Trailer for J.J. Abrams’ new series REVOLUTION.
I’m so excited for this. I think it could hold up really well, the characters seem interesting (even though some of the acting leaves a bit to be desired) and Esposito looks like he’s picking up right where Gus left off. I love the scope of it, I hope that it keeps going and doesn’t fall victim to the same kind of early cancellation that has been hitting a lot of the other high-concept shows lately. That final scene got me hungry for more.
I will kill your wife. I will kill your son. I will kill your infant daughter.
Oh my god. That opening. That car explosion. That meeting with Saul. Walt selling Jesse. That meeting with Gus. Hank closing in on Gus. Jesse breaking down. Hank Schrader for all the marbles. This is just me listing every scene and anyone who watched the episode is already biting their nails with tension. Every single scene of this episode was a masterclass in how to create a world of intensity. Seriously, thank the lord for commercials or I wouldn’t have been able to take a breath for an entire hour. The things they’re doing with these arcs is just insane beyond all reason.
Gus and Mike giving Jesse a gun and trusting him as one of their own is adding so many new layers to their plans for him. It’s starting to make it legitimately seem like he has promise for them and they want him on their team. Like maybe they weren’t just using him to drive a wedge between him and Walt but they really do admire his loyalty. That scene with him and Mike in the car just shed so much new light on the situation. And Jesse not taking the opportunity to take Gus out adds new layers to what’s going through his head. Him losing it like that at the counseling session was brutal (I say it every week, but Aaron Paul for all of the awards) and it’s really starting to look like he could end up on Gus’ side in this war. The whole thing Mike said about them admiring his loyalty makes this a legitimate possibility from every angle.
Speaking of this war. Insane. You could just tell with a few little ticks in his one scene tonight that Gus is starting to derail. I love his loyalty and his pride. The fact that even though Walt getting dropped would solve so many problems for him, he just refuses to give him to the Cartel. It’s intense. It looks like him and Walt have that same problem of their pride getting the better of them and potentially leading to their individual downfalls. Everything with Hank was beautiful, I said at the beginning of the season that I really couldn’t wait for him to start getting back into the Heisenberg case and they have not disappointed one iota in doing just that. Every scene with him now is this nailbiting moment of wondering when he’s going to finally have the big piece to bring Gus (or Walt) down. This season is going to go to such dark and epic places pretty soon. Gus has war coming at him from three angles and he’s going to reach a breaking point. And watching Gus break is going to be one terrifying thing.
On a side note, I really love the relationship between Hank and Marie. At first this season I was kind of pissed at the way he was treating her, but it’s actually really beautiful. The fact that he is so weak and broken right now, but he has way too much pride (common theme with the male characters in this show) to let anyone really see it. So he puts on this brave face, just sitting back and cracking jokes like usual, but then when he gets around her he lets himself be weak because he knows that he can be around her and she won’t judge him. It’s really beautiful; it’s what a marriage should be.
A+
Damn.
- That opening was so intense and chilling.
- Mike and Jesse are my favorite thing in forever. That montage: beautiful beyond words.
- Walt and Skyler getting back together, ugh.
- Walt immediately regretting it, yes.
- The move to have the whole Mike/Jesse thing be this ploy by Gus to start driving a rift back between Jesse and Walt was intelligent and is going to lead to some great stuff, but it was a little too predictable.
- Walt’s pride. My lord. That scene killed me, and was such a brilliant move from the writers. I don’t think any show would have the balls to make a move like that; have our main character be so obsessed with his own pride that he would willingly (under the influence) put himself back in the sights of the DEA just because he was so against letting anyone else get the credit for his work. A brilliant move and one of the truest to character moves put into a television show. Shows are so obsessed with betraying their characters in favor of their own personal endgame or to appease the fans (oh what’s up Glee) but this was so bold and Breaking Bad just once again shows how unique and remarkable it is.
- Since when do vegans eat fried chicken? Oh shit.
A
In opening season three, the runners of the show had a lot of ground work to try and build. Walt and Jesse were completely separated from each other and the season was largely about bringing them back together. So, while the season was absolutely incredible and cemented the show as one of the absolute best (if not the number one) of all time, there was still a lot of ground work being done throughout it. Here, however, we start right in the thick of the action. Breaking Bad is at it’s best when things are intense like this and from open to close, this was forty-seven minutes of all-out intensity.
The acting, as always, was on fire. Aaron Paul again demonstrated that he’s the show MVP, making 40 minutes of silence more compelling than most actors are capable of doing with days of monologues. He shut Jesse down and that final scene with him and Walter was bone-chilling in it’s everyday-ness. Bryan Cranston was obviously perfection, no one can expect any different from him at this point. Giancarlo Esposito was more menacing than ever, which is saying a lot. And Jonathan Banks, to me, is the show’s most under appreciated and underutilized contribution. He’s the perfect straight man with a dark underbelly and I’m hoping we get to see a lot more of him this season. The stuff outside of that core group wasn’t that compelling (still hate Skyler and I’m hoping that this whole Hank being on bed rest thing ends soon because it’s ruining a superb character that they’ve put a lot of excellent development into) but when you’re main story is this intense and remarkable, you really don’t need much else.
One of the most impressive aspects of Breaking Bad is how it handles it’s violence, and this episode was the prime example of this. Even the best of shows like Boardwalk Empire and (sometimes) The Shield, end up making acts of brutal violence something that is just commonplace. Even with a show like The Shield, one of my favorites of all time, when you get to a big episode and a main character dies…it’s emotional, but it isn’t even surprising. Because after two or three seasons of showdowns and brutality, you expect almost anything. Breaking Bad has never failed in making every single act of violence feel entirely real. When Gus cuts a throat you feel it, completely. You are scared because this is not an everyday occurrence and this is not just a television show. In these forty-seven minutes, you are entirely in this world and everything is on the line. Even in the greatest shows, no matter what kind of danger the main characters gets into, you know that they will make it out alright because they are the main character. In Breaking Bad though, they pull you in so thoroughly that in that moment, you genuinely believe that Walter White could be the next one with a knife in his throat. That’s power.
This is going to be one hell of a fucking season.
