A Series Date
I love movies.
Movies are simple - They take you out, make you laugh, give you a good time, and no, you definitely don’t have to call them the next day (although you could talk about the experience to all your friends if it rocked your world.)
They can blow you away if you pay them, kinda like the oldest of profession, and can blow you away even if you don’t - albeit on a smaller scale in the confines of your home as many are available online for free - but its best to use protection with these variety.
Series on the other hand, are clingy.
You generally don’t go on a date with a series unless your planning to meet the parents and she definitely won’t let you spend the night unless your willing to follow up the next day.
She teases you with one episode and once you succumb, only then, does she let you know that you’ll have to wait three weeks, THREE WEEKS!!! to get it again, which of course we do, all the while being faithful, mostly.
And once we’ve gotten to know her so well, over a year or two, she tells us that it’s over - for good.
I love movies, but just like the best of us, I have slipped and fallen for a series of series. My very first was ‘Gossip Girl.’ Now I know what your thinking, yes it is girly, the damn title has the word girl in it, but thanks to Erick Nkili, who kept telling me ‘You should watch this s***!’ I did, and, I loved it. And yes, Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) is the main reason I loved that s***. Why? Because he’s Chuck Bass!
Number two was ‘Breaking Bad’ and when it was over, she left me with one of the greatest lines of all time ” Thank you for making bad so good.” Ohhhh I loved it and loved Bad Ass Walter White (Bryan Cranston.)
Chuck Bass and Walter White became people I knew, understood, and invited into my world. I watched them grow, change, break down, break bad & rise up. They became real and when they left, they left with a part of me.
For both these characters, their transformation throughout the seasons is what drove their stories forward, and Production design played a major role especially in colour choices.
In Walt’s case “…it was intentional that he would start off very beige and khaki-ish, very milquetoast, and he would progress through that one hour of television to green and thus show his process of evolution as a character.” says Vince Gilligan the detail-oriented creator behind the show who goes on to say “there is quite a number of man hours spent discussing colour usage, and assigning colours to different characters.
At the beginning of every series…I would discuss with the production designer & costume designer about the specific palettes we would use for any given characters…” Vince Gilligan
“After Walt’s cancer diagnosis, his colours become stronger, and eventually go black. When the cancer returns or when he’s defeated, the drab khaki returns. Similarly, you can see a clear progression towards darker, stark colours in Skyler colour scheme as she progresses from an innocent schoolteacher’s wife in season 1 to an accomplice to Walt’s criminal activities in season 5.” John LaRue.
Interestingly, Skylar sister (Marie Schrader) is constantly wearing purple which according to Patti Bellantoni in her book ‘If Its Purple, Someone’s Gonna Die’ “Purple is… the colour associated with death of a person , ideal or a dream” and Marie is definitely a discourager and dream killer to Walt and Skyler.
Frank Herbert, the author of the famed Dune series of books is quoted to have said:
“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.”
And here, ol’ buddy, ol’ pal, is where I choose to stop mine. It’s over, for now. But I leave you with this absolutely phenomenal video by Matthijs Vlot:
