This episode had some problems with its pacing. It's strange, because generally I can't critique this show on that particular issue, but this week's installment felt at times too slow and and others too crowded. Each individual element was important and interesting, but when they were tied together into a cohesive episode, I found the whole to be less than the sum of its parts. Let's briefly summarize the plot:
Walt comes home, sees Saul's car, and enters his house, looking to confront Jesse. Jesse is gone, however, and Walt immediately undergoes steps to remove the gasoline from the house. When the carpet cleaners can't get the smell out of the carpet, Walt creates a story about a pump malfunction and tells it to Jr. and Skyler. The White family packs up to a hotel, where Walt sneaks off to talk to Saul about Jesse before being confronted by Skyler, who knows something else is going on. Reluctantly, Walt tells Skyler the truth. Also at the hotel, Walt and Jr. discuss Walt's cancer, and Walt calls Jesse to set up a meeting, leaving a message for him.
We go back to see Jesse's side of the story. He was about to light Walt's house on fire when Hank shows up and stops him. Hank tells Jesse that they can get Walt and make him pay if they work together. Jesse agrees, and goes to stay at Hank and Marie's house (anywhere else would be too dangerous - Walt would have him killed if it was known that he was going to be a witness against him). Jesse becomes skeptical, however, that Hank can really catch Walt. He records a confession, but he has no concrete evidence to supply. However, Hank tells Jesse that there's still a way to get Walt. Walt has agreed to meet Jesse in a public place to explain himself, and Hank tells Jesse that he has to go, wearing a wire, to try and catch Walt's confession on tape. Jesse reluctantly agrees, but at the last second bails on the plan, suspecting that Walt intends to kill him when he appears.
Hank is unhappy, but Jesse says that there's another way to get him - a better way. The episode ends on an ominous note: Walt calls Todd and announces that he might have another job for his assassin uncle.
That brief summary doesn't even include a few bits here and there from Skyler and Marie, but I'll talk about them in a moment. Basically, each individual element of this episode was intriguing, but when all of it was pushed together, it started to feel a little crowded. There were also moments that went too slowly. For example:
The cold open of the episode showed Walt showing up at the house and readying himself to confront Jesse. There were several minutes with very little dialogue and no interaction between characters. It was just Walt, looking for Jesse, noticing the gasoline, and then we cut to the carpet being cleaned. Then we got another stretch of action with no dialogue, while Walt set up his "pump malfunction" ruse. This is a technique that Breaking Bad employs quite often, but I found myself a bit exhausted by the long stretches of silence in this one. Cranston's acting is top-notch throughout, of course, but my focus kept drifting at the beginning of the episode.
Marie has a scene with her psychiatrist, wherein she expresses her disgust with Walt (while couching everything in extremely vague terms). This was a really intense moment because we saw Marie contemplating what it would feel like to kill Walt. She feels so betrayed. I really loved this scene, but the episode had so many other things to focus on that I felt like we couldn't really dive too much into Marie's story. I wanted more of that, and I felt deprived.
The same can be said for Skyler. Her scene with Walt in the hotel room was probably the best part of the episode for me. Without ever saying it outright, Skyler suggests to Walt that killing Jesse might be the only way to keep their family safe. This scene was so intense, but it was basically the only real moment of Skyler that we got. I wanted to see more of this dynamic.
Saul offers a similar suggestion to Walt, saying that maybe it's time to take Jesse out of the picture. He compares Jesse to Old Yeller, which is where the title of the episode, "Rabid Dog," comes in. Walt's refusal to even contemplate such an action is actually quite touching. Of course, you know your protagonist is pretty evil when just the thought of him not murdering someone counts as "touching." Jeez, Walt sure has lost his way over the years.
The scene with Walt Jr. is really emotionally charged as well, but only on Jr's end. He is so upset about the thought of losing his father, but we see how Walt uses this to manipulate his son and keep him in the dark. This father/son dynamic is lately becoming one of the more disturbing elements of the show. I am dreading - but also can't wait for - the moment when Jr. finds out the truth once and for all. After all, he is now the only major character who doesn't know the big secret.
Right after this conversation with Jr. is when Walt calls Jesse for the second time to set up the meeting. I think we are being told to associate Walt's feelings of fatherly love and protection for Jr. with the feelings he also has for Jesse. As Hank points out to Jesse, he seems to be the exception to Walt's ruthless logic. Walt cares for Jesse, which is what makes the very end of the episode so hard to watch. If Walt really is planning to have Jesse killed, then there really is no remaining hope for Walt.
Other than Walt, Hank and Jesse got to take center stage this week. They were both wonderful. Their situation was just awkward enough to provide some comedic tension, but the dramatic tension was where the focus - rightfully - remained. Some favorite moments included Gomez referring to Jesse as a "kid," and Hank countering that he was in fact a "junkie murderer" and if Walt ended up killing him, at least they'd have it recorded. I also found this line from Jesse really great: "Your plan is to do his plan?!... He has a zero-tolerance policy against threats." Jesse is truly afraid of what Walt is capable of, and we see that to the full extent for the first time in this episode.
If I had to find a unifying theme for this week's installment, I'd point to the morally corrupt nature of almost every character at this point. Hank shrugs off the possibility of Jesse's death at Walt's hands... Marie talks about poisoning Walt... Skyler and Saul both suggest that Walt kills Jesse... and through it all, Walt resists, until at the very end Jesse makes a threat that seems to be extremely personal in nature: "Next time I'm gonna get you where you really live." Would Jesse go after Walt's family? I want to say no, but I am wondering what else he could mean by that statement. Is he going to find Walt's money and take it somehow? All of these characters have been changed by Walt's actions, and none of them seem to be changing for the better.
As I mentioned before, my main problem with this episode was its pacing. I understand, with only four episodes left after this one, that the story has to pick up the pace. That being said, I felt like we were given a lot of really interesting things to think about in this episode, and then the focus was yanked away from them before we could get a chance to really examine them.
Next week, I hope to see more of Marie's struggles, and I hope to see the continuing development of Walt's relationship with his son.
7.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment
I'd really appreciate hearing what you think!