Yup, good episode and cliffhanger. A bunch of bad shooters though. ;-)
Walt and family will probably head off to Argentina and join Dexter and family. Then we'll have a new family show.
Bryan Cranston is currently playing Lyndon Johnson on stage back east. On 09/10/2013 01:13 AM, turquoiseb wrote:
Just a few words for those who, like me, are addicted to watching the last few hours of the best 62 hours of television ever aired, "Breaking Bad." SPOILER WARNING: Do not read this if you have not watched the latest episode, To'hajiilee. You might also want to avoid reading it if you haven't watched the season at all, but have intentions of doing so someday. Ignore this warning at your peril, because the only person you'll be screwing over is yourself, depriving yourself of the pleasure of being surprised by a series that specializes in *never* allowing things to turn out quite the way that the audience expects them to. Even though I may be writing only to azgrey, because few others have admitted to being BB fans, I have to say a little something about this latest episode. I consider it a veritable masterpiece of moviemaking. I've now watched it twice, and will watch it again before seeing next week's episode. The first level on which it's amazing is direction. BB has always had great directors, unafraid to use odd camera angles, compositions, and cutting to weave their magic. And one of them, Michelle MacLaren, has directed 11 episodes, in addition to serving as executive producer and executive co-producer for most of the series. This is by far her best episode. If the powers that be in film don't offer her a shot at directing a major movie, they're crazy. The way she ended this episode *could* have been the ending of the series as a whole, and it would have stood on its own, and would have been considered better than the ending of "The Sopranos." But, of course, she *didn't* end it there, because it's "Breaking Bad," and nothing turns out the way you'd expect it to. Another level of brilliance in this episode is seeing Walt's game run on *him*. He's been a master at fig- uring out what other characters' weaknesses are, and then playing off of those weaknesses to set them up to do what he wants them to do. In this episode, Jesse finally gets to run that number on Walt. One of the themes of the episode I loved was "last glances" or "last words" being exchanged between the characters. Walt's glance at his wife and son couldn't have been more poignant if it were the last glimpse he ever gets of them, and given BB, it may well be. And there is another husband-and-wife phone call that ends in joy, but for all we know may be looked back on quite differently in the future. That's the thing about BB; you never quite know what's going to happen, and the action and dialogue sets things up to "work out" inter- estingly, *whatever* happens. In terms of sheer suspense and "I could not *possibly* go to the bathroom if I needed to" edge-of-your-seat suspense, the last 20 minutes of this episode rank up there with the best such moments in movie history. And even *then* they (the writers) keep setting you up and playing to *your* weaknesses, just as Walt does. *Everyone* has relished seeing the scene where someone gets to Mirandize Walter White/Heisenberg, and say, "You have the right to remain silent." And you finally get to see it, and even see the gloating Snoppy-dance of joy performed by the person saying it. But even that is prelude, occurring just before all hell breaks loose. One of the moments I liked the best in the episode was when Todd, with his handsome, Opie-like looks and not- quite-the-sharpest-pencil-in-the-box ways actually tries to hit on Lydia, whom he is obviously way in lerve with. Todd is deeper than he looks, because he's really the one orchestrating the whole take-the-business-over-from- Walt thang, but he is SO out of his depth when dealing with Lydia, and doesn't realize it. He's like a former choirboy interviewing for a minor position in Hell. Lydia is Satan's main squeeze. He *really* doesn't know who he's hitting on. Altogether, this fourth-from-last episode of BB leaves me (and every other critic who has reviewed it) panting for more. This episode was so strong that it could have served as the ending of the series, and most people would have been happy with that ending. So if there are three more episodes to go, what on *earth* do Vince Gilligan and his team of writers and directors have planned for us as the real ending? The mind boggles.
