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paullwetzel
Reviews
Breaking Bad: No Más (2010)
From bad to worse
Walt tries to cope with the situation of indirectly being responsible for the flight accident by playing down the severity of it in a high school pep talk.
Meanwhile, Jesse enters rehab to get over the trauma that he has been through.
Skyler goes through with her plans of divorcing Walt. Her suspicions of Walt being a drug dealer are confirmed when he admits to being a methamphetamine manufacturer.
Trying to fix things, Walt visits Gus Fring and explains that he will be moving out of the meth business to care for his family, yet he is tempted when Gus offers 3 million dollars for three months if his work.
A scene that was really sad was Jesse's talk with the rehabilitation leader...despite all the terrible things one may have done, one can learn to accept themselves for whom one is and keep going. Jesse takes this the wrong way and accepts that he is the "bad guy" and continues to work with Walt.
Breaking Bad: ABQ (2009)
Heartbreak
The morning dawns and we witness Jesse desperately trying to revive Jane's corpse... unsuccessfully. Jane's dad is expecting to find her on the porch to take her into rehab after having given in to her plead of waiting one more night...instead he finds doctors taking his daughter's lifeless body into the ambulance.
This was incredibly difficult to watch... Jesse's pain, the dad's reaction, everything felt so pulpable and real.
Walt now has a massive secret to keep from Jesse that it was him who caused her demise. The scene where Walt comforts Jesse fantastically highlighted Walt's selfishness and unscrupulousness to lie to get anything he wants...even if it means emotional murder towards a friend.
Breaking Bad: Phoenix (2009)
Born from the ashes
Walt has successfully gone through with Gus' deal, yet refuses to pay Jesse his half because he has been getting high with Jane.
Jane blackmails Walt and threatens to expose his identity if he doesn't give Jesse his money.
In the night, Walt arrives at Jesse's apartment to talk to him. However, he finds Jane, lying on her back and choking on her vomit due to the drug's influence. Within a few seconds, he must make the decision of whether to save her or whether to let her die. Seeing all the trouble that Jane has caused him, Walt decides to end her life.
This is one of the most brutal scenes in the show. With the amount of chemistry and energy that there has been between Jesse and Jane, this scene is gut-wrenching. They really had to insert the cutest moments between the two in this episode, from ranking Jesse's high school drawings to their plans of moving to New Zealand before killing her off.
I feel that this episode's title is metaphorical for Walt embracing his position as a cold-hearted drug lord. From the ashes if his unfulfilling life, he is now rising up as a flaming phoenix, embracing his hatred, cold-bloodedness and ego.
Breaking Bad: Mandala (2009)
Tough choices under immense pressure
Walt stays persistent in his attempt to find the man who is capable of distributing his crystal meth at Los Pollos Hermanos. However, he does not seem very convinced of Walt's attitude, especially in holding on to Jesse.
When Walt seeks to look for him again, he is confronted by one of Gus' dealers who tells Walt a place that he has to have transported the meth to within an hour. Walt urgently breaks into Jesse's house and takes the meth just when he sees Skyler's text message that his daughter is being born. Walt decides to go through with the deal and to see his daughter afterwards.
I love it when the writers manage to craft a believable situation in which the characters have to make such heavy, morally - grey choices. This is storytelling at it's finest and really let's the egoistic and dark side of Walt shine through.
Breaking Bad: Over (2009)
Taking Heisenberg home
After having returned from his 4-day cooking spree, Walter is checked up on again to observe how his cancer has developed. To the family's delight (ironically taking Walter out of the equation), Walt's tumor has reduced in size by 80 percent.
The family holds a celebration that ticks everything but Walt's definition of 'fun'. Of course, Gretchen and Elliot are falsely being celebrated again for paying for Walt's treatment and Hank is the one giving the "fatherly advice" to Junior instead of it being Walt.
What follows is the infamous Tequila bottle scene in which Walt urges Junior to drink the alcohol in response to which Hank takes it away, which angers Walt to the extent that he shouts at Hank, demanding him to bring the bottle back.
While an incredibly uncomfortable scene to watch, it takes the indirect battle that Walt has with Hank throughout the entirety of the show and condenses the characters feelings and thoughts of one another into a direct confrontation.
Breaking Bad: 4 Days Out (2009)
Survivor's instinct
With Saul as their lawyer and legal advisor, Walt and Jesse need to spare a bit of their earnings to pay for Saul's services.
Walt crafts another lie and tells Skyler that he will be visiting his mother, while he secretly plans on cooking for four days straight with Jesse.
The two batch up a more than successful cook, but quickly find themselves in the detrimental situation of the RVs battery having run out.
What follows is a gripping and entertaining quarrel of the two fighting for ways to start up the RV with the limited materials that they have and fighting for survival underneath the glazing sun.
I like these episodes a lot that focus only on Walt's and Jesse's relationship and that have a unity of space. You see the characters more for whom they are and it helps them become more dimensional. This can especially be seen in situations where characters seem to have given up hope - in this case, Walt is contemplating whether he has actually been of benefit to his family or whether he has just provided them with lies and fear.
Breaking Bad: Better Call Saul (2009)
Arrival of the best lawyer in the world!
Badger is taken under arrest by the police after a hilarious opening scene in which Badger naively decides to trust an undercover policeman.
Saul Goodman, a criminal lawyer steps up to be Badger's assistance in court.
However, Walt and Jesse soon realise that Saul might advise Badger to drop their names in front of the police to avoid a heavier punishment.
The two threaten Saul to keep Badger quiet and Saul additionally agrees to being their criminal lawyer and advisor.
Saul is such a memorable character, especially in his confrontations with the DEA, he always has a witty front on his lips to keep them quiet.
The contrast between his positive nature and Walt's annoyed attitude is very amusing and promises to produce more laughs in the upcoming episodes.
Breaking Bad: Negro y Azul (2009)
The most iconic intro of the show and great story progression!
First off, the intro is hilarious as much as it is frightening! Seeing it for the first time was so unexpected and out of the frame, but it really got a good laugh out of me! However, it shows that Tuco's cousins are aware about Heisenberg being involved in his death and they now want him off the streets.
Walt is however blissfully unaware of that at the moment as he tries to increase his meth sales by framing Jesse as a murderous drug lord with everyone believing that he crushed a customer's head with an ATM machine.
Meanwhile, Hank is out with the DEA, who find the severed head of criminal "La Tortuga" on a tortoise. Upon further inspection, the tortoise explodes, killing a lot of hanks comrades.
Hank is forced to maintain his cheeky character upon return to the DEA to uphold his status, while at the same time his humanity comes to shine.
Breaking Bad: Peekaboo (2009)
Fallout
Having not been paid for some of the meth, Jesse takes matters into his own hands with two of the customers to assert dominance. He tries to get the two to open a stolen ATM machine and to retrieve the money inside. However, as the husband is working on opening the machine, the mother pushes the machine on top of him, resulting in his immediate death. To Jesse's horror, the two have a neglected child who is now going to have to live without a father.
Meanwhile, Gretchen comes by the White's house where Skyler expresses her gratefulness for what she believes is the Schwarzes who are paying Walt's medical bill, but immediately leaves when she notices that Walt is arriving.
What follows is one of the most memorable scenes of the show. Taking Gretchen out for dinner, Walt shows all his bitterness, all his grudge and poison towards the person that he believes to be the cause for his miserable life.
Breaking Bad: Breakage (2009)
Making business
Things are still not optimal, but life's definitely going a bit better for Jesse now that he has found a place to stay.
For Walt, it's time to make business and serious money after Tuco-times. He directs Jesse to start up his own meth distribution process and is demanding big money.
Jesse invites his friends over and gives each of them a few ounces of meth to sell as a start...can Jesse be feared sufficinetly and become the biggest drug baron on the market?
This is also the first episode in which we see Jane...tension between her and Jesse is pulpable from the start!
Nice for Jesse to get a glimpse of hope after all he's been through.
Breaking Bad: Down (2009)
Beating fire with fire
Walt is trying to make up with his family for his mysterious disappearances by cooking breakfast, planning family time and being emotionally available. However, Skyler reacts by mysteriously leaving the house for hours a time to get back at Walt.
Meanwhile, Jesse's house is taken away from him and he needs to find a place to stay overnight. He steals his RV back and drives it to Walt's house where the two's frustration at their own situations and one another boils over.
I found this episode really hard to watch out of empathy for Walt. Despite this reaction making sense from Skyler's point of view, it's a tough pill to swallow for our guy.
The same goes for Jesse, who simply doesn't have any perspective without a house and is, due to Walt's blackmail at the start of the show, somewhat unresponsible for the house being taken away.
Despite knowing that both characters to an extent dug their own graves, it hurts seeing them in their respective situations.
Breaking Bad: Bit by a Dead Bee (2009)
Spinning the web of lies
After having fled from Tuco successfully, Walter and Jesse need to come up with alibis.
Walt strips naked in a supermarket to sell the lie that he was in a fuge state.
Jesse meanwhile has to come up with a cover-story on his own to convince Hank.
Overall, this episode is a good way to cool things down after the characters being in immediate life or death situations, but the tension is held up by the at some ends fragile web of lies Walt is spinning.
I especially like the scene in which Walt talks to his doctor and due to confidentiality presents him a semi-truth of the events that occured.
Breaking Bad: Grilled (2009)
Taking down Tuco
Tuco has taken our guys out into his house in the desert, waiting for his cousins to pick him up and to drive them over the Mexican border. However, in an epic exchange of arms, the two manage to bring Tuco down.
"Grilled" is storytelling at it's finest, filled with so much suspense and many "almost attempts" at getting Tuco to fall for Walt's and Jesse's traps.
I love the incorporation of the silent old man, who knows of Jesse and Walt's poisoning strategy, yet can only give Tuco signs via a bell to warn him.
And the final showdown of Tuco Vs Hank is something I hadn't anticipated, yet it is so satisfying to see Tuco taken out for good.
Great episode overall!
Breaking Bad: Seven Thirty-Seven (2009)
One of the best cliffhangers!
What an opening to the second season!
We start from where the last episode left off with Tuco beating one of his assistants to death.
Horrified, Walter and Jesse start making plans for how to get rid of Tuco. When they receive a message from Hank that Tuco's other assistant and witness of the crime scene Gonzo has been murdered too, they figure that Tuco is out to get them as well.
Walt rushes home to ensure that his family is safe just when Jesse pulls into the driveway - however, Tuco is seated in the backseat, demanding Walt to get into the car...
Fantastic cliffhanger, the amount of suspense derived from Jesse and Walt's relationship with such an explosive character is incredible and this situation just puts the cherry on top!
Overall very good episode with some funny Hank moments, I especially like the scene where he confronts Skyler about Marie's condition before she lashes out at him.
Breaking Bad: A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal (2008)
Business with Tuco
After Walt's meetup with Tuco, him and Jesse are back to cooking to meet Tuco's desires of four pounds of methamphetamine a week.
This episode gives insights into the actual cooking procedures and the duo's acquiring of equipment, amongst them a barrell of methylamine which they have to rob.
It also introduced a sub-plot that revolves around Marie having stolen a tiara for the baby shower of Walt's and Skyler's child.
Especially exciting are the scenes that revolve around the temperamentful Tuco, who is like a box of firecrackers that could go off at any moment. This reaches it's peak in the final scene when he beats one of his assistants to death for seemingly no reason.
Walt and Jesse are all but safe...
Breaking Bad: Crazy Handful of Nothin' (2008)
Taking business matters into hand
Despite stating that he has no interest in dealing with the business side of the meth production, Walt has to change plans when he finds out that Jesse has been heavily wounded by the distributor Tuco.
With nothing to lose, Walt storms the hideout and demands the share for the meth that Jesse gave Tuco.
Using his chemical mastery, he earns himself the money and Tucos respect.
It's captivating seeing Walt take matters progressively more into his own hands, now confronting fearless drug kingpins with relative ease.
With Walt taking business matters into his hands, he marks a clear progression in his character, underlined by him shaving his head bald and it being the first time he refers to himself as "Heisenberg".
Breaking Bad: Gray Matter (2008)
"I've got the talking pillow now!"
I love this episode! Especially considered within the context of the entire show, I feel that it is one of the best!
Walt and Skyler are invited to Elliott's birthday party, Walt's former business partner; The two founded the now multi-million dollar company "Grey Matter Technologies" together with Walt's ex-girlfriend and now Elliott's wife, Gretchen.
Walt's former partners keep offering him to pay for his treatment but Walter declines their offers.
The audience is already given the sense that something didn't go exactly right within their relationship, but much is left for interpretation as we notice Walt's slight passive aggressiveness during conversation.
This episode contains probably one of my top 5 scenes from the entire show, which is the Talking Pillow scene. It's rare that Walt is completely upright and honest with his family throughout the show (I think this might even be the only time we see it), but the one time he does, it is utterly devastating for everybody at the table. Everyone wants Walt to stay alive and to get healthy...but he denies their desire and what should be in his best interest for very understandable reasons.
The scene also encapsulates the essence of the show:"What good is it to just survive, if I am to sick to work...to enjoy a meal...to make love?", basically stating "What good is it to just survive, if I don't feel truly alive?" This is the statement that Walt lives by for the rest of the show; He stays in the meth business and undergoes all of his criminal activities because they empower him.
Furthermore, it's a great parallel to the scene in which Walt and Skyler meet up with the Schraders in season 5 - while here everyone is incredibly concerned for Walter out of genuine love, the tables will have turned quite a bit at that point.
A very powerful episode overall with a bunch of great subtext and foreshadowing!
Breaking Bad: Cancer Man (2008)
Neglect
Walt has informed Skyler about his cancer and the information soon spreads to his son, brother- and sister-in-law.
It's clear that Walt's family loves him dearly and Skyler and Marie succeed in finding the best possible treatment for him. Walt however shrugs off the attempts, explaining to Skyler that there's too much money required, which, in case of an unsuccessful treatment, would leave the family in debt.
Meanwhile, Jesse moves into his parent's house, who are all but pleased to have him show up again.
This is a bit of a slower episode that gives more insight into the characters and their desires.
I really wish that throughout the show Jesse's relationship with his family would have been explored more; Especially the contrast between the two Pinkman brothers is quite interesting.
Also, small moment, but I love how Walt Jr. Asks his dad to die to provoke him to undergo the chemotherapy in contrast to the intention with which he says it in the show's final episode - small detail that has always felt really powerful to me.
Breaking Bad: ...And the Bag's in the River (2008)
The courage to kill...
Walter has not kept his promise of killing Krazy-8 due to his lack of courage and moral self-awareness.
As Jesse's pressure increases and Walt sees that there is no way he can keep the man locked up in Jesse's basement further, he is tasked with making the choice of whether to kill or to spare.
He tries to find every reason not to kill, even sharing personal information with Krazy-8 over some beer.
Is love seeing this version of Walter in comparison to his later self as he transforms throughout the show. Really shows the incredible character transformation the writers achieved.
Also, the scene with Hank and Walt Jr. In the motel's car park is hilarious as heck and isn't talked about enough.
Breaking Bad: Cat's in the Bag... (2008)
The magnum opus of dark comedy!
Jesse and Walt are tasked with getting rid of the two dealers that they believed to have suffocated.
However, one of the men, Krazy-8, is still alive.
By flipping a coin, it is decided that Jesse must find a way to disolve the deceased man's body while Walt must kill Krazy-8.
What unfolds is a hilariously dark back and forth between Jesse's ignorance in following instructions to dissolve the body and Walter's inability to find the courage to kill.
Jesse's course of actions culminates in the famous bathtub scene, a unique and memorable moment for the show.
Great second episode that sets the standards for the others to follow.
Breaking Bad: Pilot (2008)
Hooked from the start!
I am re-watching Breaking Bad at the moment and want to re-live the unforgettable time I had watching it for the first time; Now I want to leave a small piece of gratitude via a comment under each episode for the best piece of television I have ever seen.
The Pilot episode is a really strong start to the show that establishes the mundane and unfulfilling life of Walter by giving us insights into his two jobs as a car wash employee and a high school chemistry teacher, which have both sucked the soul out of him. His family, while loving him, don't seem to fully respect him for his chemistry talents. A very realistic and gripping portrait of a man's submission to life.
When Walter is diagnosed with lung cancer, he decides to make a radical turn to his life by cooking methamphetamine together with a former high-school student Jesse Pinkman to provide money for his family before he dies.
The episode ends with the duo's first meth cook and it's incredibly fun watching this rather awkward pairing of trained chemist and juvenile junkie getting along with one another. Jesse brings two meth distributers along, who however recognise Walt and believe that he wants to get them arrested.
Only through Walt's wits are the two able to escape the situation by suffocating the dealers.
Overall, "Pilot" is a great start to the show that demonstrates the work's fun and provides a great establishment for its central characters.
Shingeki no Kyojin: Assault (2021)
To each their own...
I've seen a lot of comments on IMDB about specifically this episode alongside "Hero" and "Perfect Game" to be the best episodes in all of Attack On Titan.
If you're a fan of animation, fast-paced action and seeing about all of your favourite characters back on the screen fighting it out, this is absolute eye candy for you! The Warhammer Titan, Beast Titan, Cart Titan and Jaw Titan along with Eren's Attack Titan are all there and make for a visual spectacle like you've last had it at the end of season 3.
For me, personally, these types of episodes are a chore to watch...Nothing plot-defining really happens and I feel, as I have throughout the entirety of AoT, not necessarily attached to any of the main characters and this don't care much for their fate.
For me the show is too fast paced in many parts and does not give enough care to establishing the emotional relationship between characters. As a result, these slash-fests are an absolute bore to watch for me and I would never even consider putting this type of episode even close to the same level as Breaking Bad's "Ozymandias".
But if you got that emotional attachment to the characters, you feel the thrill of an, I cannot stretch this enough, absolutely beautifully animated fight scene and love seeing high-stake fights, this is for you!
Shingeki no Kyojin: That Day (2019)
The real enemy are humans...
This is the greatest Attack On Titan episode in my opinion with one of the most well-done twists that I have witnessed in television.
The build-up to this episode is phenomenal. The entirety of the show, we have been hearing about the secrets that lie within the basement and how everything would make sense once we've uncovered the truth. We've seen our protagonists fight battles, execute strategies and lose friends to regain their home town Shiganshina and thus to finally uncover the secret of the outside world.
The truth is beyond anything that I would have expected.
The twist that all titans are humans was already revealed, but finding out the context of how the humans are transformed was what made this episode truly bone-chilling...even more so because it is directly comparable to real-life historical events such as Nazi-Germany.
I wouldn't have expected a fantasy show about titans to show the true evil of human nature in such a realistic way, but it has reached its climax of social critique.
Seeing Grisha trying to justify his right to live towards the Marleyan worker after all the harm they had done to him and his family was the most gut-punching scene of the show. It really felt as though hope had been sucked from Grisha and he did not even see a point or manage to bring up the energy for reasoning as he remembers the crimes that have been done to his family and the countless other people of his ethnicity.
There is really a lot of information that the viewer is confronted with in this episode and personally I feel that the information could have been presented more slowly at some points, but on the other hand it's incredibly satisfying for the viewer to gain this amount of answers to their questions all in one episode.
This episode will have the show take on an entirely new direction for the final season, whilst giving the viewer a lot to ponder upon in terms of the cruelty and rawness of human nature. It truly is a powerful piece of television.
Shingeki no Kyojin: Warrior (2017)
Pure excellence in creating atmosphere and feel, but...
The transformation scene with Reiner and Berthold turning into their respective titans on top of the wall is one of the best in the entire show.
The animation is close to perfection and the remix of "Vogel im Käfig" never fails to give me goosebumps regardless of how often I watch it.
Sadly, narrative-wise this scene didn't achieve the emotional result that it was going for, at least for me.
Reiner and Berthold have way too little screen-time throughout the show for this to feel like the grand betrayal that it is going for and their characters are not nearly fleshed out enough, at least not in the anime (not sure about the manga). Heck, Berthold maybe says two sentences throughout the entire show up to this reveal.
Had we at least gotten 1 or 2 scenes of Eren spending time with Reiner, getting to know him more closely and perhaps trusting him with a personal secret, this could have worked.
The first time I watched this scene, my reaction was litteraly "Whoa, they're the titans...wait, who is that again?"
Also, the fact that this is the 4th time a human is revealed to be a titan in the show doesn't help (Ymir was literally revealed to be a titan in the episode before this). Had only Eren been revealed to be a titan up to this point, this could have been a much bigger shocker. But now Annie is a titan, Ymir is a titan, Eren is a titan, suddenly everyone is a titan?
I watched it again with my girlfriend and she also wasn't sold on the reveal, which is a pity because it truly is one of the most atmospheric and epic scenes that I have seen in television. It just doesn't fully earn it in my eyes and doesn't come close to being one of the best betrayals in television history as many people seem to claim.