Goodbye Breaking Bad. Sundays just won't be the same without you.

SPOILERS AHEAD -- I guess this post is for true fans of the show that tuned into the series finale to watch it along with millions of other people. That doesn't mean that you, my many writer friends, aren't welcome to read it. But I know many of you don't watch television so you may get nothing out of this post at all.

I went to a local tavern/pub last night to watch the series finale of Breaking Bad with other rabid fans. I partook in great conversation while watching a high definition broadcast of it on a 60" screen, eating sandwiches and drinking beer. What a fun time. I told them we should do it again for the Walking Dead.

Anyway, none of my predictions landed where I wanted them. I guess one caveat is that we saw Jesse Pinkman in a flashback to his high school days working on that box I told you about last week. So in keeping with a goodbye dedication, I'm going to reflect on all the ends that got tied up, beginning with...

1) The death of Walter White. I got to hand it to him...pure genius to the end. Rather than succumb to anger over Gretchen and Elliot, he used them and their billion dollar empire to be the best money launderers ever for the 9.5 million dollars that he wants to get to his family. It was great to see Badger and Skinny Pete one last time. I love that Walter finally came clean to Skylar about why he was cooking meth. He admitted that he liked it. He was really good at it, and that it made him feel alive. I think any of us can understand that basic need. When we're really awesome at something, it feels good. RIP Heisenberg/Walter White.

2) The death of Lydia Quayle. She got everything that was coming to her. I loved that she got poisoned by the ricin, and it was perfect that she heard it from Walter White, who tauntingly asked her, "How have you been feeling, Lydia?"

3) Jesse Pinkman lived and got his robot from season 1! It seemed to me that at some point, Jesse had nothing left to live for. However, when he drove away from the compound with Walter White standing alone in his rearview mirror, he seemed glad to be alive. Maybe he can find it within himself to move beyond the swath of death created by cooking meth with his former high school teacher. One thing's for sure: Jesse will never be able to forget his high school chemistry teacher. In that sense, Walter White is immortal. Oh and in season 1, Jesse asked Walt if he was going to build a robot. Walt (at the time) scoffed at him. Well, maybe Walt just needed to be inspired. Embedded in the video below are all the greatest moments when Jesse says "bitch." It'll be Aaron Paul's greatest catchphrase from the show.

4) The death of Todd and his whole murderous family. This was perfect. I thought Jesse might cook a bomb and that turned out to be totally wrong. I found the reality just as satisfying. Walter White rescuing Jesse and then killing Todd's family with a tricked out M60 was awesome. I like how he triggered it to go off when the trunk popped open. I also thought it was great to see Jesse Pinkman strangle Todd to death. Perfect ending to that psychopath.

I wish I could have known Skylar White's fate. Did she go to prison? I kind of think that even with the bargaining chip of knowing where Gomez and Hank are buried that this would not be enough to keep her from jail. I could be wrong though. However using that as a bargaining chip would probably make Marie never speak to her again.

As series' finales go, Breaking Bad's is the best that I've ever seen. I salute Vince Gilligan, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, and of course, Bryan Cranston who made it all possible. It's been one hell of a run over five years and you finished it on top. Breaking Bad is easily one of the greatest stories of all time. So goodbye Breaking Bad. Sundays just won't be the same without you.

Can Jesse Pinkman build a better box? How will the greatest show on television end?

How will I feel when Breaking Bad finally ends next week? I know I'll be sad, but I think there'll also be some relief. These last few episodes have been hard to watch. Walt's whole family has been swept away by the outreaching effects of being a serial killing drug kingpin, and the one person that he loves the most, his son "Flynn" a.k.a. Walt Jr., absolutely hates him.

So it's been a long journey, but the series finale is now upon us. In fact, Bryan Cranston teased that fans should prepare themselves for a "holocaust" when he chatted with Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet at the Emmy's (as a side note: why does the whole world now revolve around Ryan Seacrest?) I'm also happy that Anna Gunn (who plays Skylar White) won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress. She deserves it. Just watch her performance in last week's magnificently chilling "Ozymandias." I don't think I've ever talked about an episode so much. Why? There was a lot to say regarding the phone conversation. And well, it's shocking to think that Hank is dead. "You are the smartest guy I know," Hank said to Walter, "and you can't see that he made his mind up ten minutes ago." What a way to go.

So what will happen next week? Walt was all set to turn himself into the police when he saw his old pals at Gray Matter (the company he helped found) basically eliminating all of his significant contributions during an interview with Charlie Rose. And this made Walt very angry. When Walt argued with Gretchen in season one he said, "It was my hard work. My research. And you and Elliott made millions off it." Walter has always felt that his work was stolen from him and bitterly blames Elliot and Gretchen for his lot in life. And here's the thing: we never found out what made Walt suddenly leave Gray Matter Technologies and sell his stake in the company for peanuts.

I expect Gray Matter to come full circle in the series finale. Perhaps Elliot and Gretchen will get poisoned by the ricin? Or maybe, we will come to understand a deeper connection between Madrigal (the company which Lydia works for) and Gray Matter.

The title of the last episode is "Felina." This is an anagram for "Finale." It's also the feminine version of the word "feline" in Spanish. I think this is a nod to Lydia who has captured the eye of Todd. Jesse deserves some payback so killing Lydia in front of Todd would be awesome. However, Vince Gilligan in the show "Talking Bad" dropped one clue near the end. He said that "woodworking" had to do with the season finale.

Here's an interesting quote from earlier in the series. It comes from Jesse Pinkman, and it's about woodworking from the episode "kafkaesque":

"I took this vo-tech class in high school, woodworking. I took a lot of vo-tech classes, because it was just big jerk-off, but this one time I had this teacher by the name of... Mr... Mr. Pike. I guess he was like a Marine or something before he got old. He was hard hearing. My project for his class was to make this wooden box. You know, like a small, just like a... like a box, you know, to put stuff in. So I wanted to get the thing done as fast as possible. I figured I could cut classes for the rest of the semester and he couldn't flunk me as long as I, you know, made the thing. So I finished it in a couple days. And it looked pretty lame, but it worked. You know, for putting in or whatnot. So when I showed it to Mr. Pike for my grade, he looked at it and said: "Is that the best you can do?" At first I thought to myself "Hell yeah, bitch. Now give me a D and shut up so I can go blaze one with my boys." I don't know. Maybe it was the way he said it, but... it was like he wasn't exactly saying it sucked. He was just asking me honestly, "Is that all you got?" And for some reason, I thought to myself: "Yeah, man, I can do better." So I started from scratch. I made another, then another. And by the end of the semester, by like box number five, I had built this thing. You should have seen it. It was insane. I mean, I built it out of Peruvian walnut with inlaid zebrawood. It was fitted with pegas, no screws. I sanded it for days, until it was smooth as glass. Then I rubbed all the wood with tung oil so it was rich and dark. It even smelled good. You know, you put nose in it and breathed in, it was... it was perfect."

So the question in my mind is this: is cooking meth the best you can do Jesse Pinkman? No, I don't think it is. I think Jesse's going to use chemistry to destroy Todd and his family. He's going to create a "better box." Wouldn't that be interesting? He's at his best when his loved ones are threatened, and I think he's ready to die himself to make sure that the deed gets done.

A Reddit user pointed out, the word broken into three syllables spells out Fe-Li-Na, which equals Iron-Lithium-Sodium. The show at its most basic is about chemistry, and Walter White says in season one that chemistry is about "transformation." We know Mr. White is armed to the teeth now, so I think he'll go down in a blaze of glory against the people that he hates the most. Whatever happens, it's sure to be a bloodbath.

I'm thoroughly surprised at the saturation of Breaking Bad in the dialogue of Americans. Mad Money's Jim Cramer referred to it last week in his opening discussion on stocks. George R.R. Martin said that after watching the "Ozymandias" episode, "there's no one in Westeros that's as bad as Walter White. I need to fix that."

Do you have any predictions for the end of Breaking Bad? How will the greatest show on television end? I'm on pins and needles here and Sunday seems so very far away.

Walter White as Heisenberg is the greatest villain of all time

Noir fiction for American audiences is when a protagonist (usually a victim, a suspect, or a perpetrator) is tied directly to a crime. In other words, the protagonist is not an outsider called to solve or fix a particular situation. Another quality of noir has to do with the self-destructive qualities of the lead characters. With this in mind, Breaking Bad definitely fits the bill.

With only four episodes left to go in what I am going to say is one of the most spectacular stories I have ever discovered, Breaking Bad is nothing short of a masterpiece of noir. The absolute corruption of Walter White from season one as a chemistry teacher at a high school unable to lie to his own wife into Heisenberg, the ruthless head of a drug empire, is at once astounding and terrifying.

The evolution of this character from merely wanting his medical bills taken care of and securing a financial future for his young wife and children into someone who probably has close to a billion dollars in cash buried in the New Mexico desert has been riveting to watch. We've seen meth heads crushed by ATM machines, human heads mounted on the backs of turtles and wired with explosives, innocent boys shot and then dissolved (along with their dirt bike) in giant vats of acid, and meth cooking in suburban residential homes being fumigated by corrupt insect company "Vamonos Pest." Along the way, Walter White's lies got better and better and even his wife, Skyler, joined him to become Mrs. Evil.

Her evolution is complete as well. In the last episode that aired Sunday, she basically orders Walt to kill Jesse while sitting on the bed drinking some vodka. "What difference does one more make at this point?" is what she asks. It's cold-blooded, calculating, and very logical. How do you argue with that? It's like trying to answer critics of Syria that say, "What does it matter if people are killed with chemical weapons, a bomb, or with a bullet to the head? Dead is dead." I suppose they're right; I have no answer to that question either.

The storyline of this show unfolded with nuanced precision, chapter by chapter, with no detail too small to overlook. Each season of Breaking Bad presented its unique challenges to Walter White. There was Tuco, the small-time drug lord of Albuquerque, who was scary enough to probably frighten any one of us (on the other side of the tube) to death were he to appear on our doorstep. There were the Juarez Cartel assassins who killed those they met with shiny axes while holding blank-faced unemotional stares. I dare to say, their pulse probably never got above 60, even when they bashed someone's brain in. There was the Juarez Cartel and Gus Fring of Los Pollos Hermanos. One by one, each of these villains disappeared in a unique way, because none of them had what Walter White had: pure evil genius.

If anything, Breaking Bad has shown me that the scariest villain is the smart villain. It's the one that outwits you at every turn, who poisons you with ricin, who strips away every avenue of escape leaving you no choice but to stew in silence or be destroyed. In this respect, the character of Walter White as Heisenberg is the greatest villain of all time. With his "Nobel-sized" brain and the ego to go with it, I find it totally believable that he would embrace darkness because the world in which he lived looked down on him, disrespected him, and did not appreciate how smart he truly was. So he seized upon infamy and the pride that goes with it. The world will never forget Hitler, right? Walt probably has similar aspirations for the entity of Heisenberg.

And in the end, there is no soul blacker than Walter White (although his wife comes a close second). Even Darth Vader loved someone. I don't think Walter White truly loves anyone but himself (does he truly love his kids?). He is pure evil. Jesse Pinkman even calls him "the devil," and rightfully fears Mr. White. He should. Everyone should. I've never seen a psychopathic character brought to life in such vivid color. We have been with him every step of the way and only now that we can see the end in sight do we (as the audience) ultimately realize that this has been a story of evil incarnate--the story of an evil so powerful it's capable of destroying anything and anyone that dares to cross its path.

Dean Norris Spoils Breaking Bad from Dean Norris

I suppose that kind of legendary power would make Heisenberg smile if he were a real person. As much as I admire what the writers of Breaking Bad have created, I hope he doesn't get away with it. Walt is a serial killer, responsible for the destruction of countless lives. To see him go unpunished for this would be too real because I know bad people do bad things all the time and get away with it Scot free. But I guess that begs the question: can Breaking Bad even have a happy ending? Will I be happy to see Walter White vanquished by Hank? Not only would a happy ending be unsatisfying, but I don't think it's even possible. AMC has given us a show that is destined to become a legend in the annals of T.V. history and just like any good story, it's the quality of the villain that made it all happen.

Win a FREE copy of A Hero's Journey by P.T. Dilloway with one comment

Isn't the cover fantastic on this? That's cause it's by the blog world's very own
RUSTY WEBB (or RUSTY CARL) or whatever he calls himself these days. He
blogs at "The Blutonian Death Egg." 

I'm friends with Patrick who blogs over at his website: P.T. DILLOWAY. He's a man of unflinching honesty. He never sugar coats anything, and I kind of like that "confrontational" style that he embraces when leaving comments on the web. And a lot of them are funny. Anyway, Patrick has written another book. As an author, he's quite prolific so this may be his fourth or fifth published novel. You can check out my five star review of it HERE on GOODREADS. If you want to be supportive, please mark it "to read." I end my review by saying:

"A Hero's Journey is appropriate for any age level. Children should have a lot of fun with it and be inspired by Emma in her fight against the forces of evil. I hope that when you finish it, you'll join me in my desire to return to Rampart City soon. There's definitely enough source material to keep the story of the Scarlet Knight going for many books to come."

Now I'm going to turn my blog over to Patrick who is exploring a comparison with A Hero's Journey and my favorite television series, "Breaking Bad" which (I have to say) I'm solely responsible for getting him hooked on.

MR. WHITE Vs. MR. X by Patrick Dilloway

First of all, thanks to Michael for hosting me today!

As a longtime reader of Michael’s blog, I know one of his many favorite TV shows is “Breaking Bad” on AMC.  Unlike most of his other favorite TV shows, I actually watched this one recently on Netflix.  As I did, I noticed some similarities in the show’s main character, Walter White, and the villain of my novel A Hero’s Journey.

When the series begins, Walter White is a pretty normal guy.  He teaches high school chemistry and works on the side at a car wash to make up a few extra bucks. He’s got a teenage son with cerebral palsy and another kid on the way.  So what makes him decide to join forces with a junkie to cook crystal meth out of a Winnebago?

Mr. White reminding all of us why chemistry teachers
have the most fun.

It’s because he’s diagnosed with lung cancer and given only a short time to live. Walter wants to provide for his family, and he knows he can’t do that on $40,000/year from teaching and whatever pocket change he gets at the car wash. Cooking meth seems like a good way to make some quick cash that can provide for his family after he’s gone.

Aaron Paul who plays Jesse Pinkman has the ability to look sexy in anything. That includes
a chemical suit in a New Mexico desert with a shitty Winnebago in the distance.

In my book, the villain “breaks bad” in a different way, but it’s very similar.  It starts out with just a small idea.  In this case a tragedy befalls Mr. X’s family.  He’s able to convince himself that putting on a suit of cursed armor and becoming an ancient monster known as the Black Dragoon is a good way to get justice for his family, especially when it becomes clear the police are not going to be of much help.

In both cases it starts with a little rationalization and then it snowballs.  Mr. White says, “I’ll just make a little crystal meth and then get out.”  Mr. X says, “I’ll just kill these people for my family and then I’m done.”  Except it’s not that simple.  Because as Yoda said, “Once you start down the dark path, forever will it control your destiny.”

Or in other words, once you’ve done one bad thing, it becomes easier to justify doing another one.  You might start out wanting to make some money or avenge your family, but soon you become drawn into lies and murders and so forth.  Eventually you start to lose sight of what caused you to break bad in the first place.  All that nobility becomes washed away in a sea of blood.

This is kind of the point where Walt's "Breaking Bad" has consumed him, and he
is now completely and utterly EVIL.

As they say, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

If you want to see Mr. X break bad, you can buy my book from Solstice Publishing here for only $2.99.  The book is also available from other retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  To find out more about A Hero’s Journey including character bios, deleted scenes, and a visitor’s guide to Rampart City visit my blog located HERE.

AMAZON
BARNES AND NOBLE

And thanks again to Michael for hosting me!

*****

Patrick is giving away a free .pdf copy of his book to one lucky commenter that wants it. Please indicate in the comments whether you would like one or not by leaving your email address. That way he knows to send it if you are a winner.

If you wouldn't mind doing so, please TWEET about this post so that Mr. Dilloway gets as much exposure as possible.

Have a great Monday

Dead Freight was truly horrific

NO NO NO...arrrggghhh. This is the adorable little kid that was murdered
by Walt and his gang in Sunday night's episode called "Dead Freight. I
hate shows that feature murdered kids. And the cuter they are, the more
traumatic it is for me. Why did this child have to die? So angry.

Since this is the final season of "Breaking Bad", I can't help myself but to speculate over every episode. Forgive me if you are not into this show like I am, but this Sunday's episode sunk to new lows. I don't mean it's terrible...but just when I thought it could get no worse...it got worse.

I've seen bodies dissolved in acid. I've seen Jesse having sex with a strung out hooker on meth. I've seen a girl asphyxiate on her own vomit form a heroin shot and die while Walt watches and does nothing. I've seen half a man's face blown off with the eyeball exposed. There have been throats cut, people burned alive, and a decapitated head attached to the back of a tortoise shell.

This is the bastard that killed the kid. Todd. He's the new guy from
the "Vamonos Pest" employer which works with Walt and Jesse to
give them houses in which they can cook their meth. I so want Jesse
to kill this jerk. Out of Walt, Jesse, and Todd, Jesse is the only one who
knows that this is incredibly wrong. He's the only one that still has the
vestiges of a moral compass.

But last night, Todd (Walt's new "guy") shot and killed an innocent boy who had just waved to them. This boy was perfectly cast...skinny, on his dirt bike, and he'd just shown his compassion by handling a tarantula in his palm and putting it safely into a glass jar that he'd punched holes in so it could breathe.

And they blew him away, because he saw them rob a train.

I felt Jesse's pain as he screamed, "Noooooo!" and tried to stop Todd from killing the kid.

But yeah, I was stunned.

Walt is evil and needs to be put down fast. But how is that going to happen? It's clear he's becoming the new Kingpin, and the clues from next week's episode is that he's a self-proclaimed emperor of all things meth.

Will Skyler break and finally spill the beans, thus dooming herself and her children? With two parents in prison for hundreds of felonies (or possibly dead), what legacy do the children have except one of poverty and ridicule by others who blame their parents for the death of hundreds of people affected by their meth manufacturing?

Here's Jesse robbing the train of the precious methylamine.  This part of
the episode was fantastic. The timing, execution, and Hitchcock-like
troubles they overcame had me on the edge of my seat biting my
nails in nervousness. Especially when the big truck showed up and
Walt refused to stop filling the tank until he had it all. Jesse almost got
run over by the train and had to lie flat on the tracks.

Will Jesse survive? I have a feeling that Todd is being groomed by Walt at this point as a replacement. Todd follows orders and isn't as emotional as Jesse. He isn't a good person (which Jesse really is). Walt didn't even move a muscle as Todd shot and killed the boy on the bike. Heck, he almost smiled. Like he was indifferent that a child died.

If ever I had a doubt, Walt's complete transformation into a sociopath who cares nothing for human life is now complete. Though I feel for Skyler, she's just as culpable by allowing this evil bastard to continue without blowing the whistle.

I also want to know what's up with Lydia? That woman can talk herself out of anything. And I almost see her as a perfect match for Walt. Are these two going to hook up? It'd be like two snakes in a basket. I think they'd love each other.

Hank Schraeder, do the world good and put a bullet in your best friend Walter White. It needs to be done. The episode "Dead Freight" was truly horrific. Walt's product is killing people every day. But something about allowing a child to die and Walt being okay with it makes me hate you, Hank, for every day you allow it to continue.

Analyzing Breaking Bad's Fifty One

On Sunday night I was reminded of why I think "Breaking Bad" is the best show on television by a superbly written episode aptly titled "Fifty One". I've been thinking about it all week, and it's really one of those dramas where you have to notice everything. You can't take your eyes off the screen because, what's being discussed or what's being shown is always important. So if you're a fan, I'm analyzing "Breaking Bad's" Fifty One (spoilers ahead):

Notice how short the "1" is. Totally a wish on Skyler's part for Walt to just die.
Skyler hates Walt so much that it's both tragic and awesome at the same time
because she can't do anything about it. She sold her soul to the devil now
and there's no going back from that.

1) First off we have this new character Lydia that Mike stopped short in killing. We know she works at Madrigal which was helping Gus' operation by supplying barrels of Methylamine. But who the hell is she really? Mike says she's dangerous and Jesse Pinkman stops him from killing her (which for the record I think is a big mistake). I think Lydia is Gus' wife, and I would trust Mike's instincts. If anything, the dude is a super lethal assassin. But he's loyal. And he knows character. Lydia should die.

Lydia and Jesse. In this scene, they're looking at a tracker on the bottom
of a barrel that Lydia claims the D.E.A. must have put there. Mike thinks
she put it there and wants to kill her for it. Mike kills lots of people in
this show.

2) The arrangement of the bacon on Walt's birthday. I looked back to the season 1 pilot, and they did this ritual only with veggie bacon. Now one year later, Skyler arranges real "cholesterol clogging" bacon on Walt's plate to spell out 51. Only she cuts the "1" in half, symbolism that she really wants him to die this year. That's just frickin awesome. She does correct the "one" at Junior's insistence but takes a piece from his plate. This is the statement, "If you want your father to live through this year, it will take life away from you." Now the beginning episode of this season had Walt alone in a diner arranging bacon on his own plate to spell out "52." So we know he lives a full year, and we have the entire season to figure out what happens up to that point. How does he come to buy the huge gun and what does he intend to do with it?

Skyler sitting on the bottom of the pool, content in knowing that even
though she may run out of breath, it's better than listening to Walt
talk about himself.

Walt is so evil now. And I do kind of feel for Skyler. However, she's just as culpable as he is, being seduced by greed and money and the power that came with that. Her fate and Walt's are irrevocably intertwined the same as Persephone and Hades. Walt is going to hell and Skyler is too. But that doesn't mean she has to like him. That becomes even more apparent in a crucial scene-stealing moment when Walt is going off at the table about how Skyler saved him from the cancer and did this and did that for him. She gets so sickened by it that she just "walks into the pool". She sits on the bottom with her dress floating up around her and is smiling cause she can no longer hear him. That's just amazing.

3) The ticking watch. Jesse gave it to Walt for his birthday present but the end of the episode has a zoom in on the watch and the ticking is very pronounced. I recall an earlier scene where Mike calls Walt "A ticking time bomb". Once again, great symbolism.

Here's Jesse presenting a watch to Walt for a gift. Tick Tick Tick

4) Walt sells the mint green Pacer for fifty bucks. This car has been Walt's stable transportation for four years of this show. It's been through everything with him. The mechanic that fixes it compliments the car and says, "It will probably go another 200,000 miles." You can see the distaste on Walt's face as he savors this information. He immediately offers it to the mechanic for fifty bucks. THIS represents one dollar for every year of his life. I was blown away by the symbolism of that. A year ago, Walt lived in fear of his cancer.  He lived in fear of men like Tuco, Mike, and Gus, and in fear of losing his job because he wouldn't be able to pay his bills. He's a new man, having defeated ALL of his enemies. He's killed people, poisoned children, and outwitted anyone that thought they were smarter than him (including his D.E.A. brother-in-law, Hank). So Walt flushes the old life down the toilet, and embraces the new life by buying muscle cars for both himself and his only son "Junior".

There was so much to think about in this single episode. If you are a writer, I think that you would be well served to take one hour of your time each week and watch "Breaking Bad" and see how masters of storytelling can unfold a tale. It's absolutely brilliant.

So my questions for you (if you watch the show):
1) Do you think Lydia is Gus' wife?
2) Do you think that Jesse and Lydia might be working together or that they might have struck some kind of deal?
3) There's a part of the episode where Skyler is smoking cigarettes heavily. Do you think that the cigarette that Walt has with the poison in it will come into play this season and that he'll poison Skyler? I sure as hell wouldn't be smoking cigarettes around Walt.
4) What do you think Walt needed the gun for in the trunk of the season opener? I've been trying to figure that out for four episodes now.
5) Do you think Jesse should have just let Mike kill Lydia? Do you think she's dangerous?

A recap of Breaking Bad season 5 episode 1

I was firmly planted on my seat Sunday night for the return of Breaking Bad. It's easily one of the finest if not best written show on television right now. Highlights from last night's episode:

1) I like how they left off pretty much at the same spot where the season finale called "Face Off" had ended. Walt's transformation into the bad guy is complete with the death of Gustavo. And any doubt that I had that Walt was responsible for the poisoning of Brock was brushed away when he threw away the Lily of the Valley plant. I mean, I really suspected that Walt was capable of this...of hurting an innocent child, but I wanted to think that this might have been a coincidence. That there was still some shred of the good Walt that we saw in season one. Nope. It's all gone. He is officially as evil as evil can get. I find myself in an odd place with Walt. He is as evil as any serial killer or any criminal mastermind, yet there is something about knowing his past that makes me root for him. I admire his cleverness. Is it wrong to admire evil when it is especially clever?

Aaron Paul plays Jesse Pinkman

2) Jesse Pinkman is coming into his own. He is confidant. It was his idea which they employed to destroy the hard drive on Gus' laptop which the police tagged as evidence and put into a very secure room. I never would have thought a magnet used in a junk yard could be used in this manner, but I guess if the magnetic field/source was strong enough, it could happen. I have seen first hand how magnets can destroy hard drives. Maybe Myth Busters will do an episode and examine whether or not this stunt would actually work. In any event, it makes for good television. I hope that Jesse becomes a source of light in this very dark show. Skyler has gone evil and accepted that she is the "Persephone" character who resides in the underworld with its ruler "Hades". I hope that by the series end (which happens this season), that Jesse decides to abandon Walt for a fate that actually has a future.

Mike Erhmantraut is a badass assassin

3) Mike appears to be accepting the fact that Walt is now the King of Hell, or for that matter, is now a free agent since Gus is dead and so is the Cartel that controlled drugs to the southwest. It will be interesting to see the line this assassin chooses to walk. I know for a fact that wherever Mike does go, corpses will follow. He is as lethal as Walt is clever.

My Predictions:

Since this is the last season of Breaking Bad, I'm just going to say that I believe the villain of this season is going to be Walt's best friend Hank. He's the only one left. I think that the D.E.A. is going to expose Walt and that it will be Hank that puts him down. And this is so screwy because to say that Hank is a villain is so wrong. Hank is a hero. But since we have a villain as a protagonist, then the antagonist has got to be a good guy.

Anyway...so excited for Sundays. Right now I'm having to balance True Blood, The Newsroom, Breaking Bad, and Falling Skies all in one night. I love my DVR.

Have a great Monday.

Getting My T.V. On

Now that the Emmy's are over and all the television shows that I love are starting up, I decided to do a post about them to 1) organize my thoughts and my DVR and 2) to let you guys know about them in case you want to watch them too and then we can gossip about them. Please say you are nodding your head yes.

SUNDAY

Right now I watch Breaking Bad but as soon as the season is over, the Walking Dead starts in the same time slot on October 16th.  And oh I'm so excited.  Above is the poster for season two and it looks so apocalyptic it just draws me in.  Here's the teaser trailer for the season:

Before AMC's hit series launches into its second season on Oct. 16, we're going to learn exactly what kicked off the zombie apocalypse—through the eyes of one particular zombie.  In Walking Dead's pilot episode, "Days Gone Bye," the good sheriff Rick Grimes stumbles out of a hospital to see a world ravaged by an unseen event that caused the dead to not stay dead. One of the first things he encounters is a legless zombie, slowly making her way from an unseen Point A to an indeterminate Point B.

A new six-part web series, directed and conceived by Walking Dead FX maestro and co-executive producer Greg Nicotero, will tell the story of this zombie—also known by her given name, Hannah—and, through her, reveal the early days of the zombie-laden hell on earth.

The web series will premiere on Oct. 2. The nightmares will begin shortly thereafter.

MONDAY
The Alphas season finale is on 9/26. Coinciding with that is Terra Nova in a huge two-hour series premiere and it looks really frickin' good.  Check out this trailer for it:

Also I shall be watching the new season of House. At the end of last season he drove into Cuddy's home and the preview for this season has him in prison. It's going to occupy the time slot right after Terra Nova so I can watch these or DVR them back-to-back...squee.

WEDNESDAY

This week is the one-hour premiere for Modern Family.  I love this show because it is so funny and the gay couple is refreshing too. Also on Wednesday night is season two of Harry's Law.  I gotta get my court drama in and I absolutely love how Kathy Bates plays Harriet.

THURSDAY
Big Bang Theory beginning with episode 1 entitled, "The Skank Reflex Analysis". After the season four "walk-of-shame" done by Penny after having slept with Rajesh...Penny reveals she wants to be "just friends." Raj replies, "Well as friends then you may want to know that we didn't have sex in the conventional manner." Insert awkward look.   And...I may peek in on Bones even though they really pissed me off with Vincent's death.

FRIDAY
Double whammy of Supernatural season 7 premiere and Fringe season four premiere.  Oh I love you DVR.

So this is what I got lined up. Is anyone else out there passionate about t.v.?

And I swear I am not addicted to t.v.  So none of you get into your minds that you need to stage an intervention.

Breaking Bad

I heard so much buzz on the internet about the AMC show, "Breaking Bad" that I dove into season one this weekend.  Needless to say, I was back at Barnes & Noble on Labor Day buying seasons two and three on Blu-ray.  This show is absolutely riveting.

Breaking Bad follows the story of a brilliant chemist who, at the age of 50, doesn't have a whole lot going on in his life.  He chose to teach high school but many of his students are portrayed as ungrateful good-for-nothings who drive rich cars and just want to hook up with each other.  Meanwhile Walter White (the protagonist) at age 50 has got a younger wife who is pregnant, and a handicapped son that gets teased a lot in high school.  He has a second job working at the car wash where he scrubs tires on the sports cars that some of his students drive and they take demeaning pictures of him on their cell phones to talk about him with each other.

This is Aaron in the persona of the meth junkie Jesse
Pinkman.  They really do a number on his appearance.

So into all of this, Mr. White gets terminal lung cancer. The doctors tell him he only has nine months or so to live.  The chemotherapy that might save his life costs $90,000 and his insurance won't cover it. Plus he'll be leaving his wife and only son with a mountain of medical bills for fighting his cancer (not to mention) a newborn daughter.  So what does the brilliant Mr. White do?

Well he seizes a unique opportunity.  His friend works at the D.E.A. and takes him along to observe a drug bust on a meth lab and he notices one of his former students escape from just having banged a woman in the house next door.  He says nothing.  He follows the former student home and points out that his partner (the cook for the meth lab) has been arrested thereby destroying his livelihood.  He offers to cook meth for the kid if he'll make him a partner in the business.  The kid agrees...flabbergasted that the teacher that flunked him wants to "Break Bad".

This is Aaron in real life. Big
difference as you can tell.

So Mr. White ends up cooking the purest meth ever.  And the crap that these two go through in episode after episode as they deal with cartel enforcers, drug distributors, and hide from the D.E.A. is unbelievable. I can't pull my eyes away.  Also Mr. White's partner, played by Aaron Paul, is a really good-lookin' fella that they have to dirty up for the show.  It's interesting because in some scenes he looks completely strung out but in others (like when he tries to go clean and actually get a job) he looks good but his education makes it impossible for him to earn a living with any dignity.

Things I saw in the first season that surprised me:

1) Lots of meth manufacturing.

2) Nudity.

3) Drug dealers not only killed, but dissolved in hydrofluoric acid that eats through a bathtub and crashes through a floor in a house. They literally have to scoop up the bloody soup of human body with a dustpan and brushes.

4) Incredible cleverness on behalf of the protagonist (and resourcefulness).  Jesse gets almost beaten to death and Mr. White faces off with a huge drug distributor and demands $50,000 from Tuco and manages to get it. I won't spoil how but it is mind-blowing. On top of that, Mr. White gets a deal to sell four pounds of meth to this guy a week.

5) The sheer destruction of a good man like Mr. White as he descends into a world of absolute filth. Yet he is protective of Jesse (sometimes) and it's clear that he doesn't want the boy to come to harm but he certainly doesn't go easy on him at all.  Sometimes Mr. White pushes him to murder which he is growing more comfortable with as the series progresses (the first time he murdered someone was really really hard for him).  But the other aspect that is amazing about this show is Mr. White's intellect. He is far beyond the primitive minds of the drug dealers that he has to do business with and because he knows his life is almost over, the risks he is willing to take are incredible.  And of course his marriage is falling apart because the life he is choosing to lead to cushion his wife and children with money is a secret one...and the secrets are pushing all of his loved ones away.

6) The acting in this show is Academy Award level. It seriously is that good.

This isn't a show for the young adult, smurf-loving, middle-grade fiction crowd. It's a show for adults. I'm an adult...I write adult fiction...and this adult show is absolutely amazing.  If you think of yourself as having adult tastes...you need to watch!