bad's story, the way that

Vince Gilligan told the story originally and

things like that and going back to it. I'm like,

okay Well, I'm going to give this an open I'm

gonna be open -minded. Give it a fresh look and

see what's going on This series ran from 2008

to 2013 When you first heard about this way back

when were you really excited or you just intrigued

by the whole thing? Didn't watch it until probably

about halfway through season four. Oh wow. I

just Hadn't heard much about it. I saw the promos

and stuff on AMC, but didn't actually watch it

or anything and then the It was probably around

that time. I was working at the place. I'm working

at now and we have really slow periods particularly

in the late summer slash early fall and During

that period I had like nothing to do and people

kept recommending that I sit down and watch it

So at that point all of seasons 1 to 3 were on

Netflix And then season 4 would be on Netflix

like by the time I finished 1 to 3 but it took

next to no time for me to blow through it Yeah,

and I'm one of those types of people and I'm

sure people are like this with the stuff that

I absolutely love and recommend and can't stop

talking about it, but it's just one of those

things where if Everybody's doing it. I have

to go the other way and I avoid certain things

for the longest time Now I did try that I think

from what I found when I've I'd known about the

series obviously, but when I had first gave it

a tried to give it a the old honest college try

was like the weekend of the final season's premiere

or the weekend before where they're like hey

guess what AMC is gonna run 24 hours or 72 hours

of Breaking Bad Marathon or whatever the marathon

was leading up to season five and I'm like alright

well it's like you said it's on Netflix I'll

watch it and I got through season one and I just

didn't Really had no effect on me like either

way it was it was middle of the road for me It's

one of those things where I'm used to Law -and

-order type television where things actually

happen in a much quicker pace That's just where's

I mean yeah, where's I'm a huge fan of long -form

storytelling like the The everything wraps up

in an hour is really boring to me because it

doesn't give you the opportunity to actually

tell It really doesn't give you an opportunity

for much in terms of character development or

to tell a particularly good story like I like

law and order I've seen every episode of I think

most of the shows if not all and anyway Like

something like that like okay fine, you know

It's very throwaway for me, though. Like, there's

no individual episode where I go like, wow, that

was really good. And that's one of the problems

is you can't tell a particularly great story

in an hour. It's really hard. Well, with Law

& Order specifically, it's supposed to be two

sides of the law. Two sides of government or

whatever you want to call it in in an hour's

worth of television so it's supposed to be 30

minute cop 30 minute courtroom drama and Over

the years that show and its various incarnations

More specifically the SVU incarnation started

in 99 has grown like they've I think the I think

they're on seasons 16, 17, or 18 now, whatever,

but like season 13 and 14, they had a whole season

-long story arc and things like that, and it

has changed, but with Breaking Bad, because it's

an AMC show, and AMC, like you said, loves that

long form, and I love long form storytelling,

I just don't want to feel like I'm sitting in

front of a two and a half hour movie for a 48

minute episode of a television show. That was

my biggest... pet peeve about this show going

into it and everyone was like oh so much happens

all of this the character and going back and

like i said this time around i'm trying my best

to keep an open mind with it i'm not you know

just immediately jumping to the negative there

are things i took two and a half pages of notes

for the first season because i took the way i

wrote my notes down was episode by episode we're

not going to go through all see i heard a lot

there is a only weekend uh... i'm just saying

that uh... you know i originally thought that

there was eight episodes in season one and seven

yeah there's only seven unlike way one And it

was severely shortened by the writer's strike.

Yeah, that's true. 2008 -2009 was not exactly

a great moment for television and movies and

writers. I mean, just look at Revenge of the

Fallen. Oh, I'm sorry. Anyway. Oh yeah, because

the other ones that weren't affected by the strike

were so well written. They're not. I don't disagree

with that. They're not. They all suck. That's

another show. Yeah, it's a whole other... can

of worms. So this time around I thought okay

well if I'm gonna bring remote control to I mean

you know it's been on GCRN but if I'm gonna bring

it to Twig we're gonna do something interesting

and fun and talk about a show that like I said

one of us really really loves and the other one

is kind of at this point I'm on the fence with

it I still think as I was taking my notes I still

think that this show Doesn't do enough positive

things for me to just absolutely gush all over

it There are certain things. I absolutely love

about the first season, but there are also a

lot of negatives for me, too Mean I'll say this

like knowing what I having watched the entire

thing to first of all the first season is way

slower than the others because there's a lot

of putting Characters and things in place for

later ones. Yeah so there's a lot of that because

like there's a lot of the characters who People

love who just aren't in the first season most

notably, you know, Saul is not in it Gus Fring's

not in it We do get to go who a lot of people

like a lot But really only near the end of the

season for last couple episodes really Yeah,

it's just not a main character until the last

couple really and yeah I mean see another thing

is the the character development in it like the

characters in this show from one episode generally

have changed or there's more development to them

than entire seasons of a lot of other shows right

so I think is one of the other reasons why it's

slower but the first season it's First season

is slower than that. There's a little more comedy

in it than before although part of that's because

Jesse's kind of an idiot in the first season

Like going back and watching him. I love his

character arc because he's completely different

like they've almost One of the things I loved

about the finale is if you pay an awful lot of

attention to it in the finale Walter is in the

same colors Jesse was in in the premiere and

Jesse's in the coloring that waltz in In terms

of their clothing and that kind of thing because

they've essentially quit switched roles and Jesse's

become like the moral compass and that kind of

thing and he's a whole lot smarter Than he was

at the start, but in the first season he's kind

of an idiot. I actually found him mildly annoying

I By the way, he was gonna by the way if the

writer strike didn't happen Background info Jesse

was gonna die near the end of the season of season

one really. Yeah Be and the episode and everything

was written up. He was gonna die and it was gonna

be part of this What made Walt's turn bad and

it would have happened a lot more rapidly than

originally Happened like in terms of the show

the first time he does something like Walter

does something really bad as the end of the second

season but in this uh... was going to happen

was jesse dyes and walt kind of goes nuts and

he tortures to go uh... very slowly uh... although

originally it was going to be crazy eighty tortured

really slowly but that changed as well uh...

but yet jesse was supposed to die in the in the

first season if and if there was no writers strike

and they had had ten episodes he would have and

erin paul would have been part of the show I'm

kinda glad that didn't happen, because I really

like Jesse's character. And speaking of the characters,

I want to run down the list of the cast here.

We've got Brian Cranston, Malcolm's dad, as Walter

White. Anna Gunn as his wife Skyler. Aaron Paul

as Jesse Pinkman, as we said. Dean Norris as

Hank Schrader. Betsey Brandt as Murray Schrader,

Hank's wife. R .J. Mitty as Walter White Jr.

There's Waltz and Schuyler's son. And those are

pretty much the characters for season one. Like

you said, you also have - They're the absolute

main characters. Yeah, the absolute main characters

for season one. There are other characters that

we will talk about as we go along and do other

season reviews for this show. But those are the

ones that are you know the main at like we can't

sit here and talk about gusts because he hasn't

cut he's not in season one we can't sell and

talk about characters that have not shown up

yet watching watching the first season into one

thing i'll know and one thing i really like there's

a lot of recurring characters who started out

on the show finish on the show like as in they

finish in season five like Hanks partner Gomi

Stephen Gomez appears early on in season one

and of course he finishes his run in season five

not well uh... we also foresee gretchen shorts

who's uh... big sort of part of both back story

that's never really explained which is a completely

deliberate that was the other thing with season

one that i did not as uh... you know we'll get

into this but like walt as he's walt finds out

he has lung cancer even though he's never smoked

a day in his life I'm not looking up any medical

things on lung cancer right now folks, but is

that friggin pot like Oh, yeah, it's actually

quite common. Okay, because not only that but

high school chemistry teachers There have been

quite a few over the years now in Walter's case,

too It's because of the work he did at gray matter

as well He was exposed to chemicals, but the

high school chemistry probably didn't help him

either. But anyway, yeah, it is Fairly calm and

I'll say this to one other thing. I really like

about the show Walt's cancer is terminal right

and The one thing I really like is and they discussed

this in the writers room. It is terminal. He

does not get better from it No, and in the end

he largely dies because of it, right? It would

have been a real disservice to people who have

cancer in real life and are diagnosed with terminal

cancer in real life if he did because you generally

don't get better and It just it would have been

a cheesy kind of TV slap in the face if this

guy gets it I like they didn't go that way. I

also like that it gave the show an expiration

date but you know it's not going to last forever

and you know that the main character is going

to die there was no question of that and let's

face it i mean we were even though i had huge

negative opinions about the show when i first

saw it and first watched through it you know

by the end of it, by season five, because I started,

like I said, that whole weekend of the marathon

and before the season, I started watching season

five as it aired, just because I wanted to find

out what the hell happened, and honestly, by

season five, I'm like, well... We know Walt's

the villain of the piece, even though he is the

main character. We know that he is the Lex Luthor

of this series to Jesse's Bizarro Superman or

whatever. And again, we'll get to it later on,

but one thing I need to bring up is one of the

things I love about this show is everyone's point

for when they decided Walt was the villain is

different. Yeah. And I love that that it's very

open like when did you decide like okay? this

is guys not a good person and Every like I said

everyone's point is different mines later than

some other friends. I've got You know other people.

It's pretty early on exit or so anyway, sorry

yeah So by the end of season five you know by

the middle of season five or the beginning of

season five I'm like okay. Well technically Jesse's

not really the The bad guy of the piece, but

he's not really a good guy. He is a good, he

is a, he is a good bad guy, but he's not Jesse's

actions are not as deplorable. yet moral compass

of the yellow which is disturbing and it's supposed

to be because i mean aaron paul said like people

were interviewing him before the finale and they

said what do you think jesse's fate should be

there and paul said likely deserves to die like

he's a murderer you know he's dealt drugs all

these years is destroyed lives everything else

you know he feels bad about it at least unlike

walter but he's still done horrible horrible

things to people and yeah it's another thing

that i kind of like that there's not there's

really only a couple good characters in the show

and when i say good sir i mean alignment good

yeah and that's kind of one thing else i want

to bring up and i'm not trying to sound ignorant

when i say this but this is just how i've always

felt about certain television shows if you have

a television show where your main Supposed protagonist

like look when this series starts Walt is a good

guy He basically, you know sort of I mean the

first the very first episode of season one He's

not He's a monster. Yeah, he's mr. Straight lace.

He's mr awkward kind of Chemistry science teacher

at the school. He's awkward with his wife. He's

awkward with his son He's awkward with his in

-laws, you know, he's not the villain that he

becomes yet and My thing is with this show and

with weeds. I Understand parents will do anything

for their children for their you know, people

will do anything for their spouses and things

like that but resorting to the extremes that

Walt White, and I forget what the female's name

is in Weeds, but I forget the character name,

them resorting to selling drugs or producing,

like I just cannot wrap my head around that.

That's just a personal thing for me. Like there's

got to be another way for you to be it, you know

what I mean? I understand it's a storytelling

point. I'm not trying to make a big deal out

of this, but that's one of the reasons why shows

like Breaking Bad, where even though it's a crime

drama, but it revolves around somebody producing

and selling drugs, and I just have never... What

about The Shield, though, which you really like?

Vic actively deals drugs, he murders police officers

to cover it up. He does. Like in terms of you

know evil and everything right used to Walt as

now we really find out later on that What prompted

Walt to eventually be Heisenberg was always there,

right? but He's presented in a positive light

at least Vic shoots a cop in the face in the

first episode Yeah. We know Vic is a bad cop.

We know that he will stretch beyond. What I'm

saying is a television show with a premise of,

okay, everything's going great for this guy,

finds out he has cancer, the only way for him

to get enough money is to go into production

and drug dealing. I'm sure there are other ways.

It's just, you know, Walter finally says it in

the fifth season, which made me ecstatic. It's

one of my favorite moments of the show. I liked

it. I was good at it. He definitely had other

options. And I mean, he's offered the money by

Gretchen in this first season. and he refuses

it and that kind of thing so there were definitely

other options it's just he's not a good person

but we don't know that yet right and like I said

I'm not making a big deal out of this I don't

want parents coming out of the woodwork but and

again this is television this I know the difference

between reality and make -believe like you know

you and you still see stories like this today

but When I was a kid, we would always hear about

stuff on the news of some kid or some person

or whatever seeing something in a movie and then

they then go out and mimic that and, you know,

Jackass is a perfect example. But, you know,

it's just one of those things where even though

this is fiction, I just, maybe it's because I've

never experienced it, but, you know, I just never

see a need to go to that extreme. Again, this

is television. It's fake. It's whatever that's

telling a good story. Before we actually get

into our episode by episode here, I do want to

talk about one of the other characters from season

one, which is R .J. Middy, I believe is how he

says his last name. I could be wrong about it.

But basically, Walt Jr., their son. I was born

with a mild case of cerebral palsy. Alright,

so I Knew when I first saw this series that he

had like obviously you can tell he's he's a disabled

kid I didn't actually know that it was cerebral

palsy because mine is so mild That yes, my right

hand and foot are smaller than my left hand and

foot and yes, they turn in slightly But I don't

need crutches and things like that and whatever

else and what I find interesting is that in some

of the cast notes that I've seen that In other

interviews that Mitty had stated that he had

to regress from his therapy to portray the character

of Walt jr To be able to you know slur the speech

and learning to walk on the crutches and so he

actually for this role He basically sacrificed

himself To a certain extent, yeah. I'm not saying

it's a bad thing. I'm saying that it's... No,

I know. I'm not disagreeing or agreeing. I'm

just saying that I did. No, I know. I'm not...

I want to make sure I'm staying... I'm agreeing

with you. Yeah, I know. I want to make sure for

the audience, I'm not saying this is a bad thing

that he basically regressed himself or, you know,

kind of, you know, gave into this role up on

his third. I'm just like, wow. Like I said, I

knew he was a disabled person. I did not know

what the disability was until I actually read

up on it. And I'm like, oh, hey, that's what

I have. And I just don't think, I don't know.

It's strange to me, but it's also interesting

in a good way. As season one progressed, and

it has nothing to do with RJ himself or his disability

or anything else, but as season one progressed,

I'm kind of glad they kind of dropped him a little

bit. As the seven episodes progressed, because

I think by episodes six and seven, we don't see

much of RJ as Walt Jr. Okay, yeah larger character

later on yeah more of them again, but yeah, I

mean it was intentional I mean so again going

back to the shield Vic's son has autism right

and in this they give Walter a Son suffering

from cerebral palsy The reason for that of course

is it's a way to try to give the audience at

least some sympathy for the character Mm -hmm

and to explain maybe why they would do it. I

mean we're talking like behind the scenes Yeah,

I really like and appreciate that when they were

doing the casting they tried to find somebody

who actually has it rather than Making you know

Yeah Yeah, try to cast you know somebody to do

it. I think that's that was good It's also impressive

that our G MIDI does a really good job as an

actor he's not given much to do in the first

season he's just kind of there needs breakfast

a lot early on yeah which became a recurring

joke but yeah it's just yeah it's another one

of those parallels too between this and the shield

the shield by the way you mentioned earlier that

This was a work of fiction. The shield was not

It was based on the rampart files, which is it

was a group in LA and a lot of the stuff I shouldn't

say all but a good amount of the stuff is actually

taken Accurately from that. So I mean when you're

talking about what would people do for their

Kids and that kind of thing with Vic Mackie was

a real person Yeah, and he's a horrible monster

in that show So unfortunately stuff like this

does happen. I'm and I know you said that so

yeah, I mean like I said I it's just the whole

like To me there's a difference here. Okay, so

we keep you know, we keep bringing up the comparison

between breaking bad in the shield To me. There's

a huge difference you as I said earlier you have

pretty much Mr. Straight Lace chemistry teacher

who? Used to work for this other company and

that's how he's eventually gonna get sick from

the lung cancer is because of the Experiments

and the chemistry and all that stuff from when

he was working with gray matter. We don't know

that in the beginning We don't you know, he gets

this That's my problem with shows like this somebody

like in weeds I only know this because I have

not seen all that show but I've seen a good amount

of the first season to know the main plot Her

husband dies or something or something happens

to where she's left on her own with her kids,

okay? And as I said a second ago was was dealing

drugs your last Was it the absolute last resort

you you have to come up with money? And again,

I know I'm probably sounding like an ass when

I say this stuff, but it's just Don't know it

just seems like there has to be a better option

and I know it's TV and it's fake and whatever

The difference there was I mean we even see the

better option in this show. Yeah the difference

between Walls just yeah, it's just a monster

the difference between Walt and Vic Yes, they

Walt gets turned into a monster Vic has been

doing this a long -ass time in the shield like

That introduction of that very first episode

of the Shield in 2002, where, you know, we know

that the strike team is not above board when

it comes to police work. We automatically know

that when he's chasing the guy down and he rips

his ball sack out quite literally. You know what

I mean? We figure, oh crap, these are not good

cops. We know that right from the start. With

Walt here in Breaking Bad in season one, it's

a, again, and I'm not complaining about this

part of it, but it's a slow character progression,

and I do like certain parts of that. As I was

watching season one, episode one, Walt is in

the very beginning in the first episode he's

pretty much a pushover that seems to be beyond

depression all the time like I suffer from depression

so you know but Walt just seems like he's not

happy with anything in his life whether it's

his his teaching in the classroom scenes the

entire season of season one but in the just in

this was like these students don't give crap

what he's saying to them you know what's waltz

of beaten down man when we were introduced to

what he is you know his his wife is in charge

of every family uh... and again like that's uh...

just so we're clear that's not something to be

unhappy or ashamed about but for whatever reason

walter is and of course that reason is because

he's a Awful, but anyway Yeah, we don't know

that at the time and yeah, he doesn't he hasn't

found He what he's good at either. He's clearly

suffering from that. He has no direction he has

Very little going for him, you know, he's an

underpaid, you know high school teacher Yeah,

he's gonna take two jobs just because everything

because he's got you know one child and One on

the way, okay good. I couldn't remember if we

knew that yet. Yeah, she's pregnant I didn't

I didn't notice it like right away But I think

they do specifically say that she is pregnant

in the first or second episode Yeah, so yeah,

he doesn't have a lot going for him right now

in life to be honest So as this episode progresses,

and I'll give you a chance here in a second to

give your thoughts, I'm liking the attitude change

in Walt, specifically after he's found out the

news of the cancer, when he tells his car wash

manager off. I did enjoy that. I did enjoy the

way we met Jesse. Yeah, Captain Cook. Too bad

there aren't any Crunch Berries around. That's

the first thing I thought of when I heard his

nickname, Captain Cook, and I'm like, oh my God,

where's Captain Crunch when you really need him?

Oh boy. I do really enjoy the interactions of

Walt and Jesse when they first meet. Like, oh,

Mr. White, you used to be my teacher and all

that. I think that's really cool. The scene in

this episode where they're in the store, the

family's in the store and Walt Jr. is trying

on the pants and those guys are making... I don't

know of any store that is that low -key, that

doesn't have security, even in New Mexico of

all places, that Walt could just walk into the

back and walk out the back door and... Walk around

like I'm nitpicking here about that part, but

I do absolutely love that part where he does

go out the back comes back in the front and basically

just You know destroys these guys that are making

fun of his son, so I very much appreciate that

What are your thoughts up to this point of this

episode? Before we get into the whole drugs and

you know process and all that which is amazing

What can I say I just loved her no, so I Mean

the first thing I noticed when I rewatch this

now is it's a lot slower and it's different in

terms of It feels really different and a lot

of that is because the people working on it They

were all trying to especially with the pilot

Trying to figure out just what the feel of the

show the characters and everything else is at

this point and yeah just I don't know it's there's

something about this first season it's just everything

just feels like set up and that's because it

really is and I agree that yeah when we first

meet Jesse that's kind of funny Jesse's I don't

know Jesse's an idiot yeah Jesse's character

has got the RV yeah yeah Jesse's well they don't

have the RV yet When we first meet him, they

don't have the RV yet. He's got his house, and

he's got this partner that gets busted. Yeah,

it's the lab of Crazy Eight. Yeah, and Jesse

was in the next house over, basically climbing

out the window, because he was diddling the neighbor's

wife or whatever. I absolutely love Jesse's character

throughout this season. And the whole process

of Walt doing, creating the crystal meth, I think

is really cool. Drugs are bad, folks. We know,

drugs are bad. But just seeing his approach to...

how pure he wants it to be how clean he wants

it most of the time you see drug busts and things

like that on the news it's really really dirty

no one takes the precautions that this you know

cancer -ridden chemistry teacher is taking you

know what i mean and it's the first sign we should

have had that something's up with him in the

cooking that yeah he really wants it to be clean

that kind of thing I think it's because part

of him is kind of discovered the or discovering

what he's good at. You know, everybody I think

I'm trying to remember Vince Gilligan, I think,

in an interview that talked about it, that everybody's

got a talent. There's something that they're

good at or there's something that they enjoy.

Walters just happens to be completely illegal.

Yeah. But there are people like that, like there

are people who are really good at. growing things

that they shouldn't yeah exactly like what do

you do if your talent just just happens to be

something that's completely illegal yeah I embrace

it I guess I don't know yeah I mean because because

I don't think either one of us have any talents

that just happen to be illegal well I'm actually

the punisher but you know uh... try to keep it

on the down low you know the canadian version

so that would make you captain canada that's

captain cannot is that you know uh... it's a

lot of setup in this though and it's still enjoyable

uh... you know uh... fact that i'm gonna ruin

the ending to this but well you know what i mean

to get to the ending yeah no but i mean overall

if they were going to rates like the season or

something it's kind of like a seven out of ten

it's not there there's entertaining things the

show didn't i wanted to know what happened next

but the show didn't grab me uh... so i was curious

because the premise is really intriguing to me

and really different is not something obviously

i would found them doing so Seeing somebody who

does even though you know it's a television show

It was interesting to me the way that they did

the way that the pilot way that episode 1 is

set up the way the the pilot is set up is They

do this whole and this is something I absolutely

hate and I hope they don't do it very often I

know season 2 when we get to that they do it

throughout the whole season because it starts

with an event that we don't yet know why the

event is like that and then we don't find out

until the very end of season 2 why that very

first episode of season 2 was the way that it

was but I Was hoping season 1 would move past

the okay. This is what's happening now, and then

they hit the breaking bad Small you know title

sequence thing and then they're like oh 12 hours

earlier three days earlier three weeks it I Was

hoping they would not keep doing that over and

over and over again this pilot episode is the

first time that they really do that and I didn't

mind it here because it's basically Walt telling

his family the story of what but I found the

ending with Walt and Jesse specifically that

part of the ending of the first episode I find

it I find it sadly anti -climactic because it

was just the fire department because of the fire

that got started like Walt's expecting the police

and he's expecting a shootout and then oh hey

whoops you know Yeah. And I don't know, and I've

known plenty of people in law enforcement and

medical and fire and all that. I don't know of

any firemen that would just, even though they

have to get to a fire, if they see a bus or RV

on the side of the road and a guy that's pretty

much in nothing but his underwear, somebody would

stop and say something. I'm pretty sure. I'm

not sure. I don't know. I'm not sure either.

Getting to the very end of episode one. Firemen,

right in. Yeah. Well, getting to the very last

part of episode one, going into episode two.

Already then, that was a, you know, oh my goodness

kind of moment, the ending to that. Holy crap,

with Walt and his wife. Okay. Yeah, Walt, you've

had somewhat of a large character turn between

the end of the first episode and the beginning

of the second. Well, he's starting to assert

himself, and yeah, the... I mean, the drug dealing

makes him feel alive, as something that he talks

about way later on in the show, finally. And

yeah, it's just The dealing and everything was

a way for him to assert himself and have control

over his life He I think he's just always felt

that he didn't have control over anything. Yeah

Yeah So as episode two comes in and we pretty

much pick up where episode one left off and This

episode to you know, we've got the two guys who

they tried to kill him who Walt tried to kill

in the RV with the Phosphorus gas didn't really

work because one of them is still alive crazy

eight. Yeah crazy eight still alive Two scenes

and I will continue to say this throughout this

first season the two scenes that absolutely bore

me to tears Anytime Walt's in the classroom and

the breakfast scenes because they're just so

awkward his students don't give a shit about

what he's saying and to the most part as far

as i can tell when walt tries to be engaging

with skyler and wall jr it falls flat it falls

so flat maybe it was supposed to do that i don't

know it is here okay um because in a lot of ways

walt's not there much like the Much like the

students in his class. He's somewhere else at

that point yeah, and I think it's meant to it

will not I think it's meant to sort of parallel

itself that Right two things are going on And

I do enjoy The story building I think that is

great and as I've said before When I first started

this episode here the podcast where it's like

I've always been the type that loves the fast

action and story mixed in throughout the action

and the action this is good but the action scenes

sometimes are too few and far between and I know

this is only the second episode but As we go

along here Skylar starts because Jesse calls

the house Calls yes house makes her suspicious

So she does a reverse look up which not a lot

of people can do that I mean, I'm sure everyone

can but not a lot of people would so she does

the of all things the first thing she does after

Walt leaves and hangs up the phone because Jesse

had called She's star 69 Tim. Okay, this series

took place started taking place in 2008. Do we

still have star 69? Nine years ago Like I just

I figured that was like beyond Like we all have

caller ID now, you know, even back in 2008. We

had caller ID. But anyway so those nice little

throwback throwback and so she finds Jesse's

website and I find it very hard to believe that

she has led such a sheltered life that she doesn't

know what a milf is. You'd be really surprised.

Yeah, I know, but I just... Let's just say I

had that conversation, like, recently. So, yeah,

definitely, trust me, it happens. I thought that

was hilarious. um... as this episode progresses

by the time uh... skyler confronts jesse about

walt about him selling weed to walt because that

was the excuse that walt gave her as to why he

was conned somehow i don't know if it's anti

-gun or if it's the way the character is supposed

to be i just don't buy her acting at all when

she's confronting jesse i don't know what it

is but skyler is not one of my favorite characters

to this point in the season i don't know yeah

like uh skyler gets a lot of undo and a gun get

a lot of undo or unwarranted hate but i don't

think she's supposed to be likable in that first

season yeah uh but i mean later on She she's

one of the few like good characters. Although

later on she becomes complicit in everything.

Yeah So but yeah, like I'm just saying because

the whole first season hurt again going back

to where Walt was super rigid and and straight

laced and kind of thing and We don't really get

a whole lot of okay. Skyler is wife and a mother

and expectant mother and She's not working because

she's pregnant. She's what six or seven months

or however the heck heck long Far along she is

in this in this first season, you know, I get

that I understand that but it's just one of those

things where I Don't see how these two people

are married to each other. I don't see any chemistry

between Walt and Skyler at all But there's lots

of chemistry in the show, oh sorry, anyway. In

the show, I'm saying between the two of them,

Mr. Jokes a lot, I'm saying there's no, like,

is there, like. the ending scene of the first

episode going into this one she's like super

shocked because obviously walt as you said is

asserting himself that this part has been edited

haha you'll never know what was actually here

what were you thinking with episode two uh i'm

happy that they kept uh crazy eight alive because

well that's a bigger story later on yeah crazy

alive for now Yeah, for the record, he was supposed

to have died at the end of the first episode,

but they liked the actor in real life, and they

kept trying to figure out, like, well, how can

we bring him back? Which, by the way, is also

like, he shows up on Better Call Saul, because,

of course, he was alive back then. But anyway,

the second episode is a little more solid. There's

still more... There's still comedy in it and

still a lot of dark comedy such as one of my

absolute favorite moments from the entire show,

of course, is Jesse using the hydrofluoric acid

in the bathtub and destroying a portion of his

house. No acid in the bathtub you moron Well

he ignored yeah, he ignored Walt's telling him

to use a plastic bin to like melt him slowly

by the way This was like the first instance of

them melting a corpse or something down Which

is something they do a lot in the east in the

yeah as the show progresses Yeah That poor house

and Jesse's house you ain't see in the basement

bitch That's much later Yeah, and then of course

at the end of the episode the the kid has to

find the leftover Gas, I just called it a gas

mask, but it's you know, it's similar to that

After this second episode I was still the fence

with whether I was going to go positive or negative

that's the thing like I see a lot of negative

for me coming out of this show but I do see the

various positive bits but somehow my disbelief

cannot be suspended so much to believe some of

the stuff that happens in show Going into episode

three here This one I didn't enjoy the Walt and

Jesse dynamic. It does get a bit a bit heated

obviously Fulton Skyler that I had odds with

each other And then they try this is what I don't

like about this one they try to work in the whole

thing because apparently Marie who is Skyler's

sister and She's the character of Marie specifically

is just a dunce When Skylar was telling her that

oh won't this want that while smoking weed She

thought it was the kid so she sends Hank out

to have a talk with Walt jr. I Thought that was

great I thought the whole talk I thought well

I thought Hank taking Walt jr. To the motel and

the talk I thought that part was great But the

fact that it came out of confusion, because Marie

didn't understand what the hell Skylar was talking

about, that she was talking about Walt Senior,

not Junior. In our defense, which one would you

believe, knowing what you know about Walt Senior

versus Junior? Like to Marie, Walt's still the

straight -laced super tight. You know, she hasn't

seen any of the changes or anything. So, I mean,

I think the inclination would be to believe that

it's Walt jr. as well. Yeah, that's true. I have

a huge issue with that. I thought it made for

some funny scenes. I loved a lot of the season

scenes in this too. Like one of my favorites

was the stuff with crazy eight where crazy eight

tells the story about the crib and like. What

his dad does and that kind of thing? Where you

feel really sympathetic with him and that kind

of thing and then Walt realizes that he stole

the piece of a broken plate And is planning to

kill him with it. Yeah, which I really liked

and then of course, yeah, we get the First close

-up because I mean Walt killed the other one

with poison Originally, but this is the first

time Walter actively kills somebody and to a

certain extent It was self -defense Yeah jokes

into death with a bike lock Which you know, I'm

sure that's a good way to do it but haven't tried

it yet, so Do we even know anybody that we would

do that to? I don't know. Next on... Or we have

Birdman guest star anyway. Oh Lord, please no.

No Dodd jokes today. What I liked by the end

of this one is that Walt and Jesse's at this

point seemed to be on slightly different paths

Yet, I know that obviously those paths are gonna

converge what I also liked about this was How

Walt is making the list before he kills crazy

eight Before he has to kill crazy eight and yes,

even though Jesse did his part of the coin flip

Incorrectly with the whole acid bad thing Yep,

the fact that Walt struggles with even making

a choice that was interesting to me I thought

that was really interesting because he's got

all these Reasons why he shouldn't kill him and

then he's got the one reason why he should Because

if he doesn't the guy will come after his family

and and all that And then by the end of this

one, we have Walt, who is ready to tell Skyler

that he has cancer, which I... Again, I was not

watching this when it was airing, so it must

have been agonizing for people that did, waiting

a week to find out what the hell happened, or

what the hell was going to happen. Yeah. And

then he just tells everybody a barbecue in the

next episode. Yep. Alright, so we finished next

episode now anyway. Yeah episode four is kind

of It's not fast, but it's not slow either. It's

it's a middle ground kind of thing You know Yeah,

well part of it too is I don't think they will

not I don't think I know They didn't know what

to do with Jesse and his family. So this is also

the episode where he goes home and his brother

is he's got a younger brother whose parents you

know care about and he's good at everything unlike

jesse yeah and jesse ends up covering for him

etc etc i uh yeah that was a little like i wasn't

sure i was like am i watching the same freaking

tv show like again it We left off with Walt having

to, you know, go into the bedroom and, you know,

basically how episode three ended was, Skyler,

we need to talk, or I have something to tell

you, or whatever else, and then we kind of start

episode four with Jesse running from, cause Crazy

Eight had gotten out by that point, or something

or other. No, Crazy is dead. Is he dead? Okay,

yeah. Yeah, that's right, that's right, that's

right. You know, but Jesse goes to his family's,

his, I assume, rich family's house. But the way

this opens is like, we don't know who these people

are until we hear a noise in the backyard and

we find out it's Jesse's parents and his younger

brother. And I'm like, well, I'm all for character

development for Jesse. Do we really need to introduce

the family this soon? To be fair. He thought

he was gonna get killed cuz he was hallucinating

as he was high on meth. So I Like that we also

I I liked that first a bit cuz I thought it was

funny that he's paranoid about he thinks the

Evangelion Evangelists there we go coming to

his door our bikers there to kill him But in

again, this is gonna be real -life stuff that

affected the show so essentially to be blunt

Jesse's Parents were not the best most available

actors And so they basically got written out

so anything, you know any bigger role They were

supposed to play or be in it or anything like

that Is gone at that point, but they didn't know

it during filming It was when it was done and

you can't really like just throw out those scenes

and refilments when you're doing a week -to -week

show Yeah Or sorry fill that time with something

else. So Yeah, it almost becomes it's sort of

a throwaway. There's some I mean, obviously it

affects Jesse that his brother is kind of the

favorite and his brother's good every at everything

and he's not so There's character development

in there. It's just the parents are kind of wasted

characters. We never see the brother again, if

I remember right. So yeah, just that kind of

fell flat. What didn't fall flat for me, too,

is this is the introduction of Ken Wins. Yeah,

that was awesome. Yeah. with walt and him that

was outstanding and as part of this episode for

anyone who watches uh... better call soul uh...

soul and his girlfriend take advantage of poor

ken that in that show and take them to the cleaners

for a whole ton of money as well like they brought

the character back just for that which i think

is pretty funny did they bring the bmw back to

are you they don't show his car He would have

had it at that point. Like, it still would have

been... Would have been the same car, because

that takes place well before breaking. Well before

this, yeah. But anyway, yeah, that was good.

The stuff with... I'll say this, too. The stuff

with Walt Jr. I liked. Where basically he tells

him, like, why don't you just die already? Like,

you know, if you're gonna give up. Yep. Yeah,

I did like that. Yeah, when... When wall juniors

there and he's actually interacting with the

family because this they have the family meeting

about the because after after they do the the

the barbecue thing in the very beginning they

they kind of have a family meeting and we need

a talking pillow and Whatever yeah, I do really

enjoy when wall junior is interacting as part

of the family what I I don't know how often this

is gonna happen in the future because I don't

remember What I don't enjoy is them putting him

into situations like when he was in the store

even though his father stood up for him Because

like I said I also have a mild case of cerebral

palsy And I've been made fun of all my life obviously

not in a long time But when I was a kid a young

kid like first grade to seventh grade I was made

fun of all the time so I know exactly where that

care, you know, I sympathize with Walt Jr. when

it comes to the whole disability thing and what

makes me most happy is when they are writing

him to actually be a positive force even though

he's saying negative shit to Walter Sometimes

saying something negative to somebody will drive

them to be better a better person You know, why

are you giving it? Why are you just gonna give

up? Why don't you know if you're not gonna try?

Why don't you just go ahead? You know, I mean,

yeah, that's a very negative thing to say to

your dad, but it's like If it looks like to you

as the child That your parent is giving up on

themselves and giving up on the family. Then

yeah, you're gonna tell them off I Mean my favorite

scene with him in the run of the entire show

is when he really asserts himself in the second,

second last? Yeah, second last episode of the

entire series where he absolutely tells Walt

off, deservedly so since, you know, Walter's

destroyed the family and basically everybody's

life forever. So yeah, I mean I think he's I

don't know as it runs on he asserts himself more

and more he tries to do nice things for his dad

Because he doesn't know his dad's a horrible

human being but yeah Oops Well, we kind of anybody

that's seen the series before kind of knows I

mean there really are you know this series ended

Four years ago, so a few people haven't seen

it uh... episode five is where the actual intervention

thing comes up that i mentioned earlier uh...

we meet eliot and gretchen which again walted

had some sort of flashback to teaching gretchen

or working at gray matter he was involved with

her and right he broke it off we like we learned

this through the episode and through the season

And it's just, we never find out specifically

what happened. Walt feels like they took advantage

of him. But of course, as we learn in this show,

Walter's memory of how things happened is questionable

at best. Well, it's true, because he's not a

good person, and he tends to remember himself.

And he views everything he does in a more positive

light, which obviously he asked you to do the

horrible things he does. He doesn't see himself

as the villain and most good villains don't,

but yeah. You know, you either die here or live

long enough to see yourself become the villain.

You know, that's kind of Walt at this point.

Sorry, bad Harvey Dent joke from Dark Knight.

I with episode 5 the intervention was probably

the most emotion I've seen out of the entire

family to this point I very much enjoyed that

I've never really been one for talking pillows

or talking sticks or whatever but you know because

family meetings are always gonna end up in shouting

matches no matter who's you know Yeah, and I

mean the family all argue in the end Walt's goes

against getting the treatment whereas Marie and

Hank feel like he should have the choice obviously

his family wants him to get the treatment period

We also in in episode 5 we have our Walter jr.

Trying to buy beer Yep That was That's an important

part of every child's Life to go through trying

to buy beer when you're not supposed to or getting

your friends to And I never had that problem

Because for me the beer was already bought Well

see then you sent somebody else for it, but oh

no well junior couldn't get but you know all

jr couldn't get his family to do it to me and

uh... his dad's busy cooking mass and well actually

that's the end of the episode where uh... walt's

decides he will go through the the process will

go through the process what he doesn't do is

uh... he lies to everybody and he doesn't take

the check from gretchen And yeah, and then he

just goes and visits Jesse to cook some more

math. But anyway, poor Walt Junior can't get

his dad to buy the beer or anything. So, you

know, I'm going to try it on his own. Nobody's

going to card. Nobody's going to card to the

poor kid with a disability. Well, the funny thing

is, like I said, you know, and I've told this,

I don't, for any twig listeners, I don't think

I've told this story on twig, but um, When I

was six years old my my dad not my dad my grandfather

my and my three uncles were all They're all fishermen.

They're all in construction and everything else

and we would always go fishing and you know I

would just go to hang out and my uncle Robert

who was was and probably still is one of the

biggest functioning alcoholics, I know he at

with me at six years old tricked me into drinking

a mickalove and that was not so yeah no trust

me i i didn't need to worry about you know being

a teenager and trying to buy beer i already had

it by the time well yeah so poor walt junior

ends up uh... approaching a cop to uh... uh...

here unfortunately this was a i mean It was an

important episode where a fair amount happens

And we get a hint of Walt's backstory, but Yeah,

we get a hint with Gretchen and all that and

everything else, but not too too much I'm okay

that they never specifically revealed that although

yeah, you know we get yeah I'm all right that

we don't see that part of his life Also, it would

have been hard to do because I mean it was years

ago, and then you got to get you know makeup

everybody's gonna look younger etc etc so yeah

yeah uh we only get a little bit of jesse in

this episode but i mean it's a decent amount

happens at least or at least they're important

events but not a whole lot happens i think is

what i'm trying to say is that yeah in the end

i mean waltz you know doesn't take any money

he's not going to be able to cover it with insurance

and decides to cook this was basically an episode

to show why he's decided to cook the meth. At

this point, it's still under the guise of, you

know, I'm doing it for my family. Right, absolutely.

Not, I like cooking meth and I'm evil. Yeah,

that comes way later, folks. And it's good money.

Yeah, the, I like to cook meth and I'm evil part

comes way later, folks. But I like how he approaches

Jesse again I like the storytelling of Jesse

saying oh I had a partner and You know we kind

of had a falling out kind of thing and whatever

else and I like the fact that we don't We see

the falling out obviously over the acid bath

and everything else But we don't really see the

linchpin to it, and I enjoyed that part of it

By the time episode six happens We get to the

point of where Walt will cook it Jesse will sell

it You know Obviously Jesse in this episode finds

out that Walt has cancer Now did they mention

in the very beginning that Jesse's house was

his aunt's or it was it was a family members

his grandparents his grandparents okay cuz he

had mentioned once he found out uh... about walls

cancer he was talking about how is on that cancer

and that kind of thing so we're getting a little

bit more about jesse's back story and i enjoyed

that uh... throughout this episode of the six

uh... will demands that jesse find a new distributor

someone who can handle larger quantities his

Walter wants more money Enter Tuco. I almost

wish the school scenes would not happen anymore

because they're just too friggin weird. Well,

there's some important ones in this one, right?

Because I mean, Hank is on the, as of a couple

episodes, Hank is on the trail of this blue meth

bacon scoundrel. and finds out that some of the

stuff that was used to cook it came from Walter's

school. And in this case, yeah, they take the

inventory, they find stuff that's missing, and

in the end, they arrest the school janitor in

this. And this is the first time, too, that Walt

lets somebody else take the fall for his, for

what he's doing. Yeah, that's probably not going

to be the last time either. No, it's definitely

not, but I mean, it's the first time somebody

other than a drug dealer has something bad happen

to them because of Walter. Although having said

that, I mean, the reason they bust the janitor

is he's got a record for drug possession as well.

So I mean, I don't think that necessarily makes

him evil. It's not he wasn't completely clean

either, but I mean he might have been trying

to do better and be clean and everything else

though and you know Walter kind of ruins his

life, so That's a Yeah, that's the first time

I remember Specifically that he did something

bad that affects somebody who's not involved

whatsoever with his business and everything else

That was the one thing I also liked I don't think

it was in this episode I think it was in the

episode where it might have been in this one

No, I think it was earlier it was when he first

approached it Walt first approaches Jesse to

cook It was right after you know Yeah, it was

like the pilot where where Jesse's like, you

know I always knew you as the straight lace kind

of guy now you're gonna go and break bad or you

know I just I love that whole term of break bad

I think that's just really really interesting

and by episode six of season one I think this

might be my favorite episode of the season yes

of how far we are shown that Walt's character's

new attitude has taken him to the lake In the

last five episodes we've seen Walt change and

change and change by this episode. He has a whole

new attitude and an outlook and he creates the...

He physically changes too because he shaves off

what's left of his hair and we get the bald version

of him. Not to mention he has to come up with

a name on the spot and he chooses Heisenberg.

Yep. I think my favorite line, and I wish this

would have happened in real life, I think my

favorite line after he shaves his head, he goes

to Jesse and he's like, you want to cook? Who

are you, Lex Luthor? Yeah, we don't need no Jesse

Eisenberg in the BS that is BVS. We deserved

Bryan Cranston as Lex Luthor. Yeah, which originally

most people thought he was cast as. That would

have been great. Anyway. Yeah, and this was the

episode to this was my favorite episode of the

season as well and we get the scene that I think

a lot of people replay in their heads and you

see on commercials and stuff for the show as

well, which is This was when we get the he confronts

to go for beating the crap out of Jesse and he

demands the money for the meth that was stolen

and money to For Jesse's for Jesse. Yeah to Jesse

or to recover. Yeah and pain and suffering That's

what he said No, you're right. Yeah, that was

great. So anyway, yeah Walt throws the fulminated

mercury that like destroys a chunk of the So

fun building and Afterwards to we see Walt hyperventilate,

but he's also yelling in satisfaction with himself

he enjoyed that it was great for him to cut loose

I think and yeah this was the first really good

episode of the series and yeah it's just the

whole episode too was a reference to cool hand

Luke Which it was yeah, you've got two options

Give up or bluff Walter Bluffs in this episode

the name of the episode is crazy handful of nothing

Which is a cool hand Luke reference, so That's

another thing. I love about the show by the way

the seat the titles and everything before the

episodes are wonderful and Always and always

point to something like cats in the bag and the

bags in the river or you know cancer man obviously

that's when they revealed that and let's because

it's worked on x -files this was one of the writers

on x -files as a reference to cancer and the

characters right uh... so yeah he was the basically

when you watch a really good episode of x -files

vince gilligan probably wrote it's uh... not

to mention it's where he first worked with brian

cranston and erin paul's uh... And then obviously

the last episode, a no rough stuff type of deal,

which is the season finale for this first season.

In this one, as I mentioned earlier, by the end

of the season, in this last episode, there's

no Hank or Walt Jr. Which I kinda like, I know

Walt, I know the characters both come back, obviously,

but I kinda like that this last episode we're

now solely focusing on what Jesse and Walt are

doing with making the crystal and selling the

crystal. I think that's awesome. The one thing

I did not like about this episode, about episode

seven, as I mentioned earlier, Skyler and Marie's...

You know Anna and Betsy's acting in the store

when she confronts her about the shoplifting

thing. That just felt really forced to me. I

don't know. I liked Anna Gunn as an actress.

I thought everybody in this series was well acted.

The thing with Marie is they tried all of these

different things to Give her some more personality

slash something to do and we get the shoplifting

and we get Other stuff as it goes on and it just

kind of Peters out because they didn't know what

to do with it. I Mean the series is not perfect

and the writing was not perfect. I mean they

were trying to it's the same with You know one

of the reasons Hank doesn't yeah, he does appear

in this episode But I mean they struggled to

find stuff for Hank to do that didn't revolve

around the main Crux of the show which is Walt

and Jesse now having said that like Hank's a

good character He is and when they and then when

they give him good stuff to do it works really

well But the good stuff to do pretty much all

revolves around walt and jesse because it's the

main portion of the show right like i love that

he gets caught in the crossfire and ends up in

the hospital later on and i liked i liked all

of the stuff where he's on the trail of this

heisenberg etc etc but yeah when they tried to

alternate plot lines with him or his wife and

try to add all this other stuff it didn't always

work and frequently because Yeah, and the reason

why I think it didn't is because nobody... If

this is a show about Walt's character change

and showing Jesse's character as these drug dealers,

as these suppliers, as these meth cookers, sometimes

you don't need a soap opera -ish type. Side story,

you don't need that but you definitely needed

the people around them You need to show the effects

that all of this has on other people but yeah,

I think they tried to fill up the rest of the

time by giving them they felt like they needed

to give these people something else to do or

they needed like a C plot or something to the

show the Issues that they didn't I think it took

them time to realize that so again getting ahead,

but I mean There's two episodes of this show

that I gave a perfect score. I Couldn't find

anything wrong with the entire episode And I

don't think it's a coincidence that they really

focused on the main characters the two episodes

are Face -off, which is the fourth season finale

and the other one is the second last episode

of the series Ozymandias and I mean both of those

now Ozymandias there's an awful lot of stuff

involving fallout from what Walter's been doing

I mean it's a second last episode of the show

but I don't think it's a coincidence that there

was no like C or D plot it was all about everything

Walt and Jesse had done up to those points with

both those episodes and those are the two that

I have always maintained there's no such thing

as a perfect game perfect movie etc etc This

two episodes ruined me. That's basically why

I don't review television at all anymore Because

because I finally had to give out a perfect score

and then I did it twice and I was miserable Afterwards,

I watched those episodes trying to find something

wrong with them so many times It should be crazy

Well, it's going to drive you crazy again, because

we're going to be doing episodes on all five

seasons, so... Oh, I know, but yeah. Because

if I'm going to dive in and do this once, even

if people don't like it, I'm trying my... Like

I said at the very beginning of this podcast,

I'm trying my best to go back into this series

to explore why people say it's so good and see

if I find it to also be that good. So... But

I mean, when people remember it and... as an

example people remember the stuff with walt and

jesse yeah and like your whenever you talk about

it too most of the stuff you enjoy is the walt

and jesse stuff as well so i think i think people's

memories is part of it too and i'm guilty of

that as well that i you know i forget the shoplifting

in the store scenes you know shoplifting the

tiara scenes i just forget them when i'm thinking

about the show or how good it is it's the same

with anything else right i mean when you watch

the 90s x -men or you talk about 90s x -men comics

you remember all the cool storylines and the

good moments you don't remember all the crap

storylines and the bad stuff yeah especially

comic books are super guilty of that I'll tell

people like I'll tell people like oh this comic

is great. It's perfect And then they'll get to

an issue that was complete absolute crap, and

I'll go. I don't remember that What the she are

came to earth and had a vacation I don't remember

that happening what? That's okay That's a whole

topic for another podcast is that series should

have ended at four seasons not five Oh the x

-men animated show yeah, huh? oh god yeah we

could go into the ends uh... and then this and

then when they change the animation to all that's

a whole other anyway that's another show yeah

that's a whole other podcast folks so as i'm

looking through season one and and and and some

of the notes and things on you know certain website

that everyone hates wikipedia but Dave Porter

was the original composer. The show also uses

music from other recording artists with music

supervision by Thomas... Galubik? I probably

pronounced that horribly. And the first thing

I thought of before actually looking it up on

iTunes or wherever, I'm like, ooh, La La Land

Records ought to release a score for Breaking

Bad. Look it up on iTunes, there are three different

albums for Breaking Bad. Yeah, you gotta find

Porter. I can't remember how, I've got the CDs

kicking around here. I should have grabbed them

beforehand, but anyway. Yeah, first of all, the

soundtrack for the show is great. I love the

montage stuff, which we don't really see in the

first season, but the montage stuff later on

where they use licensed music and show passage

of time, that kind of thing, which is what a

montage is. I don't know why I bothered saying

that. Anyway. Love that stuff and Dave Porter's

work on this music or on the story Dave Porter's

music on the show. There we go was really good

because it's minimalist like You almost don't

notice it's there. He's not afraid to just kind

of get out of the way of the show Right, which

to use something like to use a show you really

like one of my some of my favorite stuff in Batman

Beyond Was when they literally would just cut

out the score completely like the stuff with

shriek where it's silent and they just use noise

Yeah, the ability. Yeah the ability for a composer

to know when to just not even use music at all

To me is something that's really Understated

and I really like that this show does it too

that he just he gets out of the way of certain

scenes whereas there are some composers and some

really good ones who you know would have this

score with you know horns blowing really loudly

when they shouldn't be and i like that i like

that it's kind of minimal certain composers as

all as i feel all composers should the music

either enhances the piece it's a companion to

the piece you know just take this as an example

again take it with a grain of salt folks because

I know a lot of people don't like these movies

and that's fine I like them I don't give a crap

when fast when furious 7 came out Brian Tyler

had been the composer on those films since I

think the fourth one I think since fast and furious

I know he did fast five and six and seven so

I saw interviews with Brian Tyler who is the

composer on Furious 7 and he said that the way

that he approaches and the way that they wanted

him to approach dealing with the music is that

the sound effects and the music amplify each

other they enhance each other so if you have

a scene where an explosion is about to happen

he's gonna go up high with his music or if there's

a low Tonal shift or a low point in the movie

a quiet moment. He'll add in quiet music I think

with the Breaking Bad music by Dave Porter And

I have not had now that I have now that I've

seen these albums on iTunes after we get done

with this I'm gonna do some previews on there

to see you know what? What kind of music it is

because like you said Other than the obvious

main title and the obvious end title I didn't

really notice music in this at all, other than

like this. I'm talking about Dave Porter's stuff.

Oh yeah, it's a super like... Yeah, it's meant

to be a full on background thing. It's not meant

to enhance a character. Like, you take Walt when

he blew up Tuco's place. There is no ending crescendo

piece of music as he's walking away. It's just

all of the effects of the explosion of... the

noises of the sirens and whatever else, there

is no real music and it doesn't need it. And

like you said, having a composer just kind of

step out of the way for just one little scene.

But like I said, now that I see these, there's

two albums. There's volume one and volume two

from Dave Porter. There's also a third one which

is the actual soundtrack which has some of the

songs from some of the licensed music that was

used. Me personally, Like seeing the music the

licensed stuff in the show I like hearing it

in the show But I probably won't even pay any

attention to that but I want to pay attention

to Dave Porter stuff No, I yes, I highly recommend

his soundtrack stuff. I really liked it It's

not something you sit down and like, you know

Head bang to set out but I mean if you're doing

something it works really well to have sort of

this background music or Yeah, it's it's it's

very much in the companion sort of area of scoring

as In it's just sort of there, but you don't

always notice it It would be it'd be too easy

for them You know Walt does something bad and

you get the dun dun dun style music or something

But no, they just decided not to do any of that

stuff and I really appreciate that I There's

nothing wrong with doing it the other way either.

There's plenty of soundtracks and music. I like

like Steve Jablonski I do not like the Michael

Big Transformers movies but Steve Jablonski's

music is fantastic and When I actually feel something

aside from revulsion and sadness when I'm watching

those movies It's because of his music that yeah,

you know when Optimus Prime rolls in uh... to

save everybody in that first movie i remember

that music really well there's when the autobots

first come down or uh... the occurs the first

movie for actually being okay and then everything

after anyway First movie is ten years old this

year. Oh, man. We should totally do a retrospect

of the Transformers movies Although having said

that if you think I'm gonna watch any of the

sequels you can go to hell I've seen them all

No, I've never sat down and watched Revenge of

the Fallen again Yeah, I've only seen all of

them the one time actually I've never gone back

I agree with you with Jablonski. He does an amazing

job on those movies. I think for me with those

movies the problem is Bay also wants the licensed

pieces to enhance the film. Sometimes they don't.

Sometimes they don't. Sometimes they don't. I

know everyone hates Age of Extinction and that's

fine. they can hate the movie i don't absolutely

love that movie jablonski's score mixed in with

imagine dragons that's amazing music right there

other music and everything the fourth movie is

very good again like the music is the best part

of each of those movies that's not saying much

i'm trying to be complimented the music though

right here that's a little yeah so breaking bad

season one uh... i have a close what would you

read it zero five let's see uh... eyes and i

feel like i'm generous when i say three -and

-a -half out of five that's probably what it

would go with but i like there's part of me that

i can see like five or six there's something

that uh... I'll put this link in the show notes,

folks. Over at the Decast Radio Network, because

that's where Remote Control first started, we

have a universal rating system, or whatever you

want to call it, and we do 0 to 5 stars with

half points. So it's essentially like 0 to 10,

but it's 0 to 5. If I was going to rate Season

1, I would probably give it a 3. out of five.

It's not a bad rating. It's still, you know,

it's like I said, I feel like I'm being generous

at three and a half and it's and like I love

this show, but the first season is it's it's

slow. I mean, you can tell the writers are trying

to figure out, you know, some of the characters

and trying to figure out what works and what

doesn't and they try a lot of stuff that doesn't

work or that's and you can tell what doesn't

work because they flat out just forget about

it. Yeah. Just like oh, yeah, Marie used to like

their shelf lift stuff. Should we ever mention

that again? No, all right Yes season two and

three of Breaking Bad are both 13 episodes Season

four, I believe is also Yes, I think all of the

seasons past season one all got it's all 13 episode

and then season five is 16 in the end sixty okay

which is not bad uh... you know and like i said

i am trying my best and i think going forward

i won't have to bring up what i brought up in

this podcast about the whole you know drugs being

the only way you can support your family in the

senate and things i've already talked about it

here going forward either is a good option uh...

uh... uh... so uh... uh... very bad misquotes

of future on our uh... somebody says that and

talks to bender about good and evil and he goes

like a whatever the both good options uh... So

as we move forward hopefully everyone enjoyed

this We will be doing seasons 2 through 5 at

some point. I don't know exactly when Because

as I said before and I'm not At this point, I'm

kind of excited and kind of dreading season two

because season two is the one I remember the

most being frustrated with because of the slowness

of it. What's weird season two is probably the

most uneven. I just talked about what I did with

season one, but season two's got some issues.

And what's weird is I'd still say it might be

a better season overall, but like, man, it's

got it. Yeah. Anyway, we'll get into it later.

Yeah, we'll get into that in a future episode.

Coming up on Twig, we've got a bunch of stuff.

The return of nerd news is coming later in February.

We'll have some sort of topic show at the end

of the month. Coming up on GCRN, there's a whole

bunch of stuff. So head on over to geekcastradio

.com and thisweekengeek .net. uh... where the

people find you online sir uh... at night beats

on twitter is probably the best place i'm at

tfc on mike on twitter and now you fall at the

casserole at this weekend geek on twitter as

well uh... next time on remote control i'm not

sure what we're doing i'd like to i've done i've

started doing this thing i've only done it once

at this point um... About a buddy of mine Michael

powers who used to do the lunch the lunchroom

podcast the lunch table podcast and he did off

the cuff for us at GCRN His TV rule is give a

show five episodes and if after that you don't

like it go ahead and you know axe it so I started

doing this thing called take five and I started

with my buddy DJ Valentine from simplistic reviews

and We talked about the first five episodes of

the Fox series lethal weapon So I may be doing

more of those with other new shows like Emerald

City from NBC And a couple other ones. I don't

know yet. I do know remote control. We're still

gonna do season passes Let us know folks. You

can either email you can email feedback at geek

cast radio comm or you can email me directly

just put in the subject line remote control it's

tfgmikeatgmail .com and let us know what you

thought about this episode we will read emails

on the air next time if we get any let us know

how you felt about Breaking Bad Season 1 on the

episode post you can comment on either website

and we will catch you next time here on Remote

Control