(All about my) New Man Crush

Published on by D. G. Hart

After a visit to Baltimore I had a hankering to revisit the characters from The Wire, I do miss them so. And my regard for the show may have turned me into an snob when it comes to the current crop of popular cable tv series — Mad Men and Breaking Bad. A colleague believes I have set the bar too high when watching Breaking Bad, for instance. By the same logic, I should like Miller High Life compared to Smutty Nose IPA (but when Miller Lite drafts are $1 is on tap, why not order it like it’s sparkling water. Wait, it is.)

A recent piece on Breaking Bad just doesn’t convince me, anyway:

Early on, Walt refuses a sincere offer from a former colleague to help him pay for his treatment. Here we catch a glimpse of a man whose low station in life belies an enormous amount of pride. Soon, in an inversion of the Book of Job, Walt leverages his personal suffering to justify entering “the business.” As the factors that ostensibly led him to “break bad” disappear, each justification gives way to the next until he is completely convinced of the righteousness of his cause simply because it is his. How else could a man utter lines such as, “I’m not in the drug business, I’m in the empire business,” with a straight face?

All this thematic potency wouldn’t matter much if the writing weren’t so taut, the performances so spellbinding, the suspense so addictive. But without fail they are. Which is why we have every reason to trust that Gilligan and company will bring their parable of pride to a satisfying conclusion.

I know some don’t think that David Simon developed characters on The Wire sufficiently. But Walt is not developed — full stop. He seems to be a weather-vane the writers can turn, depending on the direction the plot needs to go. With Jimmy and Bunk and Omar you had a decent sense of who they were and the nature of their demons. With Walt, he’s an adoring father one minute, a milk toast another, and Stringer Bell the next. His wife is almost as bad, from dipsy mom, to trampy drug boss spouse, to pouting and intimidated soccer mom. Jesse is a far more believable character, as is Mike, the muscle. And even if the attorney, Saul Goodman, is a tad clownish, I’d much rather see a series about his life than Walt’s.

A show that helps to reveal the Breaking Bad’s limits is Foyle’s War, starring Michael Kitchen (who now replaces Gabriel Byrne in my list of male crushes). We are only about six episodes into the series, but what has made it so charming is what also sold us on The Wire — you have appealing characters depicted on a richly textured canvas. In the case of The Wire it was Baltimore and the woes of a somewhat major American city. In Foyle’s War the context is England during World War II. In this it resembles Downton Abbey (though Foyle’s War came first), but Foyle’s War is not soap operaish. And Michael Kitchen’s facial gestures accomplish what Vince Gillian’s writers only wish they could achieve.

I don’t regret watching Breaking Bad though I can’t believe it took until the end of season three with the introduction of Saul Goodman for the writers to figure out that the characters’ conflicting motivations make for real drama. Have they never seen a Coen Brothers movie!?! But I do seriously regret the comparisons of Breaking Bad to The Wire. Anyone who spent any time in Avon Barksdale’s Baltimore knew that Walt was going to need a lot more human capital and connections than little old Jesse. Breaking Bad never broke plausible.

53 thoughts on “(All about my) New Man Crush”

  4. My wife and I are halfway through season 3 of Foyle’s War (trying to get caught up so we can watch season 7 on the PBS website before they take it offline) and it’s now my favorite show. I catch myself trying to replicate Foyle’s mannerisms and expressions all the time.

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  5. Foyle’s war… as outstanding in its understatement as it is rich in characters. Marvelous. They are making a new series I’m told. The best of British TV.

    On a slightly different note Darryl, try Michael Palin’s travel series… I think you will like them. There’s a few of them and they provide consistently good viewing… with a touch of Monty Python thrown in for good or bad measure

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  9. FYI – the new, Post War series of Foyles War (the war in now the Cold War) starts this next week on PBS. Foyle gets recruited into the intelligences services he wanted to be with in the first place.

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  10. “Breaking Bad” is entertaining noir and not much more. I’m midway through Season 4 of “The Wire” and agree that it is a far better show overall. I’m pretty happy with any show that doesn’t bore me, though, and they both fit the bill, as do “Mad Men”, “Downton”, and “Boardwalk Empire”, to name three others I’m following. “Justified” is a step below, but not bad (although I don’t know if Elmore Leonard’s death will have an impact — I don’t know how much he was writing.

    You know “The Wire” has to be good when Dennis Lehane was one of the writers.

    Haven’t seen “Foyle’s War”. I’m a bit weak on British TV.

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  11. Foyle’s War is terrific. Well written. It draws the viewer into the time and place. It works visually.

    Tried Breaking Bad. Couldn’t do it. The Wire ruined me. Hell on Wheels is multi-layered, textured. It’s set in Nebraska and involves trains. What’s not to love?

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  13. I’ve seen one or two series of Foyle on PBS but on DG’s august recommendation I’m going to start from the beginning on Netflix. “George Gently” and both “Wallander” series (UK & Swedish) are great, too. Confession time: I received Hart’s “Calvinism” and the first of Mankell’s Wallander novels on the same day…and read Wallander first. Sorry.

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  16. Walt is all about resentment, well set up in the first season.

    And his attempt to settle all the scores for the hand dealt to him.

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  17. DGH, why not change Old life into a TV review, exclusively? You obviously don’t read the Bible, and when you weigh in on TV shows, your far more “in your element”, as compared to God’s Word, something you know virtually nothing of.

    Just a thought…………..

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  18. Doug, are you a golfer? Just me here, but even $7 at the range on my lunch break works wonders for me.

    Pretty harsh words, yo.

    Regards,
    Andrew

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  19. “But Walt is not developed — full stop. He seems to be a weather-vane the writers can turn, depending on the direction the plot needs to go.”

    I feel the same way about Don Draper. Peggy, Pete and his wife, and Betty are all far more interesting characters. I thought Don’s back story was a complete failure and uninteresting. I haven’t watched this season at all.

    We just started the Sopranos (we’re 30 and weren’t allowed to watch it when it started, hence the delay). I hear a lot people who watch the Wire and BB say the S. was better crime/moral drama.

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  20. Witness the winsomeness of Br’er Doug, chief apostle of a new theonomic cabal that greatly esteems all commandments except the ninth.

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  22. Katy,

    The most recent season explained Don better that all the previous ones put together.

    The Sopranos is unique, but I don’t think there is a lot of great moral insight there. The characters, being mobsters, are kind of cartoonish.

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  23. Darryl,

    Good call on Foyle’s War. We started watching on Netflix in January when Downton Abbey starting going around the bend. One of the underlying themes is uncertainty about the war – whether it will or ought to be fought in the first place, whether civil law really matters in the midst of such a crisis, how you might prepare now for a possible Nazi takeover, etc. And often this plays out in interesting ways as people base significant life decisions (such as whether to commit murder) on what they think the outcome of the war will be.

    Watching FW also brought to mind Five Days in London, May 1940, by John Lukacs, speaking of drama and uncertainty.

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  25. Christopher Foyle is a better bred Jack McCoy.

    Katy, ding on Mad Men (snore). But as a BB watcher, I’d say The Sopranos was a much better crime-soap. Tony was way more interesting than Don or Walt.

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  28. Erik: The Sopranos is unique, but I don’t think there is a lot of great moral insight there. The characters, being mobsters, are kind of cartoonish.

    I heard it explained that if you watched the show “live” each week as it was released, you could see him as complicated. Which I did during the decade it took to see the whole thing.

    If you binge watched you just saw constant psychotic actions and concluded he was a thug.

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  29. Jim – We started watching on Netflix in January when Downton Abbey starting going around the bend.

    Erik – (1) PBS puts a show on the air about the English class system, (2) Show becomes wildly popular, (3) Actors notice they are making PBS rates, announce they would like to take on “other projects”, (4) Characters played by actors suffer tragic, unexpected deaths with alarming frequency.

    At least the Fonz wasn’t leaving the show when he jumped the shark.

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  30. Kent,

    I liked it overall, but there was a bit too much suspension of disbelief required at certain points. For instance, the actor who plays Vito appears early on in the series as a bystander in a donut shop, then reappears later as a major character. There are also a few murders that would be easy to solve that just are kind of ignored.

    Given Tony’s parents there was not much chance he would turn out well.

    The language and sexuality are pretty over the top, although probably no worse than The Wire. Worse than BB and Mad Men, though, since they are not on premium cable.

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  31. Letting Tony Jr., one of the worst actors ever, continue to the bitter end was draining on the show.

    The police are never around to take on the easiest solved murders in movies and TV.

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  33. My random runs through prime time network TV shows and ads I.D.’s about 2/3 of the cast of OZ. I thought doing that show would have been a career killer after certain scenes for these actors.

    Still the best show ever on TV, and no I don’t really care to see another episode of it again.

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  34. I think you folks are missing something on “Mad Men”. I predict it will hold up quite well. It has literary qualities that some of these other shows do not. I can pick it up at any point in a show, in any season, and enjoy it, even if I’ve seen the episode before. It’s like “Hoosiers”, “Goodfellas”, or “A River Runs Through It”, in that respect, but on TV.

    Few shows have dealt with the world of work in the way “Mad Men” does.

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  40. Darryl, yep, and I wonder if when full legalization takes effect (which I predict it will in my lifetime), do they stock the stuff in the snack isle, next to the doriots…seems like the wise business decision for a retailer.

    Fat stacks for the retailers, yo.

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  41. D.G.,

    Speaking of work, Iowa State is adding faculty like crazy. Enrollment is at an all-time high and headed toward 35,000. Bigger than the University of Iowa. Move to Ames and we can hang out.

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  43. Oh yeah, Darryl, lots of love for MK. He’s still got it in spades, now in the Cold War (in case you were watching PBS tonight).

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  45. Dr. Hart,

    I completely agree about Breaking Bad and the Wire. The Wire is perhaps the best show I’ve ever seen. A close second is The Hour, which was sadly cancelled after only two seasons (so much for knowing what happens to Freddie). I think it takes some of the attractive elements of Mad Men and actually has a real plot with cultural and political commentary. Plus it has Dominic West in it, though his character does have some similar characteristics with Jimmy McNulty. I hope he isn’t getting type cast! My wife and I have also been watching the two season of the remake/sequel of Upstairs Downstairs. It’s been surprisingly good, though I’m not sure what my expectations were after being subjected to the soap opera experience of Downton Abbey. We’re going to take a look at Foyle’s War once we finish it.

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  46. Tim,

    Nice recommendation on “The Hour”. It was at 300 in my queue and you got it moved up to #2.

    I’m working overnights for awhile. Seasons 4 & 5 of “The Wire” and season 3 of “Boardwalk Empire” are on the agenda.

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  49. Andrew, perhaps I was a teensy weesy bit harsh. But I think my over all point is spot on. Let me give you a recent example, About six months ago, I commented at Old life that for unbelievers back during the law, old testament Israel was the most free, the safest, and the most just place for an unbeliever to live. DGH almost had a conniption, and went into a mocking tirade of derision.

    This isn’t just an aside; this is a big deal! Why would Darryl, a professing Christian, and a church officer have a problem with my statement?

    I’ll tell you why! It cuts against his grain. He spends most of his thoughts on God’s penal sanctions, as examples of how ridiculous he thinks they are! He never meditates on how they could be implemented.

    Truth be told, when Israel was faithful to God, (enforcing his laws) they were the greatest expression of freedom and justice the world had ever seen up to that point, and has yet to be exceeded. God’s penal sanctions were never to harsh nor to lenient, for anyone, even unbelievers! BTW, Darryl true to form didn’t have one Scripture to bolster his perspective, he just rambled on about Philistines, which missed the point by a country mile. And when I provided Scripture he just ignored them.

    Darryl must have forgotten that the Philistines along with the seven nations were under God’s judgement, for throwing their children to Molek, and also for their sexual sins. Not all unbelievers! I provided several scriptures that proved God had commanded Israel to be kind to sojourners and strangers! So it should have been a no-brainer, but not for DG. How could a church officer make such a boot rookie blunder? And when called to the carpet, not repent? These are two very troubling issues that go to why I believer DG is functionally illiterate when it comes to God’s word.

    Functionally illiterate means he’s not up to a Jr. High level in understanding. To make matters worse, he gets snarky with people who know what they’re talking about.

    Why would Darryl fight the point?

    God’s law never forced or coerced unbelievers to believe, it did require them to to obey the law. You know, laws like don’t steal, don’t rape, don’t commit sexual depravity, don’t beat up your parents, and don’t usurp the one true religion. Laws that if disobeyed would surely reap an eternal if not a temporal judgment from God in due time. So God’s law put up the perfect boundaries for crime. It sent the perfect message. Why? Because they ex posited the very wisdom of God!

    Why couldn’t Darryl admit the obvious truth?

    Once again, DG is WAY more familiar with TV shows like (the wire), than the Bible, but even more troubling, he seems to meditate of TV shows and not God’s word! Of course I don’t know DG that well, and I hope I’m wrong.

    Andrew, this is what has bothered me about DG since I first met him back in 09! Darryl has a very flippant attitude regarding God’s penal sanctions. Darryl didn’t engage in the Scriptures I provided, how could he? They only showed how out of touch he is with the old testament. Yet Darryl wasn’t man enough to at least admit that Israel was NOT a bad place for unbelievers to live according to God himself!

    Why couldn’t Darryl see the obvious? I think I know.

    When DG argues with theonomists, (at least the ones I’ve seen him engage) he never has a Scriptural argument, (save for a couple arguments from silence,and his bazaar take on Romans 13) he always ridicules God’s law by saying, “so should we stone our rebellious children?”

    That is Darryl’s main argument.

    Darryl has done this for SO long that he has built up contempt in his heart for God’s penal sanctions. (That’s of course just my opinion) Darryl’s only true argument against theonomy is that he thinks God’s penal sanctions are absurd! Or at least a few of them surely are! Much like Dr. Kline, DG thinks it is preferable to live in a nation that that discards God’s penal sanctions for pluralism! DG thinks sodomy, bestiality, and man boy love are no longer DP crimes, or if they are, he doesn’t know why.

    Can the morality of God’s penal sanctions change? DG seems to think God’s law was too nit picky for today’s people. Why, were we to enforce the general equity of God’s law, that would cramp our style.

    So, in closing I don’t want to come off like I think I know it all. I don’t. But I think there is something terribly wrong with DGH’s brand of 2K, that basically says the general equity of God’s law is no longer to be observed by our nation as they once were. More to the point, all men have been commanded to repent and bend the knee to Christ the king of kings. All men includes all nations! So all nations have been commanded to become theocracy’s.

    Rest in his completed work,

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  50. Doug,

    Real quick. For all your perceived problems with the man, I don’t know any author who has done more good for our church.

    Family just got home. Dinner time.

    More later, perhaps, just go easy, yo.

    Andrew

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  51. I don’t think MM is a bad show. I just think Don is the weakest, lamest character.

    Someone said something about binge-watching The Sopranos vs. watching it when it was on television, weekly. I’ve often wondered if TV writers now consider an audience that would watch a whole season in one week or two, and structure the show accordingly. Probably not, since viewer ratings are measured as the episodes are aired. But a percentage of TV watchers (like my husband and I) wait until the season is released on DVD or Netlix, then watch the season over a short period of time.

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  52. Katy, the $$$ from binge watching is a new stream of revenue for TV shows, which might be taken into account in writing.

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  53. Katy,
    I don’t think writers have the luxury of writing for binge audiences. They still need to worry about ratings, not to mention finishing a series in process. But binge watching does affect the reception for sure.

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