Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 340

Breaking Bad Final Episodes #2: Skylar and Jesse

People who haven't yet seen any of Breaking Bad often ask those who have what we find so great about the series.  Here's one of many things:  You know the tensions and irritations must of us feel sooner or later about this or that with our in-laws?  Well, in Breaking Bad, that's carried to the most sublime extreme you could imagine.  Even after Hank figures it out about Walt being the man he's been hunting all of these years, there's a big fly in this ointment for Hank.  He has to go in and tell his colleagues at the DEA that the man he's been hunting all of these years was right under Hank's nose and is his brother-in-law.  What kind of fool does that make Hank look like?

And, as is made clear in Final Episode #2, and as Skylar tells the demoralized Walter, Hank will need a lot more than his suspicions to make any charges stick against his brother-in-law.  Certainly Skylar won't give Hank what he needs.   As we've seen many times in the past few years, she's refreshingly as strong as Hank in many ways, and sometimes even stronger.

That leaves Jesse as Hank's best bet to get Walter, and, sure enough, Jesse seems to fall right into Hank's lap at the end of this episode, having come to the attention of the authorities after in typical Jesse fashion throwing millions of dollars out the window.

But, you know what?  Anyone who thinks Jesse will be of any real help to Hank hasn't been watching this show, either.  Because, in typical Jesse fashion, he'll figure out a way of digging out of the hole he just dug for himself in the past two episodes.  It's that chemistry and level of support - from Skylar and Jesse in their own unorthodox ways - that keeps Walt afloat.

Is this luck of Walt's ending?  I don't think so, certainly not yet ...

See also: Breaking Bad Final Episodes #1: Walt vs. Hank

And see also Breaking Bad Season 5 Premiere: Riveting Entropy ... Breaking Bad 5.3: Deal with the Devil ... Breaking Bad 5.7: Exit Mike ... Breaking Bad Final Half-Season Finale

And see also My Prediction about Breaking Bad ... Breaking Bad Season 4 Debuts ... Breaking Bad 4.2: Gun and Question ... Breaking Bad 4.11: Tightening Vice ... Breaking Bad 4.12: King vs. King ... Breaking Bad Season 4 Finale: Deceptive Flowers



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Dexter 8.8: "A Great Future"

"A great future" - that's what Dexter ruefully remarks in episode 8.8 that Zack could have had when Dexter thinks that Zach killed Cassie - an innocent, in violation of Harry's Code - rather than someone who deserved to die.   But in this episode with twist upon twist, Dexter's assessment of Zack's future is twice upended.

First, Zach puts on a very convincing show of innocence when Dex and Hannah encounter him in the Keys.  Not only that, but Zack - without knowing that Dex found Zach's blood under Hannah's fingernail - gives Dexter an explanation for the blood: Zach cut his finger on his car door, and his blood was "everywhere".  Presumably this could have included something that Cassie touched when Zach was leaving Dex's apartment building.

But if Zach did not kill Cassie, who did?

I've been suspicious all season of Dr. Vogel.  But what would her motive have been for killing Cassie?Nonetheless, I was so suspicious of Vogel I half expected her to poison Hannah or Zach or both over dinner.

But Zach is to soon die another way - courtesy of the brain surgeon, apparently, who sends along the specimen from Zach's brain to Dr. Vogel (unless she brought the specimen back home herself).

So, who killed whom here?   I see three possibilities:

1.  Zach did kill Cassie, and Vogel killed Zach because she didn't want this failed experiment in the code walking around.

2. Vogel killed Cassie and Zach - but what (again) was Vogel's motive for killing Cassie?  She thought her nosiness was a threat to Dexter?  A little weak.

3. Someone we don't yet know killed both.  But if that's another brain surgeon, Cassie's brain was still intact, which doesn't fit the MO.

I guess I'd choose #1 - which would make Dr. Vogel a super-psycho.

One thing we can be sure about is neither Dexter nor Hannah did any killing this time - they were too busy making good love when Zach was killed, for sure.   I'm glad they're together now - it's a great moment in the series.  But if Vogel is the killer, then Hannah will soon be a target.  Actually, that will be the case whoever the killer is, for the killer is clearly keyed into Dex's life.

One thing we can also be sure of is the killer didn't spend any time in the Hatch - because that was from Lost, though Mama Cass's "Make Your Own Kind of Music," first heard in a television series to such good effect on Lost, is now playing at crucial junctures in Dexter.

See also Dexter Season 8 Premiere: Mercury in Retrograde, Dexter Incandescent ... Dexter 8.2: The Gift ... Dexter 8.3: The Question and the Confession ... Dexter 8.4: The "Lab Rat" and Harry's Daughter ... Dexter 8.5: Just Like Family ... Dexter 8.6: The Protege ... Dexter 8.7: Two Different Codes?

And see also Dexter Season 7.1-3: Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 7.4: The Lesson in Speltzer's Smoke ... Dexter 7.5: Terminator Isaac ... Dexter 7.6: "Breaking and Entering" ... Dexter 7.7: Shakespearean Serial Killer Story ... Dexter 7.8: Love and Its Demands ... Dexter 7.9: Two Memorable Scenes and the Ascension of Isaac ... Dexter 7.11: The "Accident" ... Dexter Season 7 Finale: The Surviving Triangle
And see also Dexter Season 6 Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 6.4: Two Numbers and Two Killers Equals? ... Dexter 6.5 and 6.6: Decisive Sam ... Dexter 6.7: The State of Nebraska ... Dexter 6.8: Is Gellar Really Real? .... Dexter 6.9: And Gellar Is ... ... Dexter's Take on Videogames in 6.10 ...Dexter and Debra:  Dexter 6.11 ... Dexter Season 6 Finale: Through the Eyes of a Different Love

And see also Dexter Season Five Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 5.4: Dexter's Conscience ...Dexter 5.8 and Lumen ... Dexter 5.9: He's Getting Healthier ... Dexter 5.10: Monsters -Worse and Better ... Dexter 5.11: Sneak Preview with Spoilers  ... Dexter Season 5 Finale: Behind the Curtain
And see also Dexter Season 4: Sneak Preview Review ... The Family Man on Dexter 4.5 ...Dexter on the Couch in 4.6 ... Dexter 4.7: 'He Can't Kill Bambi' ... Dexter 4.8: Great Mistakes ...4.9: Trinity's Surprising Daughter ... 4.10: More than Trinity ... 4.11: The "Soulless, Anti-Family Schmuck" ... 4.12: Revenges and Recapitulations

And see also reviews of Season 3: Season's Happy Endings? ... Double Surprise ... Psychotic Law vs. Sociopath Science ... The Bright, Elusive Butterfly of Dexter ... The True Nature of Miguel ...Si Se Puede on Dexter ... and Dexter 3: Sneak Preview Review

Reviews of Season 2: Dexter's Back: A Preview and Dexter Meets Heroes and 6. Dexter and De-Lila-h and 7. Best Line About Dexter - from Lila and 8. How Will Dexter Get Out of This? and The Plot Gets Tighter and Sharper and Dex, Doakes, and Harry and Deb's Belief Saves Dex and All's ... Well

See also about Season 1: First Place to Dexter 

 

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Hell on Wheels 3.3: Talking and Walking

Hell on Wheels 3.3 starts with a great little piece of anonymous media history - Bohannan smashing his finger as he hammers in the electrical connection at the top of a telegraph pole alongside the railroad. Telegraph and rail went up hand in hand in the middle of the 19th century, the partnership between communication and transportation - between walking and talking - that has always characterized our life on this planet.  The smartphone, which allows you to talk anywhere you may walk - or drive, or fly, or train - is but the latest embodiment of this coupling.

The telegraph connection plays a crucial role in Hell on Wheels 3.3.   Bohannan at first thinks Indians were responsible for an attack on his train crew and cattle.  He telegraphs the nearby US cavalry and tells them to hunt down the Indians and how "no mercy".  He later discovers that, actually, the Indians were not to blame.  But the troop commander chooses to ignore the second, correcting telegram that Bohannan sent along.

That commander is one racist piece of work, and speaks for lots that was wrong in America not only back then but today.  He relies on lame pseudo-science to pronounce the Indians sub-human, and even has a cracked theory to explain why the South lost the Civil War.  He's right that America was on its way to dominating the planet, but one wonders if America could have attained such a predominant position - which had the great benefit of defeating the Soviets and as well as Nazis - without the racist underpinnings that still afflict us.

Meanwhile, Bohannan continues to be a much sharper, redefined character in this third season of life and work on the railroad, and I'm looking forward to more.

See also Hell on Wheels 3.1-2: Bohannan in Command

And see also  Hell on Wheels: Blood, Sweat, and Tears on the Track, and the Telegraph ... Hell on Wheels 1.6: Horse vs. Rail ... Hell on Wheels 1.8: Multiple Tracks ... Hell on Wheels 1.9: Historical Inevitable and Unknown ... Hell on Wheels Season One Finale: Greek Tragedy, Western Style



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Broadchurch 1.2: Brooding Excellence

Broadchurch delivered an excellent second episode on BBC America last night, as well as one of the more memorable lines on television, when Ellie aptly calls Alec on his "brooding bullshit shtick".  We also learn that Alec has some kind of drug dependency, which makes him a more interesting character, and may be the cause, the result, or both, of his as yet undisclosed problem in his previous posting.

Our not knowing anything more about Alec, one of the two main investigators, is typical of the charm and power of this series, which doles out clues in a miserly way that makes the characters all the more provocative.

For example, we see Susan Wright - after displaying a nasty attitude to the police - opening a closet which contains what is apparently Danny's skateboard.  Presumably her attitude arose from her not wanting Alex and the police to look around on the inside of the house by the cliff and finding the skateboard.   Her allergy to police serves as a good pretext for not inviting them into the house.  But does this make her the killer?  Possibly, but likely not.

And we learn that Chloe is involved in some kind drug business - having nothing to do with Alec's problem, but likely having some connection to Danny's killing.  Or maybe not - maybe this is a red herring.  After all, it has less literal connection to Danny than his skateboard.

So we're left with our full slate of suspects, with a bit more suspicion cast on Susan and Chloe (or her friends and associates), but no winnowing out of anyone.   About the only people beyond all suspicion are Ellie, Alex, and the Guv.

Hey, in that sense, Broadchurch is a big departure from The Killing after all.

See also Broadchurch: Powerful Viewing



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The Bridge 1.6: Revelations

A pivotal Bridge 1.6 on FX last night, in which we learn a crucial piece of the puzzle that is Sonya.

Why, given Sonya's condition, has Hank taken her under his wing?  The kindly performance given by Ted Levine as Hank explained only so much - he's a good cop in an administrative position, after all, and although Sonya is also a good cop, an excellent cop in many ways, she's also always on the verge of saying something that could throw a case off course, or shut down an otherwise talkative suspect. So why does Hank not only put up with her, but allow her to be a leading investigator on a crucial case?

It's because, as Hank explains to Marco, he years ago shot the rapist and killer of Sonya's sister in the head, rather than taking him into custody, and the bullet left the killer alive but unable to communicate. This created a situation of maximum frustration for Sonya, in which her sister's killer continues to be just beyond her reach and ability to find out any answers about her sister's killing.  Rather than the cold closure of her sister's murder,  Sonya has been left with an open wound, thanks to Hank.

And there's something else about Hank, which I don't really think is the case, but my wife brought up as we watched the end-of-Gina scene - after she bolts from the bar -  so I'll put out here anyway.   With Sonya and Hank running after Gina separately, that leaves open the long possibility that maybe Hank shot Gina.  Now, I can't recall every seen in which we've heard from the killer in The Bridge so far, and exactly where Hank was at all of those times, or the expression on his face every time the killer comes to his attention - which is most of the time - but I would say there is an ever so slight possibility that, though Hank is not the killer, he is working with rather than against the killer in some way, and towards that end killed Gina.  And, if you want to be really diabolical about it, you could reason that Hank put Sonya on the case so that he could better control its outcome (to cover up his involvement) or even in the expectation that she would wreck the case.

Nah - I don't think I believe that - but the very fact that it could be a long-shot option shows what a complex, excellent, mind-bender of a story The Bridge is giving us.

See also The Bridge Opens Brooding and Valent ... The Bridge 1.2: A Tale of Two Beds




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Ray Donovan 1.7 and Whitey Bulger

Just as Showtime's Ray Donovan is really picking up steam, the Whitey Bulger trial in Boston comes to a head with a verdict.   Showtime must be delighted with the coincidence - it almost makes up for the Showtime (Viacom-CBS) dispute with Time Warner which has deprived New York City viewers of Ray Donovan, Dexter, and much more.  On that issue, I say a pox on both your houses - Viacom and Time Warner, you both are worth billions, give the viewers a break, one or both of you accept a little less, and get on with it.  (See my comments on this in The Christian Science Monitor.)  But I digress--

The oldsters on Ray Donovan have been stealing the show from the beginning, even though Liev Schreiber as Ray has been superb, and the rest of the cast has been outstanding, too.  But Elliot Gould as Ezra dominates every scene he's in with his old Jewish delivery, and Jon Voight as Mickey lights up the series with one of the best performances of his long career.

I've long been a James Woods fan, and have not been disappointed with characteristically quirky, powerful performance as Sully.  Usually Woods plays a somewhat good guy with a big edge of evil - think of his riveting performance in The Specialist (1994 movie) or his Roy Cohn role Citizen Cohn (1992 movie) - but as Sully he reverses that with a dollop of good amidst a fundamentally evil man.

Just as dogs played a role in Bulger and his girlfriend's relationship, so does a dog figure in Sully and his wife's daily life - as she points out, only Sully can get their pooch to go.  But this same Sully who has a way with animals is Ray's go-to man for the murder of Mickey.  Bulger is said to have been the template for the Frank Costello character (played by Jack Nicholson) in The Departed, but he surely was the inspiration for Sully, too, and I'm looking forward to seeing how Woods play that out.

And where does this leave us regarding Ray?  Abby says for the first time that Ray hates Mickey because Mickey killed Ray's girlfriend - that would be why Ray was happy to have Mickey take the fall for the killing that Sean Stevens did - but it's hard to believe that Ray didn't kill Mickey immediately after Mickey killed Ray's girlfriend (if indeed Mickey did).  This leaves Ray's ultimate motivation and hated of Mickey still in question, and we may well not find out much more about that this season.

But that's ok.  Ray Donovan, whatever exactly that show is, is clearly a series that bears many years of viewing.

See also Ray Donovan Debuts with Originality and Flair ... Ray Donovan 1.2: His Assistants and his Family ... Ray Donovan 1.3: Mickey

 


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Under the Dome 1.8: The Monarch

Not much science fiction in Under the Dome 1.8 last night, but it was good to see Dean Norris get so much time as Big Jim after his performance as Hank on Breaking Bad the night before.   Norris has become one of the most effective character actors on television.

There was a pretty good soft-scientific mystery under the dome last night, however, as Julia and Joe investigate the nucleus egg first introduced last week, when an apparition of Norrie's mother appeared to Joe and Norrie.   This time, it's a second version of Joe, who says "The monarch will be crowned."

A bit earlier in the show, we get a hint of what this monarch is, as we see a graceful monarch butterfly fluttering by.   I raised monarchs with my kids when they were in nursery school - harvested milkweed the caterpillars feed upon, and even planted a purplish butterfly bush - so I was especially pleased to see this turn of events on the show.

Not only that, but we learn that Angie has a monarch butterfly tattoo on her shoulder, which means she is somehow centrally involved in the apparition-Joe's statement.  It's sort of reminiscent of the "save the cheerleader" mantra in Heroes (first time I've mentioned the content of that show in years), and it will be fun to see how this develops.  At very least, it will give Angie a better part than just being locked up, which will be good to see.

Meanwhile, with the death of another character who posed a danger to Big Jim, and Big Jim and Barbie ending the episode at odds, it looks like we will be in for a good showdown between these two central characters.

See also Under the Dome: Superior Summer Science Fiction ... Under the Dome 1.2: Adrenaline and Seepage ... Under the Dome 1.3: Way Under ...Under the Dome 1.4: Good Night for Junior, Until ... Under the Dome 1.5: vs the Bomb ... Under the Dome 1.6: Sentient Biosphere ... Under the Dome 1.7: The Nucleus



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Hell on Wheels 3.1-2: Bohannan in Command

Hell on Wheels is rolling again in its third season on AMC, and I liked the first two hours better than most of what was on in Season 2.

Mostly, it's good to see Bohannan wheeling and dealing, playing the Union Pacific corporate suits like a pro - in a suit himself - and in just about total command as Chief Engineer back on the train.  The command is not complete, because Doc Durant is out of prison and scheming to get back into power himself, not to mention that no one can be in total control in the chaotic environment of the Wild West.

But Bohannan indeed seems more in charge that any time in the previous two seasons, which makes one think that somehow the death of Lily in the last episode last year - a death I hated - was good for him and the show.  Maybe it somehow shook Bohannan out of the lethargy he had been periodically suffering since the loss of his wife and daugther, which understandably affected everything that happened in every Bohannan interaction.  In the season 3 premiere, Bohannan even seems willing to sleep with a teenaged girl who comes to him when he's staying overnight in a Mormon homestead.  Not that this is necessarily laudable behavior, but it's consistent with the culture of the time and shows the zest for life that Bohannan now has.

There's a good new possible love interest for Bohannan - Louise Ellison, a Nellie Bly-type reporter for a New York newspaper covering the story of the railroad.  She's not as pretty as Lily, but is attractive enough, and has a good head on her shoulders.   The first story she covers is the Union Pacific's seizure of the above-mentioned Mormon homestead under eminent domain.  The story demonstrates the fundamental decency of Elam Ferguson - who's back in fine form, with his common-law wife Eva and their beautiful baby girl - and Bohannan, who try to find alternatives for the land seizure, to no avail.   I won't spoil for you how this ended, but it was a powerful story, and I would have liked to have seen Bohannan try a little harder not to let it happen (such as questioning some of the other kids).

This looks to have the makings of an excellent season, and we haven't even yet seen the Swede, who escaped last year, and is sure to reappear at some inopportune time in the weeks ahead.

See also  Hell on Wheels: Blood, Sweat, and Tears on the Track, and the Telegraph ... Hell on Wheels 1.6: Horse vs. Rail ... Hell on Wheels 1.8: Multiple Tracks ... Hell on Wheels 1.9: Historical Inevitable and Unknown ... Hell on Wheels Season One Finale: Greek Tragedy, Western Style



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Broadchurch: Powerful Viewing

I caught the first episode of Broadchurch on BBC America last night, and found it outstanding.   If you're a devotee of British detective and cop shows - from Morse to Frost to Lynley to Waking the Dead to Prime Suspect to Luther - you'll recognize Broadchurch as very much belonging in this evolving tradition.   Broadchurch has all the elements - the tension between men and women in various police positions, all that great DI, DS, DC, CS, Guv stuff - plus an upping of the ante with an intense single-investigation plot spans the entire 8-episode season.

BBC America has been comparing Broadchurch to The Killing, and the comparison is apt.  A teenager is murdered (in this case, a boy, Danny), and everyone and their grandmother is a possible suspect, or at least in possession of some information vital to solving the crime.   The detectives themselves are connected to the case far more personally than detectives should be.  DS Ellie Miller lives nearly next door to Danny's family, and indeed Miller's son Tom was not only good friends with Danny, but erases messages on his smartphone from or to Danny as soon as Tom learns that Danny was murdered.  DS Miller was due to be promoted to DI, but the position was given without warning to Alec Hardy, who is fresh off some controversial case from wherever he was previously.

The media also get some cold scrutiny and a good bashing in the first episode of this series, as they invade the privacy of Danny's family in pursuit of the story.  And a prime player in this media part of the narrative is Ollie, eager to make a name for himself, finding it hard to move up in the shrinking traditional media world, and, oh yeah, he's Ellie's nephew.   This makes her doubly involved in the case beyond her detective work.   But as my wife pointed out, Broadchurch is a small town.

The show also has a keener than usual appreciation of social media and their contribution to contemporary journalism.  Ollie tweets some early breaking news about the case - he's the first to identify the family - and Danny's sister Chloe gets information on the case by putting out a Google Alert on Broadchurch and death.   I don't need to put Broadchurch into my Google Calendar, because it's easy enough to remember that show is on Wednesday night, same night as Law & Order UK.

Driven by who knows what, and amplified by traditional and social media, just about everyone in Broadchurch seems to be hiding something, and I'm in for the roller coaster ride of discovery.



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Breaking Bad the Final Episodes #1: Walt vs. Hank

Well, Breaking Bad was back with the beginning of its final episodes tonight on AMC, and it's just what we would expect: scalding, uncompromising, brilliant.  Or, just what we would expect of Walter White.

Hank finally put two and two together at the end of the previous episode, which in one sense means that Walt's luck had run out.  But we're dealing with Walter White, here - Walter, who, as we've seen, makes his own luck.

So the confrontation between Hank and Walt at the end of tonight's episode was all that we could expect and hope for.  Walt is out-matched, physically, by Hank, even though Hank has not completely recovered from his near-paralysis.  Walt absorbs physically punishment meted out by Hank - a punch to the face that knocks Walt down.  But Walt, by sheer power of his intellect, comes out on top of Hank at the end.

In classic Walt fashion, he uses his cancer to dissolve at least a little of Hank's resolve.   Walt may well be lying.   You can never can tell with Walt.   We also see in this episode that Walt lies point blank to Jesse about not killing Mike - we saw Walt shoot Mike in the car with our own eyes.  But he lies so well that we can almost doubt what we saw.

But, even more importantly, whether Walt is now lying about his cancer recurring or not - we do see him getting what looks like chemo therapy, so probably he's not lying - doesn't really matter.   Because the point about Walt is he'll do whatever it takes.  Lie about this cancer or be truthful about it - whatever will do the job.  And that's what makes Walt such an appealing character.

In the brief flash-forward at the beginning, we do see that something game-changing happened between now and then.   Are we seeing Walt on his way to checking out?   My money is on not - I'm betting Walter's will to live and triumph will trump everything.

Whatever happens, we're clearly in for one ultimately getting-down-to-business hell of a ride.

See also Breaking Bad Season 5 Premiere: Riveting Entropy ... Breaking Bad 5.3: Deal with the Devil ... Breaking Bad 5.7: Exit Mike ... Breaking Bad Final Half-Season Finale

And see also My Prediction about Breaking Bad ... Breaking Bad Season 4 Debuts ... Breaking Bad 4.2: Gun and Question ... Breaking Bad 4.11: Tightening Vice ... Breaking Bad 4.12: King vs. King ... Breaking Bad Season 4 Finale: Deceptive Flowers



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