Breaking Bad 5.03
Aug. 2nd, 2012 06:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakWhich I finally had the chance to watch!
First of all, the newest location(s) of the meth lab is as brilliant as the previous ones, each saying something about where the show, and Walt, were at those points. Using the pesticide company and the various houses in need of sterilization for cover was a brilliant solution (and a good reminder that Walt in certain areas is actually as smart as he thinks he is) - and a fantastic metaphor. Because now Walt and Jesse are cooking their deadly poison in family homes, and the visuals of the fumes infecting, contaminating, to use Walt's word from The Fly those homes is what Walt is doing by now. What he's done in the name of "protecting the family" is destroying it. He's been wanting to return ever since Skyler kicked him out in s2, and now he doesn't even need to ask because Skyler is both too scared and too contiminated herself, with the money laundring and Ted, to call the police again. Once he had to follow Skyler's script, literally, had to admit her (gambling) lie made far more sense than the ones he had come up with. Now, he uses half truths for what is an emotional lie in order to answer Marie's question what is going on with her sister, and does it in a way that might drive a wedge between Marie and Skyler (and also guarantees Marie won't blame him for Skyler's upset state, which otherwise she was bound to).
And then there's Jesse, and Jesse's makeshift family. Walt continues to be more considerate to Jesse than he ever was, and to use the affection between them in a horribly manipulative way. Brock reminds him of what he's done (I don't think Walt feels guilty about that, but uncomfortable), and Andrea is a potential security risk, and both of them are people Jesse cares about who aren't him. So they have to go. What makes the way Walt manipulates Jesse into breaking up with Andrea so brilliant is that he doesn't lie a single time. I don't think he's faking the emotions, either. Lies and secrets do poison a relationship, and yes, he knows that by his own marriage. But as in the scene with Marie, the way he presents those selective truths and what he uses them for is what makes it both efficient and absolutely horrible. And of course, as fits a tragedy, Walt conveniently ignores his relationship with Jesse stopped being secret-free when Jane died and has been accumulating lie baggage since. And when he talks about Victor, rather pointedly equating Mike and Victor and Icarus, he's also ignoring the fact he himself is the biggest case of hubris around, and just proved it by completely ignoring Jesse telling him he broke up with Andrea, which by Jesse's look might have clued Jesse in to the fact Walter has been expecting this and worked towards it.
(Mind you: actually as long as Jesse is a drug manufacturer and drug dealer, Andrea and Brock are actually better without him, no matter how sweet Jesse is with kids. But those were not the reasons Walt had.)
I've got a new additional "how will BB end?" theory. To "the cancer catches up with Walt again", "Walt gets shot by the cops, Hank or Jesse" and "prison", I think we could add, as a possibility "Skyler kills him". Because as these last eps demonstrated, he has her trapped, as sure as ever an abusive husband had his wife (minus any physical violence, but then, that would shatter Walt's self image). At this point, she could only get free by a) taking the kids and run (but then she'd have to explain to Junior the truth about his father, and Junior would probably still want to at least talk to Walt before they go), b) go to Hank/the Feds and tell the truth, trying to get some sort of immunity or lesser punishment deal for this (but then if she gets prison, too, that leaves her children without both their parents, and Hank's career in tatters because Heisenberg was his brother in law, which means Hank and Marie, her children's likely guardians, will be out of jobs), or c) kill Walt. It would be ironic in the way this show can be if Walt's speech of how he knows it gets easier after the first time (counting Ted's near fatal accident as Skyler's first time) would result in Skyler using that lesson, and conclude yes, it gets easier, and Walt is going to suffer a fatal accident as well. By which I mean she wouldn't shoot him, but depending on how much chemistry she picked up from Walt over the years, she might go for poison. That way, her children wouldn't have to find out the truth about their father because given his cancer, Walt's demise would not be a shocker to anyone, she wouldn't have to go to prison and Hank and Marie would not have their life ruined, either.
I don't actually think that's how it'll end. But it could, by the character logic of this show. It could.
First of all, the newest location(s) of the meth lab is as brilliant as the previous ones, each saying something about where the show, and Walt, were at those points. Using the pesticide company and the various houses in need of sterilization for cover was a brilliant solution (and a good reminder that Walt in certain areas is actually as smart as he thinks he is) - and a fantastic metaphor. Because now Walt and Jesse are cooking their deadly poison in family homes, and the visuals of the fumes infecting, contaminating, to use Walt's word from The Fly those homes is what Walt is doing by now. What he's done in the name of "protecting the family" is destroying it. He's been wanting to return ever since Skyler kicked him out in s2, and now he doesn't even need to ask because Skyler is both too scared and too contiminated herself, with the money laundring and Ted, to call the police again. Once he had to follow Skyler's script, literally, had to admit her (gambling) lie made far more sense than the ones he had come up with. Now, he uses half truths for what is an emotional lie in order to answer Marie's question what is going on with her sister, and does it in a way that might drive a wedge between Marie and Skyler (and also guarantees Marie won't blame him for Skyler's upset state, which otherwise she was bound to).
And then there's Jesse, and Jesse's makeshift family. Walt continues to be more considerate to Jesse than he ever was, and to use the affection between them in a horribly manipulative way. Brock reminds him of what he's done (I don't think Walt feels guilty about that, but uncomfortable), and Andrea is a potential security risk, and both of them are people Jesse cares about who aren't him. So they have to go. What makes the way Walt manipulates Jesse into breaking up with Andrea so brilliant is that he doesn't lie a single time. I don't think he's faking the emotions, either. Lies and secrets do poison a relationship, and yes, he knows that by his own marriage. But as in the scene with Marie, the way he presents those selective truths and what he uses them for is what makes it both efficient and absolutely horrible. And of course, as fits a tragedy, Walt conveniently ignores his relationship with Jesse stopped being secret-free when Jane died and has been accumulating lie baggage since. And when he talks about Victor, rather pointedly equating Mike and Victor and Icarus, he's also ignoring the fact he himself is the biggest case of hubris around, and just proved it by completely ignoring Jesse telling him he broke up with Andrea, which by Jesse's look might have clued Jesse in to the fact Walter has been expecting this and worked towards it.
(Mind you: actually as long as Jesse is a drug manufacturer and drug dealer, Andrea and Brock are actually better without him, no matter how sweet Jesse is with kids. But those were not the reasons Walt had.)
I've got a new additional "how will BB end?" theory. To "the cancer catches up with Walt again", "Walt gets shot by the cops, Hank or Jesse" and "prison", I think we could add, as a possibility "Skyler kills him". Because as these last eps demonstrated, he has her trapped, as sure as ever an abusive husband had his wife (minus any physical violence, but then, that would shatter Walt's self image). At this point, she could only get free by a) taking the kids and run (but then she'd have to explain to Junior the truth about his father, and Junior would probably still want to at least talk to Walt before they go), b) go to Hank/the Feds and tell the truth, trying to get some sort of immunity or lesser punishment deal for this (but then if she gets prison, too, that leaves her children without both their parents, and Hank's career in tatters because Heisenberg was his brother in law, which means Hank and Marie, her children's likely guardians, will be out of jobs), or c) kill Walt. It would be ironic in the way this show can be if Walt's speech of how he knows it gets easier after the first time (counting Ted's near fatal accident as Skyler's first time) would result in Skyler using that lesson, and conclude yes, it gets easier, and Walt is going to suffer a fatal accident as well. By which I mean she wouldn't shoot him, but depending on how much chemistry she picked up from Walt over the years, she might go for poison. That way, her children wouldn't have to find out the truth about their father because given his cancer, Walt's demise would not be a shocker to anyone, she wouldn't have to go to prison and Hank and Marie would not have their life ruined, either.
I don't actually think that's how it'll end. But it could, by the character logic of this show. It could.
