Monday, August 8, 2011

Breaking Bad 4x04 - Bullet Points

Jesse: This is the part where I'm supposed to beg you not to do it? "Oh please, please!" And then what? I'm supposed to promise, cross my heart, to like, straighten up, fly right, or toe the line or some other crap that I'm not gonna say? Is that what your little show here was all about?

Jesus H. Christ. My heart can't take a show like this. I swear. The suspense, anxiety tension - pick a word. Whatever it is, it's going to kill me.

Spoilers from the latest "Breaking Bad" under the cut...

So we open to Mike, our happy-go-lucky wise-guy, hit-man and ex-cop extraordinaire chilling (literally) in a truck to do some grunt work for the ever looming Gus. For all that Mike is with "the bad guys," I couldn't help but panic a bit as the truck got shot up by some drug lord rival's minions. Of course, Mike shakes off the bullets, easily kills them both, and then even manages to fix his ear up a bit before we end our opening sequence for the episode.

Guys. Our opening sequence. One of my favorite characters almost got killed before the intro rolled.

A lot of shows with that kind of shoot-it-up action couldn't have that be the starting point to what was, for me, one of the most nerve-wracking episodes of the show yet. It's the only gun-slinging part of the episode, but aside from Walt's talk with Skyler (during which I could only laugh, out loud and often) and Saul (during which I wondered who that disappearing act would have relevance for later down the line), it was the most relaxed part of my forty-five minutes.

Hank's sort of an oaf of a man, but for all that he's very good at what he does, and even before we saw Gale dancing and singing on the silver screen, I couldn't help but think that he would catch on some how. Logically, I get that it doesn't make much sense for the writers to pull that kind of an ace out of the hat quite yet, but the look of horror on Walt's face when reads the 'dedicated to W.W.' portion of Gale's journal was nearly enough to convince me that the rest of the episode would be spent with Walt frantically trying to escape his wheel-chair bound brother-in-law in a fest of giggles and mayhem. Except, you know. With more blood and screaming.

A thing that I want to touch upon right quick - since the start of the show we've had Hank and Walt presented as kind of opposites. Hank is a man's man. He's burly, healthy, and tough, and wouldn't read a book unless someone smacked him across the head with one. And then he'd punch them. He's also a DEA agent, and the most consistent threat the show has presented for Walt being found out. Meanwhile, our hero starts out as a nerdy high school teacher, deathly ill, and has absolutely no notion how to go about life in general in a productive manner, much less how to successfully start cooking meth. Now, their situations are nearly opposite. Walt's in remission, he's at the top(ish) of his trade and is about to take the next step to get himself a nice business, while Hank's a cripple out-of work cop collecting rocks. Yet for all that, Walt has to give his unspoken foe a nice jab and compulsively correct his mineral facts. It's a simplistic reading, but it's all about masculinity, and how self-conscious Walt is about how little of it he has when compared to Hank. After all, one does not take away any glory from a lame uncle is showing off to his nephew unless somebody has some petty, pent-up frustrations furrowed away somewhere.

But I digress.

I found that situation stressful. Then we move on to the delightful scene that is Jesse's crack den. Looking at it, we know that the matters can only escalate from bad to worse. As is, there's a chaotic sort of order to the place, with Jesse supplying money, food, and drugs as needed so he can create enough distractions to forget the thing he did. But we know it won't last for long without someone getting killed, cops getting called, etc. And as Walt mentions, Gus doesn't like any of that sort of attention.

Not to say that Pinkman has descended so for that he doesn't know that he killed a man, or what he's risking by creating the circus around him. His stand-off with Mike is enough to prove that even while apathetic and high, and all but screaming 'death wish' to the heavens, Jesse knows exactly what the situation is. Which is why Walt's attempts to bring him to reason, to make him take some measures to protect himself, are exactly the last thing Jesse wants. Walt will protect Jesse the only way he knows how.* By being neurotic, obsessing over every last detail, and forcing a trauma victim to re-experience the event that caused him so much pain. Because, dammit, that's the only way to make certain everything is in order. As far as Jesse knows (and me, for that matter), the worst Gus and Mike will do is kill him.

*Not Heisenberg, though. More on that later.

Which is all well and good and stressful enough, but then we keep getting these reminders throughout the episode that everyone else knows it too. Walt knows. Saul knows. Gus and Mike talk about needing to do "something" to keep Jesse in check.

And then Jesse goes missing.

The add campaign for the fourth season of "Breaking Bad" was an interesting one. Commercials and posters proclaimed that, "This time, Walt isn't in danger. Walt is the danger." Which, you know, is nice to say and all, but we haven't really seen that as of yet. Gus murdered a man in cold blood to make a point, Skyler for all intents and purposes took over a large portion of 'the business,' Mike slapped Walt around a bit. So far Walt hasn't seemed to be dangerous so much as he seemed to be running scared, and with good reason.

But then they took Jesse.

The relationship between Mr. White and Jesse Pinkman is an odd one that's developed just as oddly over three seasons of misadventures, but it is clear that they are as close as a father and son. So much so that Jesse will kill a man to make Walt proud, and Walt will demand to a man who has every reason (and means) to kill him that he will not cook if Jesse doesn't work with him.

When he stares at the camera at the end of the episode, demanding to know, "Where is he?" we're not seeing Walter White anymore. We're seeing Heisenberg. And I can't wait to see what he does to get his partner back.**

** I refuse to believe that the writers would kill of Jesse and loose half of the most important dynamic on the show. Plus, I won't let them. Through sheer force of squee I shall protect him! *huggles Jesse*

Some other thoughts....
  • How does everyone feel about Skyler? I am very much of two minds about her. On one hand, I find her brilliant. Her scheme to acquire the car wash was amazing, clever, and downright dirty. On the other, her ridiculous obsessing over their 'revelation' script is nearly unbearable. Any thoughts?
  • These are some damn manipulative writers/directors/people. When Jesse pulls that girl up off the floor in the crack den, I assumed he was going to have his way with a high girl, not play video games. Never mind the naked woman we saw on the bed earlier in the episode - we didn't see how she got there! She could have just been resting! Alas, manipulative or not, the scene expressed something terrible and brilliant about Jesse's character - he still has the capacity to be truly innocent. He just wants to play on his X-box for a while. (Don't make it dirty.) Stupid manipulative writers. 
  • I really like Mike. The look on his face when that piece of his ear flops out of place - priceless. 
  • So my pet project with this show is looking at the colors characters wear/are surrounded by at any given time. It's actually really annoying, because I often find myself ignoring the great plot unfolding before me to obsess over the fact that as Marie spirals back into her kleptomaniac ways (etc.), her purple is being tainted with yellow (the same color as the major players in the drug business). The biggest thing I noticed this episode was the gradual removal of the red that had been present since Jesse shot Gale. By the end of the episode, Walt and Gus are back in yellow, while Jesse is wearing pure black. Bad sign. (Although grey is what he wore when he was in recovery, so...?)
  • We're seeing less of Junior so far this season. I don't mind so much, but the kids aren't really getting much screen time, when they're supposedly the main reason why their parents are descending deeper into the drug trade.

What did you all think?

1 comment:

  1. Hey, I just finished this episode. I think it's interesting how you distinguish between Walt and Heisenberg, and I know what you mean but how do you tell when there aren't such explicit cues as the hat?

    Also, I wish I could get your color code narration through the whole show.

    I am also very much of two minds about Skyler. I wasn't super fond of how she treated Walt when she didn't know/care and think I like her even less now that she wants to participate. I reflexively adore her because of the genius shit she does, but I think at this point I hate her even more, more than Walt, more than perhaps any character. She doesn't have the masculinity complex thing as alibi, she only has the idle genius mind alibi (same as Walt) which on its own cannot justify the danger she's plunging herself and her family into.

    I've also been enjoying the role reversal between Walt and Hank and noting, with a knowing cringe, Walt's continuing mental assault on his brother in law. One of the important subtexts that goes a long way to justify how fucked up everything Walt does is is how much fucking up he's clearly endured over his life. Walt is really really damaged, and was at the beginning of the show. How he managed to contain it for all those years up until we meet him in the pilot is the part I have trouble understanding/believing.

    I love that still you have of Jesse. In this episode, he's nearly a caricature of badass/cool/not caring if he lives or dies. Really, the only genuinely interesting moment is when Walt is pumping him about the murder. I love Jesse, but for the last season he has been off the deep end. I hope he comes back at least a little, because he's not as good a foil to Walt in his current state.

    The bit with the Xbox was a great fake out, but I think that the writers aren't just illustrating his innocence lurking-- it also illustrates how little you trust Jesse and how you're not supposed to. Like I said in today's blog post, Jesse has got some monster in him too. The killing the gang members thing is haunting me-- what kind of moral center *needs* to murder people for some sense of justice? His monstrousness is totally rooted in emotion, making him a very different monster from Walt, but a monster all the same.

    Well, that was quite a bit of writing. Time for me to go to sleep!

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