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07-19-2012 So yeah, I wish I could write this a little closer to the time of the episode airing. But guess what? I'm old - I have to go to bed after watching. Also, I work. Too bad I don't draw a fat paycheck for writing about TV and movies and sports and music, because that would be awesome. But I don't. I have a 9 to 5. So, I'll attempt to make up for my lack of timeliness by adding some extra funny and extra insight. Come along for the ride. My goal is to post a bloggy recap after each of the 16 episodes this season. Prologue: I think the flash-forward that comprised the first few minutes of this episode were the most intriguing moments of the show. This scene sure leaves many questions that I can't wait to see answered. First of all, Walt isn't surrounded by family, and he's not wearing a ring. You know what? That doesn't really concern me. Walt Jr/Flynn and Skyler aren't all that exciting anyway. I want to see what's in store for Heisenberg and Pinkman, yo! Walt has assumed another identity, and he's 52. That means some serious time is going to pass by over this season, considering. Considering that the first four seasons only covered one year of time. You're telling me that Vince Gilligan is going to cover that much time over just one season? OK, I'm on board! If that's the case, I can see why Walt no longer has time for veggie bacon; he's going with the real stuff at Denny's, cough and all. Go on getcha some! Nice mop of hair too. Oh, Mr. Lambert. You still have some fat stacks of cash to throw around, and what on earth do you need to do with that gun that you say isn't leaving town? I can't wait to find out.
Episode: The meat part of this episode picks up exactly where we left off last season. Gus hasn't even assumed room temperature yet and Walt is sharing with Skyler that he won. Apparently, what drug-producing winners do in New Mexico is different than what winning Super Bowl QBs do. Instead of going to Disneyland, Walt had to go home and clean the kitchen. And did he have to throw out everything? What happens when Junior needs some electrical tape or Skyler needs to measure out a 1/2 cup of flour? Jerk, did you even think of that?!? The next scene brings us to a surprisingly upright Hank Schrader exploring a recently hollowed-out Super Lab (R.I.P. Super Lab). Last time I saw that place, it featured a lot of very large, very heavy, very sturdy pieces of equipment. Walt is no punk when it comes to explosions. I enjoyed seeing Mike Icantspellyourlastname again, even though his character has no real angle with Gus out of the picture. He's a spectacular right-hand man, and it will be nice to see him once that hand has a man to attach to once again. (Wait, that wasn't supposed to sound gay...) Anyhow, he delivers probably the 2nd funniest line of the episode when he opens and closes his hands while Walt and Jesse act confused. "Keys, scumbag. It's the universal symbol for keys." You know the more monotone he is, the more of a dumbass he thinks you are. Incidentally, until the next time Jesse cracks a one-liner or Walt chillingly tells us how he's the one who knocks, the early lead for best line of Season Five goes to one Jesse Pinkman for, "Yeah, bitch! Magnets, yo!" So much passion for such a minimal vocabulary. Outside of this episode's intro, the most exciting/promising part for me was when the busted picture frame of "Fring, Gustavo" in the evidence room revealed some Cayman account number action. Every fiber of me is hoping this means we'll at least have a flashback involving the diabolical Gus Fring. Oh please, make it so! I miss you, Gus! I want to drink poisoned tequila with you! Are we ever going to have confirmation or denial of Gus's ties to General Pinochet in Chile? Complaints: There are parts of this show I do wish would go away. 1) Brock being poisoned. The 'ricin cigarette' is nearing the point of having its name in the credits. I don't need to know any more about this storyline. 2) Ted. I never liked a thing about the Ted storyline, so I was very happy thinking he had died. Having Skyler visit him in the hospital ruined about five minutes of this episode, and I hate to think of how much more time this light-weight will waste in the future. Even Walt Jr. could crap out a guy like this for, well, breakfast. 2a) I don't want to see some Al Capone ending where Walt (Sr.) is finally taken down for some sort of tax evasion. I know Beneke is the one cooking the books at his company, but still - the storylines are getting close. I see no reason for Ted to still play a part in this show's final season. 3) Skyler and Holly. I suppose Walt has to have a family to give his character some added depth, but scenes with Anna Gunn (again, pardoning the "I'm the one who knocks" speech) are like the slowed down acoustic numbers in an otherwise full-throttle rock concert. And for that, she gets an Emmy nomination? Oh wait, do they have a category for "Making Every Scene You're In Boring"? No? Well, then color me confused. 4) This is a pre-emptive complaint. I hope we see no more of Gretchen and/or Elliott. Where'd that come from?, you ask. Well, check this for a sec. Walt is driven by pride. Who were the original people who wounded his pride? That's right - the chica who rejected him romantically (who got herself a hearty "F--k you" over lunch years later) and her hot shot now-husband, who also cut him out of their way successful company, Gray Matter, back in the day. Prediction: Well, it's hard to see this not coming down to a showdown between Walt and Hank. They've been on a collision course since you knew the main character cooked meth and then, oh by the way, there is another character who works in the DEA, and he just happens to be the main character's brother-in-law. Gilligan and the writers have done a fantastic job of dancing around this reality, interjecting a few lines of dialog dripping with dramatic irony and some scenes that involved Hank coming pretty close to finding out the truth about his in-laws. Part of me thinks that Hank has known all along about Walt's 'business,' all along, but only a very small part of me. Just enough to wonder if the show has been crafted well enough to allow for that possibility. Probably not, but it's fun to think about. It's just amazing to me how much of a Super Cop our buddy Schraderbrau tends to be, how uncanny his knack for sorting out the truth from the bullshit is, for him to be completely oblivious to Walt for so long. Regardless of Walt trunk-shopping for big guns and fancy tracer rounds, my prediction for the end of the show parallels Gone in 60 Seconds, an admittedly terrible movie that I happen to love. I don't love it ironically either. I geniunely like it, despite Nic Cage's retarded delivery, the cheesy lines throughout, and Angelina Jolie's ugly-as-sin hair. But I digress. At the end of Breaking Bad, I expect Hank to catch Walt - somewhere away from the rest of the police force, of course - where just the two of them have a moment alone. Then Hank will turn to him and give some version of the speech that the black cop gave Nic Cage/Memphis Raines at the end of Gone...: "You just tore up this town, and I've had a decade-long hard-on dreaming of the day you would be stupid enough to step back into the game so I could bust your cracker ass. I had to be followed around by this dumb-shit sidekick who parrots lines worse than you do. You just stole exotic cars from the richest people in town - the people who who count on police protection of their assets and empires the most, the people who actually give big money to police charities... but I'm gonna let you go free, because..., well... because I understand why you did this. It was for your brother. Even though you trained him to be a thief. Wait, I'm gonna pretend like I didn't just think that. Now you get out of here, ya hear me, before some cop who actually wants to do his job comes along and arrests you. Never mind the billions of dollars in damage you caused to the city either. Just go have some beers with the rest of your friends in that old crime ring of yours. I heard they bought you some POS car that doesn't start." And then Walt sneaks away, coughing as he runs through the sandstorm-y air. I mean, it's not gonna be word for word, but something close. R.I.P. Chicken Man Seriously, Gus was a badass's badass. Chuck Norris has a poster of Gus in his bedroom. Edmond Dantes reads Gus' blog. Props to the writers; props to Giancarlo Esposito for his eerily calm demeanor while delivering chilling lines and slitting dude's throats. His revenge factor in Salud was instantly the stuff of legend, and the scene where he walked from the bathroom back out to the pool might be my favorite minute of scripted TV ever. Just see for yourself, with the music they played over the scene in question: Good bye, Mr. Fring. Don't be a bitch, yo! Tune in next week to the show... and my blog! -T |
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