I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it

April 29, 2014 10:42 PM

A tribute to Breaking Bad, or rather to WW's implosion, by Alexandre Gasulla, part of his Tribute Series
posted by growabrain (14 comments total)

That was great. So much ugliness, wrapped in such a beautiful package. I mean, those colors, that music.... Thanks, VG.

I hope you're okay, Jesse.
posted by Room 641-A at 11:41 PM on April 29, 2014

Thank you. Helps fill the void.
posted by littlemanclan at 12:01 AM on April 30, 2014

Yay. Just finished watching the series for the fifth-ish time tonight. This was the perfect coda to that experience.
posted by univac at 12:05 AM on April 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

That was really nice and well thought out. It's fun to watch an overview of the themes like that after 6 months or so digesting it all mentally,

I guess in a way Breaking Bad is my personal hipster thing, much as I hate to say it. I literally hadn't watched television for a decade, and a friend of mine at work started going on about this new show he had watched. I grudgingly accepted his invite to drop by Sunday night and watch episode 2... as soon as the bathtub scene happened, I was like "They show shit like this on tv now!?" Directly afterwards they replayed the pilot and that was it, I was hooked.

I remember being at a flat party in Berlin midway through season 2 connecting with a German guy (he barely spoke English, I barely spoke German) over the show and we drunkenly talked for hours about the cinematography, music, black comedy etc. Fast forward a few years to last fall and it.was.fucking.everywhere. Absolutely invaded pop culture. Part of me wanted it to be the old way, where it was just this little thing only I and a few others followed, but of course if that were the case it probably wouldn't have made it to the finish line.

I still need to wait another year or two before I go for the rewatch. It will be grand though, yes it will.
posted by mannequito at 2:05 AM on April 30, 2014 [4 favorites]

Mannequito, I feel the same way. I remember in the early seasons just raving about this show to everybody. There were relatively few people who were watching it then. Then I ditched cable and started watching it every week at the Alamo Drafthouse with like 800 people. That was kind of amazing, and as much as I liked having to preach the gospel of BB to people who hadn't seen the show, it was pretty fucking awesome to have visceral reactions with so many people. It was the first time in years that I actually looked forward to seeing something in a theater, and I think many people felt the same way. We just knew every week that we were going to have a good time. Face/Off was a particularly great ep, with people all basically screaming at the screen.

BB might not have been the greatest show in the history of tv, but I feel like it pulled off something that no other show in a long time has. The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, BSG, etc., these were all great shows, but I cannot remember a show where my co-workers, my in-laws, my plumber, my friends, it felt like EVERYBODY was watching it every week, and then talking about it ALL WEEK between eps. I don't know when the last time there was a show that seemed to grab so many people. Twin Peaks maybe?

Whatever, it was an event, and I'm kind of glad I was able to be a part of it.
posted by nushustu at 2:53 AM on April 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

Mannequito and nushustu, let me join your hipster club. I remember watching the first few episodes when almost no one except tv critics were talking about it, and slowly realizing that this show could be one of the greats. I remember being that annoying person that goes "No, TRUST me. This is something special."
posted by gkhan at 3:09 AM on April 30, 2014

I live in New Mexico now, and I have only just started watching the series. Having lived near Albuquerque for almost two years before starting the show is weird because it all feels very real, not just in the characters as they are scripted and acted, but also in the places. I still don't know all the locations, and I can't say that there are establishing shots that are paired oddly with interior scenes, but it is nothing like Psych, which is said to be in Santa Barbara, CA, but primarily filmed in Vancouver. Growing up in Santa Barbara, none of the locations ever looked like they quite fit anywhere in town, and it was more of a disconnect to see the exterior of the court house or police station, then seeing something completely different for the interior. And it was always funny to see extras bundled up in thick jackets while the day was sunny. No one wears jackets like that in Santa Barbara, ever!

One of my co-workers started watching the show when it first aired, but she and her husband stopped watching after a few episodes, because they saw too much of themselves in Walter - moving beyond middle age, questioning their role in the world, and realizing they could theoretically make some of the same terrible decisions, so they stopped watching. I think being set in their backyard made the comparisons easier, too.

But even if I didn't live here, the characters are crafted in such a way that I just ache because of their actions - I'm not shouting "don't do that!" because part of me sees how that decision makes sense. Still, things like seeing Anna Gunn on the cover (Imgur archive) of the Santa Fean makes the whole thing seem even more real. Replace "Anna Gunn" with "Skyler White" on that cover, and I could almost believe that the show ends well for her (I have only finished season 2, so I will now run away and not read or watch anything else in this thread until I have completed the series).
posted by filthy light thief at 4:11 AM on April 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Thanks for posting this. I am looking forward to (hopefully) meeting Tony nominee Bryan Cranston next month. His work is always superb, but Breaking Bad is just the best.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:43 AM on April 30, 2014

My greatest fear is that there will still be FPPs about that damned show when I am websurfing from my tropical retirement resort in Spokane.
posted by Foosnark at 6:02 AM on April 30, 2014

Considering the way that began with some of the prettiest, artiest shots from the series, I spent the rest of the video with several others in mind that I expected to see... and they didn't show them. How great was the cinematography that that can even happen with an eight-minute video?

I also like narvinek's popular BB tributes, as they're quickly paced, only subtly thematic, and show some good times too. Although I think the one for the first four seasons only was the best. Bandini's "Ecstasy of Gold" remix is a good choice, for so many reasons, but that edit stretches it a little, and his newest tribute is more than twice the length of the song.

It's been weird and a little sad seeing the cast move on to other things. It's great that they've gotten more attention, but there's nothing comparable for them to move to in film or television. (It's really something that the main trailer for Godzilla leads with Cranston's desperate, accusatory dialogue, and it's a third of the whole video.)

If you're in the mood for more BB now, then get lost in the last two monster Breaking Bad threads, amongst others. Those two are post-Ozymandias and pre-finale, respectively. They're both packed with the kind of analysis and phraseology that just makes me want to hug people.
posted by heatvision at 6:31 AM on April 30, 2014 [3 favorites]

there's nothing comparable for them to move to in film or television

I'm still lobbying for Bryan Cranston (possibly after putting another decade or so on) to do Shakespeare, because his King Lear would be goddamned amazing.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 8:51 AM on April 30, 2014 [5 favorites]

Oh my god Mr. Bad Example. I would pay $500 to see that.
posted by nushustu at 8:59 AM on April 30, 2014

I want to rewatch, but I can't handle "Ozymandias" again just yet. Maybe in another few months, but I need more distance from it, knowing that such a brutal gut punch is coming.
posted by jason_steakums at 9:53 AM on April 30, 2014

I also remember begging people to watch this show. It was a very hard sell - "Um... It's about a high school teacher that gets cancer and starts making meth..." People would look at me like I was crazy.
posted by xammerboy at 10:49 AM on April 30, 2014 [1 favorite]