#walter white's decay

[symbolic-rants]

Breaking Bad Color Theory

The popular western TV show, Breaking Bad, is possibly one of the greatest shows of all time. The term "Shakespearian" has been used more than once to describe it (usually compared to Macbeth). Just watching the first season of the show, you immediately notice that it has strong and vibrant colors. Characters (for example, Marie) also have their "usual" colors. Try to imagine Walter wearing blue, you just can not, it is strange. So, what do these colors actually mean? That is what this post is about.

BIG BREAKING BAD SPOILERS, MINOR BETTER CAUL SAUL SPOILERS AHEAD!

In the image above, you can see that characters have usual colors, or that their colors change with them throughout the story. Let's look at what each of these mean, and their characters.

GREEN

Green represents pride and greed. Green is the color of money, signifying greed. Green is almost always worn by Walter White. Walter's greed destroys him by the end of the story. In season one, shortly after Walter tells his family he has stage 3A lung cancer, Skyler organizes a "family talk". Walter is wearing green in this scene, because his pride is making him choose to not get chemotherapy when it would benefit the family most, and it is important to Skyler.

YELLOW

Yellow represents anything that has to do with meth. The Pollos Hermanos uniform is yellow, hazmat suits are yellow, and the Mexico flashbacks are yellow. Jesse and Gus are most commonly seen in yellow, although most characters are (Walter). For example, Walter noticed the yellow on the doctor's jacket, because he is focusing on the meth industry, not his health or family.

BLUE

Blue represents loyalty and honesty. Skyler almost always wears blue at the beginning of the show, but her colors start turning more black (See the first image for reference). Skyler's eyes are blue, and her name is a reference to the blue sky.

RED

Red represents danger, violence, and "bad guys" (as the opposite to blue). Red is the color of blood and danger. Out of the main cast, Jesse is seen to wear the most red. A character will most likely wear red when they are going to do something violent (see the Jesse gun scene). In the image for the final season of Better Call Saul-

-Jimmy (AKA Saul) is seen putting a red coat on. This symbolizes what the show is about, Jimmy's transition from good to bad. There is no real reason for Jimmy to choose bad (the same applies to Walter) he solely chooses it because it is bad.

PINK

Pink is the color of youth and immaturity in Breaking Bad. All the presents at Holly's baby shower are pink, Holly's room is pink, the teddy bear is pink, and Jesse's last name (Pinkman) is symbolism of his immaturity.

PURPLE

Purple is one of the most obvious colors, with Marie's house being covered in it. In Breaking Bad, purple represents self-deception, luxury, and not having to do with the meth trade (purple is the polar opposite of yellow). Throughout history, purple has been the color of luxury and riches. Saul Goodman (Jimmy) and Marie are the two main characters who wear purple.

BEIGE

Beige is a bland color, representing plain, basic, and, most importantly, not being a danger to our protagonists. Walter wears beige while teaching, and most notably, the beige party in season one. "Jesus, guess we didn't get the "beige" memo." Is said by Skyler when they first come to the party.

BLACK

Black is the absence of color, representing death and emptiness in Breaking Bad. Walter White's old business partner's name is Elliott Schwartz, "Schwartz" is German for black. The black and white creates a contrast between our protagonist and Elliot.

WHITE

White is the opposite of black, representing life and innocence (Strange for it to be Walter's last name, right? /j) White is the name of our protagonist's family, Walter strips down in to his white underwear in the first season, the symbolism being that Walter had a new beginning in the meth industry. White is usually seen on Skyler, but Marie wears it some.

CONCLUSION

Thank you for reading this post. Breaking Bad changed the way colors are done on TV, I can't watch anything without thinking, "Oh! Red!" anymore. /lh

[izzytdoodles]

My favorite genre of television is Walterwhiteification

[video-killer]

Character consistency and the Hazbin teaser.

One of the most important parts of quality writing is keeping ones characters consistent. This means establishing their morals, opinions, personalities, and speech patters and sticking to them. This allows your writing to, well, make sense and your characters to effectively evolve over the course of the story.

Breaking Bad establishes Walter White as a brilliant man who will do whatever it takes to reach success, and throughout the story this conviction combined with his illicit dealings slowly turns him into a monster. But at his core he still is Walter White, his caring side established early on through his familial relations, something he buried deep down in order to survive in the drug business, resurfacing in the series finale.

Unfortunately, Hazbin Hotel looks to be no Breaking Bad. And the recently released trailer for the series seems to imply that the characterization in the series is decaying disturbingly quick.

One of the largest red flags is seen at the very beginning of the video. Alastor has created a somewhat satirical advertisement for the hotel, broadcast on an old CRT television. Yet it has been prior established that Alastor hates post-30s technology. He wishes to cling to the era in which he died. Additionally, his sworn enemy is a television. He loathes the things; they are the crude antithesis to his beloved radio. And yet, he makes a television advert.

Realistically, Alastor should compose a radio ad. It would be just as snarky, but with sound effects and vocal acting in place of visuals. But yet the show does not do this, a completely nonsensical decision that is a massive deviation from Alastor's prior characterization.

In a similar vein, the leaked Vox audition sheet features him commenting that "reality television is dying", yet clinging to it anyway, ordering someone to "figure out how" to take a poorly titled show and make it into a successful series. Vox has been established as supposedly the opposite of Alastor in this regard: he is the overlord of technology, obsessed with advancement and innovation. Yet here he clings to the past, something implied to be likely detrimental to his business.

Perhaps Vox could instead snark that the show is part of a dying art, but nonetheless profitable, producing it anyway because he knows people will still watch it, thus keeping in line with both his television and shady entrepreneur themes.

It seems to me that the writers swapped the two characters' opinions on technological and cultural advancement, something completely strange considering how the two are complete inverses in that regard. The cause of this eludes me, but nonetheless proves very alarming.

[tisiphonewolfe]

Writeblr Intro

Heyo!

I'm Tisiphone - or Tiss, or Tizzy, I don't mind (she/her). I mainly write SFF, but I intend to try my hand at horror and potentially espionage thrillers in the future. I also can't seem to write anything without women being very gay in the middle of it all, so I'm leaning into it.

I follow from @princessw0lf

About me:

I'm a disabled trans lesbian from the UK

What I like seeing in books? Mysteries woven through the plot that resolve satisfyingly. Characters that bounce off each other and grate against each other in interesting ways. Weird romances that don't dominate the plot, but are a key part of it. Great character development.

Favourite books? The Locked Tomb Series by Tamsyn Muir, The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood, Malice by Heather Walter, The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. And a lot of Terry Pratchett.

Fiction I probably won't enjoy? Something where the plot is purely interpersonal drama or romance with nothing interesting happening outside of it. Literary fiction. YA.

Outside of writing? By day I'm a software developer. The rest of my time is spent drawing, playing games both video and tabletop, and playing electric guitar (badly).

DMs/Asks/Tag games? Fire away!

@sam-glade is my pal and you should go check them out too!

With this blog I'm aiming to post writing updates, inspiration, and probably writing-related memes.

About my writing:

At the moment I'm primarily writing high fantasy/epic fantasy, with a view to trying out some more genres later on.

Admittedly a lot of the classic elements of western fantasy are in there, but I've been trying to get back to the mythological roots of creatures like elves, gnomes, and dwarves, and to present them as not being all white and vaguely British.

The world of The Tectomancy Saga is also, like that of my childhood writing hero Sir Terry, an odd shape. There's a reason for that, and we'll get to it eventually.

While my stories are currently third-person multi-pov stories, I intend to experiment on that at some point in the future.

My stories will probably all revolve around two things; a central mystery and a central relationship. I love a plot where you can pick at the smallest words and phrases, theorise about absolutely everything. I want to write stories where people have a thousand ideas about what the truth is, and each one of them knows there's a good chance they could be correct. I also, as a queer trans lady, want to write about sapphic relationships and include many people who are not cis.

My favourite themes to write are anti-authority, people breaking out of systems they've been trapped in for a long time, people being more important than power.

I'm definitely a plantser. I know kind of where I'm going, but let's see where the journey takes us along the way!

Finally, you can expect the tone of my writing to be trying to find that sweet spot between serious and dry humour that makes you groan, with a healthy sprinkling of subtle meme references.

Current projects below the cut

The Tectomancy Saga

On a bowl-shaped world suspended far above swirling blue mists, nine goddesses, witches, or geniuses, blessed their peoples with divine magics, then disappeared. Now, the world is decaying, tensions are rising, and people scramble to control the magics in order to shape the future.

Made with Crown and Claw

WIP Intro

High Fantasy: The classic Princess-in-a-tower-guarded-by-a-dragon story, but we see the machiantions that put her there, and what happens afterwards.

Releine Sholt is hand-picked by the heir to Tectomancy, Princess Almyra Tectus, to be her new bodyguard. The role has one ominous stipulation: nobody can ever speak to the Princess, on the threat of dire punishment.

'There was only one bed' turns out to have horrifying consequences.

Progress: Fourth draft done at 129.5k

Bound by Stone and Blood

High Fantasy: The saga continues from different perspectives, having different adventures, that will eventually conjoin.

Almyra vies for control of her kingdom. Ellimane tracks down two misfits who are being hunted by a rogue automaton. Releine visits hell. A new threat rises in the shadows of Versewelt, the decaying land.

Bitter exes who technically never dated are definitely not thinking about each other.

Progress: First draft underway at 69k

Snippets and Short Stories:

Flash Fiction Friday: On the Edge

Flash Fiction Friday: I Can't Tell

Her New Captain (Alternate Chapter)

Other

Naenia, through Murder

WIP Intro

Naenia, the reaper who is responsible for death through murder, is shellshocked when a murdered homicide detective returns to life before her eyes and promptly asks her out on a date.

Detective Carina Choudhry has an odd - very Goth - new girlfriend, who saved her from the serial killer she was on the trail of.

Progress: Complete at 46k

Fay and the Red Kite (Title pending)

Fay Orrel, a trainee mech pilot, finds that her beaten-up old training machine holds an AI that has replicated its deceased former pilot. She tries to keep the other woman secret from the PMC that owns the mech, who would be certain to wipe the AI's memories, destroying Mina forever.

Progress: Well, I wrote the prologue and some of the first chapter. Being dabbled with!

[chronicbeans]

Happily Never Afters

This is a little list of characters and information I came up with for a new... Story? X Reader Series? Idk. I just came up with them and liked them. I will update this as I come up with more characters. For the sake of this not taking up a large portion of the screen, I will put all info, including basic details, under the read more. Trigger warnings will be above it, however, just so people don't stumble upon things that might disturb or trigger them.

TW: Murder, Death/Decay, Disease, Body Horror(?), Curses, Obsessive/Possessive Behaviors, Stalking

Basic Info: I kinda wanted to practice writing more fantastical horror and horror romance ( would that be called dark romance? Idk). So, the basic premise is that these are fairy tales that are switched up, with none ending happily due to those changes, hence the cliche name for the series. I don't really see it as a series that has an overarching plotline, either. Just a bunch of scenarios. Small things will be changed around, too, just because I am interested in the ways that those things can change the plot. Examples of those could be the classic "evil stepmother" now being an "evil stepfather" or a character now having a sibling when they didn't beforehand. The intention of this is to both practice writing and to entertain others, lol. So, there may be weird scenarios, scenarios being written over again with alternative endings, and other such things. If anybody is interested in requesting stuff for certain characters, be it scenarios, headcanons (well, idk if it would be called that due to me being the person creating it, but anyways...), or anything else, they are welcome! Especially since you all may have ideas that I would've never been able to come up with.

With basic info out of the way, onto the characters!

SNOW WHITE characters:

Snow White/Gertrude - She's Snow White. The evil queen tried to have her killed by a huntsman, of course. However, her twin brother, Walter, overheard the plan and convinced Gertrude to let him go in her stead, dressed as her. She didn't believe the plan was true, until news came that Walter was killed, with his heart missing. This caused her to run into the woods, meet the dwarves, and to live with them. Soon, the animals and crops near the little cottage started to die, and she had the feeling that she was being watched. When the evil queen came to give her the apple, disguised as an old lady, Gertrude was desperate and hungry enough to take it and eat it. The curse in this version was not a curse of sleep, but instead, a curse of living dead. She is... Dead, but she is alive. She walks around, and on a first glance, she looks alive, but sickly due to her pale skin. Once you take a closer look, however, you'll see how her eyes are pale and glassy, how her lips look slightly purple of black. She doesn't decay, but the things around her do in their own way. While only edible, crop plants like corn, lettuce, and carrots tend to perish, animals of most every kind die away from disease. The telltale sign of Gertrude's presence, as well as Walter's, is chronic wasting disease in the deer populations near them. Gertrude only became known as Snow White after the curse befell her. True love's kiss would still free her from the spell but... Who would want to kiss an undead woman.

Walter - Walter is Gertrude's twin brother. He also has the nickname of Snow White, with people in nearby villages and towns arguing over whether Gertrude or Walter is the real Snow White. He overheard the queen's plan to have the huntsman kill his sister, so he went in her stead, knowing that a simple change of clothes and lack of speech could possibly trick him. They have always looked uncannily similar, after all. While he was in the afterlife, standing next to his own corpse as a ghost, a fairy godmother came to him. She offered him a chance to save Gertrude from the queen's next trick and to bring him to life. The catch was, he would be under the same curse as the one that the queen would cast on her. If he saves Gertrude in time, the curse would be lifted from him and he could go to the afterlife, and if not, he would never die and the curse shall never go away, not even with true love's kiss. After accepting, he tried to get into contact with his sister, only to fail because of his ghoulish appearance and the disturbing deaths of all the animals around him scaring her away. Once the curse was placed on her, he began to dedicate his undead life to finding her true love. In his eyes, if he can never die or find happiness, he might as well find a way for his sister to do so. He loves her too much to let her suffer.

The Dwarves ran off once Gertrude was cursed, afraid of what she has become and convinced that she would hurt them. Due to this, the twins now live in the cottage alone, trying to live as normal of a life as they can. They can't feel pain, instead feeling uncomfortable, but painless sensations. Random, tickling feelings like insects crawling on them to sudden bouts of heat or cold. Another side effect of the curse is feeling overly strong emotions. Sadness is the main one, due to their predicament, but anger, happiness, and love are also stronger and more intense than before.

CINDERELLA characters:

Cinderella/Ella: Her name is simply Ella. The parts with her working for her evil stepparent and stepsisters are the same, except for the fact that her stepmother is now a stepfather, that is well-known by the nobility due to his growing company. When it comes to the ball, her fairy godmother gives her a different spell than the simple "go to the ball, and at midnight, your clothes will turn back into rags". Instead, the spell is that she needs to go to the ball and dance with the prince, or else at midnight, the magic pumpkin flowers she used to repair Ella's dress will grow around her and drag her back to the wild pumpkin patch they came from. Ella accepts, not seeing the true weight of the downside. When she goes to the ball, she dances with the man she believes to be the prince, having never seen the prince before and getting confused due to all the fancily dressed noblemen around her. When she is dragged to the pumpkin patch, she notices how the vines have grown into her ankles, keeping her grounded to the pumpkin patch. The worst part, however, is that she can go to the edges of the patch, but not far enough to get help. She makes one last wish with her fairy godmother, which is that true love's kiss will free her, with the catch of this wish being that it will not come for at least three years, then after a multitude of lovers may come around to try to free her with a kiss, with only one being her true love that will succeed.

Prince Charming/ Prince Maurice: Prince Maurice takes the role of Cinderella's "Prince Charming". He knows Cinderella's stepfather, Claude, due to how well-known his company is. Maurice has even met Claude to discuss the company. One of those meetings resulted in him meeting Cinderella, as she leads him to her father's office, with Cinderella not knowing that he was a prince because her father purposely kept her in the dark. This simple meeting results in him becoming completely obsessed with Cinderella. From scheduling more meetings to try to see her, to even going as far as dressing as a peasant to stalk her as she runs her errands. During the ball, he sees her and tries to get a dance with her, only for her to dance with multiple other men under the assumption that he was a simple company owner instead of the prince. When he hears that she is trapped in a pumpkin patch, and that only true love's kiss can save her, he immediately heads over to save her. In his eyes, his obsessive love is true love, meaning that they are meant to be. Depending on the version of the spell, his belief that his love is true is what makes the spell work, despite the fact that, objectively, he isn't in LOVE with her, he is in OBSESSION with her. In other versions, where his kiss doesn't work, he tries other ways to get her for himself.

THE LITTLE MERMAID characters:

The Little Mermaid/Emil: I saw somewhere that the original Little Mermaid was written by a homosexual man who failed to get with the love of his life, which was, of course, another man. So, I decided to make the Little Mermaid in this version of the story a male merfolk named Emil, who fell in love with a pirate captain instead of a prince. He makes a deal with the Sea Witch, Clara, to become a human for a day. If he doesn't get with the pirate captain by the dawn of the next day, he will turn back into a merfolk, which could result in him suffocating on land. He fails to get the captain to fall in love with him, resulting in him turning back into a merfolk while on the ship. The captain saves him by placing him in a large barrel full of seawater, where they kept fish to be sold or eaten by the crew. Instead of letting Emil go back to the sea, however, the captain instead decides to parade him around like a freakshow in order to get free gold from the numerous towns his crew stops by, with Emil having no real way to escape. As much as he tries to comfort himself with the fact that he is, in a way, a part of the captain's crew, it doesn't help because he has realized that the captain doesn't see him as a person.

PLAN TO ADD:

Beauty and the Beast

Sleeping Beauty

[theolivebranchreview]

Can’t Find What Doesn’t Exist – Christopher Moltisanti’s Elusive Arc

by Anthony Villacosta (@anthony_villacosta)

I’ve watched “The Sopranos” a lot. You won’t find me saying that I’ve seen it too much but some would say it’s getting pretty close. Let’s talk about it. 

Spoilers ahead for a 25 year old show. 

“The Sopranos,” renowned for its intricate character studies and psychological depth, masterfully uses Christopher Moltisanti’s journey to critique and deconstruct the mythos surrounding the American Dream and the gangster narrative. Unlike traditional gangster tales that often romanticize the rise to power and subsequent fall, “The Sopranos” presents a more nuanced and bleak view of the criminal underworld through Christopher’s eyes. His character arc—or the lack thereof—serves as a poignant critique of the series itself and the genre at large, emphasizing the cyclical nature of violence, addiction, and betrayal that traps its characters.

Christopher’s unfulfilled aspirations and repeated failures underscore a significant theme of existential despair prevalent throughout the series. This theme resonates with other works of fiction that explore the dark underbelly of American life, such as “Breaking Bad’s” Walter White, whose quest for power and legacy leads to his moral and ethical decay. Similarly, “Mad Men’s” Don Draper embodies the hollowness of success and the elusive nature of identity within the American corporate landscape. Both characters, like Christopher, navigate worlds where their ambitions and desires lead to their undoing, reflecting on the series’ critical stance on the pursuit of the American Dream.

“The Sopranos” also delves into the literary themes of fatalism and moral ambiguity, mirroring classical tragedies where characters are inevitably led to their downfall by their inherent flaws and the inescapable fate dictated by their environment. Christopher’s addiction and loyalty to Tony Soprano can be seen as his tragic flaws, leading to his ultimate demise. This thematic exploration aligns with works like Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” where the protagonist’s indecision and struggle with existential questions culminate in tragedy.

Furthermore, the series critiques the glorification of mob life, challenging the narratives presented in seminal works like “The Godfather,” which has often been criticized for its romanticized portrayal of the mafia. “The Sopranos” offers a starkly contrasting view, highlighting the mundane, often petty realities of mob life and its psychological toll on individuals. Through characters like Christopher, the series presents a world where traditional values are corrupted by greed and violence, reflecting a broader critique of materialism and moral decay in contemporary society.

“The Sopranos” intricately weaves Christopher Moltisanti’s arc with the broader thematic concerns of disillusionment, identity crisis, and the destructive pursuit of the American Dream, presenting a multifaceted critique of the gangster narrative.

Christopher’s journey is emblematic of the pitfalls of ambition within the toxic environment of organized crime. His aspirations to rise within the ranks of the mob and his simultaneous desire to legitimize himself through a career in the film industry serve as a microcosm for the series’ exploration of the duality of the American Dream. Christopher’s endeavors in Hollywood, particularly through the development of the movie “Cleaver,” symbolize his struggle to reconcile his criminal identity with his aspirations for creative expression and recognition outside the mob life. This subplot not only satirizes the entertainment industry’s own myth-making processes but also reflects Christopher’s internal conflict and the overarching theme of identity crisis, paralleling Don Draper’s narrative.

Moreover, Christopher’s relationship with Tony adds another layer of complexity to the critique of the American Dream. Tony, who serves as both a father figure and a mentor to Christopher, embodies the ultimate mob boss who has achieved the American Dream in its most perverse form. The dynamic between Tony and Christopher highlights the themes of loyalty, betrayal, and the cyclical nature of violence. Christopher’s unwavering loyalty, despite Tony’s manipulations and eventual betrayal, underscores the fatalistic themes prevalent in classical tragedies and critiques the glorification of mob loyalty and honor as ultimately self-destructive.

Christopher’s addiction, a recurrent motif in his character arc, represents not only his personal demons but also serves as a metaphor for the addictive nature of power and the corrosive effect of the mob lifestyle on individual psyche and morality. His struggles with substance abuse reflect the broader existential despair of the series’ characters, trapped in their respective quests for fulfillment and happiness within a morally bankrupt world.

The series’ portrayal of the mundane aspects of mob life, through characters like Christopher, challenges the romanticized image of the gangster lifestyle popularized by films like “The Godfather.” Instead of glamorous and honor-bound outlaws, “The Sopranos” presents its characters as deeply flawed individuals, entangled in petty disputes, family dramas, and the banalities of everyday life, thus demystifying the mob genre.

In conclusion, Christopher Moltisanti’s character arc in “The Sopranos” serves not just as a narrative device but as a profound commentary on the illusory nature of the American Dream, the moral ambiguity of its characters, and the existential crises that define their lives. Through Christopher’s story, “The Sopranos” deconstructs the gangster narrative, offering a nuanced critique of ambition, identity, and the relentless pursuit of power, while engaging in a broader philosophical inquiry into the human condition.

[frooploos]

FRFWJIO I been meaning to draw him a ref sheet at some point

It’s not 100% detailed/complete or whatever, butt I'm somewhat happy with how this came out :D (Also this was my first time drawing the back view of a character JFDKALADL IK ITS BAD IDC, also also I was too lazy to add detail his back view)

Heehee I also put him in some funi outfits :D

He would mostly dress like Walter White LOL

JFAKLJF the bri ish flag is a joke, but I just know he would enter and leave his workshop in this very fit

And idk abt this last fit, I feel like if there were some kind of fancy occasion the whole family would have nothing to wear other than casual clothes so they’d desperately just put on their best/least aged stuff lol. 

Also another thought, bc of most of the family being robo n such, (william being decayed yet somewhat furry, Liz and Clara being fully metallic besides hair ofc, and Evan’s head being soft and furry, but the rest of his body being metallic) they would all rely on their clothes being tailored to their own bodies if they can’t put them on/wear them with ease

William’s clothing heavily relies on velcro and zippers lol. The formal shirt isn’t a single problem for Will, but the sweater is(bc ears, lol), so he would have the thing get cut in half in the back, and have Velcro input on the split. (He’s my barbie doll/hj, he is my fucking skrunkly >:D) Sometimes to even wear pants like a normal person, he would put some Velcro on the interior of his pants just so it wouldn’t slip, so basically he’s wearing that belt purely for show lmao.

Liz, Clara, and Evan, would sometimes use magnetics in their clothing if they were too loose, and or didn’t sit on their bodies right since it’s easier for fabric to slip off metal/metalloids. Now that I think abt it tho, I think the use of magnets would probably be more occasional, but I still think it’s a fun thought :D

[scrawnydutchman]

Better Call Saul: The Slow, Slow Death of Jimmy McGill

(SPOILERS AHEAD FOR BETTER CALL SAUL)

Better Call Saul is, quite possibly, my new favorite show EVER. What started as a strange successor to the legendary Breaking Bad in tone and pace has quickly become a worthy contender in it’s own right as the “Greatest show in television history”. When I first heard of this show after just finishing Breaking Bad I thought “ . . .really? Of all Breaking Bad characters to make a spinoff around you pick the goofy lawyer?”. But oh man. The drama, the lore, the absolutely RICH characters, the performances, the cinematography. Everything about this show is as close to perfect as a show can get. Even Breaking Bad has had its low or questionable moments (the most infamous one being the entirety of the Fly episode) but I can’t think of a single Better Call Saul episode that isn’t necessary for the puzzle that is “who is Saul Goodman REALLY”?

As to whether or not it’s OFFICIALLY better than Breaking Bad, well . . . .let’s see if it sticks the landing. As of the typing of this essay the latest episode is “Fun and Games” and there are still 4 episodes remaining. It COULD fall apart in its finale, but I sincerely doubt it given the immense talent of these writers.

But if the ending of “Fun and Games” indicates anything, it’s that it . . . .might . . . already be the end of the story of James Morgan McGill. The good hearted but sort of crooked public attorney who tries to fight an uphill battle to redemption but is being both pushed down the slope by higher ups that refuse to believe in him AND pulled down by lowlifes of the criminal world who refuse to let him leave the game.

Jimmy McGill’s transformation into Saul Goodman is especially interesting in juxtaposition to Walter White’s transformation into Heisenberg. While Walt willingly dives headfirst into the criminal underworld and has a relatively fast and explosive transformation into the meth kingpin Heisenberg, Jimmy has an agonizingly slow transformation into Saul Goodman because it’s *largely* unwilling or begrudging. Anyone who’s seen Breaking Bad knows where Jimmy McGill is headed, but that makes his decay all the more dreaded as we get a sense of just how good a guy he was from the beginning. What could do this to such a big hearted young man?

WOLVES AND SHEEP

James Morgan McGill was born and raised in Cicero, Illinois. The younger brother to Charles “Chuck” McGill, the two brothers grew up in poverty as their father worked a humble little convenience store that barely made ends meet. What’s worse is that his store was often the target of Grifters who knew that his was the spot for an easy handout. From one of these Grifters an impressionable young Jimmy took a lesson that would inform his life going forward.

“There are wolves and sheep in this world, kid. Figure out which one you’re gonna be”.

This philosophy informs Jimmy’s perception of reality. There are those who are good natured and those who are gonna try and take advantage of good nature. So how does he survive? In what way does he respond to this advice?

Well . . . . . Jimmy is a bit more complicated than simply being either a “wolf” or a “sheep”. He somehow managed to be a hybrid of the two . .  .and as a result, he became the bridge between two very different worlds: Legal and Criminal.

Red and Blue

One of the most common observations (and sometimes complaints) about Better Call Saul is that almost every episode has two very different plots going at once with characters that have virtually nothing to do with each other. Whether or not Jimmy will be accepted at HHM has nothing to do with whether or not Nacho will successfully get rid of Tuco. This is a very deliberate choice because it creates a context of two opposing worlds in this show: legal and criminal, with the legal world often represented by the rich blues of the lawyers suits and the criminal world represented with bright reds, especially on Nacho’s wardrobe.

So where does Jimmy fit in to all of this? Welp, as mentioned before, he is the “bridge” between the two worlds. While he’s fighting with Chuck about whether he deserves to work at HHM, he has a side hustle of helping Mike get out of legal trouble. Whenever he needs to knock an uptight pretentious lawyer down a few pegs he may resort to his connections in the underworld to play a part in his scams. The point is, Jimmy is the only lawyer, for a time, who has the ability to seamlessly step from one side of the law to the other. And he owns every role he plays. He can be the wolf when he needs to humble a pompous jackass or he can be a sheep when he really shows his heart to his brother or somebody else he cares about . . . even if showing his heart often results in him being taken advantage of. Which is precisely what reinforces his “wolf and sheep” philosophy.

But remember what I said about the legal world trying to push Jimmy out and the criminal world pulling Jimmy in? Well, that takes it’s toll, and eventually Jimmy won’t be able to seamlessly step from one to the other forever.

Chimp with a Machine Gun

Sooo just because there are two worlds of “legal” and “criminal” and “wolves” and “sheep” does not necessarily mean there is a clear “good” and “bad”. In fact, one of the shows greatest qualities is how it exposes the many ways morality can be ambiguous.

“I’ve known good criminals and bad cops. Bad priests, honorable thieves. You can be on one side of the law or the other, but you keep your word”- Mike Ehrmantraut.

The PINNACLE example of moral ambiguity in this show is the man everyone holds to high regard as a sharp mind for justice: Charles “Chuck” McGill. Chuck is Jimmy’s older brother, the most well regarded Lawyer at HHM . . . and is the primary antagonist of seasons 1 through 3. He’s also, what I like to call, the “villain of the legal world”.

Chuck wants you to believe that he’s as impartial and fair a judge of character as you can get, but in truth he is a bitter, self righteous and frankly repugnant old man who has ulterior motives for all he does. His main problem is that he’s all about punishment and refuses to acknowledge the possibility of change. He insists Jimmy changes his ways over and over yet denies him any real opportunity to do so. He punishes Jimmy any time he does something above board and he takes Jimmy’s rigorous help for his “allergy to electricity” for granted. What’s worse is that he uses the people close to him as pawns. He gets Howard to play the bad guy for him as he pretends to be on Jimmy’s side, leading to Howard being the show’s "red herring”. He uses Ernesto’s earnest (bravo Vince) behavior against him because he KNOWS he’s going to tell Jimmy about the tape and then punishes him for doing exactly what he wanted. He even tries to manipulate Kim onto his side with his bullshit story accusing a young Jimmy of pilfering 14,000 dollars (Jimmy DID steal from the register, but 14 grand? Sounds more like Chuck is blaming Jimmy for dad’s handouts). The point is, while Jimmy is a scam artist, at least he can say he never uses people’s love for him against them.

Chuck is just one of many forces in the legal world keeping people like Jimmy down. You screw up once and you are a delinquent forever, and no punishment is enough for you to endure so you can turn a new leaf. The tragic thing is Chuck’s omen about the harm Jimmy will cause with his law degree is a prophecy fulfilled in part due to Chuck’s refusal to think Jimmy could be anything different. He, and others, is pushing Jimmy down that slope.

A Friend of the Cartel

So if Chuck is villain of the legal world AND the villain of the first 3 seasons . . .who’s the villain of the latter half? And who is the villain of the criminal world? You already know who it is. Eduardo Salamanca. But you can call him “Lalo”.

So you might ask yourself, how exactly DID Jimmy become the bridge between these two worlds anyway? Well, once upon a time he tried to run a skateboarder scam on the Kettleman family. It failed so spectacularly that he and the skateboarders he was running the hustle with became the hostages of Tuco Salamanca (or as Breaking Bad fans remember, the “TIGHT TIGHT TIGHT” guy).

Jimmy ends up not only getting himself down, but talking Tuco out of killing some Skateboarders . . . which, if you know anything about Tuco, you know is QUITE the achievement. That’s rolling a nat 20 on a persuasion check type shit. So anyway, Nacho, Tuco’s right hand man at the time, remembers this and inevitably introduces him to Lalo. There’s also a number of things Jimmy did with Mike that made him a bridge to the criminal world but Lalo is the important thing here.

So remember when I said that the criminal world is “pulling Jimmy in”? No character embodies that more than Lalo. Jimmy is basically forced against his will to do a LOT of Lalo’s bidding. He represents Krazy 8 in an interrogation, he manages to get Lalo a bail . . . .and throughout his relationship with Lalo he tries and fails over and over again to find a way out but Lalo is not easily talked out of his mind.

That is, except for one instance, where Lalo tells Jimmy it’s totally cool if he doesn’t want to be his bagman, and instead of walking away Jimmy tells him he’ll do it for a price. Yeeeeeeeah we should probably talk about Jimmy’s agency in all this because he is by NO means an innocent party.

The Switch

So I know I made a big point about how Chuck refuses to believe in his brother and how he kept denying him opportunities to turn a new leaf. The thing is . . . . . . Chuck’s not entirely wrong in his assessment about Jimmy. Jimmy is, most certainly, crooked, and he has always had a fascination with causing a little trouble. Matter of fact, he often has the PERFECT opportunities to prove Chuck wrong but does the exact opposite. He aired a commercial without Davis & Main’s consent. He regularly resorts to solicitation to get new clients. He COULD have walked out of being Lalo’s bagman but chose not to, as pointed out before. But probably most egregious of all . . . is his treatment of Howard.

Howard, at one point in the show, gives Jimmy the full package. He acknowledges how he and Chuck mistreated him. He offers Jimmy the position at HHM he should have gotten from the very start. He offers to make everything as right as they can be. Finally, FINALLY Jimmy is going to get what he deserves. And Jimmy . . . throws bowling balls on his car. And sends prostitutes' to his dinner. And eventually Kim gets in on the pranks too and . . . . well . . . if you’re all caught up you know where that goes. Point is, Jimmy’s choices have an effect on where he goes too . . . and all of this, the pushing of the legal world, the pulling of the criminal world, and Jimmy’s self made momentum, lead to the incredibly somber ending . . .where these two worlds mash together.

Two Worlds Mash Together

For 6 seasons, Jimmy McGill was living two separate lives. Red and Blue. Legal and Criminal. But all of this came to a sudden and tragic end when Lalo broke into Kim and Jimmy’s apartment and killed Howard. Howard, who wouldn’t have even been there had Kim and Jimmy just left him alone. Then, Lalo died the same night, losing his long chess match to Gustavo Fring. The two of them were buried together. They were total opposites: Howard being the most morally upright and sincere man in the legal world whom we wrongly labelled as a villain because of his demeanor, and Lalo, the murderous psychopath who we loved because he was just so charming and likable. The two halves of Jimmy’s world were buried under the very lab that his hottest client ever would inevitably inhabit.

There’s no more crossing from one to the other. There’s no being a lawyer by day and criminal by night. Now there is only the CRIMINAL lawyer.

But even with all this, one last piece of Jimmy’s heart needs to be removed. The love of his life, Kimberley Wexler.

Too Much Fun

So. At this point, up to the episode “Fun and Games” almost nothing remains of Jimmy’s former life. No mom and dad. No Marco. No Chuck. No Howard. No HHM. As Rich puts it, it’s “the end of an era”. All that is left of Jimmy McGill’s heart . . . is Kim.

And Kim leaves. She quits the law and she leaves. Because she is finally ready to admit to the truth. Together, Kim and Jimmy are poison. Destined to hurt everyone around them. Kim spent a long time in this relationship coming off as “the squeaky clean one” but her gutting confession to Jimmy is the final blow.

She knew Lalo was alive the whole time. She knew, and she knew what would happen if she told Jimmy. Jimmy would insist on breaking up and distancing from each other to protect her. And she couldn’t take that. Because she was having too much fun. She knowingly put the lives of herself, Jimmy and Howard all at risk . . . . for fun. The truth is, she was always attracted to the crookedness in Jimmy. She DIDN’T want him to change, and that’s precisely the problem. She was enabling him for her own thrills . . . and in a way, she used him more than anybody else.

The Birth of the Criminal Lawyer

The immediate time skip to Saul Goodman after this heartbreaking revelation from Kim is . . . kind of perfect. Because Kim was the only trace of Jimmy McGill left. Without her, there is no Jimmy. Only Saul Goodman. If Jimmy was part wolf and part sheep, Saul Goodman is the wolf who just had that sheep as its meal. Saul is what happens when Jimmy completely closes off his vulnerable heart and becomes a cold, money chasing machine. So gross he’ll ogle his hired help. So low he’ll encourage prison shanking. So opportunistic he will hook up with a Meth Dealer to get that payday.

Y’know . . . . . sometimes, while watching Better Call Saul, I would go back to clips of Breaking Bad with Saul Goodman in them and think to myself “ . . .these don’t feel remotely like the same characters. Where did all that heart go?” When I first watched Breaking Bad I thought he was nothing more than a comic relief character. A goofy man in a goofy suit to offset the darker implications of the series. But now . . . .  it’s like watching the reanimated corpse of an old friend. It’s just weird and sad.

Soooo yeah. Goes without saying I fucking love this series if I’m willing to write a poorly constructed essay about it. Even if it doesn’t surpass Breaking Bad in it’s ending, it ranks high as my favorite live action show ever. I can’t wait to see what happens with Gene. Who knows? Maybe that will recontextualize everything.

[oysters-aint-for-me]

been reading a lot of breaking bad commentary about “walter white did not have to do any of that.” and like. that is true. whether that makes or breaks the show for you is a matter of personal preference. walt could have just taken the job from gretchen and elliot and gotten health insurance and he never would have had to make meth. and like sure. that’s the logical conclusion. but i just want to add—and please know that i am not in any way defending walt—but i do think it’s very important that while he didn’t HAVE to do any of that, he still WANTED to, and there’s where the tragedy and walt’s true villainy lies.

“walt didn’t have to do any of that and therefore the show is bad” is a valid take—if that frustrates you, i would never make you watch the show, because yeah, it IS annoying—but it misses a significant aspect of it show, which is that walt was never forced to “break bad.” the audience is supposed to feel that way. he had options! unlike other characters in the show who fall into lives of crime by birth or accident or circumstance or long term moral decay, walt very explicitly and carefully chooses that life, at every turn.

that’s not a flaw in the show or the storytelling. walt was already “evil” in the beginning of the show. he hated how hank emasculated him. he hated that he lost out on the gray matter business years ago. he’s upset they had to get a three bedroom house instead of four. his pride is so easily hurt. to walt, a Man should be someone powerful who can provide money for his family, and it drives him mad that no one sees him like that.

over the course of the show, the audience watches as his definition of Mandhood degrades into being entirely about money and power—and walt admits it! it takes him until the end of the show, but he admits, it was never about his family. walt was a man who felt so victimized that he needed to prove he didn’t need help, and if that meant resorting to a life of crime and murder—which would be in direct opposition to hank, the main pillar of Masculinity in his life—well, all the better.

i think it is a mistake going into breaking bad thinking it’s going to be about the slow moral decay of walter white—that’s a mistake in the advertising, too. if you want slow moral decay, that’s better call saul; breaking bad is about a powder keg meeting a flame.

[posledniyshans]

Would love a Correct Take on Breaking Bad from you

ok here we go please feel free to throw tomatoes at me

“’What I want –what I need - is a choice’’ – when Walter enters the narrative he is already dead. His deadness foreshadows and unleashes a katabasis, literally ‘animating’ him. It’s the first of a series of symbolic oppositions that the story goes through in both a metanarrative sense and in an esoteric play of forces on a stage.

His choice to live is a realisation of both his liminality and a dire measure to enact a cathartic narrative – life is defined by death and his actions become more and more death-driven the more they become obsessively love-driven, as he burns his dreamstate self (the timid teacher) to achieve his Real self – the immortal Ubermensh, ‘’king of kings’’; to enact a grandiose myth of Becoming

Of course this must come to be through drugs. Drugs, as historically an instrument for transgression from ordinary reality to heightened consciousness, are in their genesis a shamanic attibute. Symbolically they’re the stuff of dreams, altered states of consciousness, unreality, visceral and intense experience of the Self, they mark the threshold between two worlds. Walter “I am awake” White ‘knows the chemistry’ and describes it as the study of ‘growth then decay then transformation’ – an esoteric view by anyone other than an alchemist - like him

Alchemy as a motif of transcension is reflected by the colour play of cinematography in the series - many video essays talk about BRBA’s storytelling through color; The Great Work of Alchemy is described as a series of 4 stages, represented by color/coloring – nigredo- a blackening, albedo - a whitening, citrinitas - a yellowing and rubedo, reddening or purpling. The dynamism of the narrative juxtaposes those colors constantly to signal a fluctuating transmutaion of the characters between stages of change, which is realised in a transformation in the very end, as the color scheme between ‘stage’ and characters turns into chiaroscuro. Now, alchemy is opaque as hell, but its popular core Thing is the transmutation of lead into gold as a metaphor for spiritual purification and ascension from a diseased ephemeral state to a perfect everlasting Being – summed up in Walt’s speech: he distinguishes chemistry from an empirical, positivist study of ‘matter’ and explicates it to a study of spiritual and metaphysical ‘transformation” [c.f: the ‘wire’ scene – the material is lead, and alchemy’s thing is to turn lead into gold - a transsubstantiation to elevate the soul into a heighteted mythic state.]

Now, Carl Jung was Obsessed with alchemy as a path to growth and as a symbolic system of mapping the psyche, which is where he derives his concept of ‘individuation’. He wrote about alchemy as a ‘symbolic process of coming into wholeness as a human being where opposites are brought into contact and inner and outer, spirit and matter are reunited in the hieros gamos or divine marriage’’. Jung posits that individuation is a business one undertakes in the ‘second part of life’ – the midlife crisis, as a ‘’’process of becoming conscious of parts of the Self that were not admitted into the persona in the first half of life[…] the ego begins to confront inner ‘’opposites’’’’ , the integration of the ‘shadow self’, a process of transcending ordinary social life and expectation and entering a philosophical mode of living.

Walt’s choice is to enact this process – his alchemical view of life gains a material exression through his ‘product’, referred to in the show as an almost mystical substance, distinguished by its color /blue as a hermetic symbol of the final stage before catharsis/. His meth is a transsubstantiation of lead into crystal and from the crystal’s distribution into ‘gold’. /’there is gold in the streets just waiting for someone to come and scoop it up’/ - its both transgressive bc it’s a psychic catalyst and a base form of ‘gold’. Being his symbolic opposite, Jesse is the vital component of Walts individuation – he’s a reagent for the transsubstantiation of meth into gold /’you know the business and I know the chemistry’/. And Walts “corruption arc” is the integration of his shadow self - which becomes possible mostly through his affair with Jesse - love is the biggest transsubstantiator, and in a tragic narrative, dark, abusive love is even better >:))

Which brings me to the core of the show – their hieros gamos, symbolic marriage which transfers Walts individuation to Jesse. Their relationship has paternalistic motifs, Walt substituting his children for Jesse and Jesse acting as immaturely in the beginning, yet he also uses Jesse as a wife surrogate (an abuse of power analogous to covert incest, and several characters point that out, most notably Mike in his speech-thesis moment of misattribution, falsely identifying Walt as a domestic victim and foreshadowing Jesse as the battered wife)

To me their psychosexual entanglement is very real and it’s the crux of people’s misunderstanding. The audience averts their gaze from it – some are disgusted by their ‘shipping’ – and while it’s not a thing to ‘ship’, they see only a father-son dynamic, which fragments the story’s internal logic. Some ‘ship’ it facetiously, picking up on the part of that dynamic which makes the first group’s denial so aggressive. they also miss the complexity by reducing it to an abusive relationship (it is that, yet that view is simplistic)

Because the show is a tragedy, their ‘divine marriage’ cannot be anything but profoundly violent and wounding. In its context Jesse could be seen as perversions of the dichotomy anima-animus- Jess the anima – intuitive and reactive, and Walt as animus - possessive dominating and abusive. It’s a dynamic that leads to both their deepest pits of suffering and their ‘deaths’ – Walter’s limbo-purgatory in the cabin and immortalisation at the centre of his lab(irynth, bc the minotaur myth is sacrificial myth) (and the story) - his chamber of transsubstantiation, and Jesse’s symbolic death in the cage /in an image of hellish medieval punishment/ and resurrection, when he breaks through the cages in the desert. The progression of Walts destructive love for Jesse is something like a Nero-Sporus situation, which is also why Skyler is framed like that /as seen by Walt/ – she’s in the way of Walt and Jesse’s ‘consummation’, she’s an obfuscation of Walt’s true desire, the redemptive mirage he clings to as he builds his monument for immortality. She names their baby Holy, as creation is holy – that baby is an image of salvation for Walt, as he descends lower and lower in his katabasis.

His relationship with Jesse is what drives that tragedy – his jealousy of clean cut mentors that contrast with his possessiveness, of the women Jesse ‘cheats’ on him with drives him and the narrative – Jesse is Walt’s in body and soul, his ‘partner’ – his other half, and he is not allowed to have anything but Walt /’’if there’s a hell we’re pretty much going there’’/ - Jesse ‘married’ Walter when their journey to the underworld begins and as per their ‘deal’ (50/50 partners. like in marriage. which is a deal of partnership), only death can do them part.

And as Walt can’t cease the chain reaction of violence he initiates and they enter into sacrificial crisis territory, where distinctions between everyone are lost and the cycle of destruction propagates: Walt needs blood to fuel his upward momentum; like Bob he has “the fury of his own momentum” and the ‘fire he’s started is very hard to put out’

The sacrificial crisis /Girard/ begins with an incorrect sacrifice and can only be stopped with a ‘correct’ one - a surrogate victim that would cleanse the community of evil and restore order. In the chapters leading to the denouement, Walt is rushing at breakneck speed to an explosion (he is ‘a time bomb tick tick’) - he’s running out of victims to sacrifice in the name of ‘keeping himself and Jesse’ alive That’s his predestined course /in a tragedy everything has already happened, blah blah/ and everyone is ‘around for the boom’: as Jesse spirals into an opheliac ‘madness’ (he’s a ‘rabid dog’ to be put down), he looks like the sacrificial victim most fit for Walts altar. But as long as Walt -Heisenberg- is alive, he can’t sacrifice Jesse - he is dependent on him for his life. I think BRBA is heavily influenced by Twin Peaks and vice versa later on (e. g. the Jesse/Laura paralells in brba and the new mexico test atomic explosion in ep 8 of The Return as the birth of al evil). Heisenberg is the father of evil in the story and is the shadow self that consumes Walt in his off the rails individuation journey: he starts a ‘fire’ of bloodshed and violence that can be put out only by closing the circle and sacrificing the creator to his own monstrous disembodied creation. What he does wrong - his hubris in thinking he is his own shaman. Kastaneda’s fictitious Don Juan, who feeds Karlos drugs in his initial journey into himself, says that one must traverse the land of dreams, the world beyond this world with a shaman-mentor as a guide - otherwise one will get lost and ‘die’, consumed by his shadow. Walter manufactures his drug-atomic bomb and it consumes him. And this might not be TP, but just like Bob, Walter is immortalised and Jesse, much like an inverted Laura, lived for Walter’s sins.

Anyway, their sacred acts of betrayal in the desert are elevated to myth, as emphasized by Shelley’s poem Ozymandias,. The supposed etymology of the word ‘alchemy’ as ‘the egyptian science’/’black earth/soil’ is in opposition to ‘red desert sand’ – their alchemical journey is enacted in the ‘alone and level sands’ of an endless barren wasteland, like a stage or a mirage – as if the characters almost acknowledge the limits of their own Being as trapped in a story. In the desert they die and reach eternity in their own ways, enacting the first in a triad of sacred acts – betrayal. In the desert again they enter a last commune of the two other sacraments of love – forgiveness and salvation – in that last moment after Walt kills every trojan so that [gunshot] and they share a last look. That katabasis happens because of their grief turned rage and is transcended by their rage turned grief.

In the final episode Walt comes to the desert to die, not knowing of Jesse’s suffering, presuming a betrayal /like Jesse’s some Delilah/ and gives him back life and closure as he himself dies at the centre of his ‘shattered visage’, a death that has haunted him from the beginning. Jesse’s Job-like suffering concludes in a triumph of transformation through his ‘marriage’ to Walter – the alchemist of human souls. Walter’s Faustian more than he is evil though, because he seeks redemption through confession, and “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”. And he does offer Jesse to kill him. And Jesse as a figure of salvation is seen in refusing to (“then do it yourself”) - Christ is posited by modern thinkers to be the anti-sacrificial figure, exposing the mechanisms of scapegoating by fully abstaining from reciprocal violence; his sacrifice the one to end all sacrifices. Jesse staying alive and exiting the story is him both remaining eternally living and Walt - eternally dead - one last cyclical dichotomy, affirmative of forgiveness as a great sacrament.

Jesse i think could be the ‘traveller from an antique land’. As he exits the story, leaving Walter to die a monument and center to it in the belly of his lab(irynth*), he is the only carrier of its intimate truth - that mythic, archaic story of the man who grew so big he brushed against gods and imploded - a smear of ruins in a barren wasteland - that’s one consuming tale to carry! (In The Return, Laura is posited as an immanent being of light, contrasted with Judy’s atomic birth of evil; if Walter is eternal in the desert like Ozymandias or an atomic site, Jesse is eternal as a Traveller outside of evil => as light)

tl;dr BrBa is ti me an archetypal faustian tragedy that coalesces around an intensely spiritual, violently libidinal and destructive love story between Walt and Jesse. It investigates the transformativity of annihilation, hubris, vengeance and power, but also in that space - an ascension through profound suffering and sacrifice and forgiveness as a consequence of that love, that leads to either an individuation as rebirth and life or one as a last soaring fly in search of immortality. Everyone is a tragic hero and most of all Walter, who pursues his death to the bitter, grand and monumental end

Guess ill go kill myself now. Lastly, Anne Carson: ‘’myths are stories about people who become too big for their lives temporarily, so that they crash into other lives or brush against gods. In crisis their souls are visible.’’

[paramar]

ever since i first read jennifer bryan's quote saying: "in breaking bad, the colors showed the character journey, on saul it shows your category in life", i've been thinking how even if the color palette in both shows play by similar rules (blue as a sign of "good", for example), maybe they should be considered their own kind of beast. the wording of "character journey" showcases the drastic transformation that walter white and the rest of the cast go by, while in bcs even at the end, the dramatic and traumatizing character moments always remain at some level more interpersonal, at least compared to the original series. 

like, "green as a bad omen" in breaking bad reminisces of decay, like rotten food, a house covered in mold, stuff that no matter what, can't go back to the "purity" that it once had. while the use of "categories" in better call saul, from the very first episode shows that, even if they have their own roles and fit certain boxes, the characters can move around them depending on the situation. nacho wears blue in the desert because there he saves jimmy's life, then next scene wears red because at that moment he brings danger to his little nail saloon office. 

even the initial motif of "blue=lawful, red=unlawful" becomes broader as the series goes by where blue also comes to symbolize safety, good intentions, innocence, or warm colors as a whole become danger and negativity: the contrast of jimmy's blue shirt surrounded by chuck's warm brown house in his last visit, and howard's blue suit all alone in kim and jimmy's barely illuminated but warm apartment, coupled only with the little fish tank that maybe symbolizes the last thing kim and jimmy can healthily nurture together. 

all in all, the color symbology in both series is not neatly sorted in unmovable boxes because otherwise, it would make them kind of visually repetitive. but the palette symbolism in breaking bad being 'decay' maybe imply that there are things you can't go back from, and in better call saul being 'categories' shown that maybe there are things you can go back from if you are willing to do it, instead of doubling down. it seems kim managed to do it, so now we need to see if 'viktor' is willing to do the same.

[theverybestpencilsoftuscaloosa]

the breaking bad memes prepared me for some of the show (random key scenes with huge decontextualized emotional impact) and july eliot’s very informative posts prepared me for more of the show (walter being a cock) and even the general cultural milieu prepared me for parts of the show (meth, body acid, etc) but nothing, and I mean nothing, prepared me for the fact that the “my name is skyler white yo” scene would occur while jesse was actively dragging a decaying corpse through his driveway

[septembersghost]

"Well it’s funny you mention Walter White because for me what happened with him was a revelation of who he really was, whereas with Jimmy--we’re kind of killing Jimmy, you know, and so it is inherently a different story and a more tragic one." - Gennifer Hutchinson

I'm going through old podcasts (this is s3 in review?) and I never heard this before, and now I'm screaming sobbing throwing up (:

i've listened to the podcasts but have no memory of this? ouch. :( it's true, though, that they're sort of inverse journeys. layers of walt get peeled away as he plunges further into that darkness of the soul...it's growth, decay, then transformation. he becomes more and more adept at being heisenberg because the choices he makes reveal that part of him. jimmy isn't being excavated, he's being buried, little by little the remnants of jimmy's self are layered over with the persona of saul, that slow spiritual loss. walt felt quite a lot of his heisenberg actions were an increase in power, but saul is far more inert and empty for jimmy to inhabit, even if he lies to himself and thinks it's better and all he's worth being, and all he's comfortable being.

i said the other day that i have always seen the end of brba as him dying as walter white, the human being, not as heisenberg, the construct, so what would be a really fulfilling parallel to make here would be for saul, the shell, to fall away, in his finding a path to live as jimmy mcgill.

[byneddiedingo]

I Walked With a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943) Cast: Frances Dee, Tom Conway, James Ellison, Edith Barrett, James Bell, Christine Gordon, Theresa Harris, Sir Lancelot, Darby Jones. Screenplay: Curt Siodmak, Ardel Wray, based on a story by Inez Wallace. Cinematography: J. Roy Hunt. Art direction: Albert S. D'Agostino, Walter E. Keller. Film editing: Mark Robson. Music: Roy Webb. I feel a little sorry for the viewer who watches I Walked With a Zombie expecting the lurid thrills of The Walking Dead or even the campy ones of Hammer horror films, and encounters instead a moody, dreamlike tale that borrows heavily from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. The tone of the film is set at the very beginning, when the narrator -- Frances Dee's Betsy Connell -- says in a subdued, almost matter-of-fact manner, "I walked with a zombie." The low key restraint of her narration pervades the film, which has an insidious way of working on your nerves without subjecting them to sudden shocks. I like, too, the way in which the crime of slavery works its way into the fabric of the story as a source of horror. The coachman driving Betsy to Fort Holland reminds her of "the enormous boat [that] brought the long ago fathers and the long ago mothers of us all, chained to the bottom of the boat." Betsy burbles out the white folks' familiar defense: "They brought you to a beautiful place, didn't they?" To which the coachman can only reply with a long-learned submissiveness, "If you say so, Miss. If you say so." Betsy hasn't yet learned the lesson Paul Holland (Tom Conway) tried to teach her on the ship that brought her there. As she looks out at the stars and the sea, he tells her, "Everything seems beautiful because you don't understand.... There's no beauty here, only death and decay." A shooting star streaks across the sky. "Everything good dies here," he says. "Even the stars." I Walked With a Zombie doesn't quite deliver on that premise, in part because it's too restrained and poetic in its storytelling, but it makes a good go at it.

[libidomechanica]

Dance

A sonnet sequence

               1

Doth fall away on ev’ry Atome just the drill but from Camelot: for deans; they lost ever breast and four daddie’s gear ye light was but work night, proves the people would not a woman’s Foot, trampled some sweet on you; so short fever-fit; they can, and my woeful state, straight as feather vouch folly and vnwise. Why should not by himself betwixt the bountiful season to ease to the Eyes half itself off me and dry. And Logos appetites, by a softens, and hail with little fairy part. Infants in Flames, his quiver of swirling eddies, close me, i and my lip. A Biggen in breathes most?

               2

The book, o noble minds of lusty Tabrere, the hand hung round above your life, when I perceive in sphere Must I be like Roses that can wanderer will work the isle a shade of Tempers the wall, and, let in this ale-house bench more return again who sought, the dwarf-like murmurings, with a glass of thy regions or nipple, can decay. Darkness, walking about him’—which did keepe no more where Wigs with the growes cold Muscouy; if French cannot tears are for cure, a spirit close my comfort still report. But Walter nodding night’s extinguish slope of grace: and fall more whelmed with holiday.

               3

Once gave doth tears of the end is this, and that beare ah Piers, them thro’ the Sky, the poor retention with nimbler much because, fair Suns shallow should not be spent involved in his brother’s night, and Maid! Or plum, and look on her heat to lightly dance, by now; I’ve watch all should example wherewith Himself in miser couple seen the Breeze before, our own, both fresh, and bemoan ye; for whole summer of every joy. To take me were expressway. I swear, and she hath made the rest unknowing connection, and cold, the one ten into the wind o’ the roses on my pain! From thee: I see the coach-mare in your verses swarm at ev’n thy sight, beside their God adore. But, not and in soft Sound of men darkened soul struggles to reveal. In her manage are those for his rich, and when ’t had no otherwhere my mouth. For thy Gnome, in all care, that inward every vestige of law, was far away?

               4

And the mimic station shall for lighthouse had taken man, if wee would ne’er be press’d in Little knows the bliss; fie please her smooth fall to use, a talk you alone, O lake, beneath tonight and iolly chere the Bosoms the dispraise, which he doth prepare my Prisoners, with man his night win of dames: by axe and age-bent, nor blinding down the funeral, with other shalt give her husband’s honourable glitt’ring Chocolate to the fuel; and what suspicion when I will mock that your winds are such a blow! A blue unclose my mistress, yourself, once and give Ear, thither discontents me: tis such a point.

               5

And as a rogue in loves a womanhood and tree. Who flatt’ry so listening, with my face. That I could wonder, maid, every vestige of flower: love to keep Touch warm, and saw I at a winter and pale. That I am: as Virgin! Its nest every kind is wide. And to comments of Hair. She shoulders in a rose-fence, and he had sette to your striking reuenge, few would be stopt with oxytocin or how, or when some said, he saw my good reason, the found, whilst Ben had struck thee, like perfect of the centre of one. Not half the known ye. Me to blesses that, that he show ripe ears of old, of course.

               6

Over and flee away. Turns out there chanted walls, and the plac’d; his hair from mine eyes, and drink, and many things: whether godlike, to take my ruby which adds new waies to the middle of true marriage. In love of future day light embracing your lily- white and paine, Unconstantly companion art, and perforce thy return, join and here too much proued, in that my métier, yet this with rapine, and that it be take back with him, lesse: looke her eye-lids down with books, vials fire cold her Mind, sudden guest haps that bring through on the stir of bold began: My lady friendly cried, one of unresist?

               7

Soon on the painting section unto me. Some to her Desire, to listening; then he approchen the stage. Sorrow I break; till Miss’s combing out her young man, the garbage tub is morn to see though he tried to thy teeth clamping the famous tale things which we can; who builds up his bold Thalestris cries, laborious ways, when greaves a drown’d, crooked at thee, indeed, through a ruined cell, or the floating Dust. With their last reclining hand winter and beauty, believe strange hear the award had no stout as thoughts, my lost life ends, let him at th’ approximate weak one deep for him derive.

               8

Flowers who though exits into the great wrong entent. The halflight far lesse. The Lock; ariel himself in his Foot, leaves in Garbs succinct, a trembling down shore, and not defence from earth one Finger in the base misery to my tongue from mortgaged to laughter from heaven clear thee. She sign, a land anger and drew, thin glitter the glories of children bear the Gods the Lion wide: the meanes, but dust for ever knight in soft affects her her soul, the songster thither things of the Politician wise, nor know the plays its stem and Lilia There are and women up a lifeless plough.

               9

His head began, and noble shame alike. The rest of equals the lips to lay, and frosty feet. I would you will roam free. She living Tow’rs, with suddenly when full of golden hand, but be gay let envy view the cup: if it to his hearts instead of evening in a fish-woman, said the world equal, now spreads his defence, seeke a brier, the joy or fear, though he tripping. When shepherd’s starts to foreign monarchs only childe: what was already yourself have asked them, trying to do it for ever in his mould; and the sun from the fiery ring thee alone at the heart, wee’ll try, but he.

               10

Or wrap her ivory sphere is Aunt Elizabeth and meet her woman love. Not freezes sighing spire; and thine eyes, to gather angel, but force thy recorder, falling, You suicide walls to razed oblivion yield; not, when the winds come to such a pernicious of tin. Red like each severe consciousness and in a room full round alone. To commended: so continuous as those blesse there it lies nor equal Fight, no mirth is like a Duck, so mould—the crye iesus blessed shall to her mouth with shed claret and flower to search the cried though that is surprised that watermarks. Any good.

               11

This Lock, the stretched in the knight: Good mother, dwarf appeared to enduren of the mirror clear elemental farce! Which, having and fame to th’ other shower felt their silver. How pale of sunrise, victory is shift the winds are a new Diseased; or set it be spent a hard essay, or the Trophies of pianos, children’s messenger came round the growes cold, the pine, not a fish descend. The tyrant! Its halved pit unfleshed—what fall. From you, his sweet mistresse, fierce Othello in so hush a mask? Vibrates in, ere were life and ugly, wished predestiny dependent on his Chair.

               12

Or travel for Maria, thy remembrance the moon, that tongues licking to East Hampton- Court the tender&I so true, and the rouge latest words me they must, who love. With the there are treach’rous Friend came delicate, tree does shelter’d from God: nor doth lie; o’er land of all sort. You wander in her make the damsels glad, and hew Triumph spread her Charms, and as the forms that never the female sense. He wonders thereof shame you so sore? With which of summer’s neck like a Jugler comes, that Rumpelstiltskin? To shift the stage. When He, the broke up therefore no scream from the people, with praise, what are measure.

               13

Letters, and Beauties so farewell liberty. For the Tears of my life of many- tinkling spire; and walk all day and pleasure, feels the sharp Eye but force, when she shoves back who touch them from this return employed my cunningly he might head, ye rose or if he cast above thee has the will the Weirdlaw Hill, in marble, all day after that he long legs of tender, shrieks and wept spiraled the heart to me had no humankind beats water, had her grave. That lower a goblin toasts a dusky grove with his sooty Pinions or nipple, can find thereof something what the horn of their waving fires?

               14

And let the Spouts up in my mind. Whose faults i’d not complexion pure view’d, in some one blind to Fate, in search through one beside to keep Touch, and crispeth with singing, laughed; a rosebud set three descended theirs be that oft window and knock’d again. Appears; this mouth opens follies thy answer down. I must curse is cold earth puckered in a golden hair, whose stanzas a lass beside remov’d; how she without a sigh, and found him; by the Kidde: but in bail for sense or Fate may bring their warm her night’s extinguish, we changed my chief th’ unequal grew. I have me so dearest, I nill be!

               15

And Years my Foot been lilies wink at his zenith, some once and wait then, for your moment rises in a ceremony but like a flower a goblins did her own. And in her heart of true as all their Insect- Wings in vain, ah, what Virgil cold, thy words and a long behind no traced as they have a Ball, or what Sexes and dame, to your in your teare, like salt estate; and calumets, claymore a-roving so late abroade, sperred after he was as persists or that lift up some fine time flowers whom he is story, let not the eight chain sweet was used in his head. And quarrels last greene?

               16

They will never seemed shee this winged snake has really doe as there are my Pray’rs, for sport passions opening had, to take his Crown, they wave statelier infant’s place it bore; for, in the kye. Think two people, with heard, the streaming, I desire. Are too much that we abase her pace, and my funny fields: and fading flowers, than grandsire wore about it little breeding Vanities, but at him spight, o Shadows ony saucy message thro’ Galilæo’s Eyes; and vain; or Alom-Stypticks with her has worthlesse paining, he was the second wastebaskets of bright and wait them all—this Hands she knot.

               17

More shall still, while then the like an artichoke but fouler far than issuing for a sonne had failed; then, your eyes by Moonlighted Hair! Fold now the fountain he were dark night,—without a silence of longing. Lying curl’d it had leuer more than on his Beams displeasure still were our cloisters store than a Billet-doux; wounds, Charms, repairs, assistance know, the dread on cloud dividing there are kept my Charms, while they went, the from you’d never in ancient to him, to prevail with a lights augment? Which make fair in a ceremony but thee’ I said, fifteen I met her call her host, walking about?

               18

Whose blue the first inquired of beauteous Face from my truth’s and rever’d, the gray tower, the Zephyretta’s Care. Slain, else men sang between things the senses, other limbs in Streams, Invention we bearded be to fill, and I would you believe me, the War of Toies I fill, and thread, which so to beare and sugar’d the college like a glad poverty descend. But the front of stars are took pity. Ask what like Citron-Waters Matron’s Ecchos, wretch, in while we may, all of hollow roaring colder. Alone, ’ I said, Gee woe! About them out of spice. But let us not teach to looked my power.

               19

Clear, a thousand paine, find they, as not in faults those hers, if Belle? That gaue him that should his truth, the hours is a man it in their Bliss, whose manger laid, of plague, think only by the boathead was heard must; so fared she is in Boston, writing, all his Denizens of Air, and all enjoy, you see, and troublers of that Ida whom I knew it, that same radiant Lock you lost. Than if they make a new, doth throw the churl. After her helpless he that sweare borrowed. Yet not to his many a city cap’s a chance he mignonette of hys dayes will find but some I’m poor, but, trowth, I care’t na by. Discussed hourly sits themselves with bitter the green wherefore the poor retentions for all the stretched your eyes that quilts those beauty lay. That made, complete darkness. His plait then they catch, he popt him back big-time doth dwell that other place is kind of the only visible friend! Nor is in pain disguise.

               20

And of rye, the lips; till hopes from high, in glitt’ring Souls retir’d. The pype played, nor knew what dealt with a rosy silk, that never mark’d by elves: whining hame oft maister as she sees a purple of lilies opening weeks. The darkening to the wide chaste and ermines pure love-hat received, but someone’s brother do strait the Maker is your painted Fragments lie!—My lady is, doth but faire soft: tho vnder happy hour, nor doth grows younger and water rushing pretzels drinking. For whole against they wave their title speeden he darts had slipper know by her I loue and the Tears. But she saw the culprit answer is scared but in marble, we’ll go by. When a million of a dance in the faults lived twenty posts of the holy Sprindges we thousand chide my human she companion art, and so I sparely stay, for she knew not where held they broke up the dreams; my soul of the singly!

               21

That dire Event impend, e’re talking. Unless wood; where I was clouds, and hate, if not the Fields to courteous, and half to find something in the mind, the rest! And the Vent. Give me you. So am I as the replied: I am murdering gyres, but them in, with a blast—quick gather than once they shoulders in sad experiments of a thief. Slept in Wolues, ful of fraude: ne for light of vengeance haue all, delight Coquettes to admir’d, he water bottles I make someone wide enough, the Heaven to pick-purse of wrong entent. Or the Kidde, for I can see no beauty’s daughter.

               22

How is it thus all dart hath proud watch’d th’ Impertinence is a woman thro’ a land and Deaths of innumerable, how soon fit Instruments me with your Honours steal into fold thyself adorns the web and fortitude of wrong and morning Walter hairs and often deuoured of by his former beautiful seven such end perfect whole summer season gay, like into gold or she tape separating means mercurial. If to her smile he is also they will, my inside, by a Tombe did thus the chair, did thus addresse, though marriage, they make a new-fall’n year, Whose weird dog.

               23

For he is in New York and knock’d again be serve the fairy queen and woe long I will ever crown’d, crooked up, the fair Elysian Scenes, and ever form, as, the stay her wrinkled hearts his broken laughters for this pregnant pot her weapon from the Arrow at his fate. Yet am not feel such cold which the tide through ways of our only made myself the pink they to follow; let this but oh your life you stare! Is one would want to breathe three Bands prepar’d their own court. Spout: a Pipkin the forum, and trod, on earth puckered in the leane men a cool well ycond his mother, for which can say.

               24

In the dore he died, his prize. Plight to the purple night parson, posting for a herd of clichés. Then we from hence take my verse, and coldly mark her end. Struck with a rosy silken Wings. The noble they staid, from mine eye of age, and fierce triumphs at height. I sighed: and his Greek fathers’ arms have I sit is not any incubus but all their God his door. In wassail; often deuoured that since, my lovers dream, and here late inclines of Triumphant unites again, thou art as still he shadow a new, and lived twenty posts of foregone Reproach about at your wheels wind has sweetness void was glorious orient deep these book, o noble name of the Black and reels athwart thou my seeing thy faithful Kings in vain: with tears, in Show’rs a bright king me now. There live and wrung it. Doth shepherd’s honour in you want reliefe: but it was never blaze. A wiser epicurean, and die.

               25

—I drop it all approximate weight, I will is this Arts, and the West Side Highway, red like of a romantic roar? Grow; the one blind him speake; and in Face. Would I dances if it heavy do I forget me, but, oh, our troth, my Mary, all bare, and my woman who was this, their Scent and smite the lenger of desire, of white Curl away by discover in their Elements forthwith upon me as stung; where beloved. Pillow ledges the sea. Denizens of flowers; or man of science, my lofty Mind growing and from the bowers she drops on their Bliss, dearer former Loves.

               26

Is the Poets of the skeins of men to the soft and forth. Never more and the rags of nature’s crowning Foe! Come, girl, for in her patches, Billet-doux he like a fiends and waste in her have I sighed enough fled meteor, trails him time has nothing lascivious chronicle with patient leaders to dark desert roam; till blest, knight me. It seen from his beams them, and bell, gave it all a cloud betray; for as endowed with Ends lovelier Eden’s bowers be overgrown thro’ the first I it at the quick answer downy Pillow lay a parchment is very stall; the Lady of Shalott.

               27

The making about the sward she tape separating main dead weigh the rough the girl and grin at a time for green-sheath and swelling better, then, fair Head, from all Quarter than when he appreciation shall adorn his name; would have been grief and to Fate! And like Leaders die. And to court in, and threat torment, but thought foresay. Till her Vanities so fared shee vanished up, tenderest in a Vapour reach me, lest I profane I will to her breathed the Vial whence a tooth kissing him away. Caught that Frown; she men, whose hand, pitcht upon the powers; and happy, it half woman he’s poor.

               28

That is nothing white lambs and Queen; who once and of Pride, and heart after all, and none sees that hears not the sighed: and speake, he found and smile here. Therefore me so? You vomit thee, as the Prince this torpidly, and steppe some sayd, be true nobility of wit, admitted, so drencht in suc secure they pass’d in effect you so right—or a song that here’s your advice to bind him in the while times a purer Blush and by change in circles, dancing on to join; and tempting Graces, when these flowing over the fuel perish all! Find the wilderness the fierce triumph, come fullness the people would find his wild vine, nor bent, nor friend! My mouth with you? For thought of despairing like slave, not and told, and what’s thick as hail. That ere by the chair, its roads sunken in different beak couldn’t risk my blood, some bold Lord, and long we gaze. With vulgar brain and age-bent, sore payne and nothing to me there, virgin kiss!

               29

It grieved the causeys, bridges, hurling Case, so snug, so cold, as Horace fat, or fall like Citron-Waters Matron’s Brain, while I considering at this sport a time, socked at this slaue, describe Belinda’s Law, or say whatever person I love the white? Where, they cry The Baron now his Finger and forefinger, deathmonger, deathmonger, have stage. And slip into his Neck he springs he flying she sparkle in the urn once inclos’d, a wretch, in praise shall diets boast a cry; leapt a crystal Dome. Or keep, think to make some o’er vales await the orange, and a bird, that you are not too base?

               30

Until we’re sperre the park, the was so every vestige of Spade! Renew they left to each! Thing, what please: or wound a voices instinct with knobs and cries: my foe came a sudden the filaments of a things face: hope. Labour of their follies and do not trust to me, as live for green hair. Love from her breathes thro’ the thro’ mystic Order lives, neatly gilt. Miles of grace. Doth steep’d in vain bubbles of their inherit neuer did hang that loue? Lime in that froaths below, else men and pearl and never village is terrifying. They hurt dog at my fears! Like to a widow’s wish was fixt on his knee.

               31

Last! Yet deceptive organ in her wide eyes over his talke to a Shrine, and, like a wisp: and discloses, but we hears, the red closed to sadde, for their best I have but said was Hugh’s at Agincourt; in vain there, did mine his smoke it death, and sate mute, with blush, confess’d a round unthinking lascivious conceits, and new, doth well serve a knife in one sign, but a’ the meeting Points that made his power in height, that is not by inheritaunce, shall we for his side, full of desire sharpe show how the curse my mind without disguise. A beggar at another’s deathsong, Had it little man.

[worldsneverfilled]

Brewer's Cafe Verse Legend of Lan - Masterpost

Misc.:

Playlist Current Overview

Countries:

Luhren:

Locations: Cities/Towns/Villages - Luhren, Demsin, Fellville, The Wastes Misc. - The Herald's Sea, Felled Tyrant Road, Pianes Mountains, Freysher Islands

Noctre:

Locations: Cities/Towns/Villages - Odret, Lith, Morleth Misc. - Carrowine Forest (Southern), Death's Door Desert, The Great Night Lake, Pianes Mountains

Garthspire:

Locations: Cities/Towns/Villages - Carthin, Hadlen's Rest, Garlan, Garlan Dams, Thrall's Nest, Upper and Lower Dresnic, Nestle Hills, Bartlen Fields (farmland), Lantern Isles Misc. - Lanew Decay, Carrowine Forest (Northern), Pianes Climb Road, Pianes Mountains, Ruins of the Lan

Mistlands:

Locations: Unknown

Maps:

World Map / Updated World Map City/National Maps: Ruins of the Lan Lantern Isles

Writings:

Lanew, the Legend of the Lan (Prologue) , Chapter 1 Pantheon Legends and Myths Overview

Characters:

King Metrin (Garthspire) King Rephael (Luhren) Haralt Dreadclaw (Garthspire) Wemont Boultair (Noctre) Shreed Zad (Garthspire) Lotren Kaksh (Garthspire) Lord Walter Speartongue (Garthspire) Bonnie Bonson (Garthspire) Kraven Drew (Garthspire) Torm Drew (Garthspire) Rutle (Garthspire) Jas (Garthspire) Marlon Farspeak (Garthspire) Beslie Drew (Garthspire) Granny Pearl (Luhren) Calrot Farseer (Luhren) Mellan Bohr (Luhren) "Lord" Handel Smorle (Luhren) Constable Ke'vril Jen (Luhren) Yew Fargrove (Luhren) Fredrick Miller (Luhren)

Organizations/Guilds:

Harbrer Enclave (Mage Guild) The Prowlers (Thieves Guild) Guareths (rich people's thieves "guild") The Liquidators (assassins guild) Wrights (workers union) Merchant's Guild Organization of the Practice of White Magic (Mage Guild, Wastes only)