Skip to main content

Crawl Space

After many months of trying, I came to a conclusion last night: Breaking Bad will probably not be one of my favorite all-time TV shows.

I say this fully acknowledging the show is very well-written, acted, and produced, but at the end of the day (moreover, when I'm thinking about something to watch over dinner), I cannot join my friends in the near-universal praise.

I played catch-up with the series during its hiatus before season four began, so this is my first season I've watched week-to-week. And I've passed the point of whether or not I should continue watching the show. I don't hate the show per se; I can't give up on a show with characters I've taken a lot of time to know. I want to know how the series will end, so I'm hanging on through the end of this season and I will watch its final, fifth season when it airs.

Without going into spoiler territory, I point towards never-ending chasing of tails. When there's a problem that seemingly can't reach an easy solution, no matter how much it's between a rock and a hard place, eventually there is a clever solution. And it's usually an unpredictable solution, making things very engaging to see happen, albeit to a fault.

What also doesn't help: pacing. Plenty of episodes have long, drawn-out moments of discussion that sometimes can test the audience's patience. Alas, when a brutally violent confrontation or sequence occurs, all is forgiven.

But at what cost? Plenty to me.

There seems to be a certain, mostly male, attitude that loves this show. And guess what? I don't have it.

Although certain people I know, like my friend Millicent and my expert friends Donna and Noel (who have reviewed and been with the show since its pilot episode) have optimistic views on life, many males I've encountered can't get enough of this show because they see adult life as an ongoing series of disappointments. It's like, this show is an escape from the drabness of being lonely, broke, bitter, and disaffected. In other words, places in life I'm not at, or have been at before and don't want to be at again.

Again, I have not sampled a little of this show and said, "Eh." I've been on the rollercoaster and I don't want to get off of it. All I'm saying: do not expect me to own the entire series on Blu-ray or to be a part of the ongoing critical echo.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Catherine Wheel

Originally posted: Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 Despite managing to release five proper albums, Catherine Wheel was one of those bands that always seemed to slip past the mainstream rock crowd. Yes, they got some nice airplay in their day, but people seem to have forgotten about them. You may hear “Black Metallic” or “Waydown” on a “classic alternative” show on Sirius or XM or maybe even on terrestrial radio, but that’s about it. For me, they were one of most consistent rock bands of the ’90s, meandering through shoegazer, hard rock, space rock and pop rock, all while eluding mainstream pigeonholing. Led by the smooth, warm pipes of vocalist/guitarist Rob Dickinson (cousin of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson), Catherine Wheel featured Brian Futter on lead guitar, Dave Hawes on bass and Neil Sims on drums. They weren’t a pretty-boy guitar band, but they weren’t a scuzzy bunch of ragamuffins either. Though the band hailed from England, Catherine Wheel found itself more welcome on American air

Best of 2021

  Last year, my attention span was not wide enough to listen to a lot of LPs from start to finish. Too much went on in 2020 to focus on 10-15 albums, so I went with only a couple to spotlight. Well, 2021 was a little better, as I have a list of top four records, and a lot of individual tracks.  (I made a lengthy Spotify playlist ) So, without further ado, here’s my list of favorites of the year: Albums Deafheaven, Infinite Granite (listen) Hands down, my favorite album of the year. I was not sure where Deafheaven would go after another record that brought My Bloody Valentine and death metal fans together, but they beautifully rebooted their sound on Infinite Granite. The divisive goblin vocals are vastly pared-down here, as are the blast beats. Sounding more inspired by Slowdive, the band has discovered a new sonic palette that I hope they explore more of in the future. It’s a welcome revelation. I still love their older material, but this has renewed my love of what these guys do.  J