Breaking Bad - Season Four

A year is a long time to wait for the next season of a television series, but when that series is Breaking Bad, it's always worth it. I don't know how many times I can say this show is flawless and grippingly addictive, but I will say that season four has so far been my favourite season. Tension was just ramped up across the board as Walt and Gus made moves to get rid of each other, Walt and Jesse turned on each other, Skylar became a badass and had her own struggles in helping keep Walt clean, Hank got uncomfortably close to catching "Heisenberg", and even Saul freaked and went into hiding. Additionally, every character got an awesome monologue moment. For Walt, it was his "I am the one who knocks!" speech to Skylar, which was one of the greatest things I've heard in a long time; Jesse had his outburst in therapy where he reveals what a horrible person he is, stunning the counselor; for Skylar, it was her sales pitch to the car wash owner where she tells him exactly how much his business is worth and what its profits are; and Hank had a couple of moments in his investigation highlighting what a shrewd detective he is in spite of acting like a tool a lot of the time. Seriously, does anyone not like this show?

In all honesty, Walt has gone from a good guy to someone who is mostly a dick, but I've never hated him because his actions are usually justifiable in some way, albeit often extreme, and he's just so damned good at "the game", as it's referred to on The Wire. Conversely, Jesse was kind of a scumbag punk at the beginning of the series but has developed some better qualities over time. Still very much a flawed person, but a more likable one. Part of what makes this show so entertaining is how Walt and Jesse have completely opposite personalities, and putting two opposites together always makes for the best scenes.

Next season is supposed to be the last, but I have no idea what's in store because the ending resolved the season and didn't leave a cliffhanger. But I'm thinking there could be an epic Walt vs. Jesse showdown, because if Jesse ever finds out that Walt let his girlfriend die and poisoned that kid, he'll be feeling murderous. I don't know how he could, though, as neither incident had any witnesses. There's also the possibility that Hank will finally catch his brother in-law, so maybe it will be a Walt vs. Hank showdown. Or both. Hopefully the DVD will be out sooner this time, as there will be no new season causing a delay for purposes of promotional proximity.

Best Episode: I think I liked "Cornered" best, in which Walt delivers his aforementioned badass monologue, buys his son an unnecessarily expensive car, and pays the laundry ladies to clean the lab for him, while Jesse impresses Gus and Mike by recovering their stolen meth, a scene which includes a very cool shot from a shovel's point of view.

Breaking Bad - Season Three

I've been waiting a long time, but finally here we are at the third season of the most flawless show on television. Season two (and season one, for that matter) didn't really end on too much of a cliffhanger, but this show is so addicting that it didn't need to in order for me to keep watching. But boy did they kick it up a notch in round three.

This season we had several episodes that opened with flashbacks, which ingeniously served to not only remind us of key elements from the first two seasons, but to give us a hint of character back story/development that would play a role in the rest of the episode. Some were fun, like the reveal of what Jesse did with Walt's life savings in the pilot, and some were very dark, like when the old man nearly drowned the kid to provoke his brother into saving him. The one with Danny Trejo's second appearance nicely raised the stakes by showing that the assassin brothers took him down.

But yeah, it seemed like everything was bigger and badder this year. Walt goes "pro" by cooking in a large, sterile lab, Saul and Skylar become much more involved as it takes more work to cover Walt's criminal lifestyle, Hank comes within inches of discovering his brother in-law, and everything culminates in full blown conflict with the drug bosses. The wonderful irony of all this is that at the beginning of the season, Walt was attempting to get out of the business, but by the finale he's in deeper than ever. Walter White is one of the most fascinating characters on television, and also one of the most badass. Clearly you don't want to mess with him. But what always amazes me most is the performances of both Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. These are the kind of intense, seamless performances that make you forget you're watching actors because they're just so believable as their characters. It may get a little tiring for Cranston to win the Emmy every year (though he's not eligible this year since the show has been on hiatus that long), but damn if he doesn't deserve it every time. Fun fact from a DVD extra (awesomely titled "Pizza of Destiny"): when Walt threw the pizza on the roof, he did it perfectly on the first take. Is there anything Cranston is not good at?

Best episode: Up until the finale I would have said "Fly", a "bottle episode" of sorts where Walt and Jesse lock themselves in the lab until they can catch an annoying fly, but it was then outshined by the finale episode, "Full Measure", in which Walt and Jesse plan a murder in an attempt to ensure their safety from the bosses who turned against them. I love tension, and that episode was full of it. The only thing I hate about this show is that I'll probably have to wait another whole year for the season four DVD. But it will be worth it.

Retroactive Post - Best Episodes of TV Shows on DVD

I promised it in an earlier post, so here it is: my picks for the best episodes of all of the TV show seasons I've watched on DVD so far. It's something I'm adding to future posts on TV DVDs and I didn't want previous posts to miss out.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Volume One
I don't know if I have a favourite on this one... Maybe "Revenge of the Mooninites", because I enjoyed Carl's expression of his love for 80's rock band Foreigner, which of course culminated in his head becoming a Connect Four board. Bonus: I didn't review the Volume Two DVD because I didn't really know what I could say about it that I didn't say about the first one, but my pick for best episode on that one is "Super Trivia", because watching the characters sit around a bar playing trivia turned out to be a lot of fun and really funny.

The IT Crowd - Season One
I almost chose "Calamity Jen" because of the hilarious fire brigade commercial, but I'll go with "Fifty-Fifty" because I loved the storyline about Roy wanting to prove that women love bastards. That is an age old debate that may never be settled.

The IT Crowd - Season Two
"Moss and the German", which may be one of my favourite IT Crowd episodes ever, because everything about it is classic - the anti-piracy ad, the weird cannibalism story (which, even weirder, was based on a true story), Roy desperately trying to avoid movie spoilers, and Jen's smoking habit evoking depressing Russian visuals. Definitely one of the most memorable episodes.

The IT Crowd - Season Three
I said in the post for this one that it was the strongest season, and really I could choose any of the six and be fine with that decision, but on a personal level I'd have to go with "Are We Not Men?". As someone who has no interest in sports, I found the conversation bluffing idea to be funny and probably true, though I've never tried it because even in that context I still wouldn't want to discuss sports with anyone.

Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes
I don't think the episodes have titles, but my favourite on this set was the second of the three lost episodes, in which Dave plays "Black Howard Dean" and security guard Gary Coleman, and puts George Castanza's "sex trifecta" to use. It's also the one with the controversial "stereotype pixies", but I don't care so much about that one. If only the Tupac sketch were in this episode instead. And as a bonus, Wikipedia says this episode originally aired on my birthday!

Dexter - Season One
I already mentioned in the post (although not as officially as I'll be doing in the future) that the best episode here was "Return to Sender", because it brought the tension and excitement from about a 4 to an 11, and solidified my enjoyment of the series. I would later be pleasantly surprised to find out that the entire second season is like that one first season episode.

The 4400 - Season One
The 1.5 hour pilot is what sold me on buying the complete series, but I think I'll have to go with "White Light", the season finale, because it had some cool stuff and really showed us where the show was going. Plus, you know, the trees were bending.

Breaking Bad - Season One
I said the first three episodes were the best, so that narrows it down, but I think my favourite is episode three, "...And the Bag's in the River", because the whole Krazy 8 situation was handled amazingly, and the moment where Walt puts the yellow plate back together is one of my favourite parts of the entire series so far.

Breaking Bad - Season Two

Season one didn't really end on a cliffhanger so much as a moment of "oh crap, what did they get themselves into?", which is a great lead into the next season because for me the appeal of this show is watching Walt and Jesse try to overcome dangerous and/or unfortunate circumstances. Last season had a couple of episodes that, while still really good, were a little slower and less interesting than others because Walt and Jesse had parted for a while, and I think this season was better at managing that minuscule problem. I do still like it best when they are sharing the screen, because they're such an unlikely pair and while they may be business partners they are clearly not friends, so their dynamic fascinates me, but Walt and Jesse also had better individual story arcs this time around. Jesse had to deal with finding new living arrangements, having a relationship with his landlord, and things happening to his dealers, and Walt had continued trouble with the web of lies he was continuously spinning at his wife, including the payment of his cancer treatment.

At the beginning of the series I wasn't sure I liked Skyler because she seemed nosy and even a little fickle, but now I can empathize with both her and Walt, and that makes their arguments almost heartbreaking because I am siding with both of them. I don't know if he was playing dumb, but Walt didn't seem to get it when she turned the tables on him and started doing exactly what he had been doing to her (going out for long periods of time without saying where), and then he insulted her intelligence by pretending he wasn't hiding anything when she knew that he was. Maybe I am a little more on Skyler's side, but I can understand why Walt can't tell her and that he's doing it for his family. It was also interesting to see another side to Hank. Up until a certain point he had been a crass, tough guy jock type - and admittedly a bit of a douchebag at times - but after a couple of traumatic events he gets knocked down a peg and we see that he's not so tough after all. And I just want to randomly point out the coolness of a shot in the finale where Hank holds up a donation jar with Walt's photo on it, and the photo is positioned directly under the "WANTED" sign on the board in the background. Nice work.

Best Episode: There were several fantastic episodes, but I'd have to go with "Grilled", where Tuco holds Walt and Jesse hostage and they try to devise an escape plan under the watchful eye of an old man who communicates by ringing a service bell. Easily the most riveting, high-tension hour this season.

Breaking Bad - Season One

The first three episodes of Breaking Bad are some of the finest television I've seen in a long time. That's not to discredit the other four episodes from season one, because they were all enormously engrossing, but in the first three we have a high school chemistry teacher, Mr. White, and a former student of his, Jesse, trying to get themselves out of a dangerously unfortunate situation, and watching this unlikely duo team up is so damned enjoyable I didn't even want to blink. After the initial three we get a couple of episodes with them apart (after having agreed to go their separate ways so that they wouldn't get stuck in another giant pickle), which wasn't as interesting as their scenes together but it gave us some important character development and led them to the realization that they need to keep cooking meth and they need each other to do it, because times are tough and they need the cash.

It may not sound interesting to just say that Breaking Bad is about two dudes cooking crystal meth, and I certainly wouldn't have been sold on that description alone, but the arc of episodes one to three is so intense that I can't see someone not getting hooked. I also have to mention that, for a TV show, the writing and acting are movie quality. Oscar movie quality. I could have just said Emmy quality, but that wouldn't cut it. Bryan Cranston is so seamless it's hard to picture him as the dad from Malcolm in the Middle, and Aaron Paul makes the petty street kid much more human than the thuggish brute he probably would've been written as on another show. I am officially addicted to Breaking Bad, and luckily I have the season two DVD to move on to. If you appreciate good entertainment, you might want to look into this one.