TV Review: Community 501/502: "Repilot" & "Introduction to Teaching"

By: David Allen (@eastwoodmcfly)

We thought it wasn’t possible. Why would a network re-hire a self-professed “rude asshole” after he was fired for a television show that receives no love from the Emmys and is easily beaten by CBS reruns? In the small off chance that this did happen there is no way he would be able to recreate the magic spark of the show with most of his original crew on other projects. Right? You are forgetting that this is Greendale Community College! The number two community college according to GreendaleCommunityCollege.com!

While I could go on for pages about how David Guarascio and Moses Port messed up season four, we do have to thank them for somehow keeping this show on the air. Without them we may not have season five and these back-to-back episodes to talk about. However, what Guarascio and Port both failed to do when they were at the helm is easily seen between these two new episodes. Dan Harmon can somehow take this absurd world and keep it grounded. He can easily blend the sometimes dark and evil nature of a character like Jeff Winger and mix it with heart and comedy. However most importantly, he can make believable characters sound real and not like happy fun time cartoons.

Season five’s premiere “Repilot” is very similar to the original pilot of the show. Between Jeff’s mischievous intentions for forming the study group to Abed calling back the pilot’s dialogue (and then calling back to how callbacks is a reference to…) it was clearly Harmon intent to ground the show and fix up some of the problems and storylines from the “gas leak” year. But don’t worry “grounded” by Community standards still includes holograms, inner-monologues in French, and a criminology teacher/Breaking Bad alum who draws cartoon ducks. Don’t judge! It’s one duck, his name is Jim and publishers are interested!

After a somewhat exposition heavy premiere (which was needed but at the same time hilarious) we were all caught up on the Greendale Seven (well six without Pierce or eight if we count Chang and the Dean…whatever).  In the second episode “Introduction to Teaching” we are introduced to professor Buzz Hickey played by Jonathan Banks. Originally when I saw promotional pictures for this season with Hickey in Pierce’s old seat at the study table, I was worried we could just get a Pierce 2.0; another man with the similar characteristics.  So far that is not the case. Mixed in with a little bit of Mike Ehrmantraut, Banks can intimidate as well as make you laugh.

While Jeff enjoys the “perks” of being a Greendale educator and has to deal with Annie who soon joins his Fundamentals of Law class, the B-story was dealing with one of the biggest enigmas in our history. Who really shot JFK? Was the moon landing staged? Nope! Nicholas Cage: Good or bad? Kevin Corrigan returns as Professor Garrity for a mini-course exploring the actor’s “abilities.” After Abed watches a few too many Cage films trying to answer the question, we are treated to an impression that easily makes this episode Danny Pudi Emmy’s submission tape, if the day/miracle ever came that he was nominated.

After Annie learns that her A- for a witness intimidation project is due to Hickey’s dislike for her and him trying to get her to drop Jeff’s class, a full on riot ensues. Even though Jeff tries to calm the storm with a typical Jeff Winger closing-speech (much like how Zach Braff closes every Scrubs episode with a voiceover wrap-up) it doesn’t work. The dean realizes what Greendale now needs is a “Save Greendale Committee” and after Jeff created a fake one with his former study group, the group sits around the familiar table in hopes of saving Greendale (and Community in general).


In and Out Points:

- Get those conspiracy theories ready. A Reddit user already found differences between the Dan Harmon opening credit image. No glasses because Pierce left? A broken pencil to symbolize “Steve” from the original pilot? Harmon’s name now in ink over pencil meaning his mark is permanent and not temporary? If we are going to be changing anything, why can’t that pen be purple?

- One of my favorite visual gags after Annie’s witness intimidation project? Humphries' thesis project which soon after this breaks in two.

- I am glad Chevy Chase and Dan Harmon settled any differences they may have for that great surprise cameo tonight. Never in a million years was I expecting that. It was a fun way to help transition to his absence and motivate Jeff, whom he has always had a special relationship with.

- Finally some of my favorite lines/interactions from Jeff and the gang:

• “That's like me blaming owls for how much I suck at analogies.” –Britta

• “Re-piloting can be intense. Season nine of Scrubs, Zach Braff was only in the first six episodes.” - Abed “Son of a bitch! After everything Scrubs did for him!” – Troy

• “…and when I asked you to explain the sixth amendment, you plead the fifth!” – Annie “I know my rights.” – Jeff “No, you don’t! That’s the problem!” - Annie

• “I don't know. If I was in 70 films over 30 years and I spent each one talking at random volumes, I might accidentally win an Oscar.” - Shirley

• "The whole world is watching this! Oh, wait. I'm out of data minutes. The whole world will be watching this on the first of next month!" – Britta

Episode Grades: B+/A- (See what I did there?)
Episode MVPs: Dan Harmon/Danny Pudi
Original Airdate: 1/2/14

TV Review: Dexter 7x03: Buck the System

DA- Dexter came back full of built up rage and excitement with another action-packed episode.

After dream sequence after dream sequence of Dexter losing his dark passenger, he finally lashes out on a criminal in Miami Metro. While I knew Masuka was never going to bite the dust it would have been interesting to see what lie Dexter could come up with it to cover that up!

Dexter’s next target is a cemetery groundskeeper named Raymond Speltzer. Deb of course follows him at every moment to try and stop him. Since he knows he is being followed, Dexter lures Deb to the bar to let her be a part of his stalking process with this kill. Deb tells him to let the legal system take care of this but Dexter zings back that if the legal system worked he wouldn’t be this busy. Oh Dexter you got her!

The destruction of Louis Greene came to a quick and sad ending for me. First Masuka fires him when Dexter mysteriously sends the missing hand back to him for “not being mint.” Next came Jamie. Dexter sets up a video for her to find that involves him with a hooker. Louis tries to pull a Dexter with a crazy lie (it’s not cheating if you pay for it). Louis turns then turns the lie to Dexter (which is actually the truth) but this is absurd to her. Dexter would never do such a thing! What’s next Louis? Are you going to try and tell her that he kills people?! Yeah right!

Somehow the GPS on the bracelet that Viktor had only marked three places (the three of which Dexter was with him for). They trace it to the marina and to the exact boat (don’t ask me how) where they see Louis trying to sink Dexter’s boat. Since he thinks it is security he says it is his boat. After the classic misunderstanding is settled and they learn about Dexter, Louis is shot. Wow! While I was excited for this increased action I was sad to see this character go especially since the show was leading him to be so much more.

After being turned down for a search warrant on Raymond Speltzer, Deb tries to look into Raymond herself. It turns out that Raymond likes to create Saw-like mazes where he chases his victim in a gimp-like costume while wearing a Viking hat (to each his own!) Deb breaks in and begins to be chased herself. Dexter saves the day but unfortunately did not arrive fast enough to save the dead girl.

Will this be the final straw and will Deb give in to Dexter’s unique justice system (since the real system is certainly flawed in this case)? Perhaps we will find out next week in another exciting and fast-paced Dexter.

Episode Grade: A-

Episode MVP: Louis Greene (R.I.P.)
Original Airdate: 10/14/2012

TV Review: Big Brother 14 Finale: On Bitter Juries & What Dan Should Have Said

ML- First off, congratulations to Ian Terry, winner of Big Brother 14 and the $500,000 prize! He won a bunch of competitions, made plenty of friends and gave the better jury speech, securing 6 of the 7 votes and going down in history as an extremely deserving winner.

Dan Gheesling, former BB10 winner and the only person to make Final 2 both times he played Big Brother, came up short. His ruthless, "blood up to his elbows" game pissed too many people off. Plus, he already had the money, and the jury wanted to reward a newbie super-fan with college loans to pay off over the slimy, cutthroat book-peddler who stabbed them all in the back.

All that being said, if I were in the jury, regardless of whether he betrayed me or not, I would have voted for Dan. I know, that's easy to say having not been betrayed by him, but his strategic game was absolutely amazing. To me, that's the measure of who deserves to win the game, not necessarily likability or challenge wins (though those things can only help).

I feel as though reality television has evolved a lot since its beginnings, when the likes of Richard Hatch and Dr. Will were rewarded for their strategic masterpieces. I no longer think that reality show juries vote for the most deserving to win the game. In this current reality landscape, everyone expects to become a star from their exposure, or at least get a spin-off/spot on The Amazing Race. As such, jurors are by definition those that cannot win and must choose the winner. By choosing the winner, they, vicariously, "win" if their pick wins. Thus, a bitter vote is a way of stealing someone's deserved win to heal your ego and be a part of the "winning" team and making the runner-up feel your same pain. It's petty and selfish, but it's been happening over and over again on Survivor and Big Brother in ways we never saw during early years.

Imagine you're playing poker with a group of people you've gotten to know at work. You see each other every day, you form opinions, you may gossip about each other and be planning to cut each others' throats (professionally speaking), but you all know each other and decided to play. Now let's say you bluff someone and take a ton of their money, knocking them out of the game. You lied to them, deceived them about your hand. Is it right for that person to hold a grudge against you for being a better poker player? To not invite you to the next poker game because of your lie? Most people, I assume, would say no, it's just a game.

Big Brother is just a game, too. It's a televised game with goofy competitions that you can play in your backyard, with people who may as well be coworkers- they're not necessarily friends or family, but they could be one day. And yes, people get their feelings hurt along the way, but only one person can win. Everyone lies to everyone at some point, and the people who lie the best make it far, and then they are punished for lying better than others.

Dan got a lot of grief for swearing on the bible and on his wife's name. Personally, I don't take offense to either of those things in the game setting. If he did so in the real world, then sure, that would be an asshole move if he swore on his wife's name then betrayed her. But if we're playing poker and the only way to get you to play the pot for $500,000 is to swear on my wife's name that I have a worse hand than you, then it turns out I was bluffing, the blame is on you. This is a game for big money, and anything you say should be suspect as a possible lie. Now, Dan is a religious, loving man, so people thought he was telling the truth. Boom, misted. I'll be interested to see if people in the future use the bible/swearing on names as a weapon, or avoid it based on the backlash.

Another reason why Dan lost was his status as a former winner. I think the trend is finally coming around for people to turn against returning players. They've seen Rachel and Rob win, Coach and Ozzy make the endgame. They've also seen the amount of screen time new players get compared to returning ones- barely any. Not only did he get the money already, he got the attention and the "fame". As we saw on Survivor this week, people are sick of the old timers stealing all their thunder.

The main problem I have with Dan was his jury speech. Not only was he obnoxious and sucking up, he failed to highlight the strongest aspects of his game, despite it being so obviously rehearsed. Ian spoke off the cuff, was natural, and played up Dan's betrayal to the jury just like J.T. did re: Stephen in Survivor: Tocantins.

If I were in Dan's position, here's what I would have said:

"When I entered this game I had to check many things at the door. I am a religious man in my real life, but that doesn't belong in a game where you must lie, cheat and backstab to win. I am a faithful husband, but I couldn't let my emotions control my actions. However, I knew that using these qualities would be a strategic way to earn trust. I talked it over with Chelsea before entering, and she agreed I had to do anything to win this game again.

The one huge part of who I am that I was able to bring into this game was my role as a coach. I entered as a coach to three contestants, just like the others, but by the end of the first eviction I was down to only one player left and in grave danger of going home without even getting the chance to fight for myself. At that point, it was me and my player, Danielle, against 10 other people across 3 teams. I went into survival mode, knowing I would do whatever it took to coach my team to the end.

And look what happened: the two of us made it to final 3 and just barely missed out on Final 2. Love or hate what I did in this game, you cannot deny that I was effective in enacting my plans. I'm sorry if your feelings were hurt along the way, but you can't bring your feelings into this game. You wouldn't hate someone for bluffing you out of your money in poker, would you?

In the end, this is just a game, like poker is a game. I hope you guys choose not to be sore losers and Bitter Betties, because you will regret it. If you're voting for the most deserving, I feel my strategic moves have earned that title."

Unfortunately, Dan settled for patronizing the jurors and ultimately alienating them. Ian was likable, and his win made me happy; as I imagined myself as a super fan in his position, beating one of the best players ever, I was finally satisfied.

I'd like to thank everyone who read my reviews this season for putting up with me and my blatant favoritism! In the end, it's just a game, and just as there are no rules about lying, there are no rules about voting. Ian earned his win fair and square, and I look forward to seeing him on the next All-Star season!

Episode Grade: A-
Season Grade: A- (Good strategy, casts, twists, Final 2.)
Season MVPs: Dan Gheesling & Ian Terry
Original Airdate: 09/19/2012

TV Review: Breaking Bad 5x08: "Gliding Over All"

Walt's downfall isn't going to be attributed to his ego spilling over, or his wife's immense fear, or any of his cronies buckling under pressure and calling the cops. It's because of some light bathroom reading Hank perused through while going #2 in the White bathroom.


Holy crap.

This episode was a stunning achievement of storytelling. Gilligan and co. disposed of the 10 potential whistleblowers in cinematic fashion, calling back to Walt's new watch in a scene that felt straight out of The Godfather or Goodfellas. We got a three month time jump, which felt honest to the story and relieving to get fresh takes on everyone. Plus, the new baby they got for Holly was freaking adorable.

None of my "bold predictions" I made came true tonight, which isn't too disappointing because they were more geared towards the next season. In fact, Breaking Bad is the type of show where it feels good to be wrong. Spoilers must be avoided like the plague, as any clue to where the show heads next feels like you're taking the TV equivalent of performance enhancing drugs. Being on the West Coast, staying off of Twitter and Facebook while the East enjoys and comments on the twists and turns gives a satisfaction similar to pledging celibacy until marriage or not eating all day before Thanksgiving dinner: you know you're in for something beyond words when the moment finally comes.

I wish I had put more weight into the Whitman book, especially given that the title of the episode, "Gliding Over All", is the title of one of Whitman's poems. It goes:

GLIDING o'er all, through all

Through Nature, Time and Space

As a ship on the waters advancing,

The voyage of the soul--not life alone

Death, many deaths I'll sing.

Walter sang many deaths tonight during the simultaneous killing of the imprisoned Fring associates. There are many more deaths awaiting him, including, I suspect, his own. 

At first I was surprised to see Walt retire so quickly, but it all made sense in a way that was true to the character. Walt said he was in the empire business, making a product as American as Coca Cola. He started off as a small business owner struggling to peddle his product, but he found success and achieved the American dream of having what he wanted, more money than he could spend in 10 lifetimes. But, like so many Americans before him, everything he wanted didn't bring him any happiness. In his mind he had a vision for what his life would be like as a rich meth lord, but by becoming the best, he destroyed any competition and things became boring. 

So he chose between the American ideals: Live Free or Die. He picked to live free, because it no longer seemed like he would die as a meth cook. This is because, I suspect, his killer has returned- the cancer. As he exited the rest room, he saw the paper towel dispenser he punched back when he was told his cancer had decreased and he was getting better. After this visit, he smiled and moved along. Was he merely reminiscing on how far he had come and what a fool he had been back then? Or did he finally have some relief to his conscience, knowing death was slowly creeping back into his body?

His visit with Jesse was nice, but it also reminded me how little Aaron Paul had to do this season. There's no great Emmy tape for him here, while Cranston has a few possibilities, Anna Gunn has the pool/fight episode and even Jonathan Banks could compete with a couple episodes. But Paul was severely underutilized, aside from getting to yell "Yeah, Bitch- Magnets!". 

Their back-and-forth was awkward. The men had been through so much together, but in the end, they're just like any coworkers who can't find common ground when they leave the office. Remember that RV? And that time we got stuck in the desert? Walt misses the craziness of those times, as does Jesse, who is falling asleep on his couch with nothing to do. Before Walt goes he mentions "I left you something", referring to bags of money on the front porch. Jesse takes them in and has an emotional breakdown, most likely due to the fact he was prepared to shoot Mr. White with a gun he grabbed when he saw him at the door. Jesse is still living in fear, because he can't not. Mike knew he couldn't just get out of the drug game. His mind is in it.

So where do we go from here? We still have 9 months to go before we see Walt's 52nd birthday from the teaser of this season. How will Hank handle knowing his geeky brother in law is really the biggest, baddest drug lord in history? Will the loose ends from previous seasons, like Jane's death or the ricin in the outlet, come back into play? I hope so. I should probably stop speculating about this show, one because it will drive me crazy while I wait for the next year, but two because I'm sure my predictions will be wrong, and it may be more fun to strap in while Vince Gilligan does Walter White-style donuts with out emotions and expectations. 

Episode Grade: A-

Season 5 Grade: 90.00 (A-)

Episode MVP: Vince Gilligan

Original Airdate: 09/02/2012

TV Review: Breaking Bad 5x05: "Dead Freight"

ML- Last week ended with Walt vowing "there's no stopping this train." This week involved Walt and co. literally stopping a train. Is this a commentary on Walt's plans being parasitic and/or self-destructive? Or is it just some blatant Hell on Wheels cross-promotion? I'll have to let you decide, because I'm too busy reminiscing about Friday Night Lights.

It's funny- In the season 2 premiere of FNL, Landry (played by Jesse Plemons, aka Todd the other train robber) killed a man, in what became the show's worst-received storyline in the show's worst-received season. But on Breaking Bad, Todd killing a child makes this episode even better, and continues the streak of awesome episodes this season.

There's on more parallel that stood out that I want to mention before getting to the actual recap- Jesse mentioned their heist was reminiscent of Jesse James. Earlier this season, Mike warned Walt that just because you killed Jesse James (Gus Fring), it doesn't make you Jesse James. So is Walt merely the coward Robert Ford, or is he a genuine Jesse James? And if so, who will be his Robert Ford? According to Wikipedia, Robert Ford was staying in James' home at the time he killed the infamous outlaw. Is that Skyler? Flynn? BABY HOLLY?!?!

Okay, enough pondering without reaching any definite conclusions. The episode began with a cold open of cool POV bike shots as a kid made his way through the desert searching for something. He stopped when he found it- a tarantula, which he let crawl all over his hand before he put it in a jar and took it with him on his way. We'd never seen this kid before, so I was mighty confused as to who he was or what part he played. And, to be honest, I forgot about him in the hustle and bustle that followed, which is exactly what the producers wanted.

Walt visited Hank at his new office, showing off his new watch and throwing Skyler under the bus in an emotional breakdown designed to coerce Hank into leaving the room to comfort him. Once Hank left the room, Walt quickly bugged Hank's computer, as well as a picture of Hank and Marie. Nothing is sacred to Walt, especially family. Hank enters just seconds too late, but comforts Walt that the night is darkest just before the dawn.

I bet Lydia was hoping that was the case for her. Mike, Walt and Jesse cuffed her to a table and forced her to memorize a script and repeat it to Hank without crying, panicking or otherwise warning him of her state of danger. If she does, Mike repeats, he will pull out his pistol and shoot her in the head.

She tells Hank she noticed the GPS tracker on a barrel of methylamine and wondered if he had anything to do with it. Of course, this was so Mike could prove his theory that Lydia herself planted the tracker. Hank didn't know anything about it and told her to keep it quiet.

Mike had heard enough. He was ready to shoot her in the head with his pistol, despite Lydia and Jesse's claims of her innocence. Walt voted with Mike, however, to kill her, after Mike comments that "everyone sounds like Meryl Streep with a gun to their head" (callback to Walt's lie to Jesse last season?).

Fortunately for her, Walt's bug kept working as Hank called the Houston DEA, who confirmed that they had tagged all of the methylamine. This marks another instance where Jesse was right over Walt. Mike still wanted Lydia dead, knowing she'd turn a gun or badge on them the first chance that she got. She had a plan, however, to lead them to an ocean of methylamine. I have a bad feeing for Mike that letting Lydia live so long will in fact lead to his downfall.

Lydia asks Walt to swear on his children that she won't be harmed. I could be wrong, but I didn't hear him make this deal. Instead, she spelled out a hyper-elaborate plan of a train heist:

A freight train with industrial chemicals passes across the country, and when it gets to a remote 3-mile area with no cell service or way for the train's two engineers to contact their home plant, they'd strike, like Jesse James.

How would they know which car was right? Lydia would get the manifest that morning. Also, she'd expect to be paid- something neither Walt nor Mike was down with. How would they deal with witnesses? As Mike points out, there are two types of heists: the ones where you get away, and the ones where you leave witnesses. Jesse had the answer for this one- what if they didn't even know the methylamine was stolen?

This whole plot was well-constructed by the writers but a little too well-constructed to be fully believable, or fully satisfying. More on that later.

Hank and Marie played parents, giving baby Holly boob milk (none of that soy crap) and calling Walter Jr./Flynn "Emo McGee". So, basically, these kids are going to be screwed up no matter who raises them. Flynn hears them talking crap and wants to go home.

But enough about them, let's get to the heist. They bury two tanks in the dirt after measuring the distance to the bridge. One tank Todd fills with water, the other is meant for methylamine. The plan, which is expositionally explained to the unknowing noob of the plot acting as the audience, is to replace the methylamine they take with water, in a proportionally weighted manner so that when the train is weighed at its destination, there will be no way of knowing anything was taken.

Walt and Jesse make it clear to Todd that nobody can ever know about this heist. Nobody. What they intend to be a threat is a deadly contract that comes up again at the end of the episode.

Flynn freaks that he has to leave and wants a reason for being kicked out of his own house. Walt pulls the old "We're your parents and we say so" card, and that is that. He tries to find solace in his decision with Skyler, who wants nothing to do with him. She's a hostage, not his wife, but she will continue to launder his money and be whatever he asks as long as the children aren't there when the evil catches up to them. To this, I think he agrees, and informs her of his lie he told Hank about her shrink.

Then she notices his rolled up sleeves and sand-crusted arms. Burying bodies?, she boldly asks. He responds just as bluntly. Robbing a train.

BOLD BREAKING BAD PREDICTION: Skyler's plan to keep Flynn and Holly safe by leaving them at Hank and Marie's may actually backfire and put them in danger when Hank is targeted by one of Lydia's men and/or Mike.

The plan goes off for a while without a hitch. Lydia calls in the car. An accomplices blocks the tracks. Mike stays on lookout. When the train arrives, Todd climbs to the top and Jesse gets underneath. Walt stays by the tanks to make sure they get their 1,000 gallons. Things go swimmingly for a while.

That's my main problem with this episode- there was never a doubt in my mind that they would succeed. Where is the drama if we don't doubt our main characters will succeed? The arrival of the other car that pushes the broken-down car out of the way was a good "uh-oh" moment, but still, the episode was so well crafted that there was no way it would fail.

That doesn't mean it was all bad. By this point, Walt, Jesse and Mike are pros, and we need to see them  at their prime a bit. I just mean from a storytelling sense, there could have been less certainty in the plan, is all.

But they do succeed, naturally, at the last second. They celebrate with "Yeah, bitch"es and high fives. All until they notice the problem- the kid on the bike from earlier in the episode saw the whole thing.

Here, what I had planned on grading a B+ episode all came together. Todd, under the orders of letting nobody know anything about the heist, pulls out a gun and shoots the kid. Dead.

Children are not safe in this Breaking Bad universe. Flynn and Holly, watch your backs. Do not doubt a mother's instinct.

Episode Grade: A-
Episode MVP: Aaron Paul (not an Emmy-caliber episode for him, but the best he's had thus far)
Original Airdate: 8/12/2012

TV Review: Big Brother 14x12: Nasty Southern Belles Go to Hell

ML- There's no point trying to even play like I'm unbiased when it comes to Big Brother. Nobody involved is- Grodner, the players, the fans. So I feel comfortable saying I'm pissed off at how this week's backdoor went down.

If you only watched the episode, it probably made sense. But if you were a live feed viewer, you saw a lot more information that paints the remaining houseguests in a different light.

Like Danielle. If I ever met her I would probably curse her out. She talked so much trash about Janelle this week with people who have talked even more trash about Danielle in the past. She, Britney and Wil are the cattiest of BB players and I can't wait for all of them to get their comeuppance. And, again, when they do and rejoin the Twitterverse, I will be sure to express my discontent with them.

Did Janelle make a blunder worthy of her certainly early eviction? Possibly. If you watch the live feeds, she didn't actually pause for so long and give no response after Boogie threw out the possibility of evicting Joe. She paused, then agreed to lose Joe. However, that would paint Boogie and Dan in a negative light, and the editors need to spin this as positively as possible against Janelle to keep the fans watching. And all I have to say is bullshit.

Many alliances were formed tonight, from the Quack Pack (Danielle/Dan/Britney/Shane/Ian) to the "Avengers"-like Silent Six (Danielle/Dan/Britney/Shane/Boogie/Frank). If you watch the feeds you know another alliance, TiTs, was formed, compsed of Wil/Ashley/Jenn/Joe. It's sad that at this point, with Janelle out of every alliance, my support doesn't go behind her players, but rather the ones who had to fight desperately to keep themselves in against her (read: Mike and Frank.)

I won't comment on the scripted DR session with Frank, Boogie and Ian. All I will say about Danielle is that she;s lucky she positioned herself into a showmance so that Grodner has a reason to portray her positively, because all of the bitter, bitchy, petty, literally CRAZY talk she's shown on the feeds has painted her in the exact opposite light. She doesn't understand how badly everyone, including Shane, has spoken of her in the past. 

I will praise Dan, Boogie and Frank, though. If Janelle can't make it to the end of this game and finally win, I hope one of these three deserving players will do so. Joe, Ashley, Wil and Jenn are four of the most worthless players to enter the house, Britney and Danielle are some of the most personally-affected people to play. Danielle ruined her HoH by adding an unneeded target on herself by saving the life of her main target, who was shown saying how little he thinks of her and will surely win and nominate her down the line, when Janelle had much bigger fish to fry. Danielle overcompensated this week, like she has done in her "relationship" attempts with Shane, in her attempts to feel important, powerful and gain acceptance. She may have done so temporarily with other players in the house, but I guarantee she will never be beloved like Janelle or Jordan, who I compared her to a few weeks ago.

We got to see a rehashed Veto of contestants trading prizes as they are eliminated. In the end, Shane got a veto ticket, Jenn a Maui vacation, Wil $5,000, Ian the life of a dog for 24 hours, Frank a Spirit-tard and Danielle the Veto. Thanks to some carftiness by Boogie and Frank, Danielle agreed to spare her target and nominate Janelle, only after Dan gave her the go-ahead when he felt she couldn't be trusted.

I fully expect Janelle to exit the house tomorrow night. It would be stupid for them to keep her around, obviously, and she has no real allies. Janie represented the pre-Grodner era where competitions could be won without any "help" and twists from America didn't come around at the most convenient times. That being said, Janelle had 3 surviving mentees that showed her no respect, perhaps because they didn't feel they got any from her. Personally, I think they were all ungrateful, Janellous bitches who will  get their asses handed to them by the majority alliance in the coming weeks.

So Viva la Silent Six, though it is no equal to the Sovereign Six of BB6 history (Janelle, Howie, Rachel, James, Sarah and Kaysar, for the forgetful ones out there). You've gotten rid of the biggest threat who had the least amount of allies and solidified yourselves as asses to the fans. Can't wait to see a 12th-place finisher win fan favorite over all of you.

Episode Grade: A- (Editing wise, well done for what they wanted to tell, not for what happened).

Episode MVP: Mike Boogie 

Original Airdate: 08/08/2012

TV Review: Breaking Bad 5x04: "51"

ML- I think its time we addressed the "Skyler Problem".

In seasons 1 and 2 I hated Skyler White. She was annoying, intrusive and ruining all the fun we wanted Walter to have as he got deeper and deeper into the drug game.

Then S.F.T.

Since then, I've seen Skyler in a whole new light, and I think that's because I've grown to love and respect Anna Gunn as an actress. The scene last season where she discussed her "bullet points" with Walt on his fake gambling addiction is one of my favorites the show has ever done. She's knocking it out of the park acting-wise, playing a character who just sucks all of the fun out of the room.

But I don't hate her. I see tweets from people who can't stand her, and try to respond in ways that will help change their minds. She made some bad decisions to follow Walt down this path, sure: remember when she went to the four corners and flipped her coin to decide her fate, then kept flipping when she didn't get what she wanted? She has nobody to blame but herself.

That being said, look at what she's living with. Walter is a jerk to her and a genuine monster of a person. The fight scene, which I think could sell-out theaters as a one-act play, showed just how scared she is and the lengths she will go to protect her children, something Walt vowed to do as well. Yes, she can be annoying and boring and bitchy and hypocritical. But she may be the only hope of bringing down Walter White.

Then again, she may not have to do anything at all. Hank and the DEA made progress sniffing out more Madrigal employees, causing Lydia to panic and call Mike requesting help. Her guy, Ron, is no longer available to drive the trucks. Mike says he'll send a new guy.

The guy was Jesse, who she skeptically lets into the warehouse to grab the methylamine. There's a problem, though- they spot a substance on the bottom of the barrel that Lydia recognizes as a GPS tracker. Jesse reports back to Mike and Walt, empty-handed, but Mike is suspicious that no other barrels were checked and suspects Lydia is pulling the wool over their eyes and trying to dissociate from Mike and their deal. Mike vows to take her out, Jesse votes against it, and Walter refuses to let anything stop them from cooking.

Walt didn't have a very good pre-birthday. It started off fine- he and his son went to get the Pontiac fixed up and decided to lease some hot new sports cars. He and Walter, Jr. pulled up into the driveway in style, but Walter, Jr. wasn't too keen on his car choice. So in a brilliant, wordless scene, the father and son pulled up again, this time Jr. in a different car. It seemed like a dream sequence, which was the perfect feel to give a sense of Walter's reckless, idealistic mindset.

After dinner, Walter explains to Skyler that he only leased the cars in an attempt to cover his tracks. SHe asks if he's back at cooking, and he mentions he has to make up for the $600,000 she gave Ted. She then suggests boarding school for Walter, Jr. The kids, she feels, need a new environment.

Walter disagrees. And that's that. And he wants a big birthday party. With chocolate cake and chocolate frosting.

And life is good. Because he says it is.

The next morning he gets his bacon on his eggs, a White family tradition that confirms the 1-year gap between current events and the flash-forward we saw as the season's teaser. With all of the crap that occurred over these 4.5 seasons fitting into 1 year, it's hard to imagine how much can change within another year.

Hank has been spot on about Gus and his crew every step of the way, and he is offered a promotion to give up his day-to-days (Fring case included) for a better-paying, more political job. he takes it, but I don't think he's done with the Fring case just yet.

Walt leaves Jesse early at work because he expects a big birthday party. He opens the door to the house and his face drops- it's just his son on the couch, not a room full of people praising the ground he walks on. Skyler invited Hank and Marie, cooked some meat and potatoes, and even ordered the chocolate cake. It's hard to believe Walt really expected her to throw anything major together, but again, he is blinded by his idealism and own ego.

The second best scene of the night goes to Marie and Hank in the car as she pulls a classic example of refusing to tell someone a secret while promptly giving everything away. It is a great, funny moment for her character and its nice to see she and Hank bond after all of their animosity last season. It involved infidelity, that's all she was going to say. But not Walt.

As Walt reminisced on his journey and how things have fallen into pace for him, Skyler lingers by the edge of the pool, staring into the water. He asks her to remember his first week of chemo, and she does, painfully. Instead of doing so, she'd rather wade into the cold water and nearly drown herself.

The pool has been a major force in Breaking Bad, after the events of the plane crash in season 2 and the cartel member's death last year (different pool, but still). For our characters, the pools may represent drowning, being enclosed and trapped. It's from the pool that the one-eyed bear is plucked, a symbol of Walt's descent to breaking bad.

Here, Skyler uses the badness as an empowerment opportunity. She has Marie ask Walt if she can take the kids, as it may be better for them than to be around their suicidal mom. Skyler descends and puts herself into danger to protect the kids, just like Walt. And when Walt confronts her, in the best scene of the season thus far, it's clear that the danger she's putting herself through is being with him. He tries claiming there is no danger, Gus was the danger, and she quickly retorts that at one point he proclaimed "I am the danger." To whom is he dangerous to now with Gus gone?

He grills her on her grand scheme here to pick it apart with his own honed skill of finding flaws in plans. She wants the kids away so they don't have to be around the family business of making meth and lying to everyone. She can't have them around while he makes rationalizations and shrugs off dealing drugs and killing people as "shit happens".

She says she'll hurt herself again if she has to so the kids can stay away longer. He counters that he'll put her in a facility where she'll need inpatient care. She says she'll bruise her neck and eye and blame it on Walt beating her after discovering her affair. But does she want to drag Ted deeper into things and paint Walt as a wife beater to their children? Walt is quick to see all of the negative paths her actions take and doesn't give her an ounce of room to think or even breathe.

Unable to handle his interrogation anymore she cracks. She has no brilliant plan. She can't go to the cops and she can't keep him out of the house or even out of her bed. She does have one failsafe, though: wait until his cancer comes back to kill him. Let him self-destruct, as a result of both the cancerous tumors and his darkened soul and bad decisions.

This time metaphor pops up again when Jesse gives Walt a present- a new watch. In the very next scene, a loud ticking can be heard from Skyler's room. Walt's time is running out, and everyone knows it. He tells her that the watch was a gift from someone who just weeks ago wanted him dead, and he can turn Skyler back to his corner. Not seeing Gunn's face for this scene worked well, because we got everything we needed to by her body language. Just lights up a cigarette, as if perhaps some smoke will make its way into his lungs and, if she's lucky, knock the first domino.

Now we're halfway through with the season. It's hard to believe, but 8 episodes goes a lot quicker than 13. Where do you think the show is going in its final episodes? Will Hank make the connections to Walt? Will Mike kill Lydia, and if so will he get caught? Will Skyler go to the cops and report what she knows? And will Jesse finally get an episode where he has a lot to do? Please, writers, give him something to work with! Leave your predictions in the comments.

Episode Grade: A- (4 in a row! I nearly went with an A but there wasn't enough "oomph", aside from the fight.)
Episode MVP: Anna Gunn
Original Airdate: 08/05/2012

TV Review: Breaking Bad 5x03: "Hazard Pay"

ML- I watched and took notes on this week's Breaking Bad as it aired on Sunday, but due to technical difficulties and sheer exhaustion I was unable to get to this review until Tuesday night. Unfortunately for everyone, I'm now pretty removed from the episode to give my clearest insights, so I'll be adding in the usual plot recap with some musings on television in general.

It's been said that it it possible to make a perfect film, but not a perfect TV series. Look at Lost- season one was damn near perfect, but the show stalled and faltered much over the next five years until reaching a polarizing finale (which I happened to love). A film can be shot in a matter of a few weeks, while TV series take years, which leaves plenty of time for bad stuff to happen likes kids getting older, actors getting into legal trouble or audiences getting bored.

For my money, Breaking Bad is a perfect television show. Since the beginning, it hasn't seemed to quiver at the reaction of the audience, or the Nielsen ratings, or the conventions of dramatic storytelling.  It truly feels like one long, thrilling movie (can it be that this whole series has only taken place over one year so far? Bonkers). While I haven't seen The Wire or The Sopranos or The West Wing, so those critically lauded shows may in fact be perfect as well, but Breaking Bad is the only one I've seen to stick to its guns and offer an uncompromising, high-quality view throughout every episode of every season.

Mad Men is a close second, because, for better or worse, the tone has shifted drastically since the beginning of the show. Yes, it's because the time the show is set in has changed, but comparing season 1 episodes to season 5 is like comparing Walt's meth to Gale's: quality is high, but the small differences are influential.

Other high-quality shows like Six Feet Under and Friday Night Lights suffered some shaky plot lines and seasons, and comedies like Arrested Development, Community and even Seinfeld all had some episodes that missed the mark. I, too, feel that creating consistent comedy is harder than creating consistent drama, because it's hard to find humor that appeals to the full spectrum of audiences. But that's for another completely unrelated TV Review.

Hold on, Skyler White has something to say:

Well I guess I'll keep my thoughts about TV to myself then....

... yeah right no way. I can't stay away from talking about this show, and if you're reading this, I bet you can't either. So let's cut the chit-chat and dive into the episode:

We started with Mike posing as a paralegal to get one-on-one time with the men on Lydia's list. So far, everyone has proved loyal, but since the feds have seized their hazard pay, rats could begin to emerge. These people have families they need to protect, just like Walt, Jesse and Mike.

Walt moves his things back into the apartment and lingers on a copy of what appeared to be "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman, who has come up many times in the past on this show, most memorably when Hank sniffed out Gale's "W.W." obsession in the journal and Walt pinned it on Whitman. From what I saw on "Leaves of Grass", Whitman was writing it up until he died. Is this a foreboding sign for our Walt? Can we even call him "our" Walt anymore?

Saul isn't too keen on turning the three amigos into four with Mike's addition, but they hit the road to find a new place to cook. After a few less-than-stellar locales, they come across the old laser tag place, where Walt finds his inspiration. He doesn't want to cook there, but rather sees something that gives him the idea: They'll take over houses being fumigated and set up temporary labs that will be broken down by the time the house is finished. Brilliance.

Jesse gets Skinny Pete and Badger in on it, as they buy cases for hauling musical equipment that really will carry the lab parts. Saul has an in with people who can get into the houses, one of them being Jesse Plemons (Landry Clarke of Friday Night Lights). The plan comes together, and their new venture, Vamonos Pests, works like a charm.

That is, until payday arrives. Mike divides up the fat stacks of cash, and Walt is pissed to see his hard-earned share be depleted into the hazard pay accounts. This isn't how he wants to run things, but Mike doesn't care. Just because he shot Jesse James, he lectures, doesn't make Walt the next Jesse James. Walt is constantly trying to stop being the nerdy physics professor with cancer (which he didn't actually deny having to Marie), so the comparisons to the late Gus Fring still irk him. He feels he is entitled to all the power and intimidation that Gus earned over many years of dominance in the drug game. It's been less than a year for Walter.

They're making less than they did with Fring, Walt complains. Jesse shows him the bright side, though: they put out much less product to get proportionally more money. A "bigger piece of the pie". Walt wants the whole pie, and reminds Jesse about what happened to Gus' peon Victor when he "flew too close to the sun". Was this directed towards Mike, Jesse or both? Walt is wild with power right now- power he doesn't really even have.

Jesse broke things off with Andrea this week after a talk with Mr. White about secrets. He planned on sticking with her for the long haul until Walter reminded him how he'd have to live with the secrets of what he does and did (like killing Gale) forever. Secrets, Walt explains, create barriers between people, and soon everything you've done is a part of you. By this definition, Walt and Jesse are becoming some bad dudes, and only one of them seems happy about it.

Walt's interaction with Brock at Jesse's house was just perfect. There was a tangible barrier in that room- we got to see Walt bond with Jr. and Holly like a normal middle-aged man (over Scarface, not planned to coincide with AMC mob week or anything) but with this boy he was shut down, or rather, shut in on himself with all of the horrible things he'd done.

The one horrible thing he did this week that I absolutely loved was his handling of Marie. Skyler gets the MVP award this week for saying what the audience has been dying to shout for years now: SHUT UP!  BOLD BREAKING BAD PREDICTION: Someone will strangle Marie, killing her, shutting her up and turning her face purple. You heard it here first!

Marie goes to Walt to meddle some more and find out what got Skyler all upset about him. He uses her break of character as a punishment and tells Marie about the I.F.T. affair, one again making himself look like the good guy and Skyler the villain. Skyler knows the truth, however, if her shell-shocked face during the shooting scene in Scarface was any indication. My confidence in my prediction about her going to the police is strengthened this week. And Walt, like Tony Montana, is going to go down guns blazing.

Episode Grade: A-
Episode MVP: Anna Gunn
Original Airdate: 7/29/2012

TV Review: True Blood 5x08: "Somebody That I Used to Know"

ML- It all hit me while watching Sunday's episode- Sookie is like Harry Potter. Oftentimes, she's more unlikable than the people around her. She was orphaned as a baby. Now, we find out she has a weird psychic connection to the dark being, Warlow, that murdered her parents, just like Harry had with Voldemort. I think Charlaine Harris (author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels) and J.K. Rowling should have a challenge similar to that of the were's tonight: hunt down and kill whoever wrote those Twilight books.

Things started falling into place for me this episode, at long last. Seeing as how there are so many storylines that these reviews become so unstructured anyways, I'm going to start dividing them into two categories: Things I Liked, Things I Didn't.

Things I Liked:
-Lafayette moving on from Jesus, though jarring how drastically he changed within the episode, was necessary. We need sassy Lafayette back, and he brought it, waving his hands around and doing his medium thing. Hopefully "smoke a blunt bidness" becomes a saying, somewhere.

-Terry and Patrick having to kill each other. It was good to see Arlene and Holly's plan to hold a fake seance backfire, and this leads to some interesting developments. Will killing Patrick really be a good thing for poor, damaged Terry? I could see him giving his life to let his friend live. Or, he kills him, and starts going down a darker path.

-Luna as Sam. I don't understand the logistics of the swap (what shifter in her family did Luna kill to become a Skinwalker?) but it's always fun to see these actors change up their characters, and Trammell did a great job. I'm not sure if I'm ready for Luna to die, though. Hasn't Sam been through enough tragedy? He and Tara should get back together and wallow in their misery.

-Speaking of Tara, I liked her stance against the snob from high school, and loved Pam's handling of her. Line of the night: Pam's angry face and happy face are the same.

-Hoyt and Jessica. I wasn't expecting her to end up in that house, but I knew Hoyt wouldn't hurt her, even though he hates her. Her honesty about falling out of love was a good moment, and hopefully will give Hoyt some closure.

-Eric's handling of Nora and her new stance on Godric was well done. It's always good to see glimpses of Godric and the loyalty Eric truly can show.

-Bill's flashbacks to visiting his ailing daughter, as she begged to be made young like he was. We left the flashback without learning for sure if he turned her or not.

-The fact that the vampire that killed Mr. and Mrs. Stackhouse wasn't Bill or Eric.

-The plan to begin bombing Tru Blood factories. When you start a vendetta against the title of your show, it's either going to be very exciting or a brilliant metaphor for a show running itself into the ground. We'll see how they handle it!

Things I Didn't Like:
-The were stuff is still really annoying, but as long as the actor playing Alcide is willing to get completely in the buff every episode, I have a feeling he'll keep getting big storylines.

-Did Jason know who Warlow was? He had a knowing expression after she said the name, but it wasn't addressed after.

Most everything hit its mark for me this week, but perhaps the mark has just been lowered after 7 weeks of mediocre-to-good episodes. This is the first in the "A" range, and hopefully, a sign of things to come.

Episode Grade: A-
Episode MVP: Sam Trammell
Original Airdate: 7/29/2012

TV Review: Breaking Bad 5x02: "Madrigal"

ML- Mike is the type of person who thrives in the shadows, never divulging too much information, always observing and reacting rather than actually acting. Getting an episode that almost entirely revolved around him tonight was a treat that helped set the stage as Walt, Jesse and Mike continue to "go forward" in Gus' absence.

Last week's episode needed to tie up the loose ends Walt and Jesse left behind in the lab, while this week put the players into position for the endgame. We got some perspective into the grand scheme of Gus' operations, and intimate looks into Walt and Skyler's current relationship and Mike's real duties. All in all, this was another great episode of television.

The episode is titled "Madrigal" after Madrigal Electromotive, the parent company of Los Pollos Hermanos and many other businesses headed by a man named Mr. Schuler. Mr. Schuler wasn't long for this world, however, once he realized the police were onto him and his illegal dealings. He calmly snuck into the washroom with the AED and electrocuted himself.

I noticed as he died that he landed face-down, and I wondered if perhaps the position the characters in this show die in has any meaning. The only ones I can think of that died face-up are Spooge, Jane and Gale, who were all (mostly) innocent in terms of Walt's treachery. Others, like Combo, Gus and Schuler died face-down. If someone would like to look into other Breaking Bad death scenes and see if there are any interesting patterns, I'd love to know what you find!

The loose end of the ricin cigarette was also finally tied up tonight, as Walt flushed the original and planted a salt-filled counterfeit inside Jesse's roomba. There's got to be some meaning here with Walt and cleanliness- he worked at a car wash, which gets rid of dirt. Tonight, he hid his dirty deed in a vacuum cleaner and cemented his plans with Mike while washing dishes. He's become a master of getting the dirt off of his hands.

After finding the planted cigarette, Jesse breaks down, so convincingly that I nearly made Aaron Paul my episode MVP for that scene alone. He beats up on himself, asking how he could be so stupid, and Walt tries to comfort him by massaging his shoulders. The force which he uses, however, only made me more tense watching it play out. One day Walt is going to slip up and spill everything to Jesse. My guess is Season 5 Episode 8, the mid-season cliff-hanger.

"Poppop" Mike was pulled from his regular life to talk with Walt and Jesse about starting business up again. He politely declined, calling Walt a ticking time-bomb and saying he had no intention being around for the "boom". Now that he has joined with Walt, I think Mike's fate has been sealed- he will in fact be around for that boom, and probably will suffer because of it.

I don't believe there are any coincidences on this show, and therefore I think it's fascinating how Hank has taken up the same walking style as Walter, Jr. after the accident. This signifies the connection between them as innocents and Walt's own disconnect from his son. Perhaps the only reason we ever see Walter, Jr. is while he's eating breakfast is because that's the only thing Walt can bond with him over. Their lives are so separate and different that breakfast is the only thing they share. Maybe.

Hank's boss takes the hit for mishandling the Fring case, and he admits that he spent so much time with Gus without ever realizing there was a drug lord right under his nose. This isn't meant to be subtle, and it's meant to show how blind Hank is- for now. He's absolutely going to catch on in the coming episodes, and I love that I have no idea how he'll handle that information.

Mike gets a visit from a woman in the diner, Lydia, who nervously asks him who killed Gus. She gives him a list of 11 names of people who could connect them both to the workings of Gus and Madrigal and urged him, in not so many words, to kill them. Mike declined, believing them all to be true to their word. She worried about someone named Chow, but Mike wasn't having any of it.

We were treated to a simple but profound shot of Walt rousing Skyler from bed without us getting a good look at either of their faces. The intimacy and emotion that the face conveys is absent, leaving us just with bodies going through motions, obviously with little true love for one another.

Mike runs into Chow before his own meeting with the DEA, and Chow seems nervous. Mike handles Hank perfectly and assumes the upper hand in the interrogation, and nearly leaves unscathed before Hank brings up the bank account with $2 million Gus had created for his granddaughter Kaylee. According to Hank, that money will all be gone unless Mike can give some information about Gus and the lab. Mike declines.

The three businessmen meet with Saul to discuss the next steps- Saul suggests no more RVs, and Jesse is upset, seeing as how the "Crystal Ship" was good for them. Their biggest problem is in precursor- getting the supplies to make the meth. According to Jesse, there's no methylamine on the market, which Walt doesn't believe. Saul is incredulous that they plan on cooking again- after a man wins $10 million in the lotto, he doesn't buy a ticket the next day. Walt counters by saying he hasn't won anything, he's $40,000 in debt. There's no stopping yet.

Mike and Kaylee play Hungry Hungry Hippos when Chow calls and asks him to come talk, all the while with a gun pointed to his head. Mike obliges, but is onto the assassin and fools him by putting one of Kaylee's gyrating toys against the peephole. Inside, Chow is dead, and Mike finds out that Lydia hired this guy to kill off the 11 names on the list for 10 grand each, plus 30 grand for Mike. Mike responds by shooting him, dead.

He hunts down Lydia and holds a gun to her head inside her house. She begs for her life, then not to let her daughter see her be shot in the head, then not to have her body removed so the girl doesn't think she abandoned her. Mike cannot bring himself to kill her, however, and instead uses her connections to get the methylamine for Walt's upcoming cook. He then calls Walt and says he's in and ready to move forward.

A happy Walt climbs into bed with Skyler, who doesn't want anything to do with him. He kisses her and acts romantic, explaining they do what they do for good reasons, and there's no better reason for family. It's clear Walt doesn't believe that anymore, but that doesn't mean it isn't true for others. Marie did as much as she could to help Hank recover; Jesse was great to Brock, despite him not being family. Walt is so blind that he thinks he's still acting in the family's best interests, when really, he can't do any more than serve them breakfast.

Episode Grade: A-
Episode MVP: Jonathan Banks
Original AirdateL 7/22/2012

Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises

Warning: The following article contains plot spoilers. Reader discretion advised.

Welcome to our first Dual Redundant Movie Review, in which we will both share our opinions on a movie we've both seen and each give the grade we feel it deserves. Today we tackle the epic conclusion to Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises.

Mike: I'd like to start by acknowledging the devastating shootings at the movie theater in Aurora, CO by James Holmes, a man who will likely live in infamy, as he surely planned upon. I expect many, many people to see these horrific events as a sign to stay away from the theater, which, having seen the film, I absolutely discourage. This man who apparently claimed he was Batman's enemy The Joker has created a situation where one of the central themes of the film has been realized: people are living in fear, and only by confronting those fears do they become strong. Don't let the actions of a mad man keep you away from enjoying yourself and living your own life. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families, and I hope Holmes is brought to swift justice.

Now, onto the film, which to me felt more like a sequel to Batman Begins than the end cap to a trilogy. To me, Begins and the second film, The Dark Knight, had very different "feels". Perhaps this came about in editing, when everyone involved realized how special the movie became thanks to the late, great Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker. Or the producers decided not to touch on The Dark Knight's memory at all in respect for Ledger and the character. Whatever the reason, the movie relied too heavily on aspects of Batman Begins, the weakest film in the trilogy, and not enough on the superior second film.

Dave: I agree Mike. While I think it was a good decision to not recast The Joker or try to make up some reason why he didn't escape with the rest of the prisoners or from whatever prison he was at I am not sure not mentioning him 100% was good. Batman learned a lot because of The Joker and what he did and to just let the audience forget these lessons especially in the last film doesn't work for me. It did however focus on Harvey Dent from the second film which can be said was The Joker's creation thus making him unnecessary to come back. The Joker was what turned Dent and thus created the reason why Bruce Wayne has become what he was at the beginning of this film.

However even though it did focus on the first film, I liked continuing on to that since it was absent from the second. Ra's al Ghul and the League of Shadows; the things that started it all for Wayne also were associated with how it was all going to end for him as Batman. Also I love the idea of the whole reason of falling down is to rise back up coming back, which was a huge point of the first film as his father constantly reminded him. Not to mention the idea of reconquering his fear that he first experienced in the well and then later having to do the same thing in the prison was perfect.

Mike: I think the film tried too hard to be an important movie of the times, tackling issues in politics, economics and philosophy that are currently resonating throughout the world with too much seriousness. In doing so, I think it became just another larger-than-life superhero movie trying to be too preachy about the messages, whereas The Dark Knight focused more on the personal struggle between Batman and Joker and, in my opinion, achieved film greatness.

Dave: While I can see where you are coming from on that I loved how they tried to tackle the current problems in the world. Film can be a very powerful medium to incite change in the world. Whether it is people paying attention to global warming from An Inconvenient Truth or even trying to expose the homophobia and racism in our country while making us laugh in Borat, film can really change the world. However as for the whole superhero saving the world from a bomb thing. I wish this could have been done differently and there was another reason or way Batman had to save Gotham than another explosive device in another action movie.

Mike: Part of the reason I feel this film was lacking was the absence of many integral cast members from the last film. Without Ledger, Eckhart or Gyllenhaal, Nolan had to create new characters in Bane (Tom Hardy), Tate (Marion Cotillard) and Selina (Anne Hathaway). Did they fill the shoes? Not quite, but overall they did a good job.

As for the characters that did return in this film, many of them had reduced roles. Alfred was absent for much of the film after the first half hour. Gordon was in a hospital bed, out of commission. Even Bale's Bruce Wayne was either hobbling on a cane, back-broken or trapped in a bit. The amount of action these integral characters got was a bit of a let down until the film's climax.

The silver lining to their decreased roles was the increased one of Joseph Gordon Levitt, who played a young cop named Blake who came from a similar background as Batman and wisely caught on to the caped crusader's alias. Levitt has grown substantially as an actor and really carried a lot of the emotion in the film without becoming cheesy or over-the-top. When he threw away his badge after losing faith in the police department, I felt his pain.

Dave: This reminded me somewhat of Spider-Man 3 in the fact that there was too much trying to be shoved into this movie. While Nolan was stuck with characters dead or imprisoned these new characters had to be created, introduced, and somehow reach an ending. Cotillard played another good character turned out to be evil or villainous similar to the crazed character she played in Inception. As for Hathaway I hated her in the beginning and the whole idea of Catwoman but as the film progressed I was right with her (or at least I wish I was right with her on that bike if you catch my drift).

However I believe acting wise each character with what they were given excelled. The moment Alfred quits and tells Bruce the truth about Rachel was very heartfelt. There was even moments I felt bad for Bane occurring in the flashbacks as he tried to protect a young Tate at the prison. Finally Christian Bale is simply the man. Unlike other actors that I usually see through as themselves, with every film Bale is in, whether it is American Psycho or The Fighter, he becomes that character. There is a reason this guy won an Oscar!

Mike: A lot of pressure was put upon Tom Hardy's broad shoulders, and I don't feel the character of Bane worked 100%. The voice, which apparently was fixed from its original version to be easier to understand, was distracting and unrealistic. I think Nolan wanted to create an iconic sounding voice, a la Darth Vader, that people could mimic. This wasn't it. As a villain, Bane was pure force, a different approach from the Joker but, again, hard to compare positively. It's like if Kanye West performed a full set, then Drake came out and did a few songs. While Drake is a good rapper/performer, nobody could follow Kanye.

Dave: During Bane's first scene I was put off by the voice which I am sure was fixed from what Nolan originally wanted. However it did grow on me. It would be interesting to hear the original voice to see if that changes anything. You knew going into it nothing, not even a very powerful Bane, could hold a candle to Heath's Joker but he did a good job trying. Props do have to go to Tom Hardy who really had just his eyes to portray the evil guy that Bane is.

Mike: My expectations were low for Anne Hathaway but I think she did a great job, especially whipping her legs around as much as she did. Marion Cotillard, on the other hand, did not give a great performance and really distracted from the final act of the movie, though Nolan's expositional over-writing of Tate's big monologue could be partly to blame.

As for the end of the movie, I wish Batman had died, but I knew he wouldn't. The reason I knew this was because of Alfred's little speech about hoping to see Bruce in Florence and knowing he was happy and okay. This was exactly the device used in one of my favorite movies of all time, Good Will Hunting, when ben Affleck's character told Matt Damon's something similar. And in both cases, at the end of the film, what the character said ended up happening.

Dave: I knew you were going to bring up that reference! Months leading up to this movie I kept saying I wanted Batman to die one because of the tone of the trilogy and two because it is Christopher Nolan try rebooting this or adding a sequel now to my masterpiece. However during the movie and the final scene I changed my mind slightly. I wanted Batman, the persona that Wayne used, to die but Bruce Wayne to survive and thankfully that is exactly what happened.

Mike: That Bruce/Batman dichotomy is important, and I agree with you, that worked. Lastly, the whole "Robin" reveal with JGL's character was not a problem for me, because JGL sold me on how great he was. If they were to make a movie about Robin starring JGL, I would go to the midnight show. I'm not saying I want them to, but I believe he's proven himself as an adept actor who could fill those tights, or whatever the hell Robin wears.

Dave: While the reveal was not a problem to me I did not like how they showed him becoming the next Bruce Wayne and finding the bat cave. To me this opens up possible doors for a sequel which unless Nolan is attached I would not like to see. Not to mention while it was a cool shot of JGL rising on the platform I would have been much happier if stayed on Bale giving that nod to Alfred as Bruce Wayne. The story started with him a scared boy and should have ended with him as a man confident about the future, whatever that may be. But overall thank god they did not give Robin a costume or they would have really jumped the bat.

Mike: "Jump the bat", I love that! Overall, I thought the stakes were too ridiculously high with the nuclear bomb to really believe Gotham was in any danger. It's like the Community Glee Club episode- Britta mentions how low the stakes are for regionals, but somehow, that made it all the scarier. I truly thought one of the boats in The Dark Knight would blow up, because that was just a boat full of people. But the entire city the series is based upon being destroyed? I didn't buy it, and all of my interest hinged on whether Batman would live or die, where, again, I was disappointed.

Dave: As I said above I do agree about the high stakes but I do have to hand it to Nolan. While Toy Story and Back to the Future may already be my favorite trilogies, Nolan took a subject and characters portrayed in a variety of ways for decades (including sometimes as unintentional humorous) and created a very believable world where a man who dresses up as a bat and saves the city from a man with a bag over his head, an insane clown, and a large man with an oxygen tank. I applaud Nolan for creating a complete trilogy that was not only a box office hit but a critic and crowd pleaser as well. Good luck to the next director that tries to take on this franchise which I am sure will be rebooted within the next five years because believe me they are going to need it.

Mike's Grade: B+
MVP: Joseph Gordon-Levitt


Dave's Grade: A-
MVP: Christian Bale

TV Review: Breaking Bad 5x01: "Live Free or Die"

The following article may contain plot spoilers. Reader discretion adviser.


ML- Breaking Bad has been very generous with how it has handled informing the audience of what is to come. There are great blogs that expose hidden easter eggs planted into episodes to foreshadow future events, like the pink bear in free fall in Jane's painting, or the bear's eye itself mirroring Gus' final state, or, similarly, the two-faced statue visible at the beginning of the season 4 premiere. Vince Gilligan and company have crafted a fine gem of television here, and I don't believe it's a waste of time to search for clues to the endgame of this final season premiere.

And what a premiere it was. We got to see a little bit of everyone, from the kids Walter, Jr. and Holly to Mike and Ted to the guy from the junkyard. It reminds us how many players are left on this wild chess board, and what purposes they serve. Walter, Jr. and Holly served as great foils to their father tonight; The White Formerly Known As Flynn talked to his father from such an innocent perspective on the whole Fring fiasco, and Walt had to just put up with him to pacify him. And how uncomfortable was it to see Walt interact with a baby after just cleaning up bomb ingredients? The well-being of these children was once Walt's main motivation for getting into the drug game. Now they're barely an afterthought.

I've gotten ahead of myself by skipping around in time, something the episode obviously did, too. I could be wrong, but my impression of the opening was that it was a flash-forward and not a flashback? I don't recall any time in his past when Walt would have bought a gun like that or been under the alias Mr. Lambert from New Hampshire. In this case, seeing a glimpse of a bearded Walt switching cars in a Denny's parking lot makes me think Walt is heeding Mike's advice and hitting the road, soon.

The talkative Denny's waitress brings up the concept of a "free" something, from which the title takes its name, and therefore it should be looked at. Today is Walt's alias' birthday (a sign he is just having gone on the run?) and he is therefore entitled to a free meal. He turns it down, but she goads him, saying "free is always good". After Walt's interaction in the bathroom he leaves the waitress a $100 bill, another sign this is a future scene, and makes his departure. Walt is "free", it seems, from the home ties that bind him, from the hand of the law, from anyone telling him what to do. But is it better than what he had? Is he going to continue living free, or will he die?

Back in the bedroom, Skyler admits that she's scared of Walt. I think he loves this. His ego is at an all-time high, he knows he's the baddest dude in town, and even his woman trembles at the sight of him. It's everything the once boring, disrespected physics teacher ever wanted, and he's trying to take the time to enjoy it.

Except he can't. He tries to pour himself a drink- then remembers he forgot to get rid of the Lily of the Valley, too. He goes to take another sip as Skyler and the kids arrive home. He finally takes a sip when alone with the baby- but remembers something else. He's never going to be able to have that drink, metaphorically. Something is always going to come up, either extraneous or from his own desire to keep conquering obstacles and blowing people's faces off. It's as if he's doing science experiments and solving problems, except people's lives hang in the balance.

What Walt remembers is that Gus had been recording everything going on in the now-torched lab, the files of which had been fed to Gus' home laptop, which Hank and the police seized for evidence. In order to discover all this, Walt has to locate Mike.

When we last saw Mike he was recovering from a GSW in a Mexican hospital. Now, he's peacefully feeding chickens, making sure everybody gets their fill. After getting the call regarding Gus' death, he takes off driving, and gets into his own game of chicken as well with Walt and Jesse. If we're looking for important themes and motifs here, "chicken" seems to be one. Gus ran "Los Pollos Hermanos", or The Chicken Brothers, which, in a different context, can be applied to Walt and Jesse. I've long suspected these two will come to a head, especially if Jesse ever finds out Walt's hand in what happened to Jane and Brock. Is may come down to who blinks first, who shows more compassion for the other, who is more vulnerable. That sounds a lot more like Jesse than Walt, to me.

The police have the laptop in their possession, as Mike discovers. This is another pattern for Walt throughout this whole series: someone is always a step ahead of him. Gus always was until he turned the tide and "won", but he didn't take into account the police having that evidence. Whatever Walt does, he's never going to be able to "win", because in the drug dealing business, winning is measured in the money you have when you die, and Walt isn't interested in the money anymore.

The scene where Walt and Mike argue with each other while Jesse, the voice of reason, struggles to make his voice heard is a fun one. I can only imagine being on set with these three actors, all of whom are award-worthy. Jesse mentions using a magnet to wipe the hard drive on the laptop, and from this they are brought back to the wreck yard from season 3, where they gain access to a magnet large enough to make their bogus plan a reality.

Meanwhile, Skyler meets with Saul to confirm something many fans had suspected- Ted isn't dead, just paralyzed. She goes to visit him, and we see the same fear she has for Walt in his eyes as he looks upon her. He promises never to breathe a word of what he knows, and we see Walt's same cockiness brew in her as she accepts his plea. Walt and Skyler are so alike it's crazy, but I have a feeling she may have a hand in his ultimate downfall. I think it's possible that after all is said and done, Walt may get away with all of his crimes and wrongful doings and come home to the family he once vowed to support, only to have Skyler be the one to rat him out. It may not be a satisfying ending to the audience, but thematically, it would be one of the richest ways to bow out.

The magnet test was freaking cool, and prompted my favorite line of the night, from the junkyard owner, regarding the removal of all credit cards from their person while the magnet is on: "You want that plastic working come Miller Time." I know, it was product placement, as the Miller 64 ad reminded me during the next commercial break, but damn, people really do call it that in real life.

They bring the fully-functional magnet to the station, with Mike's help getting in, and Walt begins turning the knob. First the cop behind the desk's computer fizzles out, then objects in the evidence locker begin flying off the shelves towards the wall. Walt keeps turning the dial, pulling heavier objects and increasing the chances that the information will be lost. Jesse warns him to stop, but Walt can't and turns the dial all the way. The van itself is pulled towards the wall and it tips on its side. They can't drive off.

The police rush to the van, but Walt and Jesse already escaped into Mike's car. Walt sits in the backseat, alone, as if being chauffeured by his assistants. The power pulsates through his veins, as he is so wrapped up in his own ego. He's only going to get more and more overconfident.

I found the entire magnet usage to be thematic for Walt's own influence on the people in his life. He's drawn so many innocents into his black hole of a soul, and, when advised to turn it down at the point of success, he cannot comply. He has to keep going. He's going to pull everyone down with him because he's too headstrong to go back.

The police examine the evidence and find the laptop, at least broken, but also a damaged picture of Gus and his business partner/possible lover. The cracks resulting from the magnet incident revealed an address of some type- one that is sure to led Hank to some secrets Walt does not want him to find. This, too, is symbolic- You hide secrets behind what you love, and Walt is making cracks that the police (mainly Hank) are starting to see through. It won't be long now before they're onto the real Heisenberg.

In the end we're treated to two scenes of Walt interacting with those he feels superior to- Saul, who betrayed his trust by siding with Skyler in the Ted decision without consulting Walt. Saul sees the terror Walt has become and says they're done, but Walt asserts that they're not done until he says they're done. And, again, as we saw from the magnetic dial, Walt will not say "when". If you're playing chicken with him, you're going to lose.

Finally, Walt comes home and finds Skyler in the bedroom. She tells him about Ted's promise not to spill, and he hugs her. It's not a loving hug, but more of a constraining, engulfing hug. He's holding her body close to his, within reach. He tells her he forgives her for sleeping with Ted, but does she believe him? I doubt it, but she has no other choice than to go along with him. If her choices are live free or die, she's certainly not living free under his control.

One last prediction: If Jesse survives until the end of the series, the last word of this show will be "Bitch." If not, it will be his last word. It's just too iconic of an end cap to not utilize (like the eye closing in Lost). Make it happen, Gilligan.

(Bitch.)

Episode Grade: A-
Episode MVP: Bryan Cranston
Original Airdate: 7/15/2012