So unless you've been living under a rock (or held against your will in a meth lab by a group of Neo Nazi's) you'll know that Breaking Bad came to an end a few weeks ago. The whole week leading up to the finale I spent trying to catch up. Like with all shows I fall head over heels in love with, I had stopped in the middle because I didn't want it to end too quickly. Except that after hearing so many Season Five Part 2 spoilers already, I had made a promise to myself to catch up in time to watch the last Breaking Bad episode with the rest of the world. No spoilers were going to ruin this episode. So I set myself a mission: three seasons in one week. Or 41 episodes lasting 45 minutes each in 7 days. I'll admit there were times I didn't think I was going to make it. The day of the finale I woke up at 7am because I still had three episodes to go and a uni class to get to. By the time I had finished and it came down to watching the last episode you could say that I was pretty exhausted. I had also become extremely emotionally invested in the character's by this point as their lives had become my life for a whole week.
As much as I had been really excited to get to the conclusion and see how everything would be wrapped up, the week after I hardly watched any television. I was at a loss to find something worthy enough to replace it. I still feel at a loss. I miss yelling at Walter, I miss crying at every Jesse scene because he was just so god damn precious. I miss laughing at Saul, getting angry along with Skyler, I miss Marie and Hank. I just really miss the whole thing. So in a way to stop myself missing it so much, I've decided to compile a list of my top ten favourite Breaking Bad episodes of all time. This list is inspired by Entertainment Weekly's 'Breaking Bad: We Countdown Every Episode' which is great reading. I have to say I agreed with a lot of this list, but some of places needed changing a little.
Warning: there is a little bit of swearing due to me quoting some of the characters!
10. Crawl Space (Season 4, Episode 11)
I love this episode if only for the last scene. Walter's in the crawl space and is desperate for the money to try and save his life and screams "WHERE IS THE MONEY!" at Skyler. His reaction to "I gave it to Ted" is one of the most amazing, scary and hilarious things I have seen in my life. Bryan Cranston is pure perfection. The beating drum and the phone ringing in the background where you can hear Marie sobbing on the answering machine only adds to the perfection. After I watched it I had to go back and watch it again just to relive its glory. I might even watch it again now . . .
9. Pilot (Season 1, Episode 1)
I know not a lot of people would have the pilot in their top ten, but I feel like it's at home here in the #9 position. This episode set up everything so perfectly I thought, from the "Fuck you Bogdon. I said fuck you . . . and your eyebrows" to the moment you meet Jesse, falling down the roof while trying to put his pants on, which will forever be the best character introduction in the world.
8. Buyout (Season 5, Episode 6)
There are a few reasons this episode but the main reason has to be the dinner that Skyler, Walter and Jesse have together. Jesse using his glass of water as a security blanket while Skyler and Walter trade blows was just so perfect I still can't fathom it. I also loved the way Walter opened up to Jesse about his past at Grey Matter. I feel like it explained a lot of Walter's motive and desperation. It kind of had me feeling sorry for him . . . for a minute or two.
7. Peekaboo (Season 2, Episode 6)
This is seriously the cutest Jesse episode. If you don't love him after this then I can tell you right now, you never will. He is just too adorable with kids. This is also the episode with one of the most hilarious Jesse lines, where he stands outside a house practicing what he's going to say: "Where's my money . . . bitch? Where's my money . . . where's my . . where's my money, bitch, huh? Bitch. Where's my money, bitch? Oh, that's good. Where's my money? Where's my money, bitch. Bitch, where's my money? WHERE'S MY MONEY BITCH?" I will never tire of hearing this.
6. Ozymandias (Season 5, Episode 14)
This is the episode where you can just see how Anna Gunn won her Emmy. What an amazing performance from her. The episode is absolutely gripping the whole way through from the flashback at the beginning to the amazing finale and I found myself crying from start to finish. I'm glad they didn't have too much Marie in it because I don't think I could have handled any more of it, I was a sobbing mess. I don't want to talk about it to much but this definitely has to be the highlight episode of the final season.
5. Better Call Saul (Season 2, Episode 8)
Well this is the episode where Saul Goodman, possibly the show's most loved character was introduced. Personally, this episode shows him at his best, as I found him to get a little dull during the last two seasons. But in this episode he's on fire:
Badger: You're going to get me off though, right?
Saul: What, do I look like your high-school girlfriend? Five fingers, no waiting?
Classic Saul. Watching this episode agains got me so excited for the spin-off.
4. And the Bag's in the River (Season 1, Episode 3)
This is where you start to see the show's true potential. This is also where you begin to see the motivations behind Walter, with the flashbacks he has to his college days with Gretchen while he's scrubbing down the human remains off Jesse's floor. The whole dilemma of the episode though, is that Walter needs to kill, and he's not sure he can do it. So much so that he writes a list. If you're not hooked by this episode, I'm not sure you ever will be.
3. Face Off (Season 4, Episode 13)
The season finale of Season Four is an absolute stunner. The fact that it starts with "you brought a bomb to the airport" from Jesse is just the beginning. It's this one where you really get a sense of just how far Walter will go to get what he wants. Everything that Walter does in this episode is so he can survive and he puts everyone before him, including his little old neighbour. This episode also sees the demise of one of the most brilliant characters to ever grace our television screens: Gus Fring. His perfect downfall (although terribly unbelievable) is worthy only of this perfect character.
2. Fly (Season Three, Episode 10)
This might be a controversial one, but I just had to do it. My number two episode goes to one that a lot of people probably wouldn't have even put on their top ten list. It's one of the only bottle episodes that has ever seemed to work out. Walter and Jesse are at their best here, with humour and truths revealed. Yes, the camera work might be a little pretentious but it does work and there is so much more than that in this episode that you can forgive it.
1. 4 Days Out (Season 2, Episode 9)
The number one spot definitely belongs to this absolute gem of an episode. It just has everything: a fantastic meth-making montage, beautiful scenery shots and hilarious scenes with classic lines. Jesse's speech to Walter to try and motivate him to save them is so precious: "Come on man, you're smart: you made poison out of beans, yo." Jesse's absolute conviction that it wasn't his fault the RV had broken down: "I wanted to leave them on the counter, bitch!". Walter's disgust when Jesse picks him up in the RV: "You bought a meth lab to the airport?" Walter trying to teach Jesse some science: "What one particular element comes to mind? Hmm?" with Jesse trying so hard to be right: "Ahhhh, wire" and Walter's perfect reaction to his failure. All these, and so many more, make this my number one episode of television's number one show.
So now you've seen my list, tell me yours! Let me know in the comments!
Okay, so I haven't written about films in ages. I know. I'm sorry . . . but I'm kind of not. There are no good films out in the cinema's at the moment and there is so much good television that I'm trying to either catch up on or keep up to date with, that I don't want to watch any movies right now.
So my best friend, Jess, started The Vampire Diaries a couple of weeks back in order to stop her thinking about Teen Wolf for a while. Naturally, she loves it and insists I have to watch it too. Except that I'm in a Breaking Bad vortex at the time and nothing is going to stop me from getting up to date before the final episode airs. Once I finish that, I then had to finish Arrow, and then suddenly I'm finishing Fringe and catch up with Sleepy Hollow before I even work up the courage to download an episode of TVD. And the reason for my hesitation? It's because I know it's going to be good. I am fully aware that I'm going to love it. I am also fully aware of the fact that I have two assignments due a week until the end of semester.
As I write this, I've watched the first two episodes of The Vampire Diaries. I'm currently waiting for the third to download and I've written 154 words out of 1,000 I need to write by Friday. Oh yeah, I can totally see this ending well.
I really like it so far. It's super corny though. I don't mind too much, but I'm not sure I'm going to be able to watch episode after episode if it stays like this. Otherwise I end up just laughing at it instead of taking it even a little seriously. Also I definitely like Stephen more than Damon, but I'm not sure whether the show is going to make me change my mind. I hope not, because I find Stephen (Paul Wesley) hotter than Damon (Ian Somerhalder). Also, the fact that Damon is a little bit psycho and a murderer doesn't help either, but you know, you have to get your priorities right, right?
Overall, I'm really excited to see where the show goes and I will definitely keep you updated!
I owe Fringe a lot.
Before Fringe I absolutely hated anything labelled 'science fiction'. I wouldn't go near it. One night, around five years ago, when I was about sixteen years old, I was up very late one night and flicking through the channels looking for something good to watch. I came across something which interested me, but I had no idea how much of it I had already missed. It ended up going on for quite some time, so I figured that it was a movie. By the end I was on the edge of my seat, but when the credits suddenly started rolling, I was so confused. The cliff hanger was too much to be a movie, so it had to be a television series. After some googling I found that I had actually been watching the repeat of the first episode of a new sci-fi series called 'Fringe'.
I now owe Fringe my love of Sci Fi.
This show is very close to my heart. That is why, as usual, I stopped when I got afraid it was getting close to finishing (Just in case you don't know, Fringe ended earlier this year). I decided not to watch it, and to prolong Fringe for as long as I could hold out.
I have recently been watching Arrow and on one episode I was absolutely delighted to see Seth Gabel play "The Count". Gabel had been one of my favourite characters in Fringe (it's hard to put them in order but he would be extremely close to number one, if not one), called Lincoln Lee. This may sound so corny but seeing him made me remember how much I missed him, and I realised I had to finish the last season. I had to see how it ended, so I began it, Episode 1 of Season 5, at two in the morning.
I don't want to spoil too much but overall, Season Five was definitely not my favourite. I didn't really get the whole 'Observers' as evil storyline because for the past four seasons we've only really had September as an Observer and he was so lovely. I also never warmed to Etta, I understood why but I didn't like how she was so cold. I didn't like that there was none of the old cast like Broyles, Lincoln or Nina (yes, there were glimpses but not enough!) and I also didn't like that Olivia and Peter weren't as close as they had been.
After that little rant, I want to say that if you have watched the other four seasons of Fringe you will enjoy the fifth, it is a nice finishing point. I'm not sure if there will be anyone out there that has done what I have and watched four seasons and then stopped for some reason, but if there is some of you then this post is for you!
If you haven't watched any of Fringe, please give it a go. It really is quality television with fantastic actors on it (all the main cast are amazing) and a really great, in depth plot. Seriously though, I would like to emphasise how good the cast is. It's got Joshua Jackson who you would know as Pacey from Dawson's Creek, Australian actress Anna Torv who played Nikki in The Secret Life of Us, Australian actor John Noble who has been in everything from Home and Away to Lord of the Rings. That's just the main cast, along with that Lance Reddick was in The Wire and Leonard Nimoy played Spock in the original Star Trek series (and the latest movies too). That cast should be enough for anyone to start watching right now. Do it!
Let me know whether you watch Fringe or not and what you thought about the last season. I love hearing your thoughts! x
Hei hei guys,
I'm sorry! Aside from my post yesterday I don't think I've posted anything in over a month. I just really haven't been feeling writing posts lately and so I decided not to force it, and just to take a little break. I also had a lot going on with work over this month but, of course, I haven't stopped watching television or movies. I would never do that! Here are some things I have been loving over September. Hopefully I'll be back into the swing of things soon.
Favourite (Television):
September was a month I was loving two shows: Breaking Bad and Orphan Black. I finished the latter earlier in the month and I'm so excited for season two already. Breaking Bad I caught up with just in time to see the last episode ever with everyone else. It took some serious effort but I actually managed to do it. There should be a post on this coming up really soon, so I don't want to say too much but definitely keep an eye out for that.
Favourite (Films):
I didn't see a lot of films this month. I have actually spent this month annoyed due to the complete lack of films that are out in the cinema that I want to see. I have no interest in White House Down (even Channing Tatum couldn't get me to see it) and after watching Red on DVD the other day had very little interest in seeing its sequel. What I did end up seeing was Blue Jasmine. Although I feel like I knew the storyline the minute it started (it's basically A Streetcar Named Desire with flashbacks), I was still gripped and could not take my eyes off the screen. Cate Blanchett can come get her Oscar for Best Actress now - I have absolutely no doubt she will win for this. I loved all the costuming and set decorations, especially in the flashback scenes. It's a must see. I took my mum too and she can not stop talking about it.
On another note, I (finally) watched American Psycho with one of my all time favourite actors, Christian Bale. I began this film with the intention to watch just half an hour and then go to bed because I was so tired. Do you think I could stop? It was so gripping, yet so disturbing at the same time, it was perfect. By far the stand out of the whole movie was the acting of Christian Bale. He was just so convincing it was scary. I was a little confused by the ending but the amazing supporting acts from Jared Leto, Reese Witherspoon and Chloe Sevingy made up for it.
Favourite (Reading): I finished Divergent last month, and have started Insurgent it's taking me a little longer to get into that one. I read Divergent as though my life depended on it, and it was over in a day or two. I really recommend this if you liked The Hunger Games as it's quite a similar concept. The film adaptation is being released in March next years and stars Shailene Woodley and Kate Winslet. I also finished Gone Girl which I was so excited to read and had wanted to since the minute I heard it was going to be David Fincher's next project. That I finished ever quicker, I stayed up until four in the morning until I was satisfied I knew where the plot was going. I even tried to sneaky read at work (shhh!) because I was so determined to find out just what was going on. I really recommend this book but make sure you've set out a few days off before you begin it.
Favourite (Random): I've really been loving Lily Pebbles and Vivianna Does Makeup youtube channels. They both blog about beauty and fashion, and I just find that everything they recommend I want to buy and if I do buy I can't believe that I managed to live without it before. I have been buying more and more lately which is really annoying actually because in other news: I've booked a trip to Hawaii! So I've been doing a lot of research for this as we'll be there for almost three weeks.
Let me know what you've been loving lately, I love recommendations! x
Warning: This post contains small spoilers.
You might remember not so long ago I went through an enormous phase of just talking about Teen Wolf. I'm still not really over it, I've just had to move onto other things, but lately I've been trying to see what other projects the cast have been doing and watching those.
I watched Dylan O'Brien (who plays Stiles Stilinski) in New Girl and I'm going to watch The Internship, which he is also in, later this weekend. The other show I wanted to watch was Arrow. One of my all time favourite characters from Teen Wolf was Jackson, played by Colton Haynes. Now, I say 'was' because he left the show last year to join the cast of Arrow. So although I'm devastated that he's left, I decided the only way to make me feel better was to watch him on his new show.
The problem was, he came into Season One at episode 15 - so I had quite a task ahead of me before I was rewarded with Colton. I had watched the first episode a few months back, and I had liked it but for some reason I had never got around to watching the next episode, just another case of too many shows and too little time. So I started it up again and found what I expected to be a chore actually not quite so terrible. Basically the premise is that billionaire Oliver Queen (played by the gorgeous Stephen Amell) was on a boat with his father when it hit stormy seas and the boat sunk. He and his father survived but his father soon died too. Oliver makes it onto a deserted island and the show starts after he is rescued from the island five years later with a mission that his dying father gave him to save the city.
It's actually based on a comic book, so it's not really expected to be believable or anything like that. He turns into a Batman-esque vigilante who, like Batman, doesn't use a gun to bring down the bad guys.
Although the writing could really do with being a little less over the top, the characters are very likeable and the plot is quite interesting. Each episode has flashbacks to the time he spent on the island, and over the course of the season you see a glimpses of why Oliver is so determined to be a better person.
When Colton Haynes did arrive in episode fifteen as Roy Harper, I was shocked. I had totally forgot he was even meant to be in that episode. However, I did find that the episodes that he is in, I enjoy better.
Arrow Season Two started last week, and there is another new episode out tomorrow. The first episode of the new season was really good and made me really excited to see how the rest of the season goes. I also spotted the stunning Dylan Bruce who plays Paul in Orphan Black.
What do you guys think? Have you given Arrow a go? Is there a show you only started because an actor you loved was in it? Let me know in the comments!
