tv: Very rarely, if ever, have I done a review of single episode of a series. With this not being a full time job it gets hard to write every hour of everything that I watch. This week, however, Breaking Bad aired the fifth episode of its fifth and final season, title Dead Freight. As one of the great episodes I've maybe ever seen anywhere on television, it definitely is worthy of its own moment to shine.
With all of the terror and tension that has been built over the first four episodes of the fifth season leaving viewers feeling nothing short of needing to take shower after episodes, Dead Freight offered a change of pace(relatively of course). It picks up right where the previous episode left off. Mike, Walt, and Jesse are dealing with the fact that they believe Lydia planted a tracking device on a barrel of methlamine in order to avoid doing business with this crew after her being investigated by the D.E.A. The way our three guys, that comprise this crew, deal with their suspicion of Lydia is by bringing her to a brutal and cold interrogation that, all involved, including Lydia, believe will end in her death. As the tension mounts and Lydia's life hangs in the balance, the ultra-tweaked, tense, jittery, terrified performance of Laura Fraser brings everything in the scene to a tipping point as she tries to deal with Walt and fight off Mike's urge to get revenge on the hit she put out on him only episodes ago. Her life is saved by a call made to Hank thanks to a bug Walt plants, in one of his coldest and boldest moments, as he plays on his brother-in-laws decency by coming to his office to confess the growing troubles of his marriage. Once Hank leaves the office to get a broken down Walt a drink, Walt plants the bug that proves Lydia is allowed to live yet again. This is when the real fun begins.
Lydia presents a new way for the guys to get enough methlamine to not need her warehouse barrels to keep their business up and running: rob a train. From their on the show becomes a full on heist thriller with small interjections to make one wonder about the future of those involved in the show. But the train job itself is one of the most exciting things maybe ever captured on television. The preparation is well displayed as we see our crew plot their crime while leaving enough unknowns that we can't wait to see the job go down. Then when it does the action goes full tilt. The train arrives at the desired destination and Walt, Jesse, Todd(from Vamonos Pest), and Mike go to work. From their we see what really becomes heist movie play out as the edge of your seat action unfolds. The methlamine flows, complications occur, and of course, Walt pushes the job to its last and most dangerous envelope as we see his recently found arrogance continue to take hold.
As with everything in the world of Breaking Bad, things don't go as smoothly as planned. Mike's foreshadowing during Lydia's interrogation about their being two kinds of jobs, ones where everyone dies and ones where you leave witnesses, comes into play despite Jesse's best efforts to keep anyone from getting killed in his plan. And with a swift bang in the final seconds that bring a halt to the howling of success, we are reminded of the show we are watching. This may have been the best heist caught on film since Heat, but this is still Breaking Bad. Everything has consequences, and because of the horrific nature of Walt's and Jesse's actions, those consequences are almost always horrific. Not only do we see Walt break bad over the course of the series, but we see every action and reaction relating to his decisions break bad as well, and despite the resounding success of the train heist, this is no different.
Dead Freight laid in some threads that could be interesting to see play out as the series continues. As the pending danger of Walt's actions envelops the White family, the pieces continue to be put in place for a brutal and messy end to this story. Skylar's continued reminder that the kids are safe at Hank and Marie's is almost certainly an indication that they are not, especially now that both Walt and Hank have had their trajectories meet at the word boss. And as Skylar coninues to chainsmoke her husband's cancer back (or so she hopes) the risen cigarette hides in their bedroom waiting for its moment of use. But what will be remembered from this portion of season five and this episode is how awesome a great heist can be. Whether it be in the great crime films or on certain TV shows we find ourselves on the edge of our seat, and despite our better judgement, rooting for the bad guys to pull it off. Dead Freight gave us that excitement and thrill in a 45 minute episode and thus became one of those rare episodes of television that will not be forgotten anytime soon.
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