“You have to honor the cock.” — Brian Murphy, 2024
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i know i probably can’t say anything that hasn’t already been said, but here’s my notes from Breaking Brad:
-danny pudi’s acting is so beautifully subtle and believable, you can see how nervous he is through the entire episode with zach even if he isn’t explicitly saying it
-zach calling poppy a genius for battle royale both to win her over and to cut brad since it was his idea in the first place
-and also forcing brad to insult poppy when saying it was his idea to turn her further against him
-zach calling brad motu in an affectionate way so the other’s think brad is responding negatively to a “cute nickname from his super nice brother” when it’s a triggering insult
-brad barely even reacting to being called motu because he’s obviously been called it and probably much worse in his lifetime
-brad either being over-the-top confident/chill to seem fine with his coworkers or a frazzled ball of nerves by himself but never calm and collected, the way we’ve always seen him before
-zach breaking jo’s confidence in brad by referencing his eating disorder, referencing kate, doing anything he can to make her believe he’s not as powerful and cutthroat as she thought (which leads to her betrayal)
-also knowing she was watching when he made brad beg for his game…. to prove to jo that brad is weak and turn her against him for good :/
-zach taking brad’s only friend (david) and winning him over by playing the brother card while also making brad look like an asshole for not appreciating his brother, turning the only really other person that likes brad against him
-brad desperately trying to remain calm and normal around his coworkers because they don’t understand how awful zach is, leading to him breaking under the pressure and making a fool of himself in front of them
-BRAD’s BATHROOM SCENE KILLS ME. IT KILLS ME IT CUT ME OPEN AND MURDERED ME LIKE THE PIG
-but what really gets me is the fear in his eyes when jo gets into the bathroom, followed by the immediate self correction. unlike jo’s breakdown (which wasn’t exactly public but also not well protected), he would never let anyone think he was upset. even when there’s clearly more going on, he’s so afraid of anyone seeing him the way he sees himself.
-the way that zach brings snoop in for the concert because he knows that brad doesn’t even like his music but also can’t say anything because he’ll look ungrateful. so the only person who will see the power play for what it is is brad.
-the worst part of the brad/zach confrontation is that zach’s still putting on a show, even with brad. he’s presenting his motive as greedy and capitalistic, that he just wants to end the game to make money, but that’s not why he’s doing it. if that was his goal, he wouldn’t make brad beg. he wouldn’t even need brad, he could charm david on his own and swoop in and just take what he wanted. but that’s not what he wants. he doesn’t care about the money, he cares about the control. he probably never even intended on actually destroying mythic quest, he just wanted brad to think he was going to so he could break him down. brad was already stressed and nervous about zach’s presence alone, because obviously this isn’t the first time zach has pulled this sort of stunt. zach then puts him more on edge by doing meaningless “nice” things for brad, which is a power play that forces brad to act appreciative but raises his suspicions further on what zach’s plan is. when he’s finally in brad’s head, he presents his motive for being there as wanting to end the game at its peak profit, because he knows he can present this in a way that makes brad seem stupid for not considering the same thing, and giving zach all the control. brad thinks that zach is there to take his game and take the profit, but zach’s really just there to get into brad’s head, to cut him down when he got a little too comfortable with success. he needs to remind brad that he is weak and useless and he needs to remind brad to tell himself these things. this way, he stays in brad’s head forever, and he always has the control because brad will always see himself as lower than his brother. he makes brad beg for his own job just to show brad thats he can make him do anything he wants, and to reinforce the thought that brad is weak and zach is strong. so at the end of the day brad is left thinking zach is just a “better shark” than he is, when really zach is an abusive manipulator who feeds off the control he has over others, and brad can’t see through his disguise but he thinks he can, which makes him more vulnerable to zach’s tricks. brad thinks he’s one step ahead, and it’s this that makes him one step behind.
-this is why brad going to jail later in the season is so sad. he thinks the only way he can be considered zach’s equal with is by going to jail, because no matter how much he accomplishes, zach’s voice is always in his head reminding him that he’ll never be good enough, he’ll never be the shark he wants to be.
-i feel like i could write an essay about this one episode alone but this post is already super long sorry guys
-he literally shuts down as soon as zach enters the room because he can’t risk showing any emotion in front of his brother until he’s figured out zach’s ulterior motive
-this is the best representation of emotional abuse i’ve ever seen in a tv show/movie
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I agree with pretty much everything here, but I also think there’s some valid criticisms against the siblings.
Roman: While he’s good with people, I don’t think we should ignore the fact that most the business relationships he formed didn’t end well. Most of them end in him being betrayed.
Kendall: As much as I’ve been rooting for him from episode one, the stress of the job would really get to him I think. Also people don’t really like him as stated multiple times in the show.
Shiv: She wasn’t even in the company until later in the show. As much as she is competent and smart, she does need actual training and experience.
Together however they all make up for each other’s weaknesses and flaws. Kendall has the experience, Roman the charisma and Shiv the smarts.
Alone, while all are capable, I personally only really see Kendall as viable. Cause I don’t think the shareholders would be accepting of Shiv’s lack of experience in the company and Roman isn’t taken seriously either and he constantly fucks up.
I could be forgetting moments that prove me wrong but currently these are my thoughts.
OK IM GOING TO POST A HOT TAKE NOW!!! i think the sibs were actually perfectly capable of inheriting the company. and i think a lot of you guys give logan’s shitty rhetoric with regard to his children being unqualified, like, way more credit than it deserves.
“roman is a moron” “there is something wrong with roman” well, actually, no and no. if asgarov and matsson taught us anything it’s that roman is actually quite politically capable. also, he’s great at delegating and managing people (see jamie laird and even gerri). the second criticism also is literally just very thinly veiled homophobia, it’s genuine nonsense. it’s a reason for logan not to choose roman, not a reason why roman isn’t capable.
“kendall isn’t made for the world” or any variation of “kendall wouldn’t be good at the CEO job” is once again patently false. whenever kendall is tasked with managing waystar it is usually to great success. his alliance with stewy in lifeboats. living+. vaulter when he acquired it and when he gutted it. his friendship with naomi pierce which watered the ground for both PGN deals. there is little evidence that kendall would be fine if not great at CEO, and the fact that he’s “not a killer” is arguably a benefit and not a loss.
even something like “shiv being a woman is a minus” is just a complete lie. it is not a minus for a rich and palatable white woman to run a company like waystar. logan says this to her and then promptly spends the rest of the season begging her desperately to lend her estrogen to his cause, because PGN want a woman CEO, or because waystar is entrenched in a sexual abuse scandal! there is a solid patch of the show where roman and kendall’s favorite shot at shiv is to say that she’s only being considered because of her gender! after season 1 there is almost unanimous agreement that her womanhood is actually a plus.
it baffles me that some people take these criticisms for granted when logan is the father in the Watch These Kids Get Abused By Their Father! show. almost every “reason” he names for why his children can’t lead the company is just a tactic to belittle and hurt them. it is so fucking hurtful to label roman a freak because of his sexual preferences, just like it’s hurtful to say that kendall is incapable after he’s spent his whole life training to be capable, or to reduce siobhan to her sex. “well, the siblings are all incompetent, it never could have been them—” bullshit! the only person who told us that is the person who was determined to keep it from the second they started to want it!
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