Thanks Fussbudget,

I must have dreamt it, for some reason I believed that I saw a thread on BB being constantly added to, but without ever checking it out.

It seems I was completely wrong.

Anyways, I got the free trial of Netflix on the PS3 last week, watched the 1st and 2nd series on there, then downloaded the 3rd and 4th online, watched them all within the space of a week.

Just finished watching the last episode of season 4.. Punch the air excellence. I would like to say I will write a longer review, but I probably wont.

There's going to be a season five, beginning this spring, which surprised me a bit. The conclusion of four seemed so organic, if that makes sense. I hope they're not just going to milk the concept till it's dry.

Amor de Cosmos wrote:
There's going to be a season five, beginning this spring, which surprised me a bit. The conclusion of four seemed so organic, if that makes sense. I hope they're not just going to milk the concept till it's dry.

I know what your saying, I don't think any admirer would like to see it jump the shark, but I reckon at the very least there's still plenty of scope for tying up the Hank/DEA loose end. Hank's such a brilliant character and important force in the plot that it would be unfortunate for the writers not to explore that to some kind of final conclusion. I hope Saul Goodman is in it too.
Of course, another season allows for new japes to begin, and Walter is not a little tapped in the head himself is he? That opens up the plot choices a bit.

My preconceptions of the show were a little different to what it was actually like. I thought that because it had Bryan Cranston starring in it that it was more of a comedy show, and although some of the writing was brilliantly witty and funny, I was surprised and pleased about how dark it was.

Oh, I agree there are elements to build on but, as you say, they're loose ends. Building an entire series around one or more of them may work dramatically but it wouldn't be Breaking Bad, or at least not the show over its first for seasons.

That essentially span around the relationship between Walter and Jesse with meth manufacture as its ethical fulcrum. That appears to have gone now. Perhaps it can be revived in some cunning and convincing way, I do hope so. But if not then what follows may have the same cast and title, it may even be good television, but it won't be the same Breaking Bad.

Perhaps, I share your mild trepidation about the makers screwing it up, after watching the whole show in one week I feel quite attached to the it.

To address your main point. as an example, the relationship between Jesse & Walter from the beginning of series 1 Breaking Bad is significantly different from the beginning of series 4 Breaking Bad, they are in itself different Breaking Bads as well, they too have adapted. I wouldn't say that little handshake between them at the end (albeit the most upfront affectionate moment between them in the whole show) has changed everything to the point where the show has led itself up some kind of dead-end.

As with the best dramas, BB is multi-faceted with more than one driving force. I would say that Walter's cancer and his need to provide is the real driving force that will determine whether he stops or not, and of course, in terms of money he doesn't have what he did have before Skyler paid for Beneke's IRS bill and the Carwash (which are in itself open to investigation), and of course there's Walters guilt when it comes to Jesse's junkie girlfriend, and his new girfriend's son. They could play Walter as the power mad don who attempt's and perhaps, fails to build an empire.
When it comes to each other, they (J&W) know where the bodies are buried, death might be the only way to disentangle. The show will only be over when one or both of the main protagonists die.

Whatever happens, there's certainly enough scope for a very skilled writer in Gilligan to weave something even better in season 5. I sincerely hope he does anyway, he's/they've done well up until now. I'm glad it's Spring and not Autumn we have to wait until that's for sure.

To address your main point. as an example, the relationship between Jesse & Walter from the beginning of series 1 Breaking Bad is significantly different from the beginning of series 4 Breaking Bad, they are in itself different Breaking Bads as well, they too have adapted.

No question, their relationship has altered many times during the four seasons. But it has always revolved around the process of making meth together. It was the constant that's now disappeared, or so it seems. Without it it's going to be a different show. Nonetheless I'm eagerly anticipating season five. I wonder if it'll be running in tandem with Mad Men again?

ian.64 wrote:
And all of them could come up with something immeasurably better than The Green Hornet.

If you think you've wasted your time watching GH, go and watch Sucker Punch. It'll have you pining for the sane, sober and lucid storytelling of Green Hornet. Hell, it'll have you praying for a sequel.

Amor de Cosmos wrote:
I wonder if it'll be running in tandem with Mad Men again?

That's another series I've slept on, and fear I will have to spend another solid week catching up on.

life is just so, unfair, man.

I am really very pleasantly surprised at how much I'm enjoying 'New Girl'.

Given that the little one doesn't lend herself to evenings out, we've succumbed and signed up to movie channels.

So far I've suffered through Green Hornet (started in a mediocre fashion, got steadily worse; really just poor); Limitless (despite a scatty, fragmented plot swiss-cheesed with holes not a bad Saturday night effort); Unstoppable (for a dull premise, not too bad); The Crazies (tedious); Legion (utterly loopy, but Paul Bettany is a cut above); The Book Of Eli (a film far less than the sum of its parts, those being The Road, The Postman and Mad Max II); an hour of Hot Tub Time Machine (all I could cope with); Priest (sub-Judge Dredd). I've recorded Senna just for some mental relief.

I sort of liked New Girl, then missed a few episodes and realised that I was feeling very indifferent about it.

Lately I caught up Hung, a series about a teacher who becomes a male prostitute (for women), with a failed poet for a pimp. It has been cancelled after three seasons, which is a pity.

Senna

'You don't have to be a racing car freak to enjoy it' they said. They were right. The reveal at the end where Alain Prost is revealed to be a trustee of the childrens' charity created by his bitter rival packs a small punch of its own.

An excellent documentary.

ian.64 wrote:
Senna

'You don't have to be a racing car freak to enjoy it' they said. They were right. The reveal at the end where Alain Prost is revealed to be a trustee of the childrens' charity created by his bitter rival packs a small punch of its own.

An excellent documentary.

Have not found the subtitles for this yet but really looking forward to it. That and Fire in Babylon are my sports documentaries to see.

Just watched Cobra Verde. Better than I'd expected. Rather good actually. It does seem a thematic sequel to Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo and has the full complement of Herzogisms. Enigmatic dwarf - check. Animistic jive-talk - check. Man vs nature, murder a condition of everyday life, depredations of colonialism, Kinski screaming his larynx off amid ululating primitives - check check check check. (To give Klaus his due, he's a decent actor when not shouting and pouting all the time.) Against these cavils, I liked the landowner's discovery of his daughters' impregnation and the king saying "I'll thatch my roof with the skulls of my enemies"; also, when the missionary gave communion to a goat.

Watched The Ides of March last night: disappointing. It was an incoherent mix of '70s conspiracy flick and Hitchcock-style melodrama. The romantic sub-plot was flimsy and ill-judged, and I found it hard to overlook the frequent gaps in logic, e.g., how a campaign adviser could be so naive; that a Democrat frontrunner would be unapologetic in defending atheism and the right to abort. Ryan Gosling's character is supposed to be a political genius yet, throughout the film, his singular talent is for making a balls of everything. As such films go, The Candidate remains the best.

Agree with you on that ETS, welcome aboard too.

Doesn't need it's own thread so this is as good a place as any to point out the shaky chronology of this week's 'LOOK! IT'S 1979!' episode of 'White Heat':

- although it was set during the election campaign, we heard 'Too Much Too Young' on a pub jukebox, and 'London Calling' used as context, although neither was released until much later in the year. Even 'Dance Away' was touch and go.

- a news report showing rubbish piling up in the street, with the report suggesting it was near the start of the rubbish collectors strike although this ended in February (and the report was shown as happening after Airey Neave got killed).

- laddo, during the campaign, throwing at dart at a photo of Thatcher, which was from when she won either the 79 or 83 election

- The Sweeney being shown on a pub telly in broad daylight during what would have been an April day.

- and finally, leaving aside even the issue of whether It's a Knockout / Jeux Sans Frontieres was shown during the spring (and again, when it was bright sunshine outside), them fellas with the big noses weren't introduced until later in 1979.

I'm dubious about the font used on the Labour Party poster, but even I recognise this is veering on obsessive behaviour so I'm not going to try to prove it.

Of course, this is all just a ruse to deflect attention away from the modern day characters looking nothing like their younger counterparts - unless of course they all have to get facial reconstructive surgery in a later episode when they all somehow get caught up in the Iranian Embassy siege, or the Kings Cross fire, or on Piper Alpha, or something - and too young to have been at university 47 years ago.

Well: firstly, welcome, belatedly WFD.

I have never heard of this. And yet, it has an imdb all of its own.

But, even if I had a criticism, I think I will leave it to you, as you have covered all the bases, beautifully.

Wasp Woman

"Holy smoke, Pete! These aren't bees, these are wasps, what has that crazy old guy been doing with that grant I gave him?"

"See Bill, I told you that guy that was a complete nut"

Roger Corman. 1950's black and white. Total fucking skill.

The time-bending features of last week's (1982 episode of) White Heat':

- 'Do You Really Want to Hurt Me' playing on a car radio in June (it was released In September)

- a racial taunt based around West Ham losing that day, again in June

- Lily saying (in April or May 1982) that she'd applied for an enterprise allowance, which wasn't fully launched until mid 1983, though admittedly it appears there was a pilot scheme in 1982 so maybe she was just a pioneer

- Mark Thatcher going missing and the Falklands starting were several months apart, but were presented as being much closer, though at least they got them in the right order

I thought they missed a trick when Charlie arrived at Greenham Common at the end of the Falklands conflict, I was half expecting her to ride up to the gates on Shergar.

I'm looking forward to the last episode, firstly to see what a mess they make of 1990 but also to see what's in the safe.