Like Walt, I have “bigger things to worry about” than how to format my Breaking Bad Instant Review so from here on in this is how it’s going to be. I’ll give my thoughts about the episode and then talk about the developments for each character who’s relevant. Now on to the review!
Episode
A couple small resolutions this week but nothing really germane to the serious issues on the table (Gus vs. Walt, Jesse’s mental state, etc). This one felt like a step back in terms of action to prep us for what should be an explosive episode next week.
This episode could just as easily have been called “bigger things to worry about” or “what I do to cope”. Everyone in this show has their own way of dealing with very serious issues in their life. Walter deals drugs, Jesse parties, Marie steals, Hank collects rocks and the list goes on. Things could get weird if they ever decide to show us how Saul deals with his issues!
Skyler
For some reason I’m still shocked by how quickly this show ties up plot points. Maybe that’s just another thing that makes it so great. I fully expected them to put the carwash on the back burner again after Skyler’s confrontation with ‘Eyebrows’; give her time to mull it over and come up with a plan while Walt takes care of his business. But no, instead they put a bow on that little gift and mail it off to your mother-in-law in the very same episode. This is great news for my relationship with Skyler. For the past 3 seasons, she has been the super-bitch. Not always in a direct way, sometimes passive-aggressively as Walt incorrectly says this week but she has always needed to control Walt. Now that tendency is being directed toward the White family’s enemies and I’m loving it. I can’t wait to see Skyler become more involved in the family business.
Walt & Skyler
Something interesting is happening with Walt and Skyler. At the beginning of the series Walt was constantly chastising Jesse for not following the procedure exactly, improvising, adding useless ingredients to his meth recipe (Chili-P!!) and not paying attention to the details. Now, Walt has grown careless; he’s no longer concerned with the details. According to him he has “bigger things to worry about.” This would be a much bigger issue if he were in it by himself but ‘new Skyler’ seems to be turning into ‘old Walt’. She’s seems VERY (I’d say overly) concerned about every single detail. It’ll be interesting to see how long she can keep him from sabotaging himself.
Marie
It’s good to see Marie get a strong episode. She’s been second fiddle to Hank since the series began but she really shined in this one. Notice that nothing Marie stole in this episode had any significant value. She’s not stealing because she needs money, she’s stealing just to steal. It apparently takes her mind off of Hank for a while. But when she gets caught, the weight of her situation comes crashing down on here and she has a breakdown. I really think she’s at her breaking point and this marriage is doomed before the season ends unless Hank snaps out of his funk. I swear I saw the mental switch flip from “married” to “divorced” as she stared out the kitchen window.
Hank
He takes another step away from Marie this week. He’s downright pissed when Marie calls him from jail. Yet, in the very next scene, he’s happy to see the officer with the notes. Remember what I said about the rapid-fire pace of this show? Maybe I’m just not interested in their storyline as much as Walt and Jesse’s but it feels like its time for Hank and Marie’s issues need to come to a head.
Jesse
I know this is one of the best shows on television but I’m not sure what point of Jesse’s scenes were tonight. He had very little screen time and what time he did have seemed to do nothing to move his plot forward. We already know that he’s freaking out about Gale. We already saw him semi-destroy his house (though this time things are a bit more damaging) and party his ass off. I suspect that the writers just wanted to keep Jesse’s issues fresh in our minds going into next week. That said, there was one new development in the Jesse/Walt relationship.
It seemed to me that Jesse was trying to connect with Walt a bit more during their scene in the lab. He asked him to race go-karts but Walt turned him down. When Walt turned him down and asked how he was doing, Jesse noticed that he hadn’t got an explanation from Walt about his shiner and decided that he’d rather not share. Seems like Walt’s less concerned with Jesse’s life now that he’s got “bigger things to worry about” and Jesse just realized it. How quickly Walt forgets about someone when he doesn’t need them to kill for him!
Huel
I can’t tell if Huel’s medical problems are foreshadowing or a continuing gag along the lines of Walt in his underwear but this is the 2nd time we’ve seen or heard about the man having health issues. A bathroom hasn’t seen a mess like the one Huel probably left since Jesse disposed of Emilio way back in episode 2. I just hope Walt doesn’t let it leak into the groundwater.
I have more thoughts and speculation but I’m saving the rest for the Breaking Good podcast tomorrow. You can find all the episodes in this section or subscribe to it through iTunes. If you want us to include your feedback about this week’s episode, you can tweet it to me or email us. Of course we’d really appreciate if anyone listening to the podcast could review us on iTunes. It helps us get the word out to strengthen the Breaking Bad community.