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Breaking Bad: Bit by a Dead Bee

"Naked? He was naked? Naked in a supermarket? It wasn't Whole Foods, was it?"

Walt had a plan. Of course he did. He was so smart that he nearly wound up in the hospital indefinitely, and now he's stuck with a story that Skyler doesn't believe. And he's also right back where he started, still needing $737,000 but with only a broken down RV to cook in, and no distributor. I guess even the smartest person can't think of everything.

DING! He's baaack. The only reason Jesse didn't end up in jail was because "Tio" Salamanca is an old school banger who would never cooperate with the cops. (Although he reeeeaaaaaly wanted to; his finger was trembling over that bell.) He managed to poop on cue, too. I guess that's one way of communicating what he was thinking but couldn't say. He's so disgusting. You gotta love him.

(I just remembered a terrible Monty Python joke that fits what Tio did in this episode. What's brown and sounds like a bell? Dung!)

Jesse was impressive. Even though it scared him, he did exactly what Walt told him to do, and he did it well. I find Jesse oddly likable, almost dear. It isn't so much who he is, because he's made such terrible choices, but his potential. I keep getting the feeling that there's a good person hiding inside Jesse. I think Walt sees it, too.

I felt bad for Hank. He knew Jesse was involved, but couldn't prove it. And he may have gotten an office party and a cake for killing Tuco, and Marie may think Hank is indestructible, but he couldn't possibly be unaffected. I've probably said it before, but it's so much fun that Hank keeps watching that video of the barrel theft and the pom poms and doesn't realize that he's watching his brother-in-law. It's almost Shakespearean in a Three Stooges sort of way.

And speaking of the Three Stooges, it was just ridiculous that Walt had to sneak out of the hospital and break into his own house. It was symbolic of what's going on with Walt, though, because he really doesn't belong in his own house any more. In the hospital, Walt kept staring at a painting of a man in a boat rowing away from his family on the shore. That said it all.

Bits:

-- "Bit By a Dead Bee." What does that mean? Tuco's revenge from beyond the grave, I assume.

-- The episode opened, as they often do, with a visual that at first made no sense. This time, it was the perspective of the buried gun.

-- Hank's workmates gave him Tuco's "grill" encased in Lucite. I can't imagine a more revolting, inappropriate gift. No, wait, I can, but it was still really awful.

-- Marie gave Walt flowers with a bunch of balloons attached, all of which said "Happy", but nothing else. I guess nothing else fit with "happy." What about "get well soon", Marie?

-- When Walt went back to the bus stop after breaking into his own house, he looked up and saw his own MISSING poster.

And pieces:

-- And yet more nudity for Walt. Did Bryan Cranston know he was going to spend so much time without clothes? He's definitely a lot thinner than he was at the start of the series.

-- The music playing in the supermarket was "Feel Like Making Love." :)

-- Walt reinserting his IV had Dan in fits because Walt was doing it incorrectly.

-- Hank finally met Jesse in this episode.

-- Badger. What an idiot. He makes Jesse look brilliant. And Badger's cousin? Yeah, let's trust him with the RV, because nothing could possibly go wrong with that.

-- Tio Salamanca was in San Quentin for 17 years and never talked. Somehow, that doesn't surprise me.

-- Walt said that Walter Junior was fifteen and has cerebral palsy. I don't think we knew that.

-- The wonderful Harry Groener, the Mayor of Sunnydale California, was Walt's shrink.

-- Does every shirt Jesse has have skulls on it? Is that a pirate thing?

Quotes:

Badger: "Holy Christ! You're Willy Wonka. You are Willy Wonka and I got the golden ticket. Put me on your magical boat, man. Sail me down your chocolately river of meth."

Jesse: "Look at this dude, right? He doesn't even know what planet he's living on."
Gomez: "Senor. Are we on the planet Mars?"
(silence)
Gomez: "Are we on the planet Saturn?"
(silence)
Gomez: "Are we on the planet Earth?"
*DING*

Three out of four extra cell phones,

Billie
---
Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

7 comments:

  1. It's great that everything has it's consequences and that the show doesn't skip over them like many would. Can't wait for more. :)

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  2. Yes, the lingering consequences are a big part of what makes this show special for me. I absolutely love that Hank was profoundly affected by what happened with Tuco. By what Walt hath wrought. (Not that I'm happy Hank is suffering, I just really appreciate that the show is allowing things to ring true emotionally.)

    And I agree, Billie, that it is Jesse's potential that makes him so sympathetic. I truly believe he's got a good heart and that he could be a good man if he would make better choices in life. I actually think he wants to be a good person, he's just too weak to resist his own worse impulses and to stand up for himself. But that potential is there, and I adore him. He is the heart and soul of the show for me.

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  3. As for lingering consequences -- thus far in the series, there have been no consequences for Walt blowing up that guy's car in season one... I've been wondering if that will ever catch up to him.

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  4. 'Bit by a dead bee' is a quote from Howard Hawk's 'To Have and To Have Not', which was the 1st film in which Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Baccall appeared together. The line is from a rambling dipso character who uses that sort of circular questioning to accertain whether or not he trusts someone.

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  5. So I assume the last season of Breaking Bad is Walt's shrink deciding to take over ABQ? :-)

    I loved Walt spying on his wife and son as Walt Jr. touched Sylar's arm. That was lovely, and such a portrait of the family intimacy that Walt has managed to reject with his harebrained meth scheme.

    It's interesting that this far into the second season Walt and Jesse have only made...3? real drug deals (one with Krazy-8, two with Tuco) and both have gone horribly wrong.

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  6. As Anonymous said, the "bit by a dead bee" is from To Have and Have Not. Walter Brennan played Bogey's alcoholic friend/aide, and his first question to everyone he met was "Have you ever been bit by a dead bee?" Bacall, who was playing a mystery woman who had latched onto Bogey and intrigued the hell out of him, was the only one to give Brennan a satisfactory answer, which ran along the lines of "yep, and I bit him back."

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  7. Yes, the quote was popularized by Walter Brennan, but Billie's right that it refers to Tuco making them feel pain after he is dead. This episode had a very different feel than the others -- no meth cooking or drug use (other than Wendy) and a lot of discussion. Feels like a setup for the next wave of action.

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