Breaking Bad Season 2 Retrospective

Hello, folks, and welcome to Remote Control.

This is our second week of Breaking Bad, and

I am, of course, TSU and Mike. Joining me is

Ryan and Ivan Flo Merkley. Hello, sir. Yo, Mr.

White. Yeah. This season... You know what? Going

back and watching it again and actually trying

to look at it objectively, um... It's not as

bad as I remember. There are moments that I did

not like, but... Honestly at this point there

are more moments that I did like when it comes

to a lot of the characters for this season Not

to mention the next season's pretty much when

it really sort of came into its own Yeah, that's

I think that's true to a certain extent. They're

still introducing characters in the second season.

Yeah, I'm still kind of Figuring stuff out about

Walt. I mean, this is kind of the first season.

He does bad things that we'll get into Like,

legitimately bad things? Yeah, it's um... Yeah,

Walt's not a good character anymore. Walt's innocence

ended at Season 1, Episode 7. He's a great character,

he's just a bad person. I know what you're trying

to say. Yeah, but I'm saying that, you know,

his... The innocent, woe -is -me chemistry teacher

that... didn't know how the hell to talk to his

students in season one. Season two, he goes far

beyond that. I mean, I can count on my hand how

many times we were actually in the classroom

this season, which I actually dig that they're

not keeping him in the classroom. I mean, he

was in there a couple of times. There was one

time when the phone vibrated in the ceiling,

and he's like, everybody turn their cell phones

off, and he looks up, oh, must be faulty pipes

or something, or I don't know, whatever it was.

but it is one of those things where in this season

this is the season that they make him basically

break bad we lose his job in season three as

well which helps a lot uh... and then the Mean

one of the last school scenes is one of my absolute

favorite ones at the start of season three and

I'm mentioning it because it's because of this

season and that is right the Assembly where he's

essentially trying to justify the plane crash

Which is the main portion of season three or

sorry season two? Yeah, and he's trying to kind

of justify his role in it and but nobody knows

what the heck he's talking about uh... that's

one of my favorite scenes from season three but

anyway yeah i figure we'll just get this out

of the way to the framing of the season was the

opening scenes from the full plane crash in pretty

much every episode which So again, this is real

life perspective the writers wanted to kind of

see if they could do this In that they wanted

to create this sort of mystery and then try to

explain it later on if they could And I'd say

they pulled it off fairly well for the most part,

but it was like a weird This was one of those

things that I guess writers do when they're bored

is try to challenge themselves and like Write

themselves into a corner, which they deliberately

tried to do yeah, and It so it's kind of weird

Yeah, they what they try to like you said they

try to write themselves into a corner So they

then can write themselves out of the corner so

they can basically break free uh... and it's

a liberally like a lot of right letters you'll

see this on television write themselves into

a corner but one of my uh... food favorite slash

least favorite examples uh... i know you don't

watch it but doctor who was a great example where

sometimes the writers make the dollocks or some

of the villains soul powerful and make you know

something happened that's so bad The solution

ends up just being stupid. It's the equivalent

of oh, I'll just hit this switch and change everything

back to the way it was Because it's the only

way the writers can figure out to undo all this

damage They've just done and a lot of shows fall

into that it's weird that the writers for Breaking

Bad decided to try to Kind of do the opposite

like write this scenario that they didn't know

how they were gonna get to and decide Okay, we

need to get to this somehow Yeah We've got okay.

We've got the first episode out or we've got

the first episode script and whatever done and

we're filming it and it's going great and we

start off with the with the Stupid pink stuffed

animal thing in the pool and the eyeball floating

into the filter Okay, now we have 12 more weeks

or however many long, you know, that they spent

actually producing the 13 episodes. We've got

this amount of time to that now write ourselves

out of this corner. Yeah, I seem to recall them

on the podcast talking about how this was one

of the tougher seasons to break. And it's because

of that, that some of it just sort of wrote itself,

but other stuff didn't. I think it's... I mean

we open up with the show roughly where you'd

expect right we Get you know we have to go You

know they do so they're dealing with to go after

the end of season One where to go beat one of

his own men to death with his fists and it occurs

to them that two goes nuts and dealing with him

is Not a good long -term strategy. That's healthy

Yeah, and they decide they need to do something

about that and that's kind of No, it's a good

one we get Hank on the trail of the mysterious

Heisenberg as there's a warehouse break -in from

see the earlier and It's actually Walt and Jesse,

but yeah that they went and stole the methylamine.

Yeah, yeah And then we get more of the shoplifting

storyline, which is right left I am sorry Betsy

brand is She's an alright actress. I hate that

character The Marie character is the most useless

character in this season To be fair. She's probably

she's generally not supposed to be likable, but

yeah She isn't very little to do here. She's

better as the series goes on but yeah, just Again,

you know like we said last time like we said

last week when we're talking about this or last

Whenever the hell the last episode of the podcast

came out here for GC aren't in twig, but it's

like you know We said this last time it looks

like they're just Throwing stuff at her plot

lines at her so she can try I think what you're

trying to say is they're trying to give her something

to do they're trying to yeah They're trying to

give the character something to do so the actress

can do her job as being part of the core cast

because she is the main you know the main cast

consists of Walt Skyler Jesse Hank Marie Walt

jr. Or flint because as we all know flint lips

But it's just one of those things where the Marie

character They're trying to I don't know what

kind okay Skylar is one side of the sister coin

obviously because their sister so Skylar has

one side and she has her Proclivities and whatever

you want to call it You know character traits

and they're trying to make Marie almost a complete

flip side of that you know and it just doesn't

work at all. The whole thing at the end with,

and I know I'm jumping ahead just a little bit

here, but the whole thing at the end with getting

the newspaper and then getting the TV crew to

come in because of Walt Junior's essentially

GoFundMe to save Walt, it's like, really? Because

the whole time when Walt, see, when Heisenberg

comes in, He looks at Marie and she's all dolled

up and got her makeup on and showing her cleavage

and everything. There's not anything wrong with

that, but it's just like, oh my god, give her

something else to do than just being a one -off

character that I could care less if she dies.

I mean, she does get better, so... Yeah, I guess.

I haven't seen it yet, but... Oh yeah, in any

case, for the first chunk of this... Season well

the first episode of mainly focuses on Walt and

Jesse trying to figure out what to do about to

go And in the end of course he kidnaps them Which

leads to the leads directly into the second episode

which by the way, I absolutely love One of my

favorites are the early episodes where Walt and

Jesse are stuck at two coast house or where he's

Taking care of his sick uncle who of course is

a major character later on oh yeah Hector yeah,

I loved Hector by the way Anyway, yeah, I've

seen that guy. I'll have to look it up at some

point during the record Okay, I was gonna say

I've seen that guy somewhere. I know I've seen

him I know it's Deliberate he's an excellent

Actor and I'm trying to remember the name now,

but of course, it's been a while in any case.

I'll figure it out while I'm talking Mark Mark

Margolis Yeah, Mark Margolis. Yes. Thank you.

Anyway, he's been in a ton of different Films

mostly but a lot of TV shows You've probably

seen him. He's been on law and order before I

remember that. Oh Dr. Nell Apagar on next generation

Yeah. Uh, Tales from the Dark Side. He was gay.

He was in an episode of Columbo. Uh, let's see...

Uh... He was in Oz for... So far, of course,

his most notable thing was trying to frame Riker

for murder. I like that episode. It was very

underrated. But anyway, yeah, he's been in a

number of different shows. Oh, I know where I've

seen him from now! And this is gonna hurt you

more than it hurts me. He was Fallon in 2003's

daredevil. He was the guy that told He was the

guy that told Michael Clarke Duncan to have Matt

Murdoch's dad killed. Oh That's right. He was

the promoter for Jack them. Oh Now you're talking

about there's actually never been any daredevil

stuff before the TV slash Netflix series No,

I mean, you know, you got to go blind as a bat

first before you can actually be Batman so So

yeah 2003 Daredevil 15 years since that movie

next year. Well, he quit being Batman. So that

doesn't count. Oh Here we go Okay, so yeah, but

now now that I've looked mark Margolis up now,

oh my god now I know exactly Wow Because the

funny thing is, we're recording this, folks,

about a day after my cousin Rachel's 14th wedding

anniversary. Friday, February 14th, Valentine's

Day, 2003, we actually went and saw Daredevil

in the theater. So that's one of the reasons

why I remember it so vividly. Wow, that's 10

bucks. You'll never get back. Hey. I was just

happy to learn the hard way. Because I didn't

realize that was them in that bar scene, but

heaven forbid I bring up that certain entity

from Canada. Because it just drives everybody

crazy. Because apparently I'm only one of their

eight fans in the entire world, even though they've

sold more out anyway. Sorry, yeah, but nobody

will admit to it. It's like voting for Trump

You don't want anybody to know he actually did

it. Yeah Because he should be ashamed. So the

Anyway back to breaking So anyway the second

episode mainly deals with Walt and Jesse in the

end I mean they kill to go Which is well technically

they don't kill him. I mean Hank does which will

be followed from that later on of course too

but yeah and we get this weird like that was

the crazy thing hank shoots to go and then we

get this and i don't dislike this i think it's

interesting but we get this weird storyline with

hank and his emotions from dealing with with

the shootout hank has a shot anybody before okay

Messes you up somebody and then they make they're

really unfortunate, you know Gomi and everybody

give him a gift Yeah, and it's the teeth that

tuco had Put in so I mean that just traumatizes

him further So at this point he's already got

PTSD and then yeah, he later on like his you

know group Is DEA units or whatever there? Yeah,

I get killed in front of them Oh, God. Yeah,

that was a horrible, like, horrible, like, staring

at the guy with the leg that, where his leg got

shot, oh, where his leg got blown off, oh my

God. But the, I now, because I've been, obviously,

been paying attention to more things with this

than I usually do, or than when I did the first

watch -through of it, and obviously giving Hank

the grill. Is where they got the the title for

the episode grilled Yes, so Let's see what I

did find interesting about the second episode

was Jesse's panic It's interesting to watch when

it comes to his safety like he's he's really

panicked. This is like before obviously This

is also not the brightest at this point. It's

weird how much smarter he is, like watching him

in the later seasons. And the writers refer to

older Jesse, like earlier on in the show, as

quote, dumb Jesse. And then later on, he's just

Jesse. And so there's a podcast in the fifth

season where... uh... there's the dinner and

jesse doesn't know how to act any kind of falls

back into quote dumb jesse is they say i just

thought it was funny that they're talking about

it so they go yet any excuse we have to bring

back dumb jesse we tried to take going back just

really quick to episode one the one note that

i did find interesting again i mentioned last

time that i wasn't that convinced with any guns

acting as skyler when it comes to her care of

the characters character traits But in that first

episode when she breaks down in front of Hank,

that was the first time I probably actually believed

in the character. When she goes off on Hank.

I like her. She gets a lot of the hate from the

first two seasons because she's essentially...

hashing on walt and jesse's fun times because

at this point walt and jesse are still protagonists

of our show and you know she's ruining their

fun slash walters math cooking slash making money

for his family and she's ruining all this good

stuff he's trying to do for right you know we

don't know yet that he's a perfect monster right

but we get there because uh... episode three

is all about walter basically lying to her about

where they've been this time and i mean she's

not stupid she knows he's lying and it's Complete

shit. I mean he comes up with the was it the

flugue flugue state or the state state Thank

you, and I don't know why I pronounce it anyway

It comes up with the fugue state that he's forgotten

the days and that kind of thing and it's complete

bullshit I mean it's yeah, it's possible, but

I mean You combine it with everything else, and

I mean Skyler's character is not a complete moron

so no You'd have to be pretty dumb to... Yeah,

in episode three of the second season here...

So, Walt and Jesse have this plan. Walt comes

up with this ingenious plan to be able to get

away with this stuff. And Jesse's part of the

plan is pretty self -destructive. I mean... I

mean, this kid... Look, you know... don't want

to feel I don't want to really show sympathy

towards people that deal drugs because drug dealers

are bad kids just say no, but it's one of those

things where This is a guy that has been strung

out on drugs for so many years and now he's trying

his best to Well, he's not really making the

drugs at this point. Walt is still doing it I

mean he's doing part of it, but it's just one

of those things where His part of this plan is

just like oh my god This is this isn't in this

season where I feel Walt has really gone like

I have a moment later in one of my episode notes

for the episodes where I say, okay This is the

moment that I feel that Walt has gone completely

off the rails You know, so we'll get to that

a little bit later. But yeah episode 3 was just

Wow I mean he does bad things but guess I guess

it's degrees I think we talked about it last

week that Jesse does bad things but he feels

bad about it and doesn't enjoy them Walt does

bad things and he enjoys them that's because

he never did them before yeah but I mean so conversely

you get two sides of the coin so I mean you know

by when you compare him to the other main character

on the show Jesse's a pretty good dude but it's

not saying much That's like saying like it's

a little nicer than the Punisher but Yeah, okay

then So yeah, we yeah an episode three should

be noted to they bring Mark Margolis's Hector

Salamanca character back as well and they try

to get him to testify and identify against Jesse

but He hates police and the DEA way more than

he hates Walter and Jesse at this point Yeah,

and there's somebody he hates even more than

that, but we haven't met him yet. So anyway Oh,

we'll meet him this I was surprised but again,

it's been When did the final episode of the fifth

season air somewhere around? 2013 2014 somewhere

around there Yeah, I think so. I'm saying the

show has been off the air for more than two years

at this point, and that means it's been more

than two years since my initial watch through.

So while I knew a certain somebody was coming

up, I didn't realize he was coming up this fast.

We see him later in this season. Episode four.

Well, as three ends, we really get to see the

two faces, no pun intended. No, there is no Harvey

Dent here, no coins. But we really do get to

see the whole two -face aspect of Walt, his good

side and his bad side, and Cranston just kills

it on the acting for that. As opposed to just

killing it, the other characters. Yeah. yeah

that was very bad dude. Alright episode four.

First note on this one was thank god they got

the damn stuff in and out of the pool. I was

so sick of that thing and being in that pool.

Skyler's attitude change is finally getting me

interested in the character. When she finally

gets mad at Walt and basically lays down the

law to him. Yep, pretty much. I mean that's really

the bulk of this like not a lot happens Although

yeah, Jesse gets kicked out of the house and

has to go stay in the RV, which by the way was

funny Weird dark comedy in this show like it's

actually a funny show overall despite all the

horrible things that happen There's quite a bit

of humor, but it's it's generally dark humor

He climbs the fence, tries to stand on an outhouse

and falls through it and gets... Yeah, that was

priceless. I think that's the first time he's

taken the RV and rammed it through some gates.

He'll be doing that much later in the series.

Like much later in the series, but like that's

the first time I've noticed when he was driving

the RV that he rammed it through the gate to

the to the impound thing that he was at I Say

this several times, but by the end of episode

four I swear there's so many I swear Walt was

gonna tell her moments in this in this season

Becomes close. There's a bunch of moments where

I figured that Skyler was gonna figure it out

and that kind of thing I think she started to

in this season because we're not all that far

off before she Realizes exactly what's up or

at least a whole lot closer. So yeah By the time

we get to episode 5 we meet Jane for the first

time. So that's nice. Yeah Jesse's new next -door

neighbor and landlord. Yep Fun note or sort of

real -life notes Jesse's house from season one.

Mm -hmm. They weren't allowed to film in it anymore

So yeah, they that's one of the main reasons

for he moves out like reasons Yeah, now he moves

back in later on in the series, but it's not

the same house Right as in in real life. It's

not the same house in the show. It's meant to

be yeah, but yeah, so well you can tell the difference

Oh, yeah, there was but yeah, there's there's

some that's some real -life stuff that affected

the show there's not a lot you can do about that

and Honestly, I liked that duplex Well, yeah

the place he lives in that is nice. Yeah, I mean

I like the duplex that he and Jane have I think

that's a really cool place um... yes we meet

jane uh... we see the evolution of walton jesse's

dynamic as walt is just consistently pushing

pushing pushing and i get that he has to push

because that's part of his character and that's

you know they have to get this shit done but

jesse's just seems like he's gonna back off almost

every time unless walt really pushes him hard

was using jesse which he does through the late

he manipulates jesse through the entire show

Which culminates in like the final moment of

the series when Jesse finally tells him no But

through the entire thing. Yeah, he uses Jesse.

He ruins Jeff Z's life completely. Yeah Starting

in this season, but you know, you know, he just

yeah Again like knowing stuff later on you see

like what a piece of shit Walt was You know even

from the start, but you didn't see it the first

time you watched it or at least I didn't It didn't

occur to me that he was this that bad yeah Watching

it back through again. Yeah, it kind of occurs

to me in it and like I said later on down the

line here. I'll have a moment where I'm like,

okay, Walt's finally gone to the dark side fully.

Like I said, so Skyler confronts Marie. What

did she confront? More shoplifting crap again?

Yes, that's stuck. And I wasn't sure. I kind

of figured it was from the shootout, but I wasn't

sure because I couldn't really tell how the hell

they were doing the whole PTSD thing with Hank.

Because the whole elevator scene, I'm like, what

the hell, Hank? But then, obviously, as we watch

further, we realize that, oh, yeah, he's... Yeah,

and this is the episode that he gets promoted

to the drug task force or whatever. Right, yeah.

Yeah. Go ahead. I was just going to say, and

I mean, we end the episode with Skinny Pete,

which is one of, so Walton Jesse have decided

to take over Tuco's distribution, but as Saul

tells them later on, they suck at it. Anyway,

so they get Jesse's friends, Badger and Skinny

Pete, they're the first two, oh, and Combo, he's

still alive, I mean, anyway. Jesse's friends

skinny Pete combo and badger. Anyway, skinny

Pete at the end of this episode gets robbed by

a pair of meth addicts and Yeah, so we end it

with Jesse or Walter again berates Jesse and

tells him, you know, he's got to go take care

of this or else Where it'll get around that you

can steal from this Heisenberg guy, etc, etc

And it leads straight into the next episode Yeah,

and this episode really shows you of the lengths

Jesse will and won't go to like We see his character

fully here obviously this is before tragedy that'll

strike later But at this point from season 1

episode 1 to season 2 episode 6 We see his character

evolve so much to the point that in this episode

He gets a moment to where he can decide which

way he wants to go and which length that he wants

to go to to not Do something or to do something

and he you know He does it, you know, he doesn't

you know hurt the kid, you know And the wife

is the one that kills the husband with that with

the ATM machine He legitimately wants the kid

to have a better life like he's he's got a soft

spot for children and yeah he's not a he's definitely

not a bad guy when it comes to them and yeah

it's one of the first times we really see that

Jesse deep down is trying really hard to be a

good person now he certainly doesn't always succeed

at that but he's alright You know one of the

themes of the show is he's had like the absolute

shittiest mentors we see his dad is kind of a

jackass Early on and so he's always looking for

a father figure So next you know his next one

is Walter who we know is a monster His father

figure briefly and when he really starts to succeed

is Mike Who by the way we get introduced to in

this season, but anyway, you know Mike is probably

one of the best father figures He's had so there's

is it the clean -up guy. Yes, Mike Irma trow

Okay Yeah, and he's one of the better ones who

kind of you know once knows that Jesse needs

to kind of get out of this life and that He's

actually a good person that kind of thing. But

of course, that's all ended because Walt kills

him. So And then he has to go back to Walt who's

still a scumbag. Yeah, so yeah, Jesse Just he

didn't really have a chance from the start is

one of the other reasons I think we feel bad

for him. We see that, you know, his father was

this judgmental a -hole and Then yeah, he's paired

up with Walt as his next father figure great

You're really gonna turn out well By the time

we get to episode 7 this is where we have another

one of those recap theme song things yeah i don't

really like those that much it's just weird uh...

what i like about this one is when jesse throws

the money to walt gives new meaning of the term

blood money Walt building Jesse the blowfish

up is kind of awesome That moment even though

I know Walt's doing it for his own selfish reasons

But basically building Jesse up and saying hey

everyone knows everyone thinks you did this Everyone

thinks you're the one that dropped the ATM machine

on that guy's head so you have to you know Go

and do this you have to take charge of that and

I love that moment and then the next moment I

just want to rip my hair out when it comes to

scenes with Marie Oh my god. Well, we get Hank's

explosively bad job. That's kind of what I wrote

down, but not really. You did it better than

I did, because Hank isn't having a great time

with his new DEA team, and then exploding severed

head. Yeah, and so after that, he... Gets his

old job back in the next episode, but he clearly

has PTSD really badly. Oh he tries to Yeah, and

he tries to kind of be a He tries to bury it

and that kind of thing And we end up with this

really funny scene where Walter's trying to cheer

him up Which Walt is horrible at and I mean Walter

is the bad guy who's caused a lot of this to

happen to Hank No, that we know that and yep.

Yeah let's mention episode 8 is an Introduction

to another one of the greatest TV characters

in a show that's filled with great TV characters

Better call Saul Yo, sometimes you don't need

a criminal lawyer. You need a criminal lawyer.

Yep. Very, very true. And I just love, again,

I love the irony of these writers and Vince Gilligan

as a creator because... episode eight of season

two is called better calls all and then obviously

the spin -off series the prequel series is better

calls all that was his catchphrase on his horrible

commercials yeah was very true uh... but still

it's still funny i think that's irony uh... if

you take the Episode titles from season two of

Better Call Saul and rearrange them in a different

order you get Gus or sorry you get Fring's back

Is what the episode titles spell And that's why

Gus Fring is in season three of Better Call Saul.

So yeah, they think these things out really heavily

That's the kind of care that's in the show. That's

I don't know one of the reasons I love both of

them How many seasons did Better Call Saul get?

Is it still going? Yes, season three starts March?

I'll have to check. But anyway. Maybe after we

finish this series, I can find that one too.

And it's a very different show. Oh, I'm sure

it is, because again, it's a prequel series,

right? It's set before the events of the show.

Yeah, but it's got a different feeling. Yeah.

So in Saul's debut episode... It's in the Constitution.

No, it's not, you fool. Oh my god. He knows the

Constitution about as well as your president.

Okay, really? Are we gonna trump the pence every

episode that we talk about this TV show? No,

but whenever it becomes really easy. I like Badger.

I like the guy playing Badger because I like

his raspy kind of voice thing, but... uh... badger

is a dumbass as a character i mean i know he's

supposed to be a dumbass stoner but i thought

jesse... yeah, matt wall should believe is the

actor's name uh... funny stories about him so

sneaky pete uh... the actor who plays him is

a concert -level pianist He is exceptionally

good. So the scene where he starts playing a

piano in a music store and everyone's sort of

shocked is actually real Nobody expected him

to because you know, you look at the guy and

he don't think man. He's amazing Yes, but anyway,

yeah and Matt Walsh is pretty bright and I hate

to correct you, but it's Matt L. Jones. Damn

it, Matt Jones, right. Who the heck is Matt Walsh?

That's not good. I don't know. And no, please

do correct me when I screw up. I am really enjoying

Hank's part of the story, and I really liked

it when Walt kind of opened up to him a little

bit. He didn't really open up to him, but he

tried. At this point... Between Hank and Walt

I can't tell if Walt is just baiting him completely

like trying to say as little as possible while

still revealing shit to Hank without really Hank

realizing that he's revealing it to him because

again Walt's character Is worse than an onions.

I mean and I say this in a good way Walt's character

is worse than an onion because it has so many

damn layers and just so much crap going on I'm

not sure about this season, but later on certainly

he's almost sort of taunting him with it in terms

of I think later on Walter The other thing about

Walt is he's an egomaniac and again, we don't

know yet, but we will soon enough that you know,

he thinks really highly of his intelligence and

thinks he's so many steps ahead of everybody

and knows Better than everyone. So that could

be it in season two I'm not entirely sure because

it's not quite clear yet, which is obviously

deliberate, but I mean later on he's definitely

Yeah half taunting him with the whole ww you

know and he goes there hanks as walter white

and you know walt goes oh you got me yeah yeah

i love how stupidly ironic the the bust scene

is oh my god the the the bust scene where they

try to bust and when they try to um Get Jimmy

to to be Heisenberg The first bust by the way

is still funny with With badger telling like

oh you have to tell oh no. Yeah. No that yeah,

that is right No, but he sits on the wrong bench

and waltz got a delay Thank you Yeah, but this

year I was talking about this one though cuz

it's friggin DJ qual These are quals or whatever

his name is and I'm like hey, I've seen that

guy in some really bad movies And of course,

I love the way this one ends better call Saul

Saul is wonderful in general. Yes, he is Bob.

I think I'm probably gonna butcher his name,

but Bob Odenkirk He's an amazing actor Absolutely

love him. So by the time episode 9 starts here

That's a lot of meth 672 ,000 each Wow, and of

course they have to take in Walt not Walt um

souls percentage and a few other things they

end up with what 480 ,000 each that's a lot of

money and this is the episode where they basically

get stranded out in the desert because Jesse

left the keys in the motorhome without realizing

he he said he didn't turn the ignition but that

understand why they did this this way as far

as writing it this way because they had to figure

they did have them do something for the episode

and just i like it but i don't like how they're

basically playing on jesse stupidity again like

you said this is dumb jesse still uh... but it

made for an interesting episode because how often

are these two gonna be out in the middle of nowhere

cooking math i mean Seriously because the rest

of this season is like this is the only scene

that we really see them Cooking in a large quantity

They get I mean they get one more Well, I mean

this was all precipitated by Walter thinks he's

dying and at the end of the episode we find out

Why yes, he's still dying of cancer, but it's

yeah imminent as Thought but it's kind of what

a bottle show and Yeah, it's fun to see the two

characters interact on their own And we get that

Really, I think only the one more time In the

series an episode just dedicated to the two of

them together. Yeah But yeah, it's interesting

to see their sort of interplay. And again, this

is before you know Walt is Truly evil. Yes. So,

what are your thoughts so far after the first

nine here? There's some good episodes in this.

I forgot that there were quite a few that I liked.

I knew about Better Call Saul because... It's

Saul. Yeah. I forgot how good Grilled was and

how tense it is the whole time. All time like

one of the things I love about this show is how

it always ramps up tension well all the scenes

with walton jesse trying to Sit there and basically

wondering when tuco is going to go nuts and kill

them That's good tension. I mean, you know and

You got hector in there as sort of the perfect

foil for walton jesse. He can't tell to go what

they're doing or that they're plotting against

him, but he can ring that damn bell over and

over again and Try to explain it to him with

that. Yeah negatives though I agree with you

on some of the side characters, like the fact

that Skyler doesn't... When Skyler does find

out finally in the next season, and I believe

it's early next season... Oh yeah, I don't remember

right off the top of my head, because I'm just

now starting season three again, but it's just...

When she does find out, it did feel... Earned

but it also felt a little overdue like keeping

her in the dark for a long time. I don't know

I'm not a hundred percent sold that it worked

that it took her that long to figure it out,

but on the other hand They do a good job of not

focusing on her. So it doesn't make her seem

like a complete idiot and then as for Marie,

yeah, she just doesn't have much to do like they

probably would have been better off just kind

of leaving her out of these episodes and You

know just have her in the background for a while

Yep With yeah, and the same thing for me after

the first nine of the second season I like a

lot of the stuff with Jesse as we get to the

final four here I will like a lot of the stuff

with Jesse and Jane up until the point where

they start spiraling out of control In episode

10 of the second season, finally a beginning

that is actually ominous with the two body bags.

Finally something not with that pink stuffed

thing. Well, I mean, you knew something bad happened,

but yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And the opening

scenes to this, by the way, are wonderful. They

are, yeah. They have the party. Skylar throws

a party for Walt. Walt's miserable. Walter gets

hammered and starts like being a dink to everybody.

Well, with his speech, before he starts getting

hammered, with his speech, I couldn't tell if

he was trying to say the right thing or trying

to avoid saying the wrong thing. And this is

before he got hammered. Yeah, I don't know either.

And again, that's a mark of good television.

If you don't get what the character is going

after in one scene, then that must be something

really good television. This is the episode that

has the moment, but I reserve the right to change

this at a later date, just depending. But this

was the one where I said... I'm not sure, but

I think Walt giving Walter Jr. alcohol and him

not being able to take it is my breaking point

on Walt's character's transition into being bad

all the time. You know, obviously, as I just

said, I reserve the right to change his opinion,

but wow, that was horrible. Even if it's Hank

who is trying to be the good father to this kid

saying, no, no, no, and Walt just going off of

the deep end. like the fact that hank has to

be the good guy here and i'm not saying hank

is a bad guy but hank is that hank is a character

that he always wants to be the cool uncle too

right but you know hank is always the guy that

is always putting on a front for everybody he's

not showing anybody any emotion that's his character

and that's what works for him and that's fine

i i i like that but what i liked here is the

fact that he's actually being an adult about

this he's not egging them on and just seeing

wall jr uh... trope all of my car it is waltz

uh... arrogance comes through especially when

he drinks uh... and yet this was another one

of those this was clearly one of the times where

waltz just an arrogant break about everything

so you know Hey look John Delancey I produced

an interview with him once So John Delancey Q

is is Jane's dad That's gonna be some interesting

flying later very sad Yeah, especially since

like he's generally a comedic or sort of kind

character or mischievous that kind of thing and

then yeah, it gets a Mm -hmm some pretty dark

scenes later on but anyway and and I don't know

But hopefully Mike Dodd is listening to this

and Mike Dodd will know because he's a he's a

brony John was the voice of discord in the my

little pony friendship is magic cartoon series

So there's that and I would say by the end of

this episode Walt has gone completely bonkers

I Don't know if it's He's not a great person,

but yeah and Really, I mean the end of this one

too is Jesse Well, I mean a Walt breaks it off

with Jesse and Tells them that like they're done

B Jesse's relationship with James sort of grows

But then she won't admit that she's going out

with them to her dad, right? Which is kind of

lame, but anyway And then, yeah, we open into

episode 11, where we get back into serious and

really kind of long -term stuff because Combo

gets killed. Poor Combo. I knew that kid was

shifty as soon as I saw him ride. Before he even

got anywhere near Combo, I knew that kid riding

on that bike was going to be the... Well, just

in general, kids are shifty and terrible anyway,

so it made sense. And yeah, we get introduced

to a friend, whatever you want to call him, distributor,

somebody who Saul has worked with by the name

of Gus Fring. Well, we don't even get his name

in this episode, do we? He puts him in touch

with them, but yeah, I don't think he's named

here, but obviously we know. Yeah, we know as

watchers because we've seen the series before.

Yeah, at the time, yes, he gets into contact

with Gus. Gus is not a big fan of Jesse. Jesse,

by the way, at this point has graduated from

meth to heroin because that's Jane's drug of

choice. Their slow decline is very sad. very

sad and the episode ends with Walt breaking into

Jesse's place because he only has one hour to

get all the sky blue stuff to to the meat so

he can make this you know 672 that you know this

1 .2 million dollar deal which that was just

scary Walt breaking into his place and again

the interaction between the edges of the characters

yes but having erin paul basically you know buzzed

out on the bed and basically brian kranston having

to shake and answer that was some damn good acting

on both of their parts it really was if you fall

into that's the end of episode twelve No, that's

the end, no, that's the... Okay, yeah, it's the

first time. No, that's the end of episode 11.

Yeah, yeah, he does it again in 12, and that's

when... Alright, so anyway... Yeah, no, because

Skyler's about to have the baby, and... Yeah,

sorry, I'm mixing them up. The end of episode

11, yeah, she goes into labor. Yeah. And this

is after the stuff with Ted, who we've never

mentioned before, but... That was sort of a side

thing. I think that's another reason people are

mad at Skyler. She cheats on Walter. But as we've

seen a few times obviously Walter is already

cheating on her emotionally Yeah in terms of

you know what he's doing. He's constantly lying

to her that kind of thing, but Yeah, it does

lead to that sweet quote. I fucked Ted unquote

moment That was a great line. That was a great

line. It's also a Valentine or sorry not Valentine.

It's a Hallmark card you can find I'm not joking.

Anyway. So let me guess, does that mean that

people send that card to Mark Wahlberg? Because

he did the Ted movies. Sorry, when you bring

up Mark Wahlberg, I immediately get traumatized,

A, by horrible performance after horrible performance,

and B, the Transformers film. He was only in

one so far. Now two, yeah. yeah could be worse

it could be shy of a bitch actually i'd probably

prefer him at this point all right episode 12

so walt misses the birth of his daughter uh just

so he can go like make the the deal deal which

is good good money but anyway uh walt refuses

to give this is big because walt refuses to give

jesse the money until he gets clean. Yes, I don't

know. The family dynamic changes are interesting.

We said last episode where Walter Jr. was kind

of there just to have breakfast every morning

and to hang out with his friends. At this point

he sets up the website. He sets up the website

and he's really stepping up. And then I wrote

down something and I have no idea what imaginary

relative was this something about Walt going

so was this the trip? That he went on or something

or other to see his mother supposedly or something.

I don't know what the hell that was about Saul

and Walt talking about funneling the money through

the website Yeah Yeah, they end up using the

website the funnel some of the money uh... to

waltz are basically is a money laundering scheme

which is pretty sweet cuz later they have uh...

again you you talk about things happening in

in the beginning of the series and then things

coming back to the message but as the asset to

come back around because later they end up doing

them all the money laundering in the car wash

There's two big scenes leading up to this one

is Donald Jane's dad figures out or finds out

about her Using drugs again with Jesse and then

be Jane black males Walter into giving Jesse

his share of the money, right? And in the end,

this leads to Walter goes into a bar and has

a conversation with a man. He doesn't know that

man is Jane's father, and Jane's father obviously

doesn't know Walter White is Heisenberg, aka

Jesse's accomplice. And he gets this really good

conversation with the two of them about children.

Walter, to a certain extent, is also talking

about Jesse. yeah as well as his own experiences

as a father and it's a really good conversation

and it's a really good scene Walter seems to

actually sort of care and connect with Donald

yeah which makes the next scene really sad oh

my god like look like I get it they are Well,

Jesse isn't recovering. He was never in recovery.

But Jane, she had her 18 month chip. She was

clean for 18 months and she was not getting on

the stuff. And I get it. If you're in a relationship

where one person is doing something and the other

person isn't and somehow that other person gets

the other person into doing it, it's like completely

toxic and destroys the whole thing. But I really

wanted those two to have a happy ending and seeing

just Jesse. Obviously not I get it. No, I know

and and you know We'll talk about the you know,

Jesse. I'll talk about Jesse's emotional shit

in episode 13, but just the whole fact that Jane

gets strung out on heroin and Yeah, so Walt shakes

Jesse awake again, but this time he knocks Jane

onto her back her back which which probably yeah,

she throws up and begins to suffocate and Walter

I mean The episode clearly shows that I mean

Walter knows what to do and he would have been

able to save her But he chose not to. Yeah, he

chooses not to. When he stands and watches her

die, he does actually sort of feel bad at the

time. Well, at the time, during her death scene,

during her throws of death, several times during

that scene, I did see him shed multiple tears.

Yeah, for a lot of people, this was when they

got off of Team... Walter, a lot of the people

I talk to. I, by the way, stuck around for a

while. We'll get to the moment where I turn to

GameStem later on. And again, like I said, I

reserve the right to change my decision, but

again... I like the monitor, so what can I say?

But yeah, he watches Jane die here, which by

the way, that line... My feelings toward Walt

went to out and out hatred. I still remember

it too. We went into work the next day and everybody

of course was talking about breaking bad. And

I just, I ranted about how much I hated Walter

when in season five when Jesse's being hauled

away, Walt stops them just so he can say to Jesse,

I watched Jane die. Yeah. That is the moment

that like my disdain for him went to outright

hatred and I wanted Walt dead. But anyway, yeah,

it's all as a result of this episode. Oh, absolutely.

And this was one of the biggest episodes of the

series because yeah, it's the first time Walt

knowingly does something horrible to let somebody

who... G I mean Jane's not a horrible human being

she has an addiction problem. Yeah and she You

know, yeah, she blackmailed Walter, but a Walter's

not the nicest guy be Walter was withholding

money that Jesse earned I Mean Walt thinks he's

protecting Jesse. But yeah, yes The worst thing

he's done up to this point at least Yep. And

with episode 13, the finale for season two...

Explosive finale? Oh damn, I did that already.

Yeah. With the severed heads. But there's so

much in this one. Between Jesse and Jane, plus

her dad, Walt and the family watching the GoFundMe

thing, the DEA and Hank trying to figure it all

out with the blue sky meth. What I loved about

this was Jesse's emotional breakdown. Just...

Both times both at the house when the cleaner

when Mike the cleaner comes you loved that Wow,

you're a terrible person. No Okay, look from

season one to now We've seen Jesse basically

be this happy -go -lucky Yeah, nothing can touch

me Blah blah blah. Yo, dude this that and the

other thing everything else Jane comes into his

life and we think at least I thought She was

going to change him for the better, but he actually

changed her for the worse, even though Walt is

the one that technically killed her. Technically,

he didn't actually do it, but technically he

kinda did. You know, I just find that his emotional

breakdown, when Walt finds him, when he goes

and says, you know, she was the only person I

ever really loved, I just find that refreshing

in this series because... You're supposed to

think that both these characters have really

gone bad and obviously we're not fully there

yet with Walt We'll get there in season 3 but

as we've been saying Today and last week Jesse's

not a bad character and again the depths of his

character is why I like his emotional breakdown

because it wasn't something I was specifically

Expecting to see from him. I knew he was gonna

have some sort of emotional thing towards obviously

the death of the love of his life, but you know,

I wasn't expecting that much on the part of Aaron

Paul's acting. I'm not saying that his acting

is bad, I'm saying I wasn't expecting as much

gumption on that. At this point he, you know,

what do you know Aaron Paul, like... from you

know he was was on an episode of x -files isn't

saved by the bell uh... and by the way uh...

the save by the bell appearance so he's part

of the shakespeare troop uh... so i used to for

fun going to work and i'd play the clip or whatever

quoted and then it pretends that he's actually

jesse in the scene uh... so it'd be like who

is going to have my window bitch And stuff like

that. Wow. But anyway, so yeah, there was no,

there was no, I mean, it's fair. Like we didn't

know he was a great actor and, you know, he would

end up with all Emmys from this show. And he's

gone on to do some like really good stuff since

then. He's terrific on BoJack Horseman, even

though he's only You know, I shouldn't say only,

even though he's voice acting versus physical

acting, which is incredibly difficult, possibly

more so. And I know you're not going to agree

with this, but I'm going to say it anyway. Regardless

of what anyone feels about video game movies,

I loved him in Need for Speed. I like him. I

just don't think it was a good movie. The movie,

it's, okay, that movie, and this is a whole other

discussion from a whole other day, but since

we're bringing it up and since Aaron Paul was

in the damn movie, I loved him. And he didn't

say bitch at all. Yeah, this is a fully grown

up Jesse type, it was a different character obviously,

but just to me after watching Breaking Bad and

then watching that. You know, so what I liked

about that movie is they nailed the environments.

I've played multiple versions of the Need for

Speed game over the last... 15 -20 years and

besides the cars the biggest thing in those games

for the most part is the environments and I think

in all the races that were in the game in the

movie they nailed the environments and I thought

that was great and I also love the the the score

by Nathan first anyway uh... here's his introduction

to make at the start of this episode goes yet

might just yet jesse freaks out some calls uh...

walt's who calls all and soul brings in a professional

walls uh... souls for p i Slash handler guy who

turns out, you know, eventually we find out he's

actually working for Gus But anyway at this point,

yeah, he's just sort of working with Saul and

it's meant to sort of be a bit part but they

really liked Jonathan Banks and They liked the

idea of keeping the character around so he becomes

a main character later on. But yeah, this is

his first appearance So that was neat And yeah,

so much money gets funneled into the website.

It attracts the media, which Walt is really starting

to feel guilty because he does actually feel

something for killing Jane at this point. And

now he's got all this media attention and everything

talking about where poor guy is and he needs

money. Yeah, what a great guy he is and he deserves

it, that, you know, he's fighting this cancer.

And he is fighting cancer. It's not false. He

is fighting cancer. And when he does go to go

for treatment he screws up completely when he

mentions This was the one where he mentioned

he has a second cell phone to Skylar Yeah, because

I think he says something like which one when

she mentions Yeah, yeah, and so that gets her

back on the trail of the fact that he's been

completely lying to her I think yeah, she leaves

them in this episode. That's right. Yeah. Yeah

Yeah, she leaves him in this episode uh... and

then we get the plane crash uh... we see jane's

decline james dad's decline i should say uh...

she's dead by this point and he goes back to

work as near traffic controller when he probably

shouldn't no and that was the whole thing was

sherry ending well that was the whole thing from

the very beginning like you know you know because

again I remember when I watched this the first

time, I'm like, what the hell? Why is there a

pink bunny in the pool or whatever the hell it's

stuffed animal? And I didn't, you know, like

you said, all of the beginning scenes to the,

like before they do the Breaking Bad little montage

thing to break it up, the opening intro there,

I do like all of the beginning scenes. I like

how interesting the cleanup scenes get. But every

time that damn pink thing shows up, I just...

I just want to fast -forward. So Season 2, I

did very much enjoy it. Like I said, there are

several things that I wish that we could do away

with, like the entirety of Marie's storylines.

I'm really enjoying Hank and his aspect of the

whole thing. christen rare was an awesome person

to bring in for this for the general only anybody

else to play that better it's weird because at

this point uh... i don't think i knew who she

was and it was a high is that She started to

get more roles, that kind of thing. Jessica Jones.

Yeah, she was really good in Jessica Jones. The

Bee in Apartment 23 was actually a pretty solid

show, but it got cancelled fairly quickly after

the one year. good actress who can do both comedy

and drama obviously and it feels like yeah breaking

bad was kind of the break quote -unquote for

her in terms of people discovering that so okay

just looking at her really quick i'm not gonna

go through all of these but um probably one of

the biggest things for her in her early uh early

days to her she got her start on whoopie in 2004

She was K on One Life to Live. She was in an

episode of Law and Order in 2004. And then she

was on Gilmore Girls for eight episodes. She

was in Veronica Mars for eight episodes. And

then Breaking Bad 2009 and 2010. Oops, I probably

should have remembered she was in Veronica Mars.

Like you said don't trust to be in Department

23 and obviously like we said Jessica Jones,

and she's gonna be in defenders as Jessica Which

is great? For films she was her very first one

was the Ashley Judd film Ashley Judd Hugh Jackman

film someone like you she was uncredited as one

of the models in that most recent film Coming

up later this year the hero So so yeah, but no

absolutely love Kristen Ritter in this and I

obviously love her and Jessica Jones I Don't

know who's gonna be doing the Jessica Jones episode

with me because we will be doing Jessica Jones

season 1 just like we've done Daredevil season

1 and Luke Cage season 1 I don't know if it's

gonna be DJ Valentine or it might be you or it

might be somebody else I'm not sure yet. What

are you doing Daredevil season 2? I don't know

yet since you obviously need somebody who knows

furniture funny funny guy what uh... yeah uh...

other cast members uh... supporting recurring

cast members from this season uh... yet to go

which he'd last too long poor combo you know

i'm sorry thank you know i got was a drug dealer

he did not deserve to be shot by a kid Does Badger

come back? I don't remember. Oh, yes. Okay. In

fact, Badger is in the last episode with Skinny

Pete. Oh, okay. Okay. But they're also in a number

of different episodes culminating. One of my

favorites was Badger's excellent Star Trek episode

idea. Oh, God. Where they pitched the pie -eating

contest. Oh, God. oh boy I would have to say

character that stole the season this year it's

gotta be Saul yeah I mean you can make an argument

for Jane that kind of well yeah but no I think

most people would say yeah Bob Odenkirk as Saul

yeah and Saul's a good enough character that

I mean not only did he hang around but he got

his own show as you know Jimmy McGill yeah very

true very true but no i'm like i said folks like

i said last time i'm going into breaking bad

with an open mind and i think i've been both

positive and negative uh... so i haven't just

been negative on this i've told you what i like

what i don't like about it and which characters

i like and don't like and things like that so

i'm not being completely negative like i was

x number of years ago overall season two i'd

probably give it a three and a half out of five

I'd probably go for because I gave three and

a half to season one. Yeah, you three three and

a half So I do consider season two better. Yeah

started to kind of find their way So by default,

I kind of have to bring it up I realize that

that backs me into a corner with later seasons.

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, well I'm actually okay

with that because there's at least two seasons

of Breaking Bad that I'm just gonna end up giving

a five because I can't find much wrong with them.

So anyway. Absolutely. Hopefully everyone's enjoying

our Breaking Bad coverage here on Remote Control,

which is both on GeekCast Radio Network and This

Week in Geek. If you're not enjoying it, email

Mike Dodd. What does he have to do with it? What

the hell? You can't blame the guy. He's not here.

He's off getting him getting himself healthy

wealthy and wise Well, I don't know about the

wise part, but or wealthy That's kind of my thing,

isn't it? Anyway, wow All righty then next week

we've got Breaking Bad Season 3, or maybe two

weeks from now, I don't know. It just depends

on how fast I can get 13 episodes watched. Personally,

I'm going to make a more concentrated effort

to do more than four or five episodes to recap.

Because my memory's clearly not what it used

to be. Well, I watched the whole season. No,

I know. Each time I am watching like I have no

I don't have oh like season my season two notes

the middle episodes like right before Saul came

in like five episode five six and seven I had

maybe one or two notes, but like the first two

or three or four episodes, I had like six, seven

or eight different notes for each episode. And

no, I'm watching the whole whole season as we

go along. Cause again, like I said, originally

I had a huge negative vibe to this show. And

as I've said multiple times already in this episode,

I'm trying to go back watching it with, you know.

an open mind so i have to watch everything and

take notes on almost everything now there are

going to be episodes where i just kind of sit

here and be like okay please hurry up please

hurry up please hurry up but yeah there will

be stuff like that but most of the stuff i mean

i'm trying my best to point out certain character

traits and whatever else that i do and don't

like and things like that and some of the events

so Yep next week. We'll be here like it might

be two weeks. I don't know folks yet. Just yet

But yeah, we will be we will be breaking bad

one more time again next week with season 3 Because

season 3 is kind of where all the shit kind of

hits the fan Pretty much right yeah and the show

like significantly improves it really starts

finding its stride on a regular basis Yeah Where

can the people find you online sir at night be?

On Twitter you can find me at TFG on Mike on

Twitter you can follow at geek cast radio on

Twitter You can follow at this week and geek

on Twitter as well If you'd like to send us email

for remote control specifically send it to me

TFG on Mike at gmail .com just put in the subject

line Remote control breaking bad and whatever

the season we're on so whatever season you want

to leave her Email for season 2 season 1 whatever

And yeah, that's going to do it for us here on

Remote Control. Join us next week when we find

out who will be fighting over the remote control.

So if you want to make more money and keep the

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