Hey, that was an alright episode last night, don’t you think? Could have been better. Gus could have gunned down the cartel “say hello to my little friend” style. I also didn’t like how that Don Eladio guy snubbed my man Jesse with the premium hooch.
All joking aside, that was a pretty epic episode. I completely missed the Emmys. Any award show that managed not to recognize The Wire with a single trophey is total bullshit in my book. But through the miracle of YouTube, you can see a pretty funny Breaking Bad / The Office mashup if you missed it last night. Also, several people were complaining last night on the internet about Breaking Bad being “snubbed”. As was mentioned when the nominations came out, BrBa is ineligible this year, since it was off the air for over a year. I’m sure it will be roaring back next year.
Reviews! First of all, don’t miss me and Jim’s review. Mine is here, and Jim’s is over there.
Alan Sepinwall pitches some heat in our first professional review. I liked how he highlighted more of the student becomes the master theme, as he correctly notes that Jesse’s “asshole” confrontation with the cartel’s chemist is straight up Walter White, flavored with some bitch, yo. “Season 4 is on a real roll as we head into these last 3 episodes. Damn.” Indeed, and I for one cannot wait to see where all this goes. I have a good idea, but the last episode remains unspoiled, and part of me is hoping it stays that way.
Melissa Maerz is as always batting second. She has nice takes on Jesse becoming “the guy”, the irony of drinking Zafiro Añejo to your health, and the recurring eyes/glasses theme… “It’s telling that his eyeglasses are cracked: he can’t see himself in the same way anymore. Glasses are a big theme this week. Walt breaks his. Saul accuses Skyler of wearing rose-colored ones. And after the whole Mexican cartel has been poisoned, Gus puts his glasses back on, very slowly and deliberately. Gus’s vision for Los Pollos is getting more acute, while Walt’s losing his focus.”
Check out this image from an astute redditor entitled, “did anyone else notice the ‘8’ theme in last night’s episode?” Although, I’m not sure it’s the number eight, per se, but perhaps the sign for “infinity”. The student becoming the master, the weak overthrowing the powerful, and the drug trade itself, with it’s endless war all represent a cycle that continues forever, unbroken. What do you think?
I’m short on time, so let’s move to the official stuff. It doesn’t look like the Insider podcast is up yet, but they do have the Inside video for 410 “Salud”, as well as a preview for episode 411 “Crawl Space”, and a chance to ask viewer questions of Breaking Bad composer Dave Porter and have him answer them next week.
Email us your thoughts about the show, any links or news we might have missed, or any original takes you want to get out of your system. Tonight, we cast! We’ll use as much feedback as we can by the time we start, which is usually about 7pm EST. See you tomorrow!