Breaking Bad: Down
By fred | March 30, 2009
(S02E04) This show is about drugs, and the effect it can have on one’s life. But instead of looking at it from the usual consumer side, we’re here witnessing the lives of a chemistry teacher and his once student who are now trying to cook and sell meth, and how that will most likely end up destroying their lives completely. After all they went through, having to kill some people and deal with some pretty crazy ones who got shot by DEA agents, you might have thought for a moment there that they’d realize how messed up this was, how awful it could get and that they’d use the opportunity of bring “free” to just quit.
But Walter wasn’t really there, as far as he’s concerned, nothing had changed . Not the reasons he wanted to get in this business in the first place : he’s still dying, and he still needs a lot of money for his family to be taken care of. But if that didn’t change, everything else actually has change and keeps changing, changing as in falling apart, really. (And it’s a delight to witness it, such great television!)
On a side note though: when season 1 ended, Walter was pretty sick, coughing all the time, he looked like in a few weeks he might be gone. Lately if it wasn’t for his bald head, you’d never know he had been sick! He’s fine, he’s going around and doing all he wants without ever looking exhausted or coughing. Did they forget he’s sick, or is he actually getting better?
Ever since she found out about his second cellphone, Skyler has been on the fence, she knows Walter is up to something, she knows something is going on, something wrong, she can’t possibly imagine what, but she can’t ignore it either, she can’t just pretend it’s all fine. And when Walter tried to “explain” the second phone again, obviously lying about it again, she just couldn’t stand it.
What Walter told last week, about his life falling apart and him who couldn’t just stay in that house and having to leave, to go out, walk, breathe some fresh air, think, just be away from it all, that’s where she is now. She probably “likes” to put Walter through the same stuff he’s been putting her – and “Flynn” – to show him what it feels like, and hopefully get him to react, but she just can’t stand the lies no more.
Problem is, Walter can’t tell her the truth. He’s gone too far already. I’m not sure Skyler could deal with him cooking meth and selling it to raise money, especially with Hank being the DEA agent he is and everything, but adding to that all he’s gone through, that he had to steal things and, well, kill people, Walter is clearly past the point of no return. And with that opening scene where it looks they found lots of stuff in that pool, including a teddy bear and what looked like Walter’s glasses, I’d say he’s going to hit a new low relatively soon…
But if when the show started, it looked as if he just was being sucked in the mess that is drug dealing, as his life is falling apart we also realize that he has this tendency to focus on himself only, shut everyone else down, and this doesn’t help. Just see how he never let Jesse talk, never let him explain what fucked up situation he was in, Walter always shut him up before which could only make things worse. When it comes to cooking meth, or a deadly poison for Tuco becoming way too crazy for their taste, Walter is a thinker.
For about everything he used to take the time to step back, look at the situation and think about the proper resolution. Lately though, not so much. Neither him nor Jesse (or is he?) are using drugs lately, yet the impact of their drug partnership on their lives is obvious more and more every day. If for Walter it looks nothing but depressing, and potentially risky if his whole family “turn” against him, for Jesse on the other hand it’s so pathetic it becomes funny. Poor bastard is now homeless, and the moment when he slammed the phone down on the counter, only to see it immediately taken away up by some mover, was just hilarious.
When he went by an old friend trying to crash in for a few days, it was a perfect illustration of how far he’s fallen, and how drugs affected his life. This could have been Jesse, a great home, a nice kid, and beautiful wife, a good, normal life. In a way, this is also what Walter’s life used to be, a happy family, but drugs came in the way, their downward spiral to Hell took everything away from them. Walter still has a home and a family, but his son changed his name and his wife is understandably not believing a word he’s saying. As for Jesse, well, him covered in blue shit, crashing on his own van with a gas mask on because of the smell, that was strong enough an image I think.
In the end though, those guys aren’t – or weren’t – bad guys. Despite what they did and what they’re planning on doing, they’re nothing like the Tuco’s of the business, and they’re not going to just kill each other, they haven’t lost their humanity (yet). Of course, they’re still planning on cooking and selling meth again, so there’s time to get there…
What did everybody else think?
Posted in Reviews
Shows: Breaking Bad
