Rewind: The Walking Dead S2

The Walking Dead has some amazing makeup artists that achieve the impossible in showing convincing zombie portrayals that I haven't seen yet in the zombie genre.  It's by far the best thing about the show.  I felt I should start this review with something positive, because most of this review will not be positive.  (That's a warning for TWD fans)

This isn't a very good show.  Basically, to me at least, the appeal of this show is "Do you like zombies?"  You HAVE to like zombies to like this show.  You have to find zombies awesome actually.  I'm mildly interested in the zombie genre and I've actually liked quite a bit of the movies in that genre so The Walking Dead should theoretically appeal to me.  The problem though is that if you don't love zombies, if you don't love mindless action, this isn't a good show at all.

A very important part of making a good television show involves making interesting characters who you want to see succeed.  The Walking Dead does NOT have that whatsoever.  I kind of care about Rick, Glenn, and Daryl.  I'm not sure if that's because of the writing or if it is because those are the only good actors on the show.  (Though Dale is played by a good actor too and I stopped caring about him in this season - except for his tendency to widen his eyes for serious moments).

Having character development is vital to a show where anyone can die.  If you care about the majority of the characters, every scene is heightened because of that potential - especially in a zombie genre.  When you don't care about the characters, you don't really care if they die.  I know that Sophia was a kid, but this show made zero attempt at making me care if she lived or died and they wasted six episodes until that resolution was cleared up.  In the five episodes before, I could not care less if they found here - to the show's credit I just assumed she would live so I guess points there.

This show is poorly written.  The writers basically came up with interesting ideas that they wanted to explore and then wrote ways to get to that idea.  None of it is very organic and nearly every conflict needed to be brought about by a character doing something stupid, usually by the apparently brain dead Lori.  An example: Rick and Glenn go find Hershel, who's at a bar.  They go explicitly to find Hershel.  Lori objects to this because Rick needs to stay with their son.  Then they leave and she GOES OFF AND ABANDONS HER SON TO FIND THEM.  What did she think she was going to do?  Save them from zombies?  Yeah, right you're going to be able to horde off zombies when Rick and Glenn can't.  Anyway, then she crashes her car because she's reading a map while driving.  SO STUPID.

Then there's the fact that almost all of these characters are unlikeable.  I've already mentioned Lori, who exists to give the negative feedback.  Andrea is another character who is pretty easy to hate - she gets mad at Dale for saving her life, then shoots at Daryl with three people around him (assuming shooting was the right move).  I like Maggie I guess.  But I think liking her is just an extension of me liking Glenn really cause her purpose is to date Glenn and not much else.  The female characters on this show are not written well at all.  Then there's T-Dog who gets jackshit to do all season. (I'm sure I will care about his obvious and inevitable death soon)

This show is poorly acted for the most part as well.  Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Steven Yeun as Glenn, Scott Wilson as Hershel, and Norman Reedus as Daryl are all good actors who seem to elevate the material they are given.  The rest though?  They leave something to be desired.  Jon Bernthal as Shane is mediocre at best and sometimes he's given more than he can handle.  Chandler Riggs as Carl is straight up awful as an actor, but he's a kid so I guess that's more understandable.  And Sarah Wayne Callies isn't great as Lori.  It's partly the writing, it's also partly the bug eyes she develops anytime she's mad, frustrated, upset, or really any emotion.

Yet another problem with this show is the lack of tension.  The zombie scenes create a certain amount of tension, but I was pretty sure who wasn't going to die.  And I was mostly right.  A zombie show should NOT have zombie scenes where it seems like nobody will die.  And if somebody does die, it's usually someone the audience just met like Otis.  It's hard to care about a character dying after two episodes. (Side note: It should be a sin that on a show as poorly acted as this, that they bring in Michael Raymond-James of Terriers and Pruitt Taylor Vance of Deadwood and have them killed off almost immediately.  Raymond-James was scary good in his 10 minutes of screen time.  Someone give this guy a TV show... oh wait someone already did.  Sigh)

While I'm being honest, this review was written after having seen the first 11 episodes.  I haven't seen the last two yet which I've heard are among the show's best.  Overall, I don't think that changes anything I've said yet.  I'm done watching this show for good now.  For people who want to complain "If you don't like it, don't watch it" I won't.  I watched the rest of season two specifically to write this review or I would have stopped.

The Walking Dead is a more apt title for the living "characters" on this show than the zombies - oh I'm sorry "walkers."

Playlist
1. "Bohemian Rhapsody" - Queen
2. "Centerfield" - John Fogerty
3. "Real World" - Matchbox 20
4. "Multiples" - Atmosphere
5. "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" - Arcade Fire

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

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

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

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

Rewind: The Walking Dead Season 1

Zombies in Hollywood have just about run their course.  I don't have a fascination with zombies by themselves, which seems to make me one of the few who don't.  So I'm late in watching this television show about zombies, because a show about zombies inherently does not interest me by itself.

The Walking Dead's first season is good television, if not perfectly written.  This show has figured out how people react in dire situations, but in between those situations, it's not the strongest.  Whereas they seem to nail scenes that are difficult to write, they hit as much as they miss in the "down time" scenes.

The pilot episode was about as perfect as a pilot episode can get written.  Lost is the only other show I can think of that had such an engaging pilot that made you want to watch more.  Unfortunately, it is far and away the best episode to date that I have watched.

The first scene sets the table about how awful the world has become when Rick needs to shoot a little girl zombie.  The natural sound they had was amazing and the scene was extremely tense.  Another thing they got right was skipping the part where the zombies overtake humans, which has been well-explored.  This series deals with the aftermath.  The way they accomplish this is by having Rick Grimes be our guide, with him jumping into the zombie world.

The episode continues strongly as Rick realistically makes his way to his home while he and the viewers are taking in the destruction that has happened.  I cannot praise Andrew Lincoln enough in this role.  He really sells everything.  The scene where he breaks down and cries when he can't find is family is heartbreaking.

He is saved by Morgan Jones, played by Lennie James, and his son.  James was probably the best part of that first episode, which is a shame because we don't see him for the rest of the season.  He can't bring himself to kill his wife, who is now zombified.

The ending of the episode was not as good as the first half.  The farmhouse he visits has a bloodily written "God Forgive Us," which is purely for thematic value and doesn't really make sense if you think about it.  Why would you take the time to write that as your life is winding down?

Then when he is escaping the zombies in the street in Atlanta at the end - which was well done - he crawls under the tank and it looks like he will shoot himself.... except no one would buy that the main character would commit suicide in the first episode so that was a cheap ploy.  The ending with the "Hey you dumbass" and the last song finished the episode strongly though.

A part of the show I entirely dislike is the Lori and Shane relationship.  It feels contrived to me to create drama.  I buy that Shane would want to get with Lori, but I don't see the motive for Lori here.  Yes, her husband is apparently dead, but we're still talking a month or so that's passed.  I just don't buy that relationship and am not a fan whenever that gets brought up.  (The first scene of "Guts" when Shane scares Lori is bullshit.  Manufacturing tension, because in that world, nobody sneaks up on anybody ever or you might die.)

In the third episode, Rick reuniting with his family was well done.  I am not sure how they pulled that off, but boy did they.  I also liked the comment from Dale about how words can't accurately capture what's happening.

I mentioned the writing for the "in between" scenes before and an example is the "evil characters."   It's in quotes mostly, because they aren't characters.  They are caricatures.  It's a joke.  Ed, the wife-beating misogynist, is one of the most poorly written characters I've ever seen.  There is nothing likable about him.

As far as characters that are well-written, I'd say that comprises the people who took most of the screen time in the last few episodes.  Andrea and her sister share a touching moment in the boat that made us care about them.  Jim's heartbreaking story about how he escaped only because his family was being eaten.  Dale's story about how he was angry when his wife was taken away from him and now he had Andrea.  Shane is a dick, but at least he's a human being.  Glenn, Merle, T-Dog, and Daryl are not really that well-written, but the actors make the most out of it.

This season is just too rushed.  I know that's AMC's fault, but I don't understand why.  They could have easily stretched out this season while fleshing characters.  We experienced the CDC for a single episode.  (Speaking of which, Noah Emmerich is impressive in his short time).  They just needed more time to make these storylines work better.

Overall, the season is rushed, which largely causes a lot of the character problems.  They don't have enough time to make us care so they need to create some caricatures that are easy to kill off. They barely get enough time for us to even remember half of their names. (Do you know who Jacqui is, because I needed to look up that she was the one black woman?)

Season Grade: B+

Playlist
1. "What They Do" - The Roots
2. "Miracle Mile" - Cold War Kids
3. "Black Hole Sun" - Soundgarden
4. "Do You Realize?" - The Flaming Lips
5. "Immortal" - Kid Cudi