Scoobidoo Love Explosion

With only one episode left in the season for Breaking Bad, things are moving along much faster. While the first few episodes were marked by a slow and deliberate pace, we're now watching Walt's transformation from Mr. Chips to Scarface much more speedily. In chemistry, Walt points out to his students, a change that happens quickly can be marked by an explosion, and an explosion is what marked this week -- call it BB's 'shock and awe' episode.

Predictably, the affects of chemotherapy and radiation are taking it's toll on both Walt's energy and hair, making it difficult to cook and allowing for the "bad-ass" hairdo. I'm living proof that being bald doesn't have a direct correlation with being bad-ass, and it's perception-vs-reality items like that also play thematically through the episode. Walt is able to bluff down his DEA agent brother-in-law Hank at poker and similarly, it's this perception of weakness that makes Hank write-off Walt as a suspect in his hunt for the new crystal meth heavy in town.

Since he's too tired to cook, and Jesse's a failure at selling to a distributer, the roles become reversed, and we get the 'bad-ass' scene that the whole series seems to have been leading up to: Walt earning the respect of the drug lord Tuco, via some explosive crystals. The explosive crystals, too, were another perception-vs-reality example. Just imagine if Tuco had smashed one of the crystals like he did with Jesse?

Another interesting parallel used was the pairing of the chemotherapy scenes with Jesse's selling and smoking of the crystal meth. The drug scene was ironically backed by the obscure Paul Rothman song "Scoobidoo Love," which up until now, has been humorously used quite a bit with animation. While I'm sure it's not the case for most viewers, the use of the song took me out of the scene, having me think of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law Attorney At-Law, in a scene where this song backs Harvey in an electric chair, thinking he's about to be executed:

Previously: Body of Work (episode 1.04)

Body of work

After a riveting premiere, I've mostly had AMC's Breaking Bad on my back burner, due to an always busy Sunday night -- thanks in part to The Wire. I was recently finally able to catch up and was once again taken in by the story of Walt White and his turn to criminal activity in the face of impending death. More than that, though, was a song that ended this week's episode by a soul singer named Darondo.

But, to back up a bit, these past couple episodes demonstrate a series that is taking it's sweet time -- just like a good soul singer. Here I thought Walt would be cooking meth and moving along in the underground. But here we are three episodes in and he's only made one batch, and instead has been cleaning up the mess from the first entry into the field. And what a mess it was. The tie to chemistry this week was poignant with Walt in flashback, breaking down the ingredients of the human body, all in parallel to Walt and Jesse cleaning up the acid-dissolved remains of Emilio. The episode was dark and slow moving, which made Dorondo's "Didn't I" feel that much more sweet and moving.

The song itself sounds like a long lost Al Green classic, and afterwards, I rushed to my computer to find out more about this singer. Daron "Get that Dough" Pulliam, it turns out, was a big player in the San Francisco soul scene in the 1970's, opening for James Brown and famous for riding around in a white Rolls Royce with a personalized DARONDO license plate. He recorded just three singles -- which in addition to "Didn't I" included "Let My People Go" and the funky "Legs" -- and then, gave it up. These singles became a holy grail for collectors, and finally in 2006, the six songs from them were collected along with three previously unreleased to form the compilation Let My People Go, on Ubiquity Records.

Since the release of this, Darondo has gotten the bug to perform again, and will be performing at Ubiquity Records' showcase at SXSW. It makes for a nice story, especially one that started out with the acid-dissolved remains of a body.

Playlist: Breaking Bad - Episode 1.03
1. "Fly" - The Pack
2. "Baby Girl, I'm A Blur" - Say Anything
3. "String Quartet in D major, Op. 64, No. 5, "The Lark", Hob. III63 - Adagio cantable" - Franz Joseph Haydn
4. "Didn't I" - Darondo
AMC episode-by-episode track listing

Previously: Desperation and Transformation (Episode 1.01)

Desperation and transformation

With both The Wire and Breaking Bad, Sunday night television is the beacon in this strike-laden season. These two dramas are currently asking much of their audience, in the way of character's desperation and transformation - both breaking bad for what they believe are good reasons.

The Wire's McNutty (and now even Lester) have gone down a treacherous road of inventing a serial killer in hopes to push the city for more funds. It's a turn that began last week, but has a lot of folks screaming 'shark jump' with the inclusion of Lester into the mix. Bunk again provides the comedic relief, but his point of view this season is quite in line with viewers: 'I don't believe what I'm seeing!' Like Bunny's Hamsterdam, though, there's a lot of reasons that our beloved characters are breaking bad. Besides the economic frustations -- no OT payouts for months now, broken down vehicles, etc. -- there's also this season's Moby Dick obsession in Marlo Stanfield, an investigation gutted by the Major Crimes Unit shutdown. When Lester staked out Marlo last week on his own time, creator David Simon was hinting that he was breaking as well, so the shock that he's down with McNutty's crazy scheme should be lessened at least a bit.

Meanwhile, Breaking Bad's main character Walt has turned to cooking crystal meth after learning he's got inoperable lung cancer. It's a bit of a stretch, but it's a quick turn after we barely get to know him, so it's easier to swallow initially than McNutty and Lester's turn. The pilot provided all sorts of turns that have potential over the season, but I'm reserving judgement until I see how things pans out. I'm not convinced as yet of some of the supporting characters -- Bryan Cranston as Walt is mesmerizing -- and also worried at how the plot of someone dying of terminal lung cancer will be able to go on more than it's existing seven episode season.

Musically for The Wire, this week sees a lot of fun music placement, especially with ? and the Mysterians' "96 Tears" backing McNutty on the prowl in the bar. When Chris and Snoop take down poor Butchie, Junior Wells' "Messin' with the Kid" plays. The kid in this case is Omar, and we all know you don't mess with Omar. For Breaking Bad, hearing "Tamacun" from the Dublin-based Mexican duo Rodrigo Y Gabriela was a secret thrill, along with fellow Mexicans Molotov and their insane "Apocalypshit," which perfectly captured the madness of the Walt's wild ride. But the best song choice by far was the use of Mick Harvey's cover of "Out of Time Man." Originally written by Manu Chao and performed by his Mano Negra, the song is nice commentary on Walt's limited time left:

I'm walking out for love
I'm walking bad, really down

Playlist: The Wire - Ep 5.03
1. "Up, Up And Away" - The 5th Dimension - McNutty buys red ribbon / Alma looks for morning paper
2. "To Tragoudi Xenitias" - Lyra - Marlo stops by Greek diner
3. "96 Tears" - ? & the Mysterians - McNutty with cheap blonde in bar
4. "Away From Home" - Eddie Houston - Norman and Gus meet in bar
5. "Mi Me Pismatonis" - Markos Vamvakaris - Greek diner
6. "Booty Body Ready For the Plush Funk" - Sterling Silver Starship (w/ George Clinton) - Marlo meets with Prop Joe
7. "Don't Be Afraid" - Salim Nourallah - McNutty and Alma meet in coffee shop
8. "Red Gold & Green" - Hugh Mundell - Michael and boys back from Six Flags
9. "When I Die (You Better Second Line)" - Kermit Ruffins - Roger and Gus in bar
10. "Mystery Train" - Little Junior Parker - Butchie's bar
11. "Messin' With The Kid" - Junior Wells - Butchie's back room
HBO's track and scene info

Playlist: Breaking Bad - Ep101
1. "Tamacun" - Rodrigo Y Gabriela
2. "Mango Walk" - The In-crowd
3. "Dead Fingers Talking" - Working For A Nuclear Free City
4. "Apocalypshit" - Molotov
5. "Out Of Time Man" - Mick Harvey
AMC's Music Listing for Breaking Bad

Previously:
The Slippery Slope (The Wire - Episode 5.02)
The Cultural Meth-ology of Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad and Cultural Meth-ology

AMC's latest offering Breaking Bad details one man's transformation from boring middle-aged chemistry teacher into a maker of the finest crystal meth in New Mexico. Why crystal meth, and why now? It was only a few years ago that meth labs were considered a serious issue in the news, but public interest has waned a bit, despite the increase in addictions. But while there are supposedly less labs out there -- thanks in part to a crackdown on sales of pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in a lot of cold medicine -- the news is littered daily with folks being busted for possession of that now-controlled substance.

Taxmen coming around the back with the kevlar vests
Militia men cooking up a batch of crystal meth.
There's a war going down in the middle western states
The kevlar vests against the crystal flakes.
"Knuckles" - The Hold Steady

Playlist: Songs About Crystal Meth

Creator and X-Files vet Vince Gilligan has been pitching and fine-tuning the idea for some time, and had to watch as a similar concept, Showtime's Weeds, became a cult hit series. Like Matthew Weiner with his long gestation for Mad Men, the series found it's way to AMC, and I'm sure, like HBO with Mad Men, FX will be kicking themselves for ultimately passing on the series. To be fair to FX, it does seem like a difficult show to market to advertisers, but following on the heels of the Gold Globe winning Mad Men during this strike-laden season, it has a chance to burn brightly, and I for one am excited for it's premiere.

Yeah we're all here, chewing our tongues off
Waiting for the fever to break.
"Letter From Belgium" - The Mountain Goats

Crystal meth has found it's way on to television before, and not just via eye-opening documentaries or news stories. For the most part, it's been limited to the story arc of an episode. In the past, it was users -- like in the case of NYPD Blue's season six episode "Don't Meth with Me,", or the memorable scene in Six Feet Under's pilot where Claire finds out her father's dead while high on meth -- but it's the meth labs that have been featured of late.

And I dreamt of a factory,
where they manufactured what I needed
Using shiny new machines,
and the headstones climbed up the hills
"Palmcorder Yajna" - The Mountain Goats

A couple exploding meth labs made there way on to tv this fall, as Grey's Anatomy recently aired an episode (episode 4.02, "Love/Addiction") that showed the effects on the innocent, as a baby gets a stroke from being exposed to it in an exploded home meth lab. CSI:Miami recently covered the subject as well (episode 6.12, "Miami Confidential"). Meanwhile, Friday Night Lights introduced a shady character who has a meth lab yet to explode, but one imagines that something more will come of his character as Tim Riggins and his brother just stole $3K from him this last episode.

Lost your family and your truck, I used to love you now you suck.
We were friends among the best, you and your crystal meth.
"You and Your Crystal Meth" - Drive-By Truckers

The only other series I can think of who's had a recurring character that dealt with the effects of the drug was Showtime's Queer as Folk, who briefly followed the character Blake Wyzecki on the downward path of his meth addiction, which makes sense given crystal meth's dangerous standing in the gay community as a club drug. For the best depiction of the crystal meth scene, we have to switch for a moment to the the big screen (or DVD, ie big screen on the little screen,) and the 2002 film The Salton Sea starring Val Kilmer as a tweaker jazz musician, who becomes a police informant and goes undercover to help find his wife's killer.

And Death came in a bloody mess,
with a left arm on the treble clef
and the right arm on the crystal meth;
seizured on the dance floor and slithered from her party dress.
"4Dix" - Lifter Puller

Breaking Bad premieres Sunday, January 20, on AMC at 10PM.