Breaking Bad, Season 5, Episode 7: “Say My Name” Written by Thomas Schnauz Directed by Thomas Schnauz Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on AMC Death, and endings: let’s talk about them. Even before we see the gun in Mike’s getaway bag, it seems inevitable: Mr. Ehrmantraut is not much longer for this world. Mike spends …
Louie, Season 3, Episode 9: “Looking for Liz / Lilly Changes” Written by Louis CK Directed by Louis CK Airs Thursdays at 10:30pm ET on FX If you keep up with Louie timeslot neighbor Wilfred, you’ll know that it tends to stick to one-word descriptors for its episodes, like “Control,” “Avoidance,” and “Guilt.” It’s too …
Breaking Bad, Season 5, Episode 6: “Buyout” Written by Gennifer Hutchison Directed by Colin Bucksey Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on AMC Due to life constraints, the recap’s a little late and a little brief. Apologies; expect a beefier take next week for the penultimate episode. Season Five hits a bit of a pacing snag …
Louie, Season 3, Episode 8: “Dad” Written by Louis CK Directed by Louis CK Airs Thursdays at 10:30pm ET on FX After last week’s mostly “off” outing, Louie comes back swinging with one of its most brazenly cinematic episodes, a 22-minute whip-pan through a wide variety of topics and moods that feels very much like …
Breaking Bad, Season 5, Episode 5: “Dead Freight” Written by George Mastras Directed by George Mastras Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on AMC Remember “Live Free or Die,” the fifth-season premiere of Breaking Bad, and its nifty but slight little magnet-powered heist? In retrospect, that was little more than a dry run for ‘Dead Freight,” …
Louie, Season 3, Episode 7: “IKEA/Piano Lesson” Written by Louis C.K. Directed by Louis C.K. Airs Thursdays at 10:30pm ET on FX Well, this is an odd one. “IKEA/Piano Lesson” continues Louie‘s recent experimentation with continuity – including a flashback to a previous point in the series! – as well as its exploitation of real-life …
Breaking Bad, Season 5, Episode 4: “Fifty-One” Written by Sam Catlin Directed by Rian Johnson Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on AMC How criminal is it that Anna Gunn has largely been left out of the accolades Breaking Bad has received over the years, only earning her first Emmy nod this year? Skyler White has …
Louie, Season 3, Episode 5: “Daddy’s Girlfriend, Pt. 2” Written by Louis C.K. Directed by Louis C.K. Airs Thursdays at 10:30pm ET If it wasn’t already clear, the second half of “Daddy’s Girlfriend” makes it so: Louie is just about ready to leave comedy behind completely. The standup segments that have appeared in every episode …
Breaking Bad, Season 5, Episode 1: “Live Free or Die” Written by Vince Gilligan Directed by Michael Slovis Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on AMC And so the end begins. The most acclaimed drama around kicks off its last, bipartite season with…a scene in a Denny’s. More specifically, a flashforward, one which sees our esteemed …
Louie, Season 3, Episode 3: “Miami” Written by Louis C.K. Directed by Louis C.K. Airs Thursdays at 10:30pm ET on FX One of Louie‘s emerging strands over its two-and-a-bit seasons is that it occasionally takes the form of a travelogue. Whether Louie finds himself in Afghanistan (actually a military simulation ground in Texas, but whatever), …
Louie, Season 3, Episode 1: “Something Is Wrong” Written by Louis CK Directed by Louis CK Airs Thursdays at 10:30pm ET on FX An an exercise to prepare for reviewing Louie on a weekly basis, I did something I hadn’t in years: I watched Lucky Louie, Louis CK’s previous attempt at a TV show. Since …
Game of Thrones, Season 2, Episode 10: “Valar Morghulis” Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss Directed by Alan Taylor Airs Sundays at 9pm ET on HBO Even more than the heavily hyped (and very expensive) “Blackwater,” “Valar Morghulis” shows off what Game off Thrones can pull off that other shows can only dream of …
Game of Thrones, Season 2, Episode 9: “Blackwater” Written by George R. R. Martin Directed by Neil Marshall Airs Sundays at 9pm ET on HBO The Battle of the Blackwater. From book proponents to HBO itself, there’s been a steady stream of hype coming in about the event, and it’s “Blackwater”‘s job to work as …
Game of Thrones, Season 2, Episode 8: “The Prince of Winterfell” Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss Directed by Alan Taylor Airs Sundays at 9pm ET on HBO As is standard in installment-based narrative drama, sometimes you need an hour just to put the pieces in place. “The Prince of Winterfell” fits the bill …
Game of Thrones, Season 2, Episode 7: “A Man Without Honor” Written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss Directed by David Nutter Airs Sundays at 9pm ET on HBO Not having read George R. R. Martin’s book series while writing weekly content about the show can be a strange experience. While I feel I’m …
Game of Thrones, Season 2, Episode 6: “The Old Gods and the New” Written by Vanessa Taylor Directed by David Nutter Airs Sundays at 9pm ET on HBO As in last week’s “The Ghost of Harrenhal,” Game of Thrones once again explores just about every corner of its world over the course of a single …
Game of Thrones, Season 2, Episode 5: “The Ghost of Harrenhal” Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss Directed by David Petrarca Airs Sundays at 9pm ET on HBO Well, that’s one would-be ruler down. Renly Baratheon dies an ignoble death at the hands of Melisandre’s foul hellspawn very near the beginning of “The Ghost …
Game of Thrones, Season 2, Episode 4: “Garden of Bones” Written by Vanessa Taylor Directed by David Petrarca Airs Sundays at 9pm ET on HBO The first scene we get in “Garden of Bones” features a couple of Lannister footsoldiers chuckling at their own low wit, mocking Renly Baratheon’s homosexuality – that is, until Robb’s …
Game of Thrones, Season 2, Episode 3: “What Is Dead May Never Die” Written by Bryan Cogman Directed by Alik Sakharov Airs sundays at 9pm ET on HBO Apologies for the slightly belated review; I am currently en route to NYC. Is it possible that anyone will watch “What Is Dead May Never Die” and …
Justified, Season 3, Episode 13: “Slaughterhouse” Written by Fred Golan Directed by Dean Perisol Airs Tuesdays at 10pm on FX “That’s cute.” Among the many virtues of Justified is its sense of dramatic, and even comedic irony. Throughout the third season, there have been countless references to Robert Quarles and his nifty arm-gun. We’ve seen …
Game of Thrones, Season 2, Episode 2: “The Night Lands” Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss Directed by Alan Taylor Airs Sundays at 9pm on HBO Please do not include future spoilers from the book series in the comments. Do you recall the opening episodes of the first season of Game of Thrones? Remember …
Justified, Season 2, Episode 12: “Coalition” Written by Taylor Elmore Directed by Benjamin Cavell Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX So long, Dickie Bennett. No, “Coalition” doesn’t kill him off, exactly – the shot that he takes from Raylan hardly seems fatal – but a pretty definitive dressing-down (“You’re just a craven, stupid hillbilly …
Game of Thrones, Season 2, Episode 1: “The North Remembers” Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss Directed by Alan Taylor Airs Sundays at 9pm ET on HBO Same deal as last season: I’ve not read George R. R. Martin’s novels, so please refrain from posting spoilers from the series’ future in the comments. Infanticide, …