Racist, Sexual and Self-Aware. What more can you ask for?

A few weeks ago my friend recommended a Netflix comedy called "Community". It looked stupid to be honest and I thought after watching the first episode I would gg from that series and move onto something more appealing. But surprisingly, an American made comedy about the worst community college in the U.S. Managed to squeeze a few laughs out of me.

The story revolves around seven stereotypical characters that all failed in life one way or another. There's the hotshot douchebag L.A. Lawyer now stuck in community college, the black high school jock who go injured during the game that would have won him a scholarship, the nerd who excelled at school until she became addicted to ritalin, the old man who just wants to be young again, the sociopath Indian film maker who watches too much TV, the kind, broken-hearted, gossipy black woman and finally the hot one.

Oh yeh, and the Chinese guy from "The Hangover" plays the Spanish teach Senior Chang.  

As you can see, these characters cover every base. Nobody is not one of these people.

This is the world

The thing that makes the show so appealing is that it's racist, sexuality and self-aware. Even though a lot of the jokes are bad, it feels light-heart, as if it doesn’t matter. It's like the TV show is saying “Chill man. I'm a TV show, I know it. Just relax and watch me go.” Abed, the Indian (duh) constantly makes TV references, and spells out exactly what the episode is doing as it happens. At one point he even says, “I think I'll lay low for an episode.”

Abed

“Community” manages to make fun of societal stereotypes in a lighthearted way, without being insulting or going too far. I think that's what give it it's charm. Like those people that can make fun of you and even you find it funny cause you know they don't mean any harm. Thing is this can be a bad thing too, because none of the jokes are really THAT funny, it's just a chuckle now and then while you wait for time to go by.

It's not top of my list for best Netflix series out there, but it's good enough when you don't feel like thinking too much. After a few marathons of complex dramas sometimes it's nice to indulge in the lesser shows that appeal to the lowest common denominator. That's what the community is, an everyone show. It doesn’t overstep boundaries, or think outside the box.

Instead it's just nice.

Full review to be posted on the website (Coming Soon)

Bandit

COMBUSTION COMPLETE

The story of the high school teacher meth maker with cancer

I love Netflix. Because it's cheap and I don't pay for it. 

Living in Canada, however, presents certain difficulties when surfing those flix because a bunch of laws prevent us from watching all the good shit. Luckily for you combustionites, I have taken the liberty to go through those Netflix files and filter the good from the bad. 

Speaking of bad! (or good (or fucking brilliant) READ ON.

Jessie and Walt

Whenever a new TV drama is born, I expect it to be interesting, you know. Like I don't want it to be about three practicing nuns and their difficulties integrating into a new monastery. I want action, I want sex and I want it to be fucking complicated. 

So what better than to watch a drama about a high school chemistry teacher (A lot, Bandit. A lot better). Let me finish, fuck. Okay not so great, but what if the teacher got lung cancer? (Meh) -_-. Okay so what if, to pay for his surgery, he decided to use his expertise as a chemist to cook crystal meth and sling it on the street eventually landing him in a heap of trouble with local druglords and the Mexican Cartel? (I guess that's okay) sigh. What if Malcolm in the middle's dad was in it? (OMG, I love Malcolm in the Middle) I fucking hate you guys. 

The hit new show Breaking Bad stars Bryan Cranston as Walter White, a Highschool chemistry teacher who discovers he has terminal lung cancer. The bills are expensive, his job is boring and his son is disabled! What more can you ask for. Well a lot fucking more my unimaginative friend, 'cause Walter partners with one of his ex-students and cooks the best meth ever snorted in the deserts of New Mexico (You know like New York only instead of York it's Mexico.). If that wasn't enough, his brother in law is a DEA agent, his wife's way hotter than you'd expect and Jesse says bitch all the time...bitch.

Ahhh Jesse, or Jessie, or Jessy, or Jesy. Actually I don't know how he spells it. Either way he's one of the best characters I've ever witnessed in a drama. He's like a druggy with a heart. A high school drop out, living in his own house, who slings fucking crystal like it's nobodies business. But he cares. You can tell. That's whats so fucked up. He acts as Walter White's partner in the series, and really ends up being Walter's gateway into the world of drugs sex and rock and roll, well just drugs.

Jessie and Walt again

The Characters

Before the action and the sex and craziness of the entire concept, the one thing that makes this show outstanding is the characters. It's because they're not only unpredictable, but you never really know if you feel sorry for them. Walter White, for instance, seems like he's doing the crystal thing for all the right reasons. But sometimes there's a lapse in his character that really throws you off. There's a scene where he is arguing with his wife, and after the seasons of seeming like a pitiful shell of a man he says the words that put all of his actions into perspective. “I am the danger,” he tells her, the phrase tear from his throat like starving rabid dogs let loose on a small child. They hit you, and they fucking make you think about Walter White.

But that's not all. Every character in this show is developed to the tipping point. Hank, DEA agent who has a fear of working in the high risk environment of Mexico, yet pursues his promotions so he is not considered a coward. Marie, Hanks wife, proud and superficial, has a problem with shop lifting and lies chronically even when evidence is set before her. Skyler, wife of a high school teacher with terminal lung cancer who goes off for hours, sometimes days without telling her, leaving her to take care of their physically disabled son whilst being like 8 months pregnant. The list goes on. The characters are fucking brilliant.

I love these guys

The Visuals

I don't know who they hired to do the camera work, but some of the scenes are just stunning. At one point the characters are standing in a desert. Walter's in trouble at the time, I won't get into it, no spoilers. But the scene is one big 1080p high definition orgasm in my eyes (Which hurts).

Walters kneeling in front of a man who had taken him hostage. His boss stands before him, two trucks lay about 20 feet from each other. The angle is brilliant, a sideways view so that you can really see the distance between the two vehicles. The sun is high in the sky, and the thin clouds that float over the wastelands of New Mexico, hover over the scene as if they're taking a morning amble. The clouds' shadows are cast over the scene, and slowly crawl over the land, covering the four men, until the cloud passes and the sun breaks through once again.

I think I would recommend the entire season just for that scene.

The Bad that's Breaking

There is one bad thing about this whole series. They should have ended it at season 4. The last episode of that season was so magnificent that it really closed the entire story. It brought things together and left us with questions that don't need answering. Things for us to wonder about when were dozing off on out train rides home. But another season is on it's way, and honestly I don't think it could add anything to what has already passed. Maybe I'll be wrong, but my god did it blow me away.

Just fucking brilliant

Lily of the Valley

If you like any genre of anything ever, watch this show. It's complexity and subtlety will keep you guessing, keep you looking and keep you wanting more. Your feelings are mixed, cause you can't decide who's morally right or wrong. Some scenes you want to convict the characters that not two episodes ago you thought were in the right. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll scream and wonder, who is Walter White. An over qualified high school chemistry teacher who's life is slowly wasting away, or is he a desperate man, reaching out to the only thing he sees capable of earning the money needed to treat himself. Or, is he something more, something that cannot even be connected to the drugs, the cancer and violence. Maybe, just maybe, he's something bigger than the sum of his actions.

Breaking Bad seasons 1 – 3 can be found on Netflix. The others you'll have to find somewhere else, like Mega Video (Oh wait).

Full review to be posted on the website (Coming Soon)

Bandit

COMBUSTION COMPLETE