Season 5, Episode 1
“We’re
done…when I say we’re done.”
Few shows can raise the sort of pre-air
anticipation like Breaking Bad can.
The show, which at its heights delivers some of the most visceral and
adrenaline pumping moments ever to be aired on the small-screen, has a public
perception that’s based around those highs. Yet the show’s season premieres,
while still awesome, tend to work on a lower key than the heights that the show
is capable of, and as such tend to be slower and more taxing than what we as
viewers are used to. (The first third of season four, anyone?) Even as
tonight’s season premiere had those same premiere issues in setting up the next
batch of episodes (be it the first 8 of the season, or the whole 16, we’ve yet
to know), it also gave us perhaps the most fun hour the show has ever produced.
But that’s what tonight’s episode did, and it all
centered on the most deliriously fun of concepts: magnets. Like a fever dream
of Insane Clown Posse or Bill Nye the Science Guy, Jesse’s idea for how to
save him, Walt, and Mike from the incriminating video evidence under police
possession, it’s a gloriously simple idea, both for a criminal plan, and as
something to center the episode around. But in both cases it works. It allows
Walt to show off his science skills as rigs a U-Haul van into a giant magnetic
conductor, and it allows the show to play out a single idea for the majority of
the hour. Usually episodes of Breaking
Bad are about the unrelenting, all-surrounding pressures that out
anti-heroes have to face, but tonight gave them and us a reprieve. With a
singular goal to accomplish, it allowed the characters to end an episode on a
win, a rare event in the world of the show.
A lot of that sense of fun is, perhaps
disconcertingly, filtered through the current mood of Walter White. Having just
blown up Gus and the lab under the laundromat, the man is riding high,
convinced that no one and no thing can touch him. Having proven that he won,
that he is the one who knocks, Walt moves forward like a bullet train,
completely convinced that he is now unstoppable, and that all plans will
ultimately work out in his favor. Of course Walt has always been a self-assured
bastard, but when the world was kicking him down, he was always more hesitant
in his moves. Now that he’s the one doing the kicking, he throws caution to the
wind
Of course, all that fun and confidence that was
present throughout the episode was shadowed by an ominous bit of
flash-forwarding, much like the black-and-white scenes that began those season
two episodes. “Live Free or Die” (the state motto for New Hampshire, by the way) opened
with a disorienting scene, with Walt in a Denny’s (thank you, product
placement!), celebrating his 52nd birthday with his bacon, a beard
on his face and a full set of hair, popping pills and buying a large gun from
Lawrence. Walt’s much skinnier now, and once again seems to be in that
desperate place that he so often finds himself. Victory is not a permanent
state for Walt, and it seems the show is set on sending him out on a low note. It
adds another level of tension to the proceeding, as well as an air of tragedy,
to know that Walt’s time as king won’t last, but it doesn’t take a genius to
figure out that his hubris will be his downfall.
But for now he’s reveling in his alpha-male
posturing made fact, and he doesn’t seemed concerned with the dangers that
surround him. Mike’s still mad with Walt for killing Gus, and doubts that Walt
can keep this victory alive, telling Jesse that the best play would be to take
the money they have and just skip town. Jesse, ever the mentee to Mr. White, dismisses
him, enjoying the victories as much as Walter. The difference is where Jesse’s
confidence comes from naiveté; Walt’s comes from denial and self-delusion.
That denial and self-delusion come in handy in
regards to whatever backroom deals that Skyler and Saul have been carrying on
without his knowledge. Walt has long had a weak spot for his estranged wife,
trusting her with things that are far beyond her control. But that’s only because
he believes that he can be there to control the outcome. When he leans in close
to Saul and says “We’re done…when I say we’re done,” or when he tells Skyler “I
forgive you,” (while also applying for the Guinness World Record for Creepiest
Hug Ever), he does these things because he believes himself to be in a position
of power to make it all right. He’s so convinced of his own criminal prowess
that he couldn’t possibly fathom something biting him in the ass, because he can’t
fathom a scenario that he doesn’t see coming.
That’s to say nothing of the picture frame that
Walt’s super magnet incidentally broke, cluing the police into an address of
Gus’, one that Walt doesn’t know about. It stands as a symbol of Walt’s recklessness,
and I wouldn’t be surprised if that location is the key to his downfall. But that is 15 episodes out, and we’ve got
more than enough time to ponder and wonder at just how screwed Walter will
become, and just how much will be at his own hand. We’re currently with Walt as
he ascends, assuming that he hasn’t already hit his peak power. Soon enough
will come the fall, in all of its gruesome glory.
Next Week:
A trio forms, and the Germans arrive.
Quotes and
Other Thoughts:
“Keys, scumbag. It’s the universal symbol for
keys.”
“I want you to have one thought: Hogan’s Heroes.”
“What about that stuff you young guys wear on the
ends of your pricks? Speak now or forever sing soprano.”
“I can envision a lot of possible outcomes to this
thing, and not a one of them involves ‘Miller Time’.”
“Yeah, bitch! Magnets!”
“Did you just use the word ‘ethically’ in a
sentence?”
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