EPISODE 416: EIGHT YEAR ANNIVERSARY
In this episode, Tyler and David discuss the way they’ve influenced each other’s movie opinions over the years.
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In this episode, Tyler and David discuss the way they’ve influenced each other’s movie opinions over the years.
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It makes me sort of sad that you imagine friendship and respect for the other person’s aesthetic tastes as conditions where you aren’t going to be arguing, I feel that is the perfect place to find yourself arguing, because who really cares about convincing the Ohio townies of the world that are never gonna come around. I don’t think anyone commenting about the nature of discussion on the podcast is wishing you two were more frequently engaged in a debate from a place of bitterness and resentment.
Congratulations on the anniversary and thank you for the hours of thoughtful discussion and entertainment!
Congrats on another year of the best film podcast on the internet! Luckily there’s no two term limit on podcasts!
I agree with you guys in general about the interpretation of art being up to the viewer, but I think the director can point out when a fan theory conflicts with the facts as presented in the actual narrative. Vince Gilligan for example (Breaking Bad Spoilers)
pointed out that logically the dream theory can’t be true because in the final episode Walt is told by Skyler that someone came to the house and threatened Holly and warned her not to say anything about Lydia. Walt didn’t know this happened and couldn’t have dreamed about it. Same thing with Jesse being held captive. As far as Walt knew, Jesse was dead. Also, Walt didn’t know about the wood box Jesse made in high school, and Walt dreaming about Jesse fantasizing about making a box is absurd. I think that’s different than the Deckard thing, where there is no concrete proof either way. (Until the sequel).
Also, unless I missed something, there’s nothing actually IN the episode, or the show as a whole, to suggest it IS a dream. So unless you just assume every movie is the dream of one of its characters (which, hey, go with God)…why this?
I believe Norm Macdonald’s theory was based on the back that everything went too easily for Walt in the final episode, so therefore it must’ve been a dream.
I actually think that would’ve been a fascinating way to go, but it didn’t happen, and there’s proof of that, it’s not up to interpretation.
This is basically what I think, as well. I feel like the ending panders so much to what the fans wanted (redemption for Walt, freedom for Jesse, death to the neo-Nazis, comeuppance for the Schwartzes, science winning the day, etc.) that it could be seen as a dream. Or at least Walt’s fantasy. Surely, that’s the only way for so many things to go so well.
My interpretation is similar, but different. I think Vince Gilligan was so terrified of leaving anything up to interpretation and facing the wrath of fans- who wanted a very specific kind of ending- that he left no loose ends and tidied everything up in a way that would be challenging to nobody. And he did it to such an extent that he undercut the world he’d created, wrapping things up that seemed wholly unrealistic, even in the reality of a convenience-laden show like BREAKING BAD.
In the same way a car can “run like a dream”, which is to say it runs so nicely that it somehow doesn’t seem possible, I think it’s safe to say that BREAKING BAD ended “like a dream.” Maybe not literally, but certainly figuratively.
Totally agree. I was disappointed in the Breaking Bad finale; I felt that it was a cop-out that was way too generous to Walt.
Agreed. I would’ve preferred a darker ending. Though I’m glad Jesse made it.