(Untitled)

[frelling_tralk]

Vince Gilligan Talks ‘Breaking Bad’ Regret, Hints at Mike’s Return in ‘Better Call Saul’

[W]hen I heard anecdotally that a lot of people were of the belief that the whole thing had been a dream, then I was kind of scratching my head because that to me as a fan of storytelling, that to me, is the antithesis of a satisfying ending. [...] It

Comments

[frelling_tralk]

I think that it will probably do okay at first from all the former BB fans checking it out, but I do wonder if people might be really harsh on it if it doesn't live up to their expectations from BB. For me Vince wrote some amazing X Files episodes, but that didn't mean that I wanted to watch his episodes for the comedy spin-off The Lone Gunman...

[sabotabby]

"It's all a dream" would be the worst possible ending, followed by "they were dead all along." I loved the ending, personally.

I'll check out the prequel; I don't have high hopes, but it's the closest we'll ever get to more BrBa.

[frelling_tralk]

I did too :D I was on a high from when Walt first confronts Gretchen and Ellion, when he admits to Skyler that he did it for his own ego, when he protects Jesse, and well I was just in floods of tears by the end *g*

And even if I don't end up watching it in full, I will probably tune in if any BB characters make an appearance

[eve11]

Oh, are there spoilers in here? I've only seen season 1...

[frelling_tralk]

There's nothing really spoilery IMO, just Vince talking about how he doesn't get why people would want it to all be a dream

How are you finding it so far?

ETA Don't read the comments though because my reply to sabotabby does have spoilers for the ending

[eve11]

Thanks for the heads up. I know I'm late to the party. People seem amazed that I have no idea what happens in the show beyond the Netflix DVDs we've gotten (just s1). I'm liking it so far, it's got good story telling. Though, the kinds of things that happen in it are things that I tend to have anxiety nightmares about. But yeah, I'm finishing up Once Upon a Time s2 on netflix and then likely will move back over to S2 of Breaking Bad (D and I watch it together).

Maybe our new house will have better high-speed internet options and we can do more streaming & watch more quickly.

[falafel_musings]

I don't tend to watch spinoffs, even if I really loved their mother show. Never watched Caprica, Angel or Ashes to Ashes, even though I loved BSG, Buffy and Life on Mars. So I may try the Saul show just out of curiosity but I'm not expecting to love it anything like as much as Breaking Bad. But it does seem like a good opportunity to flesh out Mike's backstory. I'd like to see the ABQ world expanded beyond the White, Schrader and Pinkman characters.

[frelling_tralk]

Yeah my loving the original show isn't always a guarantee that I will watch the spin-off, not unless I'm already interested in the premise. I may watch the pilot of the Saul spin-off if the reviews on my flist are very positive, but we'll see *g*

I've got to rec Ashes To Ashes though, I really think that it's worth watching if you enjoyed Life On Mars!

[eowyn_315]

I can't see the question Gilligan was asked (for some reason, that link just gives me a blank page), but I don't recall ANYONE saying they wanted "the whole thing" - by which I assume he means the whole series? - to be a dream, just the final episode

[frelling_tralk]

Hmm I took Vince as meaning the finale when he talks about 'the whole thing' being a dream, but if he did misunderstand and think that anyone wanted the entire series to be a dream then no wonder he was confused about how satisfying that would be!

And I agree with what you're saying that the show could have ended on a quite poignant and interesting note if the finale had made you believe that Walt was getting some closure and heroically rescuing Jesse and taking out the Nazi's, only to have it all end on it being a dream or fantasy of his. I guess that I had a knee-jerk reaction to the critics saying that could have been a good ending because I saw the actual ending as so perfect that it was hard for me to visualise it going any other way and being as satisfying

[eowyn_315]

IDK, like I said, I couldn't read the article, but the way he talks about it - "these people I’ve invested all my care and close attention to for years on end, that nothing they’ve accomplished happened to be real" - that seems a little overdramatic if they're just talking about the final episode?

I mean, really, it's just the things that Walt accomplished in that episode that would turn out not to have been real... and since a lot of people wanted him to suffer or be punished, Walt basically getting everything he wanted before he died is probably "the antithesis of a satisfying ending" for those people.

It's really weird that Vince wouldn't get that?

[frelling_tralk]

There were a sizeable number of people who couldn't stand Walt's character by the end, but I don't know how much exposure Vince had to that? The fandom that he seemed the most aware of were the Walt stans, so maybe he was assuming that most of the audience were rooting for things not too end *too* horribly for Walt after all of the drama and heartbreak in Ozymandias, that would fit with him wondering why the audience would instead want Walt's final moments to be a dream instead

The link isn't that much more detailed btw regarding the finale, it's those comments from Vince that I copied here, with just a quick intro from the interviewer about Vince being confounded by theories on it all being a dream