First things first, I am posting this on Thursday night instead of Sunday simply because I have been unable to watch the episode until today. This Sunday I will be in St. Louis and will almost definitely be able to write my immediate thoughts that night. With that said, I have avoided any commentary on the episode and all opinions were formed by yours truly.
I suppose this season will be the season of the cliffhangers. To the surprise of no one, Jesse does not team up with Hank and reveal Walt's identity. There's just simply too much hatred between the two to allow that to happen. Jesse is a pretty smart guy and figures out quickly that Hank basically has no evidence to support his claims. He also correctly concludes that Hank is on his own and not backed by the DEA.
Todd has a rather large mouth as he freely reveals the train theft that happened last season. That seems to not bode well one way or the other for Walter. I wasn't completely clear on what was going on, but I'm pretty sure they are after Walt: they want him to make meth again so they can make a lot of money. They seem like the type of people that would go to extreme lengths to make that happen.
Walt devises a plan that's both brilliant and breathtaking. This show is so good at creating an event that seems impossibly unlikely and then when it's revealed, it seems like it's the only way to go. Walt makes a "confession" (hence the title), but twists the events in a way where Hank is the mastermind. Sure enough, the money trail would lead to Hank's recovery. His convoluted story would make some sense to somebody who has no idea of the situation.
As Hank and Marie both watch the tape in shock (and creating a meme of epic proportions), they are our audience surrogate. We also stand in a sort of amazement and awe at what Walt managed to do to get Hank off his back. I'm not sure it'll work in getting Hank to cool it off, but it's hard to deny Hank is screwed unless he gets concrete evidence, which is made all the more difficult because Walt has retired (for now).
Walt unnecessarily tries to manipulate Jesse into going into hiding, but Jesse sees right through it and calls him out on his bullshit. Walt knows how to respond to this though and just hugs him and lets Jesse cry. It was kind of touching except for the fact that Walt has done absolutely horrible things to Jesse.
Then the big moment of the episode when Jesse finds out that Walter poisoned Brock. Oh my, this is one of those reasons I love the show. I'll give two specific reasons: 1) The show was not going to let Jesse NOT know that Walt poisoned Brock. It just does not do things like that. Everything will get revealed by the end. 2) They needed it to be in a way that was realistic and not a convoluted plot device. They succeeded at that.
Jesse is depressed and doesn't care so it would make sense that he would decide to have weed in his pocket and not care that Saul objects. We've also heard about how formal and official this guy has been for a while so it would make sense that Saul would be afraid Jesse won't be accepted if he has weed in his pocket. And the beautiful reveal as Jesse is having second thoughts and starting to get afraid of leaving his own life so he turns to weed and can't find it. He realizes Saul took it away and that makes everything else so clear to him. Just great writing.
And hey! We got funny Saul Goodman. I wasn't expecting anymore but the writers managed to find some comedic bits for Saul in this episode. The Saul gets punched in the face and has his gun stolen from him. Come to think of it, I'm not sure how Jesse knew Saul had a gun there. Minor complaint.
So we leave the episode with Jesse possibly setting the White house on fire. Here's where the flash-forward kind of comes at a disadvantage. Ok, so he may succeed at least a little in lighting the insides of the house on fire, but the house is staying. I don't know, I just don't see the fire actually doing what Jesse intends because we know the house doesn't collapse. Still, this will show that Walt and his family are not safe and throw everything into disarray for him no matter what happens.
I know they are pushing back this Walter Jr. reveal, but man it's got to happen. There's no way that they end the show with him not knowing. I'm just waiting for when. And it looks like Walt (and the writers) have a nice built in excuse for Walter Jr never going to Hank and Marie's with Walt's cancer. Smart.
I'm pretty confident at this point Jesse will die. Just my personal guess. We'll see how the rest of the season plays out, but I don't see how both he and Walt will manage to live.
Playlist
1. "Kick Klack Bang" - Ces Cru
2. "Baby Says" - The Black Keys
3. "Verbal Intercourse" - Chef Raekwon ft. Nas
4. "Better Days" - Citizen King
5. "Electric Feel" - MGMT
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Friday, August 23, 2013
Orange is the New Black Review
Orange is the New Black is the best thing Netflix has ever done. It's kind of important to note I think House of Cards was ok and ultimately disappointing and Arrested Development had individual moments that paralleled the original but was mostly not terribly funny. (I'm not even going to mention Hemlock Grove). If it feels like that note is meant to somehow tamper your expectations, it's not, this is a great show.
I sort of think this show is worth checking just for the fact that it's one of the most unique out there. Nearly every character is female, about half of the women are minorities, one of the characters is a transgender woman, they portray a bisexual relationship in a way that doesn't feel exploitative (well in the early episodes it does), and then there's the source material, a show about a low security women's prison. Nearly everything about this series is original.
But it's a damn good show on its own merits, ignoring the previous paragraph. The show gradually gets better and better until you find yourself unable to stop watching. For a show that doesn't really relate to me in anyway possible, I found myself engrossed in these character's lives. These are sharply-drawn, memorable characters that you can't really help but to root for. Yes, they are criminals, but this is a low security prison, so none of their crimes are the sort where you instantly think they are awful people. The show doesn't shy away that these people are guilty, but shows how and why they are guilty through flashbacks.
OITNB was created by Jenji Kohan, also the creator of the popular Showtime series Weeds. I have never seen Weeds and was well aware that certain people may have been turned off by this show because of how bad Weeds became. While I have not seen Weeds, I say with a fair amount of confidence that this is considerably better than Weeds. I mean it pretty much has to be judging by what I watched and what I've heard of Weeds. So don't let the fact that she made Weeds spoil this for you, and hey if you liked Weeds, this is most likely a better although very different show.
Looking back, I'm kind of blindsided by what the characters became. To use a specific example, there's a character named "Crazy Eyes" who is a caricature in the beginning, but begins to actually form a unique and sympathetic identity. That's why it gets better as it goes along. The characters usually start as a stereotype or caricature, and after they get their own flashback episodes, it creates depths and two-dimensionality that you never knew was there.
The show's character that leads us into this world is Piper Chapman, played well by Taylor Schilling. She's not really that likable to me personally - not that it matters a whole lot. She's rich, privileged, and selfish although to the show's credit, it acknowledges all that. Larry, her boyfriend played by Jason Biggs, is cut in the same mold, although he's a bit more frustrating because prison doesn't "change" him or make him at least aware of it like Piper is. Throughout most of the season, Larry is the least interesting part of the show, and I don't think it's Biggs faults, it's just a whole lot less interesting than the inmates and mostly nonessential to the plot.
It doesn't really help that I'm not that invested in the love triangle of Chapman, Larry, and Alex Vause, played by Laura Prepon of That 70's Show fame. She's alright in this role. She certainly improves as a character as the show goes on. But the love triangle isn't all that interesting to me.
When The Wire starting airing, the world was exposed to some previously unknown African American actors who got a shortage of jobs due to lack of good roles. Well, OITNB does the same thing for women, African American women, and one transgender. Let me go through the cast of characters for you:
Poussey, played by Samira Wiley, and Taystee, played by Danielle Brooks, are one of the funniest comedic pairings ever. They also strike the right note when they need to get serious and are genuinely touching in certain scenes. 'Crazy Eyes' as mentioned above is played by Uzo Aduba, who I really just can't praise enough for making this character into an actual human being. There's Nicky, played by Natasha Lyonne, who may just have stole every scene she's in.
"Red," played by Kate Mulgrew of Star Trek fame, is the Russian chef dictator of the prison. She's not actually that good at cooking, but if you tell her that, she'll starve you. There's Pennsatucky, played by the always reliable Taryn Manning (incredibly typecast, but she doesn't seem to mind here). Lastly, there's Sophia, played by Laverne Cox, who is an actual transgender. She's very good in this and helps gain exposure for transgender women.
There's also more prison inmates, prison staff and prison guards that would make this post altogether too long. A special shout-out though goes to Pablo Schreiber, who plays a character named "Pornstache." He's about as sleazy as he sounds, but he has probably the most memorable one-liners on the show (a large number of them where apparently ad-libbed by Schreiber.)
OITNB benefits from Netflix's structure in my mind, because it's a show that can and will be binge-watched. So future warning to people who have things to do: wait a little to watch this show. When you have a decent amount of time on your hands, you'll finish it within the week. Actually, I don't think this really happened until the middle episodes, but I think a fair warning is necessary. It's addicting.
Certain TV shows I like to review I think of as advertisements for the show in that I really do want the people reading this to watch it. This is one of those shows. I wholly encourage you to watch it as soon as you can. It takes a little to hit its stride, but when it does, it doesn't stop until the season is over and you're wondering when Season 2 will come out. (It'll be quite a while I suspect.)
Playlist
1. "Black Water" - Timbre Timbre
2. "Still D.R.E." - Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Dog
3. "The Party & The After Party" - The Weeknd
4. "Whirring" - The Joy Formidable
5. "Accident Murderers" - Nas ft. Rick Ross
I sort of think this show is worth checking just for the fact that it's one of the most unique out there. Nearly every character is female, about half of the women are minorities, one of the characters is a transgender woman, they portray a bisexual relationship in a way that doesn't feel exploitative (well in the early episodes it does), and then there's the source material, a show about a low security women's prison. Nearly everything about this series is original.
But it's a damn good show on its own merits, ignoring the previous paragraph. The show gradually gets better and better until you find yourself unable to stop watching. For a show that doesn't really relate to me in anyway possible, I found myself engrossed in these character's lives. These are sharply-drawn, memorable characters that you can't really help but to root for. Yes, they are criminals, but this is a low security prison, so none of their crimes are the sort where you instantly think they are awful people. The show doesn't shy away that these people are guilty, but shows how and why they are guilty through flashbacks.
OITNB was created by Jenji Kohan, also the creator of the popular Showtime series Weeds. I have never seen Weeds and was well aware that certain people may have been turned off by this show because of how bad Weeds became. While I have not seen Weeds, I say with a fair amount of confidence that this is considerably better than Weeds. I mean it pretty much has to be judging by what I watched and what I've heard of Weeds. So don't let the fact that she made Weeds spoil this for you, and hey if you liked Weeds, this is most likely a better although very different show.
Looking back, I'm kind of blindsided by what the characters became. To use a specific example, there's a character named "Crazy Eyes" who is a caricature in the beginning, but begins to actually form a unique and sympathetic identity. That's why it gets better as it goes along. The characters usually start as a stereotype or caricature, and after they get their own flashback episodes, it creates depths and two-dimensionality that you never knew was there.
The show's character that leads us into this world is Piper Chapman, played well by Taylor Schilling. She's not really that likable to me personally - not that it matters a whole lot. She's rich, privileged, and selfish although to the show's credit, it acknowledges all that. Larry, her boyfriend played by Jason Biggs, is cut in the same mold, although he's a bit more frustrating because prison doesn't "change" him or make him at least aware of it like Piper is. Throughout most of the season, Larry is the least interesting part of the show, and I don't think it's Biggs faults, it's just a whole lot less interesting than the inmates and mostly nonessential to the plot.
It doesn't really help that I'm not that invested in the love triangle of Chapman, Larry, and Alex Vause, played by Laura Prepon of That 70's Show fame. She's alright in this role. She certainly improves as a character as the show goes on. But the love triangle isn't all that interesting to me.
When The Wire starting airing, the world was exposed to some previously unknown African American actors who got a shortage of jobs due to lack of good roles. Well, OITNB does the same thing for women, African American women, and one transgender. Let me go through the cast of characters for you:
Poussey, played by Samira Wiley, and Taystee, played by Danielle Brooks, are one of the funniest comedic pairings ever. They also strike the right note when they need to get serious and are genuinely touching in certain scenes. 'Crazy Eyes' as mentioned above is played by Uzo Aduba, who I really just can't praise enough for making this character into an actual human being. There's Nicky, played by Natasha Lyonne, who may just have stole every scene she's in.
"Red," played by Kate Mulgrew of Star Trek fame, is the Russian chef dictator of the prison. She's not actually that good at cooking, but if you tell her that, she'll starve you. There's Pennsatucky, played by the always reliable Taryn Manning (incredibly typecast, but she doesn't seem to mind here). Lastly, there's Sophia, played by Laverne Cox, who is an actual transgender. She's very good in this and helps gain exposure for transgender women.
There's also more prison inmates, prison staff and prison guards that would make this post altogether too long. A special shout-out though goes to Pablo Schreiber, who plays a character named "Pornstache." He's about as sleazy as he sounds, but he has probably the most memorable one-liners on the show (a large number of them where apparently ad-libbed by Schreiber.)
OITNB benefits from Netflix's structure in my mind, because it's a show that can and will be binge-watched. So future warning to people who have things to do: wait a little to watch this show. When you have a decent amount of time on your hands, you'll finish it within the week. Actually, I don't think this really happened until the middle episodes, but I think a fair warning is necessary. It's addicting.
Certain TV shows I like to review I think of as advertisements for the show in that I really do want the people reading this to watch it. This is one of those shows. I wholly encourage you to watch it as soon as you can. It takes a little to hit its stride, but when it does, it doesn't stop until the season is over and you're wondering when Season 2 will come out. (It'll be quite a while I suspect.)
Playlist
1. "Black Water" - Timbre Timbre
2. "Still D.R.E." - Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Dog
3. "The Party & The After Party" - The Weeknd
4. "Whirring" - The Joy Formidable
5. "Accident Murderers" - Nas ft. Rick Ross
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Rewind: Star Trek Season 1
I'm going to write this review with a heavy dose of context involved because it'd be unfair and impossible to grade this without it. Star Trek suffers mightily from being the first to do many of the things they did. I don't exactly know which specific things they did first only that many of their then original story lines are now played out and cliche.
So I'm going to try and focus my complaints on things they could control. I got to be honest though. In terms of 2013, having never seen the show and admittedly having seen many of its copiers, Star Trek is not a good show. It's not a show I would recommend anyone watch unless they are like me who want to watch a show that started it all.
I understand why it was considered great. I can see some of the things that made it great. There's a few things that I personally think Star Trek had control over that they did wrong, but most of it happens to just be a bi-product of being aired in 1966. I can't think of another example of a show that is considered so great to age so incredibly badly.
The biggest obstacle that makes the show hardest to watch for me personally is William Shatner. He's an atrociously over-the-top actor that I can't take anything seriously. I'm not the first to make this complaint, but you have to see it to believe just how bad he is. This show is basically content telling us how awesome Kirk is at everything, which gets old pretty fast. Also, the villain of the week structure is both a positive and a negative. When the villain is bad at acting, it really just makes the episode borderline unwatchable.
Then, there's the things it can't control. The first season is a whopping 28 episodes at 50 minutes an episode. It shows at times that the writers are struggling to come up with original ideas. I'm impressed at how many times it does. It was also 1966 so the networks demanded that the show would wrap up each episode nicely and just completely ignore the deaths of many Enterprise passengers.
I'm impressed with the writing, specifically the writing for Spock. I'm pretty amazed at how they seemed to write such good lines for a character with no emotion. I totally bought it. Leonard Nimoy is a large reason why as he's a genuinely good actor and one of the reasons I choose to continue watching the show. I also think DeForest Kelley is a pretty good actor, sometimes aims too over-the-top, but frankly it's barely noticeable when Shatner is his opposite.
The show did have a weird fixation on wanting to prove Spock's dedication to logic as a fault. Sometimes, it made sense to criticize, such as Spock figuring out the best chance to survive is by letting crew members stay on the planet and likely die. Other times, they do a poor job of showing why logic was wrong in that certain scenario. Almost always logic is the best way to make decisions.
The first season is filled with many merely ok episodes, a few great, a few awful, and then "A City On the Edge of Forever" which is considered a classic episode and rightly so. I would strongly suggest you watch that episode. It has aged quite well. It's kind of like how the only 80s movies that have avoided the 80s touch (in a bad way) are those that are movies set in the past. Well most of this episode takes place in 1930. And I got to say, I was impressed at the design of it - it reminded me very much of Once Upon a Time in America - which came 20 years later.
I guess a small mention should go to the show's poor special effects (doesn't matter) and sometimes blatant sexism. Not to mention the aura of Kirk is irresistible to just about every woman Kirk wants, which makes little sense. But those are products of the 1960s and apparently Star Trek was a very progressive show at the time.
Anyway, Star Trek was a landmark point in television that just hasn't aged very well. Despite that, there are still some episodes that are really good even now, but some have suffered mightily. I'd recommend this show only to those that are purely watching to get a sense of history, or to those who will someone be able to pick the good from the bad.
I'll attempt to highlight ones I particularly enjoyed - however this took me about six months so I could be forgetting some.
1. Pilot: The Cage - I know Star Trek would be different without William Shatner, but I liked this version of the show better with Jeffrey Hunter. Either way, it's worth it just for the contrast.
2. The Naked Time - Funny episode where crew acts all out-of-character
3. The Corbomite Maneuver - Memorable villain
4. Balance of Terror - This involves bigotry towards Vulcans, Spock's race - Got to be some strong subtext since at the time racism was still pretty common
5. The Squire of Gothos - Godlike being who wants playthings (read: humans) is pretty scary
6. This Side of Paradise - Pretty funny episode where Spock has feelings and smiles
7. Devil in the Dark - Some monster is attacking miners - memorable
8. Errand of Mercy - Not sure I recommend, but this is the beginning of the Klingons, popular villains.
9. The City on the Edge of Forever - Best episode by far of any in the first season
10. Operation: Annihilate - Season finishes strong with five good episodes of last six
So there's 10 episodes you can watch without having to suffer through mediocre or just downright bad episodes. I don't know if they are bad because they aged badly, or they've always been bad, but some are just bad in 2013.
I will attempt to watch the second and third seasons - thankfully the episode list dwindles down to 26 and then 24, but I'm not sure I'll write about it. Frankly, I'm not sure I'll have anything new to say, but I might anyway just to recommend episodes.
Playlist
1. "I Want You Back" - Jackson 5
2. "Ordinary People" - John Legend
3. "Hello Operator" - The White Stripes
4. "Otherside Remix" - Macklemore ft. Fences
5. "Your Ass Got Took" - Scarface
I guess a small mention should go to the show's poor special effects (doesn't matter) and sometimes blatant sexism. Not to mention the aura of Kirk is irresistible to just about every woman Kirk wants, which makes little sense. But those are products of the 1960s and apparently Star Trek was a very progressive show at the time.
Anyway, Star Trek was a landmark point in television that just hasn't aged very well. Despite that, there are still some episodes that are really good even now, but some have suffered mightily. I'd recommend this show only to those that are purely watching to get a sense of history, or to those who will someone be able to pick the good from the bad.
I'll attempt to highlight ones I particularly enjoyed - however this took me about six months so I could be forgetting some.
1. Pilot: The Cage - I know Star Trek would be different without William Shatner, but I liked this version of the show better with Jeffrey Hunter. Either way, it's worth it just for the contrast.
2. The Naked Time - Funny episode where crew acts all out-of-character
3. The Corbomite Maneuver - Memorable villain
4. Balance of Terror - This involves bigotry towards Vulcans, Spock's race - Got to be some strong subtext since at the time racism was still pretty common
5. The Squire of Gothos - Godlike being who wants playthings (read: humans) is pretty scary
6. This Side of Paradise - Pretty funny episode where Spock has feelings and smiles
7. Devil in the Dark - Some monster is attacking miners - memorable
8. Errand of Mercy - Not sure I recommend, but this is the beginning of the Klingons, popular villains.
9. The City on the Edge of Forever - Best episode by far of any in the first season
10. Operation: Annihilate - Season finishes strong with five good episodes of last six
So there's 10 episodes you can watch without having to suffer through mediocre or just downright bad episodes. I don't know if they are bad because they aged badly, or they've always been bad, but some are just bad in 2013.
I will attempt to watch the second and third seasons - thankfully the episode list dwindles down to 26 and then 24, but I'm not sure I'll write about it. Frankly, I'm not sure I'll have anything new to say, but I might anyway just to recommend episodes.
Playlist
1. "I Want You Back" - Jackson 5
2. "Ordinary People" - John Legend
3. "Hello Operator" - The White Stripes
4. "Otherside Remix" - Macklemore ft. Fences
5. "Your Ass Got Took" - Scarface
Monday, August 19, 2013
Breaking Bad: "Buried"
This episode had a lot of plot to get through. I liked this episode less than the pilot, but so many things move and nothing really stuck out as bad that I didn't mind a whole lot. Things are clearly being put in place to set up the future.
That could sound like I'm complaining that this episode is only really about moving the plot forward, because usually that tends to be a weakness. Thankfully, it feels pretty natural and in character so again a plot episode isn't bad, I just found it less interesting.
Walt has played his card and immediately calls Skylar, but he's beaten by Hank to the punch. Hank meets Skylar in a restaurant and I like how slowly we realize Hank wants to get Heisenberg so much, he doesn't particularly care what will happen to Skylar if she tells. He's more so intent on getting Walt at all costs.
His dinner conversation shows his pride is hurt (further shown in a scene with Marie where he says he plans to quit when he tells them his brother-in-law was Heisenberg) with Skylar. People don't give Skylar enough credit as a character. She holds her own and figures out what Hank's doing pretty quickly.
Then Hank uses Marie to try and get Skylar to break. I think Skylar remained quiet both because she was trying to figure out what to do and to not say anything incriminating. Also, she clearly felt bad as Marie came to the realization that she knew about Walt when Hank got shot. That scene led to a slap in the face - a good one at that. Walt getting punched and Skylar getting slapped has to be a parallel in that the lines are drawn as its the White family versus the Schrader family.
Also, Lydia's not going away any time soon as she's kind of terrifying in her brief scene. Willing to wipe out the drug runners, but not willing to look at the carnage? Damn, that's... that's some cowardice right there. Also, Todd and his "connections" are responsible as Lydia needs a better batch to send to Czech Republic. Again, Todd feeling no remorse for helping kill ten people or so, but then tenderly helping Lydia walk back to her car? You've got to love the writing on this show.
Jesse continues losing his shit and I wonder if this will lead anywhere. I mean I know it will lead somewhere, just if Jesse will help convict Walt or not. I don't think he will personally, which kind of makes that cliffhanger less impactful for me. There's six episodes left so he certainly could.
So six episodes left and they somehow have to make up about nine months worth of time leading to the destruction of the White home, Heisenberg being known as Walt, and Walt apparently separated from his family with the need for a huge gun that you don't buy if you're desperate. Not sure how they'll do it, but I have as little doubt as I can that they will do something spectacular and fascinating.
A theme is that none of the characters are looking so great right now. I fear Hank's life has to be in danger since Lydia and Todd are probably coming after Walt now to get him to cook. Jesse was caught with a bag full of money, and although he's distraught enough to not say anything, that's not really a good position to be in. Saul was threatened to "get sent to Belize", which might be foreshadowing of some sort. (And if the spinoff makes you think differently, they could do a prequel) So, I guess the question for me is who dies first, because there will be deaths aplenty.
That could sound like I'm complaining that this episode is only really about moving the plot forward, because usually that tends to be a weakness. Thankfully, it feels pretty natural and in character so again a plot episode isn't bad, I just found it less interesting.
Walt has played his card and immediately calls Skylar, but he's beaten by Hank to the punch. Hank meets Skylar in a restaurant and I like how slowly we realize Hank wants to get Heisenberg so much, he doesn't particularly care what will happen to Skylar if she tells. He's more so intent on getting Walt at all costs.
His dinner conversation shows his pride is hurt (further shown in a scene with Marie where he says he plans to quit when he tells them his brother-in-law was Heisenberg) with Skylar. People don't give Skylar enough credit as a character. She holds her own and figures out what Hank's doing pretty quickly.
Then Hank uses Marie to try and get Skylar to break. I think Skylar remained quiet both because she was trying to figure out what to do and to not say anything incriminating. Also, she clearly felt bad as Marie came to the realization that she knew about Walt when Hank got shot. That scene led to a slap in the face - a good one at that. Walt getting punched and Skylar getting slapped has to be a parallel in that the lines are drawn as its the White family versus the Schrader family.
Also, Lydia's not going away any time soon as she's kind of terrifying in her brief scene. Willing to wipe out the drug runners, but not willing to look at the carnage? Damn, that's... that's some cowardice right there. Also, Todd and his "connections" are responsible as Lydia needs a better batch to send to Czech Republic. Again, Todd feeling no remorse for helping kill ten people or so, but then tenderly helping Lydia walk back to her car? You've got to love the writing on this show.
Jesse continues losing his shit and I wonder if this will lead anywhere. I mean I know it will lead somewhere, just if Jesse will help convict Walt or not. I don't think he will personally, which kind of makes that cliffhanger less impactful for me. There's six episodes left so he certainly could.
So six episodes left and they somehow have to make up about nine months worth of time leading to the destruction of the White home, Heisenberg being known as Walt, and Walt apparently separated from his family with the need for a huge gun that you don't buy if you're desperate. Not sure how they'll do it, but I have as little doubt as I can that they will do something spectacular and fascinating.
A theme is that none of the characters are looking so great right now. I fear Hank's life has to be in danger since Lydia and Todd are probably coming after Walt now to get him to cook. Jesse was caught with a bag full of money, and although he's distraught enough to not say anything, that's not really a good position to be in. Saul was threatened to "get sent to Belize", which might be foreshadowing of some sort. (And if the spinoff makes you think differently, they could do a prequel) So, I guess the question for me is who dies first, because there will be deaths aplenty.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
The Sopranos: "Isabella"
This is a returning weekly feature. I'm reviewing The Sopranos episodes starting from the beginning. This is the eleventh episode of the first season.
Past Episodes
Pilot
46 Long
Denial, Acceptance, Anger
Past Episodes
Pilot
46 Long
Denial, Acceptance, Anger
In "Isabella," Tony is depressed, because he thinks Big Pussy is dead. He blames himself for it because he no longer thinks Big Pussy is a rat. So he sleeps in bed all day and creates an imaginary beautiful woman to talk to. Why the hell can't I do something like that?
Anyway, the first assassination attempt goes badly because Christopher parks in the middle of the street because he's worried about Tony committing suicide. Ok, this feels off to me. Chris and Tony sort of, kind of talked about being depressed in a previous episode, and Chris is the type of person to do something stupid like park his car in the middle of the road.
But this doesn't feel natural to me, it feels like the writers needed a way to stall the inevitable. I don't honestly see Chris following Tony and Chris parks in the middle of the street, because? So I have a few problems with that scene.
Meanwhile, Junior is struggling mightily with this decision. He doesn't want to hear about or talk about Tony, he just wants to finish the job so Tony could be dead and he will then be able to move on. We get that hilarious scene after first botched attempt, Junior wants the hit off so Mikey just shoots Donnie. It was funny because it was abrupt and kind of shocking.
The second attempt kind of defied probability. Apparently these guys were good, yet the one guy missed a clear attempt feet away TWICE. The other guy missed Tony and hit his partner in the face and I think Tony's ear, which I guess is slightly more believable but the accuracy of these two guys is unbelievably bad for being supposedly good hit men.
The missed attempt did brighten Tony's mood however. And it gave us a nice moment where Tony was offered a new life and Carmela badly wanted to take it. We know from "College" that she has regrets about entering this life, but can't resist the good lifestyle for her and her children. Also, AJ Soprano doesn't buy the car jacking story further pushing along a previous story line that had him finding out Tony was a mobster.
That's the kind of reason The Sopranos is great though. They don't just dropped story lines, they build on them in some way. So it's good to see actual evidence of it (To be fair, I didn't really pay attention to this the first time around.)
Tony imagines Isabella because of a need for a mother-son relationship. This is reflected in the scene where Isabella is breast-feeding a baby "Antonio." Anyway, I think this show takes these scenes too literally and psychology is not as cut and dry as it makes it out to be. But I don't really feel terribly strongly about it.
Also, an underrated aspect of why shows like this are successful is the humor. The humor is so vital, yet it seems that the copycats of shows like this recently have none, such as Low Winter Sun. (And I mean NO humor). Any scene with Livia usually gets at least one laugh from me and the AJ's date being in the limo with Paulie and Silvio across from them will never not be funny.
Deaths
Donnie, who says the truth, but suffers because Junior feels guilty.
Quotes
"She's telling the truth or she deserves an Academy fucking Award." - Chris
"I don't know nothing no more." - Tony
"Aha, Tony S's own mother wants him popped." - Donnie, unknowingly leading to his death
"What were you thinking about just then?" --- "This gorgeous piece of cooze." - Nice Tony
"You know if I was that young lady, and you used that kind of talk, I'd slap your face!" - Livia, constant source of comedy at that dinner table scene
"This is the last time. I'm never coming back to this house." - Livia, with an ounce of truth in her meaning
"I never threatened to cut your dick off." - Carmela
Playlist
1. "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" - Queens of the Stone Age
2. "One Good Thing" - Jared Evans
3. "Go Outside" - The Cults
4. "Hip Hop Saved My Life" - Lupe Fiasco
5. "Tundra/Desert" - Modest Mouse
1. "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" - Queens of the Stone Age
2. "One Good Thing" - Jared Evans
3. "Go Outside" - The Cults
4. "Hip Hop Saved My Life" - Lupe Fiasco
5. "Tundra/Desert" - Modest Mouse
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Breaking Bad: "Blood Money"
Well, this show certainly moved faster than I anticipated. I assume Vince Gilligan and the writers thought to themselves, "I bet everyone expects us to drag out Hank knowing about Walter so let's reveal it in the first episode!" Because that's what they do.
I don't think any other show could have handled Hank's reaction better than Breaking Bad. It seems perfectly in character and realistic. Hank is reacting with anger and apparently a passionate drive to catch Walt. Hank has had time to think about what has happened in the past and realizes Walt is a monster.
We find out it's been a month since Walter quit making meth. And it's clear that it is not going to stay that way. Well, actually, it's clear it's not going to fly with Lydia. Mike has warned about Lydia to Walt and Jesse and I think we see that play out in the next seven episodes.
Jesse goes through some personal shit, and frankly, I'm a little tired of that story. It's been played out. We get it. But anyway, it's probably necessary since it's in character and it's his thing. He doesn't give a shit and doesn't want money so he's a loose cannon. Also, an important plot point is that he knows that Walt killed Jesse. I hope I'm not spoiling that, the show hinted that at us pretty strongly.
We see a Saul appearance, albeit no memorable zingers this time. I have a feeling we will have to wait until the spinoff for any more old Saul Goodman scenes. That's just a guess, but it might feel out of place in this final season. The Breaking Bad writers could certainly figure out how to fit it in though.
How to discuss this episode without mentioning the cold open, probably the best show at finding ways to open the show. We get a further flash forward into what Walt's life will be like. It doesn't look good. So he just got his shotgun (I'm not an expert on guns so don't quote me on that) at Denny's in "Live Free or Die," the first episode of season five part one. In this one, he's apparently coming home - or what used to be his home.
And uh, he's collecting the ricin he left in his outlet for some reason. And uh, his home is abandoned, locked off, and people know he is Heisenberg it seems. "Hello Carol" is probably the funniest part of the episode, first when she drops her groceries in shock, and later because of the contrast.
But it's not really hard to believe that is what Walt has coming for him. I mean he has Lydia, Jesse, cancer and Hank after him. That's the Lydia Mike insisted should be killed, the Jesse who doesn't give a fuck, and a Hank who is seriously pissed off at Walter right not and is also on the DEA. So, I'd say they set up the final season quite nicely and I'm excited to be a part of it.
Note: I made sure to avoid any professional opinions on Breaking Bad so my opinions would not be influenced by anyone else.
Low Winter Sun
Well, this looks like an interesting show. I'll probably be watching it for the rest of the first season, just because it's on after Breaking Bad and it takes very little effort. The first episode was ok, way too intense for my liking, and there were zero laughs, which can put a strain on watching a series.
The performances are top notch with Mark Strong and Lennie James. It looks pretty well shot and here's another show that for some reason is obsessed with bald men. It's a pretty good start, but I do hope they inject some humor - any humor in the following episodes. I won't be talking about the series any more, but that's just my two cents on the its start. I can't recommend it to you, but I can't dissuade you either.
Breaking Bad Season 5 Songs!
My original plan was to write a sort of review for the first half of the fifth season. However, I feel like that review should come when the fifth season is completed. The first half was great except for one minor detail - as pointed out by Alan Sepinwall, there's no way Mike would entrust Walt to give him the money over Jesse making Mike's death seem a little contrived. But that's literally it.
Anyway, I wanted to post the best songs of the first half for you to listen to before the finale to get you really amped up. And of course if you missed it, I posted my reviews of the first four seasons below.
Breaking Bad (Playlist of Season 5 Part 1)
1. Stay on the Outside - Whitey (Walt and Jesse look for ricin cigarette)
2. On a Clear Day you can see Forever - The Peddlers (Walt and Jesse cook in Episode 3)
3. Bonfire - Knife Party (Walt and Walt Jr. test out new cars in Episode 4)
4. Going Down - The Monkees (Walt teaches Todd how to cook meth)
5. Pick Yourself Up - Nat King Cole (Prison shanking sequence)
6. Crystal Blue Persuasion - Tommy James & The Shondells
Previous Seasons
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Thanks for reading and let's enjoy this final season of Breaking Bad.
Anyway, I wanted to post the best songs of the first half for you to listen to before the finale to get you really amped up. And of course if you missed it, I posted my reviews of the first four seasons below.
Breaking Bad (Playlist of Season 5 Part 1)
1. Stay on the Outside - Whitey (Walt and Jesse look for ricin cigarette)
2. On a Clear Day you can see Forever - The Peddlers (Walt and Jesse cook in Episode 3)
3. Bonfire - Knife Party (Walt and Walt Jr. test out new cars in Episode 4)
4. Going Down - The Monkees (Walt teaches Todd how to cook meth)
5. Pick Yourself Up - Nat King Cole (Prison shanking sequence)
6. Crystal Blue Persuasion - Tommy James & The Shondells
Previous Seasons
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Thanks for reading and let's enjoy this final season of Breaking Bad.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Breaking Bad: Season 4
Upon further review, I can say definitively that Season 4 is not the clear best season. It's a very different kind of good than anything Breaking Bad ever did. The string of episodes that end on a "HOLY SHIT" note is impressive, but I can't say that makes it the best season. It just makes it the most exciting and shocking season. To be clear, those are very different things.
It'd be easier to count the episodes that didn't have a "HOLY SHIT" moment, but I'll go through the list anyway. Below I have each of the episodes of Season 4 and the "HOLY SHIT" moment - the moment where you sort of spend the next ten minutes after the episode saying "HOLY SHIT" repeatedly.
Box Cutter: Gus killing Victor with a box cutter
Cornered: "I am the one who knocks" (Maybe a stretch)
Hermanos: Max (Gus' "hermano") getting shot in a flashback
Bug: Walt and Jesse fight; Also, Gus with "Come at me, bro"
Salud: Gus killing the cartel
Crawl Space: The ending, oh God, that ending. (Walt laughing maniacally)
Face Off: Gus walking out after the explosion and adjusting his tie; also Lily of the Valley
That's more than half of the episodes. I might be missing some only because they seem less shocking in hindsight or because I don't find them as shocking on multiple viewings. Still, that's a lot of shocking moments.
This season seemed a bit more plot-based and not as character-based as the show usually does. For example, the last five or so episodes are almost all plot. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, because it's still well-written, it's just a different kind of good. I almost don't want to compare this season to the others because it's almost a different show.
Hard to top, but Walt's descent into evilness goes even further. It's really hard to top letting an innocent person die (Jane in Season 2), but then they did top that when he took Jesse to his level by telling him to kill Gale (in Season 3). So how do you top letting an innocent person die and then destroying the moral compass of the people you love? Well you give a kid poison knowing full well they could die from it.
Like I said in my Season 3 review, Breaking Bad could have went the easy way and had Walt kill Gale, but they made Jesse do it to elevate the show to something else. Similarly, they could have just had Gus poison Brock, which would have actually been semi-plausible enough. But instead they elevate the show and have Walt poison him, which makes more sense really and shows how far he's dropped.
So at the end of the season, Walt says "I won" after he's defeated Gus. This means he takes no moral lesson from what he went through, what he put his family through, and it's simply vindication that he could now be the new kingpin. Whereas most people might take this as a sign of good luck, Walter feels invincible, and he feels greed and power.
Jesse's transformation in Season 4 is one of the highlights. He starts off the season as a depressed party animal, desperate to avoid any and all moments where he has to think about what he did. Then Gus kind of manipulates him into thinking he's wanted and needed and valuable. Then he proves his worth (I don't mean the fake robbery scene either) His loyalty slowly switches from Walt to Gus until they fight in Bug and he fully separates himself from Walt. He has a triumphant moment in Salud when he does his best Walter White impression in Mexico.
This show does not like it when things start going Jesse's way however. Anytime anything looks promising for Jesse, the show does something to destroy it quickly. In this case, he's manipulated by Walt into teaming up with him and trying to kill Gus. It's a shame almost every Jesse action in this season is in some way manipulated by someone else.
Hank begins this season as a lost soul, picks it back up when he has a new target in Gus Fring, and really spends the rest of the season trying to find evidence on Fring. He also collects rocks - sorry MINERALS - something that was depressing but never not funny. The great thing about Hank is that he's really smart and is figuring this out due to persistence. Like I said before, the law enforcement agents are actually smart in this show.
As far as the other main characters, Skylar spends the first half trying to run the car wash and the second half trying to shut up Ted. There's not much character stuff, mostly plot stuff, but Skylar "breaks bad" even more this season. Marie is shown struggling to get Hank motivated and happy and resorts to stealing. That's pretty much all she does. Walter Jr. gets a car, eats breakfast, and has a genuinely touching moment when he visits his Dad during his birthday after Walt got beat up by Jesse. RJ Mitte is underutilized as he knocks the few meaningful scenes he's given.
Onto the interesting characters, we find out how ruthless Gus is in the first episode, we see why he's so ruthless in Hermanos, and we see his brilliant ploy to get Jesse on his side. His downfall was his need for revenge on Hector Salamanca, which made him blind to his usual pragmatic and fastidious behavior. I think it's ironic that his rise in power was made possible by Hector, but his downfall was also Hector.
Mike begins his father-son like relationship with Jesse. He slowly comes to care about the kid even if he won't show it. Jesse's apparent need for a father figure is a recurring theme in this show. It's delightfully convenient that Mike needs a week to recover from his wounds, enough time to avoid getting killed.
I have less to say about this season mostly because it's more plot-based. I think Season 4 is a season that is more instantly gratifying than the other seasons, but it's not better. It definitely still lives up to the "greatest" show currently airing however.
Walter White Kill Count: 5 + 5 (I'm counting Hector's suicide murder of Gus and Tyrus; also two guards to release Jesse at end)
Walter White Death Count: 172 + 1 (I'm only counting one indirect death - Victor in Box Cutter)
Walter White Badass Count: 8 + 3 ('I am the one who knocks,' daring Jesse to shoot him, "I won")
Audience View of Walter White: I'm sorry I can't judge this because of HOW AWESOME THAT FINALE WAS - is most likely their view of Walter white.
Playlist (Best of Breaking Bad Season 4)
1. Truth - Alexander
2. Digital Animal - Honey Claws
3. If I Had a Heart - Fever Ray
4. 1977 - Ana Tijoux
5. Boots of Chinese Plastic - The Pretenders
6. Tidal Wave - Thee Oh Seas
7. Freestyle - Taalbi Brothers
8. Black - Danger Mouse & Danielle Luppi feat. Norah Jones
9. Goodbye (with Soap & Skin) - Apparat
It'd be easier to count the episodes that didn't have a "HOLY SHIT" moment, but I'll go through the list anyway. Below I have each of the episodes of Season 4 and the "HOLY SHIT" moment - the moment where you sort of spend the next ten minutes after the episode saying "HOLY SHIT" repeatedly.
Box Cutter: Gus killing Victor with a box cutter
Cornered: "I am the one who knocks" (Maybe a stretch)
Hermanos: Max (Gus' "hermano") getting shot in a flashback
Bug: Walt and Jesse fight; Also, Gus with "Come at me, bro"
Salud: Gus killing the cartel
Crawl Space: The ending, oh God, that ending. (Walt laughing maniacally)
Face Off: Gus walking out after the explosion and adjusting his tie; also Lily of the Valley
That's more than half of the episodes. I might be missing some only because they seem less shocking in hindsight or because I don't find them as shocking on multiple viewings. Still, that's a lot of shocking moments.
This season seemed a bit more plot-based and not as character-based as the show usually does. For example, the last five or so episodes are almost all plot. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, because it's still well-written, it's just a different kind of good. I almost don't want to compare this season to the others because it's almost a different show.
Hard to top, but Walt's descent into evilness goes even further. It's really hard to top letting an innocent person die (Jane in Season 2), but then they did top that when he took Jesse to his level by telling him to kill Gale (in Season 3). So how do you top letting an innocent person die and then destroying the moral compass of the people you love? Well you give a kid poison knowing full well they could die from it.
Like I said in my Season 3 review, Breaking Bad could have went the easy way and had Walt kill Gale, but they made Jesse do it to elevate the show to something else. Similarly, they could have just had Gus poison Brock, which would have actually been semi-plausible enough. But instead they elevate the show and have Walt poison him, which makes more sense really and shows how far he's dropped.
So at the end of the season, Walt says "I won" after he's defeated Gus. This means he takes no moral lesson from what he went through, what he put his family through, and it's simply vindication that he could now be the new kingpin. Whereas most people might take this as a sign of good luck, Walter feels invincible, and he feels greed and power.
Jesse's transformation in Season 4 is one of the highlights. He starts off the season as a depressed party animal, desperate to avoid any and all moments where he has to think about what he did. Then Gus kind of manipulates him into thinking he's wanted and needed and valuable. Then he proves his worth (I don't mean the fake robbery scene either) His loyalty slowly switches from Walt to Gus until they fight in Bug and he fully separates himself from Walt. He has a triumphant moment in Salud when he does his best Walter White impression in Mexico.
This show does not like it when things start going Jesse's way however. Anytime anything looks promising for Jesse, the show does something to destroy it quickly. In this case, he's manipulated by Walt into teaming up with him and trying to kill Gus. It's a shame almost every Jesse action in this season is in some way manipulated by someone else.
Hank begins this season as a lost soul, picks it back up when he has a new target in Gus Fring, and really spends the rest of the season trying to find evidence on Fring. He also collects rocks - sorry MINERALS - something that was depressing but never not funny. The great thing about Hank is that he's really smart and is figuring this out due to persistence. Like I said before, the law enforcement agents are actually smart in this show.
As far as the other main characters, Skylar spends the first half trying to run the car wash and the second half trying to shut up Ted. There's not much character stuff, mostly plot stuff, but Skylar "breaks bad" even more this season. Marie is shown struggling to get Hank motivated and happy and resorts to stealing. That's pretty much all she does. Walter Jr. gets a car, eats breakfast, and has a genuinely touching moment when he visits his Dad during his birthday after Walt got beat up by Jesse. RJ Mitte is underutilized as he knocks the few meaningful scenes he's given.
Onto the interesting characters, we find out how ruthless Gus is in the first episode, we see why he's so ruthless in Hermanos, and we see his brilliant ploy to get Jesse on his side. His downfall was his need for revenge on Hector Salamanca, which made him blind to his usual pragmatic and fastidious behavior. I think it's ironic that his rise in power was made possible by Hector, but his downfall was also Hector.
Mike begins his father-son like relationship with Jesse. He slowly comes to care about the kid even if he won't show it. Jesse's apparent need for a father figure is a recurring theme in this show. It's delightfully convenient that Mike needs a week to recover from his wounds, enough time to avoid getting killed.
I have less to say about this season mostly because it's more plot-based. I think Season 4 is a season that is more instantly gratifying than the other seasons, but it's not better. It definitely still lives up to the "greatest" show currently airing however.
Walter White Kill Count: 5 + 5 (I'm counting Hector's suicide murder of Gus and Tyrus; also two guards to release Jesse at end)
Walter White Death Count: 172 + 1 (I'm only counting one indirect death - Victor in Box Cutter)
Walter White Badass Count: 8 + 3 ('I am the one who knocks,' daring Jesse to shoot him, "I won")
Audience View of Walter White: I'm sorry I can't judge this because of HOW AWESOME THAT FINALE WAS - is most likely their view of Walter white.
Playlist (Best of Breaking Bad Season 4)
1. Truth - Alexander
2. Digital Animal - Honey Claws
3. If I Had a Heart - Fever Ray
4. 1977 - Ana Tijoux
5. Boots of Chinese Plastic - The Pretenders
6. Tidal Wave - Thee Oh Seas
7. Freestyle - Taalbi Brothers
8. Black - Danger Mouse & Danielle Luppi feat. Norah Jones
9. Goodbye (with Soap & Skin) - Apparat
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Breaking Bad: Season 3
This isn't my first time re-watching this series, but it's the first time I've re-watched the episodes in order. I'm also paying a lot more attention to these episodes this time - about as much as I did when I first watched the series except the second time around you pick up more details and happen to know the show is headed in a good direction.
My point in bringing this up is that for some reason I had this idea in my head that Season 4 was head and shoulders above the rest of the seasons. I don't know if this was an unconscious thought of mine or if it was a recency effect (I've seen Season 5 only when it aired - I've since seen Season 4 on Netflix multiple times) or something else, but it definitely was there. Because each season I've been surprised at just how good the season really was. This is weird to me because I have already acknowledged this show as my second best show of all time.
It's obvious this show will somehow come back to Walt and Jesse working together no matter how they feel about each other - especially in retrospect otherwise Jesse is kind of a pointless character. But what the writers of Breaking Bad are able to do - and this is no easy feat - is create a situation that doesn't feel contrived by the writers, that feels character-based, and feels like that's what they would actually do.
For example, in this season Jesse decides to make "blue meth" on his own after he finds out that Walter has retired. Well of course Walt gets pissed at this and pisses Jesse off to the point where Jesse would happily turn Heisenberg into the police, because he's done with Walt. Just think about what has to happen to get them back together.
Hank needs to be on Jesse's tail - a natural progression that can be traced back to his killing of Tuco. (More on Hank later) Hank needs to beat the shit out of Jesse after Walt and Jesse get out of an impossible situation by saying Hank's wife is in the hospital. (Also, very logical character reaction at that point in Hank's life.) Jesse needs to be pissed at Walt and Hank and want to take Hank for everything he has. (Seeing as Walt has an ego and said Jesse's product was inferior and insulting his character and you know Hank beat him up, not a big stretch.) And finally Walter needs to believe that Jesse will turn him in when he gets the chance (effectively conveyed by the acting of Aaron Paul) so he takes matters into his own hands and basically offers Jesse $1.5 million to not file suit. That doesn't feel contrived at all, it just feels like brilliant writing.
What Breaking Bad does is make both the criminals and the law enforcement agents smart. The Wire is the only other show that has done this effectively. The only comparable show - a seemingly normal guy who is actually an insane killer, Dexter - makes Miami Metro have the mental capacity of a toddler. (This is more of a later seasons problem - Doakes presented an effective believable detective earlier on)
The most sympathetic character in Season 1 is Walter White. The most sympathetic character in Season 2 is Jesse Pinkman. Season 3? Hank Schrader. I think the first two seasons are debatable, but this season is not. Shall I run down the list of what he goes through? First of all, he's toughing it out despite having what appears to be post traumatic stress disorder. Then, he's forced into a position he doesn't want to be in when he gets the promotion.
The appearance of blue meth gives him the excuse he needs to stay. I think he knows deep down that he is not going to El Paso because he is afraid. However, he aggressively tries to find Heisenberg to ignore that. He wants to believe that he is avoiding El Paso, because he can find Heisenberg in ABQ. He relentlessly follows every lead imaginable which lands him at Jesse. He follows Jesse to a site where he finally has his RV.
He NEEDS to look inside and find out his evidence. Through some nifty knowledge of the law, he is prevented from it for the time being. No problem, he'll just wait until he gets his warrant. Except he gets a call from the hospital telling him his wife was just in a major accident. Hell, they tell him she's being flown in. I can't even imagine what went through his mind. And then pure anger that went through him as he found out he was duped. The anger surpassed any logical thought and he knew he was just going to destroy Jesse.
Then he gets in trouble, and he finds out the charges are dropped. He seems to have picked up who he used to be. And then he gets shot four times. That kind of psychological turmoil is unimaginable and horrible to even think about. I fear for Hank in the fifth season, because nothing but bad things happen to people who find out who Heisenberg is and Hank is one of the only good characters to root for on the show. (Then again, I can't imagine anybody having a happy ending to this series)
Here's something I forgot about the third season. Jesse turns pretty unlikable. I forgot he reached a point where he actively embraced being bad. He didn't lose all of his sympathy in this season, but he certainly pushed it. From rehab, he comes to the conclusion that you are supposed to accept who you are and he thinks he's the bad guy. This is mostly due to the fact that he thinks he is in some way responsible for Jane's death. (Technically, I suppose he is)
He really reaches his low point probably of the entire series when he goes to a meeting and tries to get recovering addicts back on meth. I remember him doing it at some point later too I believe. He never does anything worse than that. Sure, he killed Gale, but that was arguably justifiable for all the times Walter has saved his life. (Tuco, getting him to go to rehab, and running over the dealers with his car for starters)
In typical Breaking Bad style however, Jesse begins to gain his humanity back when he falls for Andrea. Sure, his original intention was to get her hooked on crystal meth - somehow that seems worse than killing on this show - but when she sees he has a kid, he ditches that plan. And dammit that he had to find out who Combo's killers were, because he really seemed to be going in the right direction. This leads him down a road where he actually is forced to kill a mostly innocent person after he's accepted he's not a murderer. So Jesse's path was the realization that he's a bad guy, to gaining humanity, to becoming a murderer.
Strangely, this might be the season where Walter has the least amount to do. He's mostly on the sidelines while everybody else is doing the action. I'm vastly over exaggerating this, but essentially over the first 10 episodes, he decides to cook meth thanks to Gus' persuasion and $3 million and brings Jesse into the fold to save his own skin and Hank's. He's also dishonest with himself still holding to that thought that he's only doing it for his family. That's pretty much it. He's satisfied with his situation and wants it to remain that way.
However, after Mike does his half measures speech, he realizes he's not fully committed to this. I think this is the moment where he stops lying to himself and accepts that he's a criminal. He's not going to be convincing himself he's doing it for his family anymore. Also, though not in this season, it allows him to accept his wife's request that she be brought into this. Walt was never given the chance to kill Gale, but I am certain he would do it. Because at this point in his life, he's in it for himself.
See, the writers knew that if Walt killed Gale, it wouldn't really advance anything because we the audience know he would do it. Walt killing Gale would have been a perfectly acceptable season finale, but the writers are more ambitious. Instead, for the price of his life, Walter is not only responsible for the death of an innocent person, but destroying the moral compass of who he thinks of as a son and who's life he just saved. Would allowing Jesse to die in Half Measures have been a better fate? So essentially, they managed to one-up last season's finale in terms of the deteriorating morality of Walter by having him take down Jesse with him.
The other character whose moral compass is slowly crumbling? At the end of last season, Skylar tells Walt to leave. Well he doesn't exactly listen which leads to "I fucked Ted," which may have sounded good at the time, but actually was really stupid. Not so much the affair but telling Walt. She's thinking way ahead though and when Walt agrees to a divorce, she doesn't file it because she doesn't want to testify against her husband.
Then she has the intuition to realize that somehow Walt is to blame for Hank's shootout. So she comes up with this elaborate lie to allow Marie to accept money from Walt and also explain the divide between her and Walt. Earlier in the series, there was a comment about how Skylar was a writer at some point so she knows how to concoct a story. So because of Walt, she has an affair and agrees to participate in a money laundering scheme. Walt really knows how to destroy the people he loves.
As far as the side characters, Gus is still a mostly terrifying, distant evil villain. Developing him as a character is still to come. He'd be a much less compelling character if not for the great performance of Giancarlo Esposito, who deserved at least one Emmy. Mike is an awesome character who we find out was an ex-cop, is very good at what he does, and doesn't fuck around. Almost every scene with Mike in the last few episodes is golden.
You know what's pretty difficult? To create two shocking endings to episodes to finish the season without killing off a major character or a semi-major supporting character (Gus, Mike). The first one was shocking because we didn't expect Walter to intervene and certainly not to RUN OVER THE BAD GUYS WITH A FUCKING CAR. Then in the finale a character gets shot who was in three episodes at the time and it's shocking because of who pulled the trigger. For as many murders that occur on the show, it seems to convey the magnitude of a murder pretty effectively.
Walter White Kill Count: 3 + 2 (Two drug dealers who killed Tomas - Gale basically counts but he didn't pull the trigger)
Walter White Death Count: 170 + 2 (Tomas and Gale; arguably the Cousins, but he was unaware they existed most of the time)
Walter White Badass Count: 7 + 1 (Since he's on the sidelines for most of the season, I consider him running over two dealers the only badass moment)
Audience View of Walter White: In reality, I still think audience rooted for him; theoretically, he is now bringing others down with him so we shouldn't.
Playlist (Best of Breaking Bad Season 3)
1. "A Horse with No Name" - America
2. Magic Arrow - Timbre Timbre
3. Tush - ZZ Top
4. Sun Shine on Me - Buddy Stuart
5. Ginza Samba - Vince Guaraldi & Bola Sete
6. Shimmy Shimmy Ya - Prince Fatty ft. Horseman
7. Windy - The Association
He really reaches his low point probably of the entire series when he goes to a meeting and tries to get recovering addicts back on meth. I remember him doing it at some point later too I believe. He never does anything worse than that. Sure, he killed Gale, but that was arguably justifiable for all the times Walter has saved his life. (Tuco, getting him to go to rehab, and running over the dealers with his car for starters)
In typical Breaking Bad style however, Jesse begins to gain his humanity back when he falls for Andrea. Sure, his original intention was to get her hooked on crystal meth - somehow that seems worse than killing on this show - but when she sees he has a kid, he ditches that plan. And dammit that he had to find out who Combo's killers were, because he really seemed to be going in the right direction. This leads him down a road where he actually is forced to kill a mostly innocent person after he's accepted he's not a murderer. So Jesse's path was the realization that he's a bad guy, to gaining humanity, to becoming a murderer.
Strangely, this might be the season where Walter has the least amount to do. He's mostly on the sidelines while everybody else is doing the action. I'm vastly over exaggerating this, but essentially over the first 10 episodes, he decides to cook meth thanks to Gus' persuasion and $3 million and brings Jesse into the fold to save his own skin and Hank's. He's also dishonest with himself still holding to that thought that he's only doing it for his family. That's pretty much it. He's satisfied with his situation and wants it to remain that way.
However, after Mike does his half measures speech, he realizes he's not fully committed to this. I think this is the moment where he stops lying to himself and accepts that he's a criminal. He's not going to be convincing himself he's doing it for his family anymore. Also, though not in this season, it allows him to accept his wife's request that she be brought into this. Walt was never given the chance to kill Gale, but I am certain he would do it. Because at this point in his life, he's in it for himself.
See, the writers knew that if Walt killed Gale, it wouldn't really advance anything because we the audience know he would do it. Walt killing Gale would have been a perfectly acceptable season finale, but the writers are more ambitious. Instead, for the price of his life, Walter is not only responsible for the death of an innocent person, but destroying the moral compass of who he thinks of as a son and who's life he just saved. Would allowing Jesse to die in Half Measures have been a better fate? So essentially, they managed to one-up last season's finale in terms of the deteriorating morality of Walter by having him take down Jesse with him.
The other character whose moral compass is slowly crumbling? At the end of last season, Skylar tells Walt to leave. Well he doesn't exactly listen which leads to "I fucked Ted," which may have sounded good at the time, but actually was really stupid. Not so much the affair but telling Walt. She's thinking way ahead though and when Walt agrees to a divorce, she doesn't file it because she doesn't want to testify against her husband.
Then she has the intuition to realize that somehow Walt is to blame for Hank's shootout. So she comes up with this elaborate lie to allow Marie to accept money from Walt and also explain the divide between her and Walt. Earlier in the series, there was a comment about how Skylar was a writer at some point so she knows how to concoct a story. So because of Walt, she has an affair and agrees to participate in a money laundering scheme. Walt really knows how to destroy the people he loves.
As far as the side characters, Gus is still a mostly terrifying, distant evil villain. Developing him as a character is still to come. He'd be a much less compelling character if not for the great performance of Giancarlo Esposito, who deserved at least one Emmy. Mike is an awesome character who we find out was an ex-cop, is very good at what he does, and doesn't fuck around. Almost every scene with Mike in the last few episodes is golden.
You know what's pretty difficult? To create two shocking endings to episodes to finish the season without killing off a major character or a semi-major supporting character (Gus, Mike). The first one was shocking because we didn't expect Walter to intervene and certainly not to RUN OVER THE BAD GUYS WITH A FUCKING CAR. Then in the finale a character gets shot who was in three episodes at the time and it's shocking because of who pulled the trigger. For as many murders that occur on the show, it seems to convey the magnitude of a murder pretty effectively.
Walter White Kill Count: 3 + 2 (Two drug dealers who killed Tomas - Gale basically counts but he didn't pull the trigger)
Walter White Death Count: 170 + 2 (Tomas and Gale; arguably the Cousins, but he was unaware they existed most of the time)
Walter White Badass Count: 7 + 1 (Since he's on the sidelines for most of the season, I consider him running over two dealers the only badass moment)
Audience View of Walter White: In reality, I still think audience rooted for him; theoretically, he is now bringing others down with him so we shouldn't.
Playlist (Best of Breaking Bad Season 3)
1. "A Horse with No Name" - America
2. Magic Arrow - Timbre Timbre
3. Tush - ZZ Top
4. Sun Shine on Me - Buddy Stuart
5. Ginza Samba - Vince Guaraldi & Bola Sete
6. Shimmy Shimmy Ya - Prince Fatty ft. Horseman
7. Windy - The Association
Monday, August 5, 2013
The Sopranos: "Nobody Knows Anything"
This is a returning weekly feature. I'm reviewing The Sopranos episodes starting from the beginning. This is the eleventh episode of the first season.
Past Episodes
Pilot
46 Long
Denial, Acceptance, Anger
Past Episodes
Pilot
46 Long
Denial, Acceptance, Anger
This is one of the best episodes of the season for me and as a bonus it's a huge foreshadowing for a major plot line in the second season. There are two major story lines brewing: Is Big Pussy a rat and Junior is misled into thinking Tony Soprano is making a move on him.
Tony's inside source for police intel, Detective Vin Makazian, tells Tony that Big Pussy is wearing a wire. Tony and Big Pussy have been friends for years so that news comes as a shock. He comes to the conclusion that he is 90% sure that Big Pussy is a rat, but he needs to be 110% sure.
Turns out Detective Makazian, played by great actor John Heard, owes Big Pussy $30,000 in debt from betting on football games. We get inside of Makazian a little bit and he takes a more three-dimensional role in this episode before David Chase decides to kill him off. He's generally an unhappy guy who is pushed over the edge by getting caught in a bordello with a wise guy and he's placed on administrative leave.
Tony is told by nearly every one that they don't think Big Pussy would do something like this but two things lead him to believe that he's wearing a wire: Makazian wasn't worried about his debt as long as Tony's in his corner and Big Pussy refused to take his clothes off when Paulie tried to see if he had a wire.
We find out here that Big Pussy has been wearing a wire since the drug bust months back (before the show started presumably). He also gets out of jail fairly soon so the fact that he's been in cahoots with the police help us understand why. And it explains why he refuses to take off his clothes. I mean it was smart because it bought him time and it causes him to flee.
Jimmy is not as good with a wire as Big Pussy and he pathetically attempts to string out information from Tony. Tony picks this up immediately and knows Jimmy is wearing a wire. However, he mistakenly ignores Makazian's info as mixed up and chooses to think only Jimmy was wearing a wire. This is understandable since he has an obvious long standing friendship with Big Pussy that he doesn't want to end.
As far as the other story line is concerned, Junior proves how stupid he really he is when he lets Livia convince him of a conspiracy plot aimed at getting Junior out and Tony in. That sets the wheels in motion for Junior to plan and kill Tony. It's pretty funny that we see Livia try to downplay her influence to Carmela, which Carmela isn't buying at all. Then the next scene she's in, she's plotting her son's death.
Anyway, this episode is vital to the season, foreshadows next season, and helps us see more of why we root for Tony Soprano. (He's a pretty smart guy for picking up on Jimmy's wire so quickly and his reluctance to kill his friend)
Surprise Guest Appearances
Nobody. I might kill this feature, because nobody is a notable guest star anymore. (And when Steve Buscemi comes, he'll be there for more than a few episodes.)
Deaths
Detective Makazian isn't killed, but commits suicide as the lone death of the episode.
Quotes
"Go see if Mr. Mop and Glow is still here? Don't worry he's a real doctor." - Followed by an image which explains his name
"I don't give two shits about you, your family, or whether you take it up the ass." - Tony to Makazian
"I'm sorry I'm under a little bit of pressure here, I don't have time to suck your dick." - Tony's quips to Makazian are some of the best quotes in the season
"Well hello there Carmela, so nice to see you." - Carmela sarcastically on what Livia should have greeted her with.
"You got options. Don't let anybody ever try to tell you don't got options." - Tony telling Big Pussy why he shouldn't wear a wire
"She's more connected to the world." -- "Which one? This one or Neptune?" - Tony about Livia
"Hey who wouldn't want to sleep with their shrink?" - Said by Debbie to Tony, which is maybe a little too on the nose
"At least with Tony Soprano, you know where you stand." - Makazian
"Yeah but you won't have any teeth left to eat if you don't get up off your ass to see who's at the door." - Tony on why you should listen to what he says
"You answer me like I'm Jesus Christ himself, and if you fucking lie to me, may your mother die of cancer of the eyes." - Tony with a variation on swearing to God
"No, the other forever." - Mikey talking about death, not jail to his wife.
Playlist (Reds walk-up music version - Just went to GABP)
1. "Paint it Black" - Rolling Stones (Votto)
2. "Fly Me to the Moon" - Frank Sinatra (Frazier)
3. "Hypnotize" - Notorious B.I.G. (Izturis)
4. "Intro" - The xx (Leake)
5. "Brass Monkey" - Beastie Boys (Ludwick)
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Breaking Bad: Season 2
In lieu of Breaking Bad's final season, I am watching and talking about each season until August 11. I am preparing both myself and anybody else who is interested in this show a sort of refresher and a tool to be absolutely ready. Breaking Bad is a show that would not hesitate to use a plot line from a few seasons back. I want to be completely ready by the time the show airs.
To end the first season, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman witness the brutal murder of nameless drug dealer by the hands of Tuco. This makes them come to the realization that they need to find another way to sell their meth.
This season marks the progression of the decay of the White marriage. If the first season began the slow decline of this marriage, well this season just put it all on the table. To end the season, Skylar leaves Walter because of all of his lies. (And when she shoots down all of his previous excuses, it's kind of painful). As long as Walter is lying to Skylar, this marriage will not work.
Walter has a second cell phone which is revealed when he is kidnapped and goes missing. Walter is none too smart about trying to handle the situation. I'm no expert liar, but you should probably own up when you've been caught. And really there was a simple explanation that would have defused the situation in no time. Simply say that it was for buying your weed. Boom. Maybe you'd get in trouble in the short term but it's way better than the alternative options and it would make sense since she already thinks you smoke.
Anyway, Walt comes dangerously close to getting caught and devises a plan where he goes into a "fugue" state. Everybody buys it except Skylar. Anyway, it gets to the point where Skylar is putting herself in a position to have an affair with Ted. Between pushing her pens and pencils to get his attention, singing "Happy Birthday" in an inappropriate way, and going back to him after she found out he'd been making money illegally, there was plenty of foreshadowing to their future affair.
(I think at this point it was common knowledge that Skylar was pretty disliked so I guess bold strategy for making an unlikable character and then having her actively try to cheat on her husband. Not saying her actions weren't reasonable just interesting. Anyway, I read an interesting theory why she's so disliked despite pretty reasonable reactions and actions. She's extremely passive aggressive and self-righteous (the worst combination - his words) and early scenes indicate she married Walt because she could "control him." Not saying it's right or wrong, it just is the best reasoning I've come across yet.)
During this season, we also get a taste of how a major meth operation starts. With Tuco gone, theoretically, the "turf" is now open for a new distributor. All potential and likely problems happen due to this: Skinny Pete gets robbed, Badger gets arrested, and after expanding their turf, Combo gets killed. After some confusion on if Jesse smashed a user's head with an ATM machine, they now had zero respectability as a viable enforcer.
But first, we get the first taste of Saul Goodman, the potential spinoff character of this show. (I'm skeptical on the quality, but I'll probably watch at least the first season). He's got one-liners and in the first episode he's in, he destroys Hank in his response to Hank's usual insulting quip. So right away we know this character is going to be fun.
Speaking of Hank, he begins to become one of the more essential characters on this show. First he kills Tuco in a shootout, brags about it, but secretly it haunts him. He is great at putting up a facade of being alright. That kill earns him a promotion to El Paso, a group of DEA agents who are assholes. Anyway, long story short, he narrowly avoids death and probably helps preserve the leg of a fellow agent when a human head on a tortoise (Danny Trejo!!) explodes.
Walter Jr. gets underutilized, but he does get to make a donation web site to help raise money for Walter. Every time the ding goes off on the computer, I bet Walter is dying a little more inside. Honestly, I'd be kind of pissed if I walked into my house and a TV crew was airing a story about giving charity to me. I'm certainly no person who won't accept charity (not that I've ever had a situation where I could), but holy cow that would destroy my dignity. Marie has a fight with Skylar resolved but that's literally all she does - not that I mind as her character is probably the weakest of the series.
And this season also marks the first appearance of Gus Fring - way earlier than I remember. (And also the first appearance of Victor... oh poor Victor) Watching Gus Fring on re-watch brings a certain amount of hilarity knowing what will come. I can't really imagine him being super helpful and useful fast food owner who's almost obnoxiously polite. Also, Mike's first appearance is in this season!
Anyway, there are four flash-forwards in this season leading to the airplane explosion. That was such a Breaking Bad thing to do to have the audience think that something will happen to the Whites only for it to be that Walter inadvertently killed hundreds of people. (Season 5 Spoiler: Kind of like how the cliffhanger was that Hank found out Walt was Heisenberg. No huge bang, but extremely earned moment.)
Looking back, I think the moment when Walter lets Jane die should have been the moment when the audience stopped rooting for him. This was the point of no return in my opinion. He killed a mostly innocent person for personal gain and nothing more. All of his kills have been self-defense and also drug dealers. Now, shows like this bring in worse guys than the "protagonist" so it's easy to root for him. This show didn't let him get away with it easy either - destroying Jesse and two planes crashing together as a result of her death.
Walter White Kill Count: 2+ 1 (Jane - He just let her die. He would have known how to save her)
Walter White Death Count: 170 (Tuco, Spooge, Combo, 167 people on two planes - In some way responsible for the death if he didn't outright kill them )
Walter White Badass Count: 4+ 3 (Walt telling Tuco they tried to poison him; Walter saying "Fuck you" to Gretchen, "Stay out of my territory)
Audience View of Walter White: In reality, I think audience was still rooting for him kind of; In theory, he just committed an unforgivable sin to where we should root for his demise.
Playlist (Best of Season 2 songs)
1. "It's such a Pretty World Today" - Nancy Sinatra
2. "Negro y Azul" - Los Cuates de Sinaloa
3. "The Peanut Vendor" - Alvin Red Taylor
4. "One by One" - Black Seeds
5. "Good Morning Freedom" - Blue Mink
6. "DLZ" - TV on the Radio
7. "Enchanted" - The Platters
8. "Life" - Chocolate Genius
To end the first season, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman witness the brutal murder of nameless drug dealer by the hands of Tuco. This makes them come to the realization that they need to find another way to sell their meth.
This season marks the progression of the decay of the White marriage. If the first season began the slow decline of this marriage, well this season just put it all on the table. To end the season, Skylar leaves Walter because of all of his lies. (And when she shoots down all of his previous excuses, it's kind of painful). As long as Walter is lying to Skylar, this marriage will not work.
Walter has a second cell phone which is revealed when he is kidnapped and goes missing. Walter is none too smart about trying to handle the situation. I'm no expert liar, but you should probably own up when you've been caught. And really there was a simple explanation that would have defused the situation in no time. Simply say that it was for buying your weed. Boom. Maybe you'd get in trouble in the short term but it's way better than the alternative options and it would make sense since she already thinks you smoke.
Anyway, Walt comes dangerously close to getting caught and devises a plan where he goes into a "fugue" state. Everybody buys it except Skylar. Anyway, it gets to the point where Skylar is putting herself in a position to have an affair with Ted. Between pushing her pens and pencils to get his attention, singing "Happy Birthday" in an inappropriate way, and going back to him after she found out he'd been making money illegally, there was plenty of foreshadowing to their future affair.
(I think at this point it was common knowledge that Skylar was pretty disliked so I guess bold strategy for making an unlikable character and then having her actively try to cheat on her husband. Not saying her actions weren't reasonable just interesting. Anyway, I read an interesting theory why she's so disliked despite pretty reasonable reactions and actions. She's extremely passive aggressive and self-righteous (the worst combination - his words) and early scenes indicate she married Walt because she could "control him." Not saying it's right or wrong, it just is the best reasoning I've come across yet.)
During this season, we also get a taste of how a major meth operation starts. With Tuco gone, theoretically, the "turf" is now open for a new distributor. All potential and likely problems happen due to this: Skinny Pete gets robbed, Badger gets arrested, and after expanding their turf, Combo gets killed. After some confusion on if Jesse smashed a user's head with an ATM machine, they now had zero respectability as a viable enforcer.
But first, we get the first taste of Saul Goodman, the potential spinoff character of this show. (I'm skeptical on the quality, but I'll probably watch at least the first season). He's got one-liners and in the first episode he's in, he destroys Hank in his response to Hank's usual insulting quip. So right away we know this character is going to be fun.
Speaking of Hank, he begins to become one of the more essential characters on this show. First he kills Tuco in a shootout, brags about it, but secretly it haunts him. He is great at putting up a facade of being alright. That kill earns him a promotion to El Paso, a group of DEA agents who are assholes. Anyway, long story short, he narrowly avoids death and probably helps preserve the leg of a fellow agent when a human head on a tortoise (Danny Trejo!!) explodes.
Walter Jr. gets underutilized, but he does get to make a donation web site to help raise money for Walter. Every time the ding goes off on the computer, I bet Walter is dying a little more inside. Honestly, I'd be kind of pissed if I walked into my house and a TV crew was airing a story about giving charity to me. I'm certainly no person who won't accept charity (not that I've ever had a situation where I could), but holy cow that would destroy my dignity. Marie has a fight with Skylar resolved but that's literally all she does - not that I mind as her character is probably the weakest of the series.
And this season also marks the first appearance of Gus Fring - way earlier than I remember. (And also the first appearance of Victor... oh poor Victor) Watching Gus Fring on re-watch brings a certain amount of hilarity knowing what will come. I can't really imagine him being super helpful and useful fast food owner who's almost obnoxiously polite. Also, Mike's first appearance is in this season!
Anyway, there are four flash-forwards in this season leading to the airplane explosion. That was such a Breaking Bad thing to do to have the audience think that something will happen to the Whites only for it to be that Walter inadvertently killed hundreds of people. (Season 5 Spoiler: Kind of like how the cliffhanger was that Hank found out Walt was Heisenberg. No huge bang, but extremely earned moment.)
Looking back, I think the moment when Walter lets Jane die should have been the moment when the audience stopped rooting for him. This was the point of no return in my opinion. He killed a mostly innocent person for personal gain and nothing more. All of his kills have been self-defense and also drug dealers. Now, shows like this bring in worse guys than the "protagonist" so it's easy to root for him. This show didn't let him get away with it easy either - destroying Jesse and two planes crashing together as a result of her death.
Walter White Kill Count: 2+ 1 (Jane - He just let her die. He would have known how to save her)
Walter White Death Count: 170 (Tuco, Spooge, Combo, 167 people on two planes - In some way responsible for the death if he didn't outright kill them )
Walter White Badass Count: 4+ 3 (Walt telling Tuco they tried to poison him; Walter saying "Fuck you" to Gretchen, "Stay out of my territory)
Audience View of Walter White: In reality, I think audience was still rooting for him kind of; In theory, he just committed an unforgivable sin to where we should root for his demise.
Playlist (Best of Season 2 songs)
1. "It's such a Pretty World Today" - Nancy Sinatra
2. "Negro y Azul" - Los Cuates de Sinaloa
3. "The Peanut Vendor" - Alvin Red Taylor
4. "One by One" - Black Seeds
5. "Good Morning Freedom" - Blue Mink
6. "DLZ" - TV on the Radio
7. "Enchanted" - The Platters
8. "Life" - Chocolate Genius
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