Home Page

Monday, September 19, 2011

Breaking Bad - Season 4, Episode 10, "Salud"

That decrepit-looking Mexican meth lab appears to be in the glorious junked-out wonderland of the industrial South Valley; specifically:

Delta Power Co Llc
725 Electric Ave SE
Albuquerque, NM 87105


There is an interesting detail in the way they made up the building for the TV show. The upper floors have a curious, bombed-out look: darkened, with broken windows.

I visited Mexico on a cruise late last year as part of a wedding party. I noticed (particularly while visiting Puerto Vallarta) that there were a considerable number of buildings (typically buildings with sidewalk-level businesses and apartments above) with functional first and second floors, but bombed-out looking third and fourth floors. Why that would be the case, I can’t imagine (I don’t pretend to understand Mexico at all), but it is interesting that the Breaking Bad set people detailed this building in the same way, to give that extra air of Mexican authenticity.

I was very excited by the return to Don Eladio's Mexican Hacienda! If you look carefully at the views of the distant WNW horizon, you can see Cabezon (Season 3, Episode 1, "No Mas")!

I also got excited by Gus' gift of a special kind of Añejo Tequila to Don Eladio.

Visiting Puerto Vallarta late last year, I took a field trip to the old Doña Engracia tequila distillery NE of Ixtapa, NE of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco. In order to catalyze tequila sales, the tour guides presented us with a class that might have been called "Tequila for Idiots" (but out of politeness, probably described as such in Spanish).


Tequila manufacture is surprisingly complicated. Here, our tour guide Victor explained the differences between Silver, Reposada and Añejo Tequilas. This nomenclature was simplified for novice students like ourselves (it's hard keeping track of more than three things at a time, particularly when tasting tequila and preparing to purchase tequilas). Doña Engracia Tequilas, like many tequilas from family-owned distilleries, are made from 100% agave, unlike popular tequila mixes that are more-commonly for sale in the United States (like Patron).


Blue Agave


The first step in tequila manufacture is removing the Blue Agave's starchy roots (piñas), from which tequila will eventually be distilled.






Wikipedia has more details regarding tequila:
Tequila is usually bottled in one of five categories:

Blanco ("white") or plata ("silver"): white spirit, un-aged and bottled or stored immediately after distillation, or aged less than two months in stainless steel or neutral oak barrels;

Joven ("young") or oro ("gold"): a mixture of blanco tequila and reposado tequila (Ex. José Cuervo Oro).

Reposado ("rested"): aged a minimum of two months, but less than a year in oak barrels of any size;

Añejo ("aged" or "vintage"): aged a minimum of one year, but less than three years in small oak barrels;

Extra Añejo ("extra aged" or "ultra aged"): aged a minimum of three years in oak barrels. This category was established in March 2006.

This particular kind of Breaking Bad Zafiro Añejo (Aged Sapphire) is not discussed by Wikipedia, but I must get some for my personal collection ASAP! You never know when guests might show up unexpectedly!

Meanwhile, TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz loved the episode:
Hell, let's just say it: Gustavo "Gus" Fring is one of the greatest characters in the history of TV crime dramas, as great as Tony Soprano, Vic Mackey, Al Swearengen and Mags Bennett ("Justified"). And yes, he's the equal of Walter White -- as psychologically rich and in some ways more fascinating, because he's so more closed off and mysterious. Walt is emotionally transparent to us even when he's hiding things from other characters. But Gus remains a question mark even though he seems to know himself better than anyone else on "Breaking Bad," with the possible exception of Mike. Even if he'd been played by some other actor he would have been fascinating. But Giancarlo Esposito, with his haunted eyes and droopy-faced, Chuck Jones reactions, gives Gus an almost Shakespearean richness. I could picture this character sitting across a table from Macbeth or Shylock and having plenty to talk about.

No comments:

Post a Comment