Heisenberg Hat in "Fifty-One".
[Reviewer’s
note: Due to some life interferences (i.e. being busy) this review (along with
the Newsroom review) will contain brief reviews of the two episodes missed as
well as a more fleshed out version of the latest episode. Hopefully we shall
resume a normal weekly schedule after this mega review]
So
where were we…? After the first episode of the season things seemed pretty
clear; Walt was on top, for now. Something (as hinted by the premiere’s opening
scene) is going to go wrong and Walt’s world is going to come crumbling around
him. That inevitable feeling of dread
continues to grow larger and larger as the episodes go by as the bowling ball
begins to take aim. The second and third episodes begin the aiming and the
fantastic episode four marks the beginning of the pins being knocked down.
Some
brief thoughts on episodes two and three before we get to the fourth episode.
First off Mike is the man, period. In the second episode Mike goes around and
takes care of business before deciding that the only way to regain some of the
money that he lost in the DEA’s cessation of Gus’s accounts is to join the
ticking time bomb that is Walt in his quest to get back into the meth business.
In the process Mike has to kill one of his guys because of the emotionally
unstable Lydia, a former supplier in Gus’ regime, who wants to take out all of
the guys left on Mike’s list. Mike doesn’t want this because they won’t talk to
the police, but of course Lydia won’t listen and it ends up in Mike having to
shoot one of his guys. This was a very good episode and a great Emmy episode for
Jonathan Banks who is fantastic throughout the episode.
Episode
three was the meth lab setup episode. It seems that the best way to cook for
the new operation is to use homes that are having pests removed from them. When
the house is covered they go in, cook, and leave, simple as that. Other than
that tensions begin to arise between Walt and Mike, and Walt ends up
manipulating Jessie to break up with Andrea; so Jessie ends up breaking up with
Andrea, for better or for worse. It’s another very solid episode of Breaking
Bad.
Now
on to the most recent episode…
Wow!
“Fifty-One”
was one of the single best character building episodes the show has ever done,
period. Time is ticking down for Walt, Skyler, and the rest of the characters
and the fourth episode of the season made this very evident. First off Lydia panicking
as always (crazy mismatched shoes and screams into pillows amongst other things)
decides to try and scare Jessie away from getting the methylamine by planting a
tracker and telling him it’s one from the DEA. Of course Mike (who was already
about to kill her in the second episode) wants to get rid of her and calls
Jessie sexist for trying to keep her alive; But production must continue and apparently
means so does the life of Lydia, and that’s that.
The
meat and potatoes of “Fifty-One” came in the confrontation between Walt and
Skyler. At this point Skyler is practically the only one who isn’t drinking out
of Walt’s kool aid of lies and thus is the only one who has her eyes open to
what Walter has done and what he is capable of doing. So she tries to get the kids
out of the house civilly by suggesting a few ideas to Walt, and when that doesn’t
work… She tries to drown herself in the pool. The pool sequence is one of the
most hauntingly beautiful scenes that has ever come out of the show. The sheer
joy and serenity that Skyler feels under the water is almost liberating… Until
the Jaws like Walt comes in a snatches her out.
Her
plan kind of works though as Hank and Marie are so mortified they agree to take
the kids for a night or two. This starts an amazing back and forth dialogue between
Walt and Skyler in which Skyler tries to find ways of getting the kids out and
Walt keeps on shutting her down. This builds until the ultimate reveal that
Skyler is just simply waiting.
“Waiting
for what?”
“Waiting
for the Cancer to come back.”
Walt
is still drinking out of his cup of lies though and still believes that Skyler
will come back his way referencing Jessie who has now given him a watch for his
birthday after just recently (and rightfully) trying to kill him. The episode
ends with that same watch ticking down implying that the time for these
characters is rapidly running out leaving only cataclysmic consequences.
That’s
just me though, what does everyone else think?
No comments:
Post a Comment