Breaking Bad

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by trackercowe

Is Jesse aware that Walt killed Mike? Saul did tell him Walt was behind all the deaths of the potential witnesses, but I don't think he was made aware of Mike's execution.

he may be but it was never made clear, I don't think Walt told Saul either

another possible addition to Brock/Jane of things Jesse doesn't know about but if he found out would go after Walt

[metallicat]

Nm

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by getbak

It's a combination of factors:

1. He's been getting all the money without needing to split it with Jesse or Mike
2. He doesn't need to pay off Mike's guys or Lydia
3. The Phoenix crew is taking care of distribution
4. They have the new money coming in from the Czech Republic
5. They've increased the frequency of their cooks

After the first cook this season, Mike, Jesse, and Walt started with a split of $367,000 each before Mike started taking out the various cuts. With the new agreement with the Czechs, that total take per cook is presumably significantly higher, even if we assume he isn't making quite as much from Phoenix.


In the recap video on AMC's website, they show the pile of money a few times. It's hard to get an accurate count because it's not stacked perfectly. From a rough count: Each level of the pile is about 15 bundles by 12 bundles, and there are at least 40 levels in the pile. That's at least 7,200 bundles. The pile is a mix of bundles of $20s, $50s, and $100s, with 100 bills in each bundle ($2,000, $5,000, or $10,000 per bundle).

If it was only bundles of $20s, it would be more than $14 million. If it was an even distribution of $20s, $50s, and $100s, it would be over $40 million.

If Walt's average take was $1.5 million per cook, 30 cooks would put them at $45 million.

1. Well Mike's share went to the Phoenix crew. They took over distribution, that was explained when they did the deal. They got 35% in fact, 1.66% more than Mike. And yeah, thought about Jesse's already.

4. The new money from Czech Republic doesn't matter one way or another, they can only make as much as they produce, and they were at 50 pounds per week before he asked if Jesse could run his own lab. I'm assuming they didn't increase production THAT much, even if they were working more than usual.

12 weeks at 50 pounds, well that's a lot less.

But yeah, there's a bunch of different way they could have written it or done the math. I would have liked if they gave us a better idea of what it was and how it happened. Plus I have no idea what 10 mill, 30 mill, 50 million looks like in cash.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Couple big interesting images.. love this show.

Spoiler!

Spoiler!

[Mike F]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Couple big interesting images.. love this show.

Spoiler!

Spoiler!

Are they just big, or actual spoilers? I ain't risking it to check...

[Wood]

No spoilers as long as you've seen the most recent episode. You're good

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Walt said he could cook that methylamine into 300 million.

True, but I'm assuming that's net for the whole business, not his share.

I guess if he's getting 33% it would be 100 million.

[trackercowe]

Those pictures just show what amazing attention to detail this show has. You really don't even have to wonder if they intentionally wrote it that way, as I'd say it's guaranteed they did.

[d_phaneuf]

I read somewhere that the Walt Whitman book was shown multiple times this season as well

Walt unpacking it, under the watch at the end of episode 4 when there was the big tick,tick,tick

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by trackercowe

Those pictures just show what amazing attention to detail this show has. You really don't even have to wonder if they intentionally wrote it that way, as I'd say it's guaranteed they did.

That piece of metal that was all bent out of shape in the bathroom was the one Walt smashed when he found out he had cancer in season one.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Daradon

True, but I'm assuming that's net for the whole business, not his share.

I guess if he's getting 33% it would be 100 million.

He should be getting more, maybe closer to 60%. Not sure what Todd is getting, but if Lydia's taking 35% that would leave 5% for Todd. Plus I thought the Czechs were willing to pay more for the better product, but that was an assumption on Lydia's comment on the poor quality stuff they had there.

[fredr123]

The pacing in this "season" seemed all wrong to me. They had something like three major heists/hits planned and executed in single episode arcs this season? The magnet caper, the train robbery, and how knocking off the nine were each contained within their own episodes. That's three out of the eight episodes. I think Gilligan would have slowed things down a hair in past seasons and built up the suspense a bit more (although the train robbery scene was top notch).

Also, Hank strikes me as the kind of guy that would come over to your house for dinner and drinks and poop in your bathroom all the time. I'm surprised it took until now for him to flip through the reading material on the toilet and notice Gale's writing.

[Mike F]

Originally Posted by fredr123

The pacing in this "season" seemed all wrong to me. They had something like three major heists/hits planned and executed in single episode arcs this season? The magnet caper, the train robbery, and how knocking off the nine were each contained within their own episodes. That's three out of the eight episodes. I think Gilligan would have slowed things down a hair in past seasons and built up the suspense a bit more (although the train robbery scene was top notch).

The bombing of Fring, and Fring eliminating the Mexican cartel were both single episode hits, IIRC.

The show has never been about the heists, and has never devoted a lot of time to their set up.

This season was about establishing Walt's hubris and putting him on an island, both of which were accomplished well.

[FlamesAddiction]

IIRC, Gillian originally wanted 2 more full seasons to finish telling the story, while AMC wanted only one more. They ended up agreeing on 2 mini-seasons. It would make sense if they had to condense the plot a little bit because of that.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

IIRC, Gillian originally wanted 2 more full seasons to finish telling the story, while AMC wanted only one more. They ended up agreeing on 2 mini-seasons. It would make sense if they had to condense the plot a little bit because of that.

I think it's the other way round. I would be shocked if AMC wanted less of one of their most popular shows.

[Flash Walken]

MMF, I'd be interested to see the cost of airing Breaking Bad vs. Mad Men.

I wonder what Cranston is paid, for example.

That's a contributing factor in whether the network wants to renew the show.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

MMF, I'd be interested to see the cost of airing Breaking Bad vs. Mad Men.

I wonder what Cranston is paid, for example.

That's a contributing factor in whether the network wants to renew the show.

That is what I heard the problem was. Despite the popularity of the show, they blew their budget too fast and the network figured it wasn't good bang for the buck. For example, if they get 80% of the same advertising revenue from a show that only costs a quarter of the same budget, it makes more financial sense to do that.

Although Breaking Bad has done a lot for exposing the network, which has to have some value.

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by Wormius

He should be getting more, maybe closer to 60%. Not sure what Todd is getting, but if Lydia's taking 35% that would leave 5% for Todd. Plus I thought the Czechs were willing to pay more for the better product, but that was an assumption on Lydia's comment on the poor quality stuff they had there.

Lydia was taking 30% I believe, and, from what I understood, that was only for the portion that was shipped to the Czech Republic not the whole thing.

I doubt Todd is getting a percentage at all. Walt probably just pays him a fixed amount. It's better for Walt if Todd doesn't know how much money is involved.

Also, the money pile only represents what Skylar was not able to launder. What she was able to launder probably pales in comparison to what's in the locker, but it's still worth noting that there's more money that what is in the locker.

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by fredr123

The pacing in this "season" seemed all wrong to me. They had something like three major heists/hits planned and executed in single episode arcs this season? The magnet caper, the train robbery, and how knocking off the nine were each contained within their own episodes. That's three out of the eight episodes. I think Gilligan would have slowed things down a hair in past seasons and built up the suspense a bit more (although the train robbery scene was top notch).

It felt rushed at times to me as well. You have to keep in mind though that all the previous seasons combined take place in a span of less than one year whereas the final season alone takes about one year. So there's bound to be a lot of smaller details left out in the final season (like the music montage where Walt was cooking uneventfully for 3 months). So the big events like heists are probably occuring with the same frequency as before but because of the more condensed timeframe appear more often during the season.

Originally Posted by fredr123

Also, Hank strikes me as the kind of guy that would come over to your house for dinner and drinks and poop in your bathroom all the time. I'm surprised it took until now for him to flip through the reading material on the toilet and notice Gale's writing.

We don't know when the book actually appeared there. Someone above mentioned it was under the watch earlier in the season, so perhaps it was put there very recently. Maybe Skylar found it while tidying up the bedroom and decided to put it in the bathroom.

[Huntingwhale]

Great episode. F you AMC for splitting the season into two half-seasons. F'ing stupid. Having said that, can't wait for next season!

Hank knows for sure now. I got the impression that the season was going to end on a happy note with Skyler smiling again, the kids bonding, and everyone lovey dovey. I think once the season resumes, its all going to be stricly downhill from here on in.

Also very cool scene with Lydia and the ricin. We all knew it would come back into play.