Shall we anticpate the AMC series "Breaking Bad"? I think I may.

(Talking about El Camino, if that's not clear.)

Watched El Camino a second time coming right out of Breaking Bad. Improved a little, not much--at least it made more sense.

One thing I didn't understand: where on the Breaking Bad timeline is that meeting between Jesse and Walt in the diner (where Walt suggests Jesse go to college)?

Robert Forster's fees seem a little exorbitant. I mean, he's basically printing up a few fake IDs, no?

He sets people up with an entire new identity, with a false history and social security number etc, and physically smuggles criminals across state lines & international borders. How much would you charge?

The diner scene is after they get stuck in the desert trying to cook the first giant batch and the battery dies on the RV.

There was the shot of the RV...That makes sense; I thought Walt looked more like he did towards the end, and that threw me a bit.

I would very aggressively underprice my competitors in the new-identity business; $149.00, something like that. And I'd follow Saul's lead with splashy commercials and my picture on billboards and benches all around town. (I mean, I really don't have any anything to base an estimate on, but I would think $10-25,000 would be ample?)

It’s stated when forster’s character is first introduced in the series that the price increases exponentially based on the amount of heat iirc; by the time they’ve killed a cop and are all over national tv the risk is pretty big so it makes sense that he charges the premium rate

I got the sense that his thing was not a one-man operation, he has to get fake SSNs and open up bank accounts and the like

Definitely seems to be a one-man operation. So maybe Jesse and Walt are the extreme cases, and someone just trying to escape debt or a bad marriage or something would get a rate closer to what I suggested.

Robert Forester is so good, in both the series and El Camino. One of the saddest moments in the series is when Walt offers him $10,000 just to hang out for an extra hour (and Forester takes it--he's a stand-up guy, but he never romanticizes the purely mercenary part of his job).

Misread frogbs's post...I don't know; it seemed pretty much one-man to me, although I suppose he'd need some outside help hidden from view.

What was his fee? 200k? I would say if I was new I would start at 50-75k for the package he was doing.

Clemenza, you’ll have time when the rewatch is over - set up a working SSN & see how much that costs you, then move on to establishing a fake identity with a backstory that employers can research which holds up, see how much that costs you, and price out the time you spent on each as a one-man-operation. Add on the losses from closing your vacuum shop down for a week to drive to Alaska and back, with or without people-smuggling involved, but including petrol & motels & meals. It’ll be a fun spreadsheet project!

He didn't really set Walt up with a new identity thought, he just bunged him in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.

(xpost) First I'll have to get the proper training in vacuum-cleaner repair, but if I can look after that, this sounds like a worthwhile project--will report back.

Occurred to me that I would’ve liked breaking bad if it were a 110 minute movie but as a TV show I got sick of it in season 2 somewhere.

Cancer dx, encounter with Jesse, virtuosic cooking sequence, flying high, confrontation with the cartels, third act yadda yadda, Walt gets a bullet to the head and Jesse rides off into the sunset with Krysten Ritter, boom.

Couldn't disagree with that approach more strongly, completely cuts out just how debased and detestable Walt gets.

that's what made me sick of the show early on, dude was like strangling a kid in his basement, wtf

I guess if that's what put you off, then fair play, this def wasn't the show for you.

"chemistry teacher with nothing left to lose and genial dirtbag team up to cook meth in the picturesque southwest" is a good start to something though.

yeah I was coming in late (this was already years ago) and getting into s2 after the first season was basically comedic in tone was like "oh this is just going to constantly escalate, never mind." Same reason I only watched one season of Downton Abbey. anyway I don't watch much TV anymore.

He didn't really set Walt up with a new identity thought, he just bunged him in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.

true but I think Walt was a special case because his picture was all over the news & wasn't gonna live long enough to see the heat die down

that's what made me sick of the show early on, dude was like strangling a kid in his basement, wtf

only because he figured out that the kid was planning to stab him the instant he got free

after the first season was basically comedic in tone

I mean maybe relatively speaking but, yeah, this is the same season where a dude gets strangled with a bike lock and dissolved in a bathtub full of acid, so

...but funny!

He didn't really set Walt up with a new identity thought, he just bunged him in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.

Gene is a square citizen

(bathtub drops through the ceiling)
Jesse: (sheepishly) I done a bad bad thing, boss.
Walt: (mugging to camera) Mama mia, that's a-one spicy meat-a-ball!
(audience laughs, applauds)

Can't imagine Walt's chemo stuff in that cabin was cheap

To be clear I don’t really remember the order of operations there.

Like six seasons or whatever of playing peekaboo with the brother in law, I wouldn’t be able to deal.

hey now it's really only 3.9999 seasons of that

The peekaboo does lead to what is probably the show's greatest moment, though.

I assume it's

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKTT-sy0aLg