Okay, the Breaking Bad finale disappointed me. It felt like a giant set up for next season with very little of moving the story forward. And the plane crash teaser seemed vauguely connected and symbolic but not all that related. Last week was way better

I like the way Jesse and Walt are both so totally screwed, and that the disaster was not anything I'd supposed it might be.

The whole show is based on Walt doing something - deciding to cook meth - that seems kind of justifiable in his dire situation but has all these terrible consequences, not just for him but for people he doesn't even know, and the plane crash is just another big splashy consequence. He watched Jane die and did nothing to save her because she was inconvenient to him and there's a pretty direct line between that and two planes full of people dying.

It was all to provide for his family, and now he's losing his family and can't claim the credit for the money that's coming in.

I like it.

I think he has told himself that it was all for his family, but really it has always been all about him and his pride the whole damn time. And I thought the plane crash, with bodies literally raining down on his house (and the whole season, the pink teddy bear has always been about a child who died because of a decision Walt made), was a rather perfect metaphor for the way that he keeps ignoring the consequences of his actions.

I'm really enjoying this season of Rescue Me.

It's interesting that Tommy's now seeing those "future" ghosts - his son and never to be grandson.

Joe and I watch Breaking Bad together and we were talking about how the plane crash was sort of symbolic - like Corwood said, bodies literally raining down around him. But how will Walt ever know that? I mean, we could see all sorts of negative consequences from the meth, but if Walt never sees it, it's not really part of the story.

But, yeah, I guess having thought about it, I do like the fact that Walt now sees, I think, that this meth thing has become about his pride/identity, especially since he's now lost all the things he said he started it for.

btw, I keep trying to imagine Walt telling Skylar that he's been cooking meth. I'm sure she would freak out but she might even go tell Hank.

I mean, we could see all sorts of negative consequences from the meth, but if Walt never sees it, it's not really part of the story.

While he can't know his role in the plane crash, I have to think that that nightmarish tour through the shooting gallery looking for Jesse gave him something to think about. He's been studiously not thinking about what he's contributing to, but what else does he have to do, now, but think?

We'll see next season.

btw, I keep trying to imagine Walt telling Skylar that he's been cooking meth. I'm sure she would freak out but she might even go tell Hank.

I loved Skyler this episode. I don't know how she'd react if Walt told her truth. It's very freak-outable, but I think she'd have a hard time actively putting Walt in jail. And they still need the money.

Between El Pollo Hermanos guy finding out that Hank is Walt's BiL and Walt's face being in the paper and on TV, I have to assume there will be some badness coming Walt's way from the street side of his life, as well.

I don't know that Walt needs to see the metaphor for it to be a metaphor. I mean, he's lied to himself whenever faced with the consequences of his actions.

But here's my problem: I don't know that they have any dramatically satisfying moves left in them. Both Jesse & Walt have lost everything, Hank's going to start figuring things out with just the little bit of information that Skylar has, Saul will screw both Jesse & Walt for the right price, and both of them deserve it. Well, Walt especially. He has to be the most unlikeable main character of any dramatic series on TV. I mean, Tony Soprano had all that charm, Al Swearingen was actually a little sweet when he wasn't sticking a knife in someone, and Don Draper crosses the line sometimes, but he usually ends up on the pathos side of the equation.

That's what has me intrigued - I don't know what they have left to do. Redemption? That would be something if they pulled off.

He has to be the most unlikeable main character of any dramatic series on TV.

And yet, don't you find yourself rooting for him to get that battery charged or make that distribution deal? I do.

A heads-up for people with Direct TV - they're running Oz and Deadwood commercial free on some subscriber-only (free) channel - 101.

I'm happy that The Closer is starting up tonight.