Breaking Bad: ‘Granite State’

“Remember what I told you? It’s not over until *coughing fit*” – Walt

Hard to watch for all the right reasons. Breaking Bad has transcended past a television show, it’s become an experience that hits you, and hits you hard. What separates it from so many similar shows/movies/books is that there are appropriate repercussions for every awful decision that these people make, even if they’re remorseful.

Jesse Pinkman is the model for this case of devastation, as he never had bigger aspirations than maybe buying his aunt’s house, all the weed he, Badger, and Skinny Pete can smoke, and maybe eventually find a nice girl to settle down with. But in order to accomplish this he cooked and sold meth and he killed a man along the way. Granted it was for his preservation, it was either Gale’s life or his and Walt’s, but it was a life he took away from this world and, unfortunately, no bad deed goes unnoticed. Jesse was sorry and he wanted out, especially after he witnessed Todd murder an innocent child for their cause, but in the world of Breaking Bad he doesn’t get off just because he’s regretful. He’s not innocent and so he gets what’s coming to him for the poor decisions he made in the past, which hurts both him, and us.

See, Vince Gilligan doesn’t let the viewers get off either. This is what we get for rooting for these guys. This is our punishment for cheering on Walt and Jesse as they profited off of the destruction of others. The depression for every character left standing is so great, and so intense, that it is boiling out of the screens and into our world. Because in our world there are repercussions too. You simply can’t run a meth empire and get away with it without losing a whole lot along the way.

The easy way out would have been if the Nazis just killed Jesse in the desert, moments after Hank was laid to waste. Instead we have to endure wade through the wallowing waters of the life that belongs to Jesse Pinkman, where rock bottom doesn’t seem to exist. Even in as late of a chapter that we find ourselves, there was still a glimmer of hope though when Jesse takes a page out of the book of Mr. White and MacGyvers his way out of Todd’s torture chamber. For a brief moment there escape and triumph in the world where it otherwise seemed so bleak. But again, there’s no escaping to any other life beyond death. Jesse can’t even make it over the fence before the neo-Nazis catch him and then force his to watch Todd execute possibly the most traumatizing murder we’ve seen to date on this show. That Opie, dead-eye monster kills Andrea, a rare truly innocent person on the show, and Jesse can do nothing but scream helplessly, just as Walt did before him when they started the shootout with Hank, and any minimal amount of hope he had left was squashed out.

And then there’s Walter White, the pinnacle of pathetic. A man who’s now almost unrecognizable after spending his last few dying months in the isolated mountains of New Hampshire. When he retreats there in hiding he literally has nothing left to do but count his money and wait out the rest of his dying days. This was the great Heisenberg(*), the man who once ran an international meth conglomerate that started from a simple RV. And now he’s nothing. From trying to pay a man $10,000 for a couple hours of his time to having his son demand that he just die, Walt is a shell so hollowed out that there’s no reason for him to going on like this. He makes a phone call to the DEA to turn himself in once and for all so maybe he can at least allow his family to get on with their lives. That is until Elliot and Gretchen Schwartz happen upon the television in his local bar.

(*) We do get one last look at the former legend when Walt makes an attempt to brave the weather and don the hat we’ve grown accustomed to associating with treachery. But in his fragile, cancer-riddled state Walt promises himself a “tomorrow” that doesn’t come for quite a while.

In an interview with Charlie Rose the Schwartz’s explain how Walter White had nothing to do with building their company other than being one half of the name of Gray Matters. Boy, if there was ever something someone could say that could cause Walter White to reignite his flame, it would be to say that he wasn’t important. We learned a long time ago that Walter White was in this game for more than money, he wanted to be revered. He wanted people to see him for the powerful genius he always knew he truly was, not as the hard luck chemistry teacher who barely has a dollar to his name (sadly this is the only man that Walt Jr. needed him to be). So now Walt knows he’s going out, let’s see how many people he deems worthy enough to take with him.

Other moments of note:

• This show always does such a fantastic job of creating characters and making them seem insanely interesting. There was no exception here with Saul’s “guy,” Ed, played by Robert Forster. Immediately we became invested in this guy as he sets up these new lives for Saul and Walt and I would totally watch a spin-off show where Ed has to make other criminals disappear off into the wild blue yonder.
• Speaking of spin-offs, it’s clear now why Better Call Saul is going to be a prequel. I’m guessing we won’t be seeing Saul next week as he’s off to run the Cinnabon in Nebraska but there’s still plenty of his story to tell on his next show. Heck maybe after season four they’ll flash-forward to present day and we can see him restart his life and buy his three pairs of Dockers.
• Jesse got his cook up to 96%? Walt really did teach him well. At least Todd was nice enough to reward him with some ice cream.
• Todd has become such a creepy villain. The scene where he intimidates Skyler in Holly’s room is truly terrifying and I can only hope he bites the bullet next week.
• I wonder how many times Walt has watched Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium by now…

What did everyone else think? Comments are always welcome.

Primetime Emmy Awards: 2013 (And Some Bears/Steelers) Live Blog

Ah there’s just too much on television tonight. Say what you will about how inaccurate it is for many shows/actors that deserve the awards, but I want to watch the Emmys because it is the culmination of a year of television which basically fuels me, and this blog, on a weekly basis. I also want to watch the Bears vs. Steelers game over on NBC. As a Bears fan living in Indianapolis I get to watch about 27.8% of their games every season so I hate to squander a chance, even if it’s against the lowly Steelers that they’ll probably lose embarrassingly to. Then of course there’s two dramas airing in the 9:00 slot that have certainly piqued my interest. Breaking Bad has its penultimate episode airing and of course it has to be watched in a timely manner to avoid internet spoilers. And finally but certainly least is Dexter which probably be pushed to the end of my night, if not tomorrow, but it is the end of a show that lasted eight years and it did have its moments over the years.

The Emmys and the Bears undoubtedly have the most “live” appeal since it sucks to watch a sports game after it’s happened and the Emmys are way more fun when you’re reading tweets about how happy/disappointed people are with the goings-on. So my thumb will be getting a lot of work hitting the ‘recall’ button between the two until at least 9:30. By then the anticipation of watching Breaking Bad will force me to break into the DVR and watch. At least by then enough will be recorded so I can fly through the commercials.

So I’m going to keep this pretty concise to the big categories and stray observations of the broadcast, plus the occasional Bears update as the game goes along. Oh and I’m sure I’ll miss more than couple noteworthy moments (especially after I check in on Walter White and the gang) but it is what it is, let’s watch the 2013 Primetime Emmy Awards.

The show kicks off with our host Neil Patrick Harris walking down a hallway talking about everything he’s sacrificing by hosting for a second time. He’s led into a room filled with monitors (Matrix style) where he takes on the envious task of trying to binge-watch an entire year of television. The shows characters are edited to appear as if they’re helping to coach Neil through this and give him some advice but the sketch falls very flat and seems very messy. The monologue isn’t much better as NPH plays it extremely safe with his jabs, I suppose I’ve grown accustom to more of a roast format here. Former hosts begin to come on stage, Jimmy Kimmel and Jane Lynch help Neil by talking him through this. They, of course, are followed by Jimmy Fallon and Conan O'Brien to complete the line of all the recent hosts. Conan explains how different the world was when he hosted: “people had storage and they didn’t even have to fight for it.” The camera pans out and we see Kevin Spacey break the fourth wall and talk to directly to us, the viewers, as he explains how this was all part of his plan. Finally, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler chime in with some commentary about the direction they’d like to see the show go. I’m pretty sure these two who can do no wrong at this point.

This segues into Fey and Poehler presenting the first award of the night, Outstanding supporting actress for a Comedy Series. And shockingly the award goes to Merrit Wever for Nurse Jackie, Modern Family didn’t win! Great acceptance speech: “Thank you so much. I gotta to go, bye.”

Switching over to NBC just in time to watch Carrie Underwood sing the Sunday Night Football song, haven’t missed anything from the game yet.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a comedy series goes to Tony Hale! Yes the Modern Family shake-up  has begun! Wow they’re playing Tony Hale off very quickly though, you’d think there’d be some extra time after Merrit literllay took 5 seconds for hers. I’ve never seen Veep but I love Tony Hale in everything he’s been in and he was very deserving of the award.

Channel change over to Bears game, they’re not losing!

Back over to the Emmys and out come Alec Baldwin and Jon Hamm who is looking amazing with a beard. For the record, I’d love to watch a show with these two. They present the award for best lead actress in a comedy series and it goes to Julia Louis-Dreyfuss. Well, at least the Modern Family Empire toppled down but the JLD monopoly keeps Poehler off the board for another year. Tony Hale hilariously goes up there with her after being played off by the music after he won.

Bears up 3-0 but ugh, they just gave up a 10 yard run to Felix Jones, could be a long night.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series goes to Jim Parsons. I have to say this seems like an “asterisk category” without Nick Offerman being nominated, but whatever. I’m not a fan of Big Bang Theory but you can’t blame that on Parsons, he really does carry that show.

Woah, Bears quickly up 10-0, Steelers must have had a turnover.

Matt Damon and Michael Douglas introduce Elton John who will be performing. Sorry Elton but I’m going to assume you rock it out there and switch back over to NBC for a few minutes. Bears are at the 5 yard line!? Holy cow they score here and it make my decisions of what to watch for the rest of the night much easier. They do, 1 yard touchdown run by Michael Bush. Scratch that, refs called him down at the two inch line, Tressman challenges. Bears lose the challenge and decide to go for it on fourth down. Bush gets in for 18^th time on this series, 17-0 Bears. Although as Matt Forte owner I really could have used him getting the score instead of Bush… okay so it’s hard to write about sports and make it sound exciting.

Back to Emmys, looks like Damon and Douglass (coming to CBS this fall) accepted an award from someone. Cool? Arg, both shows at commercial at the same time and BB started 7 minutes ago. Must. Be. Patient.

The cast of HIMYM give us a public service announcement about EHD (Excessive Hosting Disorder). Arsenio Hall as he has also been afflicted with this disease. Hah, we find out that NPH can get help at ‘The Ryan Seacrest Center for Excessive Hosting’, got to admit that was pretty funny.

Henry Bormell wins for best writing posthumously. Glad he got to win and that episode of Homeland he wrote (“Q&A”) was really fantastic, especially in a season of Homeland which was not at the top of its game. Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series goes to Anna Gunn, time for the Breaking Bad annihilation to begin.

Back over to the Bears, Pittsburgh is in the red zone which seems to be a recurring theme every time I switch channels. Roethlisberger makes a poor throw so the Steelers are forced to take the field goal. 17-3 Bears.

It’s about time Neil breaks into a musical number. The song takes a meta approach as the songs theme is about it being in the middle of the show as opposed to it being a typical opening musical number like always. Hey at least Nathan FIllion comes out to sing with him, but as much as I love Sarah Silverman I’m pretty disappointed that Felicia Day isn’t out there. Would have been a nice Doctor Horrible reunion. Oh and Outstanding Reality Competition goes to The Voice. Yup, don’t care.

Bears get a pick 6 from Major Wright. His Dad, Sergeant, must be so proud. 24-3 Bears.

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series goes to Bobby Canavalle. Wow what an upset,I guess I need to start watching Boardwalk Empire. I would have loved to see Jonathon Banks win though for the work he did on Breaking Bad… and apparently Canavalle’s married to Rose Byrne so he’s just piling it on these other nominees.

Crap, Roethlisberger to Antonio Brown for a Steelers touchdown. 24-10 Chicago and somehow I keep switching over just in time to watch every score.

Holy cow, Jeff Daniels wins for Best Actor in a Drama Series. Lots and lots of upsets this year but I can’t say I’m ecstatic about this one. If it’s not going to go to Cranston then can we at least give it to Jon Hamm? Otherwise AMC is going to keep splitting up this final season of Mad Men until he wins one. Speaking of Mad Men, Don Cheadle gives us a history of television in the 1960’s. Save it for Mathew Weiner, Emmys. 

Now Carrie Underwood is singing ‘Yesterday’ for some reason, big night for her on both channels I’m watching but this move doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series goes to Clare Danes. No surprise, move along everyone. Back to the Bears game. Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth are discussing how Jay Cutler was brought in to help interview who the Bears coach would be. And now it’s halftime. There’s some strange music set to themes of shows? Sorry I missed the introduction to whatever this is, I was over on the Bears game for a while and I think I’m going back. Of course during halftime of the game almost nothing happened on the Emmys... Approximately 40 minutes until I start Breaking Bad.

Outstanding Variety Series goes to The Colbert Report! It’s been a night of upsets and I’m really glad that Colbert finally gets his due. You have to figure that Jon Stewart taking off the whole summer has something to do with The Daily Show not winning for 138^th straight time but you can’t say this wasn’t a long time coming.

Haven’t checked in on the Bears in a while, they’re up to 27-13 with 5 minutes left in the third quarter. One more score by them and I don’t see any way this beleaguered Steelers team can put up enough points to win. Matt Forte got his ankle rolled over on the last play and has to limp to the sideline, that doesn’t bode well.

Time for the always sad In-Memoriam, although this year we got a few deaths covered early on in the broadcast making death a repeated theme throughout the evening. As usual we lost some great ones, but at least we still have Miley Cyrus.  

Wow Antonio Brown just made an absolutely amazing one-handed grab for a Steelers touchdown. 27-20 Bears but the Steelers have all the momentum. Urgh. On the bright side it looks like Matt Forte is fine.

Michael Douglass wins for his role in Behind the Candelabra. He makes a few gay puns and has a laugh with Matt Damon about them. We’re 10:59 and still have a ways to go here. Let’s go Emmys, I want to watch my show!

Will Ferrell brings his kids up to present the last awards for best Comedy and Drama. How does this man crack me up so easily? He comes up completely disheveled explain he just got a call from the Emmys 45 minutes ago that they needed him to come fill in for Maggie Smith. The award for Outstanding Comedy Series goes to Modern Family. There’s no justice that it won over Arrested Development, Parks and Recreation, Louie, New Girl, etc. but the Emmy voters love this show for some reason and that will never change.

Yes! Breaking Bad finally wins for best drama. I just fist-pumped for the first time tonight, including watching those Bears touchdowns. I think my favorite part of them winning was Louis C.K. gleefully cheering for them as they all stood up. Everyone loves this show (although the cast of Mad Men seems pretty disgruntled by it). Much deserved win, I’m assuming they’ll be back up there this time next year too.

So that wraps up the year in television (at least as far as the awards are concerned). We saw plenty of changes this year as the Modern Family finally stops getting rewarded for being uncreative (well for acting anyway). We saw plenty of new actors take home awards, including the greatest speech of all-time by Merrit Wever. We saw, as usual, terrible production tactics as the Emmys filled the show with countless minutes of fluff leading to acceptance speeches getting cut off at around the 30 second mark. And of course we saw all the actors do a wonderful job of acting like they actually wanted to be there. At the time of this posting the Bears are up 27-23 but the way this game is going it doesn't look good. Okay, Breaking Bad, I’ve been a very good and patient boy tonight and I’m very excited to view you now.

UPDATE: Bears up 40-23. So much for that worry.

What did everyone else think? Feel free to vent your qualms below.

Dads: ‘Pilot’

It’s easy to look at a show like Dads and attack it for its racist, sexist, and homophobic “jokes” along with choppy plot and a general un-funniness that ultimately puts this pilot into an elite echelon of putrid shit…. So let’s just do that.

Oftentimes comedies take a while to develop, it takes a while to smooth out a character around the edges and figure out what works and what doesn’t in their world to make it funny and enjoyable. The most recent, and obvious, example of this is Parks and Recreation as it went from pretty bad to the best comedy on television. Even other great shows like 30 Rock and The Office are contextually hard to recognize in their first season compared to where they ended up. But with that being said, there’s no sugar coating a comedy of this ilk. Although Dads technically has no place to go but up, it’s easy to imagine that what got thrown out there in the pilot was what they wanted it to be.

The show stars Seth Green (Eli) and Giovanni Ribisi (Walden) as a couple of friends/video game moguls who seemingly have their lives figured out and are generally happy with the exception of each their Dad’s, Peter Riegert as Green’s father and Martin Mull as Ribisi’s, who are forced to live with their sons because of economic hardships. What they aren’t forced to do, however; is act like a couple a misogynistic, xenophobes who are leeches to both their sons and society as a whole which is what this show unfortunately leans upon for laughs.

What makes this show truly awful is how lazy the whole thing felt. In terms of jokes, the writers must have essentially made a checklist of one-liners to zing out every minority group they can think of and exploit stereotypes associated with them all. At one point Ribisi’s character is playing video games and his father enters the room to ask him “whatcha playing? Punch the Puerto Rican?” Zero set-up, zero payoff. We’re not even sure he’s playing a fighting game.  The only joke that was purely a stand-alone, original one was based off the fact that neither of the father’s would want to pick-up the check. The writers must have thought this “gem” was so hilarious that it deserved not only Eli and Walden discussing techniques both of their fathers have used in the past to get out of paying for a check, but also a visual component to accompany it as we witness said practices play out when the Dads are at a diner. Apparently this diner doesn’t allow for splitting a check?

But hey, maybe this show redeems itself by representing women well. Oh… it’s the exact opposite of positive portrayals of women? Well, can’t say that wasn’t expected. In the first scene we see Eli’s girlfriend she has just woken up after his father ruins the surprise of the birthday she was throwing for him. Eli tells her: “I hate surprise parties. You’re a terrible girlfriend.” Yup. This beautiful woman tries to do something nice for her schlubby boyfriend and instead of fighting back she just bows down to him because he is man and man is right. This scene was only to be topped later on when Eli and Walden insist that Brenda Song’s character who works for them, put on a Sailor Moon type schoolgirl uniform to impress their potential Asian clients. Able to check off a couple of boxes there, huh guys?

Hopefully this won’t fall into the mold of Two and a Half Men where American viewers simply watch because it seems familiar to them and they don’t have to put any thought into the idiotic humor that ensues. Of course we’ll probably get 29 seasons where by the end Green and Ribisi are now the obnoxious, racist fathers who are forced to live with their kids after their Dad’s sucked them dry. Come on FOX, what are you doing here?

Other moments of note:

• In a show where many things are “off” the theme song seemed particulary out of place. I was waiting for it to shift into goofy shenanigans or something along those lines but it stays steady as a sweet song about sons and fathers. Whatever.
• Sad to see Dan Castellaneta (voice of Homer Simpson) attached to this in any way, and in the opening scene no less as Green tells him to act more wizard-like. He must have been doing a favor for someone.
• Not one, but two cancer jokes.  Riegert has a “say yes to breast cancer” bag that he got cheap because of the typo and we find out he faked Green’s character had cancer as a kid in order for him to get a free lunch with Goofy.
• I think what bothers me most is that Seth Green’s character has an upstairs but he puts his bed right off of the living room. So impractical.

What did everyone else think? Comments are always welcome.

Breaking Bad: ‘Ozymandias’

Walt at the end of his rope.

Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.

-Percy Bysshe Shelley

I think it says a lot about a show when you have no idea how to begin discussing what you just witnessed. There are no words that initially come into one’s brain after watching something that makes you simultaneously feel glee, hate, nausea, twisted comedy, and guilt. That’s what ‘Ozymandias’ did. That’s what 6 years of fantastic story-telling was able to build towards. Brilliance.

So instead of delving directly into what transpired, let’s first examine the sonnet that gave this episode its name. ‘Ozymandias’ was written by Percy Bysshe Shelley and initially published in 1818. The poem fits, beyond perfectly, for this episode as it represents stories we’ve seen throughout history, both real and fictional, about kings and empires who are unstoppable forces at their peaks and revered throughout all the lands. However, every empire falls and their king falls down with them, leaving nothing behind but ruins of what they once were.

Which is why the first scene here takes us back to where it all began, their first cook. This was the first time Walt created his army that would topple over every other army the world had seen, coming in at 99.3% efficiency. The first time Walt had to deceive Skyler, back when lying was a difficult task for him. And it was a time when Walt thought his aspirations of domination would be short-lived and not even require any causalities. Just a guy and his former student sticking it to “the man” to make a quick buck and pay for some medical expenses.

Oh how naïve we all were.

When it rains, it pours in the world of Breaking Bad and Walter White’s meth empire/life are crumbling at exponential rates here. There is no beating around the bush with the standoff, we overhear the sound of bullets being exchanged as we fade in and Gomie is already laying dead and Hank has been shot in the leg, out of ammo in his gun. Hank is done. He knows it, Uncle Jack knows it, Walt doesn’t. In a beautiful escalation of bad-ass word play, Hank comes to terms with the fact that Uncle Jack decided that he was dead long before Walt offered money in exchange for his life(*). The job Dean Norris was able to do with this character was incredible. Hank Schraeder started out as a one-dimensional, comic relief type who was there to help move along slower moments. As the series progressed, though, the writers discovered his acting talents and fully embraced them by sending this guy to hell and back, and hell again. In order for Breaking Bad to work the way it has, it needed everything to come together in terms of acting, writing, and directing; but getting Dean Norris for as cheap as they did went a long way to developing this story and he will surely be missed with just two episodes to go.

(*) I don’t think Walt was thinking this at the time but if Uncle Jack had actually accepted that deal to take all of Walt’s money and leave Hank alone it would have solved his problem with Hank too because that was Hank’s only evidence against him. But that was, of course, far from the actual result.

And all of this transpires within the first 8 minutes. The moment Uncle Jack pulls the trigger Walt’s life officially falls apart. The Nazis have taken everything from him: his family, his money, and any hopes or justifications he had left of being a “clean drug dealer” where no one really has to get hurt. With nothing left to lose Walt’s immediate response is vengeance. Since there’s nothing he can do at this stage to take action on those truly responsible for Hank’s death, he figures the next best thing is to get back at Jesse for bringing them all here in the first place. Before Uncle Jack can put another one of our friends in the ground, though, Todd quickly remembers that it’s possible Jesse may have told the DEA about their little operation and advises Uncle Jack that they kill him after he tortures some information out of him(**). Walt goes along with this plan, which is contrary to his original request last week when he insisted that Jesse not receive any pain, but prior to Jesse being dragged away for good he can’t help but twist the knife he’s already plunged into his former protégé. “I watched Jane die” he coldly tells Jesse. Man, you got to hand it to Breaking Bad, no plot or character is wasted and every loose end is tied up, in this case in a devastating manor as Walt tells Jesse the truth purely out of spite.

(**) I wonder if Todd figured out immediately that Jesse could cook for them or if his initial reaction was to simply get a nice torturing out of this. I don’t know how they continually make us feel worse and worse for Jesse but I have to assume that him being bludgeoned by a psychopath and forced to cook meth while being locked to a factory hook is officially the lowest this poor character will fall. Is there any salvation for Jesse at this point?

While Walt is busy sending his “adopted” son to his death, his actual son is in the middle of having his world completely shattered as Skyler and Marie begin to tell him about the horrific deeds his father has committed. After questioning his Mom’s moral compass in all of this as well, Walt Jr. and Skyler return home with baby Holly and to their astonishment Walt is loading up an old pick-up truck telling them they have to leave immediately. Skyler, now an expert at knowing when Walt is feeding them bullshit, quickly deduces that something is seriously wrong for Hank not to have him in custody. This begins a chain reaction I like to refer to as: “Breaking Bad wins everything”. Skyler has two choices sitting on her kitchen counter: one is a phone to call the police on him, the other a carving knife. She knows that anything that would allow Walt any more opportunities to talk may just dig her family into an even deeper hole so she decides to finally take action into her own hands and pulls a knife on the man she once knew as her husband.

During the Walt/Skyler/Walt Jr. fight the rest of the world stopped. I don’t think I would have noticed Miley Cyrus crashing through my wall on a wrecking ball during that three minute sequence. A man at the peak of desperation begs an answer to the question: “what the hell is wrong with you? We’re a family.” He’s oblivious to the fact that he’s poisoned his loved one’s lives too much for them to consider him family anymore. His perfectly calculated life went by the wayside the moment he picked up that phone out in the desert to tell his wife that his boss “was forcing him to stay late.” The only person who he cares about, who could still potentially love him again, is his 18 month year-old daughter, Holly. He doesn’t have an end-game when he grabs her; there was no elaborate plan to use her to bail him out of this situation. It was literally his last move he had left before he had to yield to defeat.

Do those desert pants look familiar?

There’s no denying that Walter White is truly a monster. Before Hank is executed he tells Walt that he’s “the smartest guy he ever met,” which makes it that much worse that he’s used his gifted intelligence to ruin so many lives, especially his own. There’s really no redemption for Walt at this point. With two episodes to go all he can do is get vengeance and do what he can to not make things worse for the people he cares about. After Holly so tragically asks for her Mama in the changing room Walt accept that he lost. In what has been his first selfless act in quite some time he calls Skyler, fully anticipating that their phone call will be overheard by the police, and makes it very clear that she had no knowledge of any of his criminal activity and he forced her to cooperate. She catches on about midway through and tells him “I’m sorry,” possibly the only part of that conversation that wasn’t an act. And boy, this episode removed any doubt of who will win best lead actor and actress at the Emmy’s next year.

The episode ends with Walt being picked up by Saul’s guy who will give him a new identity and a new life. I wonder if the start of the penultimate will pick-up where the flash-forward left off, or if there is some more filler story to tell before we get to machine guns and ricin pills. Two hours left, brace yourselves.

Other moments of note:

• In the midst of all the other things going on here it’s easy to overlook how awful this must be for poor Walt Jr. In a matter of a couple of hours he learns that his father is the kingpin drug dealer of the Southwest, that his mother knew this whole time, that his uncle has died because of his father, and has to stand by helplessly when his mother attacks his father with a knife. Oh and then his Dad abducts his baby sister for a little icing on his misery cake. This kid is going to need some serious therapy.
• Well, at least Uncle Jack was nice enough to give Walt one barrel. Weird that $11 million dollars is a “small” token for destroying what was left of his life.
• “Flynn. Could you put your seat belt on please?”
• Rian Johnson directed this masterpiece and there were two fantastic parts of the episode that only showed up on screen for a second. The first was Walt’s pants that he lost in the very first episode as they flew off the RV were lying in the desert as he pushed his barrel through it. The second was the firemen playing chess right before he alerted them that Holly was there. The “white” pieces were about to lose as all they had left were a couple of pawns (his family), a knight (Jesse) and, of course, the king.

What did everyone else think? Comments are always welcome. 

The Million Second Quiz: ‘Day One’

It’s the first installment of NBC’s new game show The Million Second Quiz in which contestants are tasked with answering trivia questions, head-to-head, in a hour glass shaped structure placed in the middle of New York City. At least they’re not going too overboard… It’s hosted by our lord and savior Ryan Seacrest who, apparently, has become one step closer to world domination with his new title of ”game show host.”

The show begins with Lord Ryan explain the basics of the game, who can compete, yadda, yadda, yadda. Then we get to enter the world of the ‘elite four’… or something like that. The official title is ‘Winner’s Row’ where the top four money winners essentially live at ove the course of the show. Ryan shows us where they sleep, eat, Google chat to family members; but where do they pee Ryan? WHERE DO THEY PEE!?

By the way, NBC would like to remind viewers that portions are pre-recorded. This could come into play later. But I highly doubt it.

Barry Lander is the first challenger and I would like to remind all of our semi-illeterate fans that this he not to be mistaken with Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders. Ryan asks what has made his marriage so successful and, oh, we get marriage advice too from this game too!? What more could America ask for?

So the guy in the chair is essentially hoping for Seacrest to stall?

Okay everyone, here the answers to the first ‘bout’ with Barry and Brandon; please decipher your own conspiracy theories based off of them: Mea Culpa, Cocoa Puffs, Peyton Manning…love these questions so far…. Cub (presented by Blake Shelton), FE Man, Hoda Kotb, Germany, Iowa (shocker), knaidel, Indian Ocean. Holy cow, Bandon defeats Barry 19 to 11. What an upset! A 19 year old takes down a 143 year old! Despite having over a century’s worth of experience over Brandon, Barry could not take him down in the realm of trivia.

Do you think players are banned from saying ‘final answer’? Ryan would haaaaate that. In-between bouts we get a short documentary on Genie Spooler who seems to be a true ground-breaker. She was the first one into winner’s row but it didn’t last very long as other contestants quickly accumulated more winnings than her.

Now we're being introduced to the idea of "line jumpers". Some lady named Leigh has won the “line jumper” position on the show because she has a smart phone and can download the show’s app onto it. Leigh vs Brandon: (Oh! And it looks like the doubler can be used as many times as they like? Wow, game-changer.) Answers: Sideburns, Medusa, Carrie Underwood (presented by Heidi Klum), Sex and the City, Kate Upton, Tokyo, Insect fragments, Riddick, 33, commander, Berry Gordy… And Brandon wins again! Break up the Rays!

Love how the show didn’t account for wind, Seacrest is another 2 mph of wind gust from being blown away.

Scott Haws is a local newscaster who is tasked with going to a contestants home and asking them to join the show. Man I really hope no one is home… But Teresa is! And she even has a handicapped daughter? Omg she’s definitely got America rooting for her. Mother of 8 no less…

Now Brandon is about to surpass one of the top four in Winner’s Row so enjoy your stardom while it lasts, Carolyn... Okay something weird happened here where a random top 4 player got picked to compete, but he sent Carolyn out there anyway so it all worked out. I think?

Carolyn vs. Brandon: Life of Pi, Milan, Alec Baldwin, Steve Higgins (presented by Jimmy Fallon), Throwback Thursday (thankfully never heard of it), $0 (sexist society keeping Michelle Obama from a paycheck), Dumpster Diving Divas, Bruno Mars, Proves it’s not a cherry, Dora Marquez, largest underwater volcano, Golden Gate Bridge, and 100 zeros in a googol for the win!

In spectacular fashion Brandon takes it all and catapults himself into first place! Wow. Say what you will about this game show/hour of television; but I will, without a doubt, defend it for its utter lack of risk and commitment to the mundane while disguising it as an intense live-event coverage. Ratings gold! Also, all hale Ryan Seacrest.

What did everyone else think? Your comments are always welcome.