After last week’s episode feeling like it took off pretty quickly with Hank already confronting Walt, I’m not surprised at all that this week slowed the pace down a little bit. Characters did a whole lot of posturing, but not a whole lot of forward action was taken. Hank still hasn’t made up his mind on how to proceed and Jesse didn’t even have one damn line. The biggest moment was Skyler deciding to side with Walt on this, not Hank. But that’s not to say that she chose Walt, I think it’s more just that she thinks that her family and her money will be safer if Walt gets away with everything. I don’t know how she could possibly think that’s going to happen, but she’s never been the most rational character.
I always enjoy the small moments of levity this show brings, and they’re even more noticeable now that the stakes are ramping up. Last week it was Badger and Skinny Pete talking Star Trek, and this week it was Huell and Kuby laying on the freaking giant pile of money. Hopefully they keep these small moments going forward, because I’m sure stuff is only going to get more intense from here on out.
I have no doubts that Breaking Bad will wrap up in an interesting and dramatic way, but I do have a couple of concerns going forward, especially considering we already only have six episodes left. First, Jesse has yet to do anything. In the past, he’s had a tendency to pout and mope, but that’s always been countered by something crazy going on in his life at the time. There’s always been something to make it feel justified and keep the scenes interesting. I’m all for his “white-knighting” but it just doesn’t feel motivated right now. Hopefully after his confrontation with Hank at the beginning of next episode he’ll get more involved in what’s going on with Walt. His story has felt disjointed from everything else that’s been going on, and it hasn’t been super engaging either. If Jesse is truly going to be the savior of this series and really get another chance at a happy life, the viewers need to see him do something more than just throw money at poor people who are just going to use it to buy more drugs.
Also, as the show continues to move towards it’s inevitable end, we still have no context for those “future” scenes. In fact, we didn’t see anything of them in this episode. That’s a little worrying because of the short time we have left, but I’m willing to give Gilligan the benefit of the doubt on this one. Who knows, maybe in episode four or five we’ll just jump forward in time for the rest of the season? And finally, right now the show just seems to be missing something. The great acting is still there, the intense scenes are still there, but I think the show has lost a little bit of it’s unique flavor since there isn’t an overbearing bad guy trying to get Walt and Jesse to cook. In fact, there hasn’t been any cooking at all. I understand that the focus of the show has had to change now because there’s an end in sight, but I just miss the science and business behind Walt’s meth empire. Hopefully we get to see more of Lydia and Todd going forward, because the inability to create product living up to Heisenberg’s standards just might bring Walt and Jesse back into the fray in some way.
Positives:
-Skyler got slapped
-learned more about what’s going on with Walt’s empire
-Skylar and Hank scene
Negatives:
-Jesse’s story is still boring
-episode could use more forward movement
-still no context for the “future” scenes
Score:
8/10