Image Credit: Chris Haston/NBC Parenthood,
The episode, titled “Family Portrait,” introduced Ray Romano as a grumpy, frumpy photographer who hires Lauren Graham’s Sarah and made a few marvelously snide comments about her fiance, Jason Ritter’s Mark (“Is he a Make-A-Wish Kid?” Romano’s Hank asked of their relationship — oh, this photo-snapper knows how to snap!). READ FULL STORY »
Culminating in a scene that gave new meaning to the term “info dump,” the mid-season finale of Breaking Bad on Sunday night was at once revelatory and frustrating, sweet and sour. The hour was constructed around what has become a familiar framework this season: It spent much of its first half tidying up the loose ends of last week’s episode, and then spent the second half creating another fine mess. READ FULL STORY »
On Sunday night, we will come to the end of the first half of the final season of Breaking Bad. What will happen? I have a few ideas in the following video review. READ FULL STORY »
Breaking Bad‘s penultimate episode of the first half of its final season (deep breath) further developed Bryan Cranston’s Walter White’s character, which is to say, demonstrated how much his character (his moral character, his behavior) is shriveling with each hour of the series. In what may prove to be creator Vince Gilligan and Cranston’s most audacious move, they are taking a character who was once richly complex, and reducing him to a two-bit chiseler — a genius one, to be sure, but a man grown stunted, petty, and cheesily tyrannical. READ FULL STORY »
The Newsroom wrapped up its first season with a timely nod to Republican voter suppression laws and a whole lotta symmetry to bring the finale full circle, back to the key events of the series pilot. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: David Giesbrecht/USA Network Political Animals
This is your SPOILER ALERT if you haven’t watched the series (season?) finale of Political Animals. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Ursula Coyote/AMC
The key line in this week’s episode of Breaking Bad was probably Hank’s retort when his DEA partner said that Jonathan Banks’ Mike was a “pro.” Even pros makes mistakes, said Dean Norris’ Hank, and that was not only true within the context of the episode, but also of the people behind the camera this week, since I’m of the opinion that while the hour had a number of moments that furthered the pleasure to be taken from Walter White’s increasingly complex, morally bankrupt empire-building and built to a terrific climax, this edition — as is inevitable in even a superb series — also contained a few of Breaking Bad‘s less effective moments.
This would now be your SPOILER ALERT. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: (left) Darren Michaels (right) Karen Neal The Closer
This week’s Breaking Bad climaxed with a thrilling heist scene, hatched from a plan so outrageous in conception yet executed with such tightly edited realism that the final-scene horror was — not to be too heartless about this — icing on a beautiful cake. Once again, Jesse came up with the brilliant idea, Mike objected right up until the moment he was overruled and took part in the scheme anyway, and Walt? Well, Walt was, as much as ever, the man who manipulated everyone without seeming to exert himself all that much… which is one measure of a leader in firm control. READ FULL STORY »
