final blog

Since this is my final blog I am going to talk about the finales. I am going to talk specifically the finale of my favorite show, Breaking Bad. The Breaking Bad finale made so much sense and gave so much closure to the show. In the end Walter White freed Jesse Pinkman, his partner, from a group of aspiring meth cooks that were holding him hostage making him cook meth for them. Walt rigged a machine gun in his trunk triggered by his car clicker to aid in the escape and killed the group. At the last minute Walt chose to save Jesse by allowing Jesse to attack him to the group and he initiated the machine gun while they were on the ground sparing their lives. Jesse then was shown to release all his anger and hurt by killing Todd, who was responsible for Jesse being held hostage. Jesse had an opportunity to kill Walk himself but then walked away and told Walt to “do it yourself.” As they were walking out the house a call came in from Lydia who was also responsible for some wrong doing with Jesse and Walt. Walt told Lydia that he poisoned her with ricin. This statement let Jesse know he was free from everything.  Jesse drove away and was left to make a new life for himself, which was something he deserved. It showed Jesse driving away with pure emotion. He was laughing and crying at the same time. He was finally free. It then cut back to Walt who was shown to have been shot in the stomach. He went into the meth lab, walked slowly around, touching the equipment, and appeared to feel satisfied with the journey he had made. He falls to the ground and the police come in and it is assumed he is already dead. It shoots the scene from a sky view pulling further away from the scene. I’m glad Walt wasn’t killed by the police or anyone else. His death was peaceful and calm. I was sad the show ended but I am happy it ended that way because it gave so much closure and made sense.

Orange is the New Black

If you are interested in a series that is just getting off the ground, and already has quite a following then Orange is the New Black is the series for you.  Orange is the New Black is a “comedrama” about a woman who makes the one-time mistake of carrying money for her drug trafficking lover, and is later indicted and convicted as a co – conspirator to trafficking of narcotics.  If that’s not enough she is jailed in the same prison as her ex-lover (who if not for her) she would not be in prison.

The nice part about this series is that it is a Netflix exclusive.  This means you do not have to be paying for any expensive cable or satellite service to watch it from week to week versus waiting for it to become available on DVD or Blu-ray.  The new episodes will be uploaded to Netflix on a weekly basis throughout the season.

    The first season of this series was a huge hit and the second season is highly anticipated and will be starting in the next few weeks.  One nice thing about catching up on this series is that all episodes from season 1 are available to view, and there is more than enough time for someone who is interested in checking out this series to finish season 1 in time for season 2.  I will be tuning in as the new episodes air and this blog, along with the others that cover series’ that have not yet aired their final episode.

Sons of Anarchy

    The series I am going to talk about in this blog entry is Sons of Anarchy.  Sons of Anarchy first aired on September 3, 2008, and the final season is set to debut this fall.  Sons of Anarchy is a series that has been full of twists and turns since the start of the first episodes.  I have to say that it is one of the most action packed series’ that I have seen in a few years.  There are enough car chases, gun fights, and explosions to keep even the most hardcore action junkies satisfied.  Funny thing about this show is it kind of made me want to go out and join a motorcycle club (I’m not interested in illegal activity more riding and brotherhood than anything).

    The Sons of Anarchy is another critically acclaimed Emmy Award winning show as the shows featured in my other blogs have been.  I think this is due largely in part to Charlie Hunnam’s character Jax.  In my opinion if Jax would not struggle with the decisions he has to make that for the most part result in violence this show might not be as popular as it is.  I wouldn’t have too much interest in a show depicting a homicidal maniac biker and his club that do nothing but kill.  

    I know that my other blogs have been more in depth, but with this series it is hard to make any final statements about it when I have been a fan since the second season and the series has not concluded itself yet.  Check back in the spring and I’ll have added my final thoughts on the series.

Weeds

    The next show I am going to cover in my blog is called Weeds.  Weeds is a series that aired on Showtime from August 7, 2005 until September 16, 2012.  This series is about a woman named Nancy Botwin who begins to sell marijuana to support herself and her sons Silas and Shane after the unexpected death of Judah (the husband / father) due to a heart attack.  Very early in the series Nancy, Silas, and Shane are joined by Andy Botwin( brother in-law / uncle), the fourth and final main character of the show.  

The series revolves around the drug dealing escapades of Nancy Botwin who has the habit of getting involved in situations that are way over her head, and regardless of her ineptitude is still able to evade them (albeit by the skin of her teeth).  This is a central theme of the show and these situations caused Nancy to be erratic and unreliable to her sons who are then forced to rely on their uncle to help guide them through their teenage years.  

This is another Emmy nominated / award winning series that is definitely worth watching if you are interested in dark comedy and drama (mostly drama).  One of the most interesting things I found about this series is that when Nancy Botwin was in real trouble (compared to other situations on the show that weren’t as serious) I found myself getting a little bit tense and nervous for her.  I think it is major when a show can produce that type of response in the viewer and is probably the reason that Weeds was as successful as it was.

The last thing I will say about the series Weeds is that it was interesting getting some sort of perspective into what marijuana dealing, and associating with people who do could result in.  The majority of the situations were, in my opinion, believable.  If you are interested in what pot dealing might look like or result in then this may be the series for you.  I know that I enjoyed it.

South Park

The television series I chose to write this blog about is South Park.  It may be vulgar and could be considered immature as it is a cartoon about 4 grade school aged classmates who curse like drunken sailors.  Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Eric (better known as Cartman) get involved in all sorts of themes mostly pertaining to current events and usually dealing with the political, moral, and cultural implications of said current event.  Yes there are some great episodes that are meant to be nothing more than funny, but more often than not the show is used as a way to bring more coverage and several different points of view (which come from the different characters) to very important social issues.

South Park is another television series that has been nominated for and awarded several different Emmy Awards.  This is very interesting considering that there is no real acting going on (that doesn’t mean the creative process used to produce this show is simple).  As a matter of fact I think it would be more difficult to be nominated for, and awarded Emmy’s when the show is a cartoon and contains copious amounts of vulgar language and filthy behavior exhibited by the 4 main characters.

I feel that there are certain groups of people who refuse to watch South Park because of its inherent vulgarity, but the bottom line is that South Park addresses some serious social issues and it should definitely not be written off as a dirty cartoon for children to sneak around and watch.  I think that the creators of South Park (when they choose the topics for episodes) are very interested in opening people’s eyes to things they may not have been paying attention too, and it is interesting to see several different points of view about the same situation in a show that is about 22 minutes long before commercials.