The Chase Lounge

Those are excellent observations. I will be sad to see this show leave the airwaves, but happy I don't have to see any more of Cranston's downward spiral. Very similar.

i keep seeing Walter White compared to Tony Soprano, but honestly the character reminds me of Junior more than anyone

zwingli wrote:i keep seeing Walter White compared to Tony Soprano, but honestly the character reminds me of Junior more than anyone

I'd be interested to read your thoughts on this.

Is it Walt's insecurity that reminds you of Junior? That was my first thought when reading your post.

MauroZucca wrote:I'd be interested to read your thoughts on this.

Is it Walt's insecurity that reminds you of Junior? That was my first thought when reading your post.

mostly what i see is kind of the duality in both characters - Junior is both a silly old man and a cunning mob boss, Walter is both a goofy emasculated husband and a crafty meth kingpin. there's also the physical presence - both characters are spidery little Nosferatus sneaking around and scheming (at least, Season 1 Junior was this), and of course, there's the bald head, smaller frame and glasses.

I've enjoyed this show since it first aired, but I have to say it's overrrating it greatly to put in the same league as Sopranos and the Wire. Those shows really offer a lot of thought and stay with you over time, whereas I feel BB is just a really well crafted entertaining thrill ride; it doesn't stand up nearly as well to repeated viewing because so much of it relies upon moment to moment suspense and narrative trickery.

There is no tv-show in the same league with "The Sopranos". No competition,nnnnnnnnnnnnever.End of story.

I generally agree with that sentiment, murmur, but I would say Breaking Bad comes fairly close in depth at the least. It is only one of three shows I am really following right now, the other two being Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey (an anglophiles pleasure...and Maggie Smith.) It is certainly the bleakest and that is saying something if you know anything of Martin's GoT.

However, I will say that by now in BB, I no longer expect Walter to "see the light" where I still somehow had hope for Tony at the end. Didn't turn out that way, but what they hey.

I agree that it doesn't compare to the Sopranos in terms of staying-power (i.e., re-watchability) and overall quality, but it's a superb way to spend 40 minutes. And I would argue that Cranston's acting is as good, if not better than Gandolfini's at times.

I agree with DH that Breaking Bad is as bleak a show as there is out there. And I doubly agree that Walt has absolutely no chance at any kind of redemption. I don't think it's too far off to suggest that Gilligan is setting us up for a final half-season where Walt is the full-blown villain and Hank and/or Jesse is the protagonist. Gilligan's had the wheels in motion on this shift probably as early as the episode where Walt lets Jane die.

Is anyone as excited for these final 8 episodes as I am?

Well Garth, that is a fascinating question that opens up all sorts of discussion on the subjectivity of the human experience. but yeah i'm also pretty psyched