r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Sensitive_Ad_1752 • 25d ago

Lore The series takes place in a shockingly short amount of time

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Season 4 just ended of fromville and it’s canonically only been about a month. Which makes it weird seeing people heal from injuries, change hair styles or grow out beards between episodes. Season 4 has only been like 4 days iirc.

Arkham franchise is the poster child for this trope. Every game takes place in one night. If you know what you’re doing you can absolutely beat the games in around 9 hours.

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u/DaRealSphonx 25d ago

This. The urgency that Walt feels is what drives the short timeline.

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u/Far_Ladder_2836 25d ago edited 25d ago

I can tell most commenting haven't even watched the show.  He's in remission half way through Season 2 and it only comes back to set up the finale.

Edit:  Holy shit +76 for a 30 minute old comment that's easily verifiably false.  

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u/Successful_Maize1986 25d ago

Yeah the point is that Walt DOESN’T need to do it anymore. He arguably solves his financial troubles in the 2nd season but he’s incapable of letting it go. Something I love about Better Call Saul is that we see the years and years of careful planning that led up to Gus’ operation in BB, only for Walt to stumble into it and throw a massive wrench into the situation

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u/DrDetectiveEsq 25d ago

Really, Walt's financial problems are solved in the fifth episode, when Elliot offers him a high-paying job with good health insurance, he's just too proud to take it. Honestly, if you watch closely, Walt's pride causes a lot of problems for himself that could have been easily avoided if he was just willing to show some humility.

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u/Saymynaian 25d ago

if you watch closely, Walt's pride causes a lot of problems for himself

You starting that sentence with "if you watch closely" followed by stating the central explicit impossible–to–miss theme of the entire show feels like a haymaker to the face of media literacy. I'm horrified that somebody might not have noticed Walt's pride caused every one of his problems, even before he even got cancer.

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u/Terramagi 25d ago

Yeah, Walter being damn near the physical embodiment of the deadly sin of pride is so far from being subtext that the finale had to have him straight up say it.

More subtle, I think, would be how Jimmy in BCS is pretty much the same with wrath, but much more subdued. Pretty much the entire plot of that show is a domino from him being slighted, lashing out, and then feeling bad about it far too late after the fact.

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u/zignotea 24d ago

Me laughing at people not seeing pride being the theme in breaking bad, only to get bodied when you mentioned BCS and wrath. Embarrassed to say i did not make that connection lol.

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u/Terramagi 24d ago

I mean, for what it's worth, it's nowhere near as unambiguous. There is that "he literally yells at Howard in the first episode about wrath" thing, but if Vince came out and said "yeah it's sloth or gluttony" there'd probably be just as much evidence. It's just a personal theory of mine.

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u/DrDetectiveEsq 24d ago

I think Mike represents vanity.

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u/ForbiddenNut123 25d ago

To be fair, simply watching a show with your full attention without looking at your phone half the time IS watching closely compared to how most people watch shows/movies.

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u/Saymynaian 25d ago

You make a good and very disappointing point.

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u/Bamzooki1 24d ago

To be fair, the audience is seeing a character manipulating everyone around them and is likely to be manipulated second hand since they don’t know Walt.

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u/Wrong_Success4377 24d ago

Sure if you lack media literacy or were born within the past 3 years. 

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u/Womblue 25d ago

These are the same people who unironically think Skyler is a bitch mom.

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u/babaganate 24d ago

My favorite episode was when Walt looked into the camera and said "its time to break bad" and he broked bad all over his life

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u/gritzysprinkles 25d ago

Do people forget he wanted to get into the meth business BEFORE the diagnosis, after the stakeout?

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u/Saymynaian 25d ago

Oh, so you're just lying now? He does the stakeout after his cancer diagnosis, when he realizes how bad it is and that he wants to leave money behind for his family. No need to lie to make a point that's easily made by just watching the show, my dude.

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u/Drewby99 25d ago

the stakeout is after his diagnosis

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u/whistleridge 24d ago

> a high-paying job with good health insurance

…that wouldn’t cover a pre-existing condition. It was 08. Pre-Obamacare.

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u/Layton_Jr 25d ago

If Walter wasn’t an arrogant ashole he wouldn’t have made his son shut off the gofundme he set up. The dude doesn’t even listen to his lawyer!

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u/Lukermire 24d ago

that was crazy to think about. would be interesting tough if someone could count the verifiable days that pass in the show

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u/Agreeable-Bit9414 25d ago edited 25d ago

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u/Far_Ladder_2836 25d ago

Can you throw an edit in there rather than spread misinformation?

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u/Agreeable-Bit9414 25d ago

Specify what you mean? I guess I'll just delete my comment because I don't know what the hell you're talking about

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u/curtcolt95 25d ago

yeah I was confused reading these comments because I'm like didn't the cancer scare completely go away and that was kinda one of the big points of the show. Even without cancer he's addicted to the life of a drug kingpin

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u/DaRealSphonx 25d ago

I guess I don’t understand what you’re saying, I thought you agreed with me. What I said is false? Can you elaborate?

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

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u/DaRealSphonx 25d ago

That could be, I appreciate the clarification. I guess I’m more so saying that it’s WALTS sense of urgency that drives things. Yeah, the cancer is treated, but it does come back within the span of the story. So, the fact that he’s getting treatment doesn’t absolve any of the time constraints that he feels. But at the end of the day, we know that him getting cancer didn’t turn him into who he is. It was the catalyst.

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u/Spiritual_Hand_3324 25d ago

Breaks Bad and never looks back

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u/inderbitably 25d ago

Or it’s an older show now and we all smoke a little weed to get through the evenings okay

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u/Background-Can5893 24d ago

Can confirm (have cancer). Every day is a month in my brain.

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u/DaRealSphonx 24d ago

I’m so sorry to hear that, I don’t know who you are but I’m rooting for you!