To other reasons for the TerminatorGus scene...

5. He was a dead man walking, but he tried his hardest to project a professional image as if he's in control of everything & there are no problems. The parallels his entire life as a community leader and businessman on the outside, but a drug dealer on the inside.

6. I saw a picture on the IMDB message board of the burned Gus pic side by side with a pic of the singed pink bear from season 2. They are identical, and it's obviuosly on purpose.

here you go, taint

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Well the dumbness of this pretty much negates the other 3

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not really. have you never seen/heard about people who lose an arm or leg during war but have no idea until they look down or it is pointed out.

was the scene extreme? yes. it might even been reaching a bit, but i its not out of the realm of possibility.

Very cool.

Another direction Season 5 could go...

I don't hate Walt yet because it's possible that he only intended to make Brock sick instead of kill him. So far, the only people Walt has killed are bad people. But if he did intend to kill Brock, will Brock be able to identify how he got poisoned and who did it? Maybe Walt will kill Brock next season to shut him up. If Walt got Saul to poison Brock (which is what I think happened), Walt may kill Saul to shut him up, too.

That would make me hate Walt.

Was Jesses girlfriend a bad person? Walt didn't outright kill her, but he let her die.

I'm pretty sure Walt did not want to kill Brock, he knew the effects of the lily plant

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I don't hate Walt yet because it's possible that he only intended to make Brock sick instead of kill him. So far, the only people Walt has killed are bad people.

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what more does he have to do? he's ruined the lives of most of the people around him.

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I don't hate Walt yet because it's possible that he only intended to make Brock sick instead of kill him.

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So sending a kid to the PICU is OK, as long as he doesn't quite die?

i'm glad our discussions here didn't lead to any ridiculous bets

http://guyism.com/humor/video-breaking-bad-season-finale-leads-to-redditor-drinking-his-own-urine.html

Walt is definitely closer to a bad person now than good, yet I can't help but still root for the guy.

Poisoning Brock brought him a lot closer to me disliking Walt or disapproving of his actions, but I'm still not quite there. Maybe a few months of reflection will change that though.

It really does make a huge difference whether Walt was sure Brock would make it or not.

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/interview-breaking-bad-creator-vince-gilligan-post-mortems-season-4

some questions answered by Gilligan

I think Walt made it clear to Saul that he needed the cigarette from Jesse's pack, hence all the calls demanding Jesse get to the office ASAP and the pat down from his body guard...

But I do not think he even told Saul why, and definitely didn't have Saul poison the kid. No matter how much he offered him, Saul would not do that. I'm sure the scene with how he poisoned Brock will be revealed next season.

EDIT: Actually... I just realized that it is always Saul who delivers the check to the family. I'm trying to remember if there was any significant foreshadowing in the scene when he was talking to Brock, which could show an opportunity for Saul to poison him... I still don't think Saul would do that, but I won't be surprised by anything at this point when it comes to this show.

[This message has been edited by Sex Panther (edited 10/10/2011 10:33a).]

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Walt is definitely closer to a bad person now than good, yet I can't help but still root for the guy.

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I don't mean to make this into a black or white kinda thing, but why isn't he already there for you? I can understand sympathizing with his initial plight, trying to leave some money for his family after he's gone. but so many of the things he's now put them thru are results of decisions that were not in their interests (and in many cases actively hurt them).

I guess I can understand liking him, to the extent of the fact that he's the protagonist and the guy who we're most intimately involved with in the show, but it just seems like all of his humanity is just about gone and he'll be happy to do whatever it takes to make sure things benefit him.

all that said, I'll miss Gus, what a great guy

Here's what I can't wrap my head around...

Walt had to know that removing Jesse's ricin cig would cause him to say something to the docs/family to save Brock, which means he had to know that law enforcement was going to get involved.

But Walt tried to ambush Gus at the hospital. He didn't know about the connection with the old man at the hospital until after Gus sniffed out his ambush. So he couldn't have set up the DEA sting before that.

So he had to think Jesse would be quiet but would be cleared once the tox screen came back negative for ricin.

But when he talks to the old man, he recognizes that he can parlay Jesse's being held at the police station with perceived communication between the old man and the DEA to convince Gus that the old man was talking. He clearly knew that Jesse had been snatched based on the way he reported to the lab.

What a crazy show.

Another example of how far Walt has fallen is him sending an innocent neighbor into his own house to see if it's safe.

I think he fully expected her to die if there were bad guys in the house based on his reaction when she called him back.

I'm not sure there's a need to introduce new characters next season. I think they have enough on their plate between Jesse/Walt/Hank/Skylar & Walt's cancer.

How shocking must it have been for her to be watching the breaking news with the DEA and then having her husband tell her that he was responsible for the explosion - at a nursing home no less.

BTW I think part of Gus' reaction right before the bomb blew was the bell's dampened sound. It wasn't really ringing and he figured out a second or two too late that it was about to trigger an explosion.

Reg. Walt poisoning Brock, I don't think he knew whether Brock would survive or not. There's probably a lot of variables in determining how much poison someone can handle and how sick they can get before they die, and I doubt he knew what the limit for Brock would be. He seemed very relieved when Brock survived, which I interpret to mean he wasn't trying to kill Brock, but he knew there was a chance the kid might die.

I think the scene where he has his neighbor visit his house underscores this. He new very well there was a chance his neighbor would be killed if there was an ambush inside, and you could see his worry when the thugs came out from the back yard, but then when she called him back he was incredibly relieved she had lived. He doesn't want these people to die, but he has no problem putting innocent people's lives on the line to keep himself and his family safe.

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Next season is 16 episodes, it sounds like they'll air over two years. How are you planning it out? Are you going to insert a specific break point around episode 8, 9 or 10?

I think so. It sounds to me like the thinking on the part of AMC is to split it into two seasons. So we'll try to have a proper cliffhanger, I would think, at the end of the first 8. Which I don't think would be too tough for us, because we try to do a cliffhanger more or less with everything we do. We try to play each one like it's our last as much as we possibly can. Hopefully, that won't be too tough.

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Sweet. The longer we have Breaking Bad, the better.

Also, I have to say I'm very happy they didn't end it with a cliffhanger this season. I hate cliffhanger endings when there's a whole year to wait.

Hopefully the structure of Season 5 means they'll start the season in March, have a summer break, and end it in the fall. I can handle a few months break.

the article I posted really answers all the questions and Gilligan basically even states what he wants to see answered next season.

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Another example of how far Walt has fallen is him sending an innocent neighbor into his own house to see if it's safe.

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No kidding, I just thought to myself in that scene "Wow, that is messed up... and really freaking smart." I think that was a pivotal moment in showing what Walt is now. I definitely don't think he wanted her to die by any means, but the guy is fully prepared to do whatever it takes to survive. Whereas in seasons 1 & 2 that just wouldn't have been an option.

i hope Skyler loses about 30 pounds before we see her character again

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I don't mean to make this into a black or white kinda thing, but why isn't he already there for you?

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Not to sound like Walt, but everything he's done he's done with his family in mind.

Poisoning Brock was the only thing Walt could think of to get Jesse on his side and take out Gus. He's not only protecting himself, he's trying to keep his entire family safe (including Hank). Like I said earlier in the thread, it makes a pretty huge difference whether or not Walt was absolutely certain Brock wouldn't die.

Jane, that one seems a little darker to me. Walt knew exactly what he was doing when he watched her die. It was a risk leaving her alive with all she knew about him, and let's not forget she was also ruining Jesse's life by making him a heroin junkie. Did he kill her? Not directly, but that doesn't really make much difference. This one is definitely a bit more selfish.

Gale, well that one was selfish too, but Gus put him in the position. It was either Gale, or Walt and Jesse. Walt chose himself and Jesse.

As for half measures, well, I don't think anyone sees that as anything less than a total BAMF moment.

For Walt to be completely past redemption, he'd have to do something purely out of self interest and nothing else. Like killing Hank to save his own skin.

[This message has been edited by sharkenleo (edited 10/10/2011 11:05a).]

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all that said, I'll miss Gus, what a great guy

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Agree with this sentiment. When Gus is walking into the nursing home, I actually felt kind of sad knowing he was about to be killed.

Great character.

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Not to sound like Walt, but everything he's done he's done with his family in mind.

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but why does he need to protect his family in the first place? if he wanted to protect them, he would have gotten out of the game any number of times he had the opportunity. but he always gets back into play because of pride and whatever else drives him.

No arguments there. His pride will be his downfall.

If all Walt wanted to do is protect his family, he'd taken Ross' ex wife's wife's husbands money.

whatever happened to Gus' bodyguard that took pinkman under his wing for a little? He got shot and the doctors wouldn't help him but he ended up living anyway? bald guy...

Was he just relieved of his duties and thats it? That was like 3 episodes ago I think.

Holy *****

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyHy9VHhYyg

The song playing when they burn down the lab? Yep, that was them. 13 and 15 years old.

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whatever happened to Gus' bodyguard that took pinkman under his wing for a little? He got shot and the doctors wouldn't help him but he ended up living anyway? bald guy...

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That's Mike... and you better believe he will be back. Where his allegiance lies and how he handles Gus's death remains to be seen...

oh and JRS04 (poop slap guy) needs to see that video of the guy drinking his urine.

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i hope Skyler loses about 30 pounds before we see her character again

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I hope Walt poisons her. Can't stand her.

So... no way Gus ends up living?

i wonder if Walt Jr. will have grey hair next season

Holy F that was fantastic. This show is nails! What they do almost better than anyone is make the known amazing. For example, we knew Gus was a dead man walking in there, and I peiced together the bell would be the trigger, but they put it together so well my heart was pounding in my chest!

Dont know if terminator Gus was necessary but it was awesome. And I will say that for a show with damn near no budget, they made a better two face than The Dark Knight did!

Walt's answer to Skylar was perfect. "I won." YES!!!

The one MINOR thing I thought was screwed up by the writers. It took Walt FOREVER to realize Saul's secretary was milking him for money. Walk is too smart to take that long to catch on.