HBO Max’s hipster murder mystery comedy, Search Party, is gearing up to drop its years-in-the-waiting third season this month and because the hiatus has been decades – or just two and a half years but really, what even is time? – we figured fans (and newcomers) might need a quick catch up before the trial of the century begins.

The genre-bending show is a darkly comedic take on the restlessness and emptiness of an entire generation wrapped in a deliciously twisted true-crime saga. Alia Shawkat, John Early, Meredith Hagner, and John Reynolds play a group of millennial Brooklynites caught up in a tragedy of their own making, and each season has followed the group as they try to spin and manipulate and wiggle their way out of the consequences of their shared morally bankrupt existence.

Things look to come to a head in season three with Dory (Shawkat) and ex-boyfriend Drew (Reynolds) facing murder charges with their friends Elliott (Early) and Portia (Hagner) being forced to chose sides.

Now that opening statements are out of the way, let’s get to the facts of why this cult comedy series needs to be your next binge-watch.

The Case

Each season of Search Party leans into a different genre. Season one took on a murder mystery vibe with Dory and her friends trying to find Chantal Witherbottom. Dory satisfied her true crime itch but at a pretty steep price – she ended up participating in the murder of a legitimate private eye named Keith (Ron Livingston), who she also happened to be hooking up with because … searching for missing girls is her specific kink? We really don’t know.

Season two switched gears as Dory enlisted Elliott, Portia, and Drew’s help in hiding Keith’s body and covering their tracks. Unfortunately, someone got wind of their murderous indiscretion and the story took on a thriller-type tone, with the crew desperately trying to figure out who was blackmailing them.

This leads us to the show’s long-awaited third season – a courtroom drama on psychedelic steroids. Dory and Drew are being tried for Keith’s murder – Drew knocked him a little too hard with a decorative statue after he believed Keith was attacking her. Turns out, Keith probably just wanted to chat about the reward money for finding Chantal but Dory panicked, tased him, and accidentally engineered his death. Instead of just calling the police, Dory, Drew, and Elliott decided that risking Canadian prison was just too terrifying a prospect, so they bought the gaudiest zebra-striped luggage carrier they could find and stuffed Keith’s decaying corpse inside, while Portia, Chantal, and a grumpy Frenchman were getting high in the living room and playing “Johnny Whoops.” (“Johnny Whoops” is, sadly, not some weird sex game.)

Portia was eventually dragged into the mess (proving FOMO really can destroy your life0, helping to bury the body and come up with a false narrative to explain Chantal’s whereabouts. So, though Drew and Dory are on trial for murder here, the whole group is held under a microscope and the cracks begin to show in season three as Dory tries to convince a jury, the public, and herself, that she had nothing to do with Keith’s death.

The Criminals

Think of a modern-day Scooby Gang. Now kill Scooby and make everyone else in the group vapid, incompetent, and narcissistic and you’ll come close to understanding the dynamics of the core cast on Search Party. Dory is the de-facto ring leader – a bright college grad who’s unfulfilled with her life as an assistant to a rich divorcee. She goes searching for Chantal – a fellow coed she met literally once before the tragedy – partly because in finding Chantal, she hopes she’ll find herself, or at least find something she’s actually good at.

Dory’s stuck and her relationship with long-term boyfriend Drew doesn’t help things. Drew’s a doormat. He goes to business school. He owns a ukelele and plays it, unironically. Really, there’s not much more to say about him except that he constantly seems to resent Dory’s friend group, and he at least attempts to do the right thing. He’s quickly talked out of it though, which is why he’s now an accused murderer.

Elliott and Portia round out the main crew. Both are equally shallow, fame-obsessed millennials but they share a strange bond with Dory, helping her to hide a body despite the probable repercussions. Portia is an aspiring actress with mommy issues who can’t seem to live up to her family’s expectations or impress them with recurring gigs on crime soap operas. Elliott is a wannabe influencer who once lied about surviving Stage IV lymphoma and nearly scored a book deal because of the ruse. He convinced both Dory and Drew to hide Keith’s body in season two because the optics – a man killing the guy banging his girlfriend with a blow to the back of the head – didn’t look good. Fair enough. He’s also set to be married as the trial heats up so, you know, that’s annoying.

Their Records

Drew, Portia, and Elliott are fairly tame in terms of their criminal exploits. Being a pathological liar isn’t illegal so, while Elliott may be a terrible person for trying to profit off his fake cancer scare, he’s never committed a felony until he helps Dory jigsaw puzzle a body in a carry-on. He and Portia scheme with Dory and Drew to take down their blackmailer in season two, but again, they stay mostly on the sidelines when it comes to the hardcore action.

It’s Drew and Dory who do most of the misbehaving in season two and beyond – breaking into their neighbor’s apartment, attempting to blackmail politicians and shoving mentally unwell women off the Brooklyn ferry. No, really. Dory ends season two by killing another person caught in her web – her next-door neighbor April, who claimed to have a taped confession and threatened to go to the police with it if Dory didn’t give her $500,000. Thin walls. They’ll ruin even the best murder coverups.

To keep April quiet, Dory meets with her on the ferry where, in a fit of rage, she pushes her to her assumed death. It’s not the murder she’s on trial for. But it is murder. So …

The New Players

One of Search Party’s greatest strengths is its constantly-surprising rotating list of guest actors. That track record continues in season three with Louie Anderson, Michaela Watkins, and Shalita Grant joining the show for a legal showdown that’s fairly ridiculous. Anderson plays Drew’s crusty old defense attorney who comes out of retirement to take on his case and enjoys a good nap wherever he can get it. Watkins plays the District Attorney prosecuting Dory and Drew and doggedly trying to prove what kind of terrible people they are to a public increasingly fascinated by the twists and turns in the case.

But it’s Shalita Grant, who plays Dory’s lawyer – a relatively untested courtroom rookie who scores the job because her wealthy father posts Dory’s bail – who steals the season playing an equally clueless millennial with a different perspective on the case.

On Monday, word broke that four episodes of 30 Rock had been removed from various streamers because they featured blackface. It wasn’t the first show to undergo that change as protests continue to erupt all over the nation, and it won’t be the last. Indeed, as per Deadline, Scrubs is receiving similar treatment by Hulu.

Three episodes from the beloved aughts hospital comedy have left the service: the Season 3 episode “My Fifteen Seconds,” and two from Season 5, namely “My Jiggly Ball” and “My Chopped Liver.” The episodes feature blackface appearances from stars Zach Braff and Sarah Chalke.

The move came a day after Bill Lawrence, who created Scrubs, replied to someone on Twitter, reacting to news of the pulled 30 Rock episodes, asked that the same happen to his own program. He wrote “Agreed. Already in the works.”

Well, that was fast.

The killing of George Floyd in late May has inspired a nationwide reckoning over not only what is seen as police brutality aimed unequally at black people, but also at racial inequality in general. That’s caused people to dig up old movies, shows, sketch comedy bits, and television appearances that feature racially insensitive material. It also inspired Jenny Slate, who is white, to retire from voicing the character Missy, who is biracial, on Netflix’s animated comedy Big Mouth, saying, “Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people.”

(Via Deadline)

Two weeks ago, HBO Max pulled one of its most famous titles — the long-contested 1939 classic Gone with the Wind, about a plantation-owning Southern family circa the Civil War — from their services, seemingly prompted by the Black Lives Matter protests that erupted all over the nation. They said it wasn’t a permanent ban, that they would bring it back, with a video introduction that shows its complicated history. And lo and behold, as per Variety, on Wednesday it was already back online.

There are actually three videos that now accompany the epic film. There’s the promised one, which features film scholar Jacqueline Stewart, who argues for “why this 1939 epic drama should be viewed in its original form, contextualized and discussed.” The second is an hour-long discussion entitled “The Complicated Legacy of ‘Gone With the Wind,’” which hails from the TCM Classic Film Festival in April 2019, and was moderated by noted historian Donald Bogle. The last is a five-minute profile of supporting player Hattie McDaniel, who, as Tara servant Mammy, became the first black person to win an Oscar.

When they first announced the film would be temporarily removed from their coffers, HBO Max said in a statement that the film was a “product of its time” that “depicts some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that have, unfortunately, been commonplace in American society.” At the same time, they admitted that to permanently ban the film “would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed.”

Gone with the Wind, which won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, as well as its three explanatory extras are now live.

(Via Variety)

Much of the world’s entertainment industry is still on pause, but not in New Zealand, it seems. The southwestern Pacific nation is one of the few countries to get the coronavirus under control and, as such, they’re back to prepping for their next big production: Amazon’s costly Lord of the Rings TV show. And judging from a new casting call, it sounds…pretty weird, even for a show about tiny people with hairy feet.

This comes from ScreenCrush, who noticed a new Facebook post seeking “talent” for the in-the-works show, which focuses on the events leading up to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It’s not based on any specific Tolkien work, but the casting call suggests something like a loose adaptation. Yes, they’re looking for short people and tall people, but also circus performers who can juggle and stilt walk, dancers, old timers with lots of wrinkles, Eurasian people, Latinx people, redheads, and, of course, “HAIR HAIR HAIR.” Also on the call sheet: bikers. In Middle-earth?

Here’s the complete list of types they’re seeking:

1. short people under 4 foot 12 (we know that 4 foot 12 is 5 foot)
If this is you please call Evelina on 021-398-727
2. Tall people over 6 foot 5 – If this is you please call Evelina on 021 – 398-727 now.
3. Character faces, wrinkles and lots of them please 🙂
4. Androgynous men and women
5. Hairy hairy people of all ages and ethnicities
6. Tall, Long Lithe dancers
7. Circus performers who can juggle, stilt walk!
8. Stocky mean-looking bikers
9. Eurasian people of all ages.
10. Hispanic – Latino, Mexican, South American – HOLA
11. Red heads all ages, shapes and sizes.
12.HAIR HAIR HAIR – if you natural red hair, white hair, or lots and lots of freckles.

If you’re a fit with any of them, there’s one drawback: You have to be from New Zealand. Because New Zealand doesn’t need any contagious non-New Zealanders destroying their efficient work at battling pandemics.

You can see the Facebook post, which also features a video, right here.

(Via ScreenCrush)

A communications professor I had in college once shared an analogy about friendship that has stuck with me for over 20 years: friends are like tools in a toolbox, there are different people for different jobs.

There are some friends that are great to party with but may not be there for you when you need a shoulder to cry on. There are those you text with about pop culture or politics but may not see very often in person.

There are drinking buddies, workout friends, and those that you may only talk to about one shared interest. There’s also that coworker you hung out with every day at lunch then never saw them again after changing jobs.

Then there are also those lifelong friends that are like part of your family.

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These friends are all part of the toolbox we carry with us throughout life.

media.giphy.com

Sadly, we don’t take all of our friends along for the entire journey. There are some we realize aren’t really friends at all but it takes a while to come to the realization. Before the big defriending there are always hints along the way that things just aren’t right.

Reddit user dragonxgal, asked people on the askReddit subforum “What are red flags in a friendship most people brush away?” Their candid answers provide a great way to identify the people we think are friends, but really aren’t.

“When you hang out with them it feels like you’re defusing a bomb when theres nothing going on right then.” — The DialupGamer

“Friends that only care to talk about their own success and aren’t genuinely happy for you and yours unless it amounts to less than their own.” — 313JoJo

“Friends who are good to you when one on one but constantly put you down In group settings. This is a big sign of insecurity/jealousy. Other signs: inappropriate attention seeking behaviors, trying to twist the situation on you when confronted about things, not respecting your boundaries, is super friendly with new people but in a disingenuous “I wanna be liked the most” way, constant gaslighting, getting mad at you for not going by the exact same moral playbook as them, when in group settings they get really uncomfortable and try to change the subject or put you down extra if attention is on you, acting they like can take constructive feedback but actually taking it out on you in small ways throughout the rest of the day.” — -MattTheRat-

“Continually feeling like you want to say something but should hold your tongue.” — WilletteKinoshita

“Friends who gossip excessively. If they’re talking about other people, chances are they’re talking about you.” — Jalaphi23

“Always asking for favours but never there when you need them to return one.” — ayeblondie

“Inability or unwillingness to apologize when he or she does something wrong. It’s symptomatic of an ego issue that will eventually infect every aspect of your friendship.” — ohShrub

“Having their damn phone in their face the whole time. If they do that, they don’t want a friend, they want company. It’s not the same.” _splug

“Friends that are a one way street. I was always the one to message, call, or make plans with them. I was always the one to check up on them to see if they were okay. I always offered a helping hand and be there for them.

“I decided to stop to see if they would reach out to me, but we never spoke to me again. Oh, well.” — llunagirl

“When you realize that you are more yourself when they’re not around.” — kdizzleswizzle

“If you have had a friend for a long time, but you only seem to be able to talk about memories in the past.

“Each time you get together or exchange messages, it’s ‘Remember in high school….’ or ‘Remember that time when….’ – Could be a sign that you both have grown apart and do not have much in common today that you can connect on.” — Intersectaquire

“When they cancel plans, they always do it last-minute.” — TheRodgerizer

“If you think about them when you read this post.” — FloatingwithObrien

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When Breaking Bad first bowed in January of 2008, TV viewers were already cool with bad guys. Tony Soprano had died (or did he?) six months prior; Don Draper, the lead chauvinist of Mad Men, was born a month later. Still, the murderous mobster and the lying ad wizard had nothing on the high school chemistry teacher who, over five seasons, would turn into a tyrannical drug lord. Bryan Cranston’s Walter White, aka Heisenberg, was a far more disturbing anti-hero than Tony or Don because he could be us: a no-name, never-was schnook who too willingly put his life — and those around him — in danger, all so he could finally be a success.

What else made Breaking Bad stand out? The Sopranos and Mad Men didn’t tell their stories the way Breaking Bad did. Breaking Bad was essentially The Godfather — the story of one allegedly good man’s corruption — Stretch-Armstronged out to 62 episodes. Each week the tale moved another inch forward. Or, if you will, took another step deeper into the abyss. Vince Gilligan, the show’s creator, used to pitch the show as Mr. Chips becoming Scarface. But Walter White was never Mr. Chips; he wasn’t even a good chemistry teacher. Like much of America, he was a Scarface waiting for a chance to get out.

Breaking Bad was a tight show, with almost no fat. That said, below we’ve collected what we believe to be the 15 episodes that stand out more than the rest.

15. Hermanos (Season 4, Episode 8)

The Story: In the wake of the Cousins’ death — arguably the show’s most intense sequence — we learn a bit about the backstory of Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) as he’s called in for questioning and visits the crippled kingpin Hector (Mark Margolis) in his nursing home.

Why It’s On This List: Up until this point, Gus had been Breaking Bad’s most enigmatic character. He had the show’s best poker face, letting no one in on his thoughts or his history. Finally we got a Gus-heavy episode, one that manages to explain him without explaining him away. And it winds up adding yet another layer to the story, learning about Hector and fellow bigwig Don Eladio (Steven Bauer), who long ago murdered Gus’ friend Max, setting up a cycle of revenge that will play out over the rest of the season.

14. Better Call Saul (Season 2, Episode 8)

The Story: Walt and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) associate Badger (Matt L. Jones) falls victim to police entrapment, so his employers need some shyster lawyer to set him free. Perhaps this guy Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) will suffice?

Why It’s On This List: First off, great opening. Guest star DJ Qualls is so good at playing an undercover cop playing an addict — in a scene done in one, endless, tense long take — that the rest of the episode could never live up to it. And yet. Team Breaking Bad had another ace up their sleeves, introducing us to a character who would have the longest life after the show ended. And it turned Odenkirk, a comedic genius and one half of Mr. Show, into a household name, with a character that’s both comic relief and one of the sleaziest members of this beyond sleazy world.

13. Granite State (Season 5, Episode 15)

The Story: It’s the penultimate episode of one of the television’s greatest shows, and before Walter can wind his way back to Albuquerque for one final stand, we say goodbye to Saul Goodman, watch as Jesse gets screwed once more, and learn from Skyler that being married to a meth king isn’t as great as it seemed.

Why It’s On This List: It’s sandwiched between what is widely considered the show’s peak (“Ozymandias”) and its grand finale (“Felina”), but don’t underestimate it. There is so much pain and sadness piled into this episode, and if you thought the world of Breaking Bad was dark before, wait till you learn about Robert Forster’s “disappearer” and the fates, more boring than bleak, that await his customers. Meanwhile, poor Jesse, but also poor Skyler. We’ll later learn that Jesse gets a kind of happy ending, but Skyler, we discover, is on the skids, forced to work as a part-time taxi dispatcher to support her two kids. And there’s still another episode?

12. Crawl Space (Season 4, Episode 11)

The Story: After Gus wiped out Don Eladio and crew, Walter’s future is thrown into turmoil, with Gus firing him and telling him he’s going to kill DEA agent/Walter relative Hank Schrader (Dean Norris). When Walter tries to grab $500,000 to go into hiding, he’s shocked to discover his secret stockpile mysteriously comes up short.

Why It’s On This List: This is one of the episodes that’s essentially a growing panic attack, beginning slowly and then exploding with the finale, which finds Walter, covered in dirt and spider webs, laughing at his all but sealed fate. That image is one of the show’s most indelible, up there with Gus’ half-blown-off face. And it’s a great case of the Breaking Bad writing team giving them a challenge: Where does one go from here, where all, finally, seems lost? Indeed, it’s incredible that there’s an entire other season, plus the few episodes left in this one.

11. Box Cutter (Season 4, Episode 1)

The Story: Season 3 ended with Walter having Jesse kill Gale (David Costabile). It was a new low, even for them. And now they have to see whether Gus will retaliate or leave them alone or if they’ve simply bought time to make another chess move.

Why It’s On This List: Among its other distinctions, this one has the most tense scenes in the show’s history. Eventually Gus pays his dastardly employees a visit at their lab, during which Walt awkwardly and unconvincingly makes the case that, by putting their futures in jeopardy, Gus is responsible for Gale’s death. Gus only utters five words, but they (and what he does to his henchman Victor) speak volumes. It’s clear from this episode that one of these three — Walt, Jesse, and Gus — won’t make it out of this season alive.

10. Dead Freight (Season 5, Episode 5)

The Story: Walt and Jesse hatch a crazy plan: They will rob 1,000 gallons of a substance, one that will ensure they can continue making meth, from a freight train as it goes through a “dark territory” in nowhere, New Mexico.

Why It’s On This List: For one thing, it gives Jesse Plemons’ Todd — the casually psychopathic exterminator-turned-drug world heavy — his first significant work on the show. (His blood-curdling final act in the episode made him instantly iconic.) For another, ignoring all the normal plot machinations afoot, this is an excellent example of a “bottle episode”: a largely self-contained unit in which the show can try something new. And what “Dead Freight” tries to do is turn Breaking Bad into an Ocean’s Eleven caper, complete with a lengthy trial-and-error build-up and then the thrilling pièce-de-resistance. And just when you’re cheering that these drug peddlers have improbably pulled off the perfect heist, you get that punchline, dragging you back down to hell.

9. Say My Name (Season 5, Episode 7)

The Story: Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) has finally had enough. The one-time Gus Fring fix-it man is unhappy working with Walt, and simply wants to look after his beloved young granddaughter. His attempts to extricate himself do not go well.

Why It’s On This List: Arguably more than any other show, the many, many deaths peppered throughout Breaking Bad’s five seasons hurt. Sometimes they’re majestic, surreal, even kind of funny, as was the case with the kingly Gus Fring. There’s no other way of looking at Mike’s death: It’s a tragedy. And it hurts. Walt kills him less out of necessity than arrogance and rage, and all we’re left with is a flawed but at heart decent man sitting on a log by the river, reflecting on what could have been, waiting to die. No matter what Mike’s done in his life (and he’s done plenty bad himself) he didn’t deserve to spend his final moments telling the jerk who killed him to shut up.

8. Salud (Season 4, Episode 10)

The Story: The story thread about the Mexican cartel headed by Don Eladio Vuente comes to a sudden and amusingly violent close, when Gus visits his hacienda with a special bottle of tequila.

Why It’s On This List: One thing Breaking Bad was particularly great at was parceling out its big gotcha moments. There would be three or four consecutive episodes of patient plot-building, followed by a release so spectacular you wouldn’t know what hit you. This is one of the best whacks aside the head. At this point, Gus wasn’t long for the Breaking Bad world, but shortly before he got his, he showed off his skills, massacring a hacienda’s worth of adversaries in one glorious, delirious swoop. Gus wins, but not for long.

7. Full Measure (Season 3, Episode 13)

The Story: The nails are tightening around Walt and Jesse. They’re in the employ of Gus Fring, but Gus knows he no longer needs them. After all, he has Gale, the lovably dorky chemist trained by Walt to be an easier-to-control version of him. But can one really kill a guy who sings old Italian songs in the correct Milanese dialect?

Why It’s On This List: Breaking Bad knew how to go out. Each season ends with a beautiful bummer, our two heroes taking another step towards hell. Season 3 went next level, and it would continue to go next level. But there’s something particularly gutting about this one’s conclusion. It’s the point when there’s truly no turning back: Walt proves how far he’ll go to stay alive, while Jesse’s the one who actually has to pull the trigger. Walt doesn’t even show much regret, but Jesse is a bundle of nerves as he stares at the flabbergasted, panicking face of the man he knows he must kill. From here on out, Walt and Jesse are simply rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

6. Fly (Season 3, Episode 10)

The Story: Walt and Jesse spend the majority of this episode at work, trapped in their cavernous lab, trying to make meth. And they would have gotten away with it, too, had it not been for some meddling fly.

Why It’s On This List: Here’s another bottle episode, so distinguished it was even directed by no less than Rian Johnson, post-The Brothers Bloom and soon for Looper and a little film called The Last Jedi. He keeps an episode that’s most a single set from becoming visually monotonous or too theatrical. But what really distinguishes “Fly” is how it’s rooted in Walt and Jesse’s fractured relationship. At one point they were almost father-and-son. Then they grew apart — partly because Walt indirectly killed his beloved girlfriend, Krysten Ritter’s Jane Margolis, the previous season. Walt has not yet confessed to the almost-murder, but he’s still capable of guilt. Him trying to tell Jesse his secret, but failing makes the episode hurt, and the pain meshes nicely with the sight of two grown men losing every last nerve trying to squash a stupid bug.

5. Felina (Season 5, Episode 15)

The Story: This is the end of Walter White, and also of Todd, and also of the Neo-Nazis, and of a few others. But mostly it’s the end of Walter White.

Why It’s On This List: What kind of final episode did Breaking Bad get? Did Gilligan go ambiguous and combative à la The Sopranos? Did he end it cynically, as Mad Men did? Or would he go bizarre, just like the (in)famous conclusion to St. Elsewhere? In some ways, Breaking Bad plays it safe: Walter White dies, just as you knew he would. Perhaps it would have been more cruel for him to live on, to have to endure knowing what he did and how many lives he’s destroyed. But his ending is well-earned: In his final moments he’s just a rando by himself, surrounded by no one, unmourned, unloved, a stiff, a loser who could only ever be someone by embracing his worst self.

4. One Minute (Season 3, Episode 7)

The Story: DEA agent Hank Schrader is closing in on Walt and Jesse. This is awkward because Hank is Walt’s brother-in-law. The episode begins with Hank losing his cool and beating Jesse to a pulp, causing him to get suspended without pay. It ends with the scary cartel cousins, out to get Hank out of the picture, ambushing him in a parking lot, leading to one of the show’s great set pieces.

Why It’s On This List: There are many nail-biting stand-alones on Breaking Bad, but none better than Hank’s parking lot showdown. It’s not simply that it’s as good as any movie. (Breaking Bad remains one of the most “cinematic” TV shows.) It’s also not just that it’s a huge release after two-and-a-half seasons of will-he-or-won’t-he tension around Hank getting hip to Walt, something he wouldn’t do for another two seasons. It’s that Hank could easily die. It could go either way. Making it worse: We’ve come to like the bro-y doofus. This is one of the few episodes that is Hank-centric, and had he died it would have been a fitting farewell. Instead, he lives on to get a send-off he never deserved.

3. Face Off (Season 4, Episode 13)

The Story: Walt and Jesse have already tried to kill Gus with a car bomb. That didn’t work, but perhaps they can get him when he visits an elderly kingpin who hates his guts?

Why It’s On This List: Remember the end of Season 3? When Walt forced Jesse to kill lovable Gale? Those guys are long gone. By the following season’s finale, Walt is a blood-thirsty, remorseless agent of death. And Jesse? He’s given up fighting Walt — for now. Of course, this is a bit different: One side has to go, and it might as well be Gus, the eerily calm kingpin who wants them dead, too. Gus’ death isn’t a tragic one. Indeed, he goes out like a king. He’s still alive after a bomb goes off literally in his face, taking half of it out — a bit of Cronenbergian body horror slipped onto a non-premium channel. Of course, with Gus out of the way, there’s nothing holding Walt back from becoming his worst self. But for now, enjoy the sight of one of television’s most iconic semi-villains correcting his tie with one half of his head conspicuously absent.

2. Pilot/Cat’s in the Bag/And the Bag’s in the River (Season 1, Episodes 1-3) (tie)

The Story: Walter White is a high school chemistry teacher who learns he has inoperable lung cancer. He’s worried about the financial security of his wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn), their unborn child and their son, Walt Jr. (RJ Mitte), who has cerebral palsy. One day, Walt reconnects with an old student, Jesse Pinkman, a low-level drug dealer. Walt learns he can make really good meth, and that making meth can be quite profitable. Anyway, this terrible plan goes comically awry, and eventually this middle-aged rando is in a basement, forced to murder a total stranger.

Why It’s On This List: Yes, Breaking Bad got better as it went on, but in some ways it never got better than how it started. The show hit the ground running, from the flash-forward opening that introduces a pantless Walt wearing a gas mask, driving an RV filled with comatose bodies, then busting out a gun at some as-yet-unseen assailants. Explaining how Walt got there — and showing what horrors come next — took a full three episodes, ending with a murder that hurts both victim and perpetrator. Origin stories don’t come any better, and if you aren’t hooked right away, then we’re not sure what to say.

1. Ozymandias (Season 5, Episode 14)

The Story: This is the end — almost. The penultimate episode begins with Hank finally being offed, not by Walt, though he’s still to blame. The rest finds Walt essentially getting his affairs in order, which in his case means spitefully telling Jesse he let Jane die, getting into a fight with Skyler and Walt Jr., kidnapping his infant child, and getting in a van to begin his new life.

Why It’s On This List: “Ozymandias” is widely considered not only the best Breaking Bad episode but one TV’s finest hours, period. And we’re not going to argue. It’s Walt repeatedly finding a new bottom to hit, having destroyed not only his life but anyone who ever had the misfortune to meet him or be his relation. Rian Johnson returns to the director’s chair (his third time) to ensure everything’s clicking, everything’s firing on all cylinders. Given where the episode ends, it’s a sock in the gut to know one episode still remains. Seriously, what on earth could be next?

Part of me always wants to write fun, silly articles about Top Chef — the cooking, the shenanigans, the personalities — it’s my escape, in a way (in general I prefer food people to movie people by a wide margin). But then in talking to these people, I start to remember that the thing they’ve basically trained their whole lives for is now on indefinite hold.

It’s hard to envision an 18, 19-year-old kid trying to go to the Culinary Institute of America like most of these chefs did when so many of the restaurants that inspired them (and might have hired them one day) look like they may never open again. But I suppose it’s the same in journalism. It’s hard to think about some aspiring writer somewhere trying to pledge an industry that spent the last few years laying off 47-year-olds who’ve written three books. Maybe that’s why I relate.

Dammit, see? This was supposed to be a fun intro.

As dark as that got, Top Chef is still as fun as ever and, for the most part, this season made it easy not to think about all the stuff I just mentioned. While this season had a dominant champion, in Melissa King, it also had some memorable characters. Case in point, the other two finalists — Stephanie Cmar and Bryan Voltaggio. Voltaggio had felt like the elder statesman, a high seed all the way through, at least partly because he seems like the ultimate dad, quick with a bad pun and slow with an unforgettable, halting baritone chuckle that he said his wife made a drinking game out of.

Meanwhile, Stephanie Cmar played the lovable underdog. The private chef and the only contestant whose trip to Italy would be her first time in the country — whose quips got sharper as the show went on. I did not expect to learn that she went to boarding school. But while Linkin Clark Griswold and CMonster differ in temperament, both seem incredibly content with their chosen profession. Seeing their passion underscores what we’re going to lose if we lose restaurants.

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What were your favorite parts of the Italy trip?

BRYAN: I think for me it was just the tours. The truffle experience was by far one of the things I’ve most been wanting to do most over the last decade and I’d never had a chance to do it. And then going to Parma and really just understanding cheese making and the whole thing with Parmigiano Reggiano and the nuances between it and understanding the process… all of that stuff was an amazing experience. We never got to do any of that in previous seasons. In Masters, they just threw me out of a plane. In Vegas, we just went to casinos.

This was by far my favorite season.

STEPHANIE: Definitely. I’d never been to Italy. So everything that I saw was brand new and that was incredibly exciting and then to forge these friendships, in another country, while it’s being filmed is an indescribable experience. Because even though we experienced it a while back, to be able to go back and watch it was really amazing.

Were there any specific food lessons that you learned while you were in Italy?

BRYAN: I had one. So during the truffle challenge, I actually grated my truffles with a microplane. What the diehard Italian truffle connoisseur said is that was the absolute incorrect way to do it, because it actually releases the perfume in the truffle too quickly, that you should only use a truffle shaver. And so you would think that something that’s been around for probably a hundred years would be the right tool to use, but lots of chefs in kitchens all across America, from three-star Michelin, down to just your neighborhood Italian restaurant, they might have some truffles, and they’re grating truffles with a microplane. So I thought it was okay, but I kind of got slammed for it.

STEPHANIE: I guess same with the truffle experience. That you should never apply direct heat to a white truffle was something that I knew in the back of my head, but given the challenge, it didn’t really come back to me as I wish it had. I also learned that when something tastes disgusting, like radicchio, don’t put it on the plate and just beg for forgiveness. David [her husband] will be around the corner, we’ve got a tiny apartment and it’ll be like, “Radicchio!” Shut up, David. That was a curve, that was a learning curve for me.

On that note, what was the thing that your friends or family roasted you for the hardest that they saw you do on the show?

BRYAN: My laugh.

STEPHANIE: It’s so good though!

BRYAN: The ones who are close to me can make fun of me. My wife, every week would say, “Hey, it’s Thursday, who’s ready for America’s favorite drinking game? Every time you hear the laugh…” and she put that on her social internet group [Ed. note: yes, he said “social internet group” and not social media]. So I think that’s probably the one thing that I remember the most.

STEPHANIE: I would say it wasn’t roasted as much as it’s the most comments I’ve ever gotten was probably the “Champagne Padma” episode. But she was my favorite Padma. Champagne Padma was my favorite judge.

Don’t you think that the show would be more accurate to the real fine dining experience if there was like two or three drink minimum for the judges before every challenge?

STEPHANIE: Yeah, but you have to be careful which judge ’cause you want the one who gets tipsy and kind, not the one that gets boisterous and mean. I’d have to pick my drinkers.

Okay, which judges are the mean drunks?

BRYAN: Yeah I knew that question was coming. Go for it Steph, I want to hear all of these answers now.

STEPHANIE: Did we ever see anybody who got mean? Nobody ever did. I just wouldn’t want to find out, necessarily. Not that I saw it, but just like when I drink rum, I don’t become the best Steph. I just wouldn’t want a chef to be grading my food and drinking their 21-year-old shot drink.

Stephanie, when Brian Malarkey said you winning would be a huge upset, you kind of just like agreed with him right away. Do you think seeing yourself as an underdog hurt you? Would you change anything about that?

STEPHANIE: No way. That’s what got me so far. I mean, when Malarkey said that I don’t think he was being mean by it. I think he’d been in the bottom with me a bunch of times, and it was kind of like a dark horse moment where I was like, “Maybe we shouldn’t suck so bad anymore and get better?” And that’s what I tried to do. But I think he meant it out of love.

Bryan, this is your third time on one of these shows, and I’ve heard other people say that you’re insane for doing this three times. Why do you think it’s worth it to keep putting yourself through the process?

BRYAN: Well, this one was different. I mean, I think every season I did well, the first one was obviously it was my first time, and then I did Masters the second time because I was the first to go from Top Chef to Top Chef Masters, and I thought that was an honor to be asked to do that. And of course, it was for charity, which I thought was great. This time was different, because I’d already done it twice and I’m like, why do I need to do it a third time? Really I thought that I might have a chance to get to the finals. So I was like, you know what, why not? I’ll throw myself out there and do it one more time.

But also knowing that it was going to be a group of really talented chefs, that it was going to be all about the food and less about personalities and drama and all of that stuff, that’s the environment that I would want to compete in. Now, I’ve been asked a few times already, because this is over now. Would I do it again a fourth time? No, I’m gone, that’s it. Three times is enough. I got the three finales and that, in itself, is enough.

Now you can’t pick each other, but what is your favorite thing that you tasted that someone else cooked this season?

STEPHANIE: We just got asked that and I have the worst answer because when we got done with a quickfire elimination challenge, I would be so… it wasn’t full. I don’t know what the word would be to describe it, but like so overwhelmed that the most memorable thing that I ate was Padma’s soup in the finale when they cooked for us. It was so delicious. That’s definitely the one of the “not-chefs in the competition”-foods that I ate. Everybody else’s food is a blur.

BRYAN: I mean, there was amazing food and I have a long-winded answer to this, but also during the challenges trying the food, it’s unlike previous seasons where you’re trying other people’s food and you’re like, “oh yeah, I would have never made that.” In previous seasons, I’ve tried some bad stuff. But this time, it was all a pleasure to eat. Even Malarkey’s crazy ice creams were pretty good.

At what point in your life did you realize that you wanted to be a chef, and what had been your plan up until that point?

STEPHANIE: I’ve never had another job. I’ve never had a job outside of cooking in restaurants other than babysitting, and I didn’t see that as a lucrative or long-lasting career. I went to boarding school. My parents had already invested so much time, energy, and money into my education. When I told them I wanted to go to culinary school, they were just stoked that one out of their three children knew exactly what they wanted to do. So I had complete support from everybody around me. And thank God because it’s the greatest career I could ever ask for. But I knew when I was little that I loved to cook and I love the process. I loved the sounds, and the sights and the smells, and the whole thing really resonated with me.

BRYAN: My first job, I was 13, I washed motorcycles at a Harley-Davidson dealership so I could afford baseball cards. And then when I was 14, I got a job at a Holiday Inn as a busboy. I didn’t like clearing plates and running room service, but when I saw the cooks in the back using knives, there’s fire, clinking pans, everybody was cussing and having a good time, that seemed like fun. So I asked the chef, I told him, look, if I take this culinary program in high school, will you let me cook? And he said yes. So that’s where I got my first shot. Then I did it because it was cool because I was making money. I could buy myself my own clothes, I had a car, but then it came time to make a career choice. And I was persuaded by a lot of people who were around me to try to enroll in the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. And so I was accepted and I went and that’s where it went from job to career.

Steph, I have to follow up on the boarding school thing. That’s not like a usual thing…

STEPHANIE: No, I did it at several high schools. I went to three, so I went to a little private school from first through ninth grade. And I liked school enough, but I wasn’t a phenomenal student. The town I grew up in had a great public school, but I was going from a class of 30 to a class of like 300, and I just wouldn’t go. My parents were like, “I don’t know what to do with this one.” So we went for a couple of tours. The first one they took me was an all-girls school. And I was like, I don’t think so. My mom was like, “No, it’s perfect!” I was like, I don’t think so. And then they got me pretty much as close to Canada as possible. So I went to this really beautiful school up in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. And I have to say it was a blast. I mean, that’s not what you’re supposed to necessarily say about high school, but I did a lot of stuff that was pretty cool including just going, because they would come wake you up. If you said you weren’t going to school, the nurse would come to your dorm room and be like, you’re going to school, it’s four feet away. Not traditional, but like it made me really good at having roommates for most of my life.

Ever since this quarantine started, it feels like some of the things that were a problem with restaurants, they may be exacerbated or worse now. Do you guys have ideas on how we make the restaurant industry more sustainable?

BRYAN: I know that Tom has been very public and vocal about what the downside of this is going to be, what the reality of this is going to be. If there isn’t a lot of help and assistance with restaurant owners and small businesses, I just heard a prediction that possibly 85% won’t come back and reopen. I know a lot of colleagues who are not opening restaurants again. Mine are still closed and some are going to be reopening here in hopefully the near future. I know one we’re opening at the end of this week and then the other ones thereafter. But what we’re going through now is, what is the experience is going to be like? It’s very much changing now from the guest’s perspective.

I ended up closing my restaurants and not doing takeout because I saw other restaurants were announcing that they had an outbreak and that got me really nervous. I didn’t want my team getting sick. I mean the last thing I was going to do is say “Hey everyone come back to work so we can help be a part of the problem.” What makes me nervous is that we’re going back into the Fall, everybody’s predicting that there’s going to be a second wave, that it’s going to get possibly even worse. That’s the part that worries me the most — how do we sustain a full year of closure for a lot of restaurants? I definitely see that there’s going to be a new model that might need to happen.

However, can you imagine life without restaurants at all? It’s going to be horrible. So I know there’s a lot of people who invested a lot and actually for me, fortunately, because some of my partners are larger corporations and hotel companies, they’re putting a lot of effort into making sure that a lot of scientists are involved in what the service model is going to look like. So at least I’m benefitting from that learning and able to apply that in my independent restaurants. And so it’s a day by day process.

On the flip side, it seems like now, everybody’s kind of cooped up and a lot of people are learning to cook at home more. Do you see any sort of opportunities in that area?

BRYAN: For sure. I mean, I’ve participated in a lot of ways already online, whether it be a direct connection, cooking classes with clients, or working with partners. I did some stuff with MasterCard, for example. I’ve done some things where I felt like I was able to create an experience for people, where they were cooking alongside, or just a demonstration, so I know that there’s opportunities out there.

STEPHANIE: Before COVID started, I had an idea, because I live in a small apartment and when my husband and I moved in here, we didn’t really think about how bad our kitchen was. So I came out with a series called “My Shitty Little Kitchen,” where I try to prove to people that regardless of what you have in your home, you can make a great meal. And that brings me joy and laughter, and I hope it brings other people joy and laughter too. But a lot of the chefs, I mean, Melissa does live demos. Nini does demos. A lot of chefs are taking the time, and it also helps us connect to people who we probably wouldn’t have if they didn’t have the access on some of these channels. I’ve got this friend in Winnipeg, I’ve never met him, don’t know him, but I talk to him every day on Instagram because he loves to cook and he makes all of the Top Chef dishes.

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Vince Mancini is on Twitter. Read more of his cooking commentary in UPROXX’s Cooking Battles and Viral Cooking. For past Top Chef Power Rankings, go here.

Jenny Slate has officially exited the Netflix series Big Mouth after coming to the decision that it was wrong for her to voice a Black character. The actor/comedian posted a statement to her Instagram account on Wednesday afternoon announcing her departure and her apology for the thought process that led her to accept the part of the Black character Missy despite Slate being white.

“At the start of the show, I reasoned with myself that it was permissible for me to play ‘Missy’ because her mom is Jewish and White — as am I,” Slate wrote. “But ‘Missy’ is also Black, and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people. I acknowledge how my original reasoning was flawed, that it existed as an example of white privilege and unjust allowances made within a system of societal white supremacy, and that in me playing ‘Missy,’ I was engaging in an act of erasure of Black people.”

In a closing paragraph, Slate apologized for her mistake and promised to engage in “meaningful anti-racist action”. She also offered her support to Black Lives Matter.

You can read her full statement below:

In a tandem statement tweeted by Big Mouth creator Nick Kroll, the creative team “wholeheartedly” agreed with Slate’s decision to exit the show and apologized for their role in not originally casting a Black actor.

“We made a mistake, took our privilege for granted, and we’re working hard to do better moving forward,” the creators said. “We are proud of the representation that Missy has offered cerebral, sensitive women of color, and we plan to continue that representation and further grow Missy’s character as we recast a new Black actor to play her.”

You can read the full statement from the Big Mouth creators below:

(Via Jenny Slate on Instagram, Nick Kroll on Twitter)

A communications professor I had in college once shared an analogy about friendship that has stuck with me for over 20 years: friends are like tools in a toolbox, there are different people for different jobs.

There are some friends that are great to party with but may not be there for you when you need a shoulder to cry on. There are those you text with about pop culture or politics but may not see very often in person.

There are drinking buddies, workout friends, and those that you may only talk to about one shared interest. There’s also that coworker you hung out with every day at lunch then never saw them again after changing jobs.

Then there are also those lifelong friends that are like part of your family.

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These friends are all part of the toolbox we carry with us throughout life.

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Sadly, we don’t take all of our friends along for the entire journey. There are some we realize aren’t really friends at all but it takes a while to come to the realization. Before the big defriending there are always hints along the way that things just aren’t right.

Reddit user dragonxgal, asked people on the askReddit subforum “What are red flags in a friendship most people brush away?” Their candid answers provide a great way to identify the people we think are friends, but really aren’t.

“When you hang out with them it feels like you’re defusing a bomb when theres nothing going on right then.” — The DialupGamer

“Friends that only care to talk about their own success and aren’t genuinely happy for you and yours unless it amounts to less than their own.” — 313JoJo

“Friends who are good to you when one on one but constantly put you down In group settings. This is a big sign of insecurity/jealousy. Other signs: inappropriate attention seeking behaviors, trying to twist the situation on you when confronted about things, not respecting your boundaries, is super friendly with new people but in a disingenuous “I wanna be liked the most” way, constant gaslighting, getting mad at you for not going by the exact same moral playbook as them, when in group settings they get really uncomfortable and try to change the subject or put you down extra if attention is on you, acting they like can take constructive feedback but actually taking it out on you in small ways throughout the rest of the day.” — -MattTheRat-

“Continually feeling like you want to say something but should hold your tongue.” — WilletteKinoshita

“Friends who gossip excessively. If they’re talking about other people, chances are they’re talking about you.” — Jalaphi23

“Always asking for favours but never there when you need them to return one.” — ayeblondie

“Inability or unwillingness to apologize when he or she does something wrong. It’s symptomatic of an ego issue that will eventually infect every aspect of your friendship.” — ohShrub

“Having their damn phone in their face the whole time. If they do that, they don’t want a friend, they want company. It’s not the same.” _splug

“Friends that are a one way street. I was always the one to message, call, or make plans with them. I was always the one to check up on them to see if they were okay. I always offered a helping hand and be there for them.

“I decided to stop to see if they would reach out to me, but we never spoke to me again. Oh, well.” — llunagirl

“When you realize that you are more yourself when they’re not around.” — kdizzleswizzle

“If you have had a friend for a long time, but you only seem to be able to talk about memories in the past.

“Each time you get together or exchange messages, it’s ‘Remember in high school….’ or ‘Remember that time when….’ – Could be a sign that you both have grown apart and do not have much in common today that you can connect on.” — Intersectaquire

“When they cancel plans, they always do it last-minute.” — TheRodgerizer

“If you think about them when you read this post.” — FloatingwithObrien