Pivotal episodes on three of TV’s tensest dramas…
Breaking Bad…The best show on TV, period. I’m sad there are now only four episodes left and it looks like the partnership between Walter White and Jesse is permanently damaged. That being said, I’ve never liked Jesse that much, and don’t agree with the notion that working for/with “Mr. White” is the worst thing that ever happened to him. He was a lowlife with limited opportunities when Walt met him, and he became a millionaire during the course of their journey. Most of the crying about his lost sense of innocence feels fake since he was already heavily involved in the drug trade and most of the most violent episodes they’ve gotten into are actually Jesse’s fault. In the next episode, I hope Walter kills him. Grade for final eight episodes so far: A…Grade for show: A+
The Bridge…A show that should be a lot better than it is. There’s just something naggingly inert and lifeless about this show following a serial killer on the Mexican border. I can’t tell if it’s Diane Kruger’s wooden acting (yes, she’s playing someone with autism, no, that doesn’t mean someone should be played like an alien), or the increasingly ridiculous story lines or the fact that there, so far, there hasn’t been one genuinely, unequivocally suspenseful sequence. [Spoilers] When they revealed that the killer is…drum roll please…a presumed dead FBI agent who Marco (the soulful Damien Birchir, the best thing in this show) once worked with, slept with the man’s wife, and now the man is sleeping with his wife, I couldn’t help but think “Now that’s a twist!” Mostly because they had never even mentioned any of it before this episode…FBI agent connected to the case? Nope…Marco knowing the guy? Nope…Marco sleeping with his wife before she was killed in a car wreck? Nope. Some shows are so afraid of telegraphing their twists that they forget to set them up properly and it just feels like grasping. This is a show that could really learn a thing or two from Breaking Bad…Grade for killer-reveal episode: C…Grade for show: B-
Longmire…A twisty season finale that found granite-faced Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire trying to save his various friends and deputies, and also himself. His friend Henry was arrested for a murder he most certainly did not commit (the murder of Walt’s wife’s killer). Deputy Vic (the always-welcome Katee Sackhoff) is facing down a deranged stalker from her old precinct in Philly. And Deputy/occasional-opponent Branch Connally was shot twice and left bleeding out on a Native American reservation while trying to collect evidence. A lot of cliff-hangers as the main cast is all in turmoil and we still don’t know who killed Walt’s wife’s killer (they better resolve this soon…it’s not the most interesting aspect of the show). If nothing else, credit the occasionally-procedural-driven Longmire for finally upping the stakes and getting just a little bit more serialized. Grade for season finale: B+