Breaking Bad: Season 1

In honor of the upcoming last season of Breaking Bad, I decided I would watch the entirety of the series before August 11.  I didn't think I'd actually be able to commit to something like this unless I committed to writing about it.  So before August 11, I plan to watch every episode of Breaking Bad and write about each season.

My original impression - and I mean the way I remembered the season - was that Season 1 was a show that was finding it's ground.  It was a little slow, but ultimately very good.  I think I started the show when Season 3 was wrapping up and the title of "Best show currently on TV" was being mentioned.  My expectations were high and I think I let that affect my opinion of the first season.

The first season is a lot better than I remember.  I don't know if it's a bad first impression, or if the show is just better when you re-watch it, but man it's so much better than I remember.  It immediately deserved title of "Best show on TV" from the get-go in my opinion.  The strike-shortened season causes the last two episodes to feel abrupt and rushed, but what are you going do?

The pilot features one of the most intriguing openings ever in a show that you pretty much have to finish the episode to know what the hell was going on.  It also pretty quickly establishes a moral quandary, which is what to do with Krazy-8.  The killing of Emilio was obvious self-defense so that probably took little moral thought.

Anyway, since a normal middle-aged law abiding citizen will probably not kill a person too easily, they approached Walt killing Krazy-8 in the most realistic and probable scenario possible.  They needed Walt to kill him so that he "breaks bad" even more, yet it needed to be almost self-defense.  Walt came to realization that it was kill or be killed when he saw Krazy-8 had a shard of plate.

I somehow forgot that Breaking Bad used to be a comedy more so than what it has become.  This show was hilarious.  Some highlights include the intervention (Now I have the talking pillow!), the incompetence of Walt and Jesse at pretty much everything but the meth itself (Disposing of the Emilio's body), and finally the ending of the finale with Tuco beating the shit out of his own employee over nothing.  There's probably more laughs in one episode of the first season than the entire fourth or fifth season.

As far as character progression goes, Walter White has begun his slow descent into the fifth season's version, an irredeemable heartless murdering kingpin.  This season he's simply a pride-driven, life-living, sympathetic family man.  I think his clear love for his wife and his family is what drives the audience to root for him.  Also, the fact that he's shit on so much in life and is fighting back.

I don't know what it is about Skylar, but I hate her as much as I did the first time.  I realize it's irrational, and I realize none of her actions are wrong or unrealistic.  But there's just something about her character to where when Walt asks her to get off his ass, it's considered a triumphant moment.  I know I'm far from alone in these thoughts too.  I just don't get it.

Jesse is fleshed out a decent amount in this season.  We see why he chooses to make and sell meth: the alternative is being in a dollar bill costume telling people to buy (whatever it was).  We see him try to quit meth by first going to his mom and dad's house.  I thought those scenes were pretty good at showing a family who has seen it enough to believe he's truly changed.  They were also painful to watch from the perspective of Jesse.

I also thought the show did a good job of showing why, after such a massive failure the first time they tried cooking together, they decided to team up again.  Jesse was ready to go into business because Badger's not exactly the greatest partner.  Walter is unwilling to accept charity from his old chemistry partner and needs money for chemotherapy.

Hank is given some good moments to show he's not just a caricature of a human being.  He is obviously very good at his job, rare in a show like this (For a counter-example, look at how awful Miami Metro is at their job on Dexter).  Marie is kind of a weakness right now in that, for example, I could care less that she has a stealing problem. (Unfortunately, I never really care much about what she does).  Also, a credit for RJ Mitte as Flynn who has made a believable disabled person (mostly because he is disabled, but he's also a good actor.)

This season also has less non-pivotal episodes than I remember.  Technically they are all pivotal, but I mean episodes were something big happens that dictates Walter's going downhill or something big happens to change Walt or Jesse's direction.  Debatably, there's only two transitional episodes that are less pivotal - episodes 4 and 5 that lead to the re-partnership of Walt and Jesse.  But they are also pivotal in showing a realistic portrait of why they decided to start working together so really every episode moves the story along in some way.  Only The Wire was better at doing that.

So, to summarize, the first season is probably a lot better than you remember, has no standalone episodes (almost every series has one - not that a standalone episode is a bad thing), and is darkly hilarious.  I encourage everyone to do the same as me and re-watch the series.

Walter White Kill Count: 2 (Emilio, Krazy-8)
Walter White Badass Count: 4 (Quitting car wash, "This is not meth," Beating up asshole making fun of son at store; Destroying Ken Wins car)
Audience View of Walter White: Sympathetic man who decides to start living his life

Playlist (Best of Breaking Bad Season 1 songs)
1. "Out of Time Man" - Mick Harvey
2. "Didn't I" - Darondo
3. "Uh" - Fujiya & Miyagi
4. "Scoobidoo Love" - Paul Rothman
5. "Catch Yer Own Train" - The Silver Seas
6. "The Hole" - Glen Phillips
7. "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" - Gnarls Barkley

The Sopranos: "A Hit is a Hit"

This is a returning weekly feature. I'm reviewing The Sopranos episodes starting from the beginning.  This is the tenth episode of the first season.  

Past Episodes
Pilot
46 Long
Denial, Acceptance, Anger

Meadowlands
College
Pax Soprano

Down Neck

The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti

Boca

This is not a great episode.  If there's one thing The Sopranos struggles with, it's writing competent characters outside of the world of the Sopranos.  This has two different story lines dealing with characters outside of their world.

The first, Massive Genius and his posse, is just downright painful at times.  This is the stereotypical idea of what an intellectual gangster rapper is.  I'm not going to pretend to know how an extremely rich gangster rapper acts, but I'm pretty positive the portrait of Massive Genius is not it.  Also, the name Massive Genius - really?  

I really just wish they would have just scrapped that whole story to pieces.  It does nothing of value really and I don't think they return to it in the future.  It's supposed to give us an greater idea of who Hesh is, but it barely achieves that even.  We already knew he was rich and a shrewd businessman.

The other one was of the upper class rich white men that Tony is neighbors with.  I have less problems with them as this seems pretty realistic in my mind.  They don't really want to be friends with Tony, but want to be friends with Scarface, Michael Corleone, and the idea of a real mob boss.  

This is just... boring.  I know that I sound like a person who watches The Sopranos for the kills and action, but I'm not.  I don't think this episode does much for character beats either.  It's just kind of a pointless episode in my mind.

Also, we see Adriana try to get her friend's band to get signed and to make money off it.  I think the band is actually the perfect note of not great, yet listenable enough.  They sound just ok enough to imagine someone like Adriana liking the band, perhaps because she knows someone in it.  Also, bad enough to make it not difficult to imagine the band not getting a deal.

The dinner conversation at the dinner party of Dr. Cusamano kind of touched on the fact that the Sopranos aren't that different from the rest of life, however it was undercut a little by how awkward all the scenes were between Tony and the other rich white men.

The ending was nice though.  Giving Dr. Cusamano sand as a gift and telling him to "Hold on to it for a while" is genius.  I imagine if I was in that scenario, I'd be freaking the hell out.

Surprise Guest Appearances

Bokeem Woodbine, whose name really doesn't ring a bell, but his face is unique and instantly recognizable as Massive Genius.  He really tries with this role, but the writing just isn't there for him.

Deaths

At the beginning of the episode, random guy who was killed and the Sopranos found a lot of money there.  Still not sure who he is was or where that money was from, but that wasn't the point.

Quotes (This was one of the weaker episodes for quotes)

"I can't tell if you're old-fashioned, paranoid, or just a fucking asshole." - Carmela about Tony, it's probably the last one

"You know Richie Santini?" "Yeah, you used to fuck him." - Chris, with his wonderful way with words

"My people were the white man's nigger when your people were painting their faces and chasing zebras." - Hesh with the racist comment of the episode

"Sometimes I think the only difference between American business and the mob is fucking wacking somebody." - Dr. Cusamano might not be far off.

"We don't just play, we win." - Wife of rich white guy - Might as well wear a huge neon sign saying "I'm a huge bitch"

"I've recorded... in Denmark" - Douchebag alert from lead singer of band

"How real was The Godfather?" "Did you ever meet John Gotti?" - Rich white men being dumb

Playlist (Just watched 8 mile so that explains two songs)

1. "Lose Yourself" - Eminem

2. "Shook Ones" - Mobb Deep

3. "I Don't Care" - Icona Pop

4. "Name" - Goo Goo Dolls

5. "The Way We Get By" - Spoon

Rewind: Sons of Anarchy Season 3

(Warning: This post contains some spoilers)

Ok, I've been expecting a drop-off for Sons of Anarchy since I basically started the show and Season 3 finally gives it to me.  Not that it was bad, but it was unquestionably on a different level than the first two seasons.

In the third season, a little too much happens in too little time.  I think 13 episodes of plot was used in like a week of time on the show.  That's insane.  I get taking your time with story lines, but it took like four episodes to get through a day.  I'm only slightly exaggerating.

I'll give creator Kurt Sutter credit for one thing and that's ambition.  This season falls flat a little, but it definitely tried to be something greater.  I can respect a show that does that.  It's taking chances, and if some don't work, at least they took the chance.

This season was highly entertaining though.  A lot of stuff happens, and in my opinion too much plot-based stuff happens.  There was a decent share of awesome moments of course.  If this is the downside of Sons of Anarchy - and I'm pretty sure it is - then it's a pretty good downside.  If the rest of the series is like this - and I'm pretty sure it isn't - then I'd watch it to the end.

At the end of the second season, the show dropped two cliffhangers on us.  Gemma murdered someone and Jax had his baby stolen.  I'm not positive, but I think the writers of SOA are the "make the characters go into a seemingly impossible situation to resolve and worry about the consequences later" type of writers.  It's when writers write themselves into a corner to where there's very little that can happen to make sense of what we just saw.

Gemma's a main character so unless they kill her off, we knew she wasn't going anywhere.  So I guess the question was how do they either 1) get her free of the murder or 2) not reduce her character's role when she serves jail time?  There's pretty much no way to do #1 without sounding absolutely implausible and ridiculous.

Naturally, the result was implausible and ridiculous.  So Agent Stahl makes up this ridiculous story where somehow another agent was there even though the ATF surely knew already that Agent Stahl was the only one at the scene.  Ok.  Agent Stahl turns full caricature by murdering her lover and partner?  Ok.

Just in case the show was worried Opie possibly killed someone who didn't deserve it, they did everything possible to make sure we had no doubts Opie did the right thing.  If Opie killed maybe a good person, who is obviously dedicated to her job (like she was in Season 1), it would have been much more interesting.  But they wrote themselves in a corner and needed a way to get Gemma free and if you only slightly pay attention to your TV shows, you were probably satisfied enough.  And hey, if it's Gemma in jail with a realistic story line or Gemma free with a ridiculous story line, I think Gemma free is the right answer.

Then the baby getting stolen took up a large portion of the season as well.  This didn't create a lot of tension for me because they aren't going to kill a baby so it was just a matter of time of when they found the baby.  And that took ELEVEN episodes.  For such a foregone conclusion, they really took their time with that.

However, any complaints I have about the season were washed away with the season finale.  Oh my God, that was awesome.  It was so awesome it removes any ability to write coherent, logical thoughts or any type of critical analysis.  I just don't give a shit.  Unfortunately, the pivotal death in this episode was spoiled for me (Agent Stahl), but that didn't ruin the moment.  It was way better than I could have ever expected.

Also, the baby story line did have a good payoff.  Jackson ultimately decided to give up the baby, because he knew he would have a better life.  The writers clearly wanted to have their cake and eat it too so they made sure he didn't actually lose the baby.  Unfortunately, the payoff wasn't quite worth the set-up - 10 episodes long is always too long of a set-up.

I was going to give this season a grade, but I realized I didn't give a grade for either of the first two seasons, so I'll just give my grade for all the seasons here, because I feel the seasons now have a reference point.  This is compared to regular television by the way so while I do think this season isn't great for SOA, it's great for television.

Season 1: A- (Took season a few episodes to find it's ground)
Season 2: A (Represents the full potential of the show IMO)
Season 3: B (Too many implausible moments to overlook)

Playlist
1. "This Charming Life" - Joan Armatrading (from this season)
2.  "Let Nas Down" - J. Cole
3. "Made Nas Proud" - Nas
4. "Someday" - Suger Ray
5. "My Body is a Cage" - Arcade Fire

The Sopranos: "Boca"

This is a returning weekly feature. I'm reviewing The Sopranos episodes starting from the beginning.  This is the ninth episode of the first season.  

Past Episodes
Pilot
46 Long
Denial, Acceptance, Anger

Meadowlands
College
Pax Soprano

Down Neck

The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti

This episode starts off kind of slow, but ends up raising some great questions and two moral debates internally for both Artie Bucco and Tony Soprano.  Along the way, we have to suffer through kind of painful soccer game.  Painful, because the soccer game looks like it was played by grade schoolers and instead it's actually being played by a high school winning team.

First off, Tony ends up looking like an asshole, because the coach of Meadow's team is leaving for Rhode Island.  Tony doesn't want him to leave and takes some measures to intimidate the coach into staying.  Then Ally cuts her wrists and the only think Tony can think of is for the soccer team.  These scenes show the sheer evilness and selfishness that is Tony.

Then, Tony has a debate about whether or not to kill the coach.  At first it seems obvious to him.  He's a child molester, he deserves to die.  He has a point about the justice system not punishing him like he deserves.  So when we hear that Tony will kill him, I think some of us agreed with him.

Artie has another episode where the price of friendship with Tony Soprano weighs heavily on him.  He knows Tony is not a good person, but he convinces himself otherwise.  With the help of his wife badgering him, he tells Tony to cut out the mobster intimidation moves he's putting on the coach.  When he finds out that the coach has had sex with Ally, he at first agrees with Tony that he needs to die.  Again, with the protests of his wife, he has a last minute plea with Tony to not do it.

In between, we get an awesome scene where Tony gets a guy to take off his hat at a nice restaurant.  Artie beams at Tony and probably thinks "That's why I'm friends with him."  Then of course Tony ruins it when he tells the waiter he thinks cops are in the table next to him.  Great acting by John Ventimiglia as his faces drops when he hears this news.

At the end, Tony gets stupid drunk and feels kind of good about himself at not killing the coach.  As he tells Carmela, he didn't hurt nobody for once.

The "B' storyline focuses on how much reputations matter to these mob men.  Junior apparently goes down on his lover, Bobbi, quite often and does it well.  But word gets out, and there are some funny scenes of sexual innuendo first by Carmela at the dinner table, and later by Tony at the golf course.  

This pisses Junior off enough to tell Mikey that Tony is seeing a psychiatrist, which makes Mikey think Tony is going to get the whole mob in trouble.  Then he breaks up with Bobbi, which apparently lasted 14 years.  Well, that's the last we see of Bobbi in the series, so I guess that means he needed to get rid of her in order to keep his reputation intact, at least in his mind.

One of the weaknesses of The Sopranos is that it brings in random characters for one episode that the Sopranos seem to know and care about, but we the audience don't.  Ally cuts her wrist and it sucks, but this is the last appearance of her.  Other shows are guilty of this, but I don't think any great show has as many one-appearance characters be part of such major storylines and then drop out.

Surprise Guest Appearances

No surprise, but this is the first appearance of Attorney Hal Melvoin, Junior's lawyer.

Deaths

The only notable thing here is that there were no deaths.  Coach Hauser lives another day... in prison.

Quotes

"Anthony, those dogs will start foaming at the mouth" - Livia at the grave

"Life has been putting Prozac to the test" - Tony 

"Last week, I called you a whore.  I might have been overstating the case." - Tony said hilariously to Dr. Melfi

"They think if you'll suck pussy, you'll suck anything." - Junior on his reasoning

"They don't sell hot dogs here.  They removed the bleachers three years ago." - Tony telling the man to take off his hat

"Let me tell you something, guido.." "My name is Clarence." -

"I don't go down there enough." - "That's not what I heard." - Carmela making fun of Junior

"What?  No reward?  Just kidding, I'm an animal lover." - Chris, playing it deadpan

"Carmela, I didn't hurt nobody." - Tony says after he drunkenly falls to the ground

Playlist

1. "Undercover Martyn" - Two Door Cinema Club

2. "Just My Imagination" - The Temptations

3. "Radioactive" - Imagine Dragons

4. "Lost Ones" - J. Cole

5. "Bitch Please II" - Eminem ft. Nate Dogg, Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg

The Sopranos: "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti"

This is a returning weekly feature. I'm reviewing The Sopranos episodes starting from the beginning.  This is the eighth episode of the first season.  

Past Episodes
Pilot
46 Long
Denial, Acceptance, Anger

Meadowlands
College
Pax Soprano

Down Neck

This episode has its highs and lows, but ultimately is somewhat a lesser Sopranos episode in my mind.  For one, showing scenes of Melfi and her family were not great.  I did like the contrast between Melfi's family talking about the history of Italian Americans and the Sopranos family talking about it.

The Melfi family seemed to focus on the bad reputation of Italian Americans, which sort of seemed like it came from the creator a little more than a genuine family dinner.  I think that scene was redeemed when we saw the Soprano family talk about the great Italian Americans, which seemed much more natural and gave us the contrasting scenes.

I guess it's necessary to show how Melfi's family is resistent to her treating a mob man, a man who is "evil" as her ex-husband says to her.  But the scene where they debate whether or not to sell a plot of land really didn't work in my mind.  It just made them come off as pretentious assholes.

In other news, Tony does one of those unforgivable things by hiding his stash of money and guns in his mother's nursing home without her knowledge.  Well, it'd be unforgivable if Livia was even slightly a good person.  If you felt even a twinge of sorrow for her, she made sure to take it away by telling Junior Tony is seeing a psychiatrist.  She was trying to tell him last episode, but was interrupted.

Speaking of that scene, we get a funny sequence of a down-on-his-luck comedian whose jokes and Bob Dylan playing is getting literally no response at all.  This was a pretty comical episode between Chris trying to write a screenplay full of misspellings, Chris being pissed off that he's not mentioned in the news, Chris... well pretty much every Chris scene was funny in some hilarious or tragic way.

To recap Chris and his lack of an arc, he has guilt over shooting a guy, and unlike a normal, sane person, he thinks it's because the dead guy is trying to say he did something wrong with hiding the body.  He might actually realize that it's because of guilt, but he thinks the response to removing that guilt is to move the body instead of... well trying to reform.  That's why he has a lack of an arc.

Then the scene between Tony and Chris was brilliant.  Tony trying to be sympathetic and trying to relate by asking if he's having similar problems to Tony.  However, being tough guys who don't let anything on the inside, Chris brushes it off.  It makes you cringe a bit when Chris says he's no mental midget.  You can just feel Tony deflate inside.  That's how you make a terrible person sympathetic against all odds.

RIP James Gandolfini (First post since his unfortunate death)

Surprise Guest Appearances

None unfortunately

Deaths

None, but I'd be remiss to not mention that Christopher shot a guy in the foot for basically no reason

Quotes

"I thought I was daed, but I manuged to get the drip on him." - Chris' poor spelling - As a side note, I can't imagine he's a good writer.

"No one would ever have ranked him as associate.  SOLDIER?  Brendan Filone - associate, soldier?  Fuck you." - Chris at the apparent mob expert on the news program.

"You motherfucker, you shot my foot!"  -- "It happens." - Funny exchange between the donut employee and Chris

"You're telling me you're planning a vacation, but you don't know if you'll go?" -- "Right.  Let's put it this way, there's a strong possibility it will happen." - Hilarious exchange as both sides realize he's talking about getting arrested.

"That happens.  The more of them you do, the better you'll sleep." - Big Pussy with perhaps not the best advice to get over the guilt of murdering someone

"Is that him?" -- "It'd be some fucking coincidence if it wasn't." - Chris, digging up his most recent murder over fear of doing something wrong

"You know I wipe my ass with your feelings." - Awww! Tony, Chris loves you too

"Now think about it: Why would someone who eats with sticks invent something you need a fork to eat?" -  Tony on why the Chinese couldn't have invented spaghetti

Playlists

1. Frank Sinatra - Cake (from this episode)

2. Blood on the Leaves - Kanye West
3. Contact - Daft Punk
4. Ride Wit Me - Nelly
5. My Own Worst Enemy - Lit