And Now My Watch Is Ended

The night is dark and full of spoilers. If you haven't watched all of Game of Thrones up until the season finale, I'd recommend you catch up before reading further. Most of the plots this season advanced fairly quickly and at this point, there isn't much that book readers know that show-watchers do not. Also details here and there have been changed from the books that have rendered previous story arcs or whole characters either moot or nonexistent. George R.R. Martin (the author of the series A Song of Ice and Fire on which the show is based) spoke about this a while ago, in which he said changes to the script, no matter how minor, would probably have a butterfly effect that would carry on further down the story line and possibly result in larger changes. So in reference to that, this post will be focused primarily on the show but with some minor book information here and there to give a better background or justification that wasn't quite there before.

I will say though that despite the changes, show-runners Benioff and Weiss have done a fairly good job of adapting the canon to the TV script considering the large amount of characters and story they have to cover. Themes of isolation, religion and trust were prevalent throughout the season and aside from some grievances that I will adresss later in the post this was one of the better seasons of Game of Thrones and it also hosts Hardhome, which is now my favorite episode of the show. Also I will note that at this point in the show, book readers and show watchers are finally at the same point overlooking the abyss of what's to come. So here's what we learned from Season 5 of Game of Thrones. Valar morghulis.

House Lannister - Hear Me Roar!

The first scene of this season featured the very first flashback on Game of Thrones in which we saw a young Cersei having our future told to her by a witch named Maggy the Frog. Young Cersei asks three questions about her future and gets three answers in the form of prophecies. She starts off the first  two questions by asking if she will marry the prince that she is already promised to (Rhaegar Targaryen), to which Maggy replies that she will never marry the prince, but she "will wed the king (Robert Baratheon)" which led Cersei to ask if they would have children. Maggy tells her that she will have three (Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen) and the King would get his Antonio Cromartie/Dwight Howard on and have about twenty bastards. Aaaand also that her children would die before her (one of whom is already dead). The most important part of the prophecy that has shown in Cersei's story this year however, occurs when Cersei asks if she will be queen and good old Maggs says "Aye, queen you shall be... until there comes another younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear". *insert fire emojis.

Fast forward to where Cersei now. Lena Headey did a wonderful job in giving her character something to do in King's Landing, where there honestly wasn't much for her to do (at least overtly) except drink wine and give people stink eyes. The similarities between her and Mallory Archer/Lucille Bluth were uncanny to say the least but this was arguably Cersei's biggest season. The prophecies wore on her as we could see from her facial reactions to certain news or her worry that her daughter was "being held hostage" in Dorne. So we get a Cersei that's working to keep what's left of her family safe, but who is ultimately alone without any allies. Jaime left. Her father and oldest son are dead. Uncle Kev doesn't trust her. There's no Mountain or Hound. All she has is Qyburn and Tommen who was to busy playing with his and Margaery's cats.* Her machinations have backfired in her face, arming a religious faction who turned on her due to her sins and have had her dragged through the street stripped bare to face the . The fall from grace has been hard on Cersei but we're lead to believe The Mountain is back and is going to make everything better cause it can't get any worse right? *Martin eye-roll*

Tyrion finally got to meet the Mother of Dragons and finally has a purpose again that's been missing since he was Hand of the King in Season 2. He has the talent for this sort of politics. His father knew it. He knows it. Out of all three children, Tyrion is the one that inherited Tywin Lannister's greatest asset. His mind. And he's traveled all the way from King's Landing as a fugitive and thrown in his lot with Daenerys Stormborn, Queen of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the Firs... blah blah blah. The main thing that I can get from this pairing is that he can finally convince her to leave Mereen and head for Westeros because let's face it; this place is the pits.* But Dany has to come back first. There wasn't really anything new this season however, from Tyrion that we haven't seen before. We know he has an uncanny ability to talk his way out of near-death experiences and he got the chance to exhibit that several times this season. Now we get to see next season how he plans to govern Mereen through this time of hostility (which probably means we're never going to leave Mereen are we?) At least Varys is back, which means we get more to watch more of the dynamic between Tyrion and Varys which is probably the best pair-up that the show has when it comes to witty banter. But for book readers and for show watchers I'm sure, Tyrion saying "I am the gift" when he finally met Dany was one of the biggest and brightest moments the show has had to offer since... Since.... Well yeah so it's the first big, happy moment ever on the show. Celebrate it. I'm sure there'll be many more to come.

House Targaryen - Fire and Blood

Dany in Mereen is starting to remind me of the Hershel's farm in The Walking Dead. Why are we still here? It's no shock that this is the slowest story arc of all the others, even though Dany is one of our character favorites. The whole story in Mereen just feels like quicksand. Yes the politics of the fighting pits and the slave masters can be interesting and yes, we all see the similarities between the U.S. invasion of Iraq, but sometimes we just want to see a story move forward. I want to see the dragons fly high over Westeros and burn the armies of their mother's enemies into ashes. Instead we wonder along with Dany and everyone else why she's still there.

The whole idea with Daenarys was that she was heading "home" building her strength along the way to "take what is hers with fire and blood". Albeit, this plot-line has actually moved by a lot faster than I expected to, cause book readers haven't even had the pleasure of Tyrion and Dany meeting each other yet. I expect the voices of Tyrion and possibly Jorah Mormont (Lord Friendzone) to lead her back on the right path but she has to deal with the huge Dothraki khalasar that has her surrounded first.

However, I hope Dany kept the receipt when she paid for the Unsullied army cause they suck. Bad. Also R.I.P Barristan the Bold. You didn't deserve that.

House Baratheon - Ours is the Fury

Stannis's tale this season has been one of slow redemption and ultimate failure. He believes himself the true heir to the Iron Throne. Out of all the challengers, dead or alive, he has had the strongest claim by being former King Robert's youngest brother. He would have also probably made the best king because he's all about justice and acting for the greater good of the realm. He was the only one that was wise enough to show up at The Wall when the wildlings were invading and that act saved the North.

This season, Benioff and Weiss ran an impressive PR campaign showing that Stannis had some humanity to him and that he was a character we could relate to. His love for his daughter was the anchor that tied Stannis to the audience and allowed us to feel for his position. But we should have seen, as Davos did, how all that PR work was going to go up in flames. In a few quick episodes, all of that changed. Stannis's large army was cut by half through desertion, his wife hanged herself and Melisandre abandoned him for reasons that we don't know yet (but I could speculate that there's a more pressing role that she has to play at The Wall). From the moment Stannis had his daughter burnt alive, it was clear that nothing good could come of it. The fire in his eyes grew dimmer in every episode that was spent trudging through the snow and with each setback that befell his army. For the record, I don't know Stannis's fate but I would find it hard to believe that he is dead. One could still argue though that he is because Brienne is just as uptight as Stannis is, and she swore to avenge Renly's death in Season 2 and this was the perfect opportunity. I mean, the name of her sword is Oathkeeper, come on. But if you want me to believe someone is dead on this show, I'd need their pulse checked first or to see them bleeding out before I believe anything.

House Martell - Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken

I'm going to be very honest about how I feel about this whole arc and everything that occurred in Dorne. This whole arc was bad. Dany may be stuck in Mereen but at least that has some sort of purpose to it. Dorne was just bad. The acting was bad. The writing was bad. All season long I asked where they were going with it and the finale's answer to my question was very disappointing. And at the end of the day it had no purpose other than for Myrcella to tell Jaime that she knew he was her father.

The story of Doran Martell and Oberyn's daughters is one that's supposed to introduce a different dynamic in the books. For clarity, Dorne has a different set of customs on their side of the world, as women can rule as long as they have the just claim. In the eyes of the younger Martells, Myrcella is the rightful ruler of the Seven Kingdoms by Dornish law and they want to put her in power as a guise to go to war against the Iron Throne. There was none of that in this plot arc - an arch that basically cut out one of the better feminist stories that the story had to offer - which basically turned out to be a revenge plot for Oberyn's death. The argument that this was just a way to introduce the characters doesn't sit well with me either because how many of you can tell me the names of the Sand Snakes or who is who?

House Stark - Winter is Coming

The story of Arya has also been one that has brought about some frustration from book readers and show watchers. Her story has moved so fast that the show-runners actually had to go back in the plot to stall her story arc. I'm fine with the changes, however, but it still makes you wonder what the House of Black and White and the god of many faces are about. At least we get to see that her training has finally yielded some results, although we don't know exactly how cause on the surface all she's been doing is walking through the canals yelling "oysters, clams and cockles!" which makes me wonder just how much food poisoning occurs in Bravos on a daily basis. That can't possibly be hygienic. Despite all that, Arya gets to cross a name of her list and we follow her into the next season just as blind as she is. Good riddance to Ser Meryn Trant of the Kingsguard, who the show went out of its way to make even more unlikable before Arya completed her revenge. You will not be missed. 

Back in Westeros though, the other Stark daughter is dealing with issues of her own. I have had issues with this plot because it asked for a huge amount of trust of the audience from the show-runners. We're supposed to trust that the background that has been portrayed for Littlefinger makes him one of the more competent and adept players on the show. To think that he would give Sansa over to the Boltons and not know what Ramsay had in store for her was a problem. Honestly, the way the show has dealt with rape has been problematic from the second episode.

The two episodes I hate the most involved the "rape" of Cersei (which they denied was rape but my eyes believed otherwise) and the rape of Sansa which was undeniably what it was. I reserved initial judgement when the episode came out because I wanted to see how it would play out at the end of the season. The issue with the two previous cases before Sansa (Cersei and Dany) was that the show seemed to be using these acts as a shock gimmick or a method of endearing us to a character. It also had a poor way of dealing with the aftermath of those because they were never referred to again or used in the development of said characters. I hoped this wouldn't be the case with Sansa, because it's not like we needed another reason to know that Ramsay was evil. After the season's finale, I'm still not convinced that Sansa needed to go to Winterfell, marry Ramsay and live in constant fear of sexual assualt, because these things never happened in Martin's books and yet we still arrive at the same conclusion in the show with Theon and Sansa jumping off the high walls of Winterfell into the snow below. There's a level of trust that's created and nurtured through a storyteller and their listeners. At times it feels as though Benioff and Weiss have abused that trust and expected too much from show-watchers and a lot more from fans of the books. This was one of those times in my opinion because the payout wasn't worth it.

The Wall

- I am the sword in the darkness; I am the watcher on The Wall

Finally we get to The Wall and the men of the Night's Watch. The last scene between Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly showed how hard it was for Game of Thrones this season to balance so many characters and plots effectively. If you stopped paying attention for a quick minute you'd have missed Sam's argument to Jon about needing to go to Oldtown to train to become a maester. I'd have expected for Oldtown to have been alluded to earlier at least so show-watchers have a better idea of what to expect for Sam the Slayer, but these are minor gripes. The scene still worked well and also was a way for Sam and Jon to say their final goodbyes to each other.

Jon (and Kit Harrington) is my pick for winner of the season. Lord Snow has come a long way from his conversation with Tyrion on top of The Wall in season 1 and the character's growth is also one that can be seen in Kit becoming a much better performer before our very eyes. Jon Snow had survived everything the show had thrown at him. White walkers, wigths, wildlings... Everything. So to have him go out like Omar did with Kenard in The Wire was kind of messed up and actually hurt. Jon has had the best moments in Season 5 hands down from winning the Night's Watch election, to being able to convince the wildling army to flee the north of The Wall to finding out Valyrian steel could defeat the walkers. We've watched his character grow from a brooding, sulking bastard to a man that could command a room and inspire hope and bravery in his men. He's more like Ned Stark than any of his other children were. Honest, just, courageous and dead. I'm sure many fans have heard of the "R+L=J" theory by now. I won't talk about it for the sake of spoilers, but this theory has been floating around with book readers for about four or five years now, to the point that some readers almost believed it to be canon. This theory makes the idea of Jon being dead ludicrous, but Benioff and Weiss in their interviews said "dead means dead". Show-watchers and book-readers are now left standing at the same precipice trying to reason out whether Jon is dead or not. I personally say no, cause of the timely appearance of a certain red witch who belongs to the same religious cult whose magic kept bring Lord Beric Dondarrion back to life. But who knows. I might not be able to see it because I want him to be alive so badly, but Kit has also said that he will not be on the show next season. I say it's smoke and mirrors but I may be wrong. At least we'll all get to find out next season finally. Show-watchers only have to wait a year. A year means nothing to me anymore thanks to George R.R. Martin.

Notes:

• Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame.
• Damn you Olly. Damn you.
• Casting for next season has already begun and we should be expecting Euron Greyjoy and Sam's father Randyll Tarly. I'm excited to go back to the Iron Islands.
• Now would be the PERFECT time for Martin to announce a release date for The Winds of Winter.
• Another one of my favorite scenes was the verbal battle between Lady Olenna Tyrell (Queen of Thorns) and the High Sparrow. Game of Thrones' popularity allows them to cast the best actors the U.K. has to offer and it shows when we can get supporting characters perform scenes like this.
• The TV show's version of the Unsullied are the most over-hyped thing since Yeezus (fight me). This is supposed to be a fearless, damn near unstoppable army, but they keep getting cut down by the Sons of the Harpy so easily. I laughed so hard when Grey Worm said he would stay to keep the peace in Mereen while Jorah and Daario went off to look for Dany. Yeah cause you've been doing a great job of it so far.
• Say what you want about Cersei but she's as strong any other character the show has produced. I can't imagine what that walk felt like but she handled it like a champion.
• I'm really disappointed with how the show handled the adventures of Jaime and Bronn. I always look forward to such dynamics like Arya and the Hound or Tyrion and Varys, but the whole plot just made it look like filler.
• Other actor shout-outs this season goes to Stephen Dillane who plays Stannis and Liam Cunningham who played Davos. Their scenes with Shireen were filled with emotion and were at times heartbreaking.
• I'm starting to wonder if I missed how contagious greyscale was, cause Jorah's been walking around as "patient zero" for a while touching everyone and everything he can without a care in the world. He's a walking pandemic in the city of Mereen just waiting to happen.
• To the lost: Shireen Baratheon, Aegon Targaryen (Kill the boy, Jon Snow), Styr the Thenn, Wildling mother, Hizdahr and others that I didn't mention above. R.I.P.

Good Morning Yesterday

I have always seen television as the best medium for an artist or a storyteller to bring their stories to life; to give their characters a physical presence in our world in which we are allowed to take in their appearances, their surroundings and their relationships with other characters and watch how their actions influence those things with our own eyes. That's the excuse I use when I decide to watch TV shows on a Friday night over going out and being social. Good TV shows can keep you engaged as a way to pass the time. Great TV shows have the ability to do that while telling you a story that keeps you entranced even years after they have gone off the air. Which brings us to Mad Men which just aired its last episode last Sunday and should go down as one of the best TV dramas of all time.

I've been asked over the years what Mad Men is about and I've never exactly known how to answer that question. "It's a show about an advertising agency set in the 60s" but it's so much more than that. It's different from the other popular dramas we've been introduced to in the last decade like Breaking Bad and The Sopranos, The Shield etc; shows with a white, male, Machiavellian anti-hero telling the story of how they balance their work lives with their personal lives. Mad Men has this in Don Draper (Jon Hamm) but without the explosions and the bullet holes. This is a story of several people trying to find out who they are, what makes them happy, the steps they take to achieve that happiness and them finding either fulfillment or disappointment when they get there. 

Eventually in watching Mad Men, you realize that there's no big bad guy at the end (The Governor) or some deep, dark secret waiting to be uncovered (hey family, I sell meth for a living and I like it). I mean there is a secret, but we find out that ultimately no one cares. Matthew Weiner is telling us a story about life. How greatly some things matter and how little others don't. We quickly realize that we're watching the show because we're following the evolution of these characters who all eventually reach their own version of enlightenment. The kick here is Weiner tells the story from a perspective that is as close to "life" as you can get.

I love the transformation of two of the show's female characters more than anyone else. Peggy Olson (Elizabeth Moss) and Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks) try to find themselves while taking on patriarchy from two different perspectives. Peggy eventually gets to a point where her ambition and dexterity cause her work to shine out. The same almost happens for Joan but never really does when she's working under men because they are unable to look past her breasts.

Joan transforms from a character who almost subconsciously defended the patriarchy to other women. Over time, little by little, she eventually realizes that she's not helping herself by supporting that ideal or not speaking out against it. Now she's running her own business (which you know will be successful) and making her own decisions. She doesn't ultimately need to find love in men who try to tell her what to do or force her to fit a mold of what they want the women in their lives to be. I love Joan because you can see that the confidence she's gained in herself and her profession from her many experiences over the seasons of the show. This is what she truly values at that time and that no one was going to take that away from her.

Nobody realizes their purpose or where they want to be in life through one epiphany. That rarely happens. Instead we watch them have an idea, gain a small victory here, a setback here, regroup and try again or ultimately give up. It's a culmination of small moments and realizations that get us to that point eventually we're finally think that we're at peace. 

This type of storytelling can be seen once more in the last season which shows our "antihero" Don Draper working for a new firm in New York when he suddenly leaves in the middle of a meeting, gets in a car and starts driving west. All season long, he makes stops here and there meeting random people, sharing stories and experiences. But he keeps driving west. He's rich. He has children. He's one of the most powerful men in New York. But he doesn't know who he is. He has no identity (or too many identities). And he's alone. He's been playing Captain Save-a-Hoe and falling into the same traps for so long he doesn't realize how alone he is. The last episode does a great job of depicting this. Showing Don have three separate phone conversations from over a thousand miles away to the three most important women in his life was a great way of showing just how alone Don was and how much those women didn't need him anymore. Peggy asks him if he needs help and tells him that he doesn't need to be alone. His response to her was "I'm in a crowd". He's searching for an answer. He keeps going west looking for his own version of the truth till he finally breaks down and can build himself back up again in the last episode. Then he comes up with a Coke commercial......

We're lead to believe that Don went back to the only place that would have him back. At first, the cynic in me was like "Really? He went on that life-changing journey of discovery and revelation and came back with a Coke commercial". Then I thought about it in the context of the show and realized that it worked neatly and was a simple, fitting ending to the story of this great character. The only place that he could call home and would welcome him with open arms was the McCann advertising office. His journey across America and his new insights and experiences were used to launch the iconic "Buy The World a Coke" ad campaign of the 70s. What I've chosen to understand from this ad was that in that final moment of revelation, Don realized that he wasn't alone in his loneliness. 

Because of the way Mad Men's story was told, I wouldn't be surprised if Weiner and AMC said "SURPRISE! Season 8's already in production!" I could see the show going on for several years longer. Don's story was one that showed a cycle of renewal which is why I felt like I could relate to it on many levels. The opening theme sequence shows three stages. A man (Don) walking into an office with a briefcase. Him falling in the midst of buildings that show the ads he's created; his contribution to American life. And the third stage shows him in an armchair staring off into the distance in contemplation. It's right that the final episode ends with a scene of Don smiling because he has plunged deep into his fears and has come to terms with the cycle he was going through. He finally understood his anxieties and creates an ad campaign that helps battle those anxieties. It doesn't mean that now and forever, Don will be at peace, cause that's not how life works. Our dreams may endure the test of time or they may eventually erode. We don't know. But for now he's achieved a certain level of personal peace that will sustain him for now until that cycle begins again. 

NBA Superlatives

It's March ladies and gentlemen. I'm not entirely sure where the year went (or the NBA season for that matter) but the NBA Playoffs start in 35 days. It's been a season full of amazing highlights, classic games and of course, being this time of year, heated debates about who deserves what award for their performances this season. Declaring your MVP pick has become as controversial as arguing your religion or explaining why you didn't vote for Obama in the last election. For some reason this season, these conversations are imbued with more passion than I have seen in the last few years. I haven't seen arguments or such different hot takes since people picking between no. 23 and no. 24 in 2009.

And honestly, I feel that speaks volumes about the performances that have been put on this year by several players each trying to build their case for their brand, their team and to compete for an NBA Championship. In the last few weeks I've listened to a few podcasts, read some articles and had some conversations about these awards and it's been intriguing to me just how different the opinions have been. Everyone is so invested in their picks and I love it. So I woke up today and decided to list my choices and also to shed some light on some deserving players whose achievements this season aren't immediately recognizable to the casual NBA fan. 

Most Improved Player

Honorable Mentions: Draymond Green, Rudy Gobert, Hassan Whiteside.

I didn't think this is close but damn injuries. If he doesn't win it it's because of the games he would have missed by the time he comes back from his injury, but Jimmy Butler came in this season and wrecked shop. I'm really sitting here eating a plate full of crow. 

I denounced Jimmy Butler as an offensive player back in October and felt it was disrespectful that Bulls fans affectionately referred to him as "Jimmy Buckets" like we didn't have the pleasure of watching legends like Ricky Davis on the court. Like we hadn't all watched the same guy play the last two seasons. He couldn't shoot. But this season *cough*(excuse me. *spits out feathers*) *cough* he has easily been the best player for the Chicago Bulls. If you'd told me last year that he was going to be an All-Star I'd have asked how many people really got injured that year and how did the Bulls avoid the bug. He became Coach Thibs new workhorse after the other ones broke down (cheap shot. Sorry, not sorry) and handled the role impressively and without any visible complaints. His stats speak for themselves honestly (per Basketball Reference):

He upped his FG% from 39.7% to 46.2%. He was more aggressive going to the basket which increased his free throw attempts. He's a better rebounder. His points per game increased from 13.1 to 20.2. His ball-handling got significantly better.  And he's still playing elite defense. Now I really like the idea of Draymond Green winning it too because he's been spectacular (I'll get to him next) but for Jimmy, in a season that was supposed to be hallmarked with the re-return of Derrick Rose? And the addition of Pau Gasol? And he's still been the best player on the team? Come on man. Get well soon Jimmy Buckets.

6th Man of the Year

Honorable Mentions: Rudy Gobert, Lou Williams.

It almost feels like you have to give this award to Jamal Crawford by default right? His stats have dipped a little but he's still important to the Clippers mainly because the rest of their bench is trash. Nonetheless he's still been fairly impressive and his contribution is still a big boost to his team. However, I'd like to shed some light on a guy named Marreese Speights. 

Mo is averaging a career high 11 points per game with a FG% of 49.7%. He's playing more minutes under Steve Kerr and is a big part of Golden State's success with their second unit. His mid-range game is good. He's a contributor on defense. And he's been asked to step in to save the day during the stretches that the Warriors were without Andrew Bogut. It's a tossup between him and Jamal.

Coach of the Year

Honorable Mentions: Frank Vogel, Jason Kidd

Nothing to see here. It's between Mike Budenholzer (who I wrote about in my preseason rankings) and Steve Kerr. Both their teams are playing at elite levels and their fingerprints are all over it. Kerr has not only been able to bring the absolute best out of the Warriors; they've found that high gear. They look focused. They have the best offense and defense in the NBA. And he's a pretty funny guy.

On the other hand, Coach Bud is a magician. He took that Hawks team that has reveled in mediocrity for so many seasons and has been the laughingstock of both winning and losing teams and turned them into legit contenders. They took the Pacers to 7 games last year with all those injuries and I believe that was all Mike's doing.The play-making opens up their shooters. The team defense eliminates their weaknesses individually. It's between those two coaches. Move along.

Rookie of the Year

Honorable Mentions: Nikola Mirotic, Elfrid Payton

Winner: Andrew Wiggins. Move along.

Defensive Player of the Year

Honorable Mentions: Tim Duncan, Rudy Gobert, Kawhi Leonard, DeAndre Jordan, Marc Gasol etc. 

There are a lot of names that can be thrown in here. I think this category is a lot more convoluted than the MVP race. I will listen to any case. Except the one presented for DeAndre Jordan. I mentioned him because I love the improvement to his game this year but to give him DPOY, especially when his team isn't that good defensively seems like a stretch. Even if he's capable of doing stuff like this.

He plays more minutes than any big in the NBA and they're still not a good defensive team. Yeah he's averaging 2.2 blocks per game this season (very impressive) but I don't think that makes him a good rim protector. Tom Haberstroh of ESPN illustrated it pretty well. Opposing players shoot 49% at the rim when DeAndre Jordan is near the basket. That ranks 31st out of 59 big men. Bottom-half of the league in rim protection. Nah. Not when Rudy is out there and guys are shooting 39% at the rim. DJ isn't even the average. 

I digress. There are actually a lot of DPOY candidates out there. My personal favorite would have been Kawhi Leonard, if he hadn't missed so many games. What he's able to do against opposing ball-handlers is stifling. Just plain suffocating. 

However, I said this name back in December and I'm glad it's starting to catch on finally. Draymond Green is out there and he's been awesome this season.

 My friends think I'm crazy with this pick, but I feel like people aren't really paying attention to what this kid is capable of or his contributions to a Warriors defense that has top two interchangeably even without Andrew Bogut for long stretches. For a team that has been knocked out of the playoffs the last few seasons with the narrative being "they lost too much on defense because Bogut couldn't stay healthy", it hasn't made much of a difference this year and I believe that is all due to Draymond's defensive versatility. This kid guards positions 1-5 at a high level.

 Don't get me wrong though, there is something to be said for team defense and his teammates contribute to his overall effectiveness but regardless he's a weapon. He's a good rim protector, he's got active, strong hands, he can block shots, but most importantly he can switch on to any position which is important in today's game. He's my pick in a strongly contested race.

Most Valuable Player

Honorable Mention: Anthony Davis

I'm copping out of this one. Nope. Not picking anybody. My mind has changed on it several times in the last month and to pick one now would be a disservice to both players in the lead of the race, the best player in the world, AND the freak of nature catching up to them. The MVP race is all about the narrative. It helps build your argument. 

Lebron James is having a phenomenal season. In related news, water is wet. I barely remember a time he didn't force his way into an MVP discussion with his disgusting (I mean that in a good way) stats. I read about "voter's fatigue" concerning Lebron and it's true. I think eventually people just get tired of seeing him around and want something different. He's averaging 26 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds a game. He's still the best player in the world. The Cavaliers have been on a roll since he came back from his "injury" and he's been playing at an amazing level since then. The only thing that pushes him out of the race for me was that time missed. As Jalen Rose says "there's a difference between being hurt and being injured". Lebron could have played those weeks. But he didn't. Yes it's important to have the bigger picture in mind and be ready/healthy for the playoffs (and he needed to organize the two trades that brought them Mozgov, Shumpert and JR Smith) but he missed 11 games during that time. James Harden and Stephen Curry have been there for their teams all season. Westbrook in his own way too. Either way. Lebron is having an amazing year, but I just feel that the other three are currently pushing him out of the conversation. 

The race has been tight from jump. James Harden and Stephen Curry leaving other players in the dust. Both players have been out of their minds this season. Harden is a force of nature that needs to be reckoned with on a basketball court. He's too fast and too strong. Able to finish at the basket at will or draw the foul. His footwork in traffic is amazing. He's a cold-blooded killer with amazing handles leaving opposing defenders on their knees or backsides while he drains jumpers in their face.

And his defense has improved greatly (granted this isn't saying much considering where it was last season but STILL!) However, Harden's strongest case is the help that he has around him, or lack thereof. There's no other star on the team. He's done this in large part without Dwight Howard. He was the NBA's leading scorer up until last week. And his team is in the 3rd seed of the Western Conference. IF YOU HAD TOLD ME THAT THE ROCKETS WOULD BE IN THE 3RD SEED WITHOUT DWIGHT HOWARD, I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU TO STOP SMOKING CRACK! Yes that's how serious Harden's MVP case is. 

Then there's that kid. The Chef. Stephen Curry. One of the best shooters in NBA history. Off the dribble, in traffic, hand in his face and he's still drilling threes over your best defender from 8 feet behind the 3-point line. Curry gives opposing coaches headaches. Nightmares too with moves like this.

He's the best player on the best team in the NBA. That has to mean something right? 24 points and 8 assists doesn't really sound all that but it's the way he achieves it that makes him a problem for other teams. And it all happens in the 33 minutes per game that he's averaging this season. That's a lot for the amount of time he plays. However, he's dropping back a little. He's been fairly quiet in his last few games while Harden dropped a triple double.  But you have to acknowledge a guy that's still capable of things like this:

Speaking of triple doubles. Hello Russell Westbrook. I've been drinking the #LetWestbrookBeWestbrook Kool-Aid for the past 4 years now. I defended his game against the likes of Skip Bayless fans that thought he was terrible or that him and Durant couldn't work well together blah blah blah. Shut up. Russell is one of the most talented players in the world on offense and defense. At times I'm not even sure he's human. He's been called a rocket-ship, a monster, an alien etc. in the last few weeks and by now I'm sure you've heard why. 

A friend of mine, Paul Moses, @ScatterSports on Twitter, wrote about "What a Russell Westbrook MVP Season Would Look Like" (great read) and he did a great job of breaking down what he would need to do in order to win MVP. Then Russ got hurt. And life was sad for the Thunder for a little bit. And then he came back and exploded. See, what people are missing is that they think this Russ stretch started in the last 15 games or so. No. Russ was doing crazy things early on in the season. Then he poured gasoline all over himself and lit a match and went Super-Saiyan and is burning the NBA to the ground one game at a time. THIS DUDE BROKE HIS FACE! THERE WAS A DENT IN HIS FACE! AND HE CAME BACK A WEEK LATER AND OBLITERATED THE 76ERS.

In that game he dropped 49 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists... What? He averaged 31 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds for the month of February. What? He has a  Player Efficiency Rating of 29.91. Tom Haberstroh noted that of the 50 greatest NBA players of all time, only 5 have ever done that. He's in elite company. Also don't forget he's doing it without the current reigning MVP, Kevin Durant.

But like I said. The MVP award is all about the narrative. Which one is strongest as we head into the last 5 weeks of the regular season? Is it the guy who gives us jaw-dropping highlights while being the best player on a historically-elite team? The guy who's carried his team on his back the whole season and pushed them far past expectations into the top-half of the Western Conference and being 2nd in scoring? Or the freak of nature who's just blowing everything up in his wake? I mean seriously. Dude reminds me of the old Godzilla movies. It's a tough race going forward and it's a lot closer than people think in my opinion and that includes Westbrook. 

Focus on the narrative. 

Tetsuo & Youth: Don't Call it a Comeback

Good music just has a way of creating a universe filled with emotions, revelations and experiences that you can always call back to whenever you hear that certain song. When I pushed play on this album, I was reminded of all the places and different stages of my life when I first heard a Lupe song that stuck with me. Being in the car with my dad on the way home from high school graduation and hearing his verse on Touch The Sky for the first time while giving Late Registration its first listen. Or  listening to Steady Mobbin' (Ghetto Story) while walking to an 8am French class as a freshman on Baylor's campus in the dark hours of the morning cause it was right after Daylight Savings. Or hearing Streets on Fire in Tosin's car on the way home from playing basketball one night at the gym. Good music just does that to you and helps you capture every detail from certain moments. I haven't gotten that feeling from a Lupe project since 2007. 

Yeah Lupe... The excitement that Lupe fans had after The Cool for his next album died down over the years. Lasers won him a Grammy, but alienated him from a few fans (myself included). I barely remember Enemy of the State or Friend of the People. Food and Liquor II had some great tracks but overall it wasn't the album fans were expecting. His online persona didn't help with his popularity; while trying to be a conscious voice of the people through social media and interviews, he ended up estranging more fans. The weird thing is if you've ever heard a Lupe track before, his message never changed. His methods of delivering them did, ranging from overt to just plain outlandish. The Cool felt like a slow poison that took its time winding it's way through your nervous system. Food & Liquor II was a bazooka. What fans appreciated in his music was his ability to speak out on social issues in his lyrics so subtly, while telling a story that plays out like a movie in your head. His messages were never quite in your face. They were there. But woven into a tapestry of rhymes, metaphors and punchlines that always had the listener coming back for more because there was always a good chance that you could pick up something new on the 100th listen. On the first few listens of Tetsuo & Youth, it feels like Lupe has reestablished his own voice. And boy can he rap. 

  Mural (Lyrics) - Lupe Fiasco

On first listen of the album, it takes about 2.5 minutes before you first hear him rap. The anticipation builds up. Then he unleashes over 7 minutes straight of word-play on the second track of the album, Mural, in which he literally paints out a story with his lyrics.

          "We're all chemicals, vitamins and minerals/Vicodin with inner tubes, wrapped around the arm/To see the vein like a chicken on the barn/Top Cat chat, let's begin another yarn/That's flying saucer cheese, or is it chicken parm'/But roosters don't fly like boosters don't buy/So what powers cowards to get them to the top/Just to fall asleep listening to Bach?"

Those opening lines set the tone of what to expect for the rest of the album. With features from Ty Dolla $ign, Guy Sebastien and Crystal Torres, Lupe has tracks with great production and hooks that should be the singles off the album. Deliver with Ty Dolla already has a video out and is my personal favorite track so far. Lupe uses pizza delivery to illustrate imbalances in the US economy. The beat rumbles. Ty delivers the album's best hook. It reminds me of Ghetto Story but more subtle. And Lupe is a goddamn beast on the track. 

  Deliver (Music Video) - Lupe Fiasco

        "Can I get delivered from the sin and get a little slice of Heaven I can enter in again/Or maybe just imagine that I'm livin in a mansion or a palace and my pizza gets delivered in a Benz/Make a savior out of savage like they made it out of magic/So it take a nigga havoc and it make it into friends/You don't even need a salad, it don't make a nigga fatter/Actually take a nigga backwards and make a nigga thin/That's a deep dish/Chicago style get the peace stick/Homerunner hitter, I be drillin' on the weak pitch/Pay into the plate then I put it in your face/I'm a man, never bitin' on the hands that I eat with"

For the first time on a Lupe production, I think it's safe to say there's something here for everyone to listen to. But as an overall album, it's surprising and impressive that it all melds together so well. "Chopper" initially sounds like something I'd hear on a Juicy J or Que track. Admittedly I only knew two of the featuring rappers before but everyone knows Trae Tha Truth as the legendary whisperer of the streets. It flows with a trap beat, a catchy hook and ad-libs Migos would be proud of.

I can pick and choose different tracks to support my argument that this album shows the rapper's evolution as an artist; at the very least he's returned to form. After going through the track-list four times, I know it's not enough. Lupe productions work like an RPG video game or Candy Crush. You just listen to them over and over again until you unlock the next meaning behind each line. There are no skip tracks on this album. Everything comes together and fits perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle being solved by a machine. Yet it flows with beautiful ease considering the many different parts he's implemented into it. It makes a strong impact on the avid listener and should have the passive listener pushing the rewind button several times per track. The Judo Master of Juxtaposition is back.

Note: 

• All BS aside, despite the stuff he's released over the last few years, I was excited for this album after he dropped this freestyle on Sway In The Morning.

The Transformation of Rick Grimes

Zombies create a quite a unique setting for a drama. Undead humans, moaning, walking, attacking violently trying to satisfy an eternal hunger by eating anything they can get their decaying hands on. The modern concept created by George Romero in his Night of the Living Dead has seen several waves of popularity over the years; but there's been a resurgence in the past few years. Zombies are everywhere. I don't believe that there's any other genre that allows you to examine what makes up a fictional character on a very basic physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level and that does so so simply and effortlessly. Put a bunch of survivors in the middle of a zombie apocalyptic wasteland and watch how they adapt to their new lives. From a literary aspect, it's great material for following and analyzing character transformation. For the casual watcher, there's plenty of violence and WTF moments to keep them entertained. And I don't feel any other zombie project (except World War Z - seriously get the book on Amazon or from Audible.com. Great story in there) does this as well as AMC's The Walking Dead. 

(SPOILERS AHEAD if you're not caught up to Season 5 episode 4)

We're four episodes into the fifth season and this is honestly the best it has ever been. I'm a big fan of the show and I'll tell you that aside from a few classic episodes, everything since they got to Herschel's farm in season 2 has ranged from mediocre to shite. The show slowed to a snail's pace for long periods during seasons 2-4. Herschel tried to turn our protagonist, Rick, into a farmer, Carl and Lori were nuisances. Andrea was a monumental idiot and The Governor long overstayed his welcome. 

Season 4 (which was divided into two parts) ended up being a long journey even though it moved in the right direction. The first part was largely forgettable, but the second part was where the show finally started to come into its own again. The gang was separated into smaller factions and things were fairly quiet. This gave writers an opportunity to flesh out the lesser-known characters and give the stars stronger backgrounds... I mean we saw Daryl cry. Relationships were fostered between different members of the band like Daryl and Beth or Michonne and Carl and new characters from the graphic novel were introduced to push the story forward. It was slow, but it was needed. This should have been done in Season 2, but better late than never. Then we got the best finale the show had had to date. 

For me, "A" was better than Season 2's finale "Beside The Dying Fire" for one reason. In the Season 2 finale, Rick said he was going to be a leader, and it was his way or the highway, and he was going to do whatever it took blah blah blah. He lied to us.

Season 4's finale and these first few episodes have been all about action as opposed to dialogue. The question "Is Rick a farmer or a warrior" was finally done with when his only living relative was being threatened with rape and murder. The shot that rang next to Rick's ear left a whining noise that symbolized a complete shift across the spectrum that left us with a Rick Grimes character that was ready to do anything to protect his son. Season 2 left us with a long, crazy speech (rant) given by Rick. Season 4 had Rick biting a dude's throat out and stabbing a guy over and over again.

A theme has been found and the writers are clearly going to push it to its limits. "What kind of monster does one have to be in order to survive?". One thing Kirkman got about the zombie genre in his graphic novel, and that the show has finally understood is that it's not about the zombies. Yeah walkers are cool and gross and all but you seen one zombie, you seen em all. It's about the survivors. The characters. Who were they before the zombies came? What was life like? How have they survived so long in this post-apocalyptic world? How have they changed since? How much of one's humanity can really be preserved while trying to protect themselves and the people they love? Herschel and Dale preached peace and humanity during these dark times. They're also both dead, which in itself is a testimony against their proposed ways of thinking in the new world. Taken by the new dangers  in the form of walker and human alike. The sad (really depressing) part about The Walking Dead is that it's only right that the longer the story goes on any new survivors that are met are going to be some f*cked-up-in-the-head people. You don't survive that long without getting dirty. I mean, look at Rick's shirt. And there's no end in sight.

The Walking Dead is a story about Rick's life in this post-zombie world and how he has dealt with the tragedies that has befallen him. Ultimately, the Rick we have now, on a very fundamental level, only cares about his children Carl and Judith. Everyone else (Michonne, Daryl, Glenn) is a close second. He won't admit it yet and maybe he never will, but I'm sure the writers will give us a better glimpse at that in the future. This Rick doesn't have mercy in his veins anymore. There are no niceties about this guy. Look how quickly things changed when him and Abraham had that standoff about taking the bus. That was the tensest 10 seconds of TV I've watched since Walter and Skyler White decided to settle their domestic issues with a kitchen knife. 

You can go back and watch the first few seasons of this show. Follow the way he thinks and reacts to the problems back then. I remember in Season 2 when that kid from a random group got captured, and there was a HUGE, boring debate between the survivors about whether to keep him alive or not. The Rick we have today would shoot him in the head and keep on trucking. Back then he had Lori, Dale and Herschel were relied on as voices of reason. Now all he has are echoes of past mistakes and the voices of the dead ringing in his head. Come back to this season and look at the way he dealt with Gareth and the cannibals. The Rick from Season 1 is gone. So is Carl. Daryl and Michonne have been shown to have softer sides. And who would have thought Beth would be interesting enough to carry a whole episode by herself? This Rick refuses to make mistakes. He acts. Threats must be dealt with immediately, as evidenced by his wanting to go back to Terminus and make sure everyone was killed. Being reunited with Judith calmed him down enough to forget but in this world, we can see how that turned around and almost bit them in the ass (there's a joke in there about walkers or cannibals taking a bite out of Bob but it's 4am and I can't see it). 

The Walking Dead has really come a long way from the formulaic episodes in its early days. Minor plot progression, walker fight, big conversation about morals, Lori gets mad, more walkers, Herschel plants some veggies while dropping wisdom, more walkers, episode ends. It's become really hard to predict. The themes are more resounding and carry more weight. Characters are more relatable than they have ever been. And on a less analytical level; Rick is just an old-fashioned badass. Maybe it's the beard. Either way, I trust him now more as a leader of this group than I ever did (considering that last season I found myself wishing Shane was still alive and that's saying a lot).

Side-note before the other random notes: I wonder when we're going to get our signature "Coooooral" scream from Rick. 

Random Notes:

• TAINTED MEAT!
• "We didn't want to waste the bullets."
• Tyreese's face after Rick, Abraham and Michonne beat/mutilate the cannibals in the church was priceless.
• Gareth the cannibal, was a pretty good villain. He'd have been awesome with more episodes but Rick said no. Farewell Gareth. 
• Dawn, the leader of the hospital in Slabtown, is just as terrible a villain as the governor. I was over her after about 10 minutes. And she needs to stop hitting Beth.
• Still surprised Beth could carry a whole episode by herself... With help from Everybody Hates Chris. 
• On the subject of cameos, I need more actors from The Wire on this show. They just seem to fit in so well. I mean... Baltimore and post-apocalyptic zombie world are pretty close in nature right? Just give me Bubbles, Marlo, Wee-Bey or Snoop. Just keep em coming.
• Wonder who the next major character to die's gonna be... I mean. Season 5 is usually where dramas throw some haymakers. Glenn can't hide forever. The writers know we all love him. 
• In case you liked the opening song to last week's episode "Slabtown".
• "How can you trust a man with a mullet?" as a friend of mine aptly put it. 
• The Walking Dead is nearing Lost quality with the way their reunions hit the audience. Carol and Daryl was especially touching then Rick and Carl saw Judith.