Breaking Bad: Cornered Episode Review

SPOILER ALERT:

Breaking Bad “Cornered” starts off almost exactly like the earlier episode “Bullet Points”.  Only this time, it isn’t Mike hiding in the truck, it’s two guards employed by Gus.  The truck is once again hijacked by the Mexican drug cartel wanting to muscle in on Gus’s trade.  This time, though, the two guards are killed when the cartel men funnel deadly exhaust fumes into the trailer of the truck and lock the guys in so they can’t escape.  A completely different tone than when Mike gets part of his ear shot off.  Once again, “Cornered” means two things, it refers to the teaser when the guards are cornered in the truck and it refers to Walt’s feelings about his life, his loss of control over how people perceive him and the role he has to play through half his life, the role of a docile former chemistry teacher who is a cancer survivor but isn’t that exciting while only Jesse, Walt and the audience realizes the real Walt, the one who is capable of being ruthless and fearless.

Walt’s interactions with Skyler take a turn for the worse when she realizes he didn’t want to actually get back together with her.  This realization leads to Skyler confronting him, thinking he’s crying out for help, which is an insult to all Walt stands for at this point in his life.  He stopped crying out for help in the Pilot episode and it’s been a non-stop ride as Walt becomes a fearless individual that only the threat of death could inspire him to become.  So as Skyler tries to comfort Walt, he gets increasingly agitated as what he really wants is respect for his actions.  Hence, his speech about why everyone should fear him.  “… don’t think of me in danger – I am danger.”  Skyler’s response is to take the baby and go.  Walt doesn’t seem to worry; after all, he’s gone beyond just being a dependable husband and father.  This is highlighted in his discussion with Skyler about how much money he makes.  He’s completely changed his relationship to money and power, both of which have replaced personal relationships in Walt’s world.  As Skyler says to him at the end of the episode, “Someone has to protect this family from the man who protects this family.”

Walt is also forced to confront the former car wash owner,  Bogdan, who talks down to him and tells him to be a boss, he must be tough.  Walt takes the lecture in stride, putting up with the recurring line that he must accept the car wash ‘as-is’ which Walt uses against him, taking the framed dollar from the first sale of the car wash during Bogdan’s tenure as owner.  And after Bogdan leaves, Walt smashes the frame, takes the dollar and puts it in the coke machine and buys a coke.  Yes another illustration of Walt’s new arrogance with money, and for some reason, it’s rather empowering but somehow unsettling as well.

Money comes up again when Walt buys Walt, Jr. a brand new sports car.  He was going to follow Skyler’s rules and buy Walt, Jr. a used car but when Junior says, “If you’re gonna buy me, buy me,” Walt takes it as a resounding endorsement of his new financial prowess, the male equivalent to strutting like a peacock.  The irony of the situation is that Walt started to earn the money for his family but it’s what is driving a wedge in all his relationships.  This is illustrated by the confrontation between Skyler and Walt right before the end of the episode when she demands he return the car because it will raise red flags everywhere and he blames her cautious behavior for creating problems for him with Junior.  Walt has missed that his ego is what is causing the actual problems.

Jesse and Walt have a fight about Gus’s and Mike’s intention with the new found relationship being established.  Walt is right that it is to sabotage him but that doesn’t help his frustration when Jesse is called away to ‘help’ Mike to retrieve the stolen meth.  Jesse surprises Mike by effectively dealing with the two meth-heads and Mike does give Jesse credit with Gus.  And while it seems like Jesse is gaining some self-respect through action, Walt once again relies on money to solve his problems.  When Jesse is called away, Walt decides that he’s not going to clean the lab alone (he believes it is beneath him and also he’s lost some authority as Jesse was called out to do something more important than help clean the lab and Jesse’s just a glorified assistant).  He must lash out and fight back.  He does this by hiring three women who are working in the laundry facility that is a front to hide the lab.  He pays them generously and sits back, arrogantly sipping his coffee.  He’s reminded his cavalier actions have consequences though, as the three women get carted off by one of Gus’s thugs.  He claims they are going back on a bus somewhere but that seems a bit too optimistic.  It’s getting dangerous to even interact with Walt these days.  But he doesn’t seem to mind.

It will be fascinating to see the relationship between Walt, his money and his increasing arrogance as his life continues to slowly unravel.  No matter what, we know the consequences to Walt’s actions are always steep.  That’s what makes the show so compelling to watch.

Watch “Inside Breaking Bad:  Cornered”

My Vlog Review of the episode.

Breaking Bad: Shotgun Episode Review

SPOILER ALERT:

While previous Breaking Bad episodes this season tended to be Walt-centric, this episode is more about Jesse.  Don’t be fooled by Walt’s actions and the fair amount of time he has in the story because this is about how Jesse will come out of his funk and gain confidence.

We might start the episode with Walt driving like a maniac to confront Gus about Jesse’s whereabouts, and we might think Walt is finally going to pull the trigger and ice Gus.  But no.  Walt wants a confrontation but it doesn’t happen.  In fact, he looks almost ridiculous when Mike calls him on his cell phone asking him what he thinks he’s doing.  As soon as he’s determined (sort of) that Jesse’s alive for the time being, he agrees to go do the cook alone.  He’s not happy though.  His carefully order world is not functioning as smoothly as it did before.  If you disagree, re-watch the scene as Walt does the cook alone.  We are forced to endure his POV, heaving chemicals up into giant vats, hitting buttons that look like they might stop a nuclear meltdown.  He breathes heavily (I’d almost forgotten he had lung cancer), and by the time he’s finished the first part of the cook, he looks like he’s ready to collapse.  He also notices the camera watching constantly.  It adds another dimension of stress and uneasiness to his existence.  This is a different Walt.  Not calm, cool and collected like so many times before.  This Walt is unraveling.  And Jesse’s ambiguous position in the organization is helping this emotional and mental crisis along.  It’s clear Mike will play a Walt substitute, what isn’t clear is how Walt will ultimately react to being replaced as Jesse’s mentor and keeper.

Essentially, Gus is having Mike reprogram Jesse.  He’s being taught that he can be useful and possibly valued in an organization that just recently was going to have him killed.  As we suffer with Jesse, through his point-of-view (almost constantly in the drop scenes), we must feel the apprehension, terror (who hasn’t thought they may have to use their car keys against an attacker?  Jesse must have seen that episode on Oprah), mind-numbing boredom and restlessness.  Soon Jesse assumes he is there for another reason if Mike isn’t going to kill him.  He believes he is there to guard Mike and the money.  His attitude starts to change.  He begins to take pride in his work.  This leads to the moment of truth.  When Jesse sees two assailants that he believes have come to rob Mike of the drop cash.  One is carrying a shotgun.  Jesse makes his move to protect the money, using Mike’s car as a weapon.  He gets away and finds Mike then becomes a hero, at least in his own eyes.  Suddenly Jesse isn’t a loser, he’s an asset to the organization.  This is illustrated when Walt later finds Jesse breaking up the ‘meth ice’ and Jesse says that he’s taking care of business and Walt should as well.  Then Jesse announces he’s working with Mike later.  Walt is losing his power.  And he doesn’t like it.  Not one bit.

It isn’t only Jesse that Walt is losing power with.  It is Skyler as well.  Not only is Skyler going to control the drug money laundering through the new car wash business she will run, she’s controlling their relationship.  They end up sleeping together and suddenly she has him moving back in the house, determining the day it will be, telling Walt Junior before she even tells Walt himself.  Walt doesn’t look pleased that he’s returning home because that means losing a bit more autonomy.

All of Walt’s action in this particular story tend to be a reaction to Jesse.  He is not himself.  He is Jesse’s friend and mentor who is losing his place in Jesse’s life.  While Jesse is enjoying being needed, Walt is getting angrier being discounted by his own brilliant contribution to the meth landscape of New Mexico.  Even in death, Gale is reaching out, stealing Walt’s glory.  As Walt gets drunk at dinner at Hank and Marie’s he starts to poke holes in Hank’s assessment of Gale’s greatness and suggests that Hank’s Heisenberg is still out there on the loose.  Enough so that Hank gets back all the files he’s returned and re-examines the crime scene photos.  He notices a Los Pollos Hermanos bag in the evidence photos and realizes Gale is a vegan who wouldn’t eat fried chicken.  Walt got his wish.  The chase is on.

Watch AMC’s Inside the Series for this episode.

Watch my Vlog Review on YouTube.

Breaking Bad: Bullet Points Recap

SPOILER ALERT:

We are with Mike, in a refrigerated truck.  Gus’s chicken truck has been made.    A rival drug cartel opens fire on the truck and we aren’t sure Mike can survive the attack… until, the two guys with the automatic weapons get blown away by Mike.  Now, he is slightly wounded but I’m not going to tell you how because it is worth watching where the wound is and his reaction.  It’s one of the best moments in the episode.

Skyler still needs more control, this time she wants to make sure their cover story (that Walt made all his money because his won loads at gambling and is now in recovery) checks out.  Walt gets annoyed with her and yes, they do need to cover all their tracks but when Skyler gives Walt a script with bullet points (hence the name of the episode), to memorize what he needs to remember to keep up his cover story, it becomes clear that Walt must live by these bullet points to survive in the normal world.  Also, an ironic title, as Walt is continually threatened by real bullets in many episodes.

Walt and Skyler, along with Junior, have dinner with Hank and Marie.  Junior is proud that his dad is a gambler.  If he only knew!   I’m sure he’d be out selling for his dad.  The most uncomfortable and poignant scene comes when Walt and Junior are hanging out with Hank looking at the mineral collection.  Hank decides to pull out the file on Gale’s death and asks Walt to put on the DVD of Gale doing karaoke.  Hank and Junior laugh, while Walt looks physically ill.  Not only from how close Hank is to discovering him but the sad irony that this man who was a meth cooker was also a nice, goofy guy, and now in his death, ordered by none other than Walt, is being laughed at by Walt’s own family.  Later, Walt and Hank discuss the case further.  Hank throws some ideas out at Walt, who is literally holding his breath as he listens to Hank’s obsession of hunting ‘him’ down.  Right now, Hank is wondering if Gale is the elusive “Heisenberg” character that Hank created as his alter persona, the ruthless meth/cooker dealer who has changed the landscape of crystal meth quality in New Mexico. Walt knows he needs to do something – but what?

Walt goes to Jesse’s and discovers his never-ending party.  Jesse doesn’t care what’s happening.  He’s far too wasted to function effectively at this point.  Jesse’s so freaked out by Walt’s interrogation of what happened when he shot Gale that he pays two crackheads to throw Walt out.  A bit later, Jesse gets robbed by one of his residents and Mike visits.  Mike recovers the cash and then goes to Gus, voicing his concerns about Jesse’s ability to function under his current state.

Later, Walt notices Jesse is missing from work and goes back to the house.  It’s empty of all crackheads, and it’s also missing Jesse.  We cut to Jesse being driven down a lonesome New Mexico highway, by Mike, heading into the unknown.

For more on Breaking Bad go to AMC’s Guide to the Episode.

Watch my Vlog Review and Recap on YouTube.

Breaking Bad: Open House

This week on Breaking Bad, the theme of control of one’s life, and lack thereof, is still going strong in “Open House.”   Jesse and Walter are not at the center of this particular narrative, although the episode starts with Walter noticing the surveillance cameras that are now up in the lab.  This episode is more about Skyler and Marie’s attempts to control their environment which is starting to spin out of control.

While Skyler uses her education and business experience, Marie uses her criminal inclinations to assert herself.  Ironically, both use lies in different ways to achieve their goals.  For Skyler, there is a positive outcome.  For Marie, it is less certain.  Watching these characters flounder is fascinating but I hope there will be more action soon.  We can only watch Walter brood with a gun he can’t use right for so long.  The strung-out losers at Jesse’s house are, quite frankly, getting more than a bit creepy and it’s even more disturbing that he finds comfort surrounding himself in such chaos.  We also see that Gus is watching Jesse, which is not good news for Jesse.  It seems that besides Skyler’s business victory, the only other person moving from a negative space  is Hank, ignoring his mineral cataloguing to instead study the ‘lab notes’ from Gale’s apartment, found by the police.

SPOILER ALERT:

Perhaps the most well-written scene of the episode is when Skyler is negotiating over the phone for the car wash.  I won’t tell you about how she wears down the owner.  It’s too enjoyable to read about.  You should experience it first-hand.  Watching Skyler, calm and cool (ok she’s a bit nervous but compared to Walt, she could be the ice queen) is a revealing moment for the two characters.  Up until this point, we’ve watched Walt under extreme pressure.  We’ve seen him forced to kill.  We’ve seen him figure his way out of horrific situations.  So… it’s almost humorous watching Walt and realizing he does not seem to have any business sense for negotiations.  Which begs the question:  what would Skyler be like if she were in Walt’s position?

Marie’s actions aren’t half as intriguing.  She goes to open houses and lies about who she is, then steals items from the people’s homes.  Yes, she gets caught after probably the funniest scene in the episode as the real estate agent realizes she’s seen Marie before and tries to stop her from making an escape.  Marie is arrested but Hank manages to get the charges dropped.  Between Marie’s lying and stealing and Skyler’s negotiating, I’m wondering how they would fare dealing Walt’s meth.  Now, if only Hank would get on board.

Watch “Inside the Episode” from AMC.

My Vlog Review of the episode on YouTube.

Breaking Bad: Box Cutter Season 4 Premiere Review

Vince Gilligan is on top of his game, again, writing some of the best TV out there.  It’s hard to believe I ever shied away from this show worried that because the main character was dying of cancer that I would find it too depressing.  Instead, what I found (thanks to a friend convincing me to watch the series), was one of the most compelling character dramas I’ve ever watched on TV.  I don’t say that lightly as I am one of the most critical individuals you will ever meet (just ask friends, family, former students, former exes…).  It takes a lot to impress me and even more to make me a rabid fan of any show, but Vince Gilligan has managed this with his brilliantly crafted show, Breaking Bad.

Spoiler Alert from this point forward… If you aren’t familiar with the show, I suggest you go to iTunes and start downloading.  You won’t be sorry.  We follow the tale of Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher, stricken with cancer who needs to find a way to provide for his family when he’s gone.  He discovers that cooking crystal meth with his chemical knowledge, allows him to make such a high grade of the drug it becomes the most popular type in New Mexico, earning Walter a new job title.  Or at least part-time job title.  He teams up with a former student, who uses, deals, and essentially desperately needs to get his act together, Jesse Pinkman.  The drama ensues as these two pursue their new career trajectory.

By the time we reach Season 4, Walter and Jesse have been tested in more ways than is imaginable.  And why is Walter still alive?  He went into remission after going through chemotherapy.  So, Walter and Jesse are alive, but they’re constantly having their lives threatened.  I suppose this is completely realistic if one is a meth cooker/dealer on the rise in any place.  We begin in a disoriented state because, Gale, the cook/chemist that Jesse had to kill in order to save their lives at the end of Season 3, is alive.  And we are back in time, on Gale’s first day working for Gus, setting up the specialized cook lab.  Gale’s as excited as any kid on their first day of school (for kids who actually liked school and that sure wasn’t me).  Then suddenly we flash forward to the present and we see Gale dead, and the aftermath of the shooting.  Victor shows up, trying to do some damage control for Gus but it’s too late, the neighbors are there and he can’t do anything so he leaves.

In the meantime, Walter and Jesse are being held at the lab by Mike, the hitman/fixer for Gus.  Once Victor arrives and confirms the death of Gale, arrangements are made and Gus makes arrangements to visit the lab – the event everyone is waiting for.  Victor, cocky and highly self-assured is forced to admit to Mike that the neighbors saw him enter the apartment but they assumed he was just a curious by-stander.  Yeah right.  Victor doesn’t seem to understand the consequences of his actions so he proceeds to show Walter and Jesse they are both still expendable because he knows their recipe.  He starts cooking a batch of meth.  Gus shows up.

Now, we obviously know at least Walter, if not both he and Jesse, have to survive to keep the show going.  What we don’t know, however, is how Gus is going to deal with the situation.  Things don’t look like they’re on the upswing when Gus doesn’t speak.  And here is a bold, effective writing choice from Vince Gilligan.  Gus’ silence is far more effective in this scene than any words that could come from him.  It’s the old saying:  actions speak louder than words.  So we get to watch as Gus silently changes into a cook/hazmat protection suit, grabs a box cutter, moves past Walter and Jesse, then Mike to finally arrive at his victim:  Victor.  We all know what’s coming, and boy does it come… Gus slits Victor’s neck with the box cutter and all of us, characters and audience alike, are forced to watch Victor bleed out until he’s dead.  Then Gus tells them to get to work.  And clean up the mess.  Luckily for Walt and Jesse, there are plastic barrel and gallons of hydrofloric acid.  We won’t be seeing Victor again.

What’s so compelling about this episode happens at the end.  Walt and Jesse must decide how they will proceed.  It’s clear they are expendable.  It’s clear Gus wants them dead.  It’s only a matter of time until he acts again.  How are they going to react?  They ponder this over a Denny’s breakfast.  At least they know where to find some of the best comfort food in Albuquerque.

This season, these two will be pushed to their limits as characters.  I have a feeling Denny’s will get a lot of repeat business.

Watch my Vlog Review on YouTube.

Breaking Bad Season 4 Premiere Trailer: