"All BAD Things Must Come to an End" - Breaking Bad Season 5: Part 2 Official Thread (SPOILERS)

[obarth]

You're watching a TV show what do you expect? If this was real life the season would be over because Heisenberg would kill everyone that knows.

This isn't an expectation of some hyper realistic shyt. Walt and Jesse's relationship, the most important relationship of the show, just ended. That's a huge point in the show's history. It was done in a contrived manner. Jesse goes from thinking he lost the ricin and found it in his vacuum to piecing the whole elaborate truth out in seconds from some missing weed?

And why would Saul just be on some "You got me" shyt instead of denying it? This isn't hate, I liked the episode in general, it's an observation. I get it: they needed the Walt-Jesse relationship to end and couldn't think of anything better. nikkas aren't trolling by mentioning it. It's been mentioned in several reviews already.



http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2013/08/breaking-bad-review-confessions-episode-511.html

Moments of realization can be tricky for an actor, and let’s be honest; this one was a classic Breaking Bad stretch. Missing weed plus convenient cigarettes equals Huell stole the ricin for Saul who then gave it to Walt? Okay, sure.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2013/26/breaking-bad-season-5-episode-11-confessions

And there's Jesse (Aaron Paul), who finally comes to terms with Walt's ruthlessness when he pieces together who actually poisoned Brock, in a moment that's already hotly debated. Logically, Jesse's realization is a bit of a stretch, especially when you consider the tedious, unyielding naiveté that's often been a hallmark of the character.

http://www.uproxx.com/tv/2013/08/breaking-bad-discussion-table-side-guacamole/

At first I thought that maybe he believed that the person in the van was a hitman hired by Walt to slyly poison him with ricin. But then when he confronts Saul with a fist to the face we learn that Jesse is actually again of the opinion that Walt poisoned Brock with the ricin. Again, I was utterly baffled, as were a lot of you reading this, I suspect.

Thankfully, Alan Sepinwall helped me make sense of this…

At the pick-up spot, a nervous Jesse reaches for his pot, and can’t find it. He frantically checks all his pockets, but all he finds is a cigarette pack. Staring at the cigarette pack, and realizing Huell dipped into his pocket without him noticing, Jesse realizes that his first suspicions about the ricin cigarette were correct, and that Mr. White was manipulating him into turning against Gus, endangering Brock’s life in the process.

That the ricin wasn’t actually used on Brock is beside the point. Jesse knew from the beginning that Huell had picked his pocket, and that he must have done it on Mr. White’s orders. He has been thinking about this often in the months since it happened — far more often and more intensely than those of us watching the show have, and in a more compressed time period. When he realizes Huell picked his pocket, and stares at another crumpled cigarette pack, everything clicks into place about the events of “End Times” — including how convenient it was that this terrible thing happened to Brock, which turned Jesse back into Walt’s ally, at the exact moment Walt needed an ally against Gus — and he goes on the warpath against Saul, Huell and that a$$hole Mr. White.

Now, I’m sure this seems like a bit of stretch to many — and it does to me as well — but I’m willing to accept it.

http://whatculture.com/tv/breaking-bad-5-11-confessions-review.php

Part of what makes Confessions weak is the more far-fetched plot threads. Last week I mentioned that the show is typically very good at justifying its characters’ actions, and last week’s episode held true to that principle. Confessions falls somewhat short of that standard.

For one thing, Hank seems to know a little more than he should in the scene with Jesse. While he knew of Jesse’s connections to both Walt and Heisenberg before he even knew Heisenberg and Walt were one and the same, his assumption that they’re partners is both a little presumptuous and a betrayal of a belief expressed by Hank earlier in the series that Jesse was not likely a major player in the Heisenberg operation. Of course, finding the kid with millions of dollars changes that assumption. But he also seems to understand that Walt and Jesse are having a little “trouble in paradise.” Hank is a very good cop with excellent intuition, so it’s not out of reach for him to draw these conclusions; he just moved to them a little quicker than the show usually depicts, apparently putting it all together in the few minutes it took him to drive to APD and almost perfectly deducing the exact nature of Walt and Jesse’s relationship.

I’m also not especially impressed by how Jesse came upon his very important revelation. The whole thing with Huell stealing Jesse’s dope felt a little contrived. Jesse’s behavior in Saul’s office is bizarre. The gravity of what he’s about to embark on seems to be setting on Jesse as he prepares to meet Saul’s vanisher, so why he wants to hold onto a little bag of weed in the first place is hard to understand. I know he’s a loose cannon and that placing more emphasis on his drug habit is an attempt to highlight that, but it still seems a stretch. Huell is also tough to imagine as a master pickpocket; call me a skeptic. It’s all just too convenient and too obvious of a plot device to take seriously. The way Jesse stands by the side of the road and suddenly knows for sure because his weed is missing is even thinner than the Leaves of Grass book Hank found.

http://theweek.com/article/index/24...ogus-manipulative-confessions-of-walter-white

But just when it seems like Jesse might get away, one last piece of the past comes back to haunt them: The ricin cigarette and subsequent poisoning of Brock, which Jesse finally traces back to Walt. The ricin cigarette plot has never quite played for me; as desperate as Walter was, and as ruthless as we know him to be, it's never really made sense that he managed to poison Brock while on the run from Gus. (Earlier this summer, Vince Gilligan finally explained how Walt pulled it off, and the story is as vague and unfulfilling as I worried it would be: "My writers and I would always tell ourselves the story of the evil juice box man," said Gilligan, explaining that Walt had snuck into Brock's school and crushed the poison into his juice box. "It would have been tricky timing, but he was a very motivated individual at that point.")

The way that Jesse uncovered Walt's plot is similarly circuitous and fuzzy. Saul calls up Albuquerque's mysterious vacuum repairman/person vanisher — but not before admonishing Jesse for lighting up a joint in his office. When Jesse realizes that Saul had Huell lift his weed stash before leaving the office, he realizes that Huell could have lifted his cigarette pack, too, which enables him to tease out the entire plot. In a rage, Jesse abandons the idyllic "new life" Walt chose for him in favor of a new life that hinges on destroying Walt. I would have liked to see Breaking Bad find a less contrived way to have Jesse uncover Walt's actions, but it's hard to argue with the final scene, which sees Jesse breaking into the White house in an attempt to burn it down.

 

[23Barrettcity]

Im rooting for him but idk about that

I think in the ending he's who Walt is going to help with the gun

 

[Anbesa]

Yeah I truly think Walt cares for jesse and even hank in his own way ( or at least tells himself he does). It would be so easy to send hank and Jesse to Belize as opposed to trying the tacts he went . Making jesses disappear and having hanks brakes mysteriously stop working would make walts life much Easier .

Then he'll have Marie to worry about, then Skylar and the kids.

 

[beanz]

idk if this has been covered or explained and there are way too many pages in this thread to go back and check, but i dont get the whole ricin/brock/lily of the valley thing.

why did walt take the ricin from jesse to begin with if he didnt use it? why not let jesse keep the ricin and still poison brock with the flower? he could have still made jesse think gus did it and jesse would have NO reason to suspect walt. maybe im missing something.

 

[ThaRealness]

I think in the ending he's who Walt is going to help with the gun

 

[23Barrettcity]

idk if this has been covered or explained and there are way too many pages in this thread to go back and check, but i dont get the whole ricin/brock/lily of the valley thing.

why did walt take the ricin from jesse to begin with if he didnt use it? why not let jesse keep the ricin and still poison brock with the flower? he could have still made jesse think gus did it and jesse would have NO reason to suspect walt. maybe im missing something.

He wanted to blame Gus , but if Brock randomly got poisoned he'd blame Walt . So by taking the cigarette he was able to get Jesse back on his side by Making it seem like Gus did it . One I feel no sympathy for Jesse because he knew ny agreeing to cook without Walt he was sealing walts death certificate , and if you think too hard about this whole ricin thing it's not well planned

 

[yseJ]

idk if this has been covered or explained and there are way too many pages in this thread to go back and check, but i dont get the whole ricin/brock/lily of the valley thing.

why did walt take the ricin from jesse to begin with if he didnt use it? why not let jesse keep the ricin and still poison brock with the flower? he could have still made jesse think gus did it and jesse would have NO reason to suspect walt. maybe im missing something.

how would gus get ricin in the first place then ? gus aint a chemist

and yes that is one of the reasons ricin line is a bit weak to me. walt actually was able to convince dumbass jesse that gus knew about the ricin, took it from jesse and then went to poison brock just to get jesse to kill walt.

 

[Shogun]

are yall so goddamn critical of all the shows you watch? shyt must be stressful

 

[beanz]

how would gus get ricin in the first place then ? gus aint a chemist

and yes that is one of the reasons ricin line is a bit weak to me. walt actually was able to convince dumbass jesse that gus knew about the ricin, took it from jesse and then went to poison brock just to get jesse to kill walt.

yea thats what im saying. walt opened himself up to suspicion by making jesse think it was the ricin. shyt jesse already had a gun to his face. idk its kinda weak to me too but its just nitpicking on a great show at the end of the day.

 

[beanz]

are yall so goddamn critical of all the shows you watch? shyt must be stressful

usually im not but last night seeing that critical scene it made me go hmm and i got curious. i thought maybe i missed something.

 

[Yung Yogurt]

I think that both scenes with Todd da godd are being slept on and will play a big part in what happens next. Also I saw Walt by a pool looking creepy as all out fukk in the trailer for next episode. Everytime a pool is featured something grimey happens shortly after.

 

[Darts]

If Jesse dies a glorious death, I will bump this show to my top 3.

 

[ThaRealness]

I think that both scenes with Todd da godd are being slept on and will play a big part in what happens next. Also I saw Walt by a pool looking creepy as all out fukk in the trailer for next episode. Everytime a pool is featured something grimey happens shortly after.

no. just no

agreed tht walt pulls something super grimey next episode though

 

[MidniteJay]

I think in the ending he's who Walt is going to help with the gun

After watching the most recent ep, I'm thinking Walt's entire family dies including Hank and Marie (maybe the Neo Nazis doing) and the only person left that's important to him will be Jessie and the final moments of the show will be Walt going out in a blaze trying to save him

 

[Francis White]

idk if this has been covered or explained and there are way too many pages in this thread to go back and check, but i dont get the whole ricin/brock/lily of the valley thing.

why did walt take the ricin from jesse to begin with if he didnt use it? why not let jesse keep the ricin and still poison brock with the flower? he could have still made jesse think gus did it and jesse would have NO reason to suspect walt. maybe im missing something.

Season 4

Walt needs Jesse on his side to get to Gus

Context: If you recall, Jesse is the one who tells Walt that Gus seems to have a big hatred for Hector "Tio" Salamanca, then Walt figured out how to plant the bomb on Tio, Gus died... etc etc

So Walt forms a scheme to get Jesse to distrust Gus.

Walt tells Saul to somehow extract the cigarette from Jesse. Thus Saul has Huell lift the ricin cigarette from Jesse's pocket (most likely by simply trading out the packs, dummy pack for the real one with the ricin).

Context: Originally Jesse was somewhat distrustful of Gus, Walt had hatched an earlier plan to have Jesse kill Gus with the ricin. But Jesse was befriended by Gus, and he eventually came to like the guy. Also, if you remember, Saul is frantic to get Jesse to his office, calling him over and over again. It was to get him in the office to get the cigarette off him.

Jesse now has a dummy pack of cigarettes. With this in mind, Walt now makes the moves to make Jesse distrust Gus. Walt takes his "Lilly of the Valley" extract and gives it to Jesse's girlfriend's young son Brock.

Context: Vince Gilligan, the show's creator, has stated several times that the writers have imagined Walt's delivery system as perhaps a doctored juice box or something of the like. Sneaking into Brock's school to place it in his lunch or even hand it to him would've been fairly rudimentary for a teacher.

"Lilly of the Valley" gives pneumonia-like symptoms that appear very severe (the same symptoms that ricin gives when killing someone). So Jesse thought that Brock was poisoned by the ricin. Jesse frantically searches in his cigarette pack only to find, ah! It's not there! (Huell took it!)

Jesse bursts into Walt's home, gun in hand demanding Walt to admit that he poisoned Brock with the now missing ricin. Important to note: Jesse says that Huell must have took it when he went to meet Saul. Jesse is no idiot, he was 100% right on his instincts. Walt claims ignorance, saying he has no reason to do so and he has no idea what Jesse is talking about (lying obviously). Through Walt's machinations, he convinces Jesse that it must have been Gus, who has hurt children before (Andrea's brother who shot Combo was killed by some of Gus' lower order thugs).

Jesse now doles out the details of Gus' hatred for Hector "Tio" Salamanca leading to Gus' eventual death via Walt's admittedly ingenious scheme.

At the end of season 4, the doctors at the hospital tell Jesse that Brock was not poisoned with ricin, but had consumed "Lilly of the Valley" berries in some shape or fashion. Jesse, taken aback, rationalizes with Walt that even though Gus didn't do it, he "had to go," although he is clearly still rattled.

Season 5A

Walt and Jesse go on a hunt for the missing ricin cigarette (although Walt knows exactly where it's at, and we're even shown Saul throwing the ricin cigarette back to Walt in a plastic bag, making a crack about Huell's "nimble sausage fingers"). Walt is just making a facade to make Jesse think the cigarette was simply misplaced. They "find" the ricin cigarette in Jesse's electronic vacuum (although it was Walt who placed it there).

Jesse breaks down in tears, realizing he almost killed Walt over this (as aforementioned when Jesse confronted him in season 4, saying he was the one who took the cigarette and poisoned Brock). Although in reality, the b*stard diddeserve it.

Season 5B

This episode! Jesse is ready to move on with his life, move to Alaska, and just leave ABQ. Saul tells Jesse he can't bring pot to the meet with his "guy." The guy won't be inclined to help a druggie disappear (sensible). Jesse defiantly and silently refuses to give up his stash. Saul leaves the room to get "money bags" and while he is out there he tells Huell to pinch Jesse's stash off him (rewatch the scene, you can actually see him snatch it from Jesse!).

Jesse is waiting at the stop, he searches his pockets, at first just simply realizing the pot isn't there. But he looks at his pack of cigarettes and realizes, holy shyt, Huell took my pot just now... and they took the ricin just as I had originally thought. Walt has been bullshytting me ever since.

And that's where we're at!​