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Breaking Bad Season 5 Episode 1

Live Free or Die

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AIRED: Jul 15, 2012

7.7

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Episode Summary

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Walt heads over to see his family, still being kept under guard. News of the deaths at the senior's centre spreads while Walt plots his next moves in order to ensure his family and his secrets are kept safe. Hank realizes that his investigation will be a long one upon discovering the destroyed superlab.

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FAN RECAP

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Breaking Bad: Loose Ends

Instead of starting off Season 5 with fireworks, Breaking Bad got things going with a powder keg.

By Tim Surette, Jul 16, 2012

Fan Episode Reviews (12)

FOUND SOMTHING

10

By rami24k, Sep 10, 2012

doesn't the first scene give you a heads up to season 6 lol that Walter will be on the run from his brother in law.
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The most critically acclaimed crime drama television show is back as Season 5 begins with a knock-off

10

By tigerdude22, Jul 19, 2012

Walt heads over to see his family, still being kept under guard. News of the deaths at the senior's centre spreads while Walt plots his next moves in order to ensure his family and his secrets are kept safe. Hank tries to close his investigation. The most critically acclaimed crime drama show to ever hit television (it's true, no joke) is back as it will start off the first half of Season 5 this season and air the second half of Season 5 in the next season... which sucks but time will go by fast. I don't get why people are disappointed in this. More people are pleased by this by some call it "slow-moving". Compared to the Season 4 Premiere last summer which was very slow-moving for me. This Season 5 Premiere was not slow at all and the dialogue was very well written here. I was entertained throughout the episode and UNLIKE the Season 4 Premiere last summer, it actually had more things going on to start off the new season and I was very satisfied by that. The storyline was very well done, it has a enough scenes to keep you entertained. Sure maybe a couple of scenes in this episode can be just a bit boring mainly with Skylar but that's not really a problem at all. I loved this episode as it was very entertaining, extremely well done writing and acting, and just everything about this episode was terrific. The episode also had some good humor that made me laugh. I enjoyed how Saul told Walter "We're done" then Walter gets out of his chair then slowly walks towards Saul and tells him "We're done when I say we're done". The whole thing with the magnet was also very awesome and one of the best things that happened in this show. Not really a lot of Hank in this episode though but that's fine. I thought Mike almost killing Walter when he heard about Gustavo's death was pretty intense. This Season 5 Premiere was just a very magnificent, well-crafted, and highly satisfying follow-up with the Season 4 finale. I am very pleased with this Season 5 Premiere and I look forward to what the rest of the season has to offer. Overall, I'm a huge BB fan and if you're a fan like me then you're gonna enjoy this episode... I wasn't disappointed at all, that's all I can say. 10/10moreless
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Going too Far

9.5

By jquaite07, Jul 18, 2012

What an awesome premiere! It is possibly my favorite premiere (Boxcutter makes it really hard to decide)...it had everything you would want in a premiere: intrigue, intensity, comedy, and excellent acting by all but mainly from Cranston. This probably won't be his best acted episode of the season but Cranston showed in this one that the standard of acting we have grown accustomed to will be there in season 5 if not even better.

In an interview at Comicon (I believe) Vince Gilligan said this season will be about winning and what it means to stay on top. In this first episode we see that Walt will be willing to do anything to keep his crown, but we also might have seen the first glimpses of what he has to do to stay on top and that is he must go too far. Walt has always made decisions that he never fully understands the consequences of when he makes them, and if the cold open tells us anything, it is that his actions will once again bring him down to size, with him having to do something very drastic with a dangerous device to keep himself in the game.

Therefore I believe Walt's New Hampshire ID and license plates work as a metaphor of how far Walt is willing to go to live free and do what he wants and to live on his own terms as he told the young cancer patient in season 4's Hermanos episode. I interpret the opening scenes as Walt had once decided to run away from all the problems he is about to face this season and give up the life of a drug lord and run with the money he has, but later decides it is much better to live free and do what he wants: and what he wants is to be Heisenberg.moreless
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BEST SHOW EVER.

10

By hillmonte, Jul 18, 2012

i have no clue why the average is so low!!!this was a fantastic premiere.....anyone who has ever watched breaking bad knows that the season start out slow...that not even a legitamate complaint....and thats beside the point anyway since this episode was not slow or boring.....it was probably the best season premiere the show has ever done next to the 4th seasons premiere.it at the very least deserved an 8.....im talking to you "thefanof"....come on!!!moreless
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Magnets!

10

By futuramarama, Jul 18, 2012

Well after 9 months of anxious waiting, Breaking Bad, my favoritist show ever, is back. What did I think of the premiere? IT WAS AMAZING.

We start off with a cold open unlike ones we've seen before. It's in Denny's, the restaurant. We see a man playing around with his bacon, and we see the man as a slightly older Walter White. He's making the bacon say '52', like he did in the pilot episode. At this point in time he's still 50 (he'll be 51 in like 3 episodes I believe), so this takes place a year or so from where we are.

He meets a man in the bathroom who gives him keys to a car. What is in the car? A GUN. Bam, cold open is over. Obviously some big stuff had to have happened to get to this point, and we're going to find out what exactly happened later on this season of course. Gonna be fun.

Parts I liked in this episode:

1. Mike about to kill Walt but Jesse intervening. I like that Jesse is still protecting Walt and doesn't want him to die. Obviously he doesn't know about Walt poisoning Brock... yet. I still believe that will come into the plot later on.

2. The magnet. This scene was awesome. Jesse was right and the magnet worked. The laptop flying out of his hands was fun to watch, and his reaction to being right was funny. The junkyard guy is a good character, I hope we get to see more of him in the future.

3. "Because I say so." Walt is so full of himself. It's great. Their plan obviously worked and there's nothing anyone can do about it, because Walt says so.

4. The whole Saul Goodman/Walt scene near the end was good and revealed that Huell HAD taken the ricin; obviously this was part of Walt's plan to get Jesse back on the winning side. "We're done, when I say we're done." And when Walt was walking toward him, Saul was probably scared to death, knowing what he's capable of.

5. "Scared of what?" "You." This is important because everything Walt has been doing has been to protect his family, and now his wife, who knows more about him then she probably wants, knows he is capable of killing someone. Great acting.

Everything about this premiere is great, best part being the cold open probably because it makes you wonder a lot of things.No doubt this season is going to be wild. And I'm going to be watching every episode, screaming "Holy crap/ Oh my god!" as things get more and more intense. Great to have you back, Breaking Bad. A+moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Bryan Cranston	Walter White
Anna Gunn	Skyler White
Aaron Paul	Jesse Pinkman
Bob Odenkirk	Saul Goodman
Betsy Brandt	Marie Schrader
Dean Norris	Hank Schrader

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Jim Beaver	Lawson	Guest Star
JB Blanc	Doctor	Guest Star
Monique Candelaria	Waitress	Guest Star
Christopher Cousins	Ted Beneke	Recurring Role
Steven Michael Quezada	Steven Gomez	Recurring Role

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Episode Photos

Aaron Paul & Bryan Cranston in Breaking ...

© 2012 AMC Networks Inc.
Jonathan Banks in Breaking Bad from "Liv...

© 2012 AMC Networks Inc.
Aaron Paul & Bryan Cranston in Breaking ...

© 2012 AMC Networks Inc.
Aaron Paul in Breaking Bad from "Live Fr...

© 2012 AMC Networks Inc.

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (2)
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- The crew used the same Denny's from last years Season 4 premiere, the one where Walt and Jesse head after Gus kills Victor. Vince says they actually paid Denny's to use their restaurant.
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- The title of this episode could refer to the New Hampshire license plate motto "Live free or die" as Walt also identifies himself with a New Hampshire drivers licence in the flash forward at the beginning of the episode
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QUOTES (3)
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- Mike: (to Walt and Jesse while putting on his jacket) You know how they say, it's been a pleasure? Well it hasn't.
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- Walt: (with his hands stretched out, begging for something) What!
  Mike: Keys scumbag! It's the universal symbol for keys.
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- Walt: (To Saul): We're done when I say we're done.
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NOTES (5)
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- During the first half of season 5, Vince Gilligan says it now takes about three weeks per episode to write, in an attempt to carefully walk through each character's storyline. They shoot the episodes in 8 days.Therefore, Vince is happy about the hiatus which will allow the writers to continue working through the episodes.
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- Just days after this episode aired the 2012 Emmy Nominations were announced. Five acting nominations were handed to the show: Bryan Cranston receives his 4th nomination in 5 years for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama, Aaron Paul receives his 2nd nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama. Anna Gunn receives her first nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama. Giancarlo Esposito was nominated as a Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama. Finally, Mark Margolis was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.
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- Cast: Betsy Brandt (Marie) is credited but does not appear.
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- AMC decided to split up the airing of the final season in two parts. Eight episodes will air in July and August, while another eight episodes are slated to air in summer 2013.
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- Production on the fifth season began in January 2012 with filming beginning in March 2012.
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ALLUSIONS (0)
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