Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn in the Vince Gilligan television series ‘Breaking Bad’

Just recently I watched the neo-Western crime drama television series Breaking Bad (2008-2013). The core story of the series is how underpaid and demoralized chemistry teacher Walter White, diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer to begin the series, teams with former student Jesse Pinkman to sell crystal meth in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Vince Gilligan created and produced the series.

(From left, Bryan Cranston as Walter White, Anna Gunn as Skyler White and RJ Mitte as Walter White, Jr. in the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).

As the series begins, Walter White lives in the family’s one-story ranch house with Skyler White, his wife, and Walter White, Jr., his son. Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn and RJ Mitte portrayed husband, wife and son, respectively, in the series. The initial impetus for entering the drug trade for Walter White was to financially provide for his family in the face of his cancer diagnosis. The process began as a small operation with small batches, made in combination and then distributed with the aid of former student Jesse Pinkman. Aaron Paul portrayed Jesse Pinkman.

(From left, Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman and Krysten Ritter as Jane Margolis in the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).

Comedic dysfunction ensued in the relationship for Pinkman and his former teacher in getting their business off the ground. Distribution is an initial consideration, with issues in manufacturing and distribution, with the engagement of Krazy-8, as portrayed by Max Arciniega, offering a dramatic sequence of events for the opening season. Jesse Pinkman’s strained relationship with his parents, as portrayed by Michael Bofshever and Tess Harper, added some depth to this storyline. Sharing Walt’s cancer diagnosis to Skyler’s sister Marie Schrader and DEA agent brother-in-law, Hank Schrader, introduced some of Walter’s extended family. Dean Norris and Betsy Brandt portrayed Hank and Marie, respectively.

(From left, Dean Norris as Hank Schrader and Betsy Brandt as Marie Schrader in the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).

The second season plants the fodder for the larger narrative for where the five seasons of Breaking Bad will go. Introducing Tuco Salamanca, as portrayed by Raymond Cruz, at first introduces an element of realism and risk for what the illegal meth business means. Keeping the notion separate from family, with the introductions of mortal risk alongside a love interest for Jesse with Jane Margolis, demonstrating complexity on the front that is only the tip of the iceberg. Krysten Ritter and John de Lancie portray Jane Margolis and her father, Donald Margolis, respectively. The recreational vehicle and meth lab for Walt and Jesse, in their own ways, bring problems between Jesse and his parents, Hank Schrader and the criminal enterprise, and familial ties that aren’t readily apparent at this of the story. The season really ends with a bang.

(From left, Matt Jones as Brandon ‘Badger’ Mayhew, Rodney Rush as Christian ‘Combo’ Ortega, Charles Baker as Skinny Pete and Bryan Cranston as Walter White in the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).

Season three introduces many elements of fallout from the second season, including introductions to relatives of Tuco Salamanca through Saul Goodman. Bob Odenkirk, Mark Margolis, Daniel Moncada and Luis Moncada portrayed Saul Goodman, Hector Salamanca, Marco Salamanca and Leonel Salamanca, respectively. Goodman also brings Mike Ehrmantraut into the relationship of Walter and Skyler White, with an aim to protect the criminal enterprise that Jesse and Walter. Walter White and Jesse Pinkman had brought Goodman into their enterprise in what was to become a growing crystal meth operation. It’s through Ehrmantraut, as portrayed by Jonathan Banks, that we are introduced to chicken manufacturer Gustavo ‘Gus’ Fring of Chile and his industrial strength crystal meth manufacturing plant. Giancarlo Esposito portrayed Fring.

(From left, Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut and Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman in the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).

The backstory of the industrial plant takes the audience into the past crystal meth manufacturing ambitions of Gus Freng. This history shows a longstanding relationship between Fring and Hector Salamanca, culminating in the manufacturing storyline under the laundromat. Dynamic interpersonal dynamics become exceedingly more complex from this past, and with the cook who assembled the plant the parts for the plan in the first place, Gale Boetticher. David Costabile portrayed Boetticher, whose overall story leads to the fulfillment of many storylines for Breaking Bad.

(From left, Mark Margolis as Hector Salamanca and Giancarlo Esposito as Gustavo ‘Gus’ Fring in the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).

The Salamanca storyline around vengeance for Tuco runs contemporaneous to the laundromat, the introduction to Gus’ ambition, and explaining to outward appearances for the ability to afford Walter White’s cancer treatments. We meet the character Ted Beneke, a creep from Skyler’s past portrayed by Christopher Cousins. Meanwhile, we dynamics with Jesse’s distribution ring leads to troubles for Christian ‘Combo’ Ortega, as portrayed by Rodney Rush. The fallout of this leads to significant issues for Walter and Jesse with Mike Ehrmantraut and Gus Fring, with the relationship that Jesse has cultivated with Andrea Cantillo and her son, Brock Cantillo, on Jesse’s mind. Emily Rios and Ian Posada portrayed Andrea Cantillo and Brock Cantillo, respectively.

(From left, Christopher Cousins as Ted Beneke, David Costabile as Gale Boetticher and Emily Rios as Andrea Cantillo in the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).

The third and fourth seasons of Breaking Bad were among the best I’ve seen in a television series. The trajectory for so many relationships along with the development of the histories that informed so much of the motivation for characters were tremendous. That we truly began to see the true nature of who series long characters were during this timeframe. The stepping up of ways that DEA agent Hank Schrader continued not knowing that his brother-in-law was in drugs, as prolonged as could be possible with some ingenious interventions, were artfully done. This said, the sharing for how the stories of so many characters worked themselves out by the fourth season, and through some tying of loose ends with the fifth season, made the fifth season feel a bit anti-climactic at points for me. The introduction of Holly White was an interesting touch along the way, which served purposes for the relations between Walter and Skyler White, Hank and Marie Schrader, and between the Schraders and the Whites.

(From left, Jesse Plemons as Todd Alquist and Laura Fraser as Lydia Rodarte-Quayle in the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).

The storylines for the fifth and final season of Breaking Bad introduced needs to bring resolution to relationships with questions unresolved. Would members of the cast continue with the criminal enterprise? Would folks get caught? Would Hank catch the criminal that he’d been after since the beginning of the series. These questions are answered with clarity and depth, though the true emotional impact for some of these questions rested earlier in the series. The functions of Todd Alquist and Lydia Rodarte-Quayle became necessary, though these characters didn’t get the screen time to resonate as completely as others, including Brandon ‘Badger’ Mayhew and as Skinny Pete. The discrete closure for specific characters, and how things were left open for our imaginations for some characters, was an interesting choice. That this led the Better Call Saul (2015-2022) television series as well as the El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019) movie occurred, due to this, in my opinion. Matt Jones, Charles Baker, Jesse Plemons and Laura Fraser portrayed Mayhew, Skinny Pete, Alquist and Rodarte-Quayle, respectively.

(From left, director Vince Gilligan and actor Aaron Paul preparing for a scene for the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).

The overall experience of the Breaking Bad television series was entertaining. There are definitely parts of the movie that explored the motivations for who characters were, with the end result being a clear speaking to the full character that was Walter White. I give Breaking Bad as produced by Vince Gilligan 4.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, August 10, 2022

The Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio documentary ‘George Carlin’s American Dream’

The HBO documentary of comedian George Carlin aired in two episodes this past weekend. George Carlin’s American Dream (2022) offered a fuller look into the man, his career and his life than I ever had seen and read before, attracting commentary from contemporary and subsequent comedians, family, and industry colleagues both directly and through archive. The use of Carlin‘s own writings and archive footage were also used. Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio directed and produced the documentary.

(From left, comedy partners Jack Burns and George Carlin).

“In the 1960s, George Carlin enters the scene as a straightlaced stand-up, but soon gains notoriety for his fearless countercultural comedy,” as quoted from HBO here. Jack Burns was an early partner for this straightlaced period from their radio days in Fort Worth, Texas, as we saw in Part 1 of George Carlin’s American Dream. It is during this period that Carlin meets and marries Brenda Carlin (Hosbrook), whom he meets in Dayton, Ohio. The couple had one child, a daughter named Kelly Carlin-McCall.

(From left, first wife Brenda Carlin (Hosbrook), daughter Kelly Carlin-McCall, and George Carlin).

The partnership with Burns lasted a couple of years, through radio and early television appearances from audition tapes in Hollywood, California. The two worked at a television station while working their craft in coffee houses at night, later moving onto television variety shows. Guest appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for Carlin, who eventually broke from Burns, were a part of this period. This phase of Carlin‘s career lasted through the late 1960s, was relatively profitable compared to the period that followed, and ended in a straightlaced fashion around the end of the decade, despite continued guest hosting of Carson‘s The Tonight Show.

(George Carlin after transitioning from a more straightlaced presentation).

The first major transition of George Carlin‘s comedy into a more countercultural comedy began approximately in 1970. The transition began with the first episode of the documentary, with the remainder of the comedian’s life and comedy addressed with Part 2. “Fellow comics reflect on George Carlin‘s later years and how his prescient political commentary continues to resonate today,” as quoted from HBO here. We get further into the background of Carlin the man, moving beyond the complex relations with his deceased and abusive father, his controlling mother, and his abused brother. We see the complexity of the relations with Carlin‘s first wife and daughter, and subsequent marriage to Sally Wade.

(From left, George Carlin and second wife Sally Wade).

George Carlin‘s career took a major turn when he began using cocaine and his first wife began drinking when losing a connection to helping her husband’s career, like she had at the beginning of their marriage. The use of language became much more pointed and anti-authority. Record albums recorded in the 1970s proved helpful financially, yet complexities did not. The Seven Dirty Words routine, which changed legal history more than a decade after Lenny Bruce was arrested in Chicago, Illinois for swearing in his routine, would offer indecency guidelines. Carlin would become the first guest host of NBC‘s Saturday Night Live in this period, something he would repeat in 1984 after his 1981 A Place for My Stuff album and his 1982 Carlin at Carnegie television special. The 1990s and 2000s would see shifts into increasingly political subjects, including about abortion, race, people as individuals rather than in groups, and in frustration with how decisions were made and the lack of perceived influence over large scale life individual people really have.

(George Carlin quote about the American Dream).

George Carlin’s American Dream provides a deeper dive into the career and life underpinning the man than I have provided here. The insight into the cultural force that the man’s thoughts and feelings were, culturally, as well as offering a sense for the flawed man that existed underneath offer an insight that were shown with a comprehensive quality that in fact was quality. The bridging of the messaging from Carlin‘s past into today was also an achievement, both for the man and the documentary. I give the documentary George Carlin’s American Dream as directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio 4.25-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, May 25, 2022