Breaking Bad - Season 4

For the third straight year it seems that television can be broken down into two categories: Breaking Bad, and everything else. The show wasn't as filled as last year was with wall-to-wall insanity, taking more of a slow-burn approach to the story this time, framing the whole season as one big, terrifying game of chess. Walt wasn't quite as front and center as he'd been in the past, with his character frequently getting emasculated and sidelined, while allowing the other characters more of an opportunity to shine. With Walt not really understanding the consequences of what he forced Jesse to do last year, a rift forms between them, and Jesse ends up developing a bond with Mike that's one of the most interesting aspects of the season. We learn a lot more about Gus, both who he is and why he is to a force to be reckoned with. Skyler is forced to take a larger role in helping Walt cover his tracks, and starts to realize just what kind of mess Walt got them into. Hank is still recovering from what happened last season, and we get to see a lot of different sides of him over the course of these episodes, even if he's still hobbled by the end.

There's a lot of character development that occurs, and lots of false starts and pieces being moved into place for most of the season. People who are only into the show for its crazier side might be a bit disappointed in that. It's all worth it though, because eventually the tension that's been building all season between Gus and the cartel, and Walt and Gus, and Walt and Jessie explodes in the last four episodes, which all easily rank among the show's (many) best. People die, things explode, plot seeds that have been growing into plot plants get sown, and it's all done in the show's signature style, combining humor with harsh, occasionally otherworldly violence and a directorial flair that no other TV series even attempts. The show's still as good as it's ever been, and now that we know the ending is only 16 episodes away, it's hard to put away my excitement for what will hopefully be one of the best conclusions to one of television's best series. All the pieces are in place for something great, and I have confidence that this show's fantastic writing staff, cast, and production team will put it all together once again.

Do the Right Thing

What was most interesting to me about this movie is that there were two sides to it, but they blended together extremely fluidly. It's sort of a comedy about every day life in the city, but it's also a searing, controversial drama about race. It seems like these aspects might not work well together, but they really do. This is only the second Spike Lee film I've seen so I can't really say a ton about him, but he does seem to have some interesting ideas.

The movie takes place mostly during a single, extremely hot day in Brooklyn. Lee plays Mookie, who has a sister he lives with, an extremely boisterous girlfriend played by Rosie Perez (and who dances in the opening credit sequence, which is so iconic that I recognized it instantly despite not having seen it before), and works at an Italian-owned pizza restaurant as a delivery boy. He goes about his day, delivering pizzas, avoiding the heat, and bumping into a number of the neighborhood eccentrics that surround him. A bit of tension, driven by the heat, slowly starts to boil as a couple people start to butt heads with Danny Aiello's Sal, the restaurant's owner. One is Buggin' Out, who takes issue with the fact that the place's "wall of fame" is populated exclusively by Italians, and who is played by Giancarlo Esposito, in a performance that is absolutely fascinating watching him play the endless calm and calculating Gus Fring on Breaking Bad. The other is Radio Raheem, who carries around a huge boom box blasting "Fight the Power", and who just seems to not like most people.

The movie goes along, introducing and spending time with its various characters, like John Turturro's Pino, the son of Sal, who's a racist but also hypocritical about it (he loves Eddie Murphy and Magic Johnson but justifies it by saying they're "not really black"), and Love Daddy, a fast-talking radio DJ who sort of acts as a narrator and is played by Samuel L. Jackson. Eventually though, the simmering tension comes to a head, in a series of events that unfold surprisingly quickly change the entire mood of the film. Mookie does something that has been much debated over time, but only really by white people. It's an act of violence that causes a full-on riot, but it also probably saved some people's lives. The movie's called "Do the Right Thing", and I think that he does, but the movie's not about supplying simple answers to complicated questions about race. The types of events that caused Lee to write the movie in the first place don't happen as often as they used to, but as long as they continue to occur anywhere, it's the kind of movie that people should be watching, if only to make them think a little bit.

Breaking Bad - Season 3

It doesn't seem likely that this show could keep getting better, but that's all it really seems to do. Season three was my favorite, and it's put to rest my qualms with calling it the best show on TV. This was one of the best single seasons of a show I've ever seen, and made it completely worthy of the "best" title. Season one was brilliant but a bit shaky at times, and even season two had me waiting for scenes to end on occasion. But there was hardly a single moment this year that wasn't masterful, as it seemed to do nothing but blow my mind every week and continue to excel at every aspect. When Breaking Bad tries to be funny, it's hilarious. When it goes for suspense, it's unbelievably heart-pounding. When it aims poignancy, it's deeply profound. It wasn't perfect, but it's about as close as you could ever ask a show to get.

There are a few complaints that could be made. I know a few people had qualms with logical gaps and story pieces that were either dropped or not fully developed. But airtight plotting has honestly never been the show's strength. While gritty and grounded for the most part, it's not exactly what I'd actually call realistic. In truth, its greatness comes from the fact that its outlandish dramatic moments contrast with the harshly believable backdrop of an Albuquerque that's losing the drug war. It's larger than life without being obvious about it, and it gets away with all of the insane stuff it pulls because the characters are so good, not because everything about police procedure and the criminal hierarchy is right on paper. You could make an argument that they lost the characters a bit this year, and I'd just have to disagree.

But yeah, if you watch to be entertained and surprised each week, it's hard to find something better than this. The show has to accomplish a lot in not very much time, and it does a great job of keeping a breakneck pace while maintaining the show's deliberate mood and not going too far with anybody. Everything feels earned, and it makes the bigger moments all the stronger. The cast expanded this year, and the guys seeing more screen time do a lot to expand the scope and stakes of the show. Bob Odenkirk's Saul Goodman is the perfect slimy lawyer who seems goofy but actually has a good criminal instinct and will to survive, Gus goes from a real enigma to an imposing underground tyrant, and Mike really gets to shine near the end as a guy who just gets things done. Bryan Cranston was great yet again, but the real standout performance this year was Aaron Paul's. He really impressed me all season long, and he's pretty much the linchpin to the entire story arc. He featured a lot into the best moments, and the very end of the season will prove to be very important for his character indeed. It's definitely going to be a torturous wait for season four.