I'm not saying people watch Breaking Bad precisely because they like evil characters, but rather someone being immoral is not a barrier for audiences "liking" them, or maybe I should say being interested in them.

I sort of wonder if Fig was corrupted or if she never really had a real interest in helping these women to begin with. She mainly used her job for her and her husband's personal ambitions.

Except not all of the articles I saw being written were that reasonable. And worse yet, there was often this implication that the fact that the wife characters were more moral and had been put upon so much by their husbands meant that we "should" like them more. And I never understood that because if the morality of…

I sometimes feel like critics don't separate the trolls from the genuine criticisms when it comes to people's dislike of some of the wife characters on some of these shows. I think there are legitimate reasons for not liking Lori, Betty, and Skylar (especially in the beginning) that have nothing to do with misogyny.

No, I mean the central maguffin of the "rapture". Lindelof has said he is not interested in answering this mystery, yet its this unexplained premise that creates this air of mystery and existential dread around the show and forces these characters into situations they would't be in otherwise.

I think the Rolling Stones recap of this episode did a good job of summing up one of the main issues that I have with the show and with Damon Lindelof's writing in general. He says that this show is about the characters and not the mystery, yet he relies very heavily on character based mysteries as a means to hook his…

Yeah, while Lindeloff continues to cliam that this show is about the characters and not the mystery of what happened, he still relies on all of these other mysteries to hook his audience.

I think Matt isn't interested in proving what the disappearances are so much as he is proving what they are not, and in his view it can't be THE rapture that so many Christians talk about. Even he didn't seem that convinced when he told his sister that it was a "test", he just needs to hold on to this belief that…

Yeah, the man in that story is pretty much the exact opposite of how most Christians I know think. Usually they always attribute good things in their life as the hand of God.

I was always told that the moral was "God doesn't help people who don't help themselves." The man in the story expects to just stand there and God will magically transport him away. He can't even be bothered to get in the boat or the helicopter nor does he recognize God's hand when its in front of him. Matt on the…

Completely agree on that piano. It just feels so melodramatic and emotionally manipulative in the worst way.

It's interesting to think about how that story relates to this episode. The moral of that story is that you have to help yourself. Matt clearly believes that the pigeons are a sign from God, and that all he needs to do is take the initiative and follow the path that God has supposedly laid out for him. Yet not only…

The thing about Walkabout was that it not only made me interested in John Locke, but also the central mystery of the island itself. This is a great episode in of itself and there are definitely similarities between Locke and Matt. But after it was all over, I can't really say that I care any more about the overarching…

I have such a love late relationship with Lindelof's work. I agree with what another poster on here wrote a few weeks back, that Lindelof (and the author of the book) uses these maguffins to create a certain atmosphere and force his characters into situations that wouldn't otherwise be possible all without ever having…

Its fascinating that Ray Donovan was the most successful Freshman series Showtime has ever had, yet not only was the critical reception lukewarm, but I rarely see it being discussed on the various tv forums or comment sections of the sites that cover it. Just further demonstrates that there is sometimes a pretty big…

Yeah in the early part of the season it seemed like the show was building more towards a Gloria/Vee war rather than Vee and Red, but Gloria has really made an effort to stay out of all of the drama as much as she can.

Wanting to avoid spoilers doesn't necessarily privilege plot over form and style, it's simply an acknowledgment that once you've been spoiled you can't be unspoiled. Personally I always like to watch great films at least twice. The first time around, I don't ignore things like theme, style, or characterization, but I…

QoS isn't nearly as well directed as Casino Royale or Skyfall, just compare the opening chase scenes of the 3 films. Its really a very mediocre movie with nothing even the least bit memorable in terms of story, character, or action. It felt like a run of the mill Bond movie whereas the other two Craig films went…

They'd have an easier time accepting it if any of the younger characters on this show were as interesting as Zuko and Toph.

-That may be, but the city and its problems were usually uninteresting to me or else they had interesting ideas that were badly executed. The whole equalist movement for example had potential but it just kind disappeared after Amon was proven to be a fraud. Amon being a fraud shouldn't have negated the points the…