Happy Labor Day! I hope everyone is enjoying some hard won time off with friends and family. In case you missed it, Jim and I dished a whole lot of BrBa content out last night. First, there was our new, experimental audio instant review. Then, we did our traditional instant takes. Here is mine, and here is Jim’s.
From the professional critics, my first read is always Alan Sepinwall, and he had an excellent breakdown of “Hermanos”. It’s all about Gus, and the parellels between him and Walt, and his “brother” and Jesse.
Melissa Maerz is always my second read, and she delivers this week, too. My favorite bit, about the question of Walt’s cancer: ” Are the writers trying to tell us something? Considering that Walt believes a man is a measure of his choices, not just his motives, it would be fitting if what ultimately stopped Heisenberg wasn’t Gus or Hank but cancer itself, the one thing that would render all his choices moot.”
There are others, if you want to check them out. Between me, Jim, Melissa, and Alan, I get kind of reviewed out on Mondays. Let me know if you find one especially kick ass.
I said last night that this episode threw a lot of red meat to people thinking that the DEA boss, Merkert, is in Gus’s pocket. Well, some redditor with time on his hands went and did some audio analysis of the infamous phone call to Hank in “One Minute”. You can use the links at the bottom to increase and decrease the pitch. Me, I wish there was a setting halfway between 30% and 40%, because if there were, I think you’d hear Gus. I’m convinced between this and Melissa’s review that the person making the phone call was Gus himself. What do you think?
On the official front, the Inside Breaking Bad video for “Hermanos” is up, discussing the tightening of tensions, the difficulties that presents for an actor, Saul’s opinion on Jesse, Esposito’s take on portreying Gus, and Gus’s arc of vengenence. The official sneak peak for episode 409 is up, and shows Hank and Walt retrieving the titular “Bug”. The officially official Breaking Bad Insider cast is up, and it has some interesting discussion. One thing that surprised me in the feedback around the net was people picked up a vibe from Gus and Max that leads them to believe they were a gay couple. Very interesting if true, and the podcast seems to say there are hints to be picked up that support this.
Last but not least, the latest Q&A on the official site is with everyone’s favorite DEA Agent, and Indiana’s own, Dean “Hank” Norris.
Email us your thoughts about the show, any links or news we might have missed, or any original takes you want to get out of your system. Tonight, we cast! We’ll use as much feedback as we can by the time we start casting, which is usually about 7pm EST. We already have a TON of feedback to get to, so come strong if you’ve got something to say. I expect the cast to be up late tonight, around 11pm EST. Check us out on Twitter or Facebook if you want to be appraised the second we get it uploaded. See you then!