I am currently watching Breaking Bad, and loving every minute of this addictive (hah!) program.
I have a question, though. After Walt fakes his episode of amnesia, it seems he spends a lot of time around the house. I’m on episode 2.06 right now, so maybe it hasn’t been addressed yet, but does he still teach at the school? Is he on medical leave?
I don’t need to know how it gets addressed, just if it gets addressed. Thanks!
Yes, it gets addressed. *Everything *gets addressed on this show.
Thank you.
I just noticed that we have three Breaking Bad topics in Cafe Society right now. The episode discussion thread, “Breaking Bad Question” and “A Question About Breaking Bad”.
I really want to start the thread, “Breaking Bad: A Modest Inquiry” or something like that. 
I don’t recall the amnesia bit, but as Munch said, Vince and his crew are very good at cleaning up loose ends and making sure there aren’t any plot holes. They really seem to go out of their way to do that.
You may want to dig up the pod cast (Breaking Bad Insider) and listen to each podcast after you watch an episode. It’ll make you appreciate the show and what goes into it about 10 times more then you thought you would. It’ll also answer questions you didn’t know you had. For example, Kelley (the host of the podcast and one of the editors on the show) might ask Vince Gilligan “Now, can you calk about the thing with the person when they were at such and such a location” and Vince will say “Yeah, that was meant to show the viewers that Walt and Jesse were still doing this or that and would you believe, just to get that little thing in there we had to re-shoot that scene 4 times to get the lighting right and use three visual effects because Skyler kept putting her hand in front of it. We we’re going to leave it out, but we didn’t want the viewers to think we just forgot about it, etc etc etc” and you’ll say "Wow, I didn’t even notice that, now I have to go back and watch that scene.
AKA Walter’s “fugue state.”
Is it Summer break during this time period?
It’s a show that runs during summer when most shows are on their summer break so there’s a lot of articles in magazines about it. My sisters get Entertainment Weekly and it seems every time I’m at their house and pick it up there’s something or other about Breaking Bad in it.
BTW, don’t read anything in that magazine about it. It always discusses the latest episode and it’s always a spoiler. It’s not trying to get new people to watch the show, it’s trying to discuss it with people that already watch it. I was surprised to see a big giant picture and a discussion of what happened to the owner of LPH. When I saw that (and when I see any little blurb about it) I always tell my sister that if she’s ever going to watch that show, not to even glance at the article.
Anyways, yeah, it’s on right now, so it’s in the magazines, it pops up on message boards, the guys are on talk shows and I’m sure it shows up in other places that gets it a lot of attention so a lot of people are probably wondering what the big deal is and since it’s on Netflix, a lot of people are starting it up. Plus, people here, no doubt, see 200+ post threads that sit right at the top of CS for a few days about it every week. Compare that to, say, True Blood that might get 50 posts but has to be bumped every day to keep it going because not everyone watches it right away. More people (I’m guessing) watch BB when it’s actually on rather then push it to later.
I believe he was talking about in the Breaking Bad universe - i.e. is Walter’s school on summer break when he goes into his “fugue state”.
He’s been in chemo by this point, I’m not sure if he’s getting radiation treatments yet, but I expect he’s been missing a lot of school because of this. The school has been very supportive of him in his illness, So after his “fugue state” I expect that he simply took additional time off.
Since most of the seasons have aired in the summer, the shooting schedule is mostly in the late winter/early spring. There are individual indicators of time passing as the series progresses, but I don’t recall indicators of specific calendar dates (holidays, etc…). In the pilot for instance, Walt seems to be giving an introductory chemistry lecture and demo (implying that it’s the beginning of the school year) but then assigns his students to begin reading chapter 6 in the book (implying that it’s much later in the semester).
Just a neat little note I wanted to share.
The show is exceptional in its attention to reality. I was watching 2.11 last night, and when Jesse gets in a fight with Jane and storms out of the house, you get a clear view of the street name sign: Lead Avenue and Terrace Street. I knew the house number was 323/325, so out of curiosity, I did a quick search on Google Maps, and lo and behold, the reality is completely the same as the show. They didn’t change a thing for filming.
Bonus: Go to Street View and check out the scenery. All the same. 
The show is actually filmed in ABQ. In fact, they’ve mentioned several times that it’s hard to do shots that have to take place in other cities because they have to find places in ABQ that don’t look like ABQ.
Oh, I know the show is filmed in ABQ. But Hollywood tends to dress up the sets a little for filming, including fake street names or modifying the surrounding environment. Doesn’t seem like any of that happens in Breaking Bad.
I lived in ABQ for 4 years, and I can attest to the fact that all of the street names I’ve heard on the show this far are valid.
Jesse’s own meth use. Is there a particular reason why he doesn’t have meth mouth? Is he actually addicted? When kept from meth for long periods of time (like when he and Walt were forced to sit at gunpoint in the lab all day until Gus showed up), he demonstrates no signs of withdrawal. What’s up?
I think the clean teeth are a little concession to the realities of TV: it’d get distracting if we saw Jesse’s disgusting teeth all the time, so he has normal actor teeth. If you prefer, you could tell yourself he wasn’t addicted for all that long, so his teeth are ok. In either case, Jesse went to rehab shortly after Jane died and he’s been clean since then.
Eh? He started using again like two episodes after he left rehab. 
Maybe I’m wrong about the specifics, but he’s been clean for quite a while. Did he use with Badger and Skinny Pete before Gus teamed him up with Mike, or did he stay sober and keep everybody else at the house partying?
He started using again after finding out that Andrea’s little brother killed Combo. He offered meth to Badger and Skinny Pete who initially turned it down because the NA meetings were actually helping them. Badger and Skinny Pete finally relented and snorted with Jesse at Jesse’s house, kicking off a three-day long house party. Jesse was using the drugs, too.
You’re right about that. I’m obviously wrong about how long he has been clear, but my impression is that he’s been clean for a while. Although given the show’s compressed timeline it’s probably a few months, tops.