Breaking Good – Breaking Bad News – Monday 08/15/11 Edition

First things first, we can put behind us the bickering between Sony and AMC, because Breaking Bad has been renewed for a fifth and most importantly final season.  The big news is that it consists of sixteen episodes, which is basically a season and a third, on average.  The cynic in me wonders what in the hell the very public battle was about since this clearly doesn’t seem to have cut ANY costs, but whatever.   I think this is a victory for us fans.  More Breaking Bad than we were expecting, but Vince Gilligan and company are going to be able to end the show on their terms with their vision more or less intact, and as a bonus, we get a few more episodes to enjoy the last go around!

As is my custom, I’m pimping our stuff before I pimp anyone else’s.  In case you missed it, you can read my instant take for “Shotgun” here, and Jim’s over here.  Also, from last week, I wrote a little article about where I see Gus, Hank, and Walt going over the next few seasons, which has an update coming Real Soon Now.  Finally, Jim unleashed an awesome guide to show you how to Break Bad for Halloween this year!  If you do decide to go trick or treating as a Breaking Bad character, please, for the love of God send us a photo!  I’m sure we’ll gin up a contest of some sort for it, even.

Happy 19th birthday to RJ “Walt Jr.” Mitte!

Alan Sepinwall’s recap has a very  nice catch I didn’t notice in two viewings; “Love that Walter Jr. is drinking out of a Beneke mug as he talks to Walt about Walt moving back in – no matter what happens between Walter and Skyler now, there’s always going to be the whole “I.F.T.” business between them.”  If you don’t get the I.F.T. reference, the first initial stands for “I” and the last stands for “Ted”.  Now you get it.

Melissa Maerz delivers the goods once again.  If you’re listening to the cast, you know I’m fascinated with the double and sometimes even triple meanings of the episode titles.  Here, I think Melissa nails one of them; “Funny that this episode’s called “Shotgun.” Everyone wants to be the one steering things. No one wants to be stuck in the bitch seat.”  She also has an interesting riff on surveillance, Hank’s “Nicky the Greek” reference, and Skyler’s “Encycleopedia Brown” reference.  I’m telling you, Melissa doesn’t miss much!

Chris Money’s review doesn’t rise to Alan or Melissa levels, but my god, the man’s screen caps!  Best. Ever.

Next up, some official AMC pimping.  The officially official site has an always great Q/A with Jonathan “Mike” Banks.   On the similarities between Mr. Banks and Mike, and how he sees Mike as a character, “It’s very hard for me to differentiate between Mike and myself. I just liked this character so much; it fits, it wears easily. I still wonder about his whole backstory… whatever his backstory is, it’s sad and it’s poignant the way I see it. At the same time, it’s obvious Mike has not given up on the world entirely if he is taking his granddaughter to the zoo and he still finds joy in her description of a rhinoceros horn.”

Then there is the Inside Breaking Bad video for “Shotgun”, talking about Walt and Skyler’s relationship, Walt’s paranoia, Gus’s plans for Jesse, and Hank’s renewed since of motivation.

Last, but most certainly not least, the officially official podcast, Breaking Bad Insider, has their behind the scenes take on “Shotgun”.  It’s a completely different cast than ours, as they talk production details, like how many squibs they used to shoot up the truck in “Bullet Points”, for example.  Plus, they almost always have Gilligan and Cranston on, and they’re hilarious!

As on most Mondays, there is lots more.   And if you still can’t get enough, be sure to follow our Twitter account @BreakGood, as Jim posts stuff for you all day, every day.  Email us your thoughts about the show, any links or news we might have missed, or any original takes you want to get out of your system. Tonight, we cast!  We’ll use as much feedback as we can by the time we start casting, which is usually about 7pm EST. I expect the cast to be up late tonight.  Check us out on Twitter or Facebook if you want to be appraised the second we get it uploaded.  See you then!