13 August, 2012

Guest Review - BREAKING BAD 5.05: 'Dead Freight'


Shawn Mahone refuses to stop watching this show and even worse, he won't stop writing about it! I didn't write anything this week but his rating for the episode is one I almost agree with (though, I'd give it 2 points lower). So, enjoy this review. -- HGF

After HGF posted my last review I added some thoughts on how Jesse is no longer the one in this business for the fat stacks and the honey's and that Walt is the one who has become reckless and that it makes me laugh to think how far these two yahoos have come over the course of the series and in the shows time over the course of the year, that is until now.....that last 30 seconds are going to haunt me for a long, long, long time.

We can say that all the people that have died on screen in front of us by either Walt or Jesse pulling the trigger have not been innocent, in some way they have been complicit in their own downfall and we could accept their demise and move on. The plane crash victims we never saw and the show made a point of never detailing exactly who was on board at the time (men ? women? children?) so we could kinda put that aside and move on. We could move on from the drug dealers who killed Thomas because we never saw it or saw Brock ill from being poisoned or being poisoned or any other death like Gale or the drug dealers or the cartel or the cousins, etc....but fuck me if we cannot put aside a kid getting gunned down in the manner it went down. Fuck logic that says if I were a drug kingpin I would do the same because the kid has to go, fuck that it is only a show and reality does not matter, fuck that it allows Walt, Mike and Jesse and more specifically Walt to live and fight another day...fuck all that because that moment or more importantly how the characters respond to that moment will determine just how low Walt and Jesse will go and how much darkness these 2 infuse around the New Mexico area and I am worried that they will forge forward...heartbreaking, just heartbreaking. Walt and Jesse can no longer deny that they are different from Gus if they just put down the loss of a child due to cost of business and I can no longer think back and laugh or smile at any of this series anymore because I can no longer accept the price that people on this show have to pay so that Walt and Jesse can become more and more powerful. Shit! Mother Fucker! shit!!!!!!!

Serial killers who are nuts would be proud to claim the amount of deaths these two proactively or inactively contributed over the year, the amount of death on their shoulders must be running near the 1000 mark when you consider all the gang violence, plane crash, death of the cartel, death by Walt and Jesse, death by product....these two are no longer yahoos but Americas most wanted...they sit at the top of the fictional pile of Breaking Bad world of scumbags!

But putting aside my personal feelings (and my overall love for children and hate to see any pain or misery come to them) maybe that is the point, maybe that has been the whole point throughout the series. Walt has been building to this moment from season 1. He killed bad guys, then got Jesse to do it, then he did it without even flinching, then he poisoned kids, then he watched and said nothing when Todd did it. Breaking Bad has been telling us for 5 seasons now that this moment was going to come and they prepared us and warned us and it is only our own fault if we cannot accept where this series is heading. Walt will survive to the last episode and most likely last scene because Bryan Cranston is the lead and thus it is his show and it is his story. Whatever happens now it is only going to get darker and that has me worried for everyone. I do not think Skyler is going to make it to season 6 or 5.1....she is smoking way too much and Walt oddly ceded to her demands very quickly and that makes me think that he knows he cannot reason with her and that it is time for her to go....Rican cigarette anyone? so I think she is gone. Mike is gonna be gone and I do not think he will make it to the end of the season based on the conversation Walt had with Lydia. Jesse will survive because Aaron Paul is too good an actor to be left out of the series and Hank will survive because he will be the man who ends Walt's crimes and looks after his kids. Even Walt Jr is defying his parents way too much...one wonders if he moves back home and hides and hears the truth? hmmmm.

The train caper was excellently shot, directed, acted and edited. It was tense, intense, suspenseful and brilliantly executed and I enjoyed all involved having fun while doing this great heist. Walt again pushed it to the limit and they eked out every last drop of drama they could get and I loved every moment of that sequence.

Walt and Hanks conversation was a little weird and odd and I kinda do not buy Walt being that risky but since Jesse has come up with the best ideas this season because Walt has lost his mind I can to a degree buy his recklessness of leaving his finger prints all over Hanks office.

Walt and Skylers conversation.....BORING.....SNOOZEFEST.....Whatever, just kill her already Walt...Hank and Marie can look after your kids and considering how Bitchy and cunty your wife is that maybe the better option! Speaking of which....

The mention of the movie Heat was very après pro for this particular episode...a Heist that went wrong because of the new guy....lol...good stuff and very subtle.

I know I came down hard initially, I really loved this episode once I calmed down and thought more rationally....the shot to the gut at the end of the episode really got to me and it threw me off because of my feelings for children overall...never hurt a child...but this show has earned that moment and it has earned everything that comes its way and so as I watch this unfold I know it is going to be insane. I do not recognize Walt or Jesse anymore, I cannot even believe a single word that is coming out of Walt's mouth, all season he has been mixing truths with lies to everyone....I do not know what to believe...fuck...I do not even know what he fucking believes anymore. Ever since he has taken over from Gus he has not been himself at all, he does not think things out, he is reacting irrationally, he is talking down to people like Mike and Skyler, he is enjoying the thrill of being the man in charge...he has lost his mind....he is now Scarface...

But the sad thing is that Scarface refused to hurt children...Scarface has a way to go to catch Walter White or is it Heisenberg? I just do not know anymore....Brilliant.

Episode Rating 99 out of 100

Rian Johnson saved last episode ass in a big way and so did Cranston....this shitted all over the last one by a country fucking mile! Vince Gilligan brother...fuck the family concentrate on the drug business...come on!