Monsters of Television

“We’re both dead men anyway.”

Marie and Walt Jr. are like the Rose and Bernard of this show. Hear me out.

I don’t mean that they are romantically or cosmically tied to each other (although that would be far more interesting than Junior’s banal teenage angst or Marie’s off-again/on-again kleptomania). I mean that this is a show of cliques within cliques, inner circles overlapping together like an Olympic-level Venn diagram and there are only two people on this show that aren’t included in any of it. Well, the baby, too, but even she’s been accessory to some of Skyler’s research and criminal missions.

No, Marie and Junior are left out of everything, to the demise of any hope that their characters might get interesting in the near future. And, sadly, it seems like the only way to jump-start either of them is to (a) put them on a path that eventually collides with the secret-secrets of the other characters or (b) outright let them in on the secret-secrets so that they can become pawns/hostages/threats to the secret-secrecy. Either way, you’re running into a Chuck/White Collar situation where every loved one in the general vicinity of the main characters is pulled into the capers and, therefore, the danger.

Interestingly, that would make more sense in the world of Breaking Bad than it would be for those other shows since Walter doesn’t have a double-life (anyone dangerous in his life knows all of his business — he hides nothing) and family target practice seems likely if not inevitable sometimes.

All I’m saying is that, if we see that Marie and Junior end up selling Navajo fry bread at Four Corners, telling us they want to stay and live out their remaining years in peace, don’t be horribly surprised.

Now, let’s get to the fight. Read more »

“Pink wine makes me slutty.”

While it doesn’t premiere until Sep. 20, Fox has decided that early preview sessions have worked so well in the past (Glee), that they would go ahead and unleash New Girl on us a couple of weeks early (What, Terra Nova still isn’t ready?!). Never mind that  because I’ve been drowning in promos for the series on TV or due to the painful fawning over her at the TCAs I experienced via Twitter, I feel like I’ve been on board a constant hype train for Fox’s attempt to prove that they can still do a comedy (Raising Hope in a minor, but charming, fluke, I think).

But I will take a free preview (it’s on iTunes and your cable provider’s on demand options right now; it’ll be on streaming services on Sep. 13) since it means I don’t have to make time for it while trying to sort out the new schedule. And thank goodness for that since I’d be kind of annoyed that I cleared time away from watching other shows to check out New Girl.

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“I’m sure if you keep digging, you’ll find me.”

That says it all, doesn't it?

I think my favorite thing about “Hermanos”, among the many many many things I enjoyed in the episode, is that it very much felt like one of those cold opens from season 3 that feel like a miniature movie. Those cold opens are wholly self-contained but send character and thematic ripples across the show. And, sure, people like to say, with each episode of a television show, they’re making a miniature movie, but there’s just something delightful about those cold opens.

With “Hermanos” the entire episode leads up to a sequence that would have otherwise been the cold open of an episode. There’s a steady build to it, which makes it, honestly, a miniature movie within the framework of this entire episode being a miniature movie of Gus Fring’s life. Read more »

Everything about Twin Peaks lends itself to the tone of the show, from the music to the odd characters to the plot itself. The show is set up and paced in a way that is reminiscent of dime-store paperback murder mysteries: there’s a certain lingo to the tale, a certain flavor the characters, a certain atmosphere to the location that combine to create a very distinctive experience. It’s kind of delicious.

With every little bit we discover about the inhabitants of Twin Peaks, knots come unraveled and new ones tangle up and the threads of our disparate storylines start weaving into one another.

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All small towns are hosts to their fair share of crazy. It’s a rule, a code that the universe must obey. Some towns, it must be said, have a few more odd citizens per capita than others. Whether this concentration of strange is a by-product of isolation, limited gene pools, circumstance or chance varies. For Twin Peaks, I get the feeling that something else is to blame.

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“Chalk it up to clean livin’ and vitamin pills.

Well, welcome to the party, Hank.

So often in fictional narrative media, we’re forced to suspend our disbelief when characters can’t see what we assume they should be able to see. Whether it’s the detective that ignores the clue we see buried in the box or tank-topped, cheerleader-shorted sophomore deigning to walk down the dank basement steps, we’re constantly forced to assume a human being in that storyworld doesn’t think critically like we do. It’s an eye-rolling affair sometimes but one we accept. Usually it’s a crutch for the storywriter: if it’s remotely plausible that a detail can be skipped due to human error or blissful naivete, then it’s less work for the author. Or maybe it’s just that years of cultural consumption have taught us that the dude’s behind the door! Run, girlfriend!

There are at least two times in this episode of Breaking Bad where the there are opportunities for a detail to be skipped or a monologue to continue that would at least continue a story arc into a natural conclusion for the week. But, instead, we get real revelations from people breaking that media perception of just allowing things to happen and not bringing critical thinking in until the penultimate act.

The best part is: it’s for our benefit. Read more »

“Someone has to protect this family from the man who protects this family.”

The contrast between a “normal” episode, filler, and a breather boils down to the WTF moment within the last five minutes. Last week, even if the episode itself was pretty low-key, it had Hank putting some pieces together that makes him one step closer to realizing who Heisenberg really is. Well, kind of. Baby steps.

There really wasn’t breath-taking intensity, though, unless you count the cringing anxiety I suffered watching the dinner scene. So you wouldn’t expect a breather episode to follow. And, yet, here we are. Fleshing characters out and not really pressing the story forward.

While there were some interesting scenes, for a series that can probably count its filler episodes on one hand, it’s almost disappointing when one comes around. This is especially true when the filler episode comes on the tail of a week with so much momentum. The ball started to roll and this episode totally forgets about the ball. Instead, we focus on stuff we kind of already know and (probably, hopefully) set the table for oncoming, rapid-fire WTFs. Probably preceded by an OMG and followed by a BBQ. Because barbecue is delicious. And so is Navajo fried bread. Read more »

Wading into pop culture is a bit like going to university. It’s a hodgepodge of people with a hodgepodge of interests forced to live together in relative harmony. Don’t take a particular class – read a specific book, see a certain film or watch a certain show, tune in to a musical group – and there’s a hole in your education, an understanding you will fail to have. There are frats and sororities and clubs dedicated to topics of all kinds – shows, songs, characters, plot-holes – and if you aren’t part of them, you’re jeered or pitied. Or both.

And just like university, there’s simply too much to take in, so you miss things. You can still understand their place in pop culture – I have never seen Lost or The Simpsons, but I “get” many of the references made to them and I have a pretty solid grasp of where they fit in the grand scheme of things – but you will never quite fit in with those who have actually had the experience.

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Far be it from me to initiate some sort of backlash against Louie at all, but the show has been receiving a lot of press lately, both public and private. Everything from academic television blogs to GQ have been weighing in on the show. My Twitter feed has been populated with takes on the second season in what feels like a monsoon torrent of 140 character comments. Even my relatively small smattering of friends on Google+ adds its two cents worth, posting clips and qualifying the show with pleading recommendations and tallied +1 button taps. The consensus: it’s pretty good.

My saying that “it’s pretty good” is probably funny to you because the praise for the show has become so hyperbolic any adjective not ending in “est” doesn’t play anymore. The greatest show on television. The funniest show on television. Landmark. Important. Sit-com of a generation (although usually those reviews disclaim by saying it’s not a sit-com because it’s SO original and SO genre-bending that it defies the “situational comedy” misnomer).

I’m not here to tell you not to feel your feelings. You have investment in this program and I respect that, applaud it even. All of television is art (no matter who may tell you otherwise) and is, therefore, subjective. I love Gilmore Girls. Some people think that show is either (a) too verbose, (b) too saccharine, and/or (c) for bitches. That last one is a quote. So no one can tell you whether or not you can like, love, or honor a show. I like Louie. I really do.

But you guys have to cool it. You’re going to ruin it for everyone. Read more »

“You are not the guy.”

This is going to be kind of quick since I don’t have much to say, I don’t know the episode warrants a lot of commentary, and I’m sure a good chunk of it has been expressed elsewhere.

I will say that I was very jealous of Nick last week. After “Open House” (an episode I’m more and more convinced may be the I’ve enjoyed most so far since the premiere) and seeing the preview for “Bullet Points”, I thought, “Man. Nick gets the exciting episodes.” And then I realized that I would get an exciting episode as I would get to write about whatever the hell happened to Jesse and Mike on their little road trip.

I’m still jealous of Nick, but he didn’t get that great dinner scene to talk about, so I’ll say we’re even-ish. Read more »