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Breaking Bad Is TV’s Best Medical Drama, Ever
Slate ^ | Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013 | Haider Javed Warraich

Posted on 09/12/2013 12:26:01 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

Breaking Bad is about a lot of things—the contextualization of evil, the blind bond of family, the consequences of lifelong repression—and of course, the macro and micro-economics of the methamphetamine industry. But wrapped within all of this is a medical drama unlike any other, possibly the best medical drama on TV, ever.

(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...


TOPICS: TV/Movies
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Yeah, I know, It's Slate, but it's about Heisenberg.

According to the article, Walt would never have turned into Heisenberg if only we had a health care system like Canada's. Of course he wouldn't have gotten any treatment, either, but it is racist to think through it that far.

1 posted on 09/12/2013 12:26:01 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
"Walt would never have turned into Heisenberg if only we had a health care system like Canada's. Of course he wouldn't have gotten any treatment, either"

Not so sure... we don't know if he was a registered democrat or not.

2 posted on 09/12/2013 12:28:46 PM PDT by Mr. K (Lies, Damned Lies, Statistics, and then Democrat Talking Points.)
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To: Mr. K
Not so sure... we don't know if he was a registered democrat or not.

There is that.

3 posted on 09/12/2013 12:29:45 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (When your policy is to rob Peter to pay Paul, you can count on enthusiastic support from Paul.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Mr. White, aka, Heisenberg, didn’t start mixing meth to pay for his treatment. He was doing it to leave his family a nest egg to support them when he dies. He didn’t even want to do the treatment. The wife backed him into it.


4 posted on 09/12/2013 12:30:17 PM PDT by Eva
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I watched the first season, and I was bored beyond words. I couldn’t care less about any of the characters, and thought the story wasn’t compelling at all. My question is: is it worth giving it another shot? I hate wasting time on over-hyped shows, but it seems that everyone loves this show.


5 posted on 09/12/2013 12:32:41 PM PDT by jjsheridan5 (never again: done with the Establishment Republicans forever)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The doctor told him that the lung cancer was incurable and that all he could do was buy him some time to put his life in order. That is what Mr. White planned to do, but without the treatment. He didn’t want to spend his last year on Earth as as an invalid. The meth cooking was for the family.


6 posted on 09/12/2013 12:33:09 PM PDT by Eva
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To: jjsheridan5

At least you should watch this season and only a few episodes left. To see how it ends. These episodes move the storyline much faster.


7 posted on 09/12/2013 12:34:01 PM PDT by sarasota
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To: jjsheridan5
One of my favorite episodes is Season 2, Episode 6 titled "Peekaboo."

It's where we start seeing Jesse as more than an Eminem wannabe.

You might try watching that one and see if it draws you in.

8 posted on 09/12/2013 12:37:25 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (When your policy is to rob Peter to pay Paul, you can count on enthusiastic support from Paul.)
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To: jjsheridan5

All I saw was degeneration into evil.

No hope for redemption.

I don’t watch the merely depressing.


9 posted on 09/12/2013 12:39:04 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Why haven't we heard from the 30 Benghazi survivors?)
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To: jjsheridan5
I watched the first season, and I was bored beyond words. I couldn’t care less about any of the characters, and thought the story wasn’t compelling at all. My question is: is it worth giving it another shot?

I would say that if you watched the whole first season and didn't like it, then you shouldn't bother watching the rest. The action and complexity increase over time, but it maintains the same tone and style throughout. I loved the first season, btw.
10 posted on 09/12/2013 12:40:32 PM PDT by fr_freak
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To: jjsheridan5

If you liked Sopranos, you’d love Breaking Bad. I have run into a few people who genuinely dislike the show, but they those folks love The Big Bang Theory and The Housewives of the OC so your basic moron segment of the viewing public. It can be very cerebral, but as a lover of Vince Gilligan for a while since the X-files days the guy has really honed his craft.


11 posted on 09/12/2013 12:42:25 PM PDT by pburgh01
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To: sarasota
“At least you should watch this season and only a few episodes left. To see how it ends. These episodes move the storyline much faster.”

I humbly disagree. I have told friends that they should not watch the remaining episodes if they haven't seen it in it's entirety. If you start now it would be like reading only the last 50 pages of Moby Dick or Count of Monte Cristo

12 posted on 09/12/2013 12:43:53 PM PDT by Cyman
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To: Cyman

I see what you mean. Any predictions on the ending?


13 posted on 09/12/2013 12:44:59 PM PDT by sarasota
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
One of my favorite episodes is Season 2, Episode 6 titled "Peekaboo." ...You might try watching that one and see if it draws you in.

I will try that. I figure there must be more than I saw in the first season.
14 posted on 09/12/2013 12:53:22 PM PDT by jjsheridan5 (never again: done with the Establishment Republicans forever)
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To: pburgh01
If you liked Sopranos, you’d love Breaking Bad.

I didn't like Sopranos.

I already knew that mobsters were - at best - ordinary schlubs. I already knew that members of La Cosa Nostra have to deal with many ironic moral inversions in their private lives. Neither of these insights are profound or particularly useful.

I'm sure that if you could have looked into the home life of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu, or for that matter Saddam and Samira Hussein, you would have found that they had all the usual banal problems anyone else has. OK, they could deal with those problems using lethal force or torture, but those methods bring their own sets problems you wouldn't want to have, can't learn anything from, and cause nightmares. Who needs to know? Pfui.

15 posted on 09/12/2013 12:53:32 PM PDT by Steely Tom (If the Constitution can be a living document, I guess a corporation can be a person.)
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To: pburgh01
If you liked Sopranos, you’d love Breaking Bad. I have run into a few people who genuinely dislike the show, but they those folks love The Big Bang Theory and The Housewives of the OC so your basic moron segment of the viewing public. It can be very cerebral, but as a lover of Vince Gilligan for a while since the X-files days the guy has really honed his craft.

No worries on The Big Bang Theory and The Housewives of the OC lol. I didn't really care for Sopranos, felt it dragged, and was a weak cousin of the really good mafia movies. I may just be getting more critical over the years.
16 posted on 09/12/2013 12:55:38 PM PDT by jjsheridan5 (never again: done with the Establishment Republicans forever)
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To: sarasota

Yeah, I think Walter will emerge alive and well as his BIL and co-DEA agent are killed in the shoot out. With their deaths the evidence and trails to Walter die with them.

Jesse will then kill Walter as he lies in a hospital bed on life support to get his revenge.


17 posted on 09/12/2013 1:04:23 PM PDT by Cyman
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To: jjsheridan5

I watched the first season, and I was bored beyond words. I couldn’t care less about any of the characters, and thought the story wasn’t compelling at all.

18 posted on 09/12/2013 1:04:34 PM PDT by Old Sarge (Opinions are like orgasms: only mine count, and I couldn't care less if you have one...)
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To: jjsheridan5

well not everyone likes what others like. my general/rule’is if lots’like something i probably won’t. i came late to the game and watched about 4 years of the show across a couple months.

i think it also helped that i hapoened to like bryan cranston from his prior roles - all comedies so i was’kind of interested in how he’d pull off drama with some dark humor.

the best thing about the show is the characters, and plot are believable, for the characters as they are written. problems seem to naturally occur. nothing is awkwardly forced. how ‘people’deal with it is plausible. that’s how it gets you into it. i thik the general story concept was interesting to me. to see how they would’write it and pull it off without jumping the shark and keeping it believable.

of course not everything is everyone’s cup of tea. i never got into mad’men, or the sopranos, or other shows people’went nuts about.


19 posted on 09/12/2013 1:06:05 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
I guess this is the big TV event of the year and everybody wants to get into the act. A few days back it was "Pick an obscure character and tell how he embodies the whole show." Today, it's "Pick your pet issue and tell how the show reflects your political opinions (even if the show doesn't actually have much to do with them)."

But what is TV's best medical drama ever? Medical Center? Doctor Kildare? Marcus Welby, MD? Ben Casey? Quincy? St. Elsewhere? Chicago Hope? Gray's Anatomy? General Hospital? Frazier? I'm betting it's House, though doctor dramas are pretty slim pickings, and hoping it's not Bones or whatever the one with McSteamy and McDreamy is. It's not St. Elsewhere, if only because of their stupid ending.

20 posted on 09/12/2013 1:38:09 PM PDT by x
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