No Country For Old Men

“Jesse is a friend/Yeah, I know he’s been a good friend of mine/But lately something’s changed/It’s ain’t hard to define…”

Goodbye, Walter. Goodbye, Mo. Goodbye, Andy.

How is Walter White like J-Lo? Plenty of junk in the truck.

The final episode of “Breaking Bald” is titled “Felina”, which is an ode to the femme fatale in Marty Robbins’ “El Paso” –the tune we hear at the outset of the episode –, a composite of Fe (iron), Lithium (Li) and Na (sodium), or “blood, meth and tears”, and an anagram of “finale.” Dr. Lecter, your anagrams are showing…

…Mariano Rivera does not make an appearance during the Yankees’ final series of the season, i.e., of his career, a three-game sweep of the Lastros in Houston. Perhaps that is fitting, as there was no way to top his exit in the Bronx on Thursday night. On the other hand, the Yanks went 14 innings before tackling Houston yesterday. It was as if God were pleading with manager Joe Girardi for one last appearance by Mo…

…Where was Jesse Pinkman heading after breaking through the gate of the Neo-Nazis’ compound? To New York City, of course, to make a cameo in the cold open of the premiere of “Saturday Night Live.” He also stuck the landing as the kicker in the ad for Emeth: “You know it’s good cuz it’s blue, bitch!” Aaron Paul, man-crush alert. Jesse’s first and last scenes in the series, by the way, are of him making an unlikely escape…

…The final two games of Andy Pettitte’s major league career? Last Sunday in New York Pettitte, who never threw a no-hitter, tosses five no-hit innings before allowing a home run in the sixth. He allows just two hits in seven innings but takes the loss. Last Saturday night in his hometown of Houston Pettitte, who last hurled a complete game in 2006, closes the curtain on a tremendous career with a complete-game, five-hit 2-1 victory. It wasn’t exactly Kevin Costner in “For Love of the Game”, but it was better because it was real. Joe Girardi visited the mound after Pettitte let the tying run on base in the ninth, but Pettitte wisely told him that he wanted to finish. Meaningless game, but a storybook finish…

….Here is Alan Sepinwall’s “Breaking Bad” review…. and Marty Robbins’ live version of “El Paso”….and Badfinger’s live version of “Baby Blue” (and, yes, that is Kenny Rogers introducing him) “Guess I got what I deserved”…. Bryan Cranston (Walter White) and Anna Gunn (Skyler White), both “Seinfeld” alums. Their final scene together goes down in television history (“If I have to hear one more time–” “I did it for me. I was good at it. And I was really…I was alive.”)…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…Let the record show that the Yankees had an .852 win percentage in games in which Mo appeared. By comparison the next greatest closer, in terms of saves (601), Trevor Hoffman, had a .760 win percentage (or his teams did) in games that he appeared. As I’ve noted before, Rivera has the lowest ERA of any pitcher born after 1900 (2.21) and while you’d be correct in noting that he has an unfair advantage in that he almost only pitched one inning per appearance, I’ll note that Hoffman’s ERA was 2.87, Lee Smith’s was 3.03 and, in case you were wondering, Dennis Eckersley’s was 3.50. The only current player with an ERA below 3.00, minimum 1,000 career innings pitched, is Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers…

…The Secret Lives of Walter, Mitte: We all know about Walt’s secret life. Me, I was very impressed with R.J. Mitte, who appeared on the “Talking Bad” afterglow special with fellow cast members last night. Mitte, 21, who played Flynn/Walter, Jr., actually has cerebral palsy in real life. When his family moved from Lafayette, La., to California after his sister got a film project in 2006, he pursued acting himself. Certainly the odds were against him, but seven years later he can say that he was a key player in one of the greatest series in television history. There was an undisguised fondness in Anna Gunn’s eyes as she sat on the couch next to Mitte last night, listening to him talk. I love the simple wisdom he spouted: “Everything you wanted to happen, I think happened. I’m happy…” Me, too. I’m happy for Mitte…

…Pettitte retires with a 256-153 record and as the Yankees’ all-time leader in strikeouts (2,020). Had he not spent a three-season interregnum in Houston, where he compiled 37 victories, he likely would also be the franchise’s all-time leader in wins. Whitey Ford holds that distinction with 236… In his final 10 starts, Pettitte had a 1.94 ERA and was as solid as he had ever been over his 17 seasons. Let the record show that the final two pitchers he faced were named Petit and Clemens. Finally, a tearful Pettitte, who threw 116 pitches in his final start at Houston, put it perfectly and candidly afterward when he said, “It is a shame we have to get old…”

…Of course, as Walter White could tell you, the alternative is even worse…

…Speaking of which,  I love “Breaking Bald” almost as much as all of you who were with it from the outset, but –and this is a minor quibble — the show should have ended with Walt entering the red minivan after dropping Holly off at the fire station. That is, two episodes earlier. Yes, we the audience got the cathartic “feel-good” moment of Jesse’s escape and the deaths of Todd, Lydia, Uncle Jack et al., but we didn’t really need it. All of these people, even Jesse, were compromised characters as well as murderers….we never do learn where the money is hidden (maybe Jesse, who was presumably headed to care for Brock, knows)…one of my Twitter followers wondered if the Neo-Nazis ever destroyed the tape of Jesse’s confession, by the way…other contrivances: PBS playing in a bar in New Hampshire, the keys just happening to be atop the visor, Walt being able to slip Ricin into a packet of sweetener, no cops in New Mexico noticing a vehicle with New Hampshire plates (“LIVE FREE OR DIE”), enteiring Skyler’s apartment unseen by law enforcement, the Nazis allowing Walt to park how he liked, never checking the trunk, leaving the keys on the pool table, and not preventing Walt and Jesse from making contact…

 

…Again, I quibble. The show was so merciless for so long that I would have been fine with Walt’s exodus two episodes ago. That said, the moment with Walt staring back through the dirty window as Flynn enters the apartment, that was as heartbreaking as television gets. Awesome cinematography, too. I still think the most unforgettable moment was Hank looking Walter in the face and saying, “You’re the smartest guy I ever met…and you’re too dumb to see he made up his mind 10 minutes ago…”

 

…Finally, I was a high school chemistry teacher. In New Mexico. And my adobe home in Santa Fe actually had a view of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. How did I NOT THINK OF THIS? Well, because I don’t have Vince Gilligan’s imagination, that’s how. Bravo to all. A truly original show, from the moment we saw Walt’s trousers falling to earth until the camera zoomed up and away from him, lying in his trousers on the floor of his meth lab.