Walt, Jessie, and Mike work it out in the Breaking Bad premiere
So
where were we? Breaking Bad has always been a great show and tonight’s season
premiere reinforced the fact that we are again going in to be in for a fun ride
over the next two summers (the final season was split into two parts by AMC).
Let’s
start right at the very beginning of the episode in which Vince Gilligan and
company decide to tease Walt’s future. Yes it caught me a little off guard as
well; the scene shows a paranoid, slightly degraded Walt at what seems like the
end at a Denny’s and ends up taking a car in which a machine gun is hidden. I
won’t say much more about the sequence as it needs to be experienced but if
this is where were going from where we are right now it’s going to be
absolutely fascinating.
On
to where we are now; the premiere picks up right where we left off with Walt on
top of the world after killing Gus. There’s no one out to kill him and he is the
boss of everything now. As a show that has always had Walter White under the
gun this is a fascinating new place for this character and the show itself.
This week’s episode returned to an old caper episode in which Walt and Jessie
have to figure out a problem that could give them away to the police (in this
case Gus’s old laptop with potential security cam footage). It was a great
return of an old style Breaking Bad episode that allowed us to anilize the new
Walt under the context of an older (and perfected) episode type.
Let’s
just say that this isn’t the same old Walt from previous season one and two
caper episodes. Former Walt would be scrambling through the situation trying to
find the best way through the situation while all the while wondering why he
was doing the things he was doing in the first place. New Walt isn’t like that;
he’s confidant, smooth, deadly, and when anyone asks why they should trust that
the plan worked he says “because I said so”. Brian Cranston continues to be the
best performer currently on television and very much proves it in this episode
(more on that in a moment).
So
Gus’s laptop is in the police evidence room what do we do, in the great words
of Jessie Pinkman “Yeah b***h Magnets”. First though we need the return of the
very skeptical (and amazing) Mike from down in Mexico to not foresee an outcome
that involves “Miller Time”. From there the gang grabs a truck and a magnet and
erase evidence before barley escaping and uncovering new info for the police
that may come back to bite them in the end.
The
other part of the episode involved Skyler and Saul’s reactions to new Walter
and to Ted being alive after the fall at the end of last season. First off it’s
great to see that the very disabled Ted is now mortally afraid of Skyler after
what happened with the fall and will now keep quiet. This and the Walt stuff,
which we’ll hit on in a second, made for some fantastic moments for Anna Gunn
who was absolutely fantastic here. Then there’s Walt who seems to be scaring
everyone (except for Mike and maybe Jessie) with some great sequences between
him and Skyler and then him and Saul. First Skyler flat out admitting that she’s
scared of him, then the scary “We’re not done until I say we’re done”, and then
the brilliant final line in which Walt tells Skyler “I forgive you” in regards
to the issues with Ted (giving him the money to pay off the IRA and sleeping with
him). These moments are flat out brilliant and make for great moments to
introduce new Walt and what his effect is on the rest of the gang.
So
another great episode of Breaking Bad. Man this season is going to be fun…
Some
other tiddlywinks:
- Great to see Jonathan Banks back as Mike, he had some good moments here mostly during the showdown at the beginning when he showed disappointment in Jessie for falling back into the loop with Walt.
- Man was that final line chilling. Harkened back to “I won” from the end of last season (which we got to see again at the start of this one) and props to both Brian Cranston and Anna Gunn for sending chills up and down my spine.
- I’m curious to see where Jessie gets caught up in all this as right now he seems to be on board with Walt and his new ultimate boss persona. I’m guessing there will be more of Jessie and his emotions.
- Hank is back in full "being the hero" mode as in the brief scene with him we saw him looking through the remnants of the super lab that he was right about the whole time.
That’s
just me though. What where your thoughts of the episode?
No comments:
Post a Comment