Breaking Bad: Walt breaks free, his way

Walt gets a modicum of satisfaction seeing his name as pop culture graffiti.

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way

In the series finale of Breaking Bad, Walter Hartwell White indeed did it his way.

Breaking Bad: The end is near

Walt gets cabin fever in the penultimate episode of Breaking Bad.

Congratulations to Breaking Bad, Emmy winner for Best Drama Series and Anna Gunn as Best Supporting Actress.  As the end of this amazing show nears, it’s good to see it finally get the recognition it deserves as best dramatic series.

A real treat too to see Anna Gunn get some appreciation. She is often criticized for her portrayal of Skyler as a b*tch. But truly, she has proved she has quite a range — naive, cold, suicidal, shrewd money launderer, loving wife. Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul have their Emmys, so it was good to see Anna Gunn get her moment too. I still think Giancarlo Esposito deserved an Emmy for his portrayal of Gus, but it is what it is.

Breaking Bad: Ozymandias, actions have consequences

Hank Schrader and Steve Gomez, in happier days. Perhaps discussing a fish Hank almost caught, a mineral he nearly found, or something slightly obscene about Hank’s manhood.

`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

The words of Percy Bysshe Shelley, from his poem Ozymandias, the title of last night’s episode of Breaking Bad.

HEAR BRYAN CRANSTON READ OZYMANDIAS

On Monday we e-mailed jokes

On Monday we e-mailed jokes.
On Tuesday we did not.

On Monday we thought that we were secure.
On Tuesday we learned better.

On Monday we were talking about heroes as being athletes.
On Tuesday we relearned who our heroes are.

On Monday we were irritated that our rebate checks had not arrived.
On Tuesday we gave money away to people we had never met.

On Monday there were people fighting against praying in schools.
On Tuesday you would have been hard pressed to find a school where someone was not praying.

On Monday people argued with their kids about picking up their room.
On Tuesday the same people could not get home fast enough to hug their kids.

On Monday people were upset that they had to wait 6 minutes in a fast food drive through line.
On Tuesday people didn’t care about waiting up to 6 hours to give blood for the dying.

On Monday we waved our flags signifying our cultural diversity.
On Tuesday we waved only the American flag.

On Monday there were people trying to separate each other by race, sex, color and creed.
On Tuesday they were all holding hands.

On Monday we were men or women, black or white, old or young, rich or poor, gay or straight, Christian or non-Christian.
On Tuesday we were Americans.

On Monday politicians argued about budget surpluses.
On Tuesday grief stricken they sang ‘God Bless America’.

On Monday the President was going to Florida to read to children.
On Tuesday he returned to Washington to protect our children.

On Monday we had families.
On Tuesday we had orphans.

On Monday people went to work as usual,
On Tuesday they died.

On Monday people were fighting the 10 commandments on government property.
On Tuesday the same people all said ‘God help us all’ while thinking ‘Thou shall not kill’.

It is sadly ironic how it takes horrific events to place things into perspective, but it has. The lessons learned this week, the things we have taken for granted, the things that have been forgotten or overlooked, hopefully will never be forgotten again.

This poem was written three days after 9/11 by Paul Spreadbury.

Bryan Cranston reads Ozymandias

Bryan Cranston recites Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley. A gracious ode to Walter’s White’s crumbling empire.

Perfect for us poetry lovers/Breaking Bad fans.

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away”.

Breaking Bad: To heck with To’hajiilee

Walt surrenders at last. But it’s not the end of things.

On Breaking Bad, whenever Todd recruits his Uncle Jack, watch out, something bad is bound to happen. And it did last night night in To’hajiilee.

Ariel Castro is dead

Not with a bang but with a whimper.

Such is the end for Ariel Castro, a monster who claimed to the end he wasn’t a monster, that he was sick.

The two aren’t mutually exclusive.

Breaking Bad: Who’s the rabid dog?

Walt contemplates what to do with the “problem dog.”

In this week’s episode of Breaking Bad, “Rabid Dog,” Saul compares Jesse to Old Yeller, the loyal dog who aids and abets his master until he gets rabies and sadly has to be put down. Will that be Jesse’s fate?

Warning spoilers ahead.

Hank, helped by Gomez (phew, glad Hank is finally letting someone from the DEA in on this), convinces Jesse to wear a wire in order to get Walt to say incriminating things. Walt has done such a good job as Heisenberg, tying up loose ends, that although Hank knows Walt’s crimes, he doesn’t have any proof or tangible evidence. Jesse could be his ticket.