Walt and Jesse's little empire begins to crumble. Saul tries to set them up with a mysterious distributor.Walt and Jesse's little empire begins to crumble. Saul tries to set them up with a mysterious distributor.Walt and Jesse's little empire begins to crumble. Saul tries to set them up with a mysterious distributor.
Dean Norris
- Hank Schrader
- (credit only)
Betsy Brandt
- Marie Schrader
- (credit only)
RJ Mitte
- Walter White, Jr.
- (credit only)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFirst appearance of Giancarlo Esposito as Gustavo "Gus" Fring.
- GoofsAfter Jesse tells Walt that Combo is dead, Jesse has a brief conversation with Skinny Pete about Combo. Skinny Pete says that Combo called him before he died saying that 'a couple of dudes were mad-dogging him trying to run him up off the corner'. However all Combo told Skinny on the phone was that he's 'up on 2nd and Hazeltine, getting eyeballed hard'. This isn't a continuity error, especially given Skinny Pete's propensity for inaccuracy and exaggeration when explaining things. Even at the base level, the two descriptions can mean the same thing to different people.
- Quotes
Saul Goodman: As to your dead guy, occupational hazard. Drug dealer getting shot? I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say it's been known to happen.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Breaking Bad: Abiquiu (2010)
Featured review
Crumbling empire
'Breaking Bad' is one of the most popular rated shows on IMDb, is one of those rarities where every season has either been very positively received or near-universally acclaimed critically and where all of my friends have said nothing but great things about.
Very few shows in recent memory had me so hooked from the very start that before the week was over the whole show had been watched, especially when for a lot of shows now airing watching one episode all the way through can be an endeavour. 'Breaking Bad' had that effect on me, and its reputation as one of the best, consistently brilliant and most addictive shows in many years (maybe even ever) is more than deserved in my eyes. Its weakest season is perhaps the first season, understandable as any show's first season is the one where things are still settling.
Actually everything is established remarkably from the very start, but once the writing and characterisation becomes even meatier the show reaches even higher levels.
"Mandala" is yet another brilliant episode of a consistently great season, one of the season's best. Really loved the character of Saul, who adds an enormous amount. Likewise with Gus. Not quite as amazing as "Better Call Saul" but has everything that made that episode so good.
Visually, "Mandala" is both stylish and beautiful, with photography and editing that are cinematic quality and put a lot of films today to shame, where there are a lot of visually beautiful ones but also some painfully amateurish looking ones. The music always has the appropriate mood, never too intrusive, never too muted.
The writing in "Mandala" is a fine example of how to have a lot of style but also to have a lot of substance. The dialogue throughout is thought-provoking and tense, while also have a darkly wicked sense of humour, nail-biting tension and heart-tugging pathos. The story is texturally rich, intimate, tense and layered, with the pace of it consistently deliberate but taut.
Can't say anything bad about the acting. Bryan Cranston is phenomenal as one of the most fascinating anti-heroes, or even of any kind of character, in either film or television. Aaron Paul has never been better and Anna Gunn is affecting. The characters are compelling in their realism. Bob Odenkirk is wonderfully shady as Saul and Giancarlo Esposito does understated superbly.
Overall, brilliant. 10/10 Bethany Cox
Very few shows in recent memory had me so hooked from the very start that before the week was over the whole show had been watched, especially when for a lot of shows now airing watching one episode all the way through can be an endeavour. 'Breaking Bad' had that effect on me, and its reputation as one of the best, consistently brilliant and most addictive shows in many years (maybe even ever) is more than deserved in my eyes. Its weakest season is perhaps the first season, understandable as any show's first season is the one where things are still settling.
Actually everything is established remarkably from the very start, but once the writing and characterisation becomes even meatier the show reaches even higher levels.
"Mandala" is yet another brilliant episode of a consistently great season, one of the season's best. Really loved the character of Saul, who adds an enormous amount. Likewise with Gus. Not quite as amazing as "Better Call Saul" but has everything that made that episode so good.
Visually, "Mandala" is both stylish and beautiful, with photography and editing that are cinematic quality and put a lot of films today to shame, where there are a lot of visually beautiful ones but also some painfully amateurish looking ones. The music always has the appropriate mood, never too intrusive, never too muted.
The writing in "Mandala" is a fine example of how to have a lot of style but also to have a lot of substance. The dialogue throughout is thought-provoking and tense, while also have a darkly wicked sense of humour, nail-biting tension and heart-tugging pathos. The story is texturally rich, intimate, tense and layered, with the pace of it consistently deliberate but taut.
Can't say anything bad about the acting. Bryan Cranston is phenomenal as one of the most fascinating anti-heroes, or even of any kind of character, in either film or television. Aaron Paul has never been better and Anna Gunn is affecting. The characters are compelling in their realism. Bob Odenkirk is wonderfully shady as Saul and Giancarlo Esposito does understated superbly.
Overall, brilliant. 10/10 Bethany Cox
helpful•139
- TheLittleSongbird
- Jun 5, 2018
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- Runtime47 minutes
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- 16:9 HD
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