"He really did a number on you, didn't he?"- Hank Schrader
After the slam shut ending of last week, we open with...Todd, smoking a cigarette outside a diner and leaving a message for Walter about the recent "change in management." Just after, he regales Uncle Jack and his minion, whom I know as Devil on Justified, but we apparently we know as Kenny, with the tale of the Great Methylamine Train Heist, and how he and Jesse barely escaped with their lives and their haul. I'm not sure what upsets me more, the fact that Todd conveniently leaves out the bit about shooting Drew Sharp, or that I'm not sure Jack and Kenny would care all that much. After shiftily eyeing the waitress and asking for the check, Jack and Kenny head into the bathroom and have a quick discussion about America's degradation into a "nanny state." Very socially conscious of Neo-Nazis, in all honestly. While washing, Jack notices some blood on his boot. He cleans it, they leave, and soon after cross the border into the Land of Opportunity.
After that, we get right back to the interrogation room, this time from Jesse's perspective. The door clacks shut. Hank turns off the camera, and tells Jesse that he wants to ask him about his partner, whom he now knows is Walt. Jesse's eyes light up, the first sign of life we've seen from him all season. Hank offers to make all Jesse's problems go away if he tells him everything he knows, correctly guessing that, given Jesse's recent activities, things aren't exactly smooth between Jesse and Heisenberg. Jesse sneers, and asks Hank why he doesn't just beat the information out him. Hank is unfazed, and begins to tries to reach Jesse, telling him how Walt's ruined both their lives, and how he knows Jesse wants to see Walt pay. That he wants to talk. "Not to you," Jesse whispers, and in busts the Saul Goodman-shaped cavalry.
At the White Estate, Walt fields a call from Saul while Walt Jr arrives. As Walt retreats into the bathroom in an attempt to apply makeup to his black eye, Junior tells him that Aunt Marie asked for his help with "some computer thing." Panicking that she's trying to take another of his children, Walt leaps into action, and confesses something to his son. That the wound on his face is from briefly passing out, and that's he back in treatment (although his doctor says that he's "doing great"). After requesting that everyone stays positive, he tells his son to go help his aunt and that they'll talk about it later. Junior flatly denies, saying that he's staying, and little smile crosses Walt's face as he grabs his son's hand. Hank and Marie might be against him, Skyler might be afraid of him, and Jesse might despise him, but at least Flynn's left under his sway. At least someone else still follows the Church of Heisenberg.
After a quick scene where Hank, drink in hand, tells Marie that he didn't bring his case to the DEA and that he's chasing down some leads, we cut to Walt, drink in hand, sitting down on his bed and responding to Skyler asking if he's "sure he wants to do this" by saying it's the only way. Cue a camera shift to reveal: a video camera set up on a tripod, which, after Skyler starts recording, Walt again speaks the first words he ever uttered on the show. "My name is Walter Hartwell White. I live at 308 Negra Arroyo Lane."
After the break, we pick up with Walt and Skyler in the blandest, most Middle American outfits they have, at a (very) tacky Mexican restaurant. Hank and Marie sidle in, each sitting across from their declared foe in the clandestine war launched when Hank found Leaves of Grass. "So you here to confess?" Hank grumbles, staring daggers into Walt, who rolls his eyes and says that there's nothing to confess. They're here to talk about the children, whom they want left out of this. "Hearing these things. You realize what it's going to do to him?" Walt muses, trying to an uncle's love for his nephew into precious time. "He's going to hear it when I kick in your front door and arrest you,*" Hank snarls. Walt recoils, and restates that Hank has no evidence. Poor Trent, their server, steps in and tries pushing guacamole, before wisely backing off upon seeing the general mood. The battle then shifts to Marie vs. Skyler, who insists that the children are safe. "You're the one who sent them out of the house" Marie cries. "And I brought them back," Skyler declares. She tries to nail home the fact that whatever might have happened is in the past. After Walter asks what it will take for them to believe him, Marie simply, almost matter of factly states that he should kill himself. Skyler states that that isn't a solution, and Hank agrees. "You're not gonna negotiate you way out of this thing," he barks, asking Walter to be a man and "step up." Walt sighs, shares a look with Skyler, gets out of his chair, grabs his coat, and slides a CD across the table to Hank. His confession.
*Someone kicking down the White's front door pays off a lot quicker than I expected it to*
We pick up in the Schrader's living room, where Hank and Marie stand, listening to Walter state that if they're watching this tape, then he's probably dead. "Murdered, by my brother in law Hank Schrader,
who according to Walt, has been building a Meth empire for the better part of a year. Walt then relates the major beats of his story, adding Hank in where it would incriminate him most, including his partnership with businessman Gustavo Fring, with whom Hank sold Walt into servitude, and with whom Hank had an eventual falling out that resulted in Hank being shot and Gus having half his face blown off. Walt admits that Hank gave him no option, and that he often contemplated suicide. On the verge of breaking down into tears, Walt relates that Hank put him in hell, and that he hopes the contents of this tape will help show the world how much of a monster Hank has become. What's most insidious about the confession is that so much of it is the truth. Hank took Walt on a ride along. Walt did pay Hank's medical bills. Walt did build the bomb that killed Gus Fring. Hank did punch Walt in the face. It's as masterful as it is horrible. The ultimate trump card. The video ends, and Marie asks who else Walt has shown it to. "No one, it's a threat," Hank correctly surmises, and after she demands that he show it to Ramey to "get ahead of it," he wonders what Walt is talking about with the medical bills, and Marie almost immediately shrinks into a chair and tries to hide. "They told me it was gambling money," she says, and Hank launches into the best "Jesus Christ Marie" of the entire series, wondering why he wasn't told, and why his insurance couldn't have paid. She replies that with the care their insurance was providing, he might not ever have been able to walk again. Hank, too, shrinks down. "You killed me," he says. That's it for him. There's no way he can prosecute Walt and not incriminate himself now, too. Marie asks him what they're going to do, and he doesn't answer.
After the break, we're treated to Jesse and Saul sitting next to Saul's car in the middle of the desert, waiting to meet someone. Saul bailed Jesse out with the money Walt left him, and sure enough, it's Walt they're waiting to meet. Walt meticulously checks Saul's car for bugs, and then asks Jesse what, if anything, Hank knows. Jesse states that he knows about Heisenberg, but not much else, and that he probably hasn't told any at the DEA. Saul chimes in and asks what they're going to do about Jesse's little breakdown, and Walt tells him to take a walk. Turning his attention to Jesse, he tells him that perhaps it's time for a change, and that Saul knows a guy who can make him disappear into a new life. "I really think that would be good for you. Clean slate," and the more he drones on, the more we realize that this is less about helping Jesse out of his rut and more about getting him out of the way. After he presents his case, Jesse slowly walks away and asks that Walt for once stop jerking him around. "Just drop the whole concerned dad thing, and tell me the truth." During last year's episodes, we saw Jesse start to realize just how Walt manipulates him. He started to see the strings. Now, he sees the fingers that operate them. "Just ask me for a favor," he cries. "Just tell me that you don't give a shit about me and that it's either this, or you kill me the same way you killed Mike." Walt is taken aback, seemingly dumbstruck that his old paternal bond with Jesse isn't enough to keep him wrapped around Heisenberg's little finger. Slowly, almost menacingly, he starts walking up to Jesse, before wrapping him in a hug that Jesse eventually collapses into. What's saddest about the abusive relationship they have (and it is, for all intents and purposes, just that) isn't that Jesse keeps coming back; it's that Walt does obviously care for him, at least a little. If that weren't true, then Walt would have buried him in that desert.
Back at the carwash, Walt, framed in a shadowy doorway like a monster of fable, asks Skyler to take over for him at the register while he goes to his chemo. When she doesn't respond, he steps forward, into the light, even more terrifying. "It worked," he says. "We're fine." All shall be sheltered under the watchful eye of Heisenberg and be saved. Back at the DEA, Hank is flipping through his daily papers when Gomez steps in and asks why two of his guys are sitting on Saul Goodman's place, waiting for Jesse Pinkman, who would be liable to sue if he knew the DEA was on him again. Hank acquiesces, and soon after leaves to "take a walk." In Saul's office, Jesse's criminal lawyer asks him if he's ready to make his escape, and calls up the vacuum repair man to make a pickup. Jesse lights up, to which Saul objects, as the guy apparently won't make the pickup if he's high. He demands the dope, which Jesse of course pockets. Saul leaves to get some "money sized bags" from Francesca, and returns, flanked by Huell, who's going to drop Jesse off at the spot. He hands Jesse one of his burner phones (the Hello Kitty one, of course) and gives Huell the directions, and tells Jesse not to move when he's at the drop off. Jesse asks if he gets a say in where he gets to go, and Saul suggests Florida. Jesse asks about Alaska, which seems to be about as far away from Heisenberg as the moon. They shake hands and Jesse goes to leave, bumping into Huell in the doorway on the way out.
Jesse stands at the drop off point, in front of what, from this angle, appear to be tombstones. Bored, he reaches into his pocket for his weed. He can't find it. Starting to panic, he reaches into another pocket, pulling out only a crumpled pack of cigarettes. Slowly, he starts to realize. Huell picked him clean, on Saul's orders. The more damaging realization is that this isn't the first time this has happened. His intial suspicion, at the end of Season 4, was correct. Huell swiped his ricin cigaratte. The Disappearing Man's van pulls up. Jesse stares in disbelief. He has a choice to make. He can walk away. He can be done with this, forever. He stares down at his pack of cigarettes, and starts shaking. He grabs his money and walks away. The van pulls away. When this episode started, Jesse was all but dead. Catatonic, with the world speeding and spinning in front of his eyes. Now, he's awake. And he is PISSED. Unlike the field of tombstones behind him, Jesse Pinkman will not stay buried.
After the break (which I really though was the end), we head back to Saul's office. Jesse, the Avenging Angel, bursts in, running past Huell and locking the door. When Saul gets up to greet him, worried that the guy was a no-show, Jesse clocks him, and when Saul tries to get a piece from his desk, Jesse takes it. As Huell bursts in, Jesse levels a gun at them both in succession, demanding that Saul tell him about Huell's thievery. Confused, Saul admits that he had him take Jesse's pot, but that's not what he means. Saul admits it, but states that that he didn't know what Walt had planned (which is essentially true, as we saw in the "we're done when I say we're done" scene from last summer's premiere). "I didn't want any of this" Saul shrieks, and Jesse gives pause. Taking Saul's car keys, he leaves, and Saul, sure as rain, immediately calls Walt.
Back at the carwash, Skyler flubs and gives a customer a $5 instead of a $1. He calls her on it, strangely, and she switches the bills (as an aside, I wonder if this Skyler's attempts to launder some of the unlaunderable money Walt accrued). In the background, Walt's car screeches to a stop, he gets out, and pauses for a moment to collect himself before casually walking in. Stopping to make smalltalk, he looks much older than he did the last time we saw him. His black eye looks sunken and the lines on his forehead look like gashes. Jesse's revolt has taken him from the all-powerful Heisenberg and thrown him back into the guise of the panicky, shell-shocked Walter White of the past. Just like that Walter White, he's not going to tell Skyler anything. Coming up with an excuse to fiddle with the Coke machine, Walt reaches in and retrieves a pistol, frozen over with ice and hidden away for emergencies. Making up another excuse, he leaves. The Heisenberg we saw in this episode is a masterful, calculating liar. The Walter White we see now is awful. Luckily for him, Skyler doesn't seem to notice.
During last year's excellent "51," Skyler told Walt that she wanted the kids out of the house because there might come a time when a man knocks on their door looking to hurt him or the kids. That time is now, and that man is Jesse Pinkman, burdened with glorious purpose and aflame with righteous fury. Screeching into the White's driveway, he opens Sauls' trunk and pulls out a gas tank (that I assume he bought on the way. Not like he's short on money). He kicks down Walt's door and starts spraying the gasoline all over the living room, and eventually all over the camera. Now, we know from the Mr. Lambert flashforwards that Jesse probably doesn't go through with burning down the entire house, but that doesn't really matter, in the moment. What matters is that after five seasons, we finally come to the point where Jesse cannot be convinced, or swayed away from killing Walt. There just ain't enough room in this town the both of them, anymore.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Monday, August 19, 2013
Respect the Chemistry: A Breaking Bad Recap, Episode 56- Buried
"Please don't let me have done all this for nothing."- Walter White
It seems as though whenever this show has a one word title, they do everything in their power to hammer home how every character on the show fits into that title. Sometimes, it's too on the nose. Sometimes, it's so subtle that making the connections feels like a sort of conspiracy theory, trying too hard to make thematic resonance where there is none.
Tonight, we have another of these episodes, one with maybe the most apt and chilling one word title yet: Buried.
Jesse is buried. Our cold open begins with an unknown man, presumably leaving for work in the wee hours of the morning, coming across one of Jesse's discarded wads-o-cash. Then he comes across a few more. Then a few more, until finally, he comes across Jesse's car, abandoned in a park. Then he sees Jesse himself, idly spinning himself on a roundabout. The camera tracks him as he stares blankly into the sky. He is, for lack of a better term, the walking dead. Buried.
Walt is buried. After the credits, he walks out of Hank's garage and, after turning around to have a good old fashioned stand-off, gets in his car and immediately calls Skyler. After being told that she's already taking a call and will not be disturbed. As Walt demands to be heard, Hank's garage door re-opens, and ASAC Schrader struts out, holding his cell phone. Walt asks Mariano (apparently someone who works at the car wash) who, exactly, Skyler is on the phone with, before hanging up and peeling out. When he gets to the car wash, he is told that Skyler has already left, without saying where she was going. His wife might be about to turn on him. Walt is done. Buried.
Skyler is buried. Walking into a diner to meet with Hank, she is greeted with an awkward hug. Hank's never really been able to...connect with Skyler, so when he starts things off by explaining how "everything makes sense now" and that she is "done being his victim," she asks if Marie knows, only to be rebuffed by Hank, her self-appointed savior. Then, he pulls out a tape recorder, and asks her to go on the record. Hank tells her that he has to get something concrete before Walt "runs out the clock." When Skyler asks what he means, he tells her that Walt offhandedly mentioned his cancer's return. After this, Skyler shuts down and asks if she should get a lawyer. On one hand, she's trying to protect herself from Hank finding out about the things she's done. On the other, she sees a potential escape vector, perhaps a way to get away. So she turns the tables on Hank and his good cop routine, asking him if she's under arrest, which before long evolves into Skyler screaming and panicking, a long time Skyler White fall back plan in periods of crisis. It has yet to fail her. Hank is desperate, and he overplayed his hand. He doesn't have anything. Skyler has everything, but she doesn't know what to do with it. Buried.
Saul is buried. After the break, we're treated to Huell and Kuby at the storage facility, uncovering Mount Money and almost immediately "channeling Scrooge McDuck," (maybe the best pop culture reference this show has ever had). Huell suggests Mexico, Kuby suggests Heisenberg having ten men killed in a two minute window. We cut to Walt and Saul in the latter's office, commiserating over what to do with Skyler's perceived turn. Saul suggests that she doesn't have any real evidence outside of the money, which is being taken care of. Saul suggests, in the most Saul way possible, that maybe they should give some thought to "sending Hank on a trip to Belize," where Mike went to. Walt flatly refuses, stating that Hank is family, and family is off limits. Huell and Kuby show up, with Walt's money in plastic barrels in the back of a van. Walt inspects his haul, fills a tote for Saul and his men, and tells him to find Jesse. We don't get much out of Saul, here, but what we do get is the portrait of a man who always has a way out slowly realizing that his way out was buried with Gus Fring.
Marie is buried. At the White residence, Skyler is trying to get in contact with either Saul or Walt, when Marie shows up and demands to come in. Skyler lets her, and Marie asks if what Hank says is true. She wants to know when, exactly, Skyler knew, and the farther back she goes without a reaction, the more their sisterly bond is destroyed. Marie finally asks is Skyler since "before Hank was shot," and Skyler apologizes. Marie slaps her, and what was once a heartbreaking slow burn of a scene erupts, as Marie accuses her sister of trying to ensure Walt gets away with it, storms out, and grabs baby Holly in the ultimate payoff to the old "Marie is a kleptomaniac" storyline from seasons past. Marie pounds on the window, and Hank runs into the middle of an out and out shouting match between the sisters, with poor baby Holly screaming in the middle. Eventually, Hank gets his wife to stop and return the child, and as they go to leave, Marie tells her husband that he "has to get him," meaning Walt. This is all too much for Marie to take (her status as the most in the dark character on the show now surreptitiously passed to Walt Jr), and it is burying her.
Heisenberg is buried. Walt spends what appears to be the rest of the day painstakingly digging a hole big enough for a half dozen barrels, shoving them in, covering them up and memorizing the coordinates (in a manner oddly similar to how the man in the cold open peered at the money he'd found: with the headlight of his vehicle), before destroying his GPS tracker, buying a lottery ticket with the numbers, heading home, and collapsing in the bathroom as Skyler questions what happened. One of the biggest potential pieces of evidence against him is now, well, buried. He wakes up the next morning, Skyler babying him on the bathroom floor, and his wife asks him if the cancer really has come back. "Does that make you happy?" he asks, and Skyler responds that she can't remember the last time she was happy. He tells her that he knows she made a deal, and that he'll give himself up if she promises to keep the money and leave it to their kids. She asks how this happened, how Hank found out, and Walt admits that he "screwed up." Skyler, seemingly emboldened by this, tells her husband that all Hank has is his suspicions, and that if Walt gives himself up, no one will get the money. She finishes by saying that perhaps their best move is to keep quiet. To bury it.
Lydia is buried. After being driven, blindfolded, to a meet with Declan at some sort of junkyard, she demands to inspect his meth cook. He signals for his men to move a beat up truck, revealing the meth lab he had buried. Lydia scoffs at the shoddiness of his operation, which looks like a nastier version of Walt and Jesse's Crystal Ship. Declan scoffs right back, saying that the Heisenberg standard doesn't matter anymore, and Lydia argues that while quality might not matter his customers, it matters to her Czech buyer. Declan says that without Heisenberg, there's nothing he can do, and Lydia retorts that they still have Todd, whose experience cooking with the master himself led to a slightly higher quality than what Declan's guy is currently pumping out. Declan flatly states that he doesn't trust Todd, and as one of his guys yells down from above that they've got a problem, Lydia mutters that she wishes that he'd given Todd a chance, and surreptitiously sends a text message. Gunfires erupts from above, and casing start raining down through into where Lydia is buried. Seconds later, Todd calls down and tells her it's over. After climbing back up, Lydia admits that she doesn't want to see her handiwork, and Todd helps her away while she clasps a hand over her eyes, while his uncle Jack and his goons execute Declan and begin raiding the cook site. Lydia is dangerous, just as Mike told us last season, and while her twitchy refusal to look after she's ordered the murder of a dozen men is amusing, but it's also a sign that while she's ahead of the game now, she still doesn't know exactly what she's doing. She's like Walt in the early seasons, except instead of Tuco Salamanca and Krazy-8, she's got a sociopath in Todd to deal with. She's clever, but not nearly as clever as she thinks she is, and that's probably going to end up getting her buried for good.
Hank is buried. Going through the evidence he has in his kitchen, Marie staggers out and says that he has to go back into work and tell the DEA his suspicions. He refuses, at first seemingly out of pride, and then out of fear. "The day I go in with this is the last day of my career," he admits. He's not going in until he has proof, he says. "At least I can be the man that caught him." Marie almost immediately retorts that if he waits, and someone else catches Walt, they'll find out that he knew and didn't say anything. Cut to the office, and Hank's slithering, avoidant return to work (complete with Epic Mustache Guy Who is Obviously Going to be the One to Catch EVERYONE). Hank's ruminations are broken up by Gomez, who welcomes him back and tells him that they have a budget meeting in an hour. Hank asks for that meeting to be rescheduled, and for Ramey (his boss) to be brought in on a conference call. We know where this is going, but before it gets there, Gomez asks if Hank has heard about the "money thing" with his old pal Jesse Pinkman. Hank's interest is piqued, and we cut to Jesse being interrogated by our old FBI friends about why he was chucking millions of dollars around the streets like Robin Hood. Jesse, essentially catatonic at this point, doesn't see Hank sidle into view behind him. Hank gestures for the agents to come out, and asks them if he can jump in with Jesse for a couple minutes. They agree, and Hank walks in. The door closes, and the episode is done. Buried.
It seems as though whenever this show has a one word title, they do everything in their power to hammer home how every character on the show fits into that title. Sometimes, it's too on the nose. Sometimes, it's so subtle that making the connections feels like a sort of conspiracy theory, trying too hard to make thematic resonance where there is none.
Tonight, we have another of these episodes, one with maybe the most apt and chilling one word title yet: Buried.
Jesse is buried. Our cold open begins with an unknown man, presumably leaving for work in the wee hours of the morning, coming across one of Jesse's discarded wads-o-cash. Then he comes across a few more. Then a few more, until finally, he comes across Jesse's car, abandoned in a park. Then he sees Jesse himself, idly spinning himself on a roundabout. The camera tracks him as he stares blankly into the sky. He is, for lack of a better term, the walking dead. Buried.
Walt is buried. After the credits, he walks out of Hank's garage and, after turning around to have a good old fashioned stand-off, gets in his car and immediately calls Skyler. After being told that she's already taking a call and will not be disturbed. As Walt demands to be heard, Hank's garage door re-opens, and ASAC Schrader struts out, holding his cell phone. Walt asks Mariano (apparently someone who works at the car wash) who, exactly, Skyler is on the phone with, before hanging up and peeling out. When he gets to the car wash, he is told that Skyler has already left, without saying where she was going. His wife might be about to turn on him. Walt is done. Buried.
Skyler is buried. Walking into a diner to meet with Hank, she is greeted with an awkward hug. Hank's never really been able to...connect with Skyler, so when he starts things off by explaining how "everything makes sense now" and that she is "done being his victim," she asks if Marie knows, only to be rebuffed by Hank, her self-appointed savior. Then, he pulls out a tape recorder, and asks her to go on the record. Hank tells her that he has to get something concrete before Walt "runs out the clock." When Skyler asks what he means, he tells her that Walt offhandedly mentioned his cancer's return. After this, Skyler shuts down and asks if she should get a lawyer. On one hand, she's trying to protect herself from Hank finding out about the things she's done. On the other, she sees a potential escape vector, perhaps a way to get away. So she turns the tables on Hank and his good cop routine, asking him if she's under arrest, which before long evolves into Skyler screaming and panicking, a long time Skyler White fall back plan in periods of crisis. It has yet to fail her. Hank is desperate, and he overplayed his hand. He doesn't have anything. Skyler has everything, but she doesn't know what to do with it. Buried.
Saul is buried. After the break, we're treated to Huell and Kuby at the storage facility, uncovering Mount Money and almost immediately "channeling Scrooge McDuck," (maybe the best pop culture reference this show has ever had). Huell suggests Mexico, Kuby suggests Heisenberg having ten men killed in a two minute window. We cut to Walt and Saul in the latter's office, commiserating over what to do with Skyler's perceived turn. Saul suggests that she doesn't have any real evidence outside of the money, which is being taken care of. Saul suggests, in the most Saul way possible, that maybe they should give some thought to "sending Hank on a trip to Belize," where Mike went to. Walt flatly refuses, stating that Hank is family, and family is off limits. Huell and Kuby show up, with Walt's money in plastic barrels in the back of a van. Walt inspects his haul, fills a tote for Saul and his men, and tells him to find Jesse. We don't get much out of Saul, here, but what we do get is the portrait of a man who always has a way out slowly realizing that his way out was buried with Gus Fring.
Marie is buried. At the White residence, Skyler is trying to get in contact with either Saul or Walt, when Marie shows up and demands to come in. Skyler lets her, and Marie asks if what Hank says is true. She wants to know when, exactly, Skyler knew, and the farther back she goes without a reaction, the more their sisterly bond is destroyed. Marie finally asks is Skyler since "before Hank was shot," and Skyler apologizes. Marie slaps her, and what was once a heartbreaking slow burn of a scene erupts, as Marie accuses her sister of trying to ensure Walt gets away with it, storms out, and grabs baby Holly in the ultimate payoff to the old "Marie is a kleptomaniac" storyline from seasons past. Marie pounds on the window, and Hank runs into the middle of an out and out shouting match between the sisters, with poor baby Holly screaming in the middle. Eventually, Hank gets his wife to stop and return the child, and as they go to leave, Marie tells her husband that he "has to get him," meaning Walt. This is all too much for Marie to take (her status as the most in the dark character on the show now surreptitiously passed to Walt Jr), and it is burying her.
Heisenberg is buried. Walt spends what appears to be the rest of the day painstakingly digging a hole big enough for a half dozen barrels, shoving them in, covering them up and memorizing the coordinates (in a manner oddly similar to how the man in the cold open peered at the money he'd found: with the headlight of his vehicle), before destroying his GPS tracker, buying a lottery ticket with the numbers, heading home, and collapsing in the bathroom as Skyler questions what happened. One of the biggest potential pieces of evidence against him is now, well, buried. He wakes up the next morning, Skyler babying him on the bathroom floor, and his wife asks him if the cancer really has come back. "Does that make you happy?" he asks, and Skyler responds that she can't remember the last time she was happy. He tells her that he knows she made a deal, and that he'll give himself up if she promises to keep the money and leave it to their kids. She asks how this happened, how Hank found out, and Walt admits that he "screwed up." Skyler, seemingly emboldened by this, tells her husband that all Hank has is his suspicions, and that if Walt gives himself up, no one will get the money. She finishes by saying that perhaps their best move is to keep quiet. To bury it.
Lydia is buried. After being driven, blindfolded, to a meet with Declan at some sort of junkyard, she demands to inspect his meth cook. He signals for his men to move a beat up truck, revealing the meth lab he had buried. Lydia scoffs at the shoddiness of his operation, which looks like a nastier version of Walt and Jesse's Crystal Ship. Declan scoffs right back, saying that the Heisenberg standard doesn't matter anymore, and Lydia argues that while quality might not matter his customers, it matters to her Czech buyer. Declan says that without Heisenberg, there's nothing he can do, and Lydia retorts that they still have Todd, whose experience cooking with the master himself led to a slightly higher quality than what Declan's guy is currently pumping out. Declan flatly states that he doesn't trust Todd, and as one of his guys yells down from above that they've got a problem, Lydia mutters that she wishes that he'd given Todd a chance, and surreptitiously sends a text message. Gunfires erupts from above, and casing start raining down through into where Lydia is buried. Seconds later, Todd calls down and tells her it's over. After climbing back up, Lydia admits that she doesn't want to see her handiwork, and Todd helps her away while she clasps a hand over her eyes, while his uncle Jack and his goons execute Declan and begin raiding the cook site. Lydia is dangerous, just as Mike told us last season, and while her twitchy refusal to look after she's ordered the murder of a dozen men is amusing, but it's also a sign that while she's ahead of the game now, she still doesn't know exactly what she's doing. She's like Walt in the early seasons, except instead of Tuco Salamanca and Krazy-8, she's got a sociopath in Todd to deal with. She's clever, but not nearly as clever as she thinks she is, and that's probably going to end up getting her buried for good.
Hank is buried. Going through the evidence he has in his kitchen, Marie staggers out and says that he has to go back into work and tell the DEA his suspicions. He refuses, at first seemingly out of pride, and then out of fear. "The day I go in with this is the last day of my career," he admits. He's not going in until he has proof, he says. "At least I can be the man that caught him." Marie almost immediately retorts that if he waits, and someone else catches Walt, they'll find out that he knew and didn't say anything. Cut to the office, and Hank's slithering, avoidant return to work (complete with Epic Mustache Guy Who is Obviously Going to be the One to Catch EVERYONE). Hank's ruminations are broken up by Gomez, who welcomes him back and tells him that they have a budget meeting in an hour. Hank asks for that meeting to be rescheduled, and for Ramey (his boss) to be brought in on a conference call. We know where this is going, but before it gets there, Gomez asks if Hank has heard about the "money thing" with his old pal Jesse Pinkman. Hank's interest is piqued, and we cut to Jesse being interrogated by our old FBI friends about why he was chucking millions of dollars around the streets like Robin Hood. Jesse, essentially catatonic at this point, doesn't see Hank sidle into view behind him. Hank gestures for the agents to come out, and asks them if he can jump in with Jesse for a couple minutes. They agree, and Hank walks in. The door closes, and the episode is done. Buried.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Respect the Chemistry: A Breaking Bad Recap, Episode 55- Blood Money
Since Digital Refrain apparently no longer exists (pour one out), I'm continuing my BrBa recaps on my personal blog. Previous entries from last summer can be found here.
"What's wrong with Hank?"- Walter White
Another Breaking Bad season premiere, another strange, apocalyptic cold open. This one takes place first in the White's abandoned pool, where a cadre of skaters are shredding some sick lines (the super rad skate video camera angles that looked like they were ripped straight from Lords of Dogtown were a treat). Soon after, Beard Walt arrives, grabs a crowbar, jimmies his way into the fence surrounding the obviously condemned property, stares at the "HEISENBERG" graffiti on his former living room wall, and promptly heads into his old bedroom, removing Chekhov's ricin from it's resting place for purposes currently unknown (although I'd imagine he might use it for poisoning someone). Walt's really gathering what remains of his inventory. Back outside, Walt prepares to leave before he notices his former neighbor, Carol, staring at him as though he's literally Satan. He greets her hello, and she drops that fresh new shipment of oranges she was bringing to Francis Ford Coppola.
After the intro, we return to Walt and Skyler's bedroom, in the halcyon days of Walt's blissful retirement, slowly panning in on the bathroom door that holds Hank. Soon enough, he slowly creeps forth, excuses himself and Marie, and has a panic attack on the drive home, crushing some poor sod's mailbox, but not before carefully stashing Walt's copy of Leaves of Grass in Marie's bag. Upon returning home, Hank immediately sets about comparing the handwriting of Gale's dedication in Leaves of Grass to the samples he has from his case. Sure enough, they're a perfect match. Hank stares at the wall blankly.
Cut to Walt managing the ever-loving shit out of the A1A carwash. He might be retired from meth-making, but he's not retired from his obsessive need to fix. After pitching his idea to buy more carwashes to Skyler in an effort to put more of a dent in the mountain of money they now have in storage, he returns to the counter, only to have Lydia Rodart-Quayle approach him after checking her car in. She asks him to return, "for a few days," bemoaning the poor quality of the "viable operation" he left her. Walt is surprisingly uninterested. His refutation while still maintaining his smiling businessman persona is so Gus Fring that I was almost shocked he didn't tell her to smile and shake his hand. If this show were from Lydia's perspective, Walt might be the most terrifying man in existence. Once she leaves, Skyler inquires why she would be washing a rental car, and Walt, again surprisingly, admits who she is and that she wanted him back. Skyler confronts her and tells her never to come back, and considering that Skyler has what appears to be a four foot height advantage on her, I can't blame Lydia for doing just that. She's not gone, though. Not by a long shot. She said Walt's refusal to come back was putting her in a box, and that he knows what could happen if he does that. Not like she hasn't put a hit out on an uncooperative business partner before.
Back at Shraderbrau International Headquarters, Hank has apparently decided to take some time off work, or at least actually going to work. Some DEA agents drop off what appears to be all of the files on The Fring Case (tm), and Hank gets going on some good old fashioned police work in our first montage of the final episodes. It's fun to note that even surveillance photos of Mike Ehrmantraut are blurry. Even cameras were afraid of him. The man was a pro. One of the best bits of this montage is Hank re-watching the old security tapes from the methylamine heist in Season 1 and seeing the blurry figures slowly crystallize into Jesse and Walt in his mind. Dean Norris is on point in this episode. The other best bit is saved for last, when he holds up the Cousins' old drawing of what is now obviously Walter White.
What we get next is the king and champion of the ongoing "Badger and Skinny Pete argue about pop culture while Jesse Pinkman sinks into an existential hole" series. After discussing the existential crises inherent in a teleporter system (and Pete goes all "The Prestige" on it), Badger launches into his soon to be written script about the original Star Trek, which is too brilliant to be uttered here. Jesse gets up and leaves in the middle, obviously too moved by the brilliance and majesty of Badger's strangely accurate Star Trek knowledge, and pays a visit to Saul Goodman. While being stonewalled in the waiting room, he whips out a doobie and stares laconic daggers at poor Huell until Saul lets him in. Jesse brought his two giant bags o' money, and he wants Saul to give one to Kaylee, Mike's granddaughter, and one to Drew Sharp's parents. Saul scoffs at the sheer lunacy of giving money not only to the parents of a missing child, but to someone who's already had drug money snatched up by the DEA not once, but twice. Nevertheless, Saul agrees to do it, but not before digging through his drawer of phones and giving Walt a call, who says he'll handle it. Cut to the reveal that Walt is receiving treatment again.
Next, we have Walt arriving at Jesse's and carefully, painfully, explaining to Jesse that Mike can take care of his own affairs. Jesse throws Walt's old "Blood Money" quip back at him, which Walt chalks up to "the heat of the moment," again surprisingly admitting that he was wrong in that particular moment. Walt tells Jesse that they both need to stop focusing on the past, revealing to his former partner that he, too, is out of the game. When he asks why Kaylee needs this money, and that Mike is "perfectly capable of looking after his own granddaughter," Jesse reveals that he thinks Mike is dead, since Walt's offing of the remnants of the Fring men in jail would mean Mike is coming for him, and that's not how Walt does business. Jesse states that not only does he think Mike is dead, but that he thinks Walt knows that. Walt practically begs Jesse to believe him, lying directly to his face and pulling out every stop he has in the "Manipulate Jesse Pinkman" playbook. Jesse seems to relent, telling Walt that it's "like you said. He's alive." Walt agrees, and Jesse's face goes cold. If he's learned one thing throughout all of this, it's that you should generally believe the exact opposite of whatever Walter White says.
During the White family dinner, Walt excuses himself to the bathroom, where he throws up (after meticulously folding a towel for his knees in a nearly perfect imitation of Gus Fring). While recovering, he scrounges around in the fateful magazine bin and doesn't see Leaves of Grass. He asks Skyler if she's seen it, shrugs it off and goes to sleep. Or does he? Heading out to his car in his full Tony Soprano regalia, he starts searching around his car, eventually finding the same bug he and Hank put on Gus' car in Season 4. Looking around in fear, Walt realizes what I myself realized: he went to Saul's. He went to Jesse's.
Lesser shows (and even lesser Breaking Bad episodes, ones focused on telling a longform, slow burn, 13 episode final season) might have ended here, but this episode thankfully, gloriously, magnificently does not. First, we're treated to local street tough Jesse Pinkman lounging outside the Dog House (where he bought a pistol in fear way back when Tuco Salamanca was hunting him in Season 2. Jesse wishes for a monster as tame as Tuco Salamanca). A homeless man raps on his window, asking for change. Jesse doesn't respond, and the man walks away. Suddenly, Jesse rolls down his window and tells the man he has something for him: a clump of bills, probably thousands of dollars, of his ill gotten gains. Going full Lady Macbeth, Jesse drives away and starts firing clumps of bills into people's yards and off their porches and into storm drains. He's finally done.
Then, we're treated to the episode's centerpiece scene, and probably what you've been thinking and talking and yammering about since it aired: Hank, talking with some delviery cronies in his garage, when Walter White shows up. Panicking, Hank shovels his files away and greets his brother in law with the shred of good will he still has towards him. Both men vaguely probe one another through small talk, with Walt slipping in a few suspicious grimaces when Hank looks away. Walt gives the old "if there's anything I can do" platitudes, and starts to head out, when, like he did with Mike, he stops. He pauses. He stews. He turns around, and instead of a snub-nose, he's got a simple question. And a tracking bug. He asks Hank if he would happen to know anything about it, and Hank simply stares ahead, not responding and not reacting. After a few seconds, Hank reaches for his garage door remote, and closes it. Walt asks if he's okay, and that he "doesn't like the way you're looking at me right now." Hank continues to stare. Walt starts to stare back, the stare he only breaks out for the big guns. For the enemies. For a brief moment, both men are standing at their full height, wordlessly acknowledging one another as foes, it would seem.
And then, Hank acknowledges it with his fist upside Walt's face. Hank picks Walt up and holds him to garage door, sneering that all along, "it was you." He begins to rail off the evidence: Walt drove into traffic to keep Hank away from the laundromat. Walt used Hank's cell phone to draw him away from the Crystal Ship. Walt killed ten witnesses. Walt bombed a nursing home. Heisenberg. Heisenberg. "I will put you under the jail," he snarls, and Walt begins to stammer that the wild accusations he is making will destroy their family. Hank replies that he doesn't give a shit about family, and Walt pulls out his trump card: the cancer is back. His one, true implacable foe. "Good," Hank replies, saying that he hopes Walt rots. "I'm sorry you feel that way," Walt retorts, explaining that in six months, there won't be a Heisenberg to prosecute, and Hank doesn't have enough time to prove it. Walt will never see the inside of a jail cell.
"What's the point?" he asks, nearly begging. He really is out. He wants to be done. Hank suggests that Skyler brings the kids over to their house and then they'll talk. Walt snaps that that isn't going to happen. Hank responds that he doesn't even know who he's talking to, Walt responds that, if Hank doesn't know who he's talking to, then perhaps his best course would be to "tread lightly." He delivers this not in his Heisenberg snarl, but in the whispered tone of a desperate, dying man, which of course makes it all the more terrifying. We pan out to the two of them staring at one another in a darkened garage, both of them ready to deliver some scorched Earth, motherfucker. We know from the cold open that one of them does. We'll see just which one over the next seven episodes.
"What's wrong with Hank?"- Walter White
Another Breaking Bad season premiere, another strange, apocalyptic cold open. This one takes place first in the White's abandoned pool, where a cadre of skaters are shredding some sick lines (the super rad skate video camera angles that looked like they were ripped straight from Lords of Dogtown were a treat). Soon after, Beard Walt arrives, grabs a crowbar, jimmies his way into the fence surrounding the obviously condemned property, stares at the "HEISENBERG" graffiti on his former living room wall, and promptly heads into his old bedroom, removing Chekhov's ricin from it's resting place for purposes currently unknown (although I'd imagine he might use it for poisoning someone). Walt's really gathering what remains of his inventory. Back outside, Walt prepares to leave before he notices his former neighbor, Carol, staring at him as though he's literally Satan. He greets her hello, and she drops that fresh new shipment of oranges she was bringing to Francis Ford Coppola.
After the intro, we return to Walt and Skyler's bedroom, in the halcyon days of Walt's blissful retirement, slowly panning in on the bathroom door that holds Hank. Soon enough, he slowly creeps forth, excuses himself and Marie, and has a panic attack on the drive home, crushing some poor sod's mailbox, but not before carefully stashing Walt's copy of Leaves of Grass in Marie's bag. Upon returning home, Hank immediately sets about comparing the handwriting of Gale's dedication in Leaves of Grass to the samples he has from his case. Sure enough, they're a perfect match. Hank stares at the wall blankly.
Cut to Walt managing the ever-loving shit out of the A1A carwash. He might be retired from meth-making, but he's not retired from his obsessive need to fix. After pitching his idea to buy more carwashes to Skyler in an effort to put more of a dent in the mountain of money they now have in storage, he returns to the counter, only to have Lydia Rodart-Quayle approach him after checking her car in. She asks him to return, "for a few days," bemoaning the poor quality of the "viable operation" he left her. Walt is surprisingly uninterested. His refutation while still maintaining his smiling businessman persona is so Gus Fring that I was almost shocked he didn't tell her to smile and shake his hand. If this show were from Lydia's perspective, Walt might be the most terrifying man in existence. Once she leaves, Skyler inquires why she would be washing a rental car, and Walt, again surprisingly, admits who she is and that she wanted him back. Skyler confronts her and tells her never to come back, and considering that Skyler has what appears to be a four foot height advantage on her, I can't blame Lydia for doing just that. She's not gone, though. Not by a long shot. She said Walt's refusal to come back was putting her in a box, and that he knows what could happen if he does that. Not like she hasn't put a hit out on an uncooperative business partner before.
Back at Shraderbrau International Headquarters, Hank has apparently decided to take some time off work, or at least actually going to work. Some DEA agents drop off what appears to be all of the files on The Fring Case (tm), and Hank gets going on some good old fashioned police work in our first montage of the final episodes. It's fun to note that even surveillance photos of Mike Ehrmantraut are blurry. Even cameras were afraid of him. The man was a pro. One of the best bits of this montage is Hank re-watching the old security tapes from the methylamine heist in Season 1 and seeing the blurry figures slowly crystallize into Jesse and Walt in his mind. Dean Norris is on point in this episode. The other best bit is saved for last, when he holds up the Cousins' old drawing of what is now obviously Walter White.
What we get next is the king and champion of the ongoing "Badger and Skinny Pete argue about pop culture while Jesse Pinkman sinks into an existential hole" series. After discussing the existential crises inherent in a teleporter system (and Pete goes all "The Prestige" on it), Badger launches into his soon to be written script about the original Star Trek, which is too brilliant to be uttered here. Jesse gets up and leaves in the middle, obviously too moved by the brilliance and majesty of Badger's strangely accurate Star Trek knowledge, and pays a visit to Saul Goodman. While being stonewalled in the waiting room, he whips out a doobie and stares laconic daggers at poor Huell until Saul lets him in. Jesse brought his two giant bags o' money, and he wants Saul to give one to Kaylee, Mike's granddaughter, and one to Drew Sharp's parents. Saul scoffs at the sheer lunacy of giving money not only to the parents of a missing child, but to someone who's already had drug money snatched up by the DEA not once, but twice. Nevertheless, Saul agrees to do it, but not before digging through his drawer of phones and giving Walt a call, who says he'll handle it. Cut to the reveal that Walt is receiving treatment again.
Next, we have Walt arriving at Jesse's and carefully, painfully, explaining to Jesse that Mike can take care of his own affairs. Jesse throws Walt's old "Blood Money" quip back at him, which Walt chalks up to "the heat of the moment," again surprisingly admitting that he was wrong in that particular moment. Walt tells Jesse that they both need to stop focusing on the past, revealing to his former partner that he, too, is out of the game. When he asks why Kaylee needs this money, and that Mike is "perfectly capable of looking after his own granddaughter," Jesse reveals that he thinks Mike is dead, since Walt's offing of the remnants of the Fring men in jail would mean Mike is coming for him, and that's not how Walt does business. Jesse states that not only does he think Mike is dead, but that he thinks Walt knows that. Walt practically begs Jesse to believe him, lying directly to his face and pulling out every stop he has in the "Manipulate Jesse Pinkman" playbook. Jesse seems to relent, telling Walt that it's "like you said. He's alive." Walt agrees, and Jesse's face goes cold. If he's learned one thing throughout all of this, it's that you should generally believe the exact opposite of whatever Walter White says.
During the White family dinner, Walt excuses himself to the bathroom, where he throws up (after meticulously folding a towel for his knees in a nearly perfect imitation of Gus Fring). While recovering, he scrounges around in the fateful magazine bin and doesn't see Leaves of Grass. He asks Skyler if she's seen it, shrugs it off and goes to sleep. Or does he? Heading out to his car in his full Tony Soprano regalia, he starts searching around his car, eventually finding the same bug he and Hank put on Gus' car in Season 4. Looking around in fear, Walt realizes what I myself realized: he went to Saul's. He went to Jesse's.
Lesser shows (and even lesser Breaking Bad episodes, ones focused on telling a longform, slow burn, 13 episode final season) might have ended here, but this episode thankfully, gloriously, magnificently does not. First, we're treated to local street tough Jesse Pinkman lounging outside the Dog House (where he bought a pistol in fear way back when Tuco Salamanca was hunting him in Season 2. Jesse wishes for a monster as tame as Tuco Salamanca). A homeless man raps on his window, asking for change. Jesse doesn't respond, and the man walks away. Suddenly, Jesse rolls down his window and tells the man he has something for him: a clump of bills, probably thousands of dollars, of his ill gotten gains. Going full Lady Macbeth, Jesse drives away and starts firing clumps of bills into people's yards and off their porches and into storm drains. He's finally done.
Then, we're treated to the episode's centerpiece scene, and probably what you've been thinking and talking and yammering about since it aired: Hank, talking with some delviery cronies in his garage, when Walter White shows up. Panicking, Hank shovels his files away and greets his brother in law with the shred of good will he still has towards him. Both men vaguely probe one another through small talk, with Walt slipping in a few suspicious grimaces when Hank looks away. Walt gives the old "if there's anything I can do" platitudes, and starts to head out, when, like he did with Mike, he stops. He pauses. He stews. He turns around, and instead of a snub-nose, he's got a simple question. And a tracking bug. He asks Hank if he would happen to know anything about it, and Hank simply stares ahead, not responding and not reacting. After a few seconds, Hank reaches for his garage door remote, and closes it. Walt asks if he's okay, and that he "doesn't like the way you're looking at me right now." Hank continues to stare. Walt starts to stare back, the stare he only breaks out for the big guns. For the enemies. For a brief moment, both men are standing at their full height, wordlessly acknowledging one another as foes, it would seem.
And then, Hank acknowledges it with his fist upside Walt's face. Hank picks Walt up and holds him to garage door, sneering that all along, "it was you." He begins to rail off the evidence: Walt drove into traffic to keep Hank away from the laundromat. Walt used Hank's cell phone to draw him away from the Crystal Ship. Walt killed ten witnesses. Walt bombed a nursing home. Heisenberg. Heisenberg. "I will put you under the jail," he snarls, and Walt begins to stammer that the wild accusations he is making will destroy their family. Hank replies that he doesn't give a shit about family, and Walt pulls out his trump card: the cancer is back. His one, true implacable foe. "Good," Hank replies, saying that he hopes Walt rots. "I'm sorry you feel that way," Walt retorts, explaining that in six months, there won't be a Heisenberg to prosecute, and Hank doesn't have enough time to prove it. Walt will never see the inside of a jail cell.
"What's the point?" he asks, nearly begging. He really is out. He wants to be done. Hank suggests that Skyler brings the kids over to their house and then they'll talk. Walt snaps that that isn't going to happen. Hank responds that he doesn't even know who he's talking to, Walt responds that, if Hank doesn't know who he's talking to, then perhaps his best course would be to "tread lightly." He delivers this not in his Heisenberg snarl, but in the whispered tone of a desperate, dying man, which of course makes it all the more terrifying. We pan out to the two of them staring at one another in a darkened garage, both of them ready to deliver some scorched Earth, motherfucker. We know from the cold open that one of them does. We'll see just which one over the next seven episodes.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Every Breaking Bad Episode to Date, Ranked in Order.
So we're less than two weeks from the start of the final 8 episodes of Breaking Bad, my favorite television show ever to have aired. Instead of sloppily throwing together some sort of countdown on twitter, I have decided to sloppily throw together some sort of countdown on my woefully neglected personal blog. Here we go.
54. Open House (Season 4, Episode 3):
53. I.F.T. (Season 3, Episode 3): .
52. Mandala (Season 2, Episode 11):
51. Abiquiu (Season 3, Episode 11):
50. Cancer Man (Season 1, Episode 4):
49. Cornered (Season 4, Episode 6):
48. Thirty-Eight Snub (Season 4, Episode 2):
47. Negro y Azul (Season 2, Episode 7):
46. Gray Matter (Season 1, Episode 5):
45. Breakage (Season 2, Episode 5):
44. Madrigal (Season 5, Episode 2):
43. Caballo sin Nombre (Season 3, Episode 2):
42. A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal (Season 1, Episode 7):
41. Shotgun (Season 4, Episode 5):
40. Buyout (Season 5, Episode 6):
39. Bug (Season 4, Episode 9):
38. Cat's in the Bag... (Season 1, Episode 2):
37. Green Light (Season 3, Episode 4):
36. Peekaboo (Season 2, Episode 6):
35. Kafkaesque (Season 3, Episode 9):
34. Seven Thirty Seven (Season 2, Episode 1):
33. Hazard Pay (Season 5, Episode 3):
32. Problem Dog (Season 4, Episode 7):
31. ...and the Bag's in the River (Season 1, Episode 3)
30. Over (Season 2, Episode 10):
29. Bit By a Dead Bee (Season 2, Episode 3):
28. End Times (Season 4, Episode 12):
27. Bullet Points (Season 4, Episode 4):
26. No Mas (Season 3, Episode 1):
25. Better Call Saul (Season 2, Episode 8):
24. Phoenix (Season 2, Episode 12):
23. Hermanos (Season 4, Episode 8):
22. Say My Name (Season 5, Episode 7):
21. Grilled (Season 2, Episode 2):
20. Breaking Bad (Season 1, Episode 1):
19. Live Free or Die (Season 5, Episode 1):
18. Salud (Season 4, Episode 10):
17. Box Cutter (Season 4, Episode 1):
16. I See You (Season 3, Episode 8):
15. Mas (Season 3, Episode 5):
14. Down (Season 2, Episode 4):
13. Dead Freight (Season 5, Episode 5):
12. Face Off (Season 4, Episode 13):
11. ABQ (Sesaon 2, Episode 13):
10. Fifty-One (Season 5, Episode 4):
9. Half Measures (Season 3, Episode 12):
8. Crawl Space (Season 4, Episode 11):
7. One Minute (Season 3, Episode 7):
6. Crazy Handful of Nothin (Season 1, Episode 6):
5. Gliding Over All (Season 5, Episode 8):
4. Sunset (Season 3, Episode 6):
3. 4 Days Out (Season 2, Episode 9):
2. Full Measure (Season 3, Episode 13):
1. Fly (Season 3, Episode 10):
54. Open House (Season 4, Episode 3):
53. I.F.T. (Season 3, Episode 3): .
52. Mandala (Season 2, Episode 11):
51. Abiquiu (Season 3, Episode 11):
50. Cancer Man (Season 1, Episode 4):
49. Cornered (Season 4, Episode 6):
48. Thirty-Eight Snub (Season 4, Episode 2):
47. Negro y Azul (Season 2, Episode 7):
46. Gray Matter (Season 1, Episode 5):
45. Breakage (Season 2, Episode 5):
44. Madrigal (Season 5, Episode 2):
43. Caballo sin Nombre (Season 3, Episode 2):
42. A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal (Season 1, Episode 7):
41. Shotgun (Season 4, Episode 5):
40. Buyout (Season 5, Episode 6):
39. Bug (Season 4, Episode 9):
38. Cat's in the Bag... (Season 1, Episode 2):
37. Green Light (Season 3, Episode 4):
36. Peekaboo (Season 2, Episode 6):
35. Kafkaesque (Season 3, Episode 9):
34. Seven Thirty Seven (Season 2, Episode 1):
33. Hazard Pay (Season 5, Episode 3):
32. Problem Dog (Season 4, Episode 7):
31. ...and the Bag's in the River (Season 1, Episode 3)
30. Over (Season 2, Episode 10):
29. Bit By a Dead Bee (Season 2, Episode 3):
28. End Times (Season 4, Episode 12):
27. Bullet Points (Season 4, Episode 4):
26. No Mas (Season 3, Episode 1):
25. Better Call Saul (Season 2, Episode 8):
24. Phoenix (Season 2, Episode 12):
23. Hermanos (Season 4, Episode 8):
22. Say My Name (Season 5, Episode 7):
21. Grilled (Season 2, Episode 2):
20. Breaking Bad (Season 1, Episode 1):
19. Live Free or Die (Season 5, Episode 1):
18. Salud (Season 4, Episode 10):
17. Box Cutter (Season 4, Episode 1):
16. I See You (Season 3, Episode 8):
15. Mas (Season 3, Episode 5):
14. Down (Season 2, Episode 4):
13. Dead Freight (Season 5, Episode 5):
12. Face Off (Season 4, Episode 13):
11. ABQ (Sesaon 2, Episode 13):
10. Fifty-One (Season 5, Episode 4):
9. Half Measures (Season 3, Episode 12):
8. Crawl Space (Season 4, Episode 11):
7. One Minute (Season 3, Episode 7):
6. Crazy Handful of Nothin (Season 1, Episode 6):
5. Gliding Over All (Season 5, Episode 8):
4. Sunset (Season 3, Episode 6):
3. 4 Days Out (Season 2, Episode 9):
2. Full Measure (Season 3, Episode 13):
1. Fly (Season 3, Episode 10):
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Fringe: The Ultimate Primer
The little sci-fi show that could, FOX's Fringe is about to experience something I'm sure hardly anyone who has routinely watched it during the past five years ever thought was possible: a proper series finale. As both a tribute to what has long been one of my favorite shows and a primer for the great majority of my friends who haven't seen it and should give it a shot, I'm making a list of the essential episodes.
The episode prior to this, "In Which We Meet Mr. Jones," is very good and helps understand the still-burgeoning ZFT plot, but it's this episode that sees it hit the next level, and along with introducing Olivia's Cortexiphan storyline, serves to usher in the first season-spanning plotline in the show's run. Plus, it's really good.
Pilot (Season 1, Episode 1)
First Aired: September 8, 2008
The first episode is always important, no matter the show, but Fringe's pilot is especially so due to how often the rest of the show refers back to it, even past the first season. It's Olivia-heavy (before she was a real character), but does well to leave an impact and a driving vision for what this show would become.
The first episode is always important, no matter the show, but Fringe's pilot is especially so due to how often the rest of the show refers back to it, even past the first season. It's Olivia-heavy (before she was a real character), but does well to leave an impact and a driving vision for what this show would become.
The Arrival (Season 1, Episode 4)
First Aired: September 30, 2008
The first so-called "mythology episode," The Arrival heralds the...well arrival of the Observer into the storyline, and his interaction with Peter near the conclusion had the same effect on me as it did the younger Bishop: I had to know more.
The first so-called "mythology episode," The Arrival heralds the...well arrival of the Observer into the storyline, and his interaction with Peter near the conclusion had the same effect on me as it did the younger Bishop: I had to know more.
Ability (Season 1, Episode 14)
First Aired: February 10, 2009
The episode prior to this, "In Which We Meet Mr. Jones," is very good and helps understand the still-burgeoning ZFT plot, but it's this episode that sees it hit the next level, and along with introducing Olivia's Cortexiphan storyline, serves to usher in the first season-spanning plotline in the show's run. Plus, it's really good.
Inner Child (Season 1, Episode 15)
First Aired: April 7, 2009
Inarguably the weakest of the Season 1 episodes highlighted here, this episode is important because it introduces the Observer Child (whom Season 5 viewers know as Michael), a long-dormant plotline suddenly brought back up in time for the finale. That being said, this is a good example of a stand-alone Fringe episode, and it helps flesh out Olivia's character a little more, something the first season desperately needed.
Inarguably the weakest of the Season 1 episodes highlighted here, this episode is important because it introduces the Observer Child (whom Season 5 viewers know as Michael), a long-dormant plotline suddenly brought back up in time for the finale. That being said, this is a good example of a stand-alone Fringe episode, and it helps flesh out Olivia's character a little more, something the first season desperately needed.
Bad Dreams (Season 1, Episode 17)
First Aired: April 21, 2009
By most counts, this is the first truly great episode in this show's run. Expanding the Cortexiphan storyline while simultaneously bringing an intriguing, mysterious and satisfying mystery plot, this is the standard which the rest of the first season aspires to.
By most counts, this is the first truly great episode in this show's run. Expanding the Cortexiphan storyline while simultaneously bringing an intriguing, mysterious and satisfying mystery plot, this is the standard which the rest of the first season aspires to.
The Road Not Taken (Season 1, Episode 19)
First Aired: May 5, 2009
The unofficial first part of the Season 1 finale, The Road Not Taken manages to tie together the seemingly disparate ZFT and Cortexiphan plots, while deftly doing away with the regrettable Agent Harris plot (the less said about that character, the better). What makes it even more impressive is the way it just sort of sneaks in the alternate universe stuff, which would come to be the trademark of the show in Season 2.
The unofficial first part of the Season 1 finale, The Road Not Taken manages to tie together the seemingly disparate ZFT and Cortexiphan plots, while deftly doing away with the regrettable Agent Harris plot (the less said about that character, the better). What makes it even more impressive is the way it just sort of sneaks in the alternate universe stuff, which would come to be the trademark of the show in Season 2.
There's More Than One of Everything (Season 1, Episode 20)
First Aired: May 12, 2009
Continuing that thread, the Season 1 finale accepts the challenge that alternate universe sideplots seem to pose to sci-fi shows, and does it so suddenly and confidently that to this day, the final shot of this episode remains one of my favorite in any episode of television. Also, Leonard Nimoy shows up.
Continuing that thread, the Season 1 finale accepts the challenge that alternate universe sideplots seem to pose to sci-fi shows, and does it so suddenly and confidently that to this day, the final shot of this episode remains one of my favorite in any episode of television. Also, Leonard Nimoy shows up.
Momentum Deferred (Season 2, Episode 4)
First Aired: October 8, 2009
Grey Matters (Season 2, Episode 10)
First Aired: December 10, 2009
Jacksonville (Season 2, Episode 15)
First Aired: February 4, 2010
Peter (Season 2, Episode 16)
First Aired: April 1, 2010
White Tulip (Season 2, Episode 18)
First Aired: April 15, 2010
The Man From the Other Side (Season 2, Episode 19)
First Aired: April 22, 2010
Over There, Parts 1 and 2 (Season 2, Episodes 22/23)
First Aired: May 13 and 20, 2010
Olivia (Season 3, Episode 1)
First Aired: September 23, 2010
The Plateau (Season 3, Episode 3)
First Aired: October 7, 2010
Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep? (Season 3, Episode 4)
First Aired: October 14, 2010
Entrada (Season 3, Episode 8)
First Aired: December 2, 2010
Subject 13 (Season 3, Episode 15)
First Aired: February 25, 2011
The Last Sam Weiss (Season 3, Episode 21)
First Aired: April 29, 2011
The Day We Died (Season 3, Episode 22)
First Aired: May 6, 2011
One Night in October (Season 4, Episode 2)
First Aired: September 30, 2011
Subject 9 (Season 4, Episode 4)
First Aired: October 14, 2011
And Those We've Left Behind (Season 4, Episode 6)
First Aired: November 11, 2011
Back to Where You've Never Been (Season 4, Episode 8)
First Aired: January 13, 2012
Welcome to Westfield (Season 4, Episode 12)
First Aired: February 20, 2012
Letters of Transit (Season 4, Episode 19)
First Aired: April 20, 2012
Worlds Apart (Season 4, Episode 20)
First Aired: April 27, 2012
Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11 (Season 5, Episode 1)
First Aired: September 28, 2012
The Bullet that Saved the World (Season 5, Episode 4)
First Aired: October 26, 2012
An Origin Story (Season 5, Episode 5)
First Aired: November 2, 2012
Through the Looking Glass and What Walter Found There (Season 5, Episode 6)
First Aired: November 9, 2012
Five-Twenty-Ten (Season 5, Episode 7)
First Aired: November 16, 2012
The Human Kind (Season 5, Episode 8)
First Aired: December 7, 2012
Anomaly XB-6783746 (Season 5, Episode 10)
First Aired: December 21, 2012
Honorable Mention
The Equation (Season 1, Episode 8)
First Aired: November 18, 2008
Safe (Season 1, Episode 10)
First Aired: December 2, 2008
Safe (Season 1, Episode 10)
First Aired: December 2, 2008
Earthling (Season 2, Episode 6)
First Aired: November 5, 2009
August (Season 2, Episode 8)
First Aired: November 19, 2009
Snakehead (Season 2, Episode 9)
First Aired: December 3, 2009
What Lies Below (Season 2, Episode 13)
First Aired: January 21, 2010
Olivia. In the Lab. With the Revolver (Season 2, Episode 17)
First Aired: April 8, 2010
Northwest Passage (Season 2, Episode 21)
First Aired: May 6, 2010
The Abducted (Season 3, Episode 7)
First Aired: November 18, 2010
Marionette (Season 3, Episode 9)
First Aired: December 9, 2010
Firefly (Season 3, Episode 10)
First Aired: January 21, 2011
Reciprocity (Season 3, Episode 11)
First Aired: January 28, 2011
Stowaway (Season 3, Episode 17)
First Aired: March 18, 2011
Neither Here Nor There (Season 4, Episode 1)
First Aired: September 23, 2011
Enemy of My Enemy (Season 4, Episode 9)
First Aired: January 20, 2012
The End of All Things (Season 4, Episode 14)
First Aired: February 24, 2012
Everything in Its Right Place (Season 4, Episode 17)
First Aired: April 6, 2012
Brave New World, Part 1 and 2 (Season 4, Episode 21/22)
First Aired: May 4 and 11, 2012
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
100 of My Favorite Games
This list will take games from 1995-96 on, since I never feel comfortable ranking stuff that came out before I was conscious, gaming-wise. Sorry, Doom 2. You were awesome, I just don't have any points of reference.
100. Crackdown (Realtime Worlds, 2007)
99. Hitman: Blood Money (IO Interactive, 2006)
98. Star Wars: Republic Commando (LucasArts, 2005)
97. Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (Remedy Entertainment, 2003)
96. Final Fantasy X-2 (Square, 2003)
95. Warcraft III (Blizzard Entertainment, 2002)
94. The Sims (Maxis, 2000)
93. Prey (Human Head Studios, 2006)
92. Fable (Lionhead Studios, 2004)
91. Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft, 2009)
90. Final Fantasy XIII (Square Enix, 2010)
89. Lost Odyssey (Mistwalker Studios, 2008)
88. Star Wars: Jedi Outcast (Raven Software, 2002)
87. Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix, 2006)
86. Super Smash Bros (HAL Laboratory, 1999)
85. Quake III: Arena (id Software, 1999)
84. Max Payne 3 (Rockstar Games, 2012)
83. Super Mario Sunshine (Nintendo, 2002)
82. Roller Coaster Tycoon (Hasbro Interactive, 1999)
81. DOOM 3 (id Software, 2004)
80. Dragon Age II (BioWare, 2011)
79. Unreal Tournament (Epic Games, 1999)
78. Dead Space (EA Redwood Shores, 2008)
77. Star Wars: Battlefront (LucasArts, 2004)
76. Star Fox 64 (Nintendo, 1997)
75. BioShock 2 (2k Marin, 2010)
74. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Bethesda, 2002)
73. Team Fortress 2 (Valve, 2007)
72. Half-Life: Opposing Force (Gearbox, 1999)
71. Gears or War 3 (Epic Games, 2011)
70. Dead Space 2 (EA Redwood Shores, 2011)
69. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo, 2006)
68. Super Smash Bros: Brawl (HAL Laboratory, 2008)
67. Star Wars: Jedi Knight (LucasArts, 1997)
66. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Rockstar, 2002)
65. Gears or War 2 (Epic Games, 2008)
64. Borderlands 2 (Gearbox, 2012)
63. StarCraft II (Blizzard Entertainment, 2010)
62. Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (LucasArts, 2005)
61. Jade Empire (BioWare, 2005)
60. Max Payne (Remedy Entertainment, 2001)
59. Resident Evil 4 (Capcom, 2005)
58. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (KCEJ, 2001)
57. World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment, 2004)
56. Gears of War (Epic Games, 2006)
55. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda, 2006
54. System Shock 2 (Irrational Games, 1999)
53. Diablo III (Blizzard Entertainment, 2012)
52. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Retro Studios, 2004)
51. Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare, 2009)
50. Perfect Dark (Rare, 2000)
49. Grand Theft Auto III (Rockstar, 2001)
48. Super Mario 64 (Nintendo, 1996)
47. Halo: Reach (Bungie, 2010)
46. Final Fantasy VIII (Square, 1999)
45. XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Firaxis Games, 2012)
44. Half-Life 2: Episode One (Valve, 2006)
43. L.A. Noire (Team Bondi, 2011)
42. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo, 2003)
41. GoldenEye 007 (Rare, 1997)
40. Halo 3: ODST (Bungie, 2009)
39. Final Fantasy IX (Square, 2000)
38. Halo 4 (343 Industries, 2012)
37. Starcraft (Blizzard Entertainment, 1998)
36. Mass Effect (BioWare, 2007)
35. Dishonored (Arkane Studios, 2012)
34. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II (Obsidian, 2004)
33. Fallout: New Vegas (Obsidian, 2010)
32. The Walking Dead (Telltale Games, 2012)
31. Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady, 2011)
30. Metal Gear Solid (KCEJ, 1998)
29. BioShock (Irrational Games, 2007)
28. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo, 1998)
27. Shadow of the Colossus (Team Ico, 2005)
26. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 (Valve, 2007)
25. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Nintendo, 2000)
24. Halo 3 (Bungie, 2007)
23. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Nintendo, 2011)
22. Batman: Arkham Asylym (Rocksteady, 2009)
21. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (KCEJ, 2004)
20. Halo 2 (Bungie, 2004)
19. Super Smash Bros: Melee (HAL Laboratory, 2001)
18. Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos Montreal, 2011)
17. Fallout 3 (Bethesda, 2008)
16. BioShock Infinite (Irrational Games, 2013)
15. Final Fantasy VII (Square, 1997)
14. Half-Life (Valve, 1998)
13. Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar, 2010)
12. Diablo II (Blizzard Entertainment, 2000)
11. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda, 2011)
10. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar, 2008)
9. Final Fantasy X (Square, 2001)
8. Mass Effect 3 (BioWare, 2012)
7. Metroid Prime (Retro Studios, 2002)
6. Portal 2 (Valve, 2011)
5. Halo: Combat Evolved (Bungie, 2001)
4. Portal (Valve, 2007)
3. Mass Effect 2 (BioWare, 2010)
2. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (BioWare, 2003)
1. Half-Life 2 (Valve, 2004)
Possible Coming Attractions
Grand Theft Auto V
Batman: Arkham Origins
Watch Dogs
Destiny
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Halo 5
Halo 6
100. Crackdown (Realtime Worlds, 2007)
99. Hitman: Blood Money (IO Interactive, 2006)
98. Star Wars: Republic Commando (LucasArts, 2005)
97. Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (Remedy Entertainment, 2003)
96. Final Fantasy X-2 (Square, 2003)
95. Warcraft III (Blizzard Entertainment, 2002)
94. The Sims (Maxis, 2000)
93. Prey (Human Head Studios, 2006)
92. Fable (Lionhead Studios, 2004)
91. Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft, 2009)
90. Final Fantasy XIII (Square Enix, 2010)
89. Lost Odyssey (Mistwalker Studios, 2008)
88. Star Wars: Jedi Outcast (Raven Software, 2002)
87. Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix, 2006)
86. Super Smash Bros (HAL Laboratory, 1999)
85. Quake III: Arena (id Software, 1999)
84. Max Payne 3 (Rockstar Games, 2012)
83. Super Mario Sunshine (Nintendo, 2002)
82. Roller Coaster Tycoon (Hasbro Interactive, 1999)
81. DOOM 3 (id Software, 2004)
80. Dragon Age II (BioWare, 2011)
79. Unreal Tournament (Epic Games, 1999)
78. Dead Space (EA Redwood Shores, 2008)
77. Star Wars: Battlefront (LucasArts, 2004)
76. Star Fox 64 (Nintendo, 1997)
75. BioShock 2 (2k Marin, 2010)
74. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Bethesda, 2002)
73. Team Fortress 2 (Valve, 2007)
72. Half-Life: Opposing Force (Gearbox, 1999)
71. Gears or War 3 (Epic Games, 2011)
70. Dead Space 2 (EA Redwood Shores, 2011)
69. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo, 2006)
68. Super Smash Bros: Brawl (HAL Laboratory, 2008)
67. Star Wars: Jedi Knight (LucasArts, 1997)
66. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Rockstar, 2002)
65. Gears or War 2 (Epic Games, 2008)
64. Borderlands 2 (Gearbox, 2012)
63. StarCraft II (Blizzard Entertainment, 2010)
62. Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (LucasArts, 2005)
61. Jade Empire (BioWare, 2005)
60. Max Payne (Remedy Entertainment, 2001)
59. Resident Evil 4 (Capcom, 2005)
58. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (KCEJ, 2001)
57. World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment, 2004)
56. Gears of War (Epic Games, 2006)
55. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda, 2006
54. System Shock 2 (Irrational Games, 1999)
53. Diablo III (Blizzard Entertainment, 2012)
52. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Retro Studios, 2004)
51. Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare, 2009)
50. Perfect Dark (Rare, 2000)
49. Grand Theft Auto III (Rockstar, 2001)
48. Super Mario 64 (Nintendo, 1996)
47. Halo: Reach (Bungie, 2010)
46. Final Fantasy VIII (Square, 1999)
45. XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Firaxis Games, 2012)
44. Half-Life 2: Episode One (Valve, 2006)
43. L.A. Noire (Team Bondi, 2011)
42. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo, 2003)
41. GoldenEye 007 (Rare, 1997)
40. Halo 3: ODST (Bungie, 2009)
39. Final Fantasy IX (Square, 2000)
38. Halo 4 (343 Industries, 2012)
37. Starcraft (Blizzard Entertainment, 1998)
36. Mass Effect (BioWare, 2007)
35. Dishonored (Arkane Studios, 2012)
34. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II (Obsidian, 2004)
33. Fallout: New Vegas (Obsidian, 2010)
32. The Walking Dead (Telltale Games, 2012)
31. Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady, 2011)
30. Metal Gear Solid (KCEJ, 1998)
29. BioShock (Irrational Games, 2007)
28. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo, 1998)
27. Shadow of the Colossus (Team Ico, 2005)
26. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 (Valve, 2007)
25. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Nintendo, 2000)
24. Halo 3 (Bungie, 2007)
23. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Nintendo, 2011)
22. Batman: Arkham Asylym (Rocksteady, 2009)
21. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (KCEJ, 2004)
20. Halo 2 (Bungie, 2004)
19. Super Smash Bros: Melee (HAL Laboratory, 2001)
18. Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos Montreal, 2011)
17. Fallout 3 (Bethesda, 2008)
16. BioShock Infinite (Irrational Games, 2013)
15. Final Fantasy VII (Square, 1997)
14. Half-Life (Valve, 1998)
13. Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar, 2010)
12. Diablo II (Blizzard Entertainment, 2000)
11. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda, 2011)
10. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar, 2008)
9. Final Fantasy X (Square, 2001)
8. Mass Effect 3 (BioWare, 2012)
7. Metroid Prime (Retro Studios, 2002)
6. Portal 2 (Valve, 2011)
5. Halo: Combat Evolved (Bungie, 2001)
4. Portal (Valve, 2007)
3. Mass Effect 2 (BioWare, 2010)
2. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (BioWare, 2003)
1. Half-Life 2 (Valve, 2004)
Possible Coming Attractions
Grand Theft Auto V
Batman: Arkham Origins
Watch Dogs
Destiny
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Halo 5
Halo 6
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
15 Years of Gaming, Part 17/Conclusion (2011)
Dead Space 2
Release Date: January 25, 2011.
Platform: PC/360/PS3
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Visceral Games/EA
GameRankings: 89.36%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.8/10 (Very Good)
The difference between Dead Space 2 and it's predecessor is less dramatic than something like, say, the difference between Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, but it is noticeable. Perhaps the area it is most noticeable is in the main character. Isaac Clarke was not much more than a cipher in the first game, nearly mute and not all that interesting. Aside from his obsession with finding Nicole, his erstwhile girlfriend, Isaac doesn't emit much personality. This was a measured and deliberate thing. I'm assuming the developers felt the various hallucinations and breaks in reality would seem much more frightening if the player could just as easily assume they were the ones experiencing it. This is certainly not a bad idea (the Half-Life series has nearly mastered it), but it left the main character not seeming all that important or much of a character.
Of all the improvements the second game makes (and there are many), it is this sudden burst of character from Isaac that is the most important. He's not the most interesting character, but the fact that is one at all improves the narrative of this game tenfold, specifically when Isaac makes a sacrifice near the game's conclusion (spoiler: he survives). All in all, the Dead Space series is proving to be one of the few EA-produced series worth anything at all, and I anticipate the third installment, whenever it may be.
Dragon Age II
Release Date: March 8, 2011.
Platform: 360/PS3/PC/Mac
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: BioWare/EA
GameRankings: 80.37%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.0/10 (Good)
Dragon Age II is possibly the most infamous game in BioWare's long and storied history. It is not, however, the worst. After the underground success that was Dragon Age: Origins (which, before I go any further, is a superior game, despite what my scores might say), Dragon Age II was one of the most heavily promoted and anticipated games in BioWare's history. To say it was a disappointment is an understatement. I don't believe this is because DAII is a bad game. Quite the contrary. I believe the backlash occurred because DAII was a poorly marketed game. People thought they were getting a true sequel to the original game. They were not. They were getting a loose continuation of the world in which the first game took place in. Dragon Age is as well written a game as anything on the open market, featuring interesting characters, a remarkable (if small in scope) array of areas, and a bevvy of strenuous political choices and motivations to wade through, like and good BioWare game. It might be a below standard offering by BioWare's standards, but it's still one of the better games of 2011, and worth playing. Most other companies should be so lucky to have such a good "worst" game.
Portal 2
Release Date: April 19, 2011.
Platform: 360/PS3/PC
ESRB Rating: E 10+
Developer/Publisher: Valve
GameRankings: 94.54%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.4/10 (Great)
Valve, ever the master craftsmen, took a bit of a gamble with 2007's Portal. A gamble that unequivocally paid off. What was originally included as a bit of a bonus on the Orange Box became possibly the most successful and most fully-praised bit, making a sequel a near guarantee. Before release, Valve described Portal 2 as a full-fledged game where the original had been simply an experiment. There is no better way to describe the divide between Portal 2 and it's predecessor. Portal 2 is a fully-formed, fully-developed game. A game that takes everything good about the original (which was everything) and expands to a near-caricature (without taking that last little step into ridiculousness). It is truly a masterpiece of black humor. Stephen Merchant and J.K. Simmons are stupendously good in their roles, as is the returning Ellen McClain (who was literally the only voice actor in the original game.) Almost everything that was good about Portal is better in Portal 2. It has an interactive, context sensitive soundtrack, for crying out loud. Just a magnificent game. There is one minor caveat, however. Because it's an actual game, Portal 2 lacks a bit of the surprise of the original. You really had no idea what to expect from Portal 1. Short, elegant, to the point and unbearingly endearing, Portal was the quintessential post modern video game. Portal 2 is fantastic, but perhaps not quite as seminal in thought or execution. The co-op makes up for that, however.
L.A. Noire
Release Date: May 17, 2011.
Platform: 360/PS3/PC
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Team Bondi/Rockstar Games
GameRankings: 87.72%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.1/10 (Great)
L.A. Noire was (and still is) one of the most interesting and unique undertakings in gaming history. So much so that, unlike ANY of the games on this list (excluding possibly the two Portal games), Noire has almost no basis in combat. More so even than a game like Mass Effect, it is based almost entirely on dialogue. Using a nigh-revolutionary motion capture facial system, Team Bondi created a conversation system that, while maybe a little static (you'll notice the same facial expressions constantly), manages to skirt the edge of the uncanny valley while still seeming realistic, something that's increasingly difficult to do. A game that is based on talking, investigating and wondering less than straightforward action is not rare to see, out of an indie or B title. Too see it from one of the biggest game companies in the world is different. Add in the excruciatingly re-created world and attention to detail, and you have a sandbox game every bit as engrossing as GTA IV or Red Dead Redemption. Maybe not a world as accessible or blindingly fun as either of those games, and certainly not as good, but perhaps a more seminal affair. In the end, Noire was an experiment, a new way of designing games set in the mold of a historical epic. I can easily see another great GTA game, and I can certainly see another game like RDR at some point in the future. I'm not sure if I ever see another game quite like L.A. Noire.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Release Date: August 23, 2011.
Platform: 360/PS3/PC
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Eidos Montreal/Square Enix
GameRankings: 89.41%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.4/10 (Great)
Every year, there's one game I never see coming. A game that I play on a whim that ends up utterly and completely captivating me. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is not only one of those games, it may be the ultimate version of one. I never played either of the original Deus Ex games. For someone who presents himself as something of a gaming connoisseur, not playing one of the most influential and proverbially game-changing works int he history of the medium is a bit of a shame, to be sure. Perhaps I was too young. Perhaps I wasn't privy to a computer capable of running it. Whatever the reason, the Deus Ex games were something of an unknown to me. That changed when I bought Human Revolution. Equal parts Blade Runner, Mass Effect, and Ghost in the Shell, Human Rev is one of the most visually arresting games I can remember playing, and an eternal testament to of one my favorite sayings in gaming: graphics aren't as important as art design.
Speaking of design, DX:HR is as wonderfully sounding a game as I can remember. The voice acting isn't flawless, but when it has to be good, it's wonderful. The sound design is as convincing as it is ethereal. The music is...my God, the music. Forceful, haunting and every bit perfect for the world it inhabits, the music is possibly this game's biggest strength.
All this effusive praise of the game's design might sound like I'm dodging what is arguably the most important aspect of any game: how it plays. Have no fear; Human Revolution plays marvelously. A hybrid shooter/rpg/stealth/puzzle game set in an imaginative and eerily prescient 2027. It plays extremely well. It's hard for me to recommend a game more than I can Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It lives up to a legacy I was never even sure existed, and does so by being it's own game. Not a perfect game, but as ambitious and engrossing a game as I can remember, full of ideas and wonder. Play it.
Gears of War 3
Release Date: September 20, 2011.
Platform: Xbox 360
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Epic Games/Microsoft Studios
GameRankings: 91.59%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.7/10 (Very Good)
Gears of War 3 is all the platitudes you would want from the back end of a major trilogy. It wraps up the storyline started with 2006's Gears of War. It's bigger, badder and more entertaining. It's everything about the series distilled into it's purest, most effective form. And it picked a horrible year to release. 2011 is one of the strongest gaming years of this or any generation. For instance: I chose not to write about The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for this year's edition, not because it wasn't good enough (it was fantastic), but because there were just too many other games, and I didn't feel like I played enough of SS to justify writing about it.
Gears of War 3 was very good, but I'm having trouble remembering it when so many other great games came out in close proximity. Gears 3 should have come out in 2010.
Batman: Arkham City
Release Date: October 18, 2011.
Platform: PS3/360/PC (Eventually Wii U)
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Rocksteady Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
GameRankings: 94.13%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.3/10 (Great)
Batman: Arkham Asylum was one of those games I mentioned earlier: a total surprise that ended up being one of the best games of it's year. Batman: Arkham City, the sequel, had no such luxury. What very easily could have fallen victim to a bevy of unrealistic expectations (most of which from yours truly), Arkham City ended up surpassing expectations to usurp the title of "best superhero game ever" from its predecessor. This is due, mainly, to one thing and one thing only: the city. While not as big an open world as something like Fallout or Grand Theft Auto, Arkham City brought a BioShock-like level of detail and a bevy of Batman's best villains, along with a huge amount of lesser-known cameos (Kevin Conroy as Hush in particular). From a gameplay perspective, it's bigger, more complex and more satisfying than it's predecessor, while featuring a more taught story (although I'm starting to doubt the possibility of this game occurring during only one night).
Atmospheric, visceral and thoroughly exciting, this is one of the four best games of its year, which is saying something in a year like 2011.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Release Date: November 11, 2011.
Platform: Xbox 360/PlayStation 3
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Bethesda
GameRankings: 95%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.5/10 (Legendary)
Here it is. Skyrim. Another installment in Bethesda's life-destroying Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim is, on the surface, one of the most ambitious looking and feeling games ever to exist. Digging a little deeper? It's still an amazingly, mindblowingly big, detailed and enjoyable game. But it's not perfect. Like all Bethesda games, there's too much size, too many variables, that can throw a proverbial wrench in the system. Glitches are as common as ever, and in a game this atmospheric, they can be near deal-breakers at times.
Moving past that (admittedly big) hiccup, Skyrim also benefits from the tightest and most engrossing main plotline of any of the Elder Scrolls games. And those dragons. Only after severe amounts of playtime and leveling do they cease to be among the most adrenaline-pumping boss fights in all of gaming. The soundtrack is ethereal yet substantially beautiful. Like all Bethesda open-world games, an inordinate amount of enjoyment can be had by just picking a direction and walking towards the horizon. The world of Skyrim, the nothern-most province of Tamriel, is a cold and unforgiving place, where the winds whip at you almost as hard as the predators do. Aside from the cities (some of the most intriguing in all of the series), every settlement feels vulnerable and wild. And yet, there is a strange warmth to this game. A feeling of belonging. One of the single most wondrous maps in all of gaming, Blackreach (if you haven't checked it out, do so immediately). Untold wonders await you in Skyrim. Here be dragons.
Release Date: January 25, 2011.
Platform: PC/360/PS3
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Visceral Games/EA
GameRankings: 89.36%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.8/10 (Very Good)
The difference between Dead Space 2 and it's predecessor is less dramatic than something like, say, the difference between Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, but it is noticeable. Perhaps the area it is most noticeable is in the main character. Isaac Clarke was not much more than a cipher in the first game, nearly mute and not all that interesting. Aside from his obsession with finding Nicole, his erstwhile girlfriend, Isaac doesn't emit much personality. This was a measured and deliberate thing. I'm assuming the developers felt the various hallucinations and breaks in reality would seem much more frightening if the player could just as easily assume they were the ones experiencing it. This is certainly not a bad idea (the Half-Life series has nearly mastered it), but it left the main character not seeming all that important or much of a character.
Of all the improvements the second game makes (and there are many), it is this sudden burst of character from Isaac that is the most important. He's not the most interesting character, but the fact that is one at all improves the narrative of this game tenfold, specifically when Isaac makes a sacrifice near the game's conclusion (spoiler: he survives). All in all, the Dead Space series is proving to be one of the few EA-produced series worth anything at all, and I anticipate the third installment, whenever it may be.
Dragon Age II
Release Date: March 8, 2011.
Platform: 360/PS3/PC/Mac
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: BioWare/EA
GameRankings: 80.37%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.0/10 (Good)
Dragon Age II is possibly the most infamous game in BioWare's long and storied history. It is not, however, the worst. After the underground success that was Dragon Age: Origins (which, before I go any further, is a superior game, despite what my scores might say), Dragon Age II was one of the most heavily promoted and anticipated games in BioWare's history. To say it was a disappointment is an understatement. I don't believe this is because DAII is a bad game. Quite the contrary. I believe the backlash occurred because DAII was a poorly marketed game. People thought they were getting a true sequel to the original game. They were not. They were getting a loose continuation of the world in which the first game took place in. Dragon Age is as well written a game as anything on the open market, featuring interesting characters, a remarkable (if small in scope) array of areas, and a bevvy of strenuous political choices and motivations to wade through, like and good BioWare game. It might be a below standard offering by BioWare's standards, but it's still one of the better games of 2011, and worth playing. Most other companies should be so lucky to have such a good "worst" game.
Portal 2
Release Date: April 19, 2011.
Platform: 360/PS3/PC
ESRB Rating: E 10+
Developer/Publisher: Valve
GameRankings: 94.54%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.4/10 (Great)
Valve, ever the master craftsmen, took a bit of a gamble with 2007's Portal. A gamble that unequivocally paid off. What was originally included as a bit of a bonus on the Orange Box became possibly the most successful and most fully-praised bit, making a sequel a near guarantee. Before release, Valve described Portal 2 as a full-fledged game where the original had been simply an experiment. There is no better way to describe the divide between Portal 2 and it's predecessor. Portal 2 is a fully-formed, fully-developed game. A game that takes everything good about the original (which was everything) and expands to a near-caricature (without taking that last little step into ridiculousness). It is truly a masterpiece of black humor. Stephen Merchant and J.K. Simmons are stupendously good in their roles, as is the returning Ellen McClain (who was literally the only voice actor in the original game.) Almost everything that was good about Portal is better in Portal 2. It has an interactive, context sensitive soundtrack, for crying out loud. Just a magnificent game. There is one minor caveat, however. Because it's an actual game, Portal 2 lacks a bit of the surprise of the original. You really had no idea what to expect from Portal 1. Short, elegant, to the point and unbearingly endearing, Portal was the quintessential post modern video game. Portal 2 is fantastic, but perhaps not quite as seminal in thought or execution. The co-op makes up for that, however.
L.A. Noire
Release Date: May 17, 2011.
Platform: 360/PS3/PC
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Team Bondi/Rockstar Games
GameRankings: 87.72%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.1/10 (Great)
L.A. Noire was (and still is) one of the most interesting and unique undertakings in gaming history. So much so that, unlike ANY of the games on this list (excluding possibly the two Portal games), Noire has almost no basis in combat. More so even than a game like Mass Effect, it is based almost entirely on dialogue. Using a nigh-revolutionary motion capture facial system, Team Bondi created a conversation system that, while maybe a little static (you'll notice the same facial expressions constantly), manages to skirt the edge of the uncanny valley while still seeming realistic, something that's increasingly difficult to do. A game that is based on talking, investigating and wondering less than straightforward action is not rare to see, out of an indie or B title. Too see it from one of the biggest game companies in the world is different. Add in the excruciatingly re-created world and attention to detail, and you have a sandbox game every bit as engrossing as GTA IV or Red Dead Redemption. Maybe not a world as accessible or blindingly fun as either of those games, and certainly not as good, but perhaps a more seminal affair. In the end, Noire was an experiment, a new way of designing games set in the mold of a historical epic. I can easily see another great GTA game, and I can certainly see another game like RDR at some point in the future. I'm not sure if I ever see another game quite like L.A. Noire.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Release Date: August 23, 2011.
Platform: 360/PS3/PC
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Eidos Montreal/Square Enix
GameRankings: 89.41%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.4/10 (Great)
Every year, there's one game I never see coming. A game that I play on a whim that ends up utterly and completely captivating me. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is not only one of those games, it may be the ultimate version of one. I never played either of the original Deus Ex games. For someone who presents himself as something of a gaming connoisseur, not playing one of the most influential and proverbially game-changing works int he history of the medium is a bit of a shame, to be sure. Perhaps I was too young. Perhaps I wasn't privy to a computer capable of running it. Whatever the reason, the Deus Ex games were something of an unknown to me. That changed when I bought Human Revolution. Equal parts Blade Runner, Mass Effect, and Ghost in the Shell, Human Rev is one of the most visually arresting games I can remember playing, and an eternal testament to of one my favorite sayings in gaming: graphics aren't as important as art design.
Speaking of design, DX:HR is as wonderfully sounding a game as I can remember. The voice acting isn't flawless, but when it has to be good, it's wonderful. The sound design is as convincing as it is ethereal. The music is...my God, the music. Forceful, haunting and every bit perfect for the world it inhabits, the music is possibly this game's biggest strength.
All this effusive praise of the game's design might sound like I'm dodging what is arguably the most important aspect of any game: how it plays. Have no fear; Human Revolution plays marvelously. A hybrid shooter/rpg/stealth/puzzle game set in an imaginative and eerily prescient 2027. It plays extremely well. It's hard for me to recommend a game more than I can Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It lives up to a legacy I was never even sure existed, and does so by being it's own game. Not a perfect game, but as ambitious and engrossing a game as I can remember, full of ideas and wonder. Play it.
Gears of War 3
Release Date: September 20, 2011.
Platform: Xbox 360
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Epic Games/Microsoft Studios
GameRankings: 91.59%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.7/10 (Very Good)
Gears of War 3 is all the platitudes you would want from the back end of a major trilogy. It wraps up the storyline started with 2006's Gears of War. It's bigger, badder and more entertaining. It's everything about the series distilled into it's purest, most effective form. And it picked a horrible year to release. 2011 is one of the strongest gaming years of this or any generation. For instance: I chose not to write about The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for this year's edition, not because it wasn't good enough (it was fantastic), but because there were just too many other games, and I didn't feel like I played enough of SS to justify writing about it.
Gears of War 3 was very good, but I'm having trouble remembering it when so many other great games came out in close proximity. Gears 3 should have come out in 2010.
Batman: Arkham City
Release Date: October 18, 2011.
Platform: PS3/360/PC (Eventually Wii U)
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Rocksteady Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
GameRankings: 94.13%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.3/10 (Great)
Batman: Arkham Asylum was one of those games I mentioned earlier: a total surprise that ended up being one of the best games of it's year. Batman: Arkham City, the sequel, had no such luxury. What very easily could have fallen victim to a bevy of unrealistic expectations (most of which from yours truly), Arkham City ended up surpassing expectations to usurp the title of "best superhero game ever" from its predecessor. This is due, mainly, to one thing and one thing only: the city. While not as big an open world as something like Fallout or Grand Theft Auto, Arkham City brought a BioShock-like level of detail and a bevy of Batman's best villains, along with a huge amount of lesser-known cameos (Kevin Conroy as Hush in particular). From a gameplay perspective, it's bigger, more complex and more satisfying than it's predecessor, while featuring a more taught story (although I'm starting to doubt the possibility of this game occurring during only one night).
Atmospheric, visceral and thoroughly exciting, this is one of the four best games of its year, which is saying something in a year like 2011.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Release Date: November 11, 2011.
Platform: Xbox 360/PlayStation 3
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Bethesda
GameRankings: 95%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.5/10 (Legendary)
Here it is. Skyrim. Another installment in Bethesda's life-destroying Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim is, on the surface, one of the most ambitious looking and feeling games ever to exist. Digging a little deeper? It's still an amazingly, mindblowingly big, detailed and enjoyable game. But it's not perfect. Like all Bethesda games, there's too much size, too many variables, that can throw a proverbial wrench in the system. Glitches are as common as ever, and in a game this atmospheric, they can be near deal-breakers at times.
Moving past that (admittedly big) hiccup, Skyrim also benefits from the tightest and most engrossing main plotline of any of the Elder Scrolls games. And those dragons. Only after severe amounts of playtime and leveling do they cease to be among the most adrenaline-pumping boss fights in all of gaming. The soundtrack is ethereal yet substantially beautiful. Like all Bethesda open-world games, an inordinate amount of enjoyment can be had by just picking a direction and walking towards the horizon. The world of Skyrim, the nothern-most province of Tamriel, is a cold and unforgiving place, where the winds whip at you almost as hard as the predators do. Aside from the cities (some of the most intriguing in all of the series), every settlement feels vulnerable and wild. And yet, there is a strange warmth to this game. A feeling of belonging. One of the single most wondrous maps in all of gaming, Blackreach (if you haven't checked it out, do so immediately). Untold wonders await you in Skyrim. Here be dragons.
This concludes (for now), my 16-part 15 Years of Gaming segment. By no means are these all of the games I have liked in my lifetime. These are just the ones I felt I had something to say about. If this is your first time or you've read them all, thank you, immensely, for reading. This has been maybe the first large-scale personal project I can remember completing, and easily the most fun. I'll probably be doing a 2012 round-up sometime in December or January, but this is the end of my scheduled reviews/recaps.
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