"Can We Just Keep it Secular, Honey?"

Introducing The Latino Twins of Doom. I would expect nothing less than slow walking away from a fiery inferno of dead Mexican workers, Latino Twins of Doom.

Last year I watched a show called Breaking Bad. I don’t want to fall into the fan boy trap of hyperbolic gushing, so I will only say that the show was so balls-droppingly brilliant I was crying in a corner whilst listening to opera and giving myself Chinese burns. Trap averted.

I never thought I would simultaneously love and hate so many characters after the mountain-top experience that is The Wire. Having just watched The Tree of Life, I can say that in many aspects, what TOL is to film, Breaking Bad is to television. Not all aspects, but many. O.K, maybe we take the hyperbole, maybe we put it aside. But it should be said that Breaking Bad is one of the most exciting dramas on the talky box right now. Needless to say, I’m very excited for season 4. But I’ll be more excited after I’ve watched season 3.

I think Anita wonderfully described what we'll be doing, so here are my thoughts on 3.1 Finally!*

The opening scene gave me the heebie jeebies. Show me a man who is not shaken watching people crawl towards a shrine housing a creepy Indiana Jones skull and I’ll show you Omar Little. (I like The Wire a lot.)

I call it right now, those creepy latino psycho twins will haunt my dreams and my subway rides in the weeks to come. There’s a scene where they drive up to some family’s house, change their fly clothes for hobo clothes, then stare at a little girl before throwing their car keys on the horns of a goat. (Or a ram? Some kind of lamb? I’m not making any definite claims about what that was.) The little girl staring contest went on just long enough to make me think a massacre was imminent.

And then there was a massacre! The twins delivered on their implied bad assness, but those killed were Mexicans attempting to cross the border with some asshole white guy. What struck me as odd is the twins dnotdifferentiating between the baddie white man and the innocent Mexicans. It's like being a minority doesn't count! Even the way it was done, I mean, I've seen people blown up on television countless times, yet I was still creeped out by this. Also, the skulls on the Latino Twins of Doom’s boots are significant. I’m sure they’re referencing not only Alexander McQueen, but also denoting straight up OG-ness.

By far, the best part of this episode is Walter trying to explain to students at a school assembly how the plane crash from Season 2 could happen - but actually trying to rationalize his own actions. We get gems like “what you’re left with, casualty-wise, is just the 50th worse air disaster,” which could possibly be the worst thing to say to a room-full of traumatized kids. This is us seeing Walter’s flaws in stark daylight. The logic and mathematical problem solving with which he navigates social situations, often to his advantage in times of dangerous meth-cooking, is not useful here. Pure rationalization cannot solve these problems. If one life is disposable, what does that mean about any of us?

“We survive and we overcome, we survive, we survive.”

Hearing Walter insist this in front of a room full of people is amazing on so many levels.

In conclusion: GO SCIENCE! YEAH, Mr. WHITE! YEAH BREAKING BAD! YEAH, NON-FANBOY CRITICISM!

*Anita has had to ride my ass to get me type this. I don't know why I took so long. This is awesome.

Breaking down Breaking Bad: an amuse-bouche

Breaking Bad's fourth season begins July 17th. Sarah and I watched the first two seasons last year and DIEEEEEEEED. Other than The Wire, I have never heard the overwhelming amount of praise for a show I've heard for Breaking Bad. People fall over themselves trying to describe what a magnificent vision it is. From the first few minutes of the pilot it is obvious that this is no exaggeration. It has some of the strongest writing I have ever seen on a TV show, and the two protagonists are cast more brilliantly than words can describe. Bryan Cranston consistently gives the best performance by anyone on television (and winning an Emmy three years in a row is a pretty sweet vindication of that; there is just no competition - I'm looking at you, Jon Hamm. Pfft). Aaron Paul, who won a well-deserved Emmy this past year, is a considerable partner to Cranston. Their chemistry (more on that later) is palpable onscreen and it is one of the best things about the show.


If you will kindly take a look at the bone-chilling and endlessly satisfying poster for season four, you can see that the title card for the show uses elements from the periodic table. This simple yet clever artistic decision alludes to the fact that Walter White (Cranston) is a high school chemistry teacher who, upon learning that he has lung cancer, begins to use his considerable knowledge of chemistry to cook crystal meth. He goes into business with his former high school student Jesse Pinkman (Paul), who happens to be in the meth market already. Walter's ultimate goal is to earn enough money so his pregnant wife and son, who has cerebral palsy, can be financially secure once he dies.

As can be expected, Breaking Bad is, for the most part, a very heavy and intense show. The aforementioned brilliance in writing and acting make you incredibly invested in the characters, which can be quite emotionally draining. That said, the scenes with Jesse and Mr. White cooking meth and butting heads are so expertly done and contain such great comedic moments that you will never run the risk of burning out.

I don't want to ramble more than I already have. This is all a prelude to us watching and writing about the third season in preparation for the fourth season premiere in July. I do want to give a special mention to RJ Mitte, who plays Walt's son, Walt Jr. His portrayal of the character is stunning and his interactions with Walt Sr. are often some of the most emotional scenes in the series. Yet he's also often the source of much of the humour on the show. All this makes him, in my eyes at least, one of the best characters not only on this show, but anywhere on TV. Suck it, Jon Hamm!*

*I quite like Jon Hamm. On 30 Rock. And SNL.