Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

I'm with you. I don't understand the hate for Skyler at all. She's being rational and acting in the best interest of the children.

With that being said, I love this show. Amazing how consistently good it continues to be.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

I was thinking the same thing, also there is dirt that spilled inside the underground tank too.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

:lol:

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

I thought that they said they buried two tanks.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

They were talking about the tanker, not the tanks in the ground

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

It seems to me that Walt's handling of this situation is going to be key ... if he is not affected in a manner that Jesse sees as appropriate, it might make Jesse start to think about the whole Brock situation again in a different light. Walt's definitely gotten cocky about his manipulation ability.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

First, I can't believe we are six pages in and nobody has mentioned Walt's comments from near the end of episode 4.

Walt: "The methylamine keeps flowing no matter what. We are not ramping down. We're just getting started. Nothing stops this train. Nothing."

Bring on episode five where they keep the methylamine flowing by doing what. Robbing a train...


Second, I read the article here linked earlier . So here's my question, because I don't think it was made entirely clear. I know they talked about robbing it in the "dark zone" but is that what they actually did? I thought the whole reason/beauty of Jessie's plan versus where she had talked about was the fact they could get it without the engineer and conductor even knowing they'd been robbed. Location could be anywhere remote as long as they had a diversion opportunity. I would have thought if it had been in the dark zone the engineer/conductor/truck driver -- one of them would have at least alluded to it by saying they had tried to call a tow truck or something.

Given such, I don't think they necessarily were that far from ABQ. At the very least, it didn't seem 100% clear that it did or didn't happen in the "dark zone".

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

I honestly have no idea where this season is going :lol: But can tell this episode will be the catalyst for a lot of things to come.

I also can't tell if the producers want us to really believe Walt is badass, or just stick with "he's a badass in his own head", I'm going with the latter.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

LOL Walt is clapping after. Wow.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

:lol: if that gif was accurate, this title would take on a whole new meaning.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

I thought for a moment that Jesse figured it out when Walt and Mike were arguing at jesse's house. The camera panned in on Jesse's face and it looked like Walt said something that gave away something the way Jesse's face looked but that wasn't the case.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

Remember, the "dark zone" also had no cell reception. I think if it wasn't in the dark zone, they would have called for a fire truck/tow truck/etc immediately rather.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

Another thing to point out in the scene: as Mike and Walt were arguing it started zooming into Jesse as he was playing with the straw in his drink. He would plug the top of the straw, lift it out of the glass, and let the liquid pour back in. It made me think of the ricin and how it could be administered in the drink. Probably meant nothing but just made me think of it.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

The straw play didn't mean nothing. It was what got Jesse thinking about draining the methylamine.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

The train heist and the magnets operation were both pretty implausible in that a lot of things needed to go exactly their way for it to work. The reason it works for the show though is that it's all building into Walt's ego. At this point he feels that him and Jesse could do whatever they hell they wanted and it would work according to plan. If the show ends with Walt dead/in jail, I can see his downfall starting with a botched heist.

And for all we know, this may be the botched heist... that kid will come back into play somehow.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

I'd love to see an interview with Vince Gilligan where someone asks him about some of the train stuff. Still, for me, only one thing really stood out as a problem:

What the heck were they measuring when they were walking along the tracks? They wouldn't have needed the bridge since the liquid would still be going to an underground tank, so they weren't seeing how far the bridge was. They also couldn't have been seeing where the car with the methylamine was going to be once the train stopped, since they didn't know which car it was going to be at that point. They weren't going to know that until Lydia called them, which hadn't happened yet.

All the questions about them just "happening to get the train to stop where they wanted" don't make sense to me. Where else was the train going to stop. It was a huge stretch of flat, open country, so as long as the train's driver wasn't asleep, he'd have plenty of time to see the truck, and from there, there would be three options:

1) The train can't stop in time and hits the truck. Well, once that happens the train's going to be stopping anyway due to the accident.

2) The train screeches to a halt right before hitting the truck.

3) The train has plenty of time to stop well before hitting the truck, but it's not like the guys inside the train were just going to sit there, half a mile down the track, and stare at the truck. They would get out and try to get the thing out of their way. And if they're going to do that, then they'd just park the train right by the truck anyway.

So, scenarios 2 and 3 end up putting the car right where they wanted it (although how they knew where they wanted it when they did still baffles me). Scenario 1 would be a problem for them, of course, though.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

I think they were measuring whether or not the bridge was still within the "dead zone", but I'm not sure.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

They were using the bridge to hide under. I figured they were simply measuring the distance from the road to the bridge to know the maximum distance they would need to be prepared to pump over.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

Yeah they were measuring to make sure the bridge was in the dead zone. And we have to assume that Lydia gave them the information on which car it was in before measuring.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

Interview with Laura Fraser:

http://www.vulture.com/2012/08/break...interview.html

Thos.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

The clapping is from before they saw the kid.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

I figured they did not know where in the train the tanker car would be until 6 hours before it hit the "dark zone", after the train was re-ordered. What I assumed they were measuring was the distance between the road (if the tanker was the first car) where they planned to stop it and the bridge to make sure they were able to pump that distance (length of hoses and strength of the pump). Jesse shouted at joy when he realized the bridge was within their workable zone. Does anyone remember the distance Jesse counted to when he got to the bridge?

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

Why would it matter if the car they were robbing was in the dead zone? It's the people in the front of the train they've got to worry about. That, and that only seemed to be an issue of it was going to be an overt robbery, not the more subtle scam they were going to be pulling.

And if they were concerned about it, then I doubt they'd be planning the heist close enough to the edge of the zone anyway.

They were using the bridge to hide, but it's not like they had to. They could have done any number of things, like use the excavator to dig out a hole they could cover up and hide in, or disguise themselves as people driving dirt bikes around (apparently it happens in that area).

That, and if they were that concerned about their maximum pumping area (they ended up measuring something like 800 feet, correct), then they didn't bring NEARLY enough hose.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

The main photo for the Rolling Stone cover story sure seems to reveal that

http://peteryang.com/image/breaking-bad-2/

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

This show, you guys. I agree that the heist is a bit far fetched, but I think this show earns these moments. This show is grounded in reality, but also doesn't shy away from the more far-fetched elements. This show isn't trying to be The Wire.

Skylar is totally justified in feeling the way she does. Walter is a total black hat now. He's completely lost his way, and is addicted to his new purpose in life. Sure, he started this life to provide for his family, but that doesn't really seem like the purpose of his exploits anymore. That said, I still find Skylar unlikeable, just because she isn't a fun character to follow. To make a ridiculous analogy, she's like GI Joe, where Walter and crew are like Cobra. Cobra was always more interesting.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

Lydia even said that the time she gets the manifest they'll have 6 hours before the train comes.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

Ahh OK. So someone cut that GIF creatively. Good one. :thumbsup:

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

Wait. Have you not seen the episode? You're okay with spoilers? Better man than me.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

No I saw it, I just didn't remember Walt clapping like that. Everything happened so fast between the success of the robbery to shooting the kid. I just got tricked by the GIF is all. :)

My problem is I have to get up for work fairly early, but I don't dare go to sleep without having seen BB for fear of being spoiled the next day, so I'm generally kind of tired when I'm watching it.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

I'm not a huge fan of her character but I think she does the nervous wreck bit pretty damn well (not quite up to Claire Danes on Homeland, who imo has that on lockdown, but does it well). She seems more age appropriate for Brody's wife on Homeland than Morena Baccarin, while only 3 years apart Morena is an extremely young looking 33, but I'm happy that worked out the way it did for obvious "Premium Cable" reasons.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

Ooooh I gotta go back and check out Todds boots and see if it's a match!

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

While they didn't know which exact car it was going to be, there would be a usual order in which they arrange the train cars, so the tanks with liquids would always be in the same location on a train.

The location being under that bridge helps not only because they can hide activity better under it, but they can help use gravity to drain the liquid out more effectively.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

814.

Yeah they were measuring how far from the engine, to be stopped at the crossing, to the tanker car to do the heist.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

It's just a promotional photo.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

The coincidence of their tanker ending up right above the bridge struck me as a stretch too ... though I guess it makes sense that they would have been able to bring enough hose to adjust to where the car would actually be.

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

I totally took it as using the bridge to hide the gear (and hide the fact they have to pump that stuff out too) and the hoses would be able to stretch accordingly. They got lucky with where it stopped. Plus yes, they probably had a rough idea of how long the train would be.

As for diluting the mix, it sounds like this isn't a question of water ruining it, just making it a little less pure. Since they were putting water in the top and draining out the bottom, I didn't think that enough water would mix through the tank to get pulled into their hose and make a difference.

I thought it was a pretty ingenious way of "robbing" a train.

I would have been more surprised at the end if Twitter hadn't blown up with "HOLY SHIT BREAKING BAD YOU GUYS!" after it aired. Nothing shocking had happened yet, so I knew something big was coming. They can never just get away with it, can they? :)

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

Where did you get the idea it was a coincidence they knew where the train car would be?

It was explained by the Madrigal chick that she would get a manifest after the train was rebuilt showing where the car would be in the train. That means she had a track record of how the train was built in the past(as AVP posted), so she had a good idea where it would be, as well as after she got the manifest she would know exactly. That's how Jesse knew the distance he measured would work.

It was fairly obvious how it all worked. Walt asked specifically how would they know which car was which and where it would be. She then explained how. How much exposition did they need to do on that?

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

How are they gonna get all that methylene back to their lab? They'll have to keep going back to the same area every time they need more?

Re: Breaking Bad -- "Dead Freight" -- 8/12/12
 

Crazy Theory Time:

What if Jesse flipped at some point. Maybe when he was thinking of telling that girl everything. What if he told her and she went to the cops and they brought Jesse in. He made a deal and they gave him this watch to give to Walt and maybe that watch has a tracking and/or recording device in it. I cannot believe that Hank is so dumb that he can't put any of this together at all.