Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Budda bing budda bing budda boom! (What I'm Watching)

I don't know why I do this. This is the equivalent of talking to myself. But I'm back. And I want you to know that I'm watching stuff!

I've been watching Will and Grace Season 1 and Chappelle's Show Season 1. As well I've started Breaking Bad Season 2, of course on the internet because I lack TV capabilities, and I've also started The Shield and (just) started Battlestar Galactica. When I say just I mean just, as in I'm a few minutes in and just waiting for it to load. 

Breaking Bad got off to a hot start, with the nice cliffhanger ending that has me intrigued. Apparently not intrigued enough to watch the next episode though. Maybe I have a short circuit. Weirdly, Dexter was getting nutty and I still haven't finished season 3. Too many choices, too little time. The Shield has been awesome-sauce. The characters are damn interesting, with Vic's troubled life and Ass-veda trying to get a step up. At first I thought Lowe was just kind of bland and rigid, but with the whole religious-gay thing I'm starting to get what he's got going on. I won't pass judgement on BSG because that'd be unfair just yet.

As for stuff I've finished, I love Chappelle's Show and Will and Grace is a goddamn classic. Jack is phenomenal, as is Karen, and Grace and Will's onscreen chemistry is fantastic. 

This post was throwaway, but I needed to get it out of my system and my little brain is cooking up plans for the future. As in plans for this blog. Stuff that'd actually be readable. 

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Breaking Bad: Season 1, Episode 3: ...and the Bag's in the River

When I went to watch episode 3, I guess I chose the wrong one, because I was greeted to a black screen and sounds of two people having sex. It faded in, and I found myself wondering if every episode was going to start with Walter making coitus (yeah, I watch Rome) with Skyler. Also, I wondered, does Skyler own only one sleeping shirt? With that brief detour aside, I was ready to watch another chapter in a show that has quickly and powerfully captured my attention. Episode 3, though it featured a lot of brilliant character moments, annoyed me at times. Don't get me wrong, it was a very good episode, just the fact that there was ten minutes to go and no serious story progression had occurred with Krazy-8 had me going insane with impatience. However, the conversations Walter and Krazy-8 (actually Domingo) shared were very eye opening, and complemented by scenes that expounded on the character introductions from the pilot.
We find out Marie is without a doubt a nagging, meddling lady, who apparently is also a shoplifter. That's an interesting little quirk, and I'm wondering where that'll go. We saw Hank a lot more than last episode, whether it was taking down some people at a drug bust, showing Walter Jr. a meth addicted hooker or showing off his detective skills. Marie was worried that Walter Jr. was doing drugs, so Hank took Walter to a shady motel to show him what marijuana leads to. Of course we know Walter Jr. isn't doing drugs, but the scene was very good. I'm liking Hank more and more every time I see him. He's ridiculous, with his deep gravely voice and his incessant use of 'baby' when talking to Marie. Hank's brash and smug and almost like something out of a Seth McFarlane show, but you still could easily imagine him being your neighbour.
Most of the episode focused on the Domingo situation, and because Walter has been spending so much time their, Skyler became suspicious. When Walter tries to use the excuse that he's working at the car wash, Skyler reveals she knows he no longer works there, so our nerdy hero is in a bit of a dilemma. At the end of the episode, Walt's at home, and about to tell his wife (presumably) that he has terminal lung cancer. Like their marriage needs any more strain. But of course, we have to wait until next episode.
Two other developments caught my attention. Jesse is a blabbermouth, as evidenced by the fact that Domingo knew a fair bit about Walter. This could pose a serious problem, because Walter will truly be living two lives, and a lot of trust will be put on his fairly stupid partner. Secondly, the gas mask situation from the end of last episode was added to. Hank and his partner (those two are very good together. In fact, I'd rather watch them in a feature film than watch Righteous Kill again) are out in the desert, investigating Walter's meth lab accident. They rightly guess that an RV is being used for the mobile meth lab, and we get to see Hank is pretty frigging good at his job. It's fun to watch him spout off drug knowledge and show off his skills.
A last little aside before I finish up and watch the next episode: I like all the scenes that show location in Breaking Bad. I love in a TV show when the location is important, where you feel like it's really happening in the chosen city. I absolutely loathe when you're sitting there thinking "this was filmed in a big white box in LA". Taking those extra few seconds to show off the scenery in the desert and such, it really adds to the experience. 




Breaking Bad: Season 1, Episode 2: Cat's in the Bag...

The next episode in this AMC critical-darling began exactly where the first ended, with Walter and Sklyer being all naked and stuff in bed. From there, we're taken on an episode that is essentially a clean-up, a clean-up of the disaster that occurred in the first episode. Jesse and Walter have two glaring problems, a dead body (Emilio) and a not-so dead body (Krazy-8). Naturally, the problem solving Walter decides they should flip a coin to decide who deals with what. Jesse "takes care" of his situation by throwing Emilio and the guns in a bathtub of acid. Of course, the whole time you're cursing him for being an idiot, and what do you know, at the end of the episode, that situation only gets messier. Walter spends the whole episode trying to build up to killing Krazy-8, but he can't do it, and instead ends up giving him essentials he'll need to live in the basement.  These scenes were truly gut-wrenching, and though sometimes you feel horrible and conflicted watching Dexter, the killing is less emotional with Dex, because he's so practiced and doesn't really care. In Breaking Bad, you feel more attached because you can see it weighing on Walter.
There was other stuff that is worth mentioning. Walter went another episode without telling his wife he has terminal lung cancer, and because Sklyer went all sleuth on him and found out about Jesse, Walter told her Pinkman is his pot dealer. I really think it would've been easier just to say he was a former student that was trying to blackmail Walter or scam him or he simply wanted a reference letter! But, if Walter hadn't said he was his dealer, we wouldn
't have got the scene where Sklyer yo, lets Pinkman know what's what, yo. Finally, three more thoughts on this episode. We saw very little of Walter Jr, though we didn't really need to; we saw little of Hank, which is unfortunate because there is a lot to explore there, but he wasn't really needed this episode. And, we were given a lead-in to next episode, when some little girl finds one of their gas masks on the ground. After all that happened in the episode, it didn't feel very "cliff-hangery" or give you the "oh no!" feeling. 
All in all it was once again a very well-executed, well-acted episode; an episode of resolution, where nothing was resolved and even some regression took place.