Things you can learn from the s5.1 Breaking Bad dvds
...which I dipped in in order to prepar for the rest of the season in five days.
1.) The scene at the end of 5.02., with Walt sliding into bed with Skyler, was originally even creepier and grosser. In the lengthier version which is among the dvd extras, you get Walt continuing his kissing and stroking, while the camera remains on Skyler's face, but there is also a wider angle allowing us to see more of Walt, making it clear he is about to have sex with her, disregarding her complete lack of a response. At which point she despairingly reaches out (still with her back to him, not looking him in the face) and gives him a handjob, to spare herself the penetration. Anna Gunn's facial acting (the camera remains on her face) is fantastic, you can feel the visceral horror and despair, and of course this is the counterpart and Dark Mirrorverse version from the scene in the pilot, but I'm glad they went with the shorter version which already makes the point that there is no safe space left for Skyler, not even this most intimate one, but leaves the rest up to the viewer's imagination. Incidentally, in the commentary for the later episode 51 Anna Gunn gets asked by her fellow actors whether she thinks Walt and Skyler continue to have sex after this occasion, and she says she doesn't want to talk about it.
2.) Speaking of 51, I had assumed that the strikingly beautiful shot of Skyler in the pool, eyes wide open, was accomplished by GCI trickery, but no such thing. Anna Gunn was actually in the swimming pool. In the night. With her eyes open. Closed between takes, because of the chlorine, and also she had an oxygen connection so she could breathe between takes - with closed eyes, and there was a steel cave to ensure her skirt was billowing the way the director wanted it to, but she really was under water for however long it took to get that shot. Also, the scriptwriter says the climactic argument scene between Walt and Skyler was directly inspired by the one between Michael and Kay Corleone in The Godfather II, which I can see. (If you're curious or don't quite remember anymore, the scene between Michael and Kay.) Which was by no means the only Godfather reference this season; Walter closing the garage door on Jesse in Gliding all over was the door being closed in Kay's face at the end of The Godfather I, and of course the montage of deaths in the same episode was inspired by the montage of Michael dealing with his enemies in The Godfather.) Has anyone ever done a "Michael Corleone and Walter White: Parallels and Contrasts" meta? Also: I had forgotten that the shot from my icon actually comes from 51, early on, when Walt is putting money on Skyler's dressing table in their bedroom. (The connotation of that gesture in that context didn't hit me until then, either.) And something I hadn't noticed either before, until Anna Gunn and the scriptwriter pointed it out, was that after the Schraders have arrived and we cut to the family sitting by the pool, we can see a few of Walt's birthday presents unwrapped on the table. (So he did get some other than Jesse's.) Including a mug saying "You Are Now Entering Area 51", which is either from Junior or Hank. In the final scene, when Walt returns to find Skyler smoking, she's using that very same mug as her ash tray, and the gesture of her putting her cigarette into it suddenly taks on a darkly hilarious significance, which is the kind of thing Breaking Bad does so well.
3.) In the audio commentary for The Buyout, in one of the scenes about Jesse's horror at what happened to the kid at the end of the previous episode, the scriptwriter says something about Jesse having become the conscience of the show and Byran Cranston interestingly replies: "People keep saying that. I don't know. For me, it is Hank, not Jesse." The scriptwriter also says the dinner scene between Walt, Skyler and Jesse was her favourite thing to write on Breaking Bad and one of her all time favourite scenes on BB as well, which I totally understand. (The three actors agree as well.) Bryan Cranston teased Aaron Paul that he should pick this scene for his Emmy submission because it's essentially Jesse desperately monologuing . Watching said scene with the audio commentary on, which means Jesse's voice is drowned out, my attention was how his head and eyes really go in ping pong ball fashion between Skyler and Walt all the time. "You're like the kid of divorced parents", the scriptwriter said to Aaron Paul.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/914170.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
1.) The scene at the end of 5.02., with Walt sliding into bed with Skyler, was originally even creepier and grosser. In the lengthier version which is among the dvd extras, you get Walt continuing his kissing and stroking, while the camera remains on Skyler's face, but there is also a wider angle allowing us to see more of Walt, making it clear he is about to have sex with her, disregarding her complete lack of a response. At which point she despairingly reaches out (still with her back to him, not looking him in the face) and gives him a handjob, to spare herself the penetration. Anna Gunn's facial acting (the camera remains on her face) is fantastic, you can feel the visceral horror and despair, and of course this is the counterpart and Dark Mirrorverse version from the scene in the pilot, but I'm glad they went with the shorter version which already makes the point that there is no safe space left for Skyler, not even this most intimate one, but leaves the rest up to the viewer's imagination. Incidentally, in the commentary for the later episode 51 Anna Gunn gets asked by her fellow actors whether she thinks Walt and Skyler continue to have sex after this occasion, and she says she doesn't want to talk about it.
2.) Speaking of 51, I had assumed that the strikingly beautiful shot of Skyler in the pool, eyes wide open, was accomplished by GCI trickery, but no such thing. Anna Gunn was actually in the swimming pool. In the night. With her eyes open. Closed between takes, because of the chlorine, and also she had an oxygen connection so she could breathe between takes - with closed eyes, and there was a steel cave to ensure her skirt was billowing the way the director wanted it to, but she really was under water for however long it took to get that shot. Also, the scriptwriter says the climactic argument scene between Walt and Skyler was directly inspired by the one between Michael and Kay Corleone in The Godfather II, which I can see. (If you're curious or don't quite remember anymore, the scene between Michael and Kay.) Which was by no means the only Godfather reference this season; Walter closing the garage door on Jesse in Gliding all over was the door being closed in Kay's face at the end of The Godfather I, and of course the montage of deaths in the same episode was inspired by the montage of Michael dealing with his enemies in The Godfather.) Has anyone ever done a "Michael Corleone and Walter White: Parallels and Contrasts" meta? Also: I had forgotten that the shot from my icon actually comes from 51, early on, when Walt is putting money on Skyler's dressing table in their bedroom. (The connotation of that gesture in that context didn't hit me until then, either.) And something I hadn't noticed either before, until Anna Gunn and the scriptwriter pointed it out, was that after the Schraders have arrived and we cut to the family sitting by the pool, we can see a few of Walt's birthday presents unwrapped on the table. (So he did get some other than Jesse's.) Including a mug saying "You Are Now Entering Area 51", which is either from Junior or Hank. In the final scene, when Walt returns to find Skyler smoking, she's using that very same mug as her ash tray, and the gesture of her putting her cigarette into it suddenly taks on a darkly hilarious significance, which is the kind of thing Breaking Bad does so well.
3.) In the audio commentary for The Buyout, in one of the scenes about Jesse's horror at what happened to the kid at the end of the previous episode, the scriptwriter says something about Jesse having become the conscience of the show and Byran Cranston interestingly replies: "People keep saying that. I don't know. For me, it is Hank, not Jesse." The scriptwriter also says the dinner scene between Walt, Skyler and Jesse was her favourite thing to write on Breaking Bad and one of her all time favourite scenes on BB as well, which I totally understand. (The three actors agree as well.) Bryan Cranston teased Aaron Paul that he should pick this scene for his Emmy submission because it's essentially Jesse desperately monologuing . Watching said scene with the audio commentary on, which means Jesse's voice is drowned out, my attention was how his head and eyes really go in ping pong ball fashion between Skyler and Walt all the time. "You're like the kid of divorced parents", the scriptwriter said to Aaron Paul.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/914170.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.