tv: Last weeks episode of Breaking Bad was all about consequences. It was the consequences of Walt's actions over the last five seasons played out in action. Hank was shot. His money was stolen. He and Skylar had their final confrontation that cut the family to shreds with a knife. Jesse was forced to live out his life in some sort of meth cooking hostage purgatory. It was all of what was coming to pass for Walt and those around him as a result of all his horrible acts played out in the worst possible ways. In Granite State, we were given a different kind of consequence. We were given emotional consequence. Gone was the horrifying gut wrenching fights and shootings and kidnappings and in their place were nothing but the faces of those beaten down characters left to stare down the wreckage and wonder how they would go on.
The episode begins with our introduction to the vacuum cleaning company. While he may not be in any imminent danger, Saul is there to get out of town before it is too late. This is a wonderful end for Saul who had been saying since the end of season four that it was time to run. And now he has the right idea. Just go. But before he leaves he has to spend a couple of days with his former client. Walt is still scheming and plotting to kill Jack and Todd and the rest of their family, still clearly in denial of the end of his criminal enterprises. And even as Saul pleads with him to just give up and leave he refuses. He even thinks at one point Saul should come with him! But with a cough that weakens him to his knees he relents and lets Saul go to his Cinnabon future in Nebraska.
The episode picks up with Marie and Skylar facing their own aftermaths. Marie is being driven home by a DEA detail. The plot of the scene is centered around the fact that Jack stole Jesse's confession DVD from Marie's house in order to see if the DEA knows about them but the real point is the scene in the car. It is just silence with the camera as tight on Marie's face as possible. And as she stares out the windshield all the is on her face is devastation; over the sadness of what happened to her husband and the devastation over the irreparable damage that was done to her's and her sisters family. Meanwhile Skylar is lost, staring into space as Lawyers are trying to get her to tell them something about the whereabouts of her husband. That Skylar is telling them the truth when she says she doesn't know anything seems to be an impossibility to those questioning her. And the blankness on her face as she listens to those around her, distant while she wonders how this became her life, replaying the wreckage, and accepting her fate, having to say over and over to those who will never believe her that she knows nothing about where Walt went should officially end all of the Skylar hate out there as she oozes sympathy and sadness.
From there we jump to our first moments with Mr. Lambert. When the door opens on the truck and our vacuum cleaner, played with brilliant restraint by Robert Forester, welcomes Walt to his home he covers his eyes to the blinding reflection off the snow. I must admit that I live in a place that gets lots of snow during the winter and even I felt the need to shade my eyes after having adjusted to the stark heat of the New Mexico Desert. Walt is told that he is not allowed to leave his new home for fear of being recognized. But as soon as he is left to his own devices he dons the black hat and walks up to the road. With a brutal cough he stares down the road and decides tomorrow would be better. When the vacuum cleaner returns a month later Walt is frail, sick, and losing his sight. And as he finds his new glasses with his beard and head of hair we seem him become the Mr. Lambert we have seen. He is brought his chemo by a man who he pays fifty thousand dollars to do so. And then he seems to get it. He realizes that this is fate: a sick man that will die alone. And in a moment of desperation pays ten extra thousand dollars to have him stay for an hour. Desperation is no longer a plan to fight enemies. It is a plea to not be miserable. Walt's final blow to his hope is when he asks if his money will be taken back to his family when he dies. The answer is blunt no from the man who is feeding him his treatment and playing cards with him because he was payed to act like a friend.
There is not enough that can be said about Bryan Cranston in the scenes in Vermont. While the superlatives are running out for how great he has been throughout Breaking Bad, watching him transform over the course of those scenes from the man we knew to a broken and ruined and sick man were just beautiful. And while there has been plenty said of Cranston's brilliance as Walt, I feel like with so little time left to talk about it, finding standout moments to mention should be relished and talked about. He is and will forever be on the Mount Rushmore of TV actors.
Once Walt settled in for a slow and sad end to his story, Jesse was turned to. And of course his moment was maybe the worst. Jesse was still fighting, trying to find an escape from Jack and Todd. What he gets for his trouble is a batch of meth good enough that he is expected to stay a captive as long as there is material to use for cooking along with his punishment for an attempted escape. That punishment was to was Andrea get unceremoniously killed. There was no sound of the gun, no close up, no tears, and only same charm from Todd there always is. The loudest thing in that scene was Jesse's head banging against the car door window. And while it may not have been as bloody or internet-rage-inducing as something like the Red Wedding, it was at least as swift and brutal if not more so. Just a quiet puff of red from the distance.
The episode ends with Walt taking what we think will be his final step towards contrition before he dies. When he wakes up to find out he has become so frail his wedding ring won't even stay on his finger anymore he packs the only box he has left with money to send back to his family and finally leaves the reservation. He doesn't care, he's dying. He smartly addresses it to Lewis, Flynn's bff and calls to let Flynn know that it is coming. Instead of the thanks Walt was expecting for the money and the hope from his son that he was OK, all he gets is "You're an asshole!" and "Go to hell!" After a brief fight for the idea that what he is doing is right, Walt gives up. And in a season full of phone calls he makes a last one. He calls the DEA to turn himself in. While waiting for his escort back to Alberquerque he decides to have a drink and watch some TV. Big mistake. Walt comes across an interview with his former Grey Matter partners about their association with him. They explain that Walt contributed very little to the company besides its name, which we know is a lie from that arc back in the first season where Walt is pushed out of the company despite the fact that his research was the basis for their work. They also talk about the fact that his blue meth is still being made. This may have been the saddest moment of a very sad episode. We have known for a while now that Walt would leave then eventually go back. I always assumed that is would be because Walt gained some knowledge of a catastrophe that he had to go back to deal with. But as we watched his face twist and tighten with hatred over what he was watching, we realize that it is something far worse and sad than that. He is being driven back by the same thing that forced him to begin cooking meth in the first place. After doing great work in his field, then chemistry and now drug manufacturing, he is now being forced to sit around and watch people belittle his talent and take credit for his work. And that resentment towards those doing it and the ego to prove them wrong drives him back home. Not the need to save Jesse or settle a score with Todd and Jack, but his ego and insecurities. Maybe he is still the same pathetic guy he was in the beginning. And in that moment we see what was said on TV. We watched Walter White die. And Now only Heisenberg is left to head back home to meet his own end.
And now we come to it. The final episode of this great show is airing Sunday. Predictions are flying everywhere about who will live and who will die. I am willing to admit that I have no clue. But there are two things we know that have to play into our expectations. The first is our villains. While Gus Fring may have been the best and most interesting villain on the show, no one has been as ruthless as Todd and Jack. Between them and Lydia, whose concerns about Skylar should not be taken lightly after the nine man hit she put out in the Madrigal episode to keep herself out of jail, we know that these are people ready and willing to do whatever it takes to make sure they're the last ones standing. The second is that Vince Gilligan has spent the season setting us up for this by showing us eight of the most emotionally difficult hours of television we've ever seen. The question of who dies and who lives may not even be important since based on what we've seen we know that it is just going to be awful to watch. So sit back, relax and brace yourselves for the end of one of the best shows ever made. Oh, and call your therapist. You will probably need them.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Breaking Bad Ozymandias Recap
tv: Staring out into the New Mexico dessert, empty and desolate, we see a stationary RV fade into view. And inside is the beginning of the long journey we are now at the end of. The bubbling beaker, the science experiment that started it all and the two men who conduct that experiment. Walt explaining in detail the science behind what they are doing. As they step outside for a break, one of them, Walter White, walks away to make a phone call. We see him practicing his lines. Working out the first lie. At that time he needed to practice. Over the course of that phone call, through the lies he tells, we see the most tender version of the White family we have seen through the entire show. As they discuss pizza and Ebay and work and the name of their new daughter with love. It was the very first lie. After Walt hangs up the phone, that scene fades away, back into the dessert. And so did everything from it. The science is now gone. Any love that may have been there is gone. The nerves are gone. And all that remains is what Heisenberg has left in his wake.
Breaking Bad is in itself a science experiment. The meticulous detailed nature with which Vince Gilligan has told his story is like watching science unfold. You are presented with something that can happen. Then you see logical steps that are required for it to unfold. That could be said of both episodes and of the series as a whole. No stone is left unturned and everything is there for a reason. But as the plain dessert returns and the new scene fades into view, we see something very horrifying. What if science was tossed away? What if the experiment was governed by the man Walter White became after that phone call; a man driven by insecurity and ego, a man who believed he could make the experiment yield the results he wanted to simply because he said so. Chances are the results of that experiment would not produce the results one sought.
The results of the Breaking Bad experiment were played out to the most terrifying ends in Ozymandias. Our new scene that faded into view was a familiar one. It was the end of the shootout that ended last weeks episode, To'hajiilee. From there the episode plays out as our worst fears coming true. Hank is wounded and staring his fate down bravely as a gun is pointed at his head with Gomie lying dead next to him. Walt continues to fight for Hank's life, offering up even his 80 million that is buried under their feet. But finally Hank gives Walt the harsh truth he was needing: "You're the smartest guy I know. How can you not see he made up his mind ten minutes ago?" Hank seems to realize that Walt can't just make things work out the way he wants because he says so. And as Hank falls to the ground with the life having left him, Walt seems to do the same. Lying there it appears that all of his power, all of Heisenberg is leaving him and he is going to be left there to suffer in a pathetic state similar to the one we met him in five years ago when he found out about his cancer as a broke teacher. But as Todd and his family are taking their money and doing their cleanup work, Walt seems drag back to life as Heisenberg fights his way back into his being. And as the pain leaves, the hate re-appears forcing him to commit yet another unthinkable act.
He turns Jesse in. Seeing him under the car Walt gives him up. He wants the job he paid for to be done. But Todd decides it would be better to find out what Jesse told Hank. Jesse clearly knows his fate. The fear that sets is on Aaron Paul's face is heart breaking as his character gets offered up to the most viscous of men. But before they leave Walt decides he has one more favor to return to Jesse. And in one of the show's greatest callbacks he tells Jesse in gruesome detail about how he watched Jane die. One good spit in the face deserves another I guess.
As if all of this weren't enough emotional terror to put a viewer through in one hour, after those opening fifteen minutes (fifteen minutes!) it only got worse. And this is the point at which I have to stop describing every scene as if there is subtext. The horror is just played out for all of us to suffer through. Marie goes to the car wash to tell Skylar that Walt has been captured and to force her to tell Flynn (I'm pretty sure he is never going by Walt Jr. ever again.). The pain and disbelief that burst out of R.J. Mitte was spectacular. Throughout the series he has not always been given a lot to do. But this season he has, and he delivered at every turn, showing real versatility.
We get a brief respite from the pain, grief and terror of the White's to see Jesse beaten, getting chained to the ceiling as he stares with tear filled eyes at picture of Andrea and Brock as Todd walks and says "Lets cook", as pleasant as ever. But we quickly return to the White's who are now back at home. Skylar and Flynn come home to find Walt packing for an imminent departure. But as the truth of why he is not in jail as they had been told by Marie becomes revealed and things quickly boil over.
The shot was so simple and beautiful. Would she go for the knife or the phone? And Skylar went for the knife. And then I actually had to get up and leave. I was literally shaking! And I couldn't stop! I have to say it only helped a little. Just the noise of that fight was enough to keep me at my wit's ends. But then Flynn saved his mom, along with my emotional state. And just as we thought all possible awful acts had been exhausted Walt kidnaps his own daughter!
Then comes the phone call. Walt calls Skylar. When he is told by a very generous pause that the police are listening in, he begins his final lie. And with all the bile of Heisenberg at his worst he rips Skylar apart, and in the process exonerates her. It was a gut wrenching scene that ended one of the most gut wrenching episodes of television ever. Watching Bryan Cranston thunder away so abusively was just horrifying. Watching him do it with the pauses to correct his lies mid-sentence and the tears running down his face was otherworldly. And then just like that, after leaving Holly behind for her mother, Walt leaves. We all knew the trip to New Hampshire was coming but what a relief it was to get there the end of that hour.
As I said earlier, Breaking Bad plays out like the science experiments cooked up in that beat up RV. But unlike those, in which the outcome is the spectacular blue that prints green, the shows experiment didn't end so well. Let me reiterate after that understatement that I almost had a nervous breakdown during a scene that is described as the most horrifying five words possible: HUSBAND AND WIFE KNIFE FIGHT!!! And that was because the shows main character didn't treat the lives of his fellow characters or the plot of his life with the same respect he treated a cook of meth. And in this episode we saw the outcome. And it was carried out mercilessly in one brutal hour(the most brutal hour). The results of Walt's life as Vince Gilligan's little science experiment? Well, I'll let Percy Shelley tell you:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
Breaking Bad is in itself a science experiment. The meticulous detailed nature with which Vince Gilligan has told his story is like watching science unfold. You are presented with something that can happen. Then you see logical steps that are required for it to unfold. That could be said of both episodes and of the series as a whole. No stone is left unturned and everything is there for a reason. But as the plain dessert returns and the new scene fades into view, we see something very horrifying. What if science was tossed away? What if the experiment was governed by the man Walter White became after that phone call; a man driven by insecurity and ego, a man who believed he could make the experiment yield the results he wanted to simply because he said so. Chances are the results of that experiment would not produce the results one sought.
The results of the Breaking Bad experiment were played out to the most terrifying ends in Ozymandias. Our new scene that faded into view was a familiar one. It was the end of the shootout that ended last weeks episode, To'hajiilee. From there the episode plays out as our worst fears coming true. Hank is wounded and staring his fate down bravely as a gun is pointed at his head with Gomie lying dead next to him. Walt continues to fight for Hank's life, offering up even his 80 million that is buried under their feet. But finally Hank gives Walt the harsh truth he was needing: "You're the smartest guy I know. How can you not see he made up his mind ten minutes ago?" Hank seems to realize that Walt can't just make things work out the way he wants because he says so. And as Hank falls to the ground with the life having left him, Walt seems to do the same. Lying there it appears that all of his power, all of Heisenberg is leaving him and he is going to be left there to suffer in a pathetic state similar to the one we met him in five years ago when he found out about his cancer as a broke teacher. But as Todd and his family are taking their money and doing their cleanup work, Walt seems drag back to life as Heisenberg fights his way back into his being. And as the pain leaves, the hate re-appears forcing him to commit yet another unthinkable act.
He turns Jesse in. Seeing him under the car Walt gives him up. He wants the job he paid for to be done. But Todd decides it would be better to find out what Jesse told Hank. Jesse clearly knows his fate. The fear that sets is on Aaron Paul's face is heart breaking as his character gets offered up to the most viscous of men. But before they leave Walt decides he has one more favor to return to Jesse. And in one of the show's greatest callbacks he tells Jesse in gruesome detail about how he watched Jane die. One good spit in the face deserves another I guess.
As if all of this weren't enough emotional terror to put a viewer through in one hour, after those opening fifteen minutes (fifteen minutes!) it only got worse. And this is the point at which I have to stop describing every scene as if there is subtext. The horror is just played out for all of us to suffer through. Marie goes to the car wash to tell Skylar that Walt has been captured and to force her to tell Flynn (I'm pretty sure he is never going by Walt Jr. ever again.). The pain and disbelief that burst out of R.J. Mitte was spectacular. Throughout the series he has not always been given a lot to do. But this season he has, and he delivered at every turn, showing real versatility.
We get a brief respite from the pain, grief and terror of the White's to see Jesse beaten, getting chained to the ceiling as he stares with tear filled eyes at picture of Andrea and Brock as Todd walks and says "Lets cook", as pleasant as ever. But we quickly return to the White's who are now back at home. Skylar and Flynn come home to find Walt packing for an imminent departure. But as the truth of why he is not in jail as they had been told by Marie becomes revealed and things quickly boil over.
The shot was so simple and beautiful. Would she go for the knife or the phone? And Skylar went for the knife. And then I actually had to get up and leave. I was literally shaking! And I couldn't stop! I have to say it only helped a little. Just the noise of that fight was enough to keep me at my wit's ends. But then Flynn saved his mom, along with my emotional state. And just as we thought all possible awful acts had been exhausted Walt kidnaps his own daughter!
Then comes the phone call. Walt calls Skylar. When he is told by a very generous pause that the police are listening in, he begins his final lie. And with all the bile of Heisenberg at his worst he rips Skylar apart, and in the process exonerates her. It was a gut wrenching scene that ended one of the most gut wrenching episodes of television ever. Watching Bryan Cranston thunder away so abusively was just horrifying. Watching him do it with the pauses to correct his lies mid-sentence and the tears running down his face was otherworldly. And then just like that, after leaving Holly behind for her mother, Walt leaves. We all knew the trip to New Hampshire was coming but what a relief it was to get there the end of that hour.
As I said earlier, Breaking Bad plays out like the science experiments cooked up in that beat up RV. But unlike those, in which the outcome is the spectacular blue that prints green, the shows experiment didn't end so well. Let me reiterate after that understatement that I almost had a nervous breakdown during a scene that is described as the most horrifying five words possible: HUSBAND AND WIFE KNIFE FIGHT!!! And that was because the shows main character didn't treat the lives of his fellow characters or the plot of his life with the same respect he treated a cook of meth. And in this episode we saw the outcome. And it was carried out mercilessly in one brutal hour(the most brutal hour). The results of Walt's life as Vince Gilligan's little science experiment? Well, I'll let Percy Shelley tell you:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Breaking Bad To'hajiilee Recap
tv: And here we are. Its time to set aside the meanings beneath the surface, push away from our minds the significance of camera angles, and let go all the thoughts of what will be. Its time to just relish in the fifth episode of this part of season five: To'hajiilee. This was a significant episode four two reasons. One was that it marked the passing of the halfway point of the final eight episodes, thus making viewers believe that we would begin to careen off a cliff towards the end of the series. The second reason was that this was Michelle Maclaren's, the best of Breaking Bad's fantastic directors, final episode. This recap may read as a love letter to Maclaren, but I'm OK with that. This was certainly her masterpiece.
The first half of the episode was an actually lighter version of Breaking Bad. With the teaser being almost cute. Despite the tension of the other side of the phone call that ended last weeks episode, where Walt puts a hit on Jesse using Todd and his Nazi family to carry it out, the lasting image of scene will be Todd and Lydia sitting at the table as Sherrie played on the radio. Not since last seeing the Lannisters have I been lightened by a scene about a crush between such terrible people. And it really was the radio that made it. Usually those are moments for love songs to swell in the soundtrack. But just having it play in the background actually on the radio almost took you out of the setting they were actually in, until you realized that they were flirting by talking about meth.
From there the episode continued its slower pace. We got to see Hank and Jesse and Gomez continuing their investigation of Walt. Their quest: to find his money. And what better way to do that than question Huell. The fun in watching Hank not even hide the fact that he is just outright lying to him was great. He knew this wasn't Heisenberg, no subtlety was needed. And Huell responded perfectly in turn, giving Hank everything he needed to keep looking for Walt's money without a thought of questioning the good police officer. It has been said in recent episodes that some of Hank's lying might be blurring some lines. But this was not about good and bad. This was just about getting another hilarious moment with Huell amid all the darkness in these characters lives.
We got one more fun moment. Watching Skylar and Flynn at the car wash as she was training him and letting him work was delightful. Not only was Flynn's interaction with Saul priceless as he stared at "the guy on the billboard" like he was a rock star, but watching he and Skylar interact may be the first time since, well I don't know when, that we got to witness the White's as a loving family where there were no secrets being kept or ulterior motives on display.
And then the phone call came. The engine roared. And the trademark tension of Maclaren's episodes kicked into full gear. With Walt racing towards his trap in the desert to save his money, the noise of his engine was almost deafening. In an episode with no music and only light conversation it was enough to jar you into remembering what show you were really watching. And as hearts raced almost as fast as Walt's car while blowing red lights as he tried to save his empire, there couldn't have been another second of that scene that was bearable. And then he arrived.
He turned off the car. And we were enveloped by the desert. And we were back into silence with nothing but the sound of Walt's dusty footsteps as he surveyed the setting of his imminent demise. Suddenly I missed the sound of that car engine. Anything would have been better than nothing. If screaming would have helped I would have. But then things just would have gone silent again when I ran out of breath.
Hiding behind a rock watching his enemies arrive, Walt calls Todd to tell him where to go to find Jesse. And then he stops as both of his weaknesses have been exploited. His greed got him into this mess and his family is going to keep him there as he sees Hank get out of the car and call off the hit. As Walt sighs realizing his defeat, the camera pulls in, giving us a look at the face we have grown to fear now just allowing itself to sadly face defeat(Bryan Cranston got the role of Walt because of an episode of the X-Files that Vince Gilligan wrote. He played an anti-Semite who would die if he didn't keep heading west. Gilligan said it was Cranston's ability to make such a despicable man sympathetic that got him the role of Walt. And in that moment I understood. I have called Walt the devil as much as anyone, but in that moment I felt bad for him. Like, I wanted to cry feeling bad.). Walt then gives himself up, quietly walking to Hank with his hands in the air. He says nothing. Just gets up and walks.
I was hoping to be happy for Hank when he got his moment, when he finally won. But it was just so hard. I started thinking about how far outside the law he had gone to capture Walt. I saw the smiles on Jesse's and Gomez's faces. I watched as Hank was given the honor of reading Walt his rights. And proud of Hank as you could be, there was no way it could be that simple. And then the final stroke fell as Hank called Marie. Their conversation about Hank's victory and how things would get better could be seen as heavy-handed by some, but it was necessary. And also the final blow that let us all know that things were not actually going to get better.
I don't think it is quite fair to try and rehash the brutal intensity of the gun fight in the desert that capped off what has been a western of a season. So let's take a moment to talk about Maclaren. She has been responsible for some the show's best and most tense moments. She directed One Minute, giving us the shootout in the parking lot between Hank and the twins. She directed a personal favorite, Madrigal in season five, which gave me two of my favorite moments of the entire series. Watching the introduction that told the story of the death of Her Schueler was one of the most spellbinding mini-stories I have ever seen on television. That was also the episode where we met Lydia, and Laura Frazier pleaded not for her life but for her child to find her dead body so that she knew her mom wasn't a deadbeat that left. Maclaren's other 2012 credit was for the mid-season finale Gliding Over All, featuring prison murders and the immortal Crystal Blue Persuasion montage and the Hank on the toilet learning about Walt moment. This year she already directed the second episode which featured the fight between Marie and Skylar, a scene that was both so intense and frightening that I almost had to walk away.
And now that we see what moments she has already provided for the show it is no wonder that Maclaren was given this as her final episode. And what a more fitting way for her to walk out than with that ending. As the bullets flew, leaving us no idea of who lived or died, just with our hearts racing and our lungs reaching for breath, the master of the most intense show on television's most intense moments walked away. I have no doubt that Rian Johnson will be more than capable of picking up the rest of that scene in the next episode and taking us further towards whatever Mr. Lambert has in store in his return to Albuquerque. But watching To'hajiilee was the perfect beginning of the end as we didn't careen off that cliff I alluded to earlier. Instead Maclaren hung us off that cliff and then just let a tidal wave hit it.
The first half of the episode was an actually lighter version of Breaking Bad. With the teaser being almost cute. Despite the tension of the other side of the phone call that ended last weeks episode, where Walt puts a hit on Jesse using Todd and his Nazi family to carry it out, the lasting image of scene will be Todd and Lydia sitting at the table as Sherrie played on the radio. Not since last seeing the Lannisters have I been lightened by a scene about a crush between such terrible people. And it really was the radio that made it. Usually those are moments for love songs to swell in the soundtrack. But just having it play in the background actually on the radio almost took you out of the setting they were actually in, until you realized that they were flirting by talking about meth.
From there the episode continued its slower pace. We got to see Hank and Jesse and Gomez continuing their investigation of Walt. Their quest: to find his money. And what better way to do that than question Huell. The fun in watching Hank not even hide the fact that he is just outright lying to him was great. He knew this wasn't Heisenberg, no subtlety was needed. And Huell responded perfectly in turn, giving Hank everything he needed to keep looking for Walt's money without a thought of questioning the good police officer. It has been said in recent episodes that some of Hank's lying might be blurring some lines. But this was not about good and bad. This was just about getting another hilarious moment with Huell amid all the darkness in these characters lives.
We got one more fun moment. Watching Skylar and Flynn at the car wash as she was training him and letting him work was delightful. Not only was Flynn's interaction with Saul priceless as he stared at "the guy on the billboard" like he was a rock star, but watching he and Skylar interact may be the first time since, well I don't know when, that we got to witness the White's as a loving family where there were no secrets being kept or ulterior motives on display.
And then the phone call came. The engine roared. And the trademark tension of Maclaren's episodes kicked into full gear. With Walt racing towards his trap in the desert to save his money, the noise of his engine was almost deafening. In an episode with no music and only light conversation it was enough to jar you into remembering what show you were really watching. And as hearts raced almost as fast as Walt's car while blowing red lights as he tried to save his empire, there couldn't have been another second of that scene that was bearable. And then he arrived.
He turned off the car. And we were enveloped by the desert. And we were back into silence with nothing but the sound of Walt's dusty footsteps as he surveyed the setting of his imminent demise. Suddenly I missed the sound of that car engine. Anything would have been better than nothing. If screaming would have helped I would have. But then things just would have gone silent again when I ran out of breath.
Hiding behind a rock watching his enemies arrive, Walt calls Todd to tell him where to go to find Jesse. And then he stops as both of his weaknesses have been exploited. His greed got him into this mess and his family is going to keep him there as he sees Hank get out of the car and call off the hit. As Walt sighs realizing his defeat, the camera pulls in, giving us a look at the face we have grown to fear now just allowing itself to sadly face defeat(Bryan Cranston got the role of Walt because of an episode of the X-Files that Vince Gilligan wrote. He played an anti-Semite who would die if he didn't keep heading west. Gilligan said it was Cranston's ability to make such a despicable man sympathetic that got him the role of Walt. And in that moment I understood. I have called Walt the devil as much as anyone, but in that moment I felt bad for him. Like, I wanted to cry feeling bad.). Walt then gives himself up, quietly walking to Hank with his hands in the air. He says nothing. Just gets up and walks.
I was hoping to be happy for Hank when he got his moment, when he finally won. But it was just so hard. I started thinking about how far outside the law he had gone to capture Walt. I saw the smiles on Jesse's and Gomez's faces. I watched as Hank was given the honor of reading Walt his rights. And proud of Hank as you could be, there was no way it could be that simple. And then the final stroke fell as Hank called Marie. Their conversation about Hank's victory and how things would get better could be seen as heavy-handed by some, but it was necessary. And also the final blow that let us all know that things were not actually going to get better.
I don't think it is quite fair to try and rehash the brutal intensity of the gun fight in the desert that capped off what has been a western of a season. So let's take a moment to talk about Maclaren. She has been responsible for some the show's best and most tense moments. She directed One Minute, giving us the shootout in the parking lot between Hank and the twins. She directed a personal favorite, Madrigal in season five, which gave me two of my favorite moments of the entire series. Watching the introduction that told the story of the death of Her Schueler was one of the most spellbinding mini-stories I have ever seen on television. That was also the episode where we met Lydia, and Laura Frazier pleaded not for her life but for her child to find her dead body so that she knew her mom wasn't a deadbeat that left. Maclaren's other 2012 credit was for the mid-season finale Gliding Over All, featuring prison murders and the immortal Crystal Blue Persuasion montage and the Hank on the toilet learning about Walt moment. This year she already directed the second episode which featured the fight between Marie and Skylar, a scene that was both so intense and frightening that I almost had to walk away.
And now that we see what moments she has already provided for the show it is no wonder that Maclaren was given this as her final episode. And what a more fitting way for her to walk out than with that ending. As the bullets flew, leaving us no idea of who lived or died, just with our hearts racing and our lungs reaching for breath, the master of the most intense show on television's most intense moments walked away. I have no doubt that Rian Johnson will be more than capable of picking up the rest of that scene in the next episode and taking us further towards whatever Mr. Lambert has in store in his return to Albuquerque. But watching To'hajiilee was the perfect beginning of the end as we didn't careen off that cliff I alluded to earlier. Instead Maclaren hung us off that cliff and then just let a tidal wave hit it.
Monday, September 2, 2013
Breaking Bad: Rabid Dog
tv: After the freak out inducing end of last weeks episode of Breaking Bad, we all wanted to know what was going to become of Jesse's gasoline rampage. This weeks episode, Rabid Dog, did not disappoint. Starting right where we left off last week Walt pulled up to his house to see the car that Jesse left askew in his driveway. Gun in hand, Walt enters his gasoline soaked house. Silence. And as the droning music rises with a beat slower than the beat of the racing hearts watching the scene we get three words: "Jesse, show yourself!" But no one is revealed to Walt.
The episode then begins with Walt, with no success, trying to pay a cleaning crew to get the gas out of his carpets. The money isn't the problem, the gas just won't come out. And the scheme begins. We watch Walt's actions as he douses various belongings, his clothes and his car in gas. The trap has been set. Skylar returns from a shopping trip with her husband ready to begin his lies. But unlike last week when Walt produced his greatest lie on tape for his brother-in-law, no one was buying it. Flynn immediately attributes his gas pump malfunction story to his cancer and the fact that Walt, with all his pride, didn't want to admit that he passed out again (another lie). Skylar goes right along with Walt's story. They decide to relocate to a hotel because of the gas and for Walt, of course, because of the one who put it there.
Once at the hotel, under the ruse of going for ice, Walt holds a meeting with Saul. With Jesse still out there and his whereabouts unknown, Saul suggests that Jesse be dealt with like Old Yeller. And Walt reacts with by saying that that would never be an option, a reaction Old Yeller's owners surely had before facing their situation truthfully. But Walt doesn't yet see it that way. He is going to hold on to those lies he tells himself, as well as the ones he told everyone else, for as long as he can. And when he returns to his room he is forced to hold on them as tight as he can. His ice story doesn't fly. Skylar, drunk and in bed, stares down the husband that just last season terrorized her in this very scenario by screaming at her to tell him her plan to stop him, and tells him she knows all his lies.
It was amazing to see this seen play out. In seasons past Walter would have terrorized his wife. Or come up with a plan or simply stated something so bold and crazy that Skylar would have realized she doesn't need two hands to count people who knock on doors. But now, with Jesse missing, he simply shrinks under her accusations. And finally, just shrugs and lies to himself. He talks himself into believing that Jesse stopped because of their friendship. He talks about how Jesse is a good kid who is just emotional. And he is the only one buying what he is selling now.
And in one final act of defiance Skylar suggests that Walt kill Jesse. Because if he were being honest, why not? He's done it before for worse reasons than someone threatening to burn his house down. But Walt will just not hear this. Meanwhile, all anyone (both in the show and out of it) wants to know is where's Jesse?
Jesse kicks the door down and we get a replay of the end of last weeks episode. But we quickly get the answer as fast as all the others have been coming this season. Hank walks in and talks Jesse off the ledge. He answers to Jesse's plea that Mr. White has to pay for what he has done. And off they go to the one place in the world Jesse never thought he'd be crashing. Not the Enterprise where pie eating contests occur regularly, but Hank's home. Marie returns home to find her husband has packed a bag so that she doesn't have to deal with their new house guest. But after witnessing Marie's most recent therapy session, where we watch her talk out in code her feelings about Walt, we know she isn't going anywhere if the person in her guest room can help hurt Walt. It must be noted (I am probably going to gush over the cast every week. That's not what I'm noting) how amazing Betsy Brandt was in that scene. Watching jitter and sniffle on the edge of a knife balancing her anger and confusion and sadness and fear while discussing googling untraceable poisons was breathtaking. Possibly even the best therapy session since Tony Soprano stopped going to see Dr. Melfi.
There was a real fun to watching Jesse wake up from his nap at Hank's house. With the scene shot in very wide and long and deep sets and camera angles, there was an almost surreal sense to the mundanity Jesse had just awoke in the middle of that bordered on hilarious. But just as his coffee is being delivered to him (in a DEA mug! Cymbal crash!) the real world comes right back to him. He sees the camera being set up. And as the scene at Hank's house between he and Jesse and Gomez plays out, the truth pours out from Jesse. He explains that he has no evidence of Walt's crimes. And then he gives his own confession. And based on the discussion that follows, it stuck closer to the true events than Walt's did. And just to mirror the reactions of the two people Walt was stuck with all episode, we see Hank and Gomez agree that they believe Jesse. People are believing him. And before Jesse and his two new DEA agent friends decide to put there plan in motion to take down Walt, Jesse gives them the final truth: "Mr. White, he's the Devil."
Once the final scene begins we are thrust back into the intensity we hadn't felt since Walt stormed his own home gun in hand at the beginning of the episode. And as a wired Jesse approached his meeting with Walt, that swell and that bass returned. And so did all the racing hearts. And just like in the beginning, the conflict didn't happen. Only this time, Jesse walked away with a threat and a plan to "get Mr. White where it will hurt most," and not the sad sack of lies we saw Walt concoct earlier.
This was an episode all about doubles. The lies of Walt and the truths of Jesse. Those new people who believe Jesse and those who have been with Walt longest who see right through him now. The two confessions. The thrilling beginning and end that both end with a phone call and a plan. We see Walt's reaction to Jesse's threat of a plan. He gets on the phone to call Todd and have his white supremacist family kill Jesse. But even this felt like one last lie this time from Walt to us the viewer. Because it has to be Walt that kills Jesse, it can't be anybody else. Jesse never tells us his plan, but I believe he has one, and that its a good one. He certainly at this point doesn't seem like a rabid dog anymore, no longer just looking to lash out in irrational rage. He now looks like a dog looking to bite his abusive owner, and nobody else.
The episode then begins with Walt, with no success, trying to pay a cleaning crew to get the gas out of his carpets. The money isn't the problem, the gas just won't come out. And the scheme begins. We watch Walt's actions as he douses various belongings, his clothes and his car in gas. The trap has been set. Skylar returns from a shopping trip with her husband ready to begin his lies. But unlike last week when Walt produced his greatest lie on tape for his brother-in-law, no one was buying it. Flynn immediately attributes his gas pump malfunction story to his cancer and the fact that Walt, with all his pride, didn't want to admit that he passed out again (another lie). Skylar goes right along with Walt's story. They decide to relocate to a hotel because of the gas and for Walt, of course, because of the one who put it there.
Once at the hotel, under the ruse of going for ice, Walt holds a meeting with Saul. With Jesse still out there and his whereabouts unknown, Saul suggests that Jesse be dealt with like Old Yeller. And Walt reacts with by saying that that would never be an option, a reaction Old Yeller's owners surely had before facing their situation truthfully. But Walt doesn't yet see it that way. He is going to hold on to those lies he tells himself, as well as the ones he told everyone else, for as long as he can. And when he returns to his room he is forced to hold on them as tight as he can. His ice story doesn't fly. Skylar, drunk and in bed, stares down the husband that just last season terrorized her in this very scenario by screaming at her to tell him her plan to stop him, and tells him she knows all his lies.
It was amazing to see this seen play out. In seasons past Walter would have terrorized his wife. Or come up with a plan or simply stated something so bold and crazy that Skylar would have realized she doesn't need two hands to count people who knock on doors. But now, with Jesse missing, he simply shrinks under her accusations. And finally, just shrugs and lies to himself. He talks himself into believing that Jesse stopped because of their friendship. He talks about how Jesse is a good kid who is just emotional. And he is the only one buying what he is selling now.
And in one final act of defiance Skylar suggests that Walt kill Jesse. Because if he were being honest, why not? He's done it before for worse reasons than someone threatening to burn his house down. But Walt will just not hear this. Meanwhile, all anyone (both in the show and out of it) wants to know is where's Jesse?
Jesse kicks the door down and we get a replay of the end of last weeks episode. But we quickly get the answer as fast as all the others have been coming this season. Hank walks in and talks Jesse off the ledge. He answers to Jesse's plea that Mr. White has to pay for what he has done. And off they go to the one place in the world Jesse never thought he'd be crashing. Not the Enterprise where pie eating contests occur regularly, but Hank's home. Marie returns home to find her husband has packed a bag so that she doesn't have to deal with their new house guest. But after witnessing Marie's most recent therapy session, where we watch her talk out in code her feelings about Walt, we know she isn't going anywhere if the person in her guest room can help hurt Walt. It must be noted (I am probably going to gush over the cast every week. That's not what I'm noting) how amazing Betsy Brandt was in that scene. Watching jitter and sniffle on the edge of a knife balancing her anger and confusion and sadness and fear while discussing googling untraceable poisons was breathtaking. Possibly even the best therapy session since Tony Soprano stopped going to see Dr. Melfi.
There was a real fun to watching Jesse wake up from his nap at Hank's house. With the scene shot in very wide and long and deep sets and camera angles, there was an almost surreal sense to the mundanity Jesse had just awoke in the middle of that bordered on hilarious. But just as his coffee is being delivered to him (in a DEA mug! Cymbal crash!) the real world comes right back to him. He sees the camera being set up. And as the scene at Hank's house between he and Jesse and Gomez plays out, the truth pours out from Jesse. He explains that he has no evidence of Walt's crimes. And then he gives his own confession. And based on the discussion that follows, it stuck closer to the true events than Walt's did. And just to mirror the reactions of the two people Walt was stuck with all episode, we see Hank and Gomez agree that they believe Jesse. People are believing him. And before Jesse and his two new DEA agent friends decide to put there plan in motion to take down Walt, Jesse gives them the final truth: "Mr. White, he's the Devil."
Once the final scene begins we are thrust back into the intensity we hadn't felt since Walt stormed his own home gun in hand at the beginning of the episode. And as a wired Jesse approached his meeting with Walt, that swell and that bass returned. And so did all the racing hearts. And just like in the beginning, the conflict didn't happen. Only this time, Jesse walked away with a threat and a plan to "get Mr. White where it will hurt most," and not the sad sack of lies we saw Walt concoct earlier.
This was an episode all about doubles. The lies of Walt and the truths of Jesse. Those new people who believe Jesse and those who have been with Walt longest who see right through him now. The two confessions. The thrilling beginning and end that both end with a phone call and a plan. We see Walt's reaction to Jesse's threat of a plan. He gets on the phone to call Todd and have his white supremacist family kill Jesse. But even this felt like one last lie this time from Walt to us the viewer. Because it has to be Walt that kills Jesse, it can't be anybody else. Jesse never tells us his plan, but I believe he has one, and that its a good one. He certainly at this point doesn't seem like a rabid dog anymore, no longer just looking to lash out in irrational rage. He now looks like a dog looking to bite his abusive owner, and nobody else.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)