Breaking Bad

[irishjayhawk]

Anyone watching this magnificent show?

[Fire Me Boy!]

Originally Posted by Buck

Did anyone notice Marie was wearing black during the phone call? Weird. She normally wears purple.

She's been wearing black since Hank told her about Walt.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Here's an example where a chemist (and the show's scientific adviser) talks about Walt's choice of disincorporation agent:

Despite its impressive resume as a tough solution, it wouldn’t have been the best option to dissolve a body. Typically, flesh is dissolved with a base, most commonly sodium hydroxide (lye), generally used in the disposal of road kill. This option would have been a lot safer to use to dissolve Emilio, too. Lye is a common clog remover in drains, so Jesse’s bathtub stunt would not have been so disastrous. It also would have been safer because the fumes are not nearly so toxic. Most household uses of hydrofluoric acid are diluted to 3 percent hydrofluoric acid in H2O, in order to make them safe for use. Sure, Jesse was wearing his mask when he began the reaction, but the fumes would have infiltrated the house, and would have damaged most exposed surfaces inside, by the time the acid had eaten through the tub.

Here's a long Q&A with her, originally printed in the Scientific American:
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/22/so_w..._partner/print
Breaking Bad” gets meth wrong
The series' science consultant explains why pure meth isn't really blue -- and why it doesn't matter
By Gary Stix
norris_cranston_breaking_bad

(Credit: Frank Ockenfels/AMC)
This article was originally published by Scientific American.

Scientific American Since 1983, Donna J. Nelson has taught some 10,000 students as a professor of organic chemistry at the University of Oklahoma. Her research extends to characterizing carbon nanotubes and examining carbon–carbon double bonds every which way and even promoting chemistry education as a means to increase the number of chemists and chemical engineers in the workforce.

On her 31-page, single-spaced CV, one item that leaps out is the notation of her role as a science consultant to the smashingly popular cable TV show Breaking Bad. Nelson decided to help the show’s writers when she read in Chemical & Engineering News that they were looking for expertise to ensure accuracy of the dialogue and plot devices related to chemistry. Since then she has gone on to suss out answers to questions such as how much meth you could synthesize with 30 gallons of methylamine using the P2P meth recipe.

[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]

Scientists often criticize the way that their various disciplines are depicted in popular media. How does Breaking Bad stand up as far as that goes?

I have heard people at professional meetings, such as AAAS [American Association for the Advancement of Science], who were in symposia about taking science to the public. They did not know that I was in the room and they would start talking aboutBreaking Bad. They asked one of the speakers what was going on with the show because it seems to get the science right, disproving the myth that it’s impossible to get the science right and still have an interesting show.

Can you give me an example of where your input has had an impact on the show?

In season 4, episode 1, there’s a lot of dialogue about enantiomers and diastereomers and how a reaction creates chiral centers, things like that. I did work with them on that scene. It’s where Walt is really trying to impress people, telling them that they’re not going to be able do the synthesis without him and his knowledge.

Anything else?

One thing I thought was sort of humorous was when I was to talking to them about methylamine and I said when you use that precursor—and the writers stopped me and said, “Precursor? What’s a precursor?” And if you notice they now they throw that word in all the time.

Another suggestion I made was when Walt was teaching high school and there was a scene on alkenes. They asked is there anything that Walt would write on the board. I told them I could send a drawing of alkenes and that is indeed what’s on the board. The alkenes are missing a couple of hydrogens but otherwise they did a pretty good job of drawing them.

Didn’t they ask you to calculate the exact yield you get from 30 gallons of methylamine using the P2P method of synthesizing meth?

The story behind that is that the first step in the synthesis is pretty much the same in any P2P method. Step two, the reduction step, can vary from one synthesis to another, and there’s a lot of differences in the reducing agents. And so I said, I don’t know what reagent you want. They said to send them a list, and they liked the one that was aluminum–mercury because it would be easier for the actors to say those words. I looked at the other reducing agents and they would, indeed, have been difficult for the actors to the say on the air.

That’s another example of where I let them be boss. I wouldn’t go back to them and suggest another reagent because it might be safer, cheaper or have a higher yield, I just said “yes sir.”

That reagent turned out to be obscure, and I had to go to a German patent from the 1950s to get the information to make the calculation. Fortunately, when I was a graduate student, I had taken German. So I was able to get back to them and tell them the quantity of meth produced, in pounds. So it worked out, but it was a little trouble.

A lot of people harp on the fact that meth would not really be blue, the way Walt’s supposedly hyperpure meth is. Did you talk to them about that?

When advising them I didn’t run into the lab to try to reproduce these syntheses. I can only draw on my own experience as an organic chemist making crystals, I did one time make one compound with huge needles, similar to what they show in Breaking Bad. That was 9-Borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane. Some people call it “banana borane.” I used that when I was a postdoc with H. C. Brown [a 1979 Nobel chemistry laureate] at Purdue. I was usually able to get it very, very pure just like Walt was able to get his very pure. If these large needles are really pure, they are colorless. But when I looked at them closely, it was almost as if they had a slight bluish tinge.

What Walt is supposedly synthesizing is powder blue. I can tell you the pure crystals I made never looked anything like that. I don’t think that’s realistic. but it’s part of artistic license that we must allow allow creative artists to have. I think it was just meant to be Walt’s trademark. There are times I think people try to make too much of these details as if Breaking Bad were a science education show. That perhaps is one time in which we just need to let the writers have a little bit of artistic license and let them go with it. Overall, I was not uncomfortable with the way they showed things because of my own experiences.

Were there things changed to ensure that you wouldn’t teach people how to make meth?

I’m sure there were. Vince [Gilligan, the show’s creator and producer] had DEA [U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration] agents advising the show and checking everything written. The DEA helped to ensure that certain critical steps were omitted and that everything in this regard was kept legal. That was very smart of Vince. That ensured that any complaints they received could be referred to the DEA.

How did you get involved with the show?

During Breaking Bad season 1, Chemical & Engineering News—an American Chemical Society magazine—interviewed Vince. He said his writers had no scientific background and he would welcome constructive comments from chemically inclined people. I recognized this as an opportunity to help the show and the public, as well as an opportunity to do something really fun. I volunteered to help, and Vince took me up on the offer.

Do you think Breaking Bad has fostered interest in science?

I think it has. My students will say that they just love that show and that they’re so interested in science now. Previously, very few students would come up and talk enthusiastically about chemistry, and now they do.

Did the chemistry-related theme, making meth, ever give you pause?

I hadn’t seen the show before when I read an interview with Vince Gilligan in Chemical & Engineering News. So before deciding to offer to help, I watched season 1, and I saw it show Walt getting beaten up and dragged through the sand. At that point, I realized that no kid watching this would want this as a lifestyle, so I decided I could volunteer as an adviser with a clear conscience.

Gary Stix

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

Expensive, but the 55 hours of bonus footage and other goodies might be worth it to some.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846

I want that shit for the apron.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by frankotank

no way.
he can't die until he brings down the dome.

Walt will be scarred and changed forever by his actions, but the one thing he won't be is arrested.

I guaran-****ing-tee it.

[AussieChiefsFan]

Originally Posted by Mr. Arrowhead

I think Hank is dead just on the fact on the phone call he had with Marie. It was almost kind of a good bye type of phone call.

That's what they're making it look like, but I don't see hank not making to the end. But hey, anything can happen.

[mdchiefsfan]

Originally Posted by Buck

I kept expecting Hank to have a bullet come through his head while he was on the phone with Marie, very tense.

The way it ended was disappointing because nobody got shot. There were too many bullets for that. Also Todd didn't look very convincing firing that pistol.

It seems to be a constant on AMC. The Walking Dead prison scene comes to mind with the Governor and his men blasting for 10 minutes only to hit nothing and leave.

[Lex Luthor]

Originally Posted by Sweet Daddy Hate

Walt will be scarred and changed forever by his actions, but the one thing he won't be is arrested.

I guaran-****ing-tee it.

So when Hank put the handcuffs on him and Mirandized him, what was that?

He may never be booked and charged with a crime, but he's already been arrested.

[MahiMike]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...st_read_module

I want one.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by Brainiac

So when Hank put the handcuffs on him and Mirandized him, what was that?

He may never be booked and charged with a crime, but he's already been arrested.

Technicalities. Herp.

[Lex Luthor]

Originally Posted by Sweet Daddy Hate

Technicalities. Herp.

Sucks to be wrong again, doesn't it?

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by Brainiac

Sucks to be wrong again, doesn't it?

[teedubya]

Made this Vine after seeing 0509 last night...

[frankotank]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

You people are treating this TV Show like LeBron James. It's stunningly amazing, but because you've hyped each episode up so much in your minds, nothing is good enough. There was nothing hackneyed about that episode. If you're building to a climax you need conflict, and Walt isn't the tactical genius he's made out to be. He's far more Forrest Gump running his ass off whilst dodging every bullet in Indochina than he is Gary Kasparov.

[Mojo Rising]

They just Green lit "Better Call Saul" as a pre-quel. Does that mean he gets killed?

My guess is Hank and Gomez get's killed, Jesse escapes and vandalizes Walt's house.

Walt goes into hiding from the Aryans who want him to cook.

The ricin foreshadowing is interesting though in that whomever it is intended for must be close to Walt so it can be used.

Also, the bacon theory is either foreshadowing Skyler's death or is demonstrating the breakdown of their relationship.

At 50 Skyler makes the bacon 50. At 51 Walt has to ask her to do it. She does reluctantly and was going to leave it with an incomplete 1. At 52 he does his own bacon.

[Fire Me Boy!]

Originally Posted by Mojo Rising

They just Green lit "Better Call Saul" as a pre-quel. Does that mean he gets killed?

Doesn't mean that at all, just that it occurs before the events of BB, before he becomes full-blown crime lord attorney.