Breaking Bad - Sunset

Season 3 of Breaking Bad has a little bit in common with Season 2 of The Wire (which is fresh on my mind because I am in the middle of Wire binge in order to school my girlfriend on one of the top three greatest television shows in the history of the medium). The beginnings of both seasons are relatively slow and full of dense subtext. The purpose of the first half of the seasons is mainly getting the gang back together. In other words, retying loose ends that inevitably fray at the end of prior seasons. In the case of The Wire, it takes 6 or 7 episodes for Daniels to reassemble the old crew to take a run at Sobotka. In Breaking Bad, it is all about getting Walt cooking again and reuniting him with Jesse. In seasons like these, there are always breaking (Bad) points when the set up is done, the gang is back together and the ball starts rolling down hill, fast. In the case of season 2 of The Wire, it was the episode where Stringer has D'Angelo killed in Jessup. For Breaking Bad, the episode that sparks the wild ride towards the finish line was last night's.

Walt and Skylar are going forward with their divorce, which Walt seems to think is a result of Skylar's "unhappiness" and not his "meth-cookingness". To make their separation more official, an unusually upbeat and optimistic Walt decides to get his own apartment. He demands to rent the model apartment and when the agent balks, Walt asks him to "name one thing that is not negotiable". In a clever piece of direction, Gillian and company cut right to a shot of El Pollo, hammering home the point that Walt knows all too well that everything is negotiable. He just doesn't realize that Fring has outmaneuvered him beautifully in their negotiation last episode. Coming into this week, a lot of people were predicting that Gus was planning to use the three months of Walt's service to learn his meth-recipe and when he was finished, allow the Cousins to have their way with him.

After this initial Walt/Skylar divorce bit Breaking Bad puts the White's domestic issues on the back burner (thank god) in order to focus on the more pressing subject: Hank is hot on Jesse's trail. Last week I was pining for the old days of B.B., with Jesse and his buddies doing drugs and hustling. Right on cue, we get a scene featuring not only Jesse and Skinny Pete, but my man Badger. Jesse is rallying the troops to hit the streets with his solo-cooked batch of blue meth (he gives Badger a sample so potent it sends him into an impromptu jig, which Jesse puts a quick stop to lest Badger scuff his hardwood floors). Little do they know, Hank is right outside doing surveillance in hopes that Jesse will lead him to the RV.

Meanwhile, Walt shows up for his first day at his new job and meets his lab assistant, Neil, who has come prepared with his resume, which I imagine looks something like this:

Education:

Bachelors of Science in Chemical Engineering - University of New Mexico

Masters of Science in Organic Chemistry - Colorado University

Work Experience:

Acme Chemical Corporation - July 2005 - August 2010, Bolder, Colorado
Duties: Boring chemical stuff.

El Norte Division of The Mexican Drug Cartel - September 2010 - December 2010, Multipurpose Laundry Facility Outside Albuquerque, New Mexico
Duties: Assisted in the manufacturing of 200 pounds of high-quality methamphetamine per week for the duration of three months.

The two seem to hit it off and when Walt asks Neil how he ended up in the meth business, he responds with a version of Walt's own "I just respect the chemistry" rationalization (I guess Walt isn't the only one who is a tad delusional). To me, Neil seems too good to be true, I get the feeling that he and Fring might be up to something. We, at The 'Feeling, will continue to monitor the situation.

Things start to move at hyper-speed about 20 minutes in, when Marie reminds Hank of Walt's connection with Jesse (Walt used to buy pot from Jesse). Hoping Walt might have some information about the whereabouts of the RV, Hank gives Walt a call and completely tips his hand. Panicked, Walt calls Jesse to warn him, but hangs up when Jesse answers. Thinking more clearly, he calls Saul instead.

Walt catches up with the RV, Badger is having the oil changed at Jesse's request, and demands to have it destroyed immediately. Seizing the keys, Walt takes the RV to junk yard to have it wiped off the face of the earth, lest the DEA pull a few of his latent prints from its interior. Badger calls Jesse, who predictably assumes that Walt is trying to destroy the RV to take away his ability to cook, therefore eliminating the competition. Jesse races to the junk yard to stop Walt, unwittingly leading Hank right to the RV.

What comes next will go down in Breaking Bad lore as one of the show's defining moments. In an agonizing, sphincter-clenching sequence, Hank approaches the RV with Jesse and Walt inside. The dynamic between the two ex-partners reverts to its natural equilibrium as Jesse desperately turns to Walt for an escape plan. What Walt comes up with is quite possibly his most despicable, yet effective, idea to date.

Walt calls Saul, who in turn has his secretary, impersonating an ER nurse, call Hank and inform him that Marie has been in a car accident. As Hank speeds toward the hospital in a blind panic, Walt and Jesse destroy the RV. But this is just a temporary reprieve. Hank is still onto Jesse and he has to suspect Walt is involved. Can anyone think of a scenario in which Hank does not assume (correctly) that Walt tipped Jesse off and had a hand in the Marie/fake-car-wreck situation? I tried and I can't.

The issue now becomes: Will Hank survive long enough to bring in Jesse and Walt? The episode ends with Gus Fring meeting with the Cousins to bargain for Walt's life. In exchange for Walt, Fring greenlights Hank (the man who actually pulled the trigger on Tuco), who had previously been off limits due to his status with DEA. Will Hank be forced to turn to Walt for protection when he realizes who is after him? Will Walt be able to offer said protection? If the Cousins get to Hank, will they be satisfied or will they still want to put a chrome axe into Walt's ass? These are the questions that will be answered in the next few episodes and I can't fucking wait.

2010 Baltimore Ravens Schedule Breakdown and Predictions

Yesterday the NFL unveiled its 2010 schedule and let's just say the Ravens don't exactly have a cake walk into their third straight postseason. The question on everyone's mind in Baltimore was, "Will the Ravens play the Steelers close enough to the start of the season to catch them during Big Ben's inevitable suspension?". The answer to that question seems to be yes. They get the Steelers in Pittsburgh in week 4 and if the most recent reports are to be believed, Ben will be out for at least 4 games.

So that's the good news. The bad news: 4 out of the the first 6 games on the Ravens' schedule are on the road against three play-off teams (Jets, Bengals, Pats) and two others that barely missed the playoffs (Steelers, Broncos). The guys in purple and black are going to have to come out of the gate focused to survive this stretch.

The competition in the middle part of the season softens a bit and includes a bye in week 8. The Ravens should be able to roll the Bills and the 'Fins at M&T Bank, but things won't be as easy when they have to travel to Atlanta on a short week to take on Matt Ryan and the Falcons on a Thursday in prime-time.

The home stretch is almost as tough as the beginning of the season, with prime time games against Pittsburgh and Houston and a match-up with the Super Bowl champion Saints. The NFL has mandated that all Week 17 games must be played within the divisions and the Ravens finish up the 2010 regular season against the Bengals at home, with the possibility of a playoff berth on the line.

Here are my game-by-game predictions:

Week 1: @ Jets - Win. 17-10. Rex Ryan's defense holds his old team to under 21 points, but Sanchez struggles to move the ball inside the Ravens' 35 yard line.

Week 2: @ Bengals - Loss. 27-21. The Ravens' problems in Cincy continue as the defense fails to keep Carson Palmer out of the endzone on the game's final drive.

Week 3: Vs. Browns - Win. 35-16. Come on, its the Browns.

Week 4: @ Steelers - Win. 24-21. Ravens squeak past a Roethlisberger-less Pittsburgh, but Dennis Dixon has another strong performance.

Week 5: Vs. Broncos- Win. 28-10. Denver fails to move the ball against the Ravens' D for a second straight year.

Week 6: @ Pats - Loss. 31-20. Belichick and Brady avenge an embarrassing loss the Ravens in last year's playoffs.

Week 7: Vs. Bills - Win. 27-9. Buffalo sucks.

Week 8: Bye - Would have been nice to have the bye in Week 9, before the Thursday night game in ATL.

Week 9: Vs. Dolphins - Win. 24-14. The Ravens are the better team and they get it done at home.

Week 10: @ Falcons - Loss. 27-24. Ravens, coming off a very short week of practice, lay an egg in prime time, as they are prone to do. The national media uses this game as proof that Matt Ryan was a better pick than Joe Flacco despite Joe's superior overall and playoff record. I really hope I'm wrong about this one. This would be a perfect coming-out party for the Birds and set the tone for a strong second half of the season.

Week 11: @ Panthers - Win. 31-21. Just a gut reaction, I don't expect Carolina to be particularly good.

Week 12: Vs. Buccs - Win. 35-10. While TB should be better than they were last yer (how could they be worse?) but they will still suck.

Week 13: Vs. Steelers - Loss. 24-20. The Ravens can definitely win this game, but I just don't think they will win both against the Steelers. I picked them to beat Pittsburgh in game one, so I had to pick the Steelers in this one.

Week 14: @ Texans - Win. 21-20. I'm picking this one with my heart. The Ravens have to win this with the Saints coming into Baltimore the next week. I wouldn't be at all shocked if the Texans pull this one out at home, though.

Week 15: Vs. Saints - Loss. 35-24. Too much firepower from Drew Brees and champion Saints.

Week 16: @ Browns - Win. 21-7. Again, its the Browns.

Week 17: Vs. Bengals - Win. 20-17. Final game of the season, at home, crowd going ape-shit the entire game, they cannot lose this one.

Regular season record: 11-5
Division record: 4-2
Verdict: Ravens win the AFC North, barely.

What do you think? Discuss.

ABQ's Top Chef is Back in the Kitchen (Or Basement)!

Last night's Breaking Bad episode was relatively understated, even at times sort of 'quiet', stylistically, but packed quite a punch in the content department. Thematically, the episode was about 'what it is to be a man', specifically for Walt and Hank. Both are struggling to understand what their responsibilities as men are to themselves, their families, jobs, society.

The episode begins with a flashback to good old days of Breaking Bad, where everything was all cancer and strip clubs. Walt, complete with a pre-chemo full head of hair, gives Jesse $7000 to purchase an RV for the pair to cook their first batch of meth in. In classic Jesse style, he takes the money and a couple of buddies (including now-dead Combo) to a local titty-bar so they can floss a little bit with Walt's cash. The next day, with most of the cash gone, Combo does Jesse a solid by stealing his mom's RV and giving to him (This is the same RV that Hank is now hot on the trail of). This five minute intro really makes me miss the tone of the earlier seasons. Everything is so serious now, it makes me pine for the scenes of Jesse and his boys smoking meth and just having a good time. Also, this flashback gave me hope that this was going to be a Jesse-centric episode, but unfortunately after the first couple of scenes he did not return in earnest until the final scene.

Back in the present tense, Jesse thinks Walt backdoored him for a cut of the profit from Jesse's solo batch and Hank finds out that his partner, Gomez, will be taking his position in El Paso.

Walt pays a visit to Gus Fring to return the cash that was thrown into his car window last week, but Gus has other ideas (During this scene, Hanks offers the most self-diluted rationale for cooking meth yet: He just "respects the chemistry". Will he ever accept responsibility for all of the things he has done, or will he continue to rationalize forever?). He takes Walt on a trip to a laundry facility with a tricked out secret basement. Through a secret passage and down a spiral staircase is a state of the art meth lab, set up just for Walt, who is in absolute awe. Despite how impressed he is with the facilities, Walt still declines the three million for three months deal, after which Fring, calmly and quietly, lays a speech on him that sums up the entire episode:

"What does a man do, Walter? A man provides for his family."

"This cost me my family."

"When you have children, you always have family. They will always be your priority, your responsibility. And a man provides. And he does it even when he is not appreciated. Or respected. Or even loved. He simply bears up and he does it. Because he is a man."

Who could say no to these words of wisdom? And just like that, WALT IS BACK IN THE MOTHERFUCKING GAME! The moment we have been waiting all season for finally arrived and, as is so common with Breaking Bad, without very much fanfare. It just happened and then the show just moved right along.

Meanwhile, Hank is dealing with a bit of an identity crisis of his own. He is unable to admit to himself, much less anyone else, the true reason for him refusing to take the job in El Paso. That reason? He is scared. He has been a macho-man, tough-guy, DEA agent for years and it kills him to admit that he is terrified of dying. To him, a real man would never be scared of death, and yet he is. His wife, Marie, is beginning to pick up on this. She calls Skylar, who is parked outside of Ted's place (they are still fucking), to get some advice or maybe just to vent. During this conversation Marie mentions how facing death must certainly change a person, citing Walt as an example. This seems to have a genuine impact on Skylar, who seems to soften her stance on Walt slightly afterward. However, this might be too little, too late. Skylar comes home to find the bag of cash missing and her divorce paperwork signed.

Saul brings Jesse and Walt in for a meeting to clear the air. Jesse offers Walt ten percent of all of the profits of Jesse's solo venture if Walt will permit him to use his formula. Walt returns the other half of Jesse's first batch profits then drops the bomb. He tells his former partner that the money he has just given him will be the last Jesse will ever make in the meth business. "I'm in. You're out," Walt tells him. To which Saul reacts by immediately offering Walt a money laundering deal for the three million he is scheduled to make and Jesse reacts by throwing a large rock through Walt's car windshield.

David Simon's New Show Treme Debuts on HBO

To say David Simon's new HBO show, Treme, is about music would be like saying his old HBO show, The Wire, is about drugs. You would be correct to say so, but you would be leaving out much of the show's essence. Treme is about the city and people of New Orleans as much as it is about anything. And if it is about anything, it is about everything. Simon has a real talent for using micro-level story telling, to make macro-level observations. In The Wire, he used the stories of alcoholic cops, gay stick-up artists, dope fiends, corner boys, drug kingpins and political aspirants to paint a picture of an American city in decay. In Treme, the stories of dead-beat musicians, stoned disc jockeys, Mardi Gras Indian chiefs, disenchanted lawyers, and frustrated chefs are combined to paint a picture of a city struggling to rebuild.

Despite the similarities between the underlying social forces that steer the characters' lives (poverty, crime, lack of quality education, gentrification, inequality, political corruption, mistrust of law-enforcement), Treme and The Wire are very different shows. Don't get me wrong, the feeling of "grit" that pervaded The Wire is still present, but the hopelessness and gallows humor are toned down. Fortunately, the trombones and trumpets, and the hope that their sounds inspire, are cranked way up. It is hard to be completely depressed when you have such good music drifting into your open windows from the parade marching down the street.

For all of you Wire die-hards out there who thought that you might be disappointed by Treme, rest assured, you won't be. The show is good, the characters are easy to care about, the setting is dynamic and the acting is top-notch. It isn't preachy or accusatory like Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke, but it also doesn't appear to let anyone off the hook either.

Last night's episode begins with a parade and ends with a funeral. And the only real difference between the two is the tempo at which the band plays. This is the spirit of the city of New Orleans that Simon captures perfectly: no matter what happens, the band plays on.

In the premier episode, we are introduced to seven main characters and slew of people that may turn into main characters:

Wire alum Wendell Pierce (Bunk) plays Antoine, a down-on-his-luck trombonist who has to scam cab drivers for rides to his gigs.

Antoine's ex-wife Ladonna runs a neighborhood bar that serves as a de facto town hall for the remaining residents of Treme.

Ladonna turns to attorney Toni for help finding her brother, who has been missing since the levees broke.

Toni's husband Creighton, played by the always fantastic John Goodman, is some kind of authority on the hurricane who spends most of his scenes doing interviews about Katrina with various media outlets. Thus far, he is my favorite character by a mile. Seeing Goodman in this role makes me wish that Simon had been able to convince him to be in The Wire. He would have been absolutely perfect as Jay Landsman, McNulty's portly, foul-mouthed Sergeant. During an interview with a swarmy BBC reporter he rails against the government, calling the disaster "man made catastrophe, a federal fuck up of epic proportions". When the reporter asks him why the American tax payers should have to foot the bill for reconstruction, Creighton responds with, "Since when don't nations rebuild their great cities?". The guy from the BBC then has the stones to call into question whether New Orleans is indeed a great city, while simultaneously dissing the city's music and culinary traditions. Creighton goes Walter Sobchak on his limey-ass and throws his microphone and camera equipment into the canal. Later, after going on a tirade against the federal government during an NPR phone interview, Creighton fires off an classic zinger, screaming "This ain't Lake Wobegon, god dammit" before slamming the phone down. I slapped my knee repeatedly. Public Radio shtick gets me every time.

Speaking of public radio, Steve Zaun plays the role of Davis, a DJ fed up with having to spin overplayed records for pledge drives. When he isn't smoking bud or breaking into record stores, he is sleeping with Janette, a chef who is struggling to keep her restaurant staffed and stocked with food to due the flooding.

Clark Peters, another veteran of The Wire (Lester), plays Albert, a Mardi Gras Indian chief who returns to the city to find his home completely flooded and mold-ridden. He abandons his house and sets up shop in a corner bar. Can someone please explain to me what a Mardi Gras Indian is? Clark Peters is black, not Native American, so I don't think Mardi Gras Indians are real Indians, right? All I know is he has a wild-ass costume that he throws on to convince a neighbor to help him clean up the bar he is living in.

Breaking Bad- I.F.T, WTF?!

After a violent intro in which The Cousins lop Tortuga's head off, Breaking Bad shifts into the, becoming all too familiar, 'Skylar at Walt's throat mode'. These scenes are becoming increasing difficult to watch. Walt is desperate and pathetic, Skylar is desperate and furious. You can actually feel the hatred radiating from Skylar's eyes when she actually brings herself to make eye-contact with Walt.

Walt stops by the house to remove the pizza from the roof (it still looked pretty edible, I wonder how long it was up there) and decides, "it's [his] house too, [he's] staying". Skylar arrives and demands that Walt get the hell outta there. Walt refuses and Skylar calls the police, vowing to tell them about Walt's second profession. Before the cops show up, Walter Jr. walks through the door. Skylar can't bring herself to rat on Walt. I wonder if she would have gone through with it if their son wasn't present? This agonizing scene ends with the police unable to remove Walt due to a lack of a court order. Skylar makes her contempt for Walt clear with a simple yet chilling, "Welcome home".

Meanwhile, Jesse has shut himself into his furnitureless new/old house to mourn his dead girlfriend. This manifests itself in a string of compulsive calls to Jane's cell phone to hear her voice on the answering machine. Very sad stuff, although I'm pretty sure I would be doing the exact same thing in his situation. He is interrupted by Saul, who stops by to try again to convince him to convince Walt to get back into the cooking game. He even throws in a financial incentive. Eventually Jane's cell phone is disconnected and he can no longer hear her voice, effectively ending his mourning period and sending him out into the desert to do the only thing is good at; cook meth.

Speaking of lawyers, Skylar pays a visit to hers and spills the beans about Walt's criminal involvements. Despite her lawyer's insistence that the information would stay between the two (due to the attorney/client privilege), I have a feeling that this might be the first domino in a chain that leads to Hank discovering the truth about his brother-in-law. The scene ends heartbreakingly, with Skylar expressing hope that "things will resolve themselves", meaning she is looking forward Walt's death.

Hank is dealing with his own demons at the moment as well. After receiving word that he will be transferred back to El Paso, the sight of a gruesome cartel bombing that shook him to the core (literally and figuratively), he freaks out and starts a bar fight with two massive thugs. His motivation for the attack is debatable. Does he just want to prove to himself that he is a badass and not just a pansy that has panic attacks? Does he want to be injured or suspended from his job to avoid having to go back to El Paso? Has he simply snapped? It isn't clear.

The Cousins reappear with Don Salamanca (the guy in the wheelchair who I didn't recognize last week) and a cartel honcho at Gus Fring's chicken farm. The group explains to Gus that they are in the Estados Unidos to kill Heisenberg in order to avenge Tuco's death (The Cousins are Tuco's cousins and the Don is Tuco's uncle). Gus, in very impressive Spanish, replies that Heisenberg/Walt still works for Gus and the cartel is to keep their hands off until their work together is complete. It is clear that Walt is going to need Gus's protection at least as much as Gus needs Walt's kick-ass blue tweak.

Walt attempts to smooth things over with his wife by showing her a bag of cash and explaining that all of the horrible things he did to earn it were for her and the kids. Skylar doesn't seem particularly touched by the gesture and decline (at least for now) to accept the money.

She does, however, accept some dick from her book-cooking boss, Ted Beneke. Granted, tax fraud is much less taboo than drug manufacturing, but is it really all that easier to stomach? Apparently for her it is. It The episode ends with Skylar informing Walt of the affair matter-of-factly, as if to punish him for his sins. The look on Walt's face says it all. He wishes he would have just succumbed to cancer last year.

Leftovers:

Skylar fucks up the lyrics to "Old MacDonald" at the beginning of the episode. Either she is really dumb or has a whole lot on her mind.

Skylar has taken up smoking in an attempt to cope with the stress in her life. It would have been better if she was smoking a jay instead of a cigarette though.

The title of the episode is "I.F.T.", which is an apparently stands for "I Fucked Ted', which is what Skylar spits hatefully at Walt in the episode's last piece of dialogue. It was sort of shocking to hear a half-way bleeped "fuck" kinda-uttered on basic cable. As soon as the sentence left her lips I felt like I got slapped in the face. I felt terrible for Walt.

Why are The Cousins only targeting Walt? Are they unaware of Jesse's involvement?

Walt's "I did it for my family" rationalization for cooking meth rings a bit hollow because he could have accepted the money his former business partner offered him for treatment last season. His ego was too big to accept the money then and it is too big to accept responsibility now.

It was good to see Walt back in costume with the cook's apron on at the end of the episode. I just hope the next time we see him in it, he is cooking something other than pot roast.

As much as I appreciate and enjoy this show, it is kind of veering in the Mad Men direction in terms of focusing so heavily on Walt and Skylar's marriage. I really hope at some point soon we get a big fat dose of Jesse, Saul and a camper full of toxic fumes.

Justified- "Oh hey, look. It's that guy from Sex in the City!"

I am starting have a serious problem with Justified and, to be honest, I am close to throwing in the towel. Last night's episode was another guest-star filled one-off that did very little, (until the very end) to advance the plot and characters. The structure of the show seems to be: Raylan goes after a different quirky bad guy each week, Raylan kills bad guy at the end, audience gets a tiny nugget that barely advances the far more intriguing overall plot involving Ava, Boyd, and Raylan's dad. If that is enough to keep you interested, god bless.

The biggest issue with this structure is the fact that these guests appear and disappear so quickly, the audience doesn't get a chance to care about them or understand their motivations and nuances. Take last night's episode; We are introduced to Arnold Pinter, a fish-out-of-water, Brooklynite bookie/snitch, played by that dude from Sex In The City who bangs that ugly redhead. Raylan is given the unenviable task of being his go-between in the Marshall's office. The two seem to hit it off, mainly because neither wants to in Kentucky. The Pinter character is pretty decent, but he doesn't get the screen time required to really flesh him out. We don't even find out how he ended up in the Bluegrass state.

Even more egregious, was the way the Travis Travers character was handled. He went from being a deadbeat stoner to a homicidal criminal mastermind in the blink of an eye. I didn't buy it for even a second. But that is what happens when you have to squeeze a new character into a 43 minute window every week. Sometimes it works pretty well (Boyd and Pinter), mostly it just feels forced (Travers).

I think the thing that frustrates me so much about Justified is the squandered potential. Timothy Olyphant is a grade-A bad-ass and the Raylan character is perfect for him. I like the chemistry between him and his boss, who seems to really get what Raylan is all about. I like the idea of a law enforcement agent coming back to his hometown against his will to take down a crew of white-supremacists. But I really can't get passed the formulaic repetitiveness of the past two episodes.