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Breaking Bad: Breakage

"I don't think either of us is eager to jump into bed with another Tuco."

Yes, they don't want another Tuco. And yet, Walt wants Jesse to become their very own Tuco. WWTD. What Would Tuco Do?

Jesse is now keeping anything related to his real career out of his new apartment. Smart. I had a landlord once that I *knew* was entering my place when I wasn't there and looking around. Not that the very pretty young Jane would do that; I'm sure she doesn't care, or she wouldn't have rented him the apartment. Jesse's story about his parents kicking him out appeared to be what sold her. Funny that Jesse gave Jane the exact same speech about maturity that his mother gave him.

Maybe he took that speech seriously, because Jesse did some other smart things: like going back and paying off Badger's cousin and making arrangements to park the RV; recruiting minions he could pretty much trust not to turn on him; setting up a series of very creative drops. Even buying an old car was smart. But it wasn't enough for Walt. What Walt wants now is for Jesse to "do something" about Skinny Pete getting robbed. With a gun. Can Jesse break that bad? I think not. At least I really hope not.

Breaking Bad always does a phenomenal job when it comes to imagery and symbolism, but this episode featured even more than usual. There were so many shots of contaminated liquids: the immigrants swimming across the muddy river, the shot from the inside of the stopped up toilet where Skyler had thrown out her secret cigarettes, the tubes of dripping beer that looked almost exactly like Walt's chemo. There was even a scene with many aquariums, a stream of poured pretzels, dope floating in a toilet tank.

In a way, this entire series is about human breakage. The most powerful bit of symbolism had to be Hank's home-brewed beer cutting his hand and blowing up in the middle of the night, an obvious outward manifestation of his anxiety attacks about shooting Tuco and his recent and dangerous promotion. The opener, with the immigrant finding the Lucite block with Tuco's grill in it, made me worry that something horrible had happened to Hank. And all that happened was that he threw the grill away. Hank was also drinking boilermakers. Poor Hank. Geez, Turn down the promotion! Sometimes more money just isn't worth the stress.

Hank is still looking for Heisenberg. There's something very Moby Dick-like about it. Although Ahab wasn't searching for his innocuous brother-in-law. Wow, was I injecting yet more water imagery in an episode chock full of it?

Skyler's pregnancy and Walt's cancer are sort of running in parallel (altering the body, changing priorities, birth and death) and Walt's doctor just told him to come back right around the time Skyler is due. And by the way, it is absolutely insane that a three day hospital stay should cost $13,000 and counting. The world's most expensive alibi. Insane.

Bits and pieces:

-- Skyler is still angry. I completely get where Skyler is coming from, honestly, I do. And I still want to shake her for being so obstinate.

-- Skyler demanded an apology from Marie. And surprise, she got one. It was probably the threat of dropping Marie completely that did it.

-- Tuco, like Generalissimo Francisco Franco, is still dead. I never got that joke, by the way. Anyone know?

-- The couple that ripped off Skinny Pete were frightening. The cackling was, anyway.

-- Jesse actually has plans to decorate his new apartment in Early American Bachelor. That was fun.

-- Again the old dance music in the dealing scenes. So lighthearted.

-- DBAA fee. Don't Be An Asshole.

-- Jesse finally called Walt "Walt" instead of Mr. White.

-- "Dedicated to our friend Kim Manners." That was nice.

-- Jesse: (giving his name) "Jesse. Jesse ... Jackson." Jane: "Seriously?"

Three out of four totally inappropriate and irritating "Hope" buttons that Walt immediately tossed in the trash,

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

6 comments:

  1. Apparently in the days and weeks leading up to Franco's death there was a death watch in the media, so they were incessantly reporting the the Generalissimo was still alive. After he died, SNL made the joke and ran with it.

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  2. What a challenging episode. I never had a lot of sympathy for Walt to begin with, but asking Jesse to shoot a pair of junkies so Walt can keep making money might be a bit much. He seems like a sociopath who just keeps losing his social conditioning.

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  3. It was SNL's first season, 1975-1976. Chevy Chase reported on virtually every Weekend Update that Franco was STILL DEAD. At the time Garret Morris was doing news for the hard-of-hearing, in a little inset at the bottom of the screen. He would shout " OUR TOP STORY TONIGHT - FRANCO IS STILL DEAD!". They really ran that joke into the ground. Not the first time, and definitely not the last, for SNL. LOL.

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  4. WWTSD, maybe. I've started personally going bt WWTBPJMRD.

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