138: May 2026

I've written here before about how I'm bad at TV. TV is a commitment, and I'm scared to make a commitment to a show until I know for sure that it's going to be good. If a show truly is good, then by the time I'm ready to commit, an entire season has gone by, and by that point, I get overwhelmed by scale. Binge watching isn't really an option for me. I can handle a three-hour movie, but any more than two episodes of TV at a time, and I start to get antsy.

Fortunately, two episodes a week is about the perfect pace for watching Breaking Bad for the first time. Last year I showed my husband LOST and Trigun and we watched Pluribus together over Christmas break; this year we decided it was his turn to show me something, and we settled on Breaking Bad. I'd been aware of it when it was first airing, but at the time, I wasn't really interested in crime stories.

I'm glad I waited. The blocking on this show is incredible. I keep being struck by the depth of field in every shot shared by Bryan Cranston and Anna Gunn, the way the rift between Walter and Skyler keeps getting deeper and wider with choice they make. That same blocking brings Walter and Jesse together, even when they're at each others' throats. Their actions mirror each others' when they're apart, and their movements are practically synchronized when they're together. I love Bryan Cranston's chemistry with Aaron Paul, and I especially love Aaron Paul's performance. Jesse's so lost, so obnoxious in his posturing, and so small. Walt's a lifeline to him, but the water keeps getting deeper and they're both drowning already. I want the best for both characters in spite of who they are and the choices they make. I know there's a lot of ground left to cover; we're only about a third of the way through the second season. That means more time with these two, which is a commitment I'm delighted to make.

What I wrote:

For Bright Wall/Dark Room, I wrote a new Double Features column that paired The Outlaw Josey Wales with another 1976 Western called Keoma. The latter is a very late spaghetti Western and a bit of a head trip, with excellent blocking and a truly wild score.

For Seeing & Believing, I covered The Devil Wears Prada 2, Blue Heron, Is God Is, The Mandalorian and Grogu, and Backrooms. I also recommended a new book by a friend of mine: Jeffrey Overstreet's Lost and Found in the Cathedral of Cinema.