Sentient Meat

For me a sociopath isn't defined by the violence of his/her crimes but the motivations. If you steal from someone that has wronged you, or makes money by wronging others then I personally don't have a problem with that person. Slippin Jimmy made money by suing strangers that had never harmed him in the past, Omar from the Wire made money by robbing drug dealers. Even though Omar was more violent, I think that his behavior was less sociopathic than a young man that goes around suing people under false pretenses. YMMV

My point is that he starts out as a sociopath ("Slippin Jimmy") and then thanks to his brother decides to reform. He's not an innocent so he should be able to recognize others of his breed. This story would play out more believably if he started out naive and then became corrupted. As far as Saul goes, I don't think he'd make those clumsy phone calls to the Kettlemans with the towel roll nor make those fumbling calls to Nacho. I also don't think he'd try to bring in the Kettleman's himself, but instead wait for the police to come. Don't get me wrong, though... I still like the show. I just wish they left out the part about how he was a con artist as a young man if he's going to be naive as a younger lawyer.

I'm enjoying the show, but I don't understand why Jimmy seems more stupid than Saul. This is a character that started out as a teenage con artist and then had an epiphany in his twenties to become a better person thanks to his brother, and is now a practicing attorney in his thirties. If he's not yet familiar with specific legal or political machinations then that would make sense... but Jimmy doesn't seem to think as quickly on his feet as Saul and that was largely the appeal of that character. I can understand if he were a naive, bookish kid that gradually became Saul that this difference would make sense, but it doesn't make sense that Jimmy would lose his street smarts when he became a law student, then regain them when he started to become Saul. This being said, I don't get the people that bail on this show after two or three episodes. If you do a search by user rating on Breaking Bad on Imdb, you will find that out of the nearly 60,000 films and tv shows with over 200 votes... it is ranked number #2 and Saul is ranked #13. I'm not saying that all of us should have the same tastes nor am I saying that imdb ratings are the definitive arbiter of quality, but I'm thinking if you're not satisfied with shows at this level (99.9 percentile) what do you do for entertainment in the meantime... wait ten years until David Simon or David Chase come up with a new show? I don't mean to troll, but I truly wonder what shows they would leave to watch that would be at the same level of quality?

I don't get why people complain that certain characters are boring or dead weight, so they hope that they get killed off soon. From a narrative standpoint, that's why they separated everyone into little groups over the past seasons... so each episode could focus on a particular character and they could fill in some of their back stories. Now that they are in a large group, it is impossible to devote more than a few minutes to each character per episode so of course some of them are going to get short shrift. In most cases, I don't think certain characters have become boring so much as they are just being put to the side for future use. I'm guessing that Aaron is so obviously wrong that he will probably end up being a good character... if not they really badly telegraphed this one. Either that or the combination of his clean appearance with the surreal fallen tree zombie graveyard thing made me think that all the characters died after their barn door stand and he's an angel that's appearing in the last survivor's dying thoughts.

The difference is that Santana is a respected music legend vs a pop star, a comedian and sitcom star. I agree that nothing is guaranteed but at least people would listen to his demo. As I said above, I liked Adam and wouldn't have minded at all if had he progressed but so far it seems the male crop is deep this year and I would have been more upset if he had been eliminated to make room for some of the weaker female talent.

Adam Lasher was good but he's Carlos Santana's nephew... personally I'd rather see someone that isn't related to a bona fide music legend move forward as he should have already had a huge advantage finding a place in the industry.

The first time I watched Game of Thrones, I was horrified by Ned Stark's fate, but then upon rewatch I was reminded of how he executed an innocent man without due process, and it tempered my feelings about the whole thing. Same with Jane... first time I was shocked at how evil it seemed... but then upon rewatch and I saw her manipulation of Jesse and her blackmail of Walt and although she certainly didn't deserve to die, it didn't seem as unfair as the first time I watched it. It's funny how if you threaten someone's life directly, then murder is looked upon as self defense... but if you threaten to ruin someone's life then it isn't.

I thought he had to kill Mike because there was no way Mike would let the killing of his 10 guys go unanswered.

At first they only knew that the coordinates were the location of the hit, but when Walt called off the hit... they still didn't know exactly what they meant. It's possible at some point they might have figured it out... but all they knew at the time was that Jesse would be there. When Walt saw Hank was there... even though he felt betrayed by Jesse... he didn't want the Nazis to kill Hank so he tried to stop it. That's why there was some redemption for Walt... if they knew about the money, then Walt wouldn't have sacrificed anything.

At first they didn't know that the money was there... Walt offered them money if they didn't kill him.

One of the key moments in the show is right after they dispose of the kid's body and bike, Jesse is still reeling from the guilt and he's horrified to hear Walt happily whistling behind the tarp while he's cooking. What does Jesse do though? He goes to Mike. Mike, the guy he had to talk out of killing Lydia, the guy he thought was send to kill him at one point, and who has probably killed dozens in the past for Gus. Why then does Mike deserve the red carpet treatment and not Walt? Because this behavior is expected of him? Jesse hates Walt for being so cold blooded yet he immediately teams up with someone just as ruthless? A brilliant part of this show is that it takes people that seem like one thing and then slowly reveals them to be completely the opposite. Sometimes this sleight of hand are characters performing it on each other, sometimes it's the writers performing it on the viewers. Marie, for example appears to be a shallow, materialistic bitch but eventually demonstrates a stoic, even heroic compassion when it comes to taking care of Hank. Gus appears to be a model citizen and small business owner but is a vicious, controlling killer. Even Saul, the ethically challenged ambulance chaser surprises us with his loyal service to his clients up to the very end. Despite all the horrible damage that Walt did, he does try to save both Hank and Jesse at the end and I'm pretty sure if you asked Vince Gilligan's opinion whether the end of the show signified Jesse's revenge as opposed to Walt's redemption... I'm pretty sure he'd say it was the latter. It is this redemption that makes the two fairly comparable in the end.

Gale wasn't as innocent as you might think he was. First of all he was a brilliant man that admittedly went into meth cooking profession for the money. Not in a desperate attempt to leave some last minute child support for his family, nor did he have the excuse of being a rebellious misguided kid estranged from his family... he wanted more money so he could buy more exotic coffee blends, world music cds, and other obnoxious hipster consumables. Do you think when Gus asked him if he could take over for Walt because of his cancer that he didn't understand the implications of what "one more cook" meant? Gale like Walt and Jesse, knew the risks of the world he was entering and getting in bed with a man like Gus. He didn't deserve to die necessarily... but he was far from innocent. The kid on the bike is definitely the most tragic death, but ironically it was mostly Jesse's fault. When Walt and Jesse explain the train robbery plan to Todd... Jesse clearly tells Todd... "No one other than us, can ever know that this robbery went down. Nobody, you got it?" Little did Jesse know that he was unleashing a sociopathic dog on the poor kid, but those lines sealed his fate. Should the three of them have all marched to the police station and turned themselves in at that point? Of course, they should have... but none of them did. It would be as if all the gangsters in Reservoir Dogs turned themselves in when Mr. Blonde went rogue in the jewelry store. Most movie criminals say to themselves... just this one last big hit and then I'm out... that's how we as an audience allow ourselves to root for an otherwise despicable character. Walt's only crime in this case is that he's not delivering that line... but Mike and Jesse are. Also, don't forget that Walt finally did have his own epiphany, when the white supremacists were about to kill Hank. He could have walked away with all that money, if he had just shut up and let them do their business. Hank has that great line about for how although Walt was the smartest man he'd ever known, he was too dumb to see that Hank's fate was sealed ten minutes earlier... but I'd argue that maybe Walt would have known, and felt it more important to communicate that Hank meant more to him than 80 million dollars and his own family's future. Remember, at that point Walt still would have lost his family because there would be no way to explain away Hank's absence, so he would be simultaneously giving up all his money and his family just to prove his love for Hank. Walt and Jesse aren't as different as you think... and although that poor kid died... Walt also took Tuco, Gus, Lydia, the two corner dealers and a gang of white supremacists out with him.

It's true that Jesse did try to shield Jane a little bit from his use... but seriously, what did he expect to happen? It's not only has he been selling meth for a long time but that he also has a pattern of this behavior... exploiting the whore at the motel... trying to seduce and tempt the innocent girl at the gas station, and as I mentioned above, he originally was trying to seduce Brock's mom when he knew she was a recovering addict who had a kid and he knew the effects of his behavior because he saw the poor kid at the house with the ATM. I found myself sympathizing with Jesse too... he's a likeable guy in many ways. I just had to point out some of things he did because so many people think he's so much better than Walt.

I think people cut Jesse a lot of slack because he's lonely and vulnerable, has a soft spot for kids and still has some semblance of a conscience. But IIRC, he's the one that got Jane to fall off the wagon in the first place, which ultimately led to her death as well as got Skinny Pete and Badger to prey on addicts at the meetings. He was a smart kid, if he felt so bad for kids, how could he not see that selling their parents an even more addictive version of meth would lead to enormous pain and suffering like the little boy who lived in squalor with the parents who stole the ATM machine? Even Walt's conscience woke up at the end, right before Hank found the Leaves of Grass... if we forgive Jesse because he feels guilty at the last meeting where he scolds the group leader for never having the balls to draw the lines of a moral limit, or because he feels bad about Todd killing the boy on the bike (even though he's still ready to take the blood money up until Walt points out his hypocrisy)... why does Jesse get a pass and not Walt? Because he's younger? Because his eyes look prettier when he cries? The only decent people of the main characters are Walter Jr, Marie and Hank. If Jesse really cared about kids, he wouldn't sell their parents meth... we all hate Walt for cynically using Lily of the Valley on Brock, yet we conveniently forget that Jesse met Brock's mom when he was tempting her to get high again, after his last girlfriend had ODd on heroin. I'd say morally Jesse and Walt are pretty much on the same plane, except Jesse's just a sloppier, shittier criminal

I'm only going to be impressed with Nicole if she actually follows through with her plans. My fear is that she'll end up talking to Christine or Derrick and they will gently talk her out of it by pointing out how she will become the biggest target and that she should "do what she wants" but they would advise her to not get any more "blood on her hands". If she does follow through, she will be my favorite for the rest of the competition. Donny went down in my book because he is completely hoodwinked by his meaningless Team America affiliation and playing a weak game that will end in sixth place. As I said last episode, the Detonators are doing a great job disguising themselves... Can these other people not count to five? Do they think they are part of the same group? How can any of them deserve to win when they bunch themselves in groups of twos or threes?

I think the reason why the Bomb Squad and its 2.0 incarnation the Detonators has been so effective is that the random combination of alpha males with a gay male as well as a geeky female completely throws people's preconceived notions of who probably would be grouped together so the rest of the house doesn't really clearly sense their threat. I think that's why the First Five in BBCanada also did well because it wasn't a group that you'd think of bonding together so they were able to use their double agents to gain a lot of early power. The other problem is that the rest of the players don't really have a lot in common so instead of one large group (the female alliance that first Joey, then later Amber tried to rally) ...you have these factions (Nicole, Hayden, Christine or the older players like Brittany, Donny and Jocasta) that often overlap allegiances with other Detonators rather than with each other. The only person I could see able to upset the balance of power might be Donny, but he seems to be brought closer to the Detonators by the Team America tasks rather than to the players on the outside. Nicole will be useless as long as she's under the spell of Christine... and any moves she might be involved in would be immediately relayed to the Detonators. Jocasta, Caleb and Victoria are horrible players so the only way I can see anyone beating the Detonators is if Zach causes a rift in the group and then blows up their play. Still, the opposition is so gullible, I could see Frankie, Christine, or Derrick still talking their way out of any fuck up that Zach might cause. Generally, I like to root for nice people and the underdogs... but honestly I just don't see how any of them will be able to mount a defense against this group. Nicole seems like she has some hidden intelligence...(she answered all the HOH questions faster than any of the other players) but unless she can break away from Christine and ally with Donny and Hayden and gather the rest of the floaters... I see 5 detonators fighting it out at the end and that's when an otherwise dull season will finally get a little interesting.

It says something about his gameplay that I hate Frankie even more than Zach. Derrick is the only male member of the Detonators that I can tolerate... maybe that's not fair because Frankie's currently playing the part of the annoying Sabrina in BB Canada that did all the dirty work for her early Alliance before it blew up but I never like the players whose role is mostly to tattle and betray the others. Lost all respect for Cody once he did Donny like that. It's weird because I don't even care that much for the rest of the disorganized mess of floaters and semi-alliances that constitutes the rest of the house... but the only player left to root for is Donny. Nicole and Christine are likeable, but they don't have any real strategy other than stay out of the way of the Detonators target. So right now, I will simply wait for the hopeful demise of Frankie and Cody until someone else with a semblance of a game emerges. I'm not holding my breath because the only solid player seems to be Derrick and he's aligned with all the assholes right now.

Is there some sort of non compete clause that forces the Amazing Race Canada not to travel overseas? Not that I mind the Canadian venues as I enjoyed last season also, but it just seems odd that they don't even venture south of the border. IIRC the US version only had one domestic edition which was the family season. The rest always sent the contestants around the world. Maybe, they are on a lower budget but the production seems on par with the original and the prizes seem good as well.

I hate to say it, but Devin's move to include two women in the Bomb Squad proved (...accidental though it was) to be a stroke of genius. Who's to say that Joey's attempt to build a women's alliance still would have worked but had he not included Amber, he wouldn't have the mole that alerted them to the whole scheme. I don't think Joey felt like she was groveling at all for trying the women's alliance... the thing blew up in her face because of Devin's random stroke of luck and she simply tried what might work in the real world, which is to do damage control by telling the truth and hope that Caleb might have some compassion for her. Unfortunately this is Big Brother and she would have been much better off either doing some hardcore aggressive flirting with Caleb or Devin or making up an outrageous lie to turn the two against each other. Since she simply behaved like a decent human I fear she might be doomed. So far this doesn't look like a good season for fans of the underdog. The weaker players seem to be fractured and we might see a nerd pagonging of epic proportions since the alphas seem organized. I had high hopes for the Christine/Nicole alliance but I'm not sure Christine, despite her high Big Brother IQ, has the leadership and charisma necessary to gather and galvanize a strong resistance alliance. The only person I could see guiding any opposition might be Hayden but looking at all the diverse personalities of the non Bomb Squad members, I'm not sure anyone would be up to the task. At this point, they have to hope that the less intelligent alliance mates (Caleb or Devin) create an internal rift that the more intelligent players (Derrick, Frankie, maybe Cody) cannot fix. If they don't implode or self destruct, I think the Bomb Squad will go a long way.

The Bridge is set in a fascinating world with a lot of interesting characters. Unfortunately so far, the plot twists have strained credulity (Tate's ability to insinuate himself into Marco's wife's life, the entire story line with Annabeth Gish's character, Linder's superhero social worker). If they can manage to dial it down a bit, and just let the great location and the natural plot dynamics that could be inspired from that border setting evolve a bit more gently... it could become a great show. If they keep writing crazier and more sensational plot lines, it will become another missed opportunity like Sons of Anarchy.

Devin so far has proven to be a deluded player and disloyal, but he has yet to cross into the horrible human being category of Jeremy. So unless he starts terrorizing and bullying the other houseguests he still has a way to go to reach the douchebaggery levels of Jeremy and his crew.

They need to get a panel together with Will, Dan and some of the other master strategists of the past to explain how they'd play this thing. In fact, this would have worked better with an all-star season to make things more interesting. I don't think Jeff would add that much insight on how to work the new system but who knows.