Last night was pretty nuts. I wish AMC had some sort of subscription service. After watching the past seasons and dropping my cable last year I bought this season on "Zune video." Streams through the Xbox.

Randomly decided to watch the new episode 3 weeks ago. I liked it so i started at season 1. Now i'm catching up on netflix and now i'm halfway through season 2. Shouldn't be watching Season 5 but i can't help myself!!

Hooked!

Quit with that skipping ahead business! NOW!!!

You'll be there soon enough and be thanking yourself for the restraint.

Yeah, seriously NO SKIPPING AHEAD! It will only hurt you man. Especially if you saw the most recent episode.

Wow! It was so hard to not come in here, glad I got no spoilers!... 1 more episode and another break

Excellent little article at The Atlantic: The Big Secret of 'Breaking Bad': Walter White Was Always a Bad Guy

An excerpt from the article, something I didn't know previously: "When put together, the titles of the first, fourth, tenth, and 13th episodes of Breaking Bad's second season spell out "737 down over ABQ," which turned out to be the resolution of the season's central mystery."

(In case anyone doesn't know, ABQ = Albuquerque)

Great read, Dean - thanks for the link!

In case anyone missed it the first time around, Marc Maron just re-posted his hourlong interview with Cranston from last October. It's a good listen.

Wow very cool that article is crazy!

Another good article, this time at Wired: How Breaking Bad Composer Scores Cliffhangers, Drug Lords and Heisenberg’s Hat

A brief excerpt: "A few of the more interesting world instruments I’ve [composer Dave Porter] recorded for the show include a Japanese koto (sometimes used when Walt dons his black “Heisenberg” hat), reproductions of traditional Aztec war whistles (for the Mexican assassins) and an Andean flute called a quena (for Gus Fring)."

He also makes heavy use of vintage synthesizers including a Roland Juper-8 (think of "New Gold Dream" by Simple Minds) and an old monophonic Prophet ("Another Green World" by Brian Eno.)

http://www.bettercallsaul.com/

...“I would love to see a Saul Goodman spinoff,” Gilligan said...

The end of the middle, coming right up!

W.W.

Hey guys, just ! fucking year to go!!!???

holy hell!

that Godfatheresque bump off scene was beautiful

indeed!

i had a strong feeling weeks ago that the final scene of this half season would be hank finally making the connection

i read somewhere that the bags of cash that Walt left for Jesse were actually Mike's bags and that Jesse was distraught because he realized Mike didn't get away and that he now knows Walter probably killed him.

odd because i didn't pick that up when watching the finale. I just thought Jesse was upset because he was ready to kill Walter if need be.

Walter is an idiot for keeping that Walt Whitman book from Gale. Especially after that season 4 episode. wtf.

Wow what a cliffhanger! My g/f berated me at the end:

I liked that the episode started with shots of a fly.

I don't know if this is meaningful or not, but I'm just gonna throw it out there because I don't think any detail on this show is thoughtless. There was no original illustrative music in this episode ... all of it was selected from pre-existing sources. The song playing in the background during the penultimate scene (with the close-up of the beetle and the baby cart-cam and everyone enjoying themselves in the back yard) just before Hank goes to the can, is an old New Wave era classic, "Up the Junction" by Squeeze. The song references a book which later became a television drama (in the UK) and then a movie. It's been covered by many artists. It tells a story with a sad trajectory: A working class guy falls in loves, starts a family with his lady. A couple of years later she leaves him (he drinks too much.) He ends up all alone and in trouble, "up the junction." Someone somewhere had to choose that song consciously. If nothing else, I thought it was significant that this was the only time in the season when we see the Whites and Schraders looking like a big happy family ... just before Hank's epiphany.

Also, as music goes, how about that use of Tommy James & the Shondells’ “Crystal Blue Persuasion?" Perfect!

Waiting a whole year for whatever-comes-next is going to be hard.

The prison scene will go down as one of the absolute greatest moments in television history. It's brutal and ultra realistic, and how it's shot and the music that went with it all was just so pitch perfect. I was thoroughly impressed the entire run time last night, and the ending was completely organic.

Jesus lord almighty do I ever hate cliffhangers.

After what happened last night, I can totally agree. I haven't felt this much pure stress over having to wait a year for what is going to happen next since LOST was in it's prime.

I amazed it took them this long to use Crystal Blue Persuasion in an episode.
It's going to be a long year

Best drama in the history of television hands down.

If he hasn't already, it seems inevitable that Jesse will figure out or find out that Walt killed Mike. I wonder if he'll ever find out about Jane and Brock? Imagine the rage...

I just remembered something. Early in the season, Mike told Lydia "this isn't the movies" when she suggested that the nine Fring players be offed. But then Walt (with the help of Todd's Aryan Brotherhood connection) pulled it off ... like in the movies. (Good call by deadboy on the get 'em all sequence from "The Godfather.")

The brief MRI sequence was a reminder that Walt's cancer might still be an issue, but somehow I think it's more likely that Skylar or Jesse will kill him. Maybe Hank but I doubt it.

I am ok with the year wait, if that year gives VG enough time to make the last 8 episodes count...he's got a BIG pair of shoes to fill to pull off a suitable finale...but I can wait as long as he doesn't pull a "Lost" on the audience. I'd rather a "Sopranos" than a "Lost" ending...without a doubt.

Last night was ok...but expremely depressing seeing Mike in the trunk of that car...he was a bad guy in reality, but still sucked to see him end up in the trunk of a car.

I always wanted to see what Hank would do with this information. He seemed to be too smart not to be the one to figure something out.

I'm sure it won't end this way, but it would totally blow if he just never says/does anything and they all live happily ever after.....