What Are You Watching

[BruceH]

Missed it Sunday but watched the latest "Breaking Bad" on On Demand. It was another good one. Who was it who called Hank warning him there were two men coming to kill him?

A lot of people seem to think it was Mike, the PI/fixer guy. On orders from either Gus or Saul. But why would Gus sic the twins on Hank, then warn Hank at the last minute? He wants Hank and the twins to kill each other? I'm not sure.

I like the theory that whoever made the call that it came as a result of orders from Gus. The brothers were a definite threat to his interests and were a thorn in his side. Hank was a threat as well and if he and the brothers were to kill each other, it would take care of those threats quite nicely.

Yes, Gus certainly loathes the twins. But Hank's beating of Jesse was about to deep-six his career. Gus allowing Walt to bring Jesse into the meth factory-lab saves Hank's career, keeping Hank a threat. If you think about this long enough, your head starts to hurt.

(I must say, I sure hope Hank lives. He has become one of my favorite characters. Beneath the Three-Stooges-like bluster, he's actually a really nice guy, and one of the few characters on the show to have a firm moral center.)

[kinuta]

24.

The final season is now 21 hours down and things are getting very heavy indeed.

I thought this show would go out with a fizzle but I was wrong.

Anyone else watching?

[jazzbo]

I never could get into 24. I've watched parts of four episodes over two seasons, and the first one I watched was one of the hokiest things I've seen on tv this century, and the other three portions didn't really alter my initial impressions. So I guess I've been saved about a week of days in my life.

Watching Smallville Season Five on to its conclusion. Four and Five were the start of the "good" seasons of this show; the following three seemed to get increasingly better in my opinion (haven't watched any of Season Nine yet).

Looking forward to the Lost episode tonight.

[jlhoots]

24.

The final season is now 21 hours down and things are getting very heavy indeed.

I thought this show would go out with a fizzle but I was wrong.

Anyone else watching?

I'm watching it.

Have been there since Season 1.

Pretty intense.

Is Logan the next to go down?

I definitely won't miss the last 3 hours.

[BruceH]

The climactic scene in the car park was one of the tightest, best-shot bits of action I've ever seen on tv. The tension is still there on a third viewing.

Damn, yes! After Hank got the call and was looking around, I was just about ready to crawl out of my skin.

Latest episode: Apparently Gus controls the universe.

[mikelz777]

The latest episode of "Breaking Bad" was another excellent one. It looks like Gus is making the power grab. That would seem to signal that Walt's deal to work for "only" 3 months is probably going to turn into something lasting much longer. They're not going to want to give up that revenue source. I still can't figure out who might have warned Hank that the two brothers were about to kill him. If it came from Gus' camp, why would they want Hank alive? Were they banking on him killing the brothers? Could they possibly be banking on Hank not turning in Walt if/when he finds out about Walt's cooking and possibly getting a hold on someone who's in law enforcement? I thought it might have been his former partner but he hasn't been acting like it might have been him.

[BruceH]

Okay, one episode, and I'm hooked.

Were you a big fan of "Kolchak - The Night Stalker" back in the day?

[BruceH]

The latest episode of "Breaking Bad" was another excellent one. It looks like Gus is making the power grab. That would seem to signal that Walt's deal to work for "only" 3 months is probably going to turn into something lasting much longer. They're not going to want to give up that revenue source. I still can't figure out who might have warned Hank that the two brothers were about to kill him. If it came from Gus' camp, why would they want Hank alive? Were they banking on him killing the brothers? Could they possibly be banking on Hank not turning in Walt if/when he finds out about Walt's cooking and possibly getting a hold on someone who's in law enforcement? I thought it might have been his former partner but he hasn't been acting like it might have been him.

I see it this way: It was Gus who gave the order to warn Hank. This gives Hank a better chance against the twins which is ultimately good for Gus any way you look at it. A)Hank and the twins kill each other. Win-win. B)Hank manages to kill the twins and get out unscathed. Unlikely, but then the twins are gone and Hank can be dealt with later. C)Both are heavily injured and easier to deal with down the road.

As it happened, one twin dead, the other in ICU and easy to stealth-murder, Hank hanging by a thread. Gus is feeling good.

Also, clearly Gus banked on the unprecedented attempt on a DEA-agent's life on American soil to cause a ton of shit to rain down on his Mexican contact, who had become troublesome. My questing is, what if Walter becomes perceived by Gus as a liability? Not good for Walt.

[mikelz777]

The latest episode of "Breaking Bad" was another excellent one. It looks like Gus is making the power grab. That would seem to signal that Walt's deal to work for "only" 3 months is probably going to turn into something lasting much longer. They're not going to want to give up that revenue source. I still can't figure out who might have warned Hank that the two brothers were about to kill him. If it came from Gus' camp, why would they want Hank alive? Were they banking on him killing the brothers? Could they possibly be banking on Hank not turning in Walt if/when he finds out about Walt's cooking and possibly getting a hold on someone who's in law enforcement? I thought it might have been his former partner but he hasn't been acting like it might have been him.

I see it this way: It was Gus who gave the order to warn Hank. This gives Hank a better chance against the twins which is ultimately good for Gus any way you look at it. A)Hank and the twins kill each other. Win-win. B)Hank manages to kill the twins and get out unscathed. Unlikely, but then the twins are gone and Hank can be dealt with later. C)Both are heavily injured and easier to deal with down the road.

As it happened, one twin dead, the other in ICU and easy to stealth-murder, Hank hanging by a thread. Gus is feeling good.

Also, clearly Gus banked on the unprecedented attempt on a DEA-agent's life on American soil to cause a ton of shit to rain down on his Mexican contact, who had become troublesome. My questing is, what if Walter becomes perceived by Gus as a liability? Not good for Walt.

Your theory about how things went down is probably a good one. However things were to shake out, it was going to be beneficial to Gus and he'd deal with whatever was left over from the situation after the fact. Re: Walt being seen as a liability. Gus isn't stupid and I think he already sees Walt as a calculated risk. Walt reinforced that when he rejected Gale and replaced him with Jesse and when he was caught being less than forthcoming about his brother-in-law being a DEA agent and had to apologize when Gus shows up at the hospital. The balance between Walt being a liability and him being too profitable to give up for the time being is already precarious.

Edited May 13, 2010 by mikelz777

[Van Basten II]

Have joined the rest of the Montreal civilisation watching the hockey game.

[kinuta]

The last two episodes of Flash Forward. The show has a lot of faults, being interesting is not one of them, but at least they are keeping the plot thread reasonably grounded with rational explanations for the phenomenon, the collider experiment angle adds a needed layer of credibility to tie together the disparate plot lines. At least that's how it strikes me.

[jazzbo]

The colider experiment is straight from the novel, and one of the few plot elements not tampered with heavily for TV.

I actually liked this show a lot better before it's break and reorganization than after the return. Oh well. I'll watch to the end.

[kinuta]

Shows how much I know, I wasn't aware it was based on a novel. Who's the author ?

BTW is the big foot avatar biting the dust when you know what finishes ?

Edited May 14, 2010 by kinuta

[jazzbo]

Maybe, or maybe not. . . .

Oddly enough, the author of FlashForward's name is Sawyer.

[BruceH]

Oh-oh.

I just heard that the original "Law & Order" series has been canceled. This means that the apocalypse is nigh.

[jazzbo]

Heroes and FlashForward have been canceled. V however goes on. Ah well.

[Shawn]

Heroes and FlashForward have been canceled. V however goes on. Ah well.

There's no way either of those shows was anywhere near as bad as "V". That one was about as pleasurable as a root canal.

[Matthew]

The Venture Bros. Season One.

[mikelz777]

Heroes and FlashForward have been canceled. V however goes on. Ah well.

There's no way either of those shows was anywhere near as bad as "V". That one was about as pleasurable as a root canal.

"Heroes" became a muddled mess which lost my household's viewership a long time ago. (2nd season?) I was somewhat disappointed to hear that "Flash Forward" wasn't going to get to unwind a little more but at the same time, I don't think that I'm going to miss it. (For some reason, I hated the whole Olivia/Lloyd storyline and Lloyd in general.) Still, I liked "Flash Forward" much better than "V" of which I'm quickly losing interest.

[Jazzmoose]

Is "V" based on the "V" from ages ago, or is it something different?

[mikelz777]

I hope I'm wrong but last night's episode of "Lost" didn't exactly assure me that this is going to have a cool ending. The whole "protecting the light in the cave" thing seems pretty hokey and there seems to be a ton of loose ends to resolve in just a 2-hour final.

[mikelz777]

Is "V" based on the "V" from ages ago, or is it something different?

I never saw the original but yes, it's based on the "V" from the early 80's which apparently was a 2-part mini series.

Edited May 19, 2010 by mikelz777

[jazzbo]

Actually, last night's episode reassured me that Lost is going to speed to a conclusion in an action movie sort of way, and we've seen all the hokey mythology we're going to see. As a fan of ancient history I'd sure like to see some mention of the Egyptian statue, temple and writing, and even Jacob's Egyptian tapestry he was working on but don't expect to. Still, the mythology doesn't bother me, it's just another allegory of the age-old telling and retelling of things, what I've always watched Lost for was the unveiling of the lives and nature and temperament of the characters and the innovative story-telling methods, which I think have been more successful than not. I'm glad that it appears that the finale will have a brisk pace and I think there's going to be a memorable and definitive conclusion.

[alankin]

Re-watching season one of The Wire with my wife. She's never seen it and I've only seen the first two seasons. Hard to top it.

[BruceH]

Mike, what did you think of the latest episode of Breaking Bad? I managed to miss the damn thing.