Breaking Bad Review: Dead Freight

I seriously thought I was going to have a heart attack after watching this week’s episode of Breaking Bad – so brutal! Here are a few things I found interesting this week:

• As soon as I saw Walt walk into Hank’s office I knew he was up to something. I had a feeling he wasn’t there for just for a friendly chat, but bugging the phone and computer I did not see coming. It’s genius plan, but if Walt keeps pushing his luck taking these big risks it will eventually bring him down. And what about fingerprints? I mean eventually Hank is going to find those bugs and the first thing he’s going to do is check for fingerprints. A little careless on Walt’s part if you ask me.

• How the hell did that kid see the tarantula from so far away while riding a dirt bike? Not sure what the symbolism of the tarantula was but it’s got to mean something since they showed it again at the end. Any ideas?

• There seems to be a pattern emerging where Jesse thinks of a great idea while Mike and Walt are fighting. First it was the magnets at the police station and this time it was replacing the methylmine with water. I think this is Vince Gilligan’s way of showing us that Jesse is the smartest, most level headed one out of the three. Walt might be more book smart but his lust for
power is clouding his judgment.

• Skyler’s strategy on leaving the kids at Hank and Marie’s is completely backwards.  So your’e going to leave Flynn/Walter Jr./ Emo Mcgee (whatever you want to call him) at his aunt and uncle’s house for the last year before he goes off to college and give him no explanation as to why? If it was a week or two it would make sense, but it’s indefinite. He’s going to hate Skylar and Walt, go off to college and never come home again. Really well thought out Skyler, from now on let’s leave the strategies to Walt since you clearly suck at it.

• So when Hank asked Flynn if he wanted to watch “Heat,” I realized this was the second time a movie was referenced in the last few episodes. I also realized this was a little gem Vince Gilligan left for us to figure out: Walt mentions the movie “Scarface,” a movie that is all about a drug dealer, Al Pacino, who gets killed in the end in a gun fight because he didn’t follow the rules. Hank mentions “Heat” which is about a cop, Al Pacino, who keeps getting eluded by criminals that are right under his nose, and eventually catches them and kills the leader of the gang in a gun fight. Crazy, right? So which one of those stories is going to come true in Breaking Bad? Maybe one, maybe both.

• When Lydia first mentioned the train I thought that it sounded like a crazy idea from a frantic woman who is trying to not be killed. I was totally shocked when they actually considered doing it. How did Mike not completely shut that down? Robbing a train? Seriously guys? While I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, I have to say, it was a pretty amazing scene.  It felt like an action movie in the middle of a drama.

• So Todd’s going to get killed, right? I think we’re all in agreement about that. When he first spoke up at the first tented house I had a feeling things wouldn’t end well for him.  He is a loose end that needs to be tied up, and the fact that Walt was calling Jesse by his name in front of Todd made me think that they knew they were going to have to kill him before the train heist even started. Why else would Walt answer all of his questions about the heist and not just tell him to mind his business. So even though I thought Todd’s fate was sealed before the heist even started – shooting that kid made me 100% sure that he has got to go.

• WHY DID YOU SHOOT THAT KID? Couldn’t you have maybe talked about it for a second with Walt and Jesse? There are so many issues I have with this. 1. Todd’s a hired helper, not a decision maker. So what made him think he could just shoot a child without consulting anyone? 2. Why does he have a gun? How is that going to help him unscrew bolts on a train? 3  I don’t think that there’s anything that brings more attention than a missing child. If you want to keep this operation quiet, that’s the last thing you want to do. 4. Why kill this kid at all? To him it probably looked like they were just doing construction, it was so completely unnecessary.

• With all that aside, the celebration after they pulled off the heist was really amazing. I love seeing Hank truly happy for a moment and I love it any time Jesse yells out, “YEAH BITCH!” I need more of that.