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Monday, July 26, 2010
"Mad Men" Spoiled Bastard. Ep. 1: "Public Relations."
This is a Spoiled Bastard. It contains spoilers. That's the point.
FYI: The Bastard Machine is on Facebook. Also: Twitter. (Both have regular updates.)
"Mad Men" is back. Let's drink to that!
It's important for first episodes not to be jumped upon looking for definitive conclusions. Good storytelling rolls out slowly. There are feints and dodges. When Season 4 of "Mad Men" is over, not everything we leapt at in the first episode will remain relevant. That said, there are a few significant personal changes - not just plot shifts - that will undoubtedly be important on some level going forward. But first, let me just say this won't be the longest "Mad Men" Spoiled Bastard of the season, mostly because, as usual, I reviewed the first episode already and detailed aesthetic changes and story evolution there.
Let's start with what appears to be the overriding notion going forward this season on "Mad Men," which is change. This dovetails nicely, of course, with the thematic constant of the series, which is identity. In Season 4, Sterling Cooper is no more. It's now Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, basically an upstart (granted, one that has Don Draper, who can make cinema out of commercials about mopping the floor). Don's marriage is also no more. Betty has remarried - to Henry, the man who Don might have been had he not already been Dick Whitman. It's also roughly a year later as the series opens - Thanksgiving, 1964 - so the fall out from both implosions has theoretically settled. But it's the fact that it really hasn't - that lives are all shook up - which will be the reality that guides the rest of the season. And that's a fantastic development. Because it means that life at SCDP will be quite a bit more personal and edgy as it tries to survive. It means we'll see more of Don's foray into self discovery - and if that means having hookers slap him in the face during sex, so be it. And we'll see if Betty can not only find out if the grass is really greener in Happyville, but if she'll ever examine her life close enough to realize she's cold and spiteful, unhappy and unaware. (None of those are good combinations).
Hit the link for more:
Read More »| Jul 26 at 07:30 AM
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Why you should be on Twitter if you love TV (and sports, etc.).
Look, I didn't want to do it either. After writing a column three times a week for The Chronicle, blogging here at the Bastard Machine, doing the TV Talk Machine podcast, managing Facebook fan pages for both the blog and the podcast, plus appearing every Monday morning on KFOG, I figured I was about as plugged in and socially (over)exposed as possible. At the Television Critic's Association summer press tour last July (aka the Death March With Cocktails), I snickered at colleagues tweeting away frantically. Finally I asked to see how much work it was, found out, and said no thanks, no way.
Until about a month after the tour ended. Since then, I've been at it non-stop and I love it. And I now vastly prefer using Twitter and the Facebook fan pages to communicate rather than the blog. It's faster, easier, more immediate and no clunky coding (and virtually no trolls).
Tweet.
But what's in it for you? Why should you join Twitter (which is free and easy, by the way)? For starters, everything breaks on Twitter. All the news you could want about television (or sports or whatnot) breaks first on Twitter. It's just the way the news world works now. And it's not like you're required to do anything. The info comes to you. You can read it and move on. You don't even have to send out a tweet. You don't have to be public (and found by former "friends") on Facebook. You follow only the people you're interested in. (It's not like you'll be getting junk tweets from Justin Bieber - though countless celebrities are on Twitter too, if you're into that sort of thing.)
So many sports reporters, teams and players are on Twitter that I can't imagine sports fans not using it. Especially if you're into fantasy sports. Same goes for television. The majority of people who read the Bastard Machine are TV fans. And the bulk of that group are industry savvy. They want to know what's getting canceled, what's getting green-lit, which actor just signed on to an upcoming series, when "Game of Thrones" will air on HBO, what the ratings are for Conan's first night on TBS, etc. etc. In addition, there are any number of critics, industry types, series creators and network schedulers on Twitter. (If you're a fan of "Sons Of Anarchy," you've got to follow series creator Kurt Sutter -- @sutterink -- immediately. He's both blunt and hilarious. And yes, he even follows yours truly.) If you're following these people, you get a mix of links to their work, conversations about TV topics and an array of 140 character riffs and rants. You can unfollow as well.
I bring this up now because there are a number of people always contemplating jumping in. Some are already fans of the Facebook pages but haven't tried Twitter because they think it's dumb, or time-consuming, or any number of reasons I used as well before jumping in. Most important, I bring it up now because I'm heading to Los Angeles on Sunday for a couple of weeks of the Death March With Cocktails, where there will be an unending amount of news and tidbits to pass on to curious and eager TV fans. Last year I missed a golden opportunity. This year I won't. And neither should you. Here's a link from The Wrap about TV Critics and industry types who are on Twitter. You can see from this list who you might be interested in following. And if you're following me, you can look at the other critics I'm following for more ideas (and a good number of those people are at Comic-Con right now, tweeting frantically).
Lastly, if you find you like Twitter, there's a number of mostly free applications you can use (TweetDeck, etc.) to send and receive tweets on your home computer or phone. And if you follow me while I'm Los Angeles, you can always send me a question to ask while I'm there.
| Jul 22 at 02:15 PM
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Emmys: Snubs and surprises.
I'm coming for you, Emmy voters!
No time like the Emmy nominations announced this morning to fire up The Bastard Machine after a vacation and summer doldrums. I just wanted to remind people that I'm much more active on both The Bastard Machine Facebook page and on Twitter. This blog tends to get infested with trolls when I'm not doing something more niche-oriented like deconstructing "Breaking Bad" etc., so come on over to the social media side for more breaking news, Q&A opportunities and snark.
That said, on July 25 I'll be deconstructing every episode of "Mad Men" right here. And on that day I'll be heading to the annual Death March With Cocktails - aka the Television Critics Association press tour -- and blogging very frequently.
OK, onto the Emmys. I've got a big column tomorrow in the Chronicle on what they did right and wrong. It was a particularly tough year given the amount of quality choices available and the voters did a mostly good job of rectifying past oversights ("Friday Night Lights"), staying true to the best series on television ("Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad") while acknowledging all the new blood ("Modern Family," "Glee") and, for the most part, not falling into the trap of nostalgia for departing series (like "24" and "Law & Order," which could have really gummed up the works).
You'll see the more detailed rant tomorrow, but I'll point out the most heinous snubs right here: Nothing of substance for "Treme" and "Sons Of Anarchy," an inexcusable oversight on Katey Sagal (who not only should have been nominated, but was far and away the best actress in the category); no "Parks and Recreation" or "Community" in the series category while "The Office" was rubber-stamped. And if you're going to wake up to "FNL" and try to appease the networks - as an important nugget of my column suggests - why not put that up for best series over the inferior (but good) "The Good Wife"? If I'm pissed about anything it's the "SOA" and "Treme" snub. That's just inexcusable. Great work there all around. And so many actors who could have been included.
Hit the link for more:
Read More »| Jul 08 at 12:29 PM
Monday, June 14, 2010
"Breaking Bad" Spoiled Bastard. Ep. 13, season finale: "Full Measure."
These men will likely meet again. To paint it black.
This is a Spoiled Bastard. It contains spoilers. That's the point.
FYI: The Bastard Machine is on Facebook, minus the ignorant trolls. Also, Twitter, where there's a mixture of news, insight and snark.
What's the full measure of a man? It seems that, consciously or not, that's been one of the root questions of "Breaking Bad," which ended its Season 3 run as emphatically brilliant as the previous two (and has been renewed for Season 4, if there was any doubt). What a person will do, what he or she is made of, has been explored in all three seasons in myriad ways. Walt has already measured out the composition of a human being and found that all the ingredients came up just slightly shy of 100 percent. What was missing? The soul, said Gretchen, Walt's former flame back in the days when the world seemed limitless with possibilities. Science - at least that part about chemical compounds and the making of meth -- has always been at odds with the soul in "Breaking Bad," and in yet another heartbreaking, soul-crushing downward spiral, Jesse realizes, with tears in his eyes, just how far it's taken him as he shoots quirky lab assistant Gale dead in the head at point blank range.
(Of that certainty, there should be no doubt. Some people have speculated that Jesse's arm moved before the cut-to-black ending - suggesting he purposefully missed - but it was clearly the camera switching angles so that viewers could see the emotional toll the act was taking on Jesse. And in case you conspiracy theorists don't believe that, creator Vince Gilligan has confirmed Gale is dead and that he meant no "Sopranos"-esque ambiguity for that final scene.)
Here's something else that should have no gray area: Aaron Paul doesn't just deserve an Emmy nomination, he deserves the win. There hasn't been a better supporting actor on television this season; about the closest performance all year was John Lithgow in "Dexter." In any case, the "Breaking Bad" finale was an exclamation mark on the tortured journey of Jesse. From recovering addict struggling with the death of his girlfriend, to abandoned son, to emotionless dealer to distraught friend, death-wish avenger and finally, teary-eyed killer. The amount of cumulative change in all the characters from the very first episode in Season 1 is staggering and tortuous. And it really says something when the tears in an actor's eyes say more than the close-up of his gun barrel pointed at someone's face.
Hit the link for more: Read More »
| Jun 14 at 05:15 PM
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Power Rankings! on hiatus; other finale tidbits.
Sesame Street
Who's No. 1, Count?
The Power Rankings! announced, apparently a little too subtly, that it was going on hiatus recently. But people kept emailing and sending tweets about when it would return, so this is just a friendly reminder that it is, in fact, on hiatus, set to return most likely in August prior to the start of the fall season (and yes, in time to catch some "Mad Men" - wouldn't want to deny one of my favorite series a chance at No. 1 again, since it kicked off these rankings in the top slot).
It was a lot of fun doing The Power Rankings! and as this season wound down (the "Glee" and "Justified" finales didn't get a chance to be dissected much or ranked at the end), I wanted to look back on some of the highlights. But first, if you're curious as to why the rankings are on hiatus - and let's face it, who wouldn't be curious - it was a combination of time off, time consumption and some upcoming vacations that will knock out much of June. Plus, a lot of series had their finales, necessitating a reduction in the overall 15, down to 5 at one point when it was really hectic. July would only make a viable, quality-dominant rankings list even harder to muster (I love summer cable shows, but the fledgling efforts of broadcast networks probably couldn't sustain a big list). In late July through early August I'll be in Los Angeles for the Television Critics Association summer press tour (aka the Death March With Cocktails) which virtually rules out any TV watching (ironic...). It will be hard enough to find the time to deconstruct the first couple of episodes of "Mad Men" (but I will). So, to make a long story even longer, look for a mid August return to the Power Rankings!
Of course, the shame of it at this moment is missing out on the mad scramble in the last weeks -- "Glee," "Treme," "Justified" etc. I think it's overwhelmingly clear that "Breaking Bad," which dominated the No. 1 slot, will go out on top (and I'll have the final Spoiled Bastard deconstruction of this season up on Monday). But there was a truly amazing glut of great shows that really fueled the Power Rankings! and made my viewing that much more pleasurable. I did roughly 33 weeks of TPR! and here are some insights and memories:
How about "The Pacific" really giving everybody a run? Right in the "Breaking Bad," "Treme," and "Lost" juggernaut, "The Pacific" really rose to the occasion with some quality episodes. "Modern Family" and "30 Rock" did fantastic as well. Some series started strong and then dropped off. Others, like "Community," made impressive comebacks. I really championed the incredible Season 2 renaissance of "Parks and Recreation," while we all witnessed the rise and fall of "Damages" and the harrowing decline of "The Office" and "Big Love."
Though following 15 series religiously every week (in addition to everything else) was a little trying, it proved there was plenty of room for high quality broadcast shows (many of them hitting No. 1, like "Lost," "30 Rock," Modern Family"). Over the course of the 33 weeks, there were high rankings for varied offerings like the Olympics, TNT's very surprising "Men Of A Certain Age," BBC America's "The Inbetweeners," FX's "Archer," PBS's "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" and the fan-fueled appreciation of Cartoon Network's "The Venture Bros."
Finally, the long-running No. 1's are really what stood out. "Mad Men," which battled long and hard against eventual No. 1 "Sons of Anarchy," which in turn mostly held off "Dexter." Then "Lost" eventually ceding to "Breaking Bad" (which periodically succumbed to "The Pacific"). Greatness always rose to the top.
Can't wait to start the The Power Rankings! again. Until then, there will be more TV related stuff right here on The Bastard Machine, plus The Bastard Machine Facebook page and daily Twitter snarkiness, news and observations.
| Jun 10 at 01:04 PM
Monday, June 07, 2010
"Breaking Bad" Spoiled Bastard. Ep. 12: "Half Measures."
It would take a mouth full of words to describe this.
This is a Spoiled Bastard. It contains spoilers. That's the point.
FYI: The Bastard Machine is on Facebook, minus the ignorant trolls. Also, Twitter, where there's a mixture of news, insight and snark.
If running over two people and then shooting one of them in the head at close range is a "half measure," who can wait to find out what will happen in the season finale, "Full Measure" come Sunday? It's probably safe to say, even without having seen the final hour, that "Breaking Bad" has been as brilliant as it ever was this season. And the testament to the quality of the series is always that assumption -- that it's great until proven otherwise. Twelve episodes into a 13 episode season? Great. In "Half Measures" viewers got one of those beautifully complicated endings that "Breaking Bad" seems to churn out almost effortlessly. A dramatic act occurs and it reflects like a broken mirror back on those involved, particularly our man Walter White. In the blink of an eye, in the final scene, Walt surfaces from his sea of moral decay to prove that he's more than a dispassionate scientist providing for his family. That his go-along-to-get-along attitude toward what amounts to Albuquerque's Wal-Mart O' Meth operation can be broken by a bond - an obligation to protect Jesse, who he sees as an innocent in all of this madness. So Walt, adrift in denial and rationalization, finds his moral compass and acts on it. And yet - and yet! - in that very act of saving Jesse, he simultaneously furthers his own descent into malevolence.
Look, you can get the best writers in the TV business and lock them in a room, talking about a man's fate, his destiny, the shading of that man's complicated moral situation. But until you actually put it on paper in a way that rings true, from episode to episode, there's no accomplishment or pay-off. It's all talk. That is to say, Vince Gilligan and his writing staff sent Walt on a journey in Season 1 and here we are one episode away from the Season 3 conclusion, and that journey has found Walt teetering in all kinds of complicated, troubling directions. One upstanding, hard-working man gets cast by fate into a funhouse mirror maze of jaw-dropping, nearly improbable immorality. He grows ever more unlikable as the episodes churn and yet we can't write him completely off. We want to believe there's a way back. Yes, plowing over two drug dealers in your battered Pontiac Aztek in a scene of awful brutality (and strange justice) might seem like the next logical (or illogical) step in Walt's de-evolution. But how can you not watch that scene, with its riveting "Run!" capper, and not think it was heroic? Also: stupid. Here's a guy who could barely lift a handgun in the pilot and he calmly walks over, picks one up and methodically puts a bullet through a man's temple, blowing out the other side in a bloody stream. How do you get moral redemption from that dark act?
But the writers did. And they also cleverly set up a storm of boiling blood, resentment, retribution and severely tangled priorities. Your move, Gus.
Hit the link for more: Read More »
| Jun 07 at 08:01 PM
Friday, June 04, 2010
Fridays were almost dead. Long live Fridays (with popcorn)!
Since it was almost impossible to find this anywhere on SFGate.com, I decided to post it. Who knows if I'll end up watching any of these shows regularly next fall, but the point is you can't let Fridays die. And it was heading that way....Here's to just entertaining the tired masses at the end of the week.
| Jun 04 at 05:00 PM
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
"Breaking Bad" Spoiled Bastard. Ep. 11: "Abiquiu."
I'll be the Danny. Let ME break bad.
"Breaking Bad" has always invested a lot of time in imagery, right from the start of the series, so it's wise to take what it gives you seriously. Same goes for the dialog, no matter how unadorned it might be (no swelling or ominous music to tell you how important it is). Everything matters on this show. This is true of almost all great series. There are no wasted moments. In "Abiquiu," we got a set-up episode (there are two episodes left, and you can bet they'll be riveting) that was also nicely self-contained and bracketed by visual imagery at the beginning and weighted words at the end.
The episode started with a flashback of Jesse and Jane looking at a painting titled "My Last Door" from Georgia O'Keeffe (the artist lived there for years and a museum of her work is still there). Of course, Jesse thought the paintings were going to have vaginas in them. But out in the car, talking about why you would paint something over and over again, the two have a discussion about why anyone would do that. Jesse just thinks O'Keeffe is trying to get it right - perfect, even. (No doubt a lesson he's learned from Walt, who his meth to be absolutely perfect, thus separating the scientist's mind from the artist's mind). Jane says all the paintings are different, just like every day, every sunset - everything we do repeatedly is different. O'Keeffe loved the door, Jane says, and painting it repeatedly had its purpose. "To me, that's about making that feeling last."
Of course, this echoes Jesse's phone calls to Jane's answering machine after she died. And in this episode, in that very scene, we get the shot of Jane putting out her cigarette, the one with the lipstick that brings all the memories back to Jesse, the ones he wants to last.
At the end of the episode, we get a really wonderful, strangely out of pattern scene where Gus invites Walt for dinner (I also loved how the phone ringing in the lab seemed so funny and ominous at the same time, as Walt and Jesse tried to figure out who the hell would be calling). Anyway, at dinner no doubt called to utter these very words, Gus gives Walt some advice: "Never make the same mistake twice."
But just what are those mistakes?
That's going to be your dramatic arc for the next two episodes (and probably beyond). But the advice couldn't have been followed less closely by anyone in "Abiquiu." Jesse meets another recovering addict, just like Jane, at his NA meetings. He's either making the same mistake twice or about to fall in love again - making that feeling he had with Jane last. Skyler, on the other hand, is getting herself farther into Walt's drug world, thinking she can game the system somehow for profit (by laundering Walt's drug money through the old car wash where he worked) - the same naive vision Walt had when he started this ill-advised odyssey. Could it be that Skyler has just gone through the last door? Is she - yikes - breaking bad?
Hit the link for more: Read More »
| Jun 01 at 03:42 PM
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Power Rankings! Fab 15 gets top-loaded, series end, interest wanes!
Welcome to the "Power Rankings!" for the week ending May 23. We're back with the full Fabulous Fifteen version, though its days seem to be numbered given the attrition rate of series finales and the fact that a lot of summer programming just isn't going to cut it. Look for a truncated version soon enough and then, mirroring the TV industry itself, a possible hiatus until fall. In the meantime, let's get ranking. If you want to find out how the Power Rankings! are compiled and how they started, click here. FYI: The Bastard Machine is on Facebook. And Twitter. And we're off:
| RANK | SHOW | PREVIOUS | TREND | COMMENT |
| 1 | Lost |
4 | ↑ | How could it not be No. 1? Two episodes in the same week, plus the super-sized SERIES finale? Come on. Besides, even when "Lost" was at its most maddening, we never missed an episode. It was often thrilling and intriguing even during its weaker episodes. But guess what? Those are not the ones we choose to remember this week. We're really going to miss "Lost" and the stories of its characters. While the finale catered more to the heart than the mysteries, it went out as a gigantic hug (surrounded by bright lights) to fans who stuck with it. You can bet there won't be this kind of ambitious, serialized storytelling on network television for a while. Sad, that. |
| 2 | Breaking Bad |
1 | ↓ | If you didn't like "Fly," you haven't fully grasped what "Breaking Bad" is trying to do as a television series. While it's fine to only like the episodes that appeal to your particular aesthetic, to get annoyed at episodes like this only reinforces that you're not getting the experience as intended. |
| 3 | Treme |
2 | ↓ | Everyone steps down a notch with the big send off to "Lost." This series is, like we said before, becoming more fully rounded. The only thing missing was a funeral procession for "Lost." Step lightly and blow those horns for the money, boys. |
| 4 | Justified |
5 | ↓ | If you take a look at the shows either leaving TV for good or those bowing out with season finales, it's good to know that "Justified" has joined the mix and looks to have some life ahead of it. Like "Treme," this show has become better as the storytelling expands. |
| 5 | Friday Night Lights |
N/A | ↔ | Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't lose. Welcome to the Top 5. And despite NBC's strange handling of this program - giving it life through a full five seasons but essentially forgetting about it in almost every other way - we should be happy that it will charge into the summer with a rejuvenated sense of creative steam. |
| 6 | Glee |
N/A | ↔ | Since we only had the Fab Five version last week, everything from here on out in the rankings seems like a fresh start. Though "Glee" has been erratic, when it delivers on its quirks and strengths, it makes for entertaining viewing. Still wish Fox had spun off Sue Sylvester for her own sitcom. |
| 7 | Parks and Recreation |
N/A | ↔ | NBC is maddening (you might find a trend emerging there). This series is still the front-runner for Comeback Series of the Year and the reward is, what? Oh, right, to be pulled off the schedule after the season ends and placed in midseason. Someone tell NBC to actually watch the show, then watch "The Office." Then make better decisions. |
| 8 | Fringe |
N/A | ↔ | Alternative universes. That's also a theme this year...People in sci-fi just love that kind of stuff. And here, it works. "Fringe" was a series we all but wrote off last season. But we gave it another chance this season and it hooked us harder than expected. A really entertaining hour that almost never felt wasted. Can't wait for it to return (and get weirder). |
| 9 | Community |
N/A | ↔ | Thus begins the strange part of this week's Power Rankings! A lot of sitcoms had their season finales and, based on those, ended up ranked in an order not necessarily representative of our love for them. See? It really is a week-to-week episodic thing we're doing here, otherwise "30 Rock" and "Modern Family," our enduring loves, would be higher. But "Community," despite having what amounts to two back-to-back finales, did an excellent job of going out strong. We had our doubts early in the season, then had a resurgence of faith. Well played, "Community." |
| 10 | Modern Family |
N/A | ↔ | Um, shouldn't the season have ended in Hawaii? This seemed like a tacked on, forgotten episode. Maybe because it was? It was typically funny but felt like filler. That takes nothing away from the fact that "Modern Family" was the funniest new sitcom on television - one of the few shows we want to watch on time without delay. An excellent season. | 11 | 30 Rock |
N/A | ↔ | We could have picked five or 10 better episodes from this season to go out on, but there is the slightest bit of serialization in these things so we get what we get (and don't get upset). Strange, though, that "30 Rock" is our favorite comedy and it ends at No. 11. That certainly takes nothing away from a season full of belly laughs (yes, actual belly laughs - one of a few shows that can make us laugh out loud, repeatedly). It will be interesting to see where the story arcs go next season. |
| 12 | Parenthood |
N/A | ↔ | No season finale yet, but this series has settled in nicely as well. It was absolutely designed for hugging and learning so you can't fault it for what was in the DNA. The laughs have been good and the character development improving. Sometimes you can see an ensemble come together as the writers figure it all out, and that's happening here. |
| 13 | Nurse Jackie |
N/A | ↔ | And now to the part in the headline about interest waning - and the need to scale back the rankings as we move into the summer. "Nurse Jackie" has been off this list for a bit. Why exactly is a mystery that can best be explained by our reluctance to click play on the DVR when we see it. While "Nurse Jackie" has vastly improved its peripheral characters from its freshman season, not enough happens on this show. And while Edie Falco remains at the top of her game and is an actress who can seemingly do no wrong, having her character carry the whole show is exhausting to watch. |
| 14 | United States of Tara |
N/A | ↔ | Talk about trends. This is another series we gave up on, came back to, found implausibly arduous, then abandoned again. That makes (at least) two shows where the thought of watching them every week seems like a burden. Television shouldn't be that way. While there's a lot to love in both "Jackie" and "Tara," they both take a singular theme and repeat it in various ways too often. |
| 15 | The Office |
N/A | ↔ | Sadly, this seems more like a postmortem more than honoring a series for making it back on the rankings. Watching "The Office" became a lot like watching a favorite athlete too late in their career. Or like a party balloon lose air - slowly. What's left to like about "The Office"? It seems artificial in so many ways and, most important, it's just not that funny anymore. And hasn't been. Wrap this thing up - maybe that will invigorate the writing staff. |
FALLING:
"Lost" is over forever. And that's taking a toll on our psyche. Beyond the season finales mentioned above, there seems little reason or motivation to keep following some of the shows we begrudgingly included here to make it to No. 15. A pruning is in order.
RISING?:
What's bubbling up is the notion that a good chunk of the summer fare - intriguing though some of it may be - will not make the effort beyond a Fab Five really worth it. So, keep that in mind, plus an almost certain hiatus for vacation(s).
SUNK!:
"The Good Guys" on Fox. That made the fall schedule already? Really?
| May 26 at 01:39 PM
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
"Breaking Bad" Spoiled Bastard. Ep. 10: "Fly."
Does this man look sane?
This is a Spoiled Bastard. It contains spoilers. That's the point.
FYI: The Bastard Machine is on Facebook, minus the ignorant trolls. Also, Twitter, where there's a mixture of news, insight and snark.
Few series are in such command of all the ingredients that go into greatness as "Breaking Bad," and in "Fly" the series managed to tap into some of the brilliant Season 1 tenseness and the hitting-on-all-cylinders minutia of Season 2 to complete an episode as powerfully minimalist as any the series as ever produced. With "Fly," Season 3 now has its polar opposite poster episodes for how to portray what you're capable of. In "One Minute," creator Vince Gilligan and his superb writing staff were able to deliver a purple bruise of an episode that culminated in a wild, bloody parking lot shoot out with The Cousins and Hank. In "Fly," Gilligan and company crafted what was essentially Walt's finite intellectual implosion, a kind of minor stroke that stopped his blinders-on rationality right in its tracks.
Throughout its run "Breaking Bad" has been able to shift gears as radically and deftly as "The Sopranos," a series that despite all of its critical acclaim is barely credited with that particular kind of genius (probably because some of those shifts so utterly upset a certain subset of the fan base who thought the show was about the mob when it was actually about Tony's inner demons as played out through his immediate family, not the Family). In any case, "Fly" is reminiscent of any number of "Breaking Bad" episodes where Gilligan slows the action down (exponentially, in some cases) and focuses on small, important moments. In this episode, an examination of Walt's interior worries, the execution was brilliant. Obviously it was a visual thing of beauty, from the multiple POV camera work to the rush of color and wonderful use of sound; the intersection of humor with pathos -- these elements becoming so standardized in their consistency that it's almost unnecessary to point them out. But no, the work that really stood out in "Fly" was the writing and the pacing.
By the time Walt first encounters the fly - he's distracted by the total amount of the meth output being off (thanks to Jesse's skimming) -- he's already at a tipping point in his brain. (How the last minute comes directly back to Jesse's skimming is so snap perfect after what proceeds it that all you can do is applaud; not forgetting the strands is fine writing.) Anyway, the point is that it's not the fly. It's Walt's brain. He can't sleep. He comes to the superlab in a bother. It's his subconscious, knocking loudly. The fly at first looks to be a metaphor before we come to view it as real, once Jesse gets in on the hunt. And though it's not a literal metaphor for Walt's cancer or his nagging guilt about how his best laid plans have come undone, it's still a fly in the ointment of sorts, "a contaminant" that sets Walt off on his interior world of wonder about how everything he wanted for his family is now tainted. You can't kill the fly - you can't uncontaminate the imperfection that so nags at Walt, a die-hard perfectionist, from inside.
The burden of a great television series is that there are no shortcuts. In the first season of "The Wire," McNulty and crew didn't just get the wire. They had to jump through legal hoops - all the proof you need to clone a pager, for example. Prezbo didn't just magically come up with how to break the pager codes. He worked at it. And explaining them wasn't easy. But in those - and many other instances - "The Wire" did just that: explain. In detail. No corner cut. Boring? Sure, if you're easily bored or watching the wrong show. Any other show - "Law & Order" or similar middling crap - just has that stuff materialize. Great shows don't. And just as the initial episodes of Season 3 of "Breaking Bad" dealt with so much emotional fall out (and plenty of people thought the early episodes were too slow), so too does Walt's intellectual and moral fallibility need to be scrutinized. The guy who's capable of essentially taking back his home and family by force - even holding his baby while the cops talk with Skyler about her complaint against him -- can't just suddenly be an ass. He can't flip that switch and sustain it. He's not wired that way. And in "Fly," we saw a crack begin.
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| May 25 at 02:53 PM
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