Pop Culture Corner

This week, I am recovering. Boxes of tissues, clothes scattered across my room, and dishes undone. I even bought a new sweater. That’s how emotional things were this week. I witnessed the circle of life (for better or for worse) this week in television: one show starts up again, as another one wraps. I guess that is the way of the world. C’est la vie. Shows end. My new sweater is comfy. Get me another box of tissues.Let’s begin with the mediocre / good news. On Saturday night, SNL (Season 543593845, just kidding, 39) debuted, as effectively Aunt Dolores’ Thanksgiving green bean casserole debuts (again) at Christmas. By that I mean, not well at all. Sure, they stacked the show with lots of A-listers: Aaron Paul (“My chemistry teacher wouldn’t have turned to cooking meth if he’d had Obamacare”), all the members of Arcade Fire (in a well-meaning sketch entitled “New Cast Member, or Arcade Fire?”), and veteran Tina Fey hosting. But nothing could take away from those new cast members, six in total, all of whom did not make a great first impression. Two are from comedy group Good Neighbor, one is former writer for SNL, another is a Comedy Central stand-up, and another was recruited just for Zooey Deschanel / Bjork impressions on the “Bein’ Quirky!” sketch. I’m being a bit hard on them no doubt, as I cannot expect anyone’s first show to be standout. But after the loss of the trifecta of Bill Hader (RIP Stefan), Fred Armisen (of Portlandia fame), and Seth Meyers (to host Late Night), I feel relatively uninspired. Those three set the bar high, and now without them, I can’t help but feel as if the new cast is relatively flavorless. I mean, how many more game show hosts can Kenan Thompson play?The real pleasure was the 25-minute, aftershow, something I was not expecting at all. “Here Comes the Night Time,” directed by Roman Coppola, was one of the most well-done, exciting, and strange promotions I have ever seen. Centered around Arcade Fire, the movie at first seems like a concert video. But then you get the cameos. In the glowing, underground Montreal club where AF is playing, we see James Franco, complaining into a payphone about how/why he wound up in Canada (“I blew it, man”), and Michael Cera, the spanish bartender, complaining on how AF is trying to hard to Mumford and Sons. Man, that got me. Then, fifteen minutes in, Win Butler gets a call from space, where we see Captains Zach Galifianakis and Bill Hader, simply saying hi. “Come back real soon,” says Win to Zach, “we really want another Hangover movie.” Zach gives the camera a death stare. “Yeah, and we really want another Arcade Fire album. Your first show, there were more people on stage than there were in the audience! Who needs three drummers?!” True dat, Zach. The music, which debuted the band’s new simplistic, dancey song structure, was entrancing. The hectic feel of The Suburbs is gone, and the songs now take their time; “Here Comes the Night Time” features a cross between hectic Vampire Weekend-esque guitar and rolling Haitian drums, while “We Exist” is a major nod to David Bowie. AF is back to groove, and as demonstrated by the video, Reflektor (out at the end of October) is going to be one heck of an album. Then there’s Bono and Ben Stiller in giant plastic heads dancing in the audience. Nope, you’re not on anything. It’s just indie music.Then, I shall end briefly, touching onBreaking Bad. Unlike last week, I’m not going to give away any spoilers involving the poignant, perfect finale of the show. All I can say is, start watching it from the beginning. It is thrilling to see a show succeed, gain momentum, and end at its peak, unlike most shows nowadays which are milked of all their profit until the very bitter end. Reference point number one: Dexter. The show started off an Emmy-winning work of art, then degenerated until its barbarically ludicrous ending. The other thing to point out about Breaking Bad’s finale is its lack of ambiguity. “No loose ends” is a theme throughout the show, and in the end, we felt complete. No Sopranos-cut-to-black-as-the-hitman-approaches-Tony ending. We see the complete arc of Walter White, and his science of “transformation,” from “Mr. Chips to Scarface” while keeping his heart in the right place. If you don’t believe me, ask the record-breaking 10.6 million viewers that watched the finale (a 440% increase from the Season 4 finale).Thus is the weekend. A show has ended, and one dirges on. Oh well. At least we have sweaters to keep us satisfied for the meantime.~K