I keep flip-flopping on the finale of Breaking Bad - if it slightly diminished the series or if it was brilliant in giving the audience all possible endings. I don't know if I'll ever truly make up my mind on it, but I'll never fully embrace it the way I did immediately after the episode. That episode provided me with a state of instant gratification, but it's best if you don't think about it too much.
There's a few schools of thought on the finale, one of which makes the most sense to me and for this series. In a series where just about nothing went as planned - with a few exceptions - everything goes to plan for Walter because he finally accepted the evil monster he is. He's accepted he's a terrible person who did all he did for himself. Once he came to that understanding, he could fully embrace his Heisenberg persona. That's one theory. He could never get his plans to come to fruition because he kept lying to himself. (Another is that he died in the cabin and the finale was his dream - because literally every fucking thing went right and his plan was incredibly improbable)
It's ironic I think. Vince Gilligan wanted to tie up all loose ends and yet here I am pondering the finale as if it hadn't. But then again, I don't think this series could have really just ended on Granite State - Jesse perpetually a slave to Neo Nazis isn't exactly a thing I wanted. And really, the ending wasn't a happy ending at all when you put it in perspective. Walt gets his version of a happy ending, but Jesse's life will suck, his family is deserted, and there's no guarantee that Flynn will accept the money (which even he would recognize as fishy) or that Skylar's legal problems are finished.
That's enough about the finale. Let's talk about the series and it's place in history. Here I will confess that before the finale aired, I planned to write about how Breaking Bad is the best series ever. Now, the finale didn't change my mind about it, I just thought more deeply about it and realized that doing that would be a mistake. First, I'd suffer from recency bias and secondly, if I'm going to proclaim something like that, I better be sure about it. Well, I'm far from sure.
For now, my publicly declared greatest series ever will remain The Wire. I'm finishing up The Sopranos - safely in my Top 5 - and still need to watch Deadwood and The Shield. Honestly, I probably shouldn't declare a greatest series ever until I finish those three shows. The only reason I'm even doing it is because I'm very skeptical any show can surpass The Wire. So skeptical in fact that I feel reasonably comfortable declaring it my greatest series. (Mad Men is widely considered to be among these shows; I've seen four seasons and I just don't think it's on the same level unfortunately. Alas, that's for another post)
I'm going to self-impose a waiting period of a year to re-asses Breaking Bad and see where I place it then. Right now, it's definitely benefiting from a recency bias. I remember almost every detail of the show from the past five seasons (I watched the entire series before this last season in less than three weeks). Considering the emphasis placed on detail in Breaking Bad, this would tend to positively influence my perception. Although, I do think the finale did more harm than good in my overall view of the series.
I will say this: In my personal ranking of TV shows - I don't have an official list because like I said I lack some shows that are considered - Breaking Bad is safely a Top 5 show of all time. I consider it behind The Wire, but for now at least, I have it above The Sopranos.
Breaking Bad did do something that no other television show did. It made a seemingly sympathetic, good man into an evil monster. To use the cliche, it turned Mr. Chips into Scarface. Now, The Shield fans, I unfortunately know a spoiler about that show - just for the pilot though. I know (SPOILER FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN THE SHIELD - ALSO CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG HERE) that the main character kills another cop and that decision leads him down a road similar to Walter White's. Here's the difference. That cop clearly wasn't already Mr. Chips. When you decide to kill another cop - no matter how bad that cop is, you clearly aren't a seemingly sympathetic good man.
Now the original picture of Walter White wasn't completely accurate as the details on his past are revealed, but being a pride-driven man hardly makes you a bad person. What made Walt a bad person was a series of dangerously self-rationalizing decisions that kept escalating and he kept rationalizing until he was stuck in a cabin alone with his thoughts and he realized what he became and he was ok with what he became. So Breaking Bad managed to do that which I'm fairly certain The Shield couldn't have done, because he killed a cop in the first episode thus making him not really a good person. (SPOILERS FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN THE SHIELD STOPPED).
Unfortunately, Gilligan's insistence on closing every plot thread hurt the series more than it helped it. For instance, we sort of got a farewell sequence to Skinny Pete and Badger, but it made absolutely no fucking sense for them to be the ones Walt hired. That was pure fan service. I don't want ambiguity in my finales or anything, but you don't need to close EVERY plot point. Doing so makes it feel like the writers are manipulating events, not like it's an organic plot development - something the series successfully did in the series.
Anyway, I don't think Breaking Bad is the greatest series of all-time. If I had to guess, one of the three shows I still have yet to finish will end up surpassing Breaking Bad too. I feel pretty confident in saying Breaking Bad will end up as my #3 greatest series of all time. I think it's place as a consensus top five show of all time is pretty safe as well.
Sorry if that's not exactly a definitive answer, but the answer to this question is definitive. The important thing to remember is that this was one of the best series of all time and I enjoyed the ride.
I set up a poll. I want to know where you think Breaking Bad should be all-time. (The poll is to the right of this post >>>>>>>)
Playlist (Best of Breaking Bad Season 5 Part 2)
1. "Where is Santa Claus?" - Mr. & Mrs. Yellowman
2. "Oh Sherri" - Steve Perry
3. "She's Blinded Me With Science" - Thomas Dolby (Todd's ringtone)
4. "Take My True Love" - The Limeliters
5. "El Paso" - Marty Robbins
6. "Baby Blue" - Badfinger
Showing posts with label Bryan Cranston. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bryan Cranston. Show all posts
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Breaking Bad: "Felina"
It's over guys. It's really over. There's no more new episodes of Breaking Bad. That finale definitely sent the series out in a high note. For the fans of Breaking Bad who love Heisenberg the badass, this was the finale for you. In the end, Walter White wins.
I'll take you back a few seasons: Remember when Walt's family held an intervention to get Walt to take treatment for his cancer. Even though Walt eventually relented, he said he didn't want to take treatment. He wanted to make his own decisions for once. He wanted control. And that's really what this has all been about for Walt.
Well, Walt controlled his own destiny. He mapped out his death so the cancer couldn't take him and neither could the cops. He made sure his family would get the money in a brilliant ploy. Shame on us for thinking he wouldn't find a way to get the money to his family. Vince Gilligan and his team of writers managed to have their cake and eat it too: Walt would lose everything, but he also wins.
I'm a little frustrated because I don't see how Walt managed to get the ricin into Lydia's tea. I think internet fanboys will closely examine and figure out a way - or Talking Bad will tell us. But from what I saw, I couldn't figure out a window. That's a little annoying unless I can go back and see the moment. (Update: I'm an idiot. It was in the Stevia. Still, a little too convenient that she goes to same place, same table at 10 a.m. every day for my liking. Whatever, small complaint)
Other than that, Walt got to make his rounds and say his goodbyes to who he wanted and his fuck yous to who he wanted. He goes back to Gretchen and Elliot and I assumed - as I'm guessing most viewers did - that he was going to go on a murdering spree and start with those two. But Walt's more calculating than that.
His meeting with Gretchen and Elliot also served another purpose. He showed them how much money he made to them. He "earned" it. He's showing them how he achieved the same type of success as they did. Granted, he kind of ruined his life while earning it, but he did do that.
Then he goes to say goodbye to Skylar. As that conversation with Marie dragged on for a little too long, I became all too aware that Walt was already in it. I suspect most people were. That scene perhaps worked less for me because I completely expected that unfortunately. That's not to say I need to have every scene be unexpected, but it was played sort of for shock value and it didn't "shock" so it didn't work.
He also says goodbye to Holly. He gives his wife his final gift, a free pass out of the court proceedings - at least presumably. He can't say goodbye to Junior unfortunately, because he's being closely guarded. But he does get a last look at him - I don't think Junior would be as forgiving as Skylar because he's not as morally compromised.
So I guess Walt kind of does free Jesse after all? Haha, well that's funny how that worked out. He went on a suicide mission so that other people wouldn't take credit for his work. He originally planned to kill Jesse too I'm guessing. But when he found out that Jesse probably already paid for his crimes by being a slave, he saved him by jumping on top of him and taking a bullet to the side.
Side note: people who thought the ricin was for Walt? Really guys? Walt's not exactly the type of person who would kill himself. He's especially not the person who would give himself a poison that would slowly kill him in the process. Gunshot to the head? That's the way to go, not ricin.
When Walt asks Jesse to kill him, you could read it two ways. He didn't really want Jesse to kill him. He wanted Jesse to decide to not kill him in fact. Or he could have wanted Jesse to kill him for all the shit he's put Jesse through. I'm not sure which. I think it's the former though.
Thank you Vince Gilligan for giving Lydia and Todd the deaths they so richly deserve. Jesse gets to enact revenge on Todd, who is one of the worst people on any TV show I've seen. Emotionless bastard. Thank you for giving Lydia, so willing to let other people kill, but so unwilling to see it for herself, the death she deserves. A slow, grueling death that she learns will happen from Walt, whose murder she just ordered.
Jesse gets to go live in Alaska and live with his crimes and be thankful he's alive. He'll probably go check on Brock and see if he's alright, but otherwise he is probably getting as far away from ABQ as he possibly can. Who knows what he'll do with his life, but it won't involve meth! Jesse gets a happy ending!
So Walter White, person who says he's done it all for his family all along, finally admits to Skylar that he did it for himself. Well done, Walt. Well freaking done. You stopped rationalizing. Finally. That was the scene that made me love this finale. Walter White grew as a person while also killing like 10 people. But hey that's Breaking Bad for ya!
In the end, Walter White wins. Last episode could have been the finale as well where he lost. But this was the episode for Walt fans. I'm not really a Walt fan, but I don't object to this finale. He redeemed himself enough that I feel reasonably happy he got what he wanted. He wanted evil people dead and himself dead so maybe that's why I'm happy he got it, but still....
It's over guys. It's been fun talking Breaking Bad with you. I might be talking about the series as a whole next week, but at least for episodes, this is my last episode I'm reviewing. Thanks for reading.
Top 10 Breaking Bad Episodes
In preparation for the final episode of Breaking Bad's run, I decided to write the top ten Breaking Bad episodes. To be clear, these are the 10 episodes I think are the best, not necessarily my favorite episodes. Most of them feature something shocking happen naturally. This was written before the finale so that episode wasn't taken into consideration, but I don't think it would find it's way on here anyway. If it would make it on this list, you can safely put Breaking Bad as my choice for the greatest series of all time. So anyway, first the honorable mention episodes.
Honorable Mention
Better Caul Saul: Season 2, Episode 8
This episode deserves worthy mention for being Saul Goodman's first and best episode to date. That's right, this is his best episode, his very first. This is the episode you should watch to prepare for the upcoming series Better Call Saul. With that said, there's also the great pre-credits sequence where Badger gets busted by the cop.
Hermanos - Season 4, Episode 8
This is really just here for Gus' flashback scene. It gives the character of Gus more development. Season 4, by the way, has by a good amount, the most episodes I considered. This scene was also important for establishing Gus' need for revenge on Hector.
End Times - Season 4, Episode 12
Spoiler alert for the rest of this list: Face Off makes the list. I consider End Times and Face Off to be kind of the same episode. So consider Face Off's position to be both End Times and Face Off. You can't really just watch the latter episode without the former otherwise it loses its value. I mean they foreshadow Lilly of the Valley in this episode.
Say My Name - Season 5, Episode 7
Better Call Saul is Saul's best episode. Unfortunately, Say My Name is Mike Ehrmantraut's best episode. At least it's Jonathan Bank's best episode. Besides that now iconic line, this episode features Jesse disillusioned with Walt, refusing to work with him anymore. "Shut the fuck up and let me die in peace." (Gilligan really does find the most appropriate deaths for the big characters)
Confessions - Season 5, Episode 11
If you don't remember, this is the episode with the table side guacamole, the video confession of Walt claiming Hank is the mastermind, and the episode with the cliffhanger where Jesse almost burns Walt's house down. Yeah, this is a pretty good episode to say the least. He also coldly tells Walt Jr. about the cancer returning so that he will stay with him instead of going to Aunt Marie's.
10. Dead Freight, Season 5, Episode 5
I realize I just named three season 5 episode in a row, but I guess that's just the way it's going. Dead Freight is one of the more fun episodes in the series - until the end at least. It's an awesome train robbery in the West. And then an important, monumental event happens in the series - Todd kills Drew Sharp, a kid who just wanted a spider. The pre-credit sequence makes the episode a lot better the second time you watch it - almost like a string of inevitable things will happen and he dies every time - sort of like what's happening to Walt over the series.
9. Sunset - Season 3, Episode 7
Breaking Bad reached a new peak with this episode - a peak they would further ascend in just the next episode. With about 20 minutes to go, Hank is at the RV with Walt and Jesse inside of it - and there's still a ton of episode left. Then they get out of it by getting Saul's assistant to call Hank and claim she was at the hospital. It's cruel and it leads to Hank beating the shit out of Jesse. It's a great and suspenseful hour of television.
8. Phoenix - Season 2, Episode 12
This is Walt's turning point from basically good man who just wants to provide for his family to a monster. You could argue that Walt saved Jesse by murdering Jane. You could argue that "Jane had it coming." (I cringe just writing that.) But you'd be wrong. He didn't let Jane die because he wanted to save Jesse. He killed Jane because she was an enormous pain in his ass and not letting him control Jesse. This episode also features what Walt proclaimed was his "perfect time to die" in a later episode.
7. Half Measures - Season 3, Episode 12
Half Measures features a lot of great scenes. The pre-credits opening scene is one of Breaking Bad's better montages featuring Wendy, a hooker, doing her thing to the song "Windy," a classic hit song by The Association. Walt tries to save Jesse by telling Gus about it. Gus tells the two drug dealers - "No more children." I think they misinterpret (or Gus is an extremely cold dude) and kill the 11-year-old Tomas. Then the ending sequence happens where Walt runs over the dealers with a car, shoots one directly in the head, and says "run." Walt goes on to ruin all his good deeds in the next episode, but hey at least he saved Jesse here.
6. Crawl Space - Season 4, Episode 11
The back half of Season 4 of Breaking Bad is the best stretch of this series ever. Every episode escalates the action. The ending was able to convey perfectly the feeling of everything closing in on Walt until he devolves to madness, laughing like a maniac. It also features the funny scene of Bill Burr and Lavell Crawford (who I fear will forever be stuck in that hotel room) getting Ted to pay the IRS already. Then Ted tries to escape and injures himself. The image of Ted in Season 5 takes away the humor in that fall a bit though.
5. Pilot - Season 1, Episode 1
For as good as the pilot was, it's kind of amazing to be able to say that there were four episodes that exceeded it. Hell, some of the episodes I have below it might technically have been better. But the pilot draws you in immediately and while Season 1 may have not been your cup of tea, I don't think anyone stopped watching BECAUSE of the pilot. It forces you to find out how this man has come to this point - in his tidy whities driving an RV with three passed out people in it.
4. Salud, Season 4 Episode 10
Jesse gets taken to Mexico to teach the cartel how to cook blue meth. Jesse straight up owns their top chemist in a scene where he skeptically dismisses Jesse. Jesse cooks 96% quality, pleasing all there. Then he finds out he needs to stay there and Mike informs Jesse that if Jesse stays, everyone is staying. So the audience is clued in that something is up - and that something comes to beautiful fruition when Gus kills the cartel using poison (If you want the music to that scene, it's called "Tidal Wave" by The Oh Sees). Walt also shares his first "real" moment with Walt Jr. after he got beat up by Jesse in "Bug."
3. Face Off - Season 4, Episode 13
Like I said above, you can't really include this episode without End Times. Walt has finally gone just about as far as you can go - poisoning a kid. You could say "Well Walt knew that kid wasn't going to die," to which I say "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" - Anyway, the conclusion to Gus' death is perfect, his lone weakness being his downfall. So sad to see you go Gus and I'd much rather you better Walter White than the Neo Nazis in Season 5.
2. One Minute - Season 3, Episode 7
I think this is a bit of a surprise, but I assure you this pick is for much more than just the scene where Hank survives the cousin. Hank finally just accepts his punishment and admits to his crimes. Then he goes into the elevator and Marie and Hank cry their eyes out. Hank has reached a state of acceptance and tranquility and he's finally himself for the first time since he shot Tuco. And then he gets shot four times. Dammit. Go back and watch this episode and you'll realize how damn good it is.
1. Ozymandias - Season 5, Episode 14
Maybe this is recency bias, but I think this episode goes down in the annals of TV history. Wow what an hour where the audience pretty much has everything they have been waiting for happen in a single hour. Right away, Hank dies and thank you Vince Gilligan for giving him an awesome death. (Also R.I.P. Gomie) Walt loses most of his $80 million in cash. (69 to be exact. Oh Gilligan, you dog) Walt tells Jesse about Jane which should theoretically squash any theory that Walt will save Jesse in this final episode. Jesse is held slave to the Neo Nazis, perpetually forced to cook meth. Walt and Skylar get in a knife fight. Walt steals Holly. Walt finally does one decent thing for his family, albeit laced in truths and very real hate. This hour of television is among the most heartbreaking and shocking as television can ever get.
Hopefully the finale can find its way on this list in the future and hope everyone enjoys this article as a precursor to the final episode!
Honorable Mention
Better Caul Saul: Season 2, Episode 8
This episode deserves worthy mention for being Saul Goodman's first and best episode to date. That's right, this is his best episode, his very first. This is the episode you should watch to prepare for the upcoming series Better Call Saul. With that said, there's also the great pre-credits sequence where Badger gets busted by the cop.
Hermanos - Season 4, Episode 8
This is really just here for Gus' flashback scene. It gives the character of Gus more development. Season 4, by the way, has by a good amount, the most episodes I considered. This scene was also important for establishing Gus' need for revenge on Hector.
End Times - Season 4, Episode 12
Spoiler alert for the rest of this list: Face Off makes the list. I consider End Times and Face Off to be kind of the same episode. So consider Face Off's position to be both End Times and Face Off. You can't really just watch the latter episode without the former otherwise it loses its value. I mean they foreshadow Lilly of the Valley in this episode.
Say My Name - Season 5, Episode 7
Better Call Saul is Saul's best episode. Unfortunately, Say My Name is Mike Ehrmantraut's best episode. At least it's Jonathan Bank's best episode. Besides that now iconic line, this episode features Jesse disillusioned with Walt, refusing to work with him anymore. "Shut the fuck up and let me die in peace." (Gilligan really does find the most appropriate deaths for the big characters)
Confessions - Season 5, Episode 11
If you don't remember, this is the episode with the table side guacamole, the video confession of Walt claiming Hank is the mastermind, and the episode with the cliffhanger where Jesse almost burns Walt's house down. Yeah, this is a pretty good episode to say the least. He also coldly tells Walt Jr. about the cancer returning so that he will stay with him instead of going to Aunt Marie's.
10. Dead Freight, Season 5, Episode 5
I realize I just named three season 5 episode in a row, but I guess that's just the way it's going. Dead Freight is one of the more fun episodes in the series - until the end at least. It's an awesome train robbery in the West. And then an important, monumental event happens in the series - Todd kills Drew Sharp, a kid who just wanted a spider. The pre-credit sequence makes the episode a lot better the second time you watch it - almost like a string of inevitable things will happen and he dies every time - sort of like what's happening to Walt over the series.
9. Sunset - Season 3, Episode 7
Breaking Bad reached a new peak with this episode - a peak they would further ascend in just the next episode. With about 20 minutes to go, Hank is at the RV with Walt and Jesse inside of it - and there's still a ton of episode left. Then they get out of it by getting Saul's assistant to call Hank and claim she was at the hospital. It's cruel and it leads to Hank beating the shit out of Jesse. It's a great and suspenseful hour of television.
8. Phoenix - Season 2, Episode 12
This is Walt's turning point from basically good man who just wants to provide for his family to a monster. You could argue that Walt saved Jesse by murdering Jane. You could argue that "Jane had it coming." (I cringe just writing that.) But you'd be wrong. He didn't let Jane die because he wanted to save Jesse. He killed Jane because she was an enormous pain in his ass and not letting him control Jesse. This episode also features what Walt proclaimed was his "perfect time to die" in a later episode.
7. Half Measures - Season 3, Episode 12
Half Measures features a lot of great scenes. The pre-credits opening scene is one of Breaking Bad's better montages featuring Wendy, a hooker, doing her thing to the song "Windy," a classic hit song by The Association. Walt tries to save Jesse by telling Gus about it. Gus tells the two drug dealers - "No more children." I think they misinterpret (or Gus is an extremely cold dude) and kill the 11-year-old Tomas. Then the ending sequence happens where Walt runs over the dealers with a car, shoots one directly in the head, and says "run." Walt goes on to ruin all his good deeds in the next episode, but hey at least he saved Jesse here.
6. Crawl Space - Season 4, Episode 11
The back half of Season 4 of Breaking Bad is the best stretch of this series ever. Every episode escalates the action. The ending was able to convey perfectly the feeling of everything closing in on Walt until he devolves to madness, laughing like a maniac. It also features the funny scene of Bill Burr and Lavell Crawford (who I fear will forever be stuck in that hotel room) getting Ted to pay the IRS already. Then Ted tries to escape and injures himself. The image of Ted in Season 5 takes away the humor in that fall a bit though.
5. Pilot - Season 1, Episode 1
For as good as the pilot was, it's kind of amazing to be able to say that there were four episodes that exceeded it. Hell, some of the episodes I have below it might technically have been better. But the pilot draws you in immediately and while Season 1 may have not been your cup of tea, I don't think anyone stopped watching BECAUSE of the pilot. It forces you to find out how this man has come to this point - in his tidy whities driving an RV with three passed out people in it.
4. Salud, Season 4 Episode 10
Jesse gets taken to Mexico to teach the cartel how to cook blue meth. Jesse straight up owns their top chemist in a scene where he skeptically dismisses Jesse. Jesse cooks 96% quality, pleasing all there. Then he finds out he needs to stay there and Mike informs Jesse that if Jesse stays, everyone is staying. So the audience is clued in that something is up - and that something comes to beautiful fruition when Gus kills the cartel using poison (If you want the music to that scene, it's called "Tidal Wave" by The Oh Sees). Walt also shares his first "real" moment with Walt Jr. after he got beat up by Jesse in "Bug."
3. Face Off - Season 4, Episode 13
Like I said above, you can't really include this episode without End Times. Walt has finally gone just about as far as you can go - poisoning a kid. You could say "Well Walt knew that kid wasn't going to die," to which I say "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" - Anyway, the conclusion to Gus' death is perfect, his lone weakness being his downfall. So sad to see you go Gus and I'd much rather you better Walter White than the Neo Nazis in Season 5.
2. One Minute - Season 3, Episode 7
I think this is a bit of a surprise, but I assure you this pick is for much more than just the scene where Hank survives the cousin. Hank finally just accepts his punishment and admits to his crimes. Then he goes into the elevator and Marie and Hank cry their eyes out. Hank has reached a state of acceptance and tranquility and he's finally himself for the first time since he shot Tuco. And then he gets shot four times. Dammit. Go back and watch this episode and you'll realize how damn good it is.
1. Ozymandias - Season 5, Episode 14
Maybe this is recency bias, but I think this episode goes down in the annals of TV history. Wow what an hour where the audience pretty much has everything they have been waiting for happen in a single hour. Right away, Hank dies and thank you Vince Gilligan for giving him an awesome death. (Also R.I.P. Gomie) Walt loses most of his $80 million in cash. (69 to be exact. Oh Gilligan, you dog) Walt tells Jesse about Jane which should theoretically squash any theory that Walt will save Jesse in this final episode. Jesse is held slave to the Neo Nazis, perpetually forced to cook meth. Walt and Skylar get in a knife fight. Walt steals Holly. Walt finally does one decent thing for his family, albeit laced in truths and very real hate. This hour of television is among the most heartbreaking and shocking as television can ever get.
Hopefully the finale can find its way on this list in the future and hope everyone enjoys this article as a precursor to the final episode!
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Breaking Bad: "Granite State"
75 minutes left until Breaking Bad is officially over. And from my perspective, they will need all 75 minutes of it, because I don't know how they'll wrap this series up in that short amount of time, especially given Breaking Bad's usual pace. I don't doubt they will and I don't doubt that it will end up being perfectly paced, but it's just hard to see right now.
This episode scaled down a little - to say the least - from last episode. It's a piece-mover for the end of the series really. This was still good television, it just kind of seems like it was almost like the premiere of a new season. You're not really judging it yet because almost everything in the episode will pay off later.
But then again, a few things happen that are shocking still. I liked how they did the opener, defying our expectations a bit. First of all, Robert Forster is the vacuum repair man! And it's a real shop! Saul understandably wants to get out of town and that will be the last we will see of Saul in this series I think. That was a nice way to tie up his story while also still making sure to keep it relevant.
Walt has fallen far. He deserves every bit of it and I'll speak more on that later - just for you people who somehow are still on Team Walt. He tries to intimidate Saul to get him to stay with him, but Saul's had enough of his shit. Sure, Walt pathetically having a coughing fit probably didn't hurt. But it shows just how powerless Walt is now.
Meanwhile, Jesse.. oh Jesse. That small slimmer of hope that Jesse would escape vanished this episode. It makes sense that the Aryan Brotherhood would have cameras and have other means of making sure Jesse won't escape. But they need to make sure Jesse won't even attempt to escape anymore and they kill Andrea. This was actually kind of necessary for the time skip because it would help explain why Jesse would never escape. He wouldn't even risk Brock getting killed. He has a soft spot for children.
Todd somehow amps up his creepiness. Man, is he a creepy fuck. First of all, after breaking into the White residence, Todd creepily plays nice with Skylar - you know while her baby is being threatened - and wants to make sure that she won't tell the police on Lydia. I doubt Skylar will or did I suppose.
Then he meets with Lydia and gets that business going. They did make passing mention on why they are continuing to cook when they already have $69 million. Part of it is because the writers can't have Jesse killed, but enough of it makes sense to not be terribly obvious in my opinion. I mean they do need Jesse to cook 96% and Todd does know Lydia will do business with him if he can provide that quality of meth. So really the only stretch is that the Aryan brotherhood would agree to this. They don't really seem like the smartest people so I'm not bothered a lot by that stretch of belief.
So we skip to what I assume is around the time when the flash-forward happened to begin the season. They show the passage of time by having Walt grow out his hair and his beard. Walt is super depressed and lonely. That scene where he pays $10,000 just for an hour of company is one of the saddest things I have ever seen.
He reaches a point where he wants to give money to his family, but Walt Jr is not having any of that. Good for him. Money has compromised far too many people, but it's clear Wal... I'm sorry Flynn will not be one. So then Walt has lost all hope and just decides to turn himself in for the good of his family.
Except you know a little thing called Walt's ego happened. He cannot take his former partners claiming Walt had nothing to do with the company. His pride is being threatened. So he changes his mind, presumably buying that gun that he bought in the flash forward, then returning to get the ricin, and likely plans to go out with a bang.
People who claim that Walt has always done this for his family? You're watching this show wrong I'm sorry. Walt was offered his full treatment for the price of nothing and he rejected it due to pride. HE NEVER HAD TO MAKE METH. If he truly was looking out for his family, he would have swallowed his pride and accepted that money. It's all about Walt and his pride. He needs recognition, and he needs to do it himself. How more people haven't seen this is beyond me.
I mention that because it's a nice parallel to what happens in this episode. Walt's downfall is his pride, his ego. So he needs to actively choose to do something that could harm his family when there are alternative options. If he was cooking meth because he had no other choice: because he needed the money and he wanted to set his family up for his death, it'd be different. But he had a choice.
I have zero idea how there are still people who are Team Walt. Either it is physically impossible to dislike Bryan Cranston and people let that affect their opinion of Walt or there are more fucked up people in this world than I thought. I think I rooted for Walt far longer than I should have, because really letting Jane die should have been the straw. That is unforgivable and people who think she had it coming, you need help. I'm sorry. And people who think Walt's family betrayed him? Seriously, what fucking show are you watching? /end rant
I don't know how many months they skipped, but it made perfect sense. From what I'm watching, it seems like nothing super important happened between Walt escaping and Walt choosing to return to the ABQ. The Aryan brotherhood didn't go anywhere which means Jesse didn't go anywhere. They have most likely done the same thing for months, forcing Jesse to make meth, selling it to Lydia. Nothing really new happens.
Skylar and Flynn are still trying to recover a semblance of the life they once had. They aren't going anywhere. I'm not really sure there's anywhere else to go with Marie's story. I mean she was well-acted by Besty Brandt, but her entire relevance was being married to Hank and being sister to Skylar. The characters are all in some sort of purgatory waiting in place for Walt to come back and screw up all their plans.
75 minutes left. One week.
This episode scaled down a little - to say the least - from last episode. It's a piece-mover for the end of the series really. This was still good television, it just kind of seems like it was almost like the premiere of a new season. You're not really judging it yet because almost everything in the episode will pay off later.
But then again, a few things happen that are shocking still. I liked how they did the opener, defying our expectations a bit. First of all, Robert Forster is the vacuum repair man! And it's a real shop! Saul understandably wants to get out of town and that will be the last we will see of Saul in this series I think. That was a nice way to tie up his story while also still making sure to keep it relevant.
Walt has fallen far. He deserves every bit of it and I'll speak more on that later - just for you people who somehow are still on Team Walt. He tries to intimidate Saul to get him to stay with him, but Saul's had enough of his shit. Sure, Walt pathetically having a coughing fit probably didn't hurt. But it shows just how powerless Walt is now.
Meanwhile, Jesse.. oh Jesse. That small slimmer of hope that Jesse would escape vanished this episode. It makes sense that the Aryan Brotherhood would have cameras and have other means of making sure Jesse won't escape. But they need to make sure Jesse won't even attempt to escape anymore and they kill Andrea. This was actually kind of necessary for the time skip because it would help explain why Jesse would never escape. He wouldn't even risk Brock getting killed. He has a soft spot for children.
Todd somehow amps up his creepiness. Man, is he a creepy fuck. First of all, after breaking into the White residence, Todd creepily plays nice with Skylar - you know while her baby is being threatened - and wants to make sure that she won't tell the police on Lydia. I doubt Skylar will or did I suppose.
Then he meets with Lydia and gets that business going. They did make passing mention on why they are continuing to cook when they already have $69 million. Part of it is because the writers can't have Jesse killed, but enough of it makes sense to not be terribly obvious in my opinion. I mean they do need Jesse to cook 96% and Todd does know Lydia will do business with him if he can provide that quality of meth. So really the only stretch is that the Aryan brotherhood would agree to this. They don't really seem like the smartest people so I'm not bothered a lot by that stretch of belief.
So we skip to what I assume is around the time when the flash-forward happened to begin the season. They show the passage of time by having Walt grow out his hair and his beard. Walt is super depressed and lonely. That scene where he pays $10,000 just for an hour of company is one of the saddest things I have ever seen.
He reaches a point where he wants to give money to his family, but Walt Jr is not having any of that. Good for him. Money has compromised far too many people, but it's clear Wal... I'm sorry Flynn will not be one. So then Walt has lost all hope and just decides to turn himself in for the good of his family.
Except you know a little thing called Walt's ego happened. He cannot take his former partners claiming Walt had nothing to do with the company. His pride is being threatened. So he changes his mind, presumably buying that gun that he bought in the flash forward, then returning to get the ricin, and likely plans to go out with a bang.
People who claim that Walt has always done this for his family? You're watching this show wrong I'm sorry. Walt was offered his full treatment for the price of nothing and he rejected it due to pride. HE NEVER HAD TO MAKE METH. If he truly was looking out for his family, he would have swallowed his pride and accepted that money. It's all about Walt and his pride. He needs recognition, and he needs to do it himself. How more people haven't seen this is beyond me.
I mention that because it's a nice parallel to what happens in this episode. Walt's downfall is his pride, his ego. So he needs to actively choose to do something that could harm his family when there are alternative options. If he was cooking meth because he had no other choice: because he needed the money and he wanted to set his family up for his death, it'd be different. But he had a choice.
I have zero idea how there are still people who are Team Walt. Either it is physically impossible to dislike Bryan Cranston and people let that affect their opinion of Walt or there are more fucked up people in this world than I thought. I think I rooted for Walt far longer than I should have, because really letting Jane die should have been the straw. That is unforgivable and people who think she had it coming, you need help. I'm sorry. And people who think Walt's family betrayed him? Seriously, what fucking show are you watching? /end rant
I don't know how many months they skipped, but it made perfect sense. From what I'm watching, it seems like nothing super important happened between Walt escaping and Walt choosing to return to the ABQ. The Aryan brotherhood didn't go anywhere which means Jesse didn't go anywhere. They have most likely done the same thing for months, forcing Jesse to make meth, selling it to Lydia. Nothing really new happens.
Skylar and Flynn are still trying to recover a semblance of the life they once had. They aren't going anywhere. I'm not really sure there's anywhere else to go with Marie's story. I mean she was well-acted by Besty Brandt, but her entire relevance was being married to Hank and being sister to Skylar. The characters are all in some sort of purgatory waiting in place for Walt to come back and screw up all their plans.
75 minutes left. One week.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Breaking Bad: "Ozymandias"
*OBVIOUSLY THIS POST IS FILLED WITH SPOILERS AND WHILE I HAVEN'T HAD A WARNING BEFORE THIS, THIS EPISODE NEEDS A SPOILER WARNING.
Well, a lot of stuff just happened that I don't think I've actually processed yet. I spent the last hour not thinking about Breaking Bad and calming down. How did I do that? Well I did laundry, washed dishes, picked up my car from my sister - constantly doing stuff. Now I've had time to process what just happened, I can make a calm, measured analysis on Breaking Bad.
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HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!
Sorry, that was necessary. I mean I was thinking that in my head - and sometimes saying it aloud to myself - during almost the entire episode. BAM - BAM - BAM. Something shocking happened every other minute it seemed. We - the audience - didn't get a chance to catch our breath for the whole hour. I'm almost grateful I saw this with commercials or I may just be in an ambulance right now suffering from shock.
Well, the start of the episode was predictably not the shoot-out. Breaking Bad has a tendency to do that. As Aaron Paul said on twitter, they showed the first scene with the lie that started it all. It began Walter's slowly declining relationship with his family culminating in a later scene tonight.
The scene did two further things besides provide the audience with a bit of humor seeing how far they've come: it strangely emphasized that they were going to name the baby "Holly" which I found weird until he stole Holly from Skyler. I guess that was sort of a foreshadowing. Also, the scene focused on the phone by the knife set, which juxtaposed nicely with a later scene when Skyler took a fucking knife and stabbed Walt with it. Sorry, back to the episode.
Rian Johnson did a phenomenal job directing this episode. You had the call between Walt and Skyler by the knife which was a good choice (and also foreshadowing). Then the cool scene where we transition from old Walt to present day. It was a bit different in that you see Walt disappear, then Jesse, and then the RV. Then the pre-credits roll and we see the cars aligned for the shoot-out.
Instead of continuing the gunfight, this episode just had the guns stop and then silence as the audience is on the edge of their seat wanting to know what happened. Then we see Steven Gomez is dead. That was a given. We see Hank bleeding getting a decent shot to his leg. Then he crawls to the rifle and it becomes apparent that Hank has no shot of living. (I also liked the shot when Hank is crawling and you see the Nazis walk towards Hank)
Walt really gives it his all trying to save Hank's life. Unfortunately, it was obvious that they were going to have to kill Hank. Walt is an idiot and gives away that he has $80 million dollars buried in the ground. As Hank says, "You're the smartest man I know and you're too stupid to realize that he made up his mind 10 minutes ago."
Remember when Walt said that he was doing this for his family? Well he lost his family the moment Hank was killed. I think Walt knew that. Then he lost his money - or most of it - when he tried to save Hank. I'm fairly certain he used a large majority of his barrel of money to get out of town so now he seems to literally have nothing. No family, and the money is basically useless when its only used to hide yourself.
Marie goes straight from Hank's call to Skyler trying to make things right with her now that Walt has been caught. That scene was painful to watch even if you hate Marie because the audience knows Hank is dead and yet she seems to bring Hank up every second possible reminding the audience Hank is dead.
I'd say Hank's death was appropriately badass. I think he would have been done via machine gun in real life, but I'm happy to suspend disbelief so we he can have a death befitting his character. He goes out like he's been all series. Refusing to bend his morals and not begging for his life. Sorry, but I respect Hank way more than Walt.
Then for about five minutes, I thought they were going to kill Jesse - which is actually kind of amazing because I assumed that he would live for sure until at least the final episode. But no, Vince Gilligan decided to say "Fuck you, Jesse fans" and made a scenario that was somehow ten times worse than him dying.
Jesse finds out that Walt killed Jane, that Walt will get away, he gets tortured, he's held captive, and he's forced to keep cooking meth because they are threatening him with Andrea and Brock. And this happens moments after he's convinced Walt will finally pay for his deeds. Cruel. What the hell, Vince? This makes me convinced that they will have Jesse come out on top by the way, because really are they going to leave his story on such a down note?
Oh yeah, and Walt Jr. found out about Walt. That disappointed me because I have been asking for that for forever and they needed to kind of rush through that. Still, it worked fine and honestly, what I was wanting probably would have exceeded the acting abilities of RJ Mitte. He did fine here. Also, I laughed out loud when Skyler told him to put on his seatbelt and he responded with "Are you shitting me?"
Hank and Gomie die, Jesse's held captive, Walt's separated from his family with a new identity, and millions of people around the world are collectively recovering from that onslaught of an episode. Not sure they can top this episode.
Ok so it's pretty clear that they are going to skip a bunch of time next episode and if it were my bet, we finally reach the point where Walt is buying a massive gun at Denny's. I can't believe we have to wait a week for that. Two episodes left of what is looking like the best series ever.*
*Besides The Wire. This is coming really close to that though and could surpass it.
Well, a lot of stuff just happened that I don't think I've actually processed yet. I spent the last hour not thinking about Breaking Bad and calming down. How did I do that? Well I did laundry, washed dishes, picked up my car from my sister - constantly doing stuff. Now I've had time to process what just happened, I can make a calm, measured analysis on Breaking Bad.
........
........
........
HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!
Sorry, that was necessary. I mean I was thinking that in my head - and sometimes saying it aloud to myself - during almost the entire episode. BAM - BAM - BAM. Something shocking happened every other minute it seemed. We - the audience - didn't get a chance to catch our breath for the whole hour. I'm almost grateful I saw this with commercials or I may just be in an ambulance right now suffering from shock.
Well, the start of the episode was predictably not the shoot-out. Breaking Bad has a tendency to do that. As Aaron Paul said on twitter, they showed the first scene with the lie that started it all. It began Walter's slowly declining relationship with his family culminating in a later scene tonight.
The scene did two further things besides provide the audience with a bit of humor seeing how far they've come: it strangely emphasized that they were going to name the baby "Holly" which I found weird until he stole Holly from Skyler. I guess that was sort of a foreshadowing. Also, the scene focused on the phone by the knife set, which juxtaposed nicely with a later scene when Skyler took a fucking knife and stabbed Walt with it. Sorry, back to the episode.
Rian Johnson did a phenomenal job directing this episode. You had the call between Walt and Skyler by the knife which was a good choice (and also foreshadowing). Then the cool scene where we transition from old Walt to present day. It was a bit different in that you see Walt disappear, then Jesse, and then the RV. Then the pre-credits roll and we see the cars aligned for the shoot-out.
Instead of continuing the gunfight, this episode just had the guns stop and then silence as the audience is on the edge of their seat wanting to know what happened. Then we see Steven Gomez is dead. That was a given. We see Hank bleeding getting a decent shot to his leg. Then he crawls to the rifle and it becomes apparent that Hank has no shot of living. (I also liked the shot when Hank is crawling and you see the Nazis walk towards Hank)
Walt really gives it his all trying to save Hank's life. Unfortunately, it was obvious that they were going to have to kill Hank. Walt is an idiot and gives away that he has $80 million dollars buried in the ground. As Hank says, "You're the smartest man I know and you're too stupid to realize that he made up his mind 10 minutes ago."
Remember when Walt said that he was doing this for his family? Well he lost his family the moment Hank was killed. I think Walt knew that. Then he lost his money - or most of it - when he tried to save Hank. I'm fairly certain he used a large majority of his barrel of money to get out of town so now he seems to literally have nothing. No family, and the money is basically useless when its only used to hide yourself.
Marie goes straight from Hank's call to Skyler trying to make things right with her now that Walt has been caught. That scene was painful to watch even if you hate Marie because the audience knows Hank is dead and yet she seems to bring Hank up every second possible reminding the audience Hank is dead.
I'd say Hank's death was appropriately badass. I think he would have been done via machine gun in real life, but I'm happy to suspend disbelief so we he can have a death befitting his character. He goes out like he's been all series. Refusing to bend his morals and not begging for his life. Sorry, but I respect Hank way more than Walt.
Then for about five minutes, I thought they were going to kill Jesse - which is actually kind of amazing because I assumed that he would live for sure until at least the final episode. But no, Vince Gilligan decided to say "Fuck you, Jesse fans" and made a scenario that was somehow ten times worse than him dying.
Jesse finds out that Walt killed Jane, that Walt will get away, he gets tortured, he's held captive, and he's forced to keep cooking meth because they are threatening him with Andrea and Brock. And this happens moments after he's convinced Walt will finally pay for his deeds. Cruel. What the hell, Vince? This makes me convinced that they will have Jesse come out on top by the way, because really are they going to leave his story on such a down note?
Oh yeah, and Walt Jr. found out about Walt. That disappointed me because I have been asking for that for forever and they needed to kind of rush through that. Still, it worked fine and honestly, what I was wanting probably would have exceeded the acting abilities of RJ Mitte. He did fine here. Also, I laughed out loud when Skyler told him to put on his seatbelt and he responded with "Are you shitting me?"
Hank and Gomie die, Jesse's held captive, Walt's separated from his family with a new identity, and millions of people around the world are collectively recovering from that onslaught of an episode. Not sure they can top this episode.
Ok so it's pretty clear that they are going to skip a bunch of time next episode and if it were my bet, we finally reach the point where Walt is buying a massive gun at Denny's. I can't believe we have to wait a week for that. Two episodes left of what is looking like the best series ever.*
*Besides The Wire. This is coming really close to that though and could surpass it.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Breaking Bad: "To'hajiilee"
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WOW! So that just happened. Each episode I've been impressed and shocked at how fast the plot is escalating and then I remember we only have "x" amount of episodes left in the series and it makes sense that the dominoes are falling as fast as they are. That still didn't make this any less shocking.
Ok so I guess I'll start at the end of the episode since that's the freshest in my mind. When Hank, Gomez, and Jesse showed up in the desert to greet Walt, I think we all knew that some way, somehow Walt was getting away. That led to the inevitable conclusion that Hank and Gomez would probably end up dead.
And we all probably knew that Todd's cousins would ignore Walt and go towards the site anyway. So while I was expecting the ending to some degree, it didn't lose any of its shock value because Hank's probably going to die. Hank, the character we've spent five seasons with, will die most likely. The deaths are going to start and main characters will start falling.
What a brilliant, brilliant plan by Hank and Jesse to outsmart Heisenberg who was tricked every step of the way. First off, they go after Huell in a sort of genius idea to make Huell think he's going to die. Poor Huell. Basically, the writers came up with a plausible way for Huell to rat. He thinks Jesse is dead (with a convincing picture) and it's hardly a stretch to assume that Saul would rat on him as long as it benefits Saul.
He reveals enough information for the rest of the plan to work, which basically is just that the money was in barrels. They take a picture of the barrel with money inside of it, send it to Walt, and convince Walt that Jesse is going to burn the money. I'm pretty sure Jesse has burned money before in this series so I think Walt takes this threat seriously.
Jesse remains a weakness for Walt as he would never believe Jesse would rat on him. He doesn't even think it's a possibility. As a side note, I think Todd's cousins knew that Jesse was a rat or a possible rat and it could have been a reason they decided to go to the site - besides the fact that they are crazy.
So Jesse's threatening to burn money he doesn't have and Walt falls hard for it. His ego wouldn't allow his money to be burned. Walt had the picture and he thinks Jesse found the GPS for his car, but if Walt would have put a little thought into it, how in the world would Jesse have obtained that information? He'd need to be a cop because no way in hell would that company release that to an average citizen. Then he would have known Jesse was working with Hank.
But Walt doesn't even think that's a possibility so he freely admits to all of his crimes, unknowingly screwing himself over. He realizes it just in time to call his Nazi buddies to set up the end of the episode. Now is the time when Walt starts getting people he cares about killed. Does he still care about Hank? At least enough to not want him killed.
Walt made a solid gamble on going to Andrea's and thinking it would lead Jesse there. It probably would have worked too if not for the fact that Hank had Jesse's phone. Either way, Walt was maybe a bit too confident it would have worked - which is usually the case with him.
The episode's open was probably the weakest of the season though I think that's more because of how strong the previous four were. Walt is SO good at making meth, he's made Jesse his near equal and Todd a solid 76%. Lydia would be satisfied except Todd's not sure how to make the meth blue. I think needing Walt to teach Todd (and the millions of potential profits) provided Todd's cousins the necessary motivation to shoot at the end of the episode. They need Walt and they need him alive.
I guess I should mention that they telegraphed Hank's potential death pretty clearly. His phone conversation with Marie was as obvious a signal of "HEY THIS CHARACTER WILL DIE" as any I've seen in a while. I know Hank's not dead yet, but if he survives this, he's Superman. Also the flash-forward in the premiere indicates Walt is both free and without family so Hank dying would heavily support that.
Things are escalating quickly and the ending is near. Still unclear how they get to the flash-forward from this point, but it's at least a little clearer. Walt's arrested right now, but he looks to be free very soon - kind of - and he's likely responsible for yet another death. Can't wait until next week.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Breaking Bad: "Rabid Dog"
Four episodes left. So far I'd say that season five part two has lived up to its hype. Walt looks primed for destruction and yet, I still have no idea how in the world he gets to the point where his house is abandoned and seemingly everyone knows he is Heisenberg.
The tension was high throughout the entire episode for me. Inexplicably, I thought something would happen when Walt Jr. and Walt were having a conversation by the pool. This season has accomplished the dichotomy between nothing happening and anything possibly happening.
In the open, Walt walks into his gasoline-infested house looking for Jessie. I was on the edge of my seat that entire time expecting Jesse to jump out at Walt - even though that wouldn't really be a Breaking Bad thing to do. They spent a good four minutes or so on the scene and it was a false alarm. But it worked because we spent the entire time wondering where the hell Jesse could be. His car was exactly how he left it when he planned to burn Walt's house down.
Walt tries to cover his tracks - and actually in my opinion comes up with a very feasible story. If Walt wasn't always full of shit, his family would have bought it. But not even his clueless son thought he was telling the truth. If I were Walt, once Walt Jr. presented the story that Walt passed out, he should have jumped on that. But his pride got in the way like it usually does and he doesn't want to come across weak.
Walt Jr. is really easy to buy off - not that I blame him though. I mean that car would buy me off from wondering too much about where my dad has been. This time it's a sweet hotel. I still await the day when Walt Jr. finds out. Please let this happen sometime. Please. I think RJ Mitte is a good enough actor to pull this off - not that it would be a very easy scene to play. Mitte nails any material he's given in my opinion.
So Saul Goodman really thinks killing Jesse is the way to go. He compared killing Jesse to Old Yeller. Interesting comparison. (I found it funny - any scene where Saul tries to make a euphemism for killing somebody, it's usually hilarious). And in a surprising scene, so does Skylar. Skylar has become a very interesting character. It's really easy for her to say to kill him though since she's not involved and will never see it. (Which is why it's surprising, but ultimately makes sense)
But that scene definitely nailed down that Skylar has long since been compromised. I don't think there's a greater anti-drug message out there than this show. Sure, you might make money (although you probably can't cook meth like Walt can - in fact, I'm going to go out on a limb and say you can't), but you only compromise your morals and just about everyone you care about as well and put yourself and everyone you love in danger. So yeah go ahead and try it if you want.
The Jessie reveal was satisfying. When we left him, I'm not sure I could buy that he would just "change his mind" as Walt puts it. Well, he didn't. You see Hank has shown a penchant for following his targets on his own accord many many times so it was not a dues ex machina thankfully. So he saves Jesse from burning Walt's house down - not unselfishly because he realizes burning his house down in the long run really won't hurt Walt like Hank wants to hurt Walt.
So he takes Jesse under his wing and gives him a place to sleep. Bringing him into the office wouldn't have made a lot of sense because there is no evidence. I assume either Hank realized this or he wanted to make Jesse comfortable. Either way works. Jesse presumably tells a story that we have watched unfold over five seasons - from his point-of-view. I'm sure this won't be the last time we see his testimonial before the season is over.
So Jesse becomes a "snitch," which I don't have a problem with. The stigma over "snitches" is unfortunate and odd. It's mostly due to television shows involving characters who have that stigma - but in their case, usually being found out resulted in death. Here? Oh Jesse might be able to sleep at night and look at himself in the mirror. Those aren't that important I guess.
Walt agrees to meet Jesse in person and despite everyone giving him advice that he needs to get rid of Jesse, he does not plan to do it. He wants to explain to Jesse why he did it. He wants Jesse to think highly of him because he looks at him as a son. It's some kind of abusive father-son relationship, but usually fathers still care in some creepy and weird way for that son.
In a bit of extreme coincidence, Jesse sees a rather large man who looks like he's protecting Walt. If he really had a plan to kill Jesse, I think it would have been more subtle. Nonetheless, it's a rather large coincidence, though I think the show has had worse ones so it didn't bother me a whole lot. I'm still a Jesse fan and I've stated I wanted Jesse to kill Walt, but this might be just as good. Jesse's call to Walt was pretty awesome and properly scared the shit out of Walt.
Walt calls Todd as result to kill Jesse and I don't think that was a very good decision by Walt. It's probably part of Jesse's plan in fact which we probably won't find out until we see it play out - just a guess. Walt started the season with four things against him and now two of them are teaming up. Cancer doesn't appear to be a huge threat in the immediate future and Lydia is nowhere to be found in this episode. Hank and Jesse though have the most motivation and want to see him utterly destroyed. Walt's imminent destruction is coming.
The tension was high throughout the entire episode for me. Inexplicably, I thought something would happen when Walt Jr. and Walt were having a conversation by the pool. This season has accomplished the dichotomy between nothing happening and anything possibly happening.
In the open, Walt walks into his gasoline-infested house looking for Jessie. I was on the edge of my seat that entire time expecting Jesse to jump out at Walt - even though that wouldn't really be a Breaking Bad thing to do. They spent a good four minutes or so on the scene and it was a false alarm. But it worked because we spent the entire time wondering where the hell Jesse could be. His car was exactly how he left it when he planned to burn Walt's house down.
Walt tries to cover his tracks - and actually in my opinion comes up with a very feasible story. If Walt wasn't always full of shit, his family would have bought it. But not even his clueless son thought he was telling the truth. If I were Walt, once Walt Jr. presented the story that Walt passed out, he should have jumped on that. But his pride got in the way like it usually does and he doesn't want to come across weak.
Walt Jr. is really easy to buy off - not that I blame him though. I mean that car would buy me off from wondering too much about where my dad has been. This time it's a sweet hotel. I still await the day when Walt Jr. finds out. Please let this happen sometime. Please. I think RJ Mitte is a good enough actor to pull this off - not that it would be a very easy scene to play. Mitte nails any material he's given in my opinion.
So Saul Goodman really thinks killing Jesse is the way to go. He compared killing Jesse to Old Yeller. Interesting comparison. (I found it funny - any scene where Saul tries to make a euphemism for killing somebody, it's usually hilarious). And in a surprising scene, so does Skylar. Skylar has become a very interesting character. It's really easy for her to say to kill him though since she's not involved and will never see it. (Which is why it's surprising, but ultimately makes sense)
But that scene definitely nailed down that Skylar has long since been compromised. I don't think there's a greater anti-drug message out there than this show. Sure, you might make money (although you probably can't cook meth like Walt can - in fact, I'm going to go out on a limb and say you can't), but you only compromise your morals and just about everyone you care about as well and put yourself and everyone you love in danger. So yeah go ahead and try it if you want.
The Jessie reveal was satisfying. When we left him, I'm not sure I could buy that he would just "change his mind" as Walt puts it. Well, he didn't. You see Hank has shown a penchant for following his targets on his own accord many many times so it was not a dues ex machina thankfully. So he saves Jesse from burning Walt's house down - not unselfishly because he realizes burning his house down in the long run really won't hurt Walt like Hank wants to hurt Walt.
So he takes Jesse under his wing and gives him a place to sleep. Bringing him into the office wouldn't have made a lot of sense because there is no evidence. I assume either Hank realized this or he wanted to make Jesse comfortable. Either way works. Jesse presumably tells a story that we have watched unfold over five seasons - from his point-of-view. I'm sure this won't be the last time we see his testimonial before the season is over.
So Jesse becomes a "snitch," which I don't have a problem with. The stigma over "snitches" is unfortunate and odd. It's mostly due to television shows involving characters who have that stigma - but in their case, usually being found out resulted in death. Here? Oh Jesse might be able to sleep at night and look at himself in the mirror. Those aren't that important I guess.
Walt agrees to meet Jesse in person and despite everyone giving him advice that he needs to get rid of Jesse, he does not plan to do it. He wants to explain to Jesse why he did it. He wants Jesse to think highly of him because he looks at him as a son. It's some kind of abusive father-son relationship, but usually fathers still care in some creepy and weird way for that son.
In a bit of extreme coincidence, Jesse sees a rather large man who looks like he's protecting Walt. If he really had a plan to kill Jesse, I think it would have been more subtle. Nonetheless, it's a rather large coincidence, though I think the show has had worse ones so it didn't bother me a whole lot. I'm still a Jesse fan and I've stated I wanted Jesse to kill Walt, but this might be just as good. Jesse's call to Walt was pretty awesome and properly scared the shit out of Walt.
Walt calls Todd as result to kill Jesse and I don't think that was a very good decision by Walt. It's probably part of Jesse's plan in fact which we probably won't find out until we see it play out - just a guess. Walt started the season with four things against him and now two of them are teaming up. Cancer doesn't appear to be a huge threat in the immediate future and Lydia is nowhere to be found in this episode. Hank and Jesse though have the most motivation and want to see him utterly destroyed. Walt's imminent destruction is coming.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Breaking Bad: "Confessions"
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
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
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.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
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
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
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
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
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
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