Breaking Bad: Cancer Man
By fred | February 18, 2008
(S01E04) As you may know if you’ve read my previous reviews of this show, I freaking love it. It’s one of the best new shows I’ve seen in a while, and most definitely one of those I enjoy the most at the time, since many (great) shows are off the air at the moment. This show has been compared to Weeds when it started, because it deals with drugs and because the main character on the show happens to be dealing drugs, sort of, but it really has nothing to do with Showtime’s series.
And even when Weeds was still a good show which I enjoyed every episode of, it wasn’t as good as this little baby is. Again, if you’re not watching Breaking Bad you have to, it is really great. Even if you didn’t like the last new AMC series, Mad Men, try this one. I didn’t like Mad Men myself, but this one is awesome!
With that said, this episode was a little different than what we got so far, and this for a couple of reasons. The first one, as hinted in the episode’s title, is that they broke the “rule” of continuity that had been set up during the first episodes, where each new episode would start right where the last one ended. And I was a little sad about it, because quite frankly last episode ended with Walt going to his wife and admitting her that he had something to tell her, and I really wanted to see that.
Because so far he had been hiding the entire thing to his family, and he claimed not to be even remotely ready to have that discussion with them. So, of course, I wanted to see how it would go, as well as what exactly he would admit. Now we didn’t get to see how, but we know he told the truth, that he had cancer. But not the whole truth, that he was now cooking meth, and definitely not nothing but the truth, and that he had to kill a couple of guys along the way.
He had to come clean about his cancer, because his symptoms have been getting more and more obvious and he couldn’t have hidden it much longer anyway. Now that he has, his wife is looking for alternative doctors and treatments so that there’s a chance for Walt to live a little longer. But Walt doesn’t share her enthusiasm, mainly because it will cost money. A lot of it, and he doesn’t want to die and leave his family sinking in debts.
This is where the second characteristic of this episode came in : it was a transitional episode I believe.
After a real mess, things going in all directions and people running and dying all around, this week people took a break, and time to breath a little. For Walt, it meant dealing with his family, realizing that still, the police was not after him - even though they do know there’s a new cook in town - and once again breaking free from his chains. Back in the days, Walt already decided that he would not take it no more, and when a bunch of morons made fun of his son he just went for it, ready to start a fight.
And he liked it, he liked that new feeling, that freedom, it tasted really good. But with the mess that followed with Crazy 8 and everything, and now his family finding out and his wife already hoping for the best while spending money they don’t have, to (try to) saving him, Walt felt crushed again, like he was back in his old job, cleaning cars while his students made fun of him. And once again, he decided to fight back, and he blew up the car of that asshole !
Another liberating move, another step in a new direction for his live. And once his confidence will be fully restored, he’ll probably give Pinkman a call to cook some more… because he’ll need the money.
Speaking of which, this week we had a little glimpse at another side of Pinkman. And when we first saw his family, his parents having dinner and questioning his little brother over the dinner, well the revelation that those people were actually Pinkman’s parents was pretty funny. And it’s only fair that we get to see that side of his life, because while Walt was a really complex man, so far Pinkman was just a crappy drug dealer.
One thing I would have really liked, however, was that they would have done it without that last scene where he talks to his little brother and trash his joint out. We knew that already, when he said it wasn’t his, we could tell he was telling the truth. And when he took it as he left, we knew he was taking the blame, and doing so only to protect his little brother, because he cared about him. We didn’t need more, and to have him go and ask for it back, was something we didn’t really need, in my opinion.
Anyways, giving his character a little more depth was welcome, although I sure hope that next week things start to get a little more shaky, cause this week was definitely slower than what we got used to. It was still good, though, but I hope things get back to “normal” fast…
Posted in Reviews
Shows: Breaking Bad
