Breaking Bad 505 – “Dead Freight”
I hope you weren’t watching the closing ceremonies of the Olympics last night instead of episode 5 of Breaking Bad, because you guys, I need to talk about that episode. But I will be nice to the stragglers and put all the spoilers after the jump.
First: I found this piece Emily Nussbaum wrote for New York magazine (where she was the TV critic before her current gig at the New Yorker) about catching up on the first three seasons of Breaking Bad in a week to get ready for season 4. I found it highly relatable, since I watched the show the same way — and I’ve been watching a number of shows this way, detached from their original airing schedule, since my kid came along last year. There is much about Breaking Bad that feels more like a movie than a TV show — production values, but also continuity of images and plot and character and timeline — and so, as Nussbaum says, it lends itself to viewing in big chunks. (Too many episodes in a row would probably make me an emotional wreck, though, so proceed with caution if you’re thinking of a Breaking Bad binge.) I already can’t wait to watch it again. But in the past year my husband and I have also worked our way through The Wire, Men of a Certain Age, and Deadwood, and it is nice to experience a show as a completed project. (Even if, as I’ve been warned in the case of Deadwood, that project doesn’t come to a satisfying wrap-up). We’re free from the worry and stress that comes with getting attached to a show while it’s still “live” — we don’t have to wonder how many seasons the network will let it go on. We don’t have to watch it dwindle, like The Office, and wonder each week if it’s still worth watching. We don’t have to be afraid the network will pull the rug out from under it, like with Arrested Development or Community. And we don’t have to endure the long waits between seasons that are standard for cable dramas. It’s just there, in a box set, ready for us to watch or not watch as we please.
The down side to this approach is that it’s harder to find people to talk about the show with as you watch. (Boy, season two of The Wire kind of stank, didn’t it?… What do you mean you can’t remember what you thought about it nine years ago? I’m ready to discuss it now.) And, of course, as Nussbaum says, ” if everyone watched this way, no great series would make it past the first season.” So someone will have to keep risking heartbreak, I suppose.
And now on to this week’s Breaking Bad, because nothing stops this train (ha ha ha ha):
Holy cow. That ending. I think it wiped my memory of any other things that came up earlier in the episode I might have wanted to discuss, so please remind me what I’m forgetting. I am still marveling at the emotional abuse I took in the last few minutes of that episode, rooting for the heist to come off; gasping at Walt’s ever more blatant disregard for the lives of others when his ego is on the line; celebrating when, despite Walt’s awfulness, the plan succeeded — and with nobody hurt! And then: a sucker punch to remind us that the guys we’re rooting for are well and truly bad guys. Little boys on bikes are like swimming pools on this show: they betoken ill.
By the way, this “two-screen experience” AMC keeps wanting me to try out: what is that all about? Why would I want to look at a different screen while Breaking Bad is on the TV? This is not a show I want to be distracted from.
Here’s some fodder for discussion, from Jason Mittell at Just TV, who asks whether you “remembered” the teaser with “Tarantula Boy” throughout the episode, or forgot about it until he showed up again (as I did). He found that the teaser made possible two different ways of watching the episode, and in particular the train-robbery sequence and the ending (how big a surprise?), both suspenseful in different ways.
I was surprised, though, that he didn’t point out that those of us who “forgot” might have done so because previous teasers — like the “Walt’s 52nd birthday” flash-forward that began season 5, or the floating teddy bear that lead off most of season 2 — have trained us not to assume that what we see will be resolved by the end of that episode. I assumed it would be significant at some point, but had no expectation that that point would come around by the end of the hour. If I’d had to guess, I would have predicted that kid would stumble on some evidence of the heist down the line and figure in a police investigation (like the child who found a gas mask at the RV cook site in season 1).
Mittell did wake me up to the dominant theme of children, and their safety, in this episode. I was thinking of past kids-as-collateral-damage situations, from the spooky redheaded kid with the meth-head parents who complicated Jesse’s robbery plans, to Andrea’s brother Tomas (the original boy-on-a-bike, ultimately killed by Gus), to Brock (nearly killed by Walt). But in this episode alone, we had Skyler confronting Walt over his self-deluding assurances that their own kids are safe, and then Lydia driving the point home by asking Walt to swear on his children’s lives that he won’t kill her. Mittell:
Like you, Mollie, I was taken aback by the ending–especially since the deed, which was so horrific, happened so quickly and was perpetrated by Todd, who, up to this point in the season, was simply a bystander with choirboy looks.
The episode also showcased Jesse’s continued development as an innovative, problem-solving entrepreneur. While he is still prone to immature outbursts and has misgivings about murder, he has become an equal partner in the unholy triumvirate. That this evolution has occurred gradually over a couple of seasons is a tribute both the writing and Aaron Paul’s acting. Given the dark turn that this season has taken–and Walt’s veiled threat to Jesse a couple of episodes ago–Jesse’s rising star might just flame out (with Walt supplying the extinguisher).
And wasn’t the preview intriguing? Can’t wait to see how Walt intends to go about “building an empire” and if Mike makes good on his threat to walk away.
Great point about how we’ve been taught to read the cold openings, Mollie–I figured that the show was just sprinkling another cryptic, seemingly disconnected image that somehow would end up building to the season’s opener: Walt on the run, with hair and guns. I definitely didn’t think the kid was coming back in that episode.
You’re right, Jim, the show is really pushing the whole “Jesse as problem-solving entrepreneur” angle pretty hard. The way they shot his moment of revelation in this episode rhymed with the way they shot his eureka moment with the magnet–Walt and Mike bickering (I think it was those two in the magnet scene, right?), with Jesse in the background, ignoring Walt’s posturing and Mike’s resistance, offering a brilliantly simple solution.
Prior to the final scene, I thought that this was an underwhelming episode. Some of the stuff was far fetched (maybe I’m misunderstanding something, but I thought that they weren’t going to know what specific car the chemicals were in until the night before? So how did they scope out that particular bridge and bury the two barrels a day in advance?), and the Skyler-Walt scenes seemed a mere retread of all the stuff that happened last week. But I guess that is quibbling considering how amazing the final scene was. Suspenseful, tragic, and perfectly in line with the show’s moral vision.
(Let’s just hope that Breaking Bad knows how to build off of this death scene. I can’t be the only Friday Night Lights fan who is remembering how off the rails that show went once Landry killed someone.)
Were others surprised that Lydia wasn’t behind the GPS device, or did they, like Jesse, believe her from the start? And did anyone else see a look of horror on Jesse’s face right before he started celebrating the successful caper, as if for a split second he was realizing that Walt would gladly sacrifice his life in order to get to the somewhat arbitrary 1000 mark? Finally, what do others think Jesse and Walt would have done if Todd hadn’t taken care of the witness? Given what actually happened, I’m betting that Walt will rationalize (he and Jesse didn’t pull the trigger, etc.), Mike will stoically accept the situation and deal with the consequences, and Jesse will be so torn up as to begin distancing himself from the whole meth business. But it’s interesting to think about: would Walt have been willing to kill the boy on the bike to keep himself–and, he’d say, his family–out of trouble? Would Mike? Would Jesse?
Like the other viewers, I’m fascinated by “Breaking Bad.” The horrendous spectacle doesn’t allow us to detach, to delight in the vicarious violence as if it were some hero movie. Like in real life, good and bad aren’t neatly separated.
Reflecting its New Mexico setting, the series topography is layered; harsh aridity revealing a haunting beauty. So we explore, finding ourselves in territory we hadn’t meant to enter.
Remember how Walt began. Terminally ill, trying to get the money for his own treatment and to provide for his pregnant wife and disabled son. With few options, what could he do? We sympathize, working out our own justifications for doing something similar. Then a little more, and the path is set. No longer room to turn around.
Big business, politics, science, the church. As individuals, we choose to participate in institutional power structures when we want to help others. Eventually that means justifying the survival of the institution itself. Decades later, we find the original goal has been lost somewhere in the labyrinth.
So no sinless stones here to throw. The mountains to the east of Albuquerque, the Grand Canyon to the west, and the ancient pueblos echo with the sounds of Los Alamos. Yet we still attempt to build walls of security so we don’t have to look, won’t have to realize how deeply we are interwoven into all human stories.
Tony – Oh yes, the GPS device! I was totally surprised. I just assumed Mike was right about Lydia.
I’m wondering whether we’ll see the aftermath of Todd’s shooting the boy — will the next episode pick up right where this one ended? Will they “clean up” and disappear/dissolve the body? Will Walt have to think about the kid’s parents as they do so?
Oof, dissolve.
Last night, during a fit of insomnia (I know, I know), I started watching season two from the beginning. I had completely forgotten that Gomez tried to dissuade Hank from pursuing Jesse. Totally a mole.
And Tony: FNL came back to earth after that terrible second season. But way to spoil it for those who haven’t seen the show!
That’s another dimension of this new way of watching TV dramas, isn’t it: spoiler etiquette. Before the DVD era you wouldn’t think twice about mentioning a plot point from a show that has long since stopped airing. But now I think we’re starting to treat TV series less like, say, sporting events and more like movies — anyone could see them for the first time at any time.
Grant, I didn’t remember that specifically, but that’s just what I mean about Gomez. I can see the dramatic utility of having a character to push back against Hank’s hunches, but that’s pretty much all Gomez ever does. And it seems beneath the caliber of the writing on this show to have a character that prominent be that thin.
Grant, if Gomez is a mole, whom is he working for? Walt, Inc. is the only game in town.
Besides, he doesn’t seem to have the brains or initiative to pull it off.
But then, who would have thought that Jesse would become a captain of industry when we first encountered him in Season 1 diving out of the second-floor bedroom window of the comely neighbor lady during the DEA raid on his cook house.
Who knows? Maybe he’s a long-lost relative of Tio Salamanca. Maybe Gomez is short for Gomezschmertz, and he’s part of the Madrigal empire. Mollie’s right: his habit of pushing Hank off the trail has to serve a narrative purpose.
Come on! That season of FNL ran in 2007. There has to be some statute of limitation on spoilers, right? Plus, after that arc was wrapped up, the show decided to pretend that it never happened, so it’s not as if knowing about it spoils later seasons.
I’m more and more buying Gomez as a mole, too. He’s just been acting…strangely, the last few episodes.
if Gomez is a mole, whom is he working for?
That’s the question, right? Is there more to the Madrigal cartel than we know? Does Mike have “guys” we still don’t know about? Someone is giving Mike insider information about the feds. At least it seems that way. I think the reason it seems like he lacks the brains/initiative is because he keeps pushing back against any competent investigation — which he does because he’s a mole.
I’m not saying Vince Gilligan is a male chauvinist, but aren’t all the major female characters currently on the show (Skyler, Marie, Lydia) incredibly annoying? The only likable one is the infant daughter, and she hasn’t learned to talk yet.