Is that the best you can do?

Lost & Buffy The Vampire Slayer's show titles have both been favorites of mine in the past, not only because they usually sounded pretty and imaginative, but because they hinted at a deeper meaning regarding what the episode would be about.

Breaking Bad is now a front runner for my favorite "titled" shows. A few weeks ago I couldn't figure out what the title "I.F.T." could mean, but once Skylar told Walt very simply, "I fucked Ted," it all made sense.

This past Sunday Breaking Bad was titled "Kafkaesque." I needed to re-educate myself on the formal definition of the phrase in order to see how it relates to the show, because like Jesse Pinkman, I thought when something was Kafkaesque, it just meant it was really fucked up. Like, waking up one day and realizing you'd turned in to a giant cockroach and your entire family now hates your guts.

I consulted Wikipedia and I'll cut/paste their definition since it explains it better than I can. "[Kafkaesque] would be an existentialist state of ever-elusive freedom while existing under immitigable control...anything suggestive of Kafka, especially his nightmarish style of narration, in which characters lack a clear course of action, the ability to see beyond immediate events, and the possibility of escape."

Kafkaesque applies not only to this particular episode but the major themes of the show in general.

For Jesse, fun times are over.




Jesse's checked the numbers "like ten times" and he has figured out that the bottom line is he's doing all the work and not getting paid what he wants for it, and he is pissed. Like Walter, Jesse's motivation is not just the money but the power, he even referred to himself as an outlaw. Becoming a millionaire is not satisfying enough for him if he is, in his mind, being played by the boss he "isn't even good enough to meet." And God forbid he has to pay taxes.



Walt now knows for sure that any illusion he has of being in charge is just that. The scenes between him and Gus were tense, and frankly Gus scares the bejesus out of me. He seems calm and level headed but the man is hardcore. The talk the two men had had ended on a professional, mutual agreement, but clearly Walt is feeling a bit helpless and out of control.



Cue to him playing chicken going 90 MPH with an eighteen wheeler, skidding off the road, and then using his blinker to ease back in to the driving lane.




What I found most interesting about the show was the Los Pollos Hermanos commercial in the beginning of the episode. In the fine print, the fake ad read: "Los Pollos Hermanos, Inc., is a registered trademark of Madrigal Electromotive GmbH" and this reminded me of Lost, the Hanso Foundation, and Widemore Enterprises. I think the writers of Breaking Bad could be following suit and hinting at larger players, as well as hints to dig further online for clues about what's going to happen on Breaking bad. And I'm not surprised at all that Los Pollos, Inc, has a Facebook page.


Another great Sunday night. This episode proved we don't need bloody parking lot gun shoot outs for this show to be outstanding every week.

Ol' Fiddle Face

I really want to like Treme, but Fiddle Face is making it difficult for me:



That face she makes when she plays is hard to look at. I know I am being melodramatic but seriously, I look away when she is writhing with her fiddle and bow. Or flip side, I can't avert my gaze and then I cringe at her facial expressions.

Initially I thought she was making the face because she was pretending to play her violin and that was her way of acting like a musician. Then I read that the actress who plays Annie the fiddler player, Lucia Micarelli, is a trained concert violinist. So I stand corrected.

I'll continue to watch Treme, though. Last night marked the sixth episode of the premiere season, and the shows intricate story lines are picking up. Last week, when the police officer that Toni was confronting about Antoine's stolen trombone, he said, "the wheels are off the cart...and the crime is coming back and we ain't ready. But you want to talk about a trombone." Toni's face after absorbing his comment said it all: things are about to get grimy.

I don't read any spoilers for Treme so I'm not sure what is on the horizon for Annie, but knowing Treme's creator David Simon and his affinity for getting r id of well liked characters on The Wire, I think her future is grim. Last night's episode where her boyfriend slapped her reinforced my opinion about this, but it's just a guess.

This site breaks down and explains the idiosyncrasies and local inside expressions and references regarding New Orleans and the show Treme. Once again David Simon weaves a tight and cohesive story, and that's no surprise at all.