Breaking Bad: Season 4

still illiterate · Post by **still illiterate** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 1:08 pm

Philaflava wrote:
Of course it is. It's Philly's own greatest Latino played by a Jew,

sick of that shit

EMCEE DARTH MALEK · Post by **EMCEE DARTH MALEK** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 1:48 pm

they built a lot of sympathy for max real fast, i was like :O when he got popped

it was interesting to see gus on the other side of the table. new perspective on his character.

the exposition of walt's philosophy is getting a little heavy-handed. between the addiction/choice talk with his son last episode and the exchange in the doctor's office he's telling us out loud what we already know.

EMCEE DARTH MALEK · Post by **EMCEE DARTH MALEK** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 1:49 pm

alpha · Post by **alpha** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 2:11 pm

liked the scene where Gus is riding in the elevator and the dings for every floor are the same as old Hector's dings.

siLLy KiD · Post by **siLLy KiD** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 3:43 pm

alpha wrote:liked the scene where Gus is riding in the elevator and the dings for every floor are the same as old Hector's dings.

good eye/ear. Very interesting indeed.

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 4:07 pm

still illiterate wrote:
Philaflava wrote:
Of course it is. It's Philly's own greatest Latino played by a Jew,
sick of that shit

Reason · Post by **Reason** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 10:23 pm

another absolutely fantastic episode. from the poolside flashback to mike pulling up in the car and staring down walt while walt was with hank to the closet bar breaking from the heaviness of the vacuum-sealed money clothes to hank and co. grilling gus

just fantastic

BusinessMan · Post by **BusinessMan** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 11:01 pm

Can someone explain that whole conversation Gus had with Hector at the end?

"Is today the day?"

Was he referring to Hector dying? Or Gus now taking over the business? Or..?

Also I didn't quite catch the story he told hector before the flashback came. Something about the DEA/Federali's busting into the hacienda. And what significance did it have?

EichTurner · Post by **EichTurner** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:41 am

Philaflava wrote:
still illiterate wrote:
Philaflava wrote:
Of course it is. It's Philly's own greatest Latino played by a Jew,
sick of that shit

i was thinking about this watching carlito's way.. it would never work with a black guy..

EichTurner · Post by **EichTurner** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:44 am

what business man said .. i think you just got to wait on i though.

i liked the little fuck you gus gave to hank at the end of their meeting.. ' oh no please don't get up'

perabigail · Post by **perabigail** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 4:50 am

BusinessMan wrote: Also I didn't quite catch the story he told hector before the flashback came. Something about the DEA/Federali's busting into the hacienda. And what significance did it have?

he was pretty much mocking hector to his face. he told hector that the cousins wanted to kill walter and he wouldn't let them, but when gus offered hank instead of walter they accepted. then he told hector that hank received a warning call a minute before the cousins rolled up on him and the cartel guy knew who made the warning call but he was killed by a fedarale. when he smiled and suggested that it could have been a coincidence, it was essentially the ultimate "fuck you".

as far as the "is today the day?" comment, i'm not real sure about that either.

Brougham33 · Post by **Brougham33** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 9:28 am

I assumed "Is today the day" and "look at me" was Gus taunting Hector. He shot max and asked Gus to look at him. Gus asking a wheelchair ridden stroke victim to look at him (literally and figuratively) is the ruthless payback. Letting this man live and constantly stopping by to give him updates on how Gus is owning him is some cold blooded shit and lets us know what drives Gus.

Blockhead · Post by **Blockhead** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 11:51 am

I thought the "is today the day?" shit was like "Am i gonna kill you today?"
Basically, he's letting that dude live the rest of his miserable life in fear that, at any moment, he could get murked.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 12:22 pm

for some reason i thought 'is today the day' meant gus was visiting hector on the same calendar day that the flashback took place on

as dope as the flashback scene was in of itself, i get slightly wary when shows start ret-conning back stories for major characters, especially when the backstory reveals previous connections to other existing characters. they now need to come up wiht something really exceptionally convincing to explain what Gus did in Chile to save him from getting killed by the cartel

Jayou Ayen · Post by **Jayou Ayen** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 2:04 pm

Before I saw this episode I asked my brother if Gus was suppose to have a terrible spanish accent, or if it was Giancarlo Esposito's poor spanish. Unless there is some twist from his Chilean past, it's definitely on the actor.
Perhaps it's not a big deal, but for such a well made show, getting a few lines to sound authentic shouldn't be too difficult.

39

Brougham33 · Post by **Brougham33** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 3:38 pm

I remember Gilligan noting during commentary from the season 3 dvd that Giancarlo had to learn to speak spanish for the role, never spoke it before the show.

From an interview last year:

Q: Gus has to speak a lot of Spanish this season, but your heritage is Italian. Was it difficult to learn?

A: You know to read it, I'm fairly decent. When I speak it in a conversation less so because it's a way of thinking. When you're speaking Spanish, you're thinking in a different way. But I was blessed enough to get a coach out there who is really lovely. We got together maybe three or four times to work on specific scenes and get the translations correct. Since then, I've gotten Rosetta Stone [Laughs]. I'm listening to the tapes and really trying to brush up in anticipation that the next season there might be more and I could be even better. But I got a great compliment from The Cousins, who actually are Spanish, so I was happy about that. Those guys don't give out compliments easily.

Jayou Ayen · Post by **Jayou Ayen** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 3:55 pm

Brougham33 wrote:I remember Gilligan noting during commentary from the season 3 dvd that Giancarlo had to learn to speak spanish for the role, never spoke it before the show.

From an interview last year:
Q: Gus has to speak a lot of Spanish this season, but your heritage is Italian. Was it difficult to learn?

A: You know to read it, I'm fairly decent. When I speak it in a conversation less so because it's a way of thinking. When you're speaking Spanish, you're thinking in a different way. But I was blessed enough to get a coach out there who is really lovely. We got together maybe three or four times to work on specific scenes and get the translations correct. Since then, I've gotten Rosetta Stone [Laughs]. I'm listening to the tapes and really trying to brush up in anticipation that the next season there might be more and I could be even better. But I got a great compliment from The Cousins, who actually are Spanish, so I was happy about that. Those guys don't give out compliments easily.

I haven't seen Fresh in a long time, but I'm pretty sure he sounded more hispanic in that, although he may not have spoken spanish in that movie.

Don't get me wrong, everything he says is intelligible and clear. But it sounds like he's reading, and the pronunciation is usually off. It would be acceptable if he was not a native spanish speaker, but the character is supposed to be from Chile.
There are singers who don't speak spanish, yet record entire albums in the language, because they are able to memorize the words.
I understand this is a minor complaint, because it wouldn't bother me if they were butchering another language, but unfortunately I hear it.

39

still illiterate · Post by **still illiterate** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 5:06 pm

his Spanish is really terrible, not just pronounciation, but pacing. It takes me out of the show when it's going on.

I do like that when speaking English he adds a latin accent though.

tehgiftofgab · Post by **tehgiftofgab** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 1:04 pm

i sure am glad i dont speak spanish

Smooth Lou · Post by **Smooth Lou** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 2:40 pm

still illiterate wrote:
Philaflava wrote:
Of course it is. It's Philly's own greatest Latino played by a Jew,
sick of that shit

The Spanish being spoken in these all-Spanish scenes are so fucking terrible. Still though, AMAZING episode.

Reason · Post by **Reason** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:25 am

today is the day = imo it's obviously a reference to the anniversary of the day he killed his friend

Reason · Post by **Reason** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:31 am

drizzle wrote:
as dope as the flashback scene was in of itself, i get slightly wary when shows start ret-conning back stories for major characters, especially when the backstory reveals previous connections to other existing characters. they now need to come up wiht something really exceptionally convincing to explain what Gus did in Chile to save him from getting killed by the cartel

here was my take: i'm okay if they leave it at that and don't explore the origins (though i expect them to). chile and mexico are two completely different places. the cartel is based in mexico - hasn't the show established that? gus did his thang in chile and for whatever reason he gets immunity from death, but it's not important to me, i think that scene was meant to establish back story on why he is based in new mexico, i.e. the united states...cuz the cartel shut him out of mexico, and cuz he fled chile for whatever reason, presumably because he had the same ambitions and couldn't get any headway, or maybe he's family with a higher-up from chile that makes him untouchable...whatever the reason, i'm more interested in the next step he took after that scene, not how he got there. i'm satisfied with the little explanation we got

samdoom · Post by **samdoom** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:08 am

Reason wrote:today is the day = imo it's obviously a reference to the anniversary of the day he killed his friend

i dont think so because he says "is today the day?" as if asking if its going to be the day that he kills him or that the cartel goes to war with him or whatever. I think Gus is essentially taunting him and saying "is today the day that I fuck you and your cronies up?" i could be wrong though

intuition · Post by **intuition** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:20 am

still illiterate wrote:I do like that when speaking English he adds a latin accent though.

it seems like it slowly got stronger over the seasons, and now it's almost forced.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:21 am

Reason wrote:
drizzle wrote:
as dope as the flashback scene was in of itself, i get slightly wary when shows start ret-conning back stories for major characters, especially when the backstory reveals previous connections to other existing characters. they now need to come up wiht something really exceptionally convincing to explain what Gus did in Chile to save him from getting killed by the cartel
here was my take: i'm okay if they leave it at that and don't explore the origins (though i expect them to). chile and mexico are two completely different places. the cartel is based in mexico - hasn't the show established that? gus did his thang in chile and for whatever reason he gets immunity from death, but it's not important to me, i think that scene was meant to establish back story on why he is based in new mexico, i.e. the united states...cuz the cartel shut him out of mexico, and cuz he fled chile for whatever reason, presumably because he had the same ambitions and couldn't get any headway, or maybe he's family with a higher-up from chile that makes him untouchable...whatever the reason, i'm more interested in the next step he took after that scene, not how he got there. i'm satisfied with the little explanation we got

i generally agree, i honestly waasnt' even that curious about his backstory in mexico to begin wiht. what they gave us was very cool, but seemingly not particualry necessary for driving the plot forward; it was more just to fill things out a bit and i'm ok with that. but you know they will go further into the chile thing, they dangled it too heavily to let it go. and the deeper they go into a backstory, the more chances there are for retardation. consider the last season of Lost for an example of how things like this can go horribly wrong

Gregg Popabitch · Post by **Gregg Popabitch** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:44 am

i thought today's the day meant are you gonig to look at me and acknowledge that you shouldn't have killed my gay lover.

i could be wrong. in the context of the episode, it was incredibly ambiguous and could be any number of things.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:50 am

in terms of impact of the viewer, the ambiguity of that line actually works better than any tangible meaning. look at us arguing over it

ALASKA · Post by **ALASKA** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:58 am

anyone else think walt's cancer is back?

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:05 pm

with one season left it certainly could be. he didnt exactly sell it at the dinner table.

still illiterate · Post by **still illiterate** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:35 pm

ALASKA wrote:anyone else think walt's cancer is back?

exactly what I thought