Boom! After two episodes that touched on plot points and character moments we knew needed to come but not when, Breaking Bad exploded last night with actions we didn’t foresee and a character revelation that none of us could be certain would ever actually occur. Hit the jump for a roundup of recaps, and how ’bout that guacamole? We make it right here at the table.
Walter White told so many lies and manipulated (or tried to) so many people last night, it was dizzying. Alan Sepinwall at HitFix said:
Before this batch of episodes began, I asked Cranston and Vince Gilligan about Walt’s acting skills at this point in the series. Gilligan said that an upcoming episode would make “explicit that Walt is a better actor than he used to be,” and we have clearly arrived at that episode. He performs for Walter Jr. to keep him from going over to Hank and Marie’s house. He performs for Jesse in the desert to talk him into leaving town with a new identity. He performs for Skyler (not well, admittedly, but she’s too distracted to notice) when he goes to fetch his gun out of the soda machine. And in the spellbinding monologue that gives the episode its title, he performs for the camera, for Hank and Marie, and for anyone else who might need to see the video, as he spins a manufactured tale of Hank Schrader as Heisenberg and Walter Hartwell White as his victimized chemist. What’s brilliant about that speech, and about all the lies and performances Walt delivers throughout the episode, is that they have some element of truth within them.
Both Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz (over at Vulture) noted the juxtaposition between Walter videotaping himself in the show’s pilot and again in last night’s episode. Seitz said:
The push-pull between Walter and his alter ego Heisenberg has always been the core of the show, but while the struggle was intense and complex, with Heisenberg occasionally receding as Walter’s guilt or anxiety came to the fore, over time we’ve definitely seen Walter being subsumed within Heisenberg. The “real” person eventually became a facade for the alter-ego making the decisions and pulling the strings. The juxtaposition of Walter White’s first videotaped confession in the pilot (which was all truth) and this one (which was all lies) would seem to answer the question of whether there’s still good in Walter. This was his last chance to break good, and he didn’t take it.
Although watching Walter’s false confession seemed to be the most significant event last night, seeing Jesse put the pieces together and spring into action at the end of the episode turned out to be the most thrilling sequence. Donna Bowman at A.V. Club said:
When Jesse reaches in his pocket for his weed and finds only a crumpled cigarette box, then realizes in a flash of insight (parallel to Hank’s epiphany on the john) that this is not the first time Huell has lifted something from him, we’ve long been ready for the adrenaline surge of seeing him active and angry. Watching him set off toward town and leave his ride behind, then beat Saul bloody for his part in Walter’s manipulation of Jesse’s emotions, is thrilling after these long weeks of catatonia and indifference.
What are your thoughts on last night’s episode? What are your predictions for next week? What other recaps are you reading? Hit us with your links and commentary below!
On a final note, I loved this reference to Season 5.1 episode “Dead Freight,” which was such a huge turning point for Jesse (and was also recalled via Todd’s retelling of the train heist in the cold open).
