The Friday Five and Other
1) What's the weather like where you are right now?
Today was very sunny and hot. I stayed inside with the air con on. Saturday we had a typhoon go through. Not bad. It was a nice day in.
2) Has your weather been seasonally appropriate lately, or has it been unusual?Well, our rainy season was unusually short. Other than that, it's been normal ( Read more... )
Today was very sunny and hot. I stayed inside with the air con on. Saturday we had a typhoon go through. Not bad. It was a nice day in.
2) Has your weather been seasonally appropriate lately, or has it been unusual?Well, our rainy season was unusually short. Other than that, it's been normal ( Read more... )
I'm also interested in knowing why you don't like Walt. Not saying that I don't agree he is a "bad" guy. But they are all bad guys. And he is the main character though, so I don't think the show is trying to make us hate him either. What makes him different from Tommy Shelby for you? Or, do you see Tommy as a villain too? Tommy is so much more violent.
What I enjoy about PB and BB is that the main character is brilliant in some ways, even as they might be lacking in others. (That's why I enjoyed Ozark too.) I also like that Walt cares for Jesse so we have a "family" thing going. He is not an emotional person though - he makes logical decisions, like all scientists, which may put people off. I can sympathize with why he starts to make meth, and why it keeps pulling him back in even though he really wants to stop. But, BB is still meh for me too in some ways. I am seriously skipping through it, just watching the good parts: PB wins hands down.
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It's been a long time since I watched BB, but going mostly off of memory, I think Walt bugs me because he seems like a condescending jerk most of the time, LOL. Including to Jesse, though I agree he did care about him as well. But regarding family, Walt treated his wife and son very poorly, even though he claimed he was doing it all for them. And I think for most of the series Walt wasn't really trying to stop - he told people that and maybe even convinced himself it was true, but I think he really wanted to do it and was justifying it to himself.
That's a good question about how he's different from Tommy Shelby. I don't absolutely adore Tommy as a character, but it's true that I don't have the same knee-jerk irritated "ugh" reaction I do to Walt, lol. I suppose they can both be arrogant and condescending and I've definitely rolled my eyes at Tommy at times and thought he was being horrible.
It might have to do with how he's more emotional than Walt. I love the way he's always trying to come off as completely unflappable, but with Cillian Murphy's great acting, you can see the pain below it. I suppose I give him a certain amount of a pass for the WWI trauma, as well, especially because he's from a time with much poorer mental health care than we have now. (The trauma doesn't EXCUSE his violence or other actions, of course, it just makes me more sympathetic to his mindset.) I'm sure Walt's diagnosis was traumatic, too, but there's a lot more therapy and psych meds available today, and Walt chose to make meth instead. Or maybe I'm just shallow and Cillian Murphy is very pretty? XD No, I don't think that's truly it. I won't say it doesn't play any part, but I've hated characters played by actors I find attractive, lol.
Some of it may just be personal taste and somewhat indefinable. Tommy is more interesting and less obnoxious to me than Walt and that's just how it is, heh. But I do think Walt is extremely well-written and well-acted. He's a very good character, I just don't enjoy watching him very much.
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And I think for most of the series Walt wasn't really trying to stop - he told people that and maybe even convinced himself it was true, but I think he really wanted to do it and was justifying it to himself.
It's true. There were several times Walt went back to it because other people were trying to take over his own recipe - like when Jesse was able to recreate it himself, or when Gale tried to take over (and get rid of Walt, there was that) and both times the reason was not just because he felt in imminent danger or felt his friends were in imminent danger, but because he was proud and protective of his work. I totally get that, personally. The only difference from any other creation was that it was illegal and harmful. But I think there was a definite struggle inside of him, and all that turmoil is what makes it so interesting. All scientist types have this trouble I think. The urge to go as far as they can - creating nuclear energy for example, or dangerous testing/experimentation with the twisted reasoning that it is best for humanity in the longrun, while hurting individuals in the meantime. Walt is a lot more bearable than some scientist types I've seen in shows/movies. It would be so much more interesting if the character was more aesthetically pleasing though... :D
Tommy Shelby is not a scientist type so he doesn't have that drive to create or the pride of a scientist. But he is a brilliant business man/politician who does the illigal business with the goal of getting out and becoming a legitimate success. There is a big flaw in that plan - as with Walt, he will never be able to get out. It will always pull him back in. Walt and Tommy are both addicts of their particular drug. eh? Not coke or meth, but the high of danger maybe. Tommy is soooo much more emotional though and as you said, much more hurt/comfort going on, which is why Tommy wins for me too (along with him being pretty). As to being arrogant and condescending... I can understand smart people's frustration with those who don't get it, not wanting to explain everything because it just takes too long LOL The frustration is what makes them seem arrogant and condescending, I think. I might feel insulted if people acted that way toward me personally, but watching them on these shows, I just think the people around them should trust them (in their area of expertise anyway) because they know what they are doing.
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Walt and Tommy are both addicts of their particular drug. eh? Not coke or meth, but the high of danger maybe.
YES, well put! I think Saul - who goes by Jimmy McGill, his real name, for most of BCS - is similar. Like Walt and Tommy, he's very intelligent, with the sort of cunning intelligence of a con man and huge interpersonal charisma, and I think he's addicted to the thrill of his schemes and getting one over on people. BCS is the story of how he tried to, at first, stop being that person, by going from being a two-bit con man to being a legitimate lawyer. But due to a combination of circumstances and his addiction to scheming, he ultimately becomes Saul Goodman, using his status as a lawyer to be a much higher-level con man, essentially, when he helped Walt build his empire.
BCS covers all of Jimmy's story; the vast majority of it takes place before BB, but at the end of the last season we see some stuff from the BB era and it also shows what happens to Jimmy after BB. The black-and-white opening where Jimmy's watching the Saul commercials is after BB and they keep dropping those b&w scenes at the beginning of each season (until the last season, where you get a lot more of them and they ultimately wrap up Jimmy's story post-BB).
I really like Jimmy/Saul; I'm weak for characters that are funny and charming, lol, even if they also have serious morality problems, with Jimmy definitely does, though he also has a lot of heart. And, he's a hustler but he also HUSTLES; even when he's doing terrible things, I can't help but respect the hard work that he's willing to put in.
I really love most of the other BCS characters, too. Mike from BB is one of the main characters in BCS and we get to know a lot more about his story. Gus Fring is in it a lot, too, and he's fascinating. And there are new characters that are great as well. Kim is another lawyer who works with Jimmy and I LOVE her; she's incredibly smart and competent and it's wonderful to watch her and Jimmy together. Jimmy's brother Chuck is not as likable to me (he's got that arrogance and condescension, lol, without any charm or humor) but he's sympathetic, too, and absolutely fascinating as well. And there's an ongoing plot with a gangster in the Salamanca gang named Ignacio "Nacho" Varga who I really love, who's gotten himself into this criminal life and seems to regret it, or at least wish he didn't have to be in it, but doesn't have a way out.
BCS has a lot of humor - it's not exactly a comedy, but there's a comedic sensibility, if you know what I mean, in addition to the drama and emotion and tension you'd expect from a BB-universe show - and I love watching these intelligent, competent characters do what they do. There will be these long sequences of people making preparations of some kind and you don't know why; perhaps these parts make some people impatient and I'd totally understand that, but I find them enthralling. I'm glued to the screen just waiting for it to pay off...and the payoff is always so good. :D Also, the scenery and cinematography are both absolutely beautiful, if you enjoy either of those things.
I feel like I could go on and on. XD I just think everything about the show is great - writing, acting, visuals...It's high on my list of all-time favorite/best shows I've ever seen.
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