Breaking Bad (AMC)

So far just two episodes have aired of AMC’s Breaking Bad and it’s still fantastic. It’s probably the best show on T.V. Yeah fuck you Mad Men. This show is better. And don’t fret. Jesse Pinkman’s catch phrase ‘Bitch’ is still around. Episode 1 starts after the death of Gus Fring when the police begin to realize that Hank was right the entire time about him being a big time drug lord. Now trying to put the pieces together the police are trying to figure out who his associates are. They begin bagging and tagging all of Gus’ personal items including his laptop where he monitored Walt and Jesse in the meth lab. Knowing this Walt devises a plan to destroy the evidence so they won’t be found out. And this leads to one of the most awesome things to happen. They basically get a giant magnet from a junk yard and use it to destroy the evidence at the police station. The scene where they are making sure this plan will work takes place in a junk yard with Jesse holding a laptop. They crank up the juice on the magnet and wait. Crank it up some more. Then the laptop flickers and flies out of Jesse’s hands. This was so effin awesome and if you’re sitting their thinking that this wasn’t then you’re full of shit. Everyone wants to play around with a giant magnet. Anyways they end up succeeding and destroying the evidence and making a narrow getaway.

Don't fuck with Mike

Episode 2 had an equally epic scene in it. Police discover Gus’ connection to a German man who partnered up with Gus and helped fund his empire. The man notices the police in his office so he grabs a first aid kit with a defibrillator in it and heads to the bathroom. The man undresses while the police are knocking on the door. He sets up the defibrillator with one strap on his chest and another piece in his mouth. He sits on the toilet. And kills himself. It was so unexpected seeing as we didn’t meet this character until that moment but it was thrilling non the less. Another thing I’m pleased with about this season so far is the fact that Mike is being featured more. He’s such a badass in this episode. They are also introducing another character named Lydia who sets up with a meeting with Mike to discuss the possibility of the police finding out about their involvement with Gus’ empire and whether or not he should kill the other people involved for their protection. Mike shoots this idea down saying that everyone is trustworthy. Lydia being all fidgety and nervous doesn’t believe him and actually hires someone to kill him and all the other men. Mike figures it out. Kills the hit man. And there is an awesome scene where Mike confronts Lydia (at gunpoint) in her home. They’re is this exchange of words and just when you think she’s a goner Mike spares her life in exchange for her getting a chemical needed for Walt and Jesse to keep producing meth. With Mike as the third equal partner in this situation. We already know how good all the main characters in this show are so I’m excited that people like Mike and hopefully Lydia are going to get more screen time. The acting in this show is on point and the story is good. Watch this show or don’t bother watching anything on T.V. Because you suck that bad. (****!!!).

Political Animals (USA)

AKA if Hillary Clinton had divorced Bill and had two twin sons instead of Chelsea.

I’m a happy camper with these reviews this week. I got to watch and review two very good shows. Political Animals on USA is a miniseries starring Sigourney Weaver as the current Secretary of State Elaine Barrish who is divorced from the former president. The former president played by Ciaran Hinds is this cheating creep of an ex-husband named Bud Hammond. She also has two twin sons. One is set to be married soon to his fiance. The other has a drug problem and is known as the gay son. Episode 1 starts with her own campaign for presidency and how she loses. Shortly after her loss she tells her husband she wants a divorce. Then flashfoward two years in the future and you see that she is now Secretary of State under the president she lost her nomination to. The two episodes have two main story lines. The first is Elaine letting this reporter Susan Berg (who first reported on her ex-husbands infidelity and in turn won a Pulitzer for it) follow her around for a week in exchange for the Berg not leaking the story about her son trying to commit suicide in the previous year. The reporter is played by Carla Gugino and the troubled son is played by Sebastian Stan. Both are really good in this show. So of course there is some tension between Berg and Elaine but Berg starts coming around and respecting her. T.J. (Stan’s character) has had some trouble in the past. He has a drug problem, tried to kill himself, and is pretty unstable. So Elaine tries to shield him from the fallout of the article leak. The other story line is Elaine trying to figure out how to save three American journalists in Iran who are going to be killed because they were tried as spies by Iran’s government. All this is happening while the other son Douglas (James Wolk) is preparing to marry his fiance. Well throughout the two episodes the article is leaked about T.J. (but not by Berg) and Elaine and Bud end up getting the American prisoners out of Iran. T.J. Begins down another dark road with his drug use and the family is concerned. There’s so much more to this show than even what I’ve described. It’s intricate and interesting and you just want to keep watching. Going into it I knew Sigourney Weaver’s acting would be great but I wasn’t expecting the rest of the cast to be equally as good. This miniseries is a must watch. (****). -RC