Breaking Bad 101

by Alan Sepinwall

  6 Jesse’s old band TwaüghtHammër was featured on his social media profile when Skyler looked him up back in “Cat’s in the Bag …” (S1E2). It is an excellent fake band name.

  SEASON 2 / EPISODE 5

  “Breakage”

  Written by Moira Walley-Beckett

  Directed by Johan Renck

  Newton’s Third Law

  “We do things my way this time. Or I walk. You need me more than I need you … Walt.”—Jesse

  AMC renewed Breaking Bad for a third season—more or less ensuring the series’ future for as long as AMC, Sony, and Vince Gilligan could agree on deal points and the necessary length of the story—only days before the airing of “Breakage.” This felt ironic, because it removed one worry that had been hanging over the heads of the low-rated show’s1 fans at the exact moment the episode was hanging more and more problems above the heads of the show’s characters. Walt has mounting medical bills and still can’t get through to Skyler—even after he finds her cigarette pack and assumes it gives him leverage for a game of Moral Superiority—and now he has to deal with Jesse astutely changing the dynamics of their partnership. By taking over the distribution end of the business, Jesse does a 180 on all of his problems from “Down” (S2E4), but now he has responsibilities: rent for the apartment (and a landlady he wants to impress enough to have sex with, it seems2), rent for the RV (and the ongoing threat of Clovis trying to sell it away from him), employees to manage, and, as Walt points out, a street rep to maintain. Skyler is miserable and alone and has to bully Marie into apologizing for the tiara incident in order to make herself feel better. And Hank is having panic attacks about his killing of Tuco, only he can’t tell anyone about it because of the macho culture of the DEA field office. Instead, he bottles up his feelings as tight as the caps on his DIY microbrews.

  Which character, “Breakage” wants us to ask, will be the first to let their emotions burst out in dangerous fashion like the exploding bottles in Hank’s garage?

  Episodes like “Breakage” are important from a larger story stand-point—the bigger Jesse’s street operation gets, the greater the risk of Hank or someone else in law enforcement becoming aware of it—but also for helping to deepen the supporting cast and make it clear just how many people Walt is hurting in his quest to die on his own terms. Skyler is smoking3 because Walt has her so stressed and isolated. Hank only wound up in a position where he had to kill Tuco because Walt was missing (and involved with that psychopath to begin with). And while Jesse is feeling his oats enough to refer to Mr. White by his first name for once, he’s now plunged himself far deeper into this business than he was planning to go, and with great power comes the responsibility of dealing with the two tweakers who robbed Skinny Pete. Walt needs their street rep protected, but it’ll be up to Jesse—in way over his head, once again—to actually do the protecting.

  “Breakage” is among the show’s most technically impressive episodes at this point. It plays visually with time, both in the early scene where Walt’s chemo seems to be taking forever while all the patients around him race through theirs, and later on when we see how quickly Jesse seems to have built his new street empire. And it does impressive things with sound design (often an afterthought in TV) with the way it makes the sound of liquid so prominent throughout—whether the chemo entering Walt’s body, the sloshing of Hank’s microbrews, or the sound of the Rio Grande flowing through the point where the two undocumented Mexicans find Tuco’s grill. For a show about chemistry, and the transformation of solids into liquids, inert liquids into volatile ones, etc., it’s very fitting, and only adds to the sense of tension as we wait for the next explosion to come.

  1 The ratings began to build gradually over the years, but it wouldn’t really be until the final eight episodes—when all the fans who had caught up with the show over the years on DVD or Netflix finally began watching in real time—that the show became a genuine hit and not just a critical darling.

  2 Say hello to Krysten Ritter as Jesse’s new neighbor/landlady Jane. This was her first significant adult role (and the springboard that would eventually lead her to star in Jessica Jones on Netflix) after years of recurring teen roles on shows like Veronica Mars and Gilmore Girls.

  3 Note that she kept exact count of the “three and a half cigarettes” she had consumed while pregnant—which lets us know just how guilty she feels.

  SEASON 2 / EPISODE 6

  “Peekaboo”

  Written by J. Roberts & Vince Gilligan

  Directed by Peter Medak

  Nothing But a $10 Savings Bond

  “What happened to you? Really, Walt … what happened? Because this isn’t you.”—Gretchen

  “What would you know about me, Gretchen?” —Walt

  A lot of bills come due in “Peekaboo.” Some are financial, like Jesse trying to get his money back from the two tweakers or Gretchen finding out that Walt has been lying to his family about how he’s paying for his treatment. Some are emotional, like Walt finally unloading on Gretchen for what he feels she owes him (in every sense) or Jesse having to confront the realities of his new career during his harrowing day with Spooge (David Ury) and Skank (Dale Dickey).1 And while Walt and Jesse more or less get what they need by the end of the episode—Gretchen inadvertently gives Walt the means to repair his rift with Skyler, while Jesse walks away with an ATM-ful of cash—their own karmic debts are getting bigger and bigger all the time.

  Jesse’s ordeal is right in the series’ wheelhouse. What should have been a simple task—hold a gun on two pathetic junkies and retrieve the money and drugs they stole—instead turns into an all-day mess that nearly gets Jesse killed and brings him face-to-face with victims of his operation—most disturbingly, Skank’s filthy, underfed, horribly neglected little boy.

  When we talk about the terrible things Walt and Jesse are doing, it’s generally in the context of how they’re hurting their loved ones, as opposed to the people who actually use their product. This choice makes sense, since we know the duo’s families, while the meth-heads of the greater Albuquerque area are a faceless abstraction. But in taking us into Spooge and Skank’s home and showing us the poor kid they neglect because they’re too busy getting high, Breaking Bad shows us the real cost of the business from which Jesse and Walt profit. The moment when Jesse plays the eponymous game of Peekaboo and the boy has no idea how to react—because, clearly, Skank’s not the kind of mom who would ever play such a game with her son—was heartbreaking, and played with such vulnerability by Aaron Paul.

  There’s no suggestion that the horror Jesse faces here will change his career plans. He’s in too deep now, and—as demonstrated a few episodes ago—he doesn’t have any better options. But even though he manages to get in and out of that house without actually killing anyone, it’s yet another nightmare he endures entirely because of his association with Mr. White—and one he’ll never be able to unsee.

  As usual, Jesse isn’t Walt’s only victim of the hour, as Gretchen gets a terrifying glimpse of the monster her former lover and colleague is fast becoming. The Walt who takes her to dinner before unloading decades’ worth of resentment on her2 is terrifying. Despite what Gretchen claims, this is him. This has, perhaps, always been him. Like H. Tracy Hall, whom he rants about during his first day back in his classroom, Walt believes he was screwed out of the fortune to which his sheer genius entitled him. But Walt has a history of walking away from situations because of some slight—real or perceived—and then acting as if he is the victim. No one close to him has any idea of just how much anger he’s holding in, and how he lets that anger guide his every decision. In reality, he bolted from his relationship with Gretchen, and the money that would have followed. But now he’s decided that rather than accept charity from Gretchen and Elliott, justifying it as payment for services rendered at the start of their careers, he’ll continue down this insane, dangerous path cooking crystal meth. And not only will he do that, but he’ll lie to Skyler and tell her to feel be
holden to The Rich Girl Who Got Away—a woman who makes Skyler feel inadequate every time she hears her name.

  The irony is that Gretchen, in trying to hurt Walt for the way he hurt her (to remove herself from being involved in Walt’s terrible lie), inadvertently makes his life easier, for now, by bringing him and Skyler closer together. Though she removes his easy explanation for how the treatment is being paid for, her alleged betrayal actually eases all the recent tensions in the White marriage and allows Walt to skate free yet again without having to face the dire consequences of his actions—a stark contrast to the direct and ugly reckoning Jesse is forced to undergo.

  Welcome to Spooge’s House

  As Aaron Paul recalls, the location used for Spooge and Skank’s house was somehow even nastier than what audiences saw during “Peekaboo.”

  “They actually cleaned the place up a little bit,” he says. “The person who owned it was a hoarder and had fifteen cats, I think. There was just feces all over the place. The smell was unbelievable. But it really put you in that environment. It really showed the audience that Jesse has a heart, that moment where he sees the kid. And that’s what’s so devastating, is there are so many kids out there like that. And when Jesse saw that little boy, he knew that he had to get this kid out of there. And I loved that.”

  1 The dialogue never gives the female tweaker a proper name, (or even nickname), which leaves our only option what Spooge called her—even though saying it to her face ended very badly for him.

  2 Though cable channels like AMC aren’t governed by the FCC, agreements with advertisers and/or cable operators often play a role in what content is acceptable, and “fuck” is one line most basic cable channels won’t cross. With Breaking Bad, though, a compromise was reached: In extreme cases (which averaged out to once per season), the show was allowed to have a character say a variation of “fuck,” as long as the audio was muted during broadcast (though it’s audible in digital and home video versions). In this episode, Walt snarls “fuck you” after Gretchen expresses pity for him. Sometimes no other word will do, especially in a circumstance when a man defined by his pride is told—by his wildly successful ex-lover, no less—that someone feels sorry for him. Cranston delivers the line with so much contempt and self-loathing that, on first viewing, I almost didn’t notice that it was muted.

  SEASON 2 / EPISODE 7

  “Negro y Azul”

  Written by John Shiban

  Directed by Felix Alcala

  Slow and Steady

  “Tortuga means ‘Turtle.’ That’s me: I take my time, but I always win.”—Tortuga

  Like Tortuga, Breaking Bad takes its time. Unlike Tortuga—who comes to a very graphic end in “Negro Y Azul”—the series keeps inching victoriously forward. Because we spend so much time on moments that similar shows and movies would gloss over, because we live with these characters at a much more measured pace than you can find most anywhere else, we feel the impact of them at a deeper level.

  Much of “Negro Y Azul” (Spanish for “black and blue”) deals with Walt talking Jesse into greatly expanding the reach of their operation—largely courtesy of the rep Jesse has developed by allegedly dropping the ATM on Spooge’s head. And because we spent most of “Peekaboo” watching how events really unfolded at Skank and Spooge’s house, using them as the misleading foundation of a criminal empire is both sadder and funnier than if Jesse’s visit had been just one of many incidents in a busier episode.

  After several hours in a row of unrelenting Walt monstrosity, the episode pulls him back off the ledge a bit, as he finally begins to understand what he’s done to Jesse—and how he’s dragged Jesse down into hell with him. In the first scene in Jesse’s darkened living room, we can see, even in shadow, Walt’s mood change as he realizes what has happened. He is sympathetic to Jesse, and even after he realizes that Jesse screwed up with Skank, he no longer yells at and talks over his partner at every turn.

  Despite Jesse’s newfound reputation as a literal head-crusher, he and Walt have no idea how far over their heads they are. Even if they haven’t seen the hilarious narcocorrido music video about how mad the Mexican cartel is getting at this Heisenberg fellow, which serves as the pre-credits sequence for this episode, they have to realize that they’re in need of muscle as much as they are of additional dealers. Jesse’s reputation will only get them so far, particularly if it’s ever challenged. And even though Walt’s rep thus far has proved deadlier than that of his more feared partner, he’s also in danger of collapsing from a coughing fit at any moment.

  These two, plus Badger, Skinny Pete, and Combo, do not an impressive criminal organization make,1 especially not compared to what Hank sees of the cartel during his travels south of the border. This is a show that didn’t just cast stone-faced character actor Danny Trejo as a man named after a turtle, then put his decapitated head on top of a turtle; it put Danny Trejo’s decapitated head on top of an exploding turtle, which takes out the bulk of the DEA’s El Paso field office when it blows. That’s some diabolically sick stuff, relentless and evil on a scale that Walt can’t even begin to comprehend, let alone prepare to defend himself against. His only protection at the moment is the same thing that was going to save him with Tuco: He’s too valuable as a cook to kill.

  It’s all too much as well for Skyler, who flirts her way back into her old job doing the books for Ted Beneke (Christopher Cousins), who was either (depending on which of Skyler’s stories you go by) sexually harassing her back in the day or the object of mutual affection; and for Hank as well, who only avoids the turtle-bomb because he’s so freaked out by the sight of Tortuga’s head that he has to run away to get some air and compose himself. (Once again, the show is pointing out that traditional signifiers of masculinity—like bravery and composure even in the face of a garish horror like this—are not only outdated, but can actually get you killed.) Hank, like Jesse, seems to be someone who was never that prepared for the deadly side of his chosen profession, and who’s now forced to confront it because of (unbeknownst to him) his relationship to Walt.

  Like Jesse in the final scene with his new flat-screen searching for a satellite signal, the episode leaves us waiting for the picture to come in. And just as Jane takes Jesse’s hand while they sit there, it’s clear that the wait is going to be at least as fulfilling as when we get to see the picture itself.

  1 Befitting his criminal alias as much as his own love of science, Walt arranges a strategy meeting with Jesse and their “knights” at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History.

  SEASON 2 / EPISODE 8

  “Better Call Saul”

  Written by Peter Gould

  Directed by Terry McDonough

  Everyone Needs a Good Lawyer

  “You don’t want a criminal lawyer. You want a criminal lawyer.” —Jesse

  “Better Call Saul” is a landmark moment for Breaking Bad, and not just because it introduces the character who will eventually star in a critically acclaimed prequel series of the same name. In introducing Albuquerque’s most famous ambulance-chasing defense lawyer, Saul Goodman,1 the episode not only adds much-needed comedic relief to a show that’s become significantly darker in season two, but also finally puts Walt and Jesse in business with a crook who actually knows what the hell he’s doing. With his ugly comb-over, shameless bus-bench ads, and tacky strip-mall office (with an inflatable Statue of Liberty on the roof, no less), Saul at first seems no more professional than his newest clients. But from the moment he gets involved with Walt and Jesse, it’s clear that he understands the business his clients have chosen and is well-suited to play (as he offers late in the episode) Tom Hagen to Walt’s Don Vito Corleone from The Godfather.2

  The three men take up business together because an undercover cop has busted Badger for dealing (after Badger falls victim to the urban legend about cops having to identify themselves if asked3), and Hank4 is now going to squeeze him until he flips on the mysterious Heisenberg. But if Walt and Jesse were truly
the remorseless master criminals they pretend to be when they don ski masks and drag Saul out to the desert to threaten him into helping them without letting Badger snitch, the problem would solve itself. As Saul himself asks bluntly, “Why don’t you just kill Badger?” If anything, he’s more ruthless than they are.5

  In a traditional criminal enterprise of the grand scope that Walt envisions, murder would be the simple answer. Much less expensive than the scam Saul eventually puts together for them (paying another man to go to prison for Heisenberg’s crimes), and less complicated, too. You can see Walt (who has killed before, and who’s been pushing the business expansion) considering it in that moment, but Jesse (who hasn’t killed anyone, and who’s been pushed into this business by Walt) won’t even entertain the idea. And because Walt needs Jesse—and because he does, on some level, feel guilty for what he’s done to the kid (specifically the Spooge incident)—he yields, even though paying Saul and his patsy off wipes out virtually all of their profits to date.

  Having helped them pull off this convoluted plan, Saul tries to position himself as Heisenberg’s consigliere. After all, he’s a con artist who has stumbled into a couple of soft touches whose reputation is built largely on a lie.6 This development carries huge possible risks for Walt, but it also has the potential to be a huge leap forward for both the operation and Breaking Bad itself. Saul is the first connection Walt and Jesse have made to the local crime world who both knows what he’s doing and hasn’t instantly tried to kill them. This is major, as it gives the two characters an ally with access to criminal advice and networks, while at the same time taking just a bit of strain off the TV show about their adventures, where having them perpetually under the thumb of men trying to kill them could be exhausting.