#brgo rewatch

[heisenbergchronicles]

#Breaking Good Companion for 1x07

By Ryan Humphrey in Feltham, UK / Tumblr / Society6 / Facebook 

[heisenbergchronicles]

#Breaking Good Companion for 1x06

Observations: “For the first time, Walt’s crimes lead Hank to his doorstep, thanks to the investigation into stolen chemistry gear from the high school. There’s also an amazing poker-face-off between Hank and Walt that demonstrates Walt’s secret loathing for his brother-in-law. This foreshadows how little he comes to think of Hank’s sleuthing abilities, and shows how much the megalomaniacal Walt relishes beating Hank, whom he considers a blowhard as well as a threat to his relationship with his son." – Jeremy Stahl for Slate

[heisenbergchronicles]

#Breaking Good Companion for 1x06

"Bad ass, Dad."

[heisenbergchronicles]

#Breaking Good Companion for 1x06

Observations: "Sometimes a high point can be a low point, too. Take Walt’s initial confrontation with Tuco, the meth-addled psychopath who beat Jesse to a pulp before stealing his money and drugs. To the world, it looks like a daring daylight raid on the enemy compound, featuring the debut of Walt’s hat-wearing Heisenberg alter ego and a don’t-you-know-I’m-loco use of explosives. Walt certainly sees it as a victory, growling like a triumphant predator over a fresh kill and pounding the wheel of his car in celebration as hundred-dollar bills flutter all around him. But a win for Heisenberg is a loss for the man Walt used to be, and his sheer enjoyment of coming out on top is proof that something very bad inside him has been waiting a lifetime to get out."

– from Bad Man Rising: Walter White’s Lowest Lows (Rolling Stone)

[heisenbergchronicles]

#Breaking Good Companion for 1x06

Observations: "One of the prototypical signs of a chemical reaction is something changing color — heck, Walt does it with a gas flame in the first episode. So when Walt’s urine changes color to bright orange, it’s not just a medical detail. The scientist has become the reagent." – Donna Bowman's review of 1x06, pics from Breaking Bad Observations

[heisenbergchronicles]

#Breaking Good Companion for 1x06

"... I feel I got to put a lot of my own into Tuco, even though, just like all the others, his character was created by the writers collaboratively. Like even little details like his grill, and things like that. Before I was a writer, I worked in juvenile corrections for a while. So I was channeling a lot of things from the more violent kids I had to deal with at the juvenile prison. A few of the gang members I was supervising took a lot of pride in their gold and platinum tooth displays, and I channeled this little detail in describing Tuco.

"And then Ray Cruz brought so much detail to that character, so Tuco took on a life of his own. One of the joys or writing in a collaborative medium, like television or movies, is to write and see an actor come in and add so much of their own. It’s great to have that feeling that you as a writer inspired that performance, but then to let it go and see where someone else takes it."

– Breaking Bad writer George Mastras

[heisenbergchronicles]

Breaking Good Companion: 1x05 - Gray Matter rewatch This week A.Ron and Jim juxtapose Walt at his most sympathetic as he explains his choice to refuse treatment for his cancer during the powerhouse “Family Meeting” scene, and yet we also see him seemingly throw away his chance to be treated and secure his family’s financial future to preserve his pride. How do we reconcile Walt the every man with Walt the egomaniac? This was a fantastic cast. Here's my collection of links and notes for deep dive enjoyment: 

Mentioned on podcast:

Writer: This is the first episode of BrBa not written by the Villigan. Season 1 writer and producer, Patty Lin, drew the honors. Her  credits as a writer and story editor previous to BrBa include Friends, Freeks and Geeks and Desperate Housewives. She was nominated for a Writer's Guild Award in Best Episodic Drama for writing this episode, but lost to Vince Gilligan's work on the pilot. 

Director: Tricia Brock directed this episode. Prior to this ep, she directed on The L Word, Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy and had also wrote on Twin Peaks. Post BrBa, she went on to direct on Saving Grace, 30 Rock, Girls, Silicon Valley and The Walking Dead. This was her only BrBa episode. 

Helicopter bitch!: Brandon "Badger" Mayhew, played by Matt L. Jones, is introduced in this episode. It's his only appearance in Season 1. Badger is always a scene-stealer on the show.

The title of this episode comes from Gray Matter Technologies, the company co-founded by Walter White with his friend Elliott Schwartz. The name came from a combination of the two’s last names. Schwartz meaning black in German, combined with White made gray. I wonder if this is also word play about how we don't understand why Walt left the company. 

The eternal Gray Matter: So how did Walt get from that Nobel plaque to the high school and the car wash? Why did he leave Gretchen and Gray Matter? These questions are never fully answered on the show. But some insight can be found in this AMC interview in 2009 with Jessica Hecht, the actress who plays Gretchen. More here.

As we learned in the pilot, Walt was a crystallography guru back in the Gray Matter days. It's all about the synchrotrons baby!

Pride: The centerpiece of this episode is how we learn Walt's mortal flaw: pride. Vince sets the stage for the whole Heisenberg arc with Walt's refusal to take Elliott's charity. Hell, even Hank sees it crystal clear, "...you can hold on to your pride and lose the game." In The Theology of Breaking Bad, Jordan Monge notes: "In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis calls pride 'The Great Sin' for it 'has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began… it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice.' We see in Walter’s case that it is his pride—an unwillingness to accept normal treatment, a refusal to be a charity case even when faced with his own impending death—that starts him on the path toward manufacturing meth. Pride is the catalyst that leads to all of Walter’s other sins." Much has been written on the subject of Walt's pride. For more, check out Pride Cometh Before Breaking Bad, Crime and Punishment: Greed, Pride and Guilt in Breaking Bad, and Badly Broken, where the author asserts that the show is "a sustained meditation on pride as the will to reorder reality according to one’s own desire. Behind all its many disguises, this desire seeks self-perpetuation and self-aggrandizement. The harbinger of this desire is the 'lie,' for what is lying but the dismissal of true reality by the willful manipulation of others through a false narrative."

Minor Errata: They mention that show composer Dave Porter created a unique variation on the Breaking Bad theme for the end credit sequence. Each of these can be now be enjoyed when watching on Netflix, which is great, because it was usually interrupted on the AMC broadcast by the "Next on..." trailer. The minor mistake the Baldies make here is that this didn't start until Season 2. Most end credits of S1 are licensed songs, not Porter's score. What probably threw them off is the that the end credits for 1x05 are the exception. It's the only S1 instance of Porter creating a variant credits theme (maybe they ran out of music licensing funds). In a recent Keyboard magazine interview, Porter explains why he made these, "Every Breaking Bad episode has always felt to me like its own film, and it felt wrong to jump right from the ending of the episode into the same cue each week without regard for where that episode had left us emotionally. Just as feature films have end credit music designed to continue the tone of the film you just watched, I wanted to do the same. It was definitely a labor of love for a special project, and not one I’m likely to repeat anytime soon."

They ask, "Is meth the chiral version of cold medicine?" Apparently it is. You can read more about that here, but I didn't understand a word of it. Guess that's why I'm not a chemist.

Also discussed are two oft-debated elements of the show:

When does the show take place? There isn't a definitive answer to this question, just theories, a lot of theories. Like A.Ron says in cast, the intent is to be timeless. Here's what Vince told Alan Sepinwall during the planning of the final 8 eps: "We do have a few inconsistencies here and there, to be sure. We try not to set it in any particular time. Going backwards, I don't think we ever say. We do have clues, like in the first episode, Walt's hanidcap placard has the date 2007 on it, which if I had my druthers, I'd go back and change. Every now and then you'll see a license plate or something else, like a plaque in Pollos Hermanos saying it was voted 'Favorite Restaurant 2010.' As time has progressed, a few of these things have slipped by. But in my mind's eye, this is the present. What I mean by that is, I like people in 2007 thinking this is the present, and now in 2012 thinking this is the present. At a certain point, 20 years from now, it will, based on clothing and technology and cars, it'll begin to feel more of a specific time, but in my mind's eye I see it as continually the present. That's also why we don't ever say what month it is."

Why does everyone use flip phones? The most common response you get to this question is "They are drug dealers and these are cheap, untraceable, burner phones." Sounds great, but as we see in Season 1, everyone uses them (some involved in the drug trade, most are not). I don't recall any official explanation on this, but S1 was made in 2007, the year the iPhone 1 was launched. So at the time, most folks still had flip phones, especially those on a budget. And given that the bulk of the show happens within a 1-year timeline, flip phones make sense. The time context, and the drug trade both add up to a complete answer. But there is also another, more visual reason, "Simply because it's cooler to end a call with a flip phone. Call ends: snap, you're done. You walk coolly off into the distance." Plus, you can have fun breaking them. In case you're wondering, flip phones are still preferred by a lot of folks. Weird.

Additional 1x05 notes & goodies:

Season 1, cut short by the 2007-08 writer's strike, was supposed to have been 9 episodes. Despite being shortened by a couple eps, "Gray Matter" still serves as a transition point from the first major story arc (Cancer diagnosis - Cook meth - Walt & Jesse vs. Bad #1 - Krazy 8) to the second major story arc that spills into the first 3 eps of S2 (Cancer treatment - Cook meth - Walt & Jesse vs. Bad #2: Tuco, which ultimately brings the birth of Heisenberg). It's growth, decay, then transformation.

Breaking Bad Observations for 1x05. Aria Mohtadi's in-depth visual analysis cleverly dissects clues, and provides a comprehensive look at callbacks and parallels that reference the pilot throughout the show's run. Always an enjoyable read. 

The Science of Breaking Bad: John Preece talks about pseudoephedrine, Scientific American, molecular switches and synchrotron radiation.

You can find a ton of fan art, gifs, callbacks, locations and factoids in the Chronicles' rewatch project for 1x05 from last year. I'll be reblogging some of my faves separately.

More info:

Bald Move will be doing an AMA on Reddit on Mon, Sept. 8. Get your questions ready!

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– Companion by Shayne Bowman, Heisenberg Chronicles

[heisenbergchronicles]

#Breaking Good Companion for 1x05

Why exactly did Walt leave Gray Matter? This question is never fully answered on the show. But some insight can be found in this AMC interview in 2009 with Jessica Hecht, the actress who plays Gretchen.

"...Vince told us exactly what went down between [Walt and Gretchen] off screen: We were very much in love and we were to get married. And he came home and met my family, and I come from this really successful, wealthy family, and that knocks him on his side. He couldn’t deal with this inferiority he felt — this lack of connection to privilege. It made him terrified, and he literally just left me, and I was devastated.”

Also see: Discussions on Reddit, Stack Exchange; BrBa Wiki