Guest Review - BREAKING BAD 5.06: 'Buyout'

Shawn Mahone writes about some dudes who make drugs and kill kids. His views are his own and do not represent the opinion of anyone associated with this blog, nor anyone with taste for that matter. That's not to say he has bad taste. It's just to say I don't proofread his work so I have no idea what he may be writing. --HGF


At Comic Con Aaron Paul said that the best way to describe this season would be that it is eerie and by eerie he means the fans would feel the same feelings they endured at the end of Crawl Space. There have been some minor eerie moments throughout the season mostly whenever Walt is holding baby Holy like a bond villain such as Bloefeld holds his white cat and cackles, lol. But tonight during that intense, comic, devastating dinner scene I finally understood what he meant. This is the first time that Jesse has been in met Skyler since the second episode of the series and it is fucked up, back in that previous episode she was the wife who was worried about her husband, she was the wife that Walt took all these risks to provide for after his death and now Jesse knows that she is the wife who wants Walt dead and hates him with a passion. Jesse always thought that Walt was in this for the family and now realizes that he is in this for himself and that just ratchets the tension up ten fold! That dinner scene was funny as fuck and Aaron Paul was amazing (truth in advertising yo! lol) but he must know that the shit has hit the fucking fan!

We open this episode with the quiet and wordless music that played over the team ripping the bike apart and then shoving it along with the poor 14 year old into barrels ready to pour acid over and dispose of, just heartbreaking. We finally get to see Walt opening up and exposing how low he has sunk in this Endeavour to be Heisenberg the drug kingpin, telling Mike and Jesse that this killing was justified and that Todd's life should be spared....Wanker. The seeds have been sewn a long time ago that Mike and Jesse know that Walt is a nut job who has lost his morals but man was this painful to watch.

This whole episode was about Mike and Jesse trying to get out and Walt through his own prideful bullshit refusing to accept that the best thing is for him to get out too, he just will not let it go and we see just how resentful he has become. Grey Matter, he checks every week the stock price, he tortures himself and in turn he tortures everyone around him because he hates that a long time ago he fucked up and cashed out, he should blame himself but he blames Elliott and Gretchen for his failures and now Jesse and Mike are paying the price because this man will not let go.

Mike is being tracked by the DEA constantly and knows it is only a matter of time, Jesse cannot stand the death of another child and wants out and the potential buyers of the precursor will only buy the whole batch if the blue is off the street and so we come to the point where Walt gets what he wants and the episode ends. Walt was great as MaGyver thought, no?

My prediction is that Walt will try and get into business with the potential buyers but that is pure speculation on my part, I have no fucking idea though. We shall see what happens but right now we may have wondered how Walt ended up on his 52 birthday on the run with a huge gun....not anymore...the picture has become so much more clearer...sadly. Everyone is going to die! Well maybe not everyone but enough people if no one kills this man right now.

Episode Rating 92 out of 100

I waxed and waned on the rating...I said earlier that I am a little concerned with the season pacing and this episode had a bunch of pacing issues...Jesse's transition from one emotional level to another was a gut punch to me. Mike being all pissed after a weak of DEA tailing? really? Whatever. But I learned to get over it especially when my favorite comic character Saul turned up...man was he funny. These last 2 episodes are going to be fucking insane and I look forward to every minute of them, let's hope the body count is not too high (Sklyer please die!) but I do not expect too much problems, remember we have 8 full episodes after this and I have a feeling that the remainder of the series will be Walt making Jesse and his family's life a living hell....oh Walt you magnificent bastard! Never have I wanted a character to die so bad! Bitch!

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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!

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Guest Review - BREAKING BAD 5.03: 'Hazard Pay'

By perpetual guest reviewer Shawn Mahone.

Last week I talked about how Serialized shows can be at their most effective when drawing on rich source of solid material to move itself forward. I moaned that Mike's decision to move forward with Walt and Jessie felt contrived and bullshitty and that kinda ruined the episode for me, well this week the show did a something similar and it was spectacular! Everything Walter said or did was perfect for him as a character, he said things in a way and tone that makes sense when one looks at his history, he did things physically that makes sense to his history and holy hell was it fucking awesome and kinda creepy at the same time!

Walter White shares a few characteristics with Don Draper apart from being characters on Emmy winning AMC shows they have this huge common flaw...they both believe that they can change their lives at a drop of a hat and move on and people can do the same and if they cannot then they can go and screw themselves, they believe people can do the same and that a better life is always around the corner. Don Draper decided Dick Whitman could die in Korea and he could move on but as we find out his family suffered and it costs his brother his life, Don believed Lane Pryce could start over like him and instead he could not and it cost Lane his life. Walter White felt slighted and so left Elliot and Gretchen and millions of dollars out of Hubris and pettiness and being an asshole and started over. Walter White decided that being small time was no good so he made Jesse and his crew expand and it cost Combo his life when Combo did not have the skills to be beg time. Walter White decided to be Heisenberg and Hank got crippled in the process. Walter White decides to kill Gus the chicken man and replace him but he never thought about Gus current employees, what would happen to them? What do they do now that they have no money? What do they do that they are screwed and it was all because Walter White wants to be the big man in town and wants to feel the emotions of power and control? Watching this whole episode had me smiling ear to ear at the marvel that is Walter White and how brilliantly this show has turned this man in to who he is today . Walter White is an egotistical, self-serving narcissist, arrogant, greedy, murdering, lying (among a million other adjectives!) son of a bitch and how this episode showed that time and time again made me so happy and at times a little sad.

He tells Jesse the Icarus story that if you fly too close to the sun than you are going to pay the price and I think it is obvious that he is talking about Mike and how Mike is taking liberties with their money or he could be talking about Mike's crew as well and how they got caught and should be taken care of like Mike should probably one day be taken care of. But his ego does not see that this line of thinking could make him fly too close to the sun and get burned, I mean Jesse has done a lot of shit over the years for Walt but is he really going to be willing to kill 9 guys plus Mike and whoever else that gets in their way? Will he kill Lydia once he knows she has a little girl? Jesse would never hurt a child. The answer is no, the show has demonstrated that Jesse will not stoop that low and Walt just does not see that he is starting to set himself up for that moment in a year's time where he needs a M-60 gun and Jim Beaver! Don Draper can be Don Draper because the business he is in people like Pete Campbell keeping his secret is no big deal because Pete Campbell will do what serves Pete Campbell best and that is allowing Don to be Don. Walt can do what he wants to do as long as Jesse is by his side, I mean that is the only reason Mike is working with them or probably Saul too. Walt suggesting that they do away with Mike will not wash with Jesse and when he finds out about Jane or Brock than Walt better run farer than Denny's in wherever he was in the season premier.

This is probably why Walter White can never be a kingpin or a boss or a huge success, unlike Mike, Walter does not see that having a huge illegal operation that needs to look legal costs a lot of dough. People need to be paid, things need to be done and employees need to be looked after and respected so that you can gain their trust and loyalty. Walter White never understands this and never has understood this concept and that is where he is butting heads with Mike. When they cooked the Meth in the house Walt and Jesse made a tent within a tent...Walt lives in that little tent and does not understand what they outer tent is for or does...he just believes what he does in his little tent is all that matters and does not understand the bigger tent issues...great metaphor going there Breaking Bad! Top draw! top draw!

Walter White is all about Walter White and the level of Hubris ("Shall we take a vote?" "Why?") he is demonstrating has me worried for the man who knocks and worried in a good way. He is going to die and I cannot say I will be upset too, he sits in front of television with his kids watching Scarface (Yay Scarface! they got the studio and Al Pachino to give permission to use that material! Yay) basically watching his own demise and he does not even see it that magnificent bastard! Hehehe.

Who else will I not be upset about dying...SKYLER, oh please Vince Gilligan let the ricin cigarette people Chekov's ricin cigarette and let Skyler smoke it and die! Serious man that bitch needs to go! Skyler has had her chance to get rid of Walt time and time again she could have signed the divorce papers and did not and now she is paying the price and being a whiny bitch about it, what a cunt.

Walt manipulating Jesse into dumping Andrea and Brock was well done, he put it into a way that made Jesse think it was his choice and then made his mind up for him with the she would love you if she understood but...what a magnificent bastard.

Saul! oh how I love seeing me some Saul and he had some great, great, great lines. Saul continues to do his thing and get paid handsomely for it and does it with a great sense of humor and knowhow, so yay for Saul the man who is only done when Walt/Heisenberg tells him he is done.

The idea for their new business was a fantastic one and I loved how they arrived at the solution the way Breaking Bad arrives at the solution...through a process that takes time and thought! Box company...no, Tortilla factory...no, Lazerbaze!...no err sorry hell no!. So we are left with the exterminators and I got to say the look inside of the house was beautiful when they were cooking...ahh...stunningly beautiful.

Brock and Andrea were in this episode and I think they only did that to show Walt not giving a shit about poisoning a innocent child...die Walter!

The best episode of the season so far and I hear they are going to crank it up majorly in the next few weeks so hold onto your seats people!

So Walt just because you killed Jesse James does not make you Jesse James and because you do not understand that...good luck with the very little life you have left buddy.

Episode Rating 98 out of 100

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Guest Review of BREAKING BAD 5.02: 'Madrigal'

Shawn returns to guest write a review and this time his will be the only one because I am dying from the black plague. So enjoy his opinion! Note, his thoughts do not necessarily represent those of the crazed staff of writers at whateverthisis. Nor is he held to any standard in writing. ENJOY!

Serialized shows like Chuck or Breaking Bad focus on one character and create a journey that allows the character to evolve from one person to another. Along the way different people enter their orbit and are affected by the decisions they make over the journey. Everything is from their point of view and so every decision they make and every choice they choose has an effect on the story going forward. It is an incredibly intimate storytelling method and it creates the biggest problem for a show..... what happens when the main character reaches the end of the journey set in the beginning? What happens when everything was about that protagonist/antagonist and outside characters and story was not developed as well? What happens when the main character is at the top and master of all he survey's? What happens when an NBC or AMC decide that they will renew your show even though the odds of that happening was the same odds as world peace?

I think there are 2 very major reasons (and a few minor ones too) why this season of Breaking Bad has not been up to its usual greatness, the first being that Vince Gilligan created in the first 4 seasons a story of Walter White becoming Scarface and at the end of season 4 that journey was complete. He has said in various interviews that the end of season 4 could have been a great series finale and that Walt's journey had been complete. Now this is the same thing that happened to CHUCK, Season 1 flowed well into 2 and season 2 flowed well into its best season 3....at the end of 3.13 or 3.19 that was a potential end of the series, Chuck went from boy to man to spy to hero and along the way got the girl. Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz like Vince Gilligan thought this was the end and created endings to the journey's of their leader with the thought that the end was nigh. Vince Gilligan had every right to make the same call, if anyone witnessed the AMC - Mad Men contract negotiation war....they would know that there was a chance that if AMC would fuck with Mad Men than what would they do to Breaking Bad? and so the question arises, what does a show like Chuck or Breaking Bad do when they get renewed and were not expecting it? you get weak seasons 4 and 5 of Chuck and you get a weak season 5 of Breaking Bad thus far. That brings me to my second point, with everything being about Walt or Chuck...how do you move a show forward when the characters were at their highest point? I mean are we now going to see character regression, progression, contrivances, bullshit?

After the jump we shall delve into what I liked and what I found problematic about this episode and season thus far.

"Madrigal" continues the domino effect of Walt killing Gus, Gus' Office is checked and bank numbers are found and employees are rooted out by the DEA and certain employees get nervous and take hits on on the other employees and a German executive commits suicide on a toilet! None of that would have been a problem on any other show but this is Breaking Bad. Would Gus have really left his Bank account numbers and passwords on a picture frame? or would he have left the laptop full of evidence in his legal business? would Gus have done any number of these stupid things when we have come to know him as such a perfectionist? Vince Gilligan has said that getting an unexpected renewal means they have to start the story from scratch and they have done that but they have taken a lot of shortcuts to ramp up the tension and that is not Breaking Bad, Breaking Bad is methodical and takes its time and plays the long game....this is unsettling to say the least. This makes Mikes decision to join Walt and Jesse feel contrived and bullshitty...Gus exposes Mike and all his fortune doing something Gus would never do and so Mike is forced to do something Mike would never do because of something Gus would never have done and now we can continue the story of Walt, Jesse, Mike and Saul owning the South's Drug trade! Awesome!

That rant aside there are some very good moments in this episode. Jonathan Banks was brilliant as Mike in this episode, just fucking fantastic. His minimalistic approach to acting allows us to slow down and see a man who is weary and tired and frustrated with all this bullshit that is happening all around him. He has Walt being an unpredictable piece of dynamite waiting to go off at any time, he has the winging bitch whose name I have forgotten taking out on him and all his guys and he has Hank grilling him and cracking wise with him and calling him by his first name even though he did not give Hank permission to do so. His humanity of not killing Lydia because she has a daughter and he has a granddaughter was a nice moment for our wise guy and I look forward to where this goes next.

Walt and Jesse had few scenes in this episode but they were good ones. Aaron Paul just keeps breaking my heart with his phenomenal performance as Jesse, when he broke down and started crying about how he was sorry for being stupid...I got to say Walt's death cannot come soon enough. Walt continues to manipulate and connive and keep Jesse under his thumb and as Mike keeps saying...Jesse should just run as fast as he can from the man who knocks.

So a weak second episode that is for sure, and a very shaky start to the final season. I am a sucker though for shows like these that swing for the fences and try their best even though they are under constant threat of cancellation. Chuck withered off and limped into the sunset due to having to create 50 different series finales, Breaking Bad has had to create at least 3 series finales and I do feel for the show runners when they are caught between a rock and a hard place...a studio and network who are trying to nickel and dime everything. I have hope that Breaking Bad will get better and look forward to it doing so....until then adios.

Episode Rating 75 out of 100

--Shawn Mahone

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Guest Review of BREAKING BAD Season 5 Premiere

Another guest review by Shawn Mahone, who wrote the ARCHER season finale review a few months ago. Check it out. You can check out my less glowing review HERE. --HGF

For a show that is so predictable and at times magnificently so, the cold opening raises the biggest question with the most unpredictable answer...who will bring down Walter White? Who is chasing Walter White? Who is Walter so clearly scared of? Who has Walter so petrified that he buys a huge ass gun off of Jim Beaver?

What makes this all unpredictable is that it could be Hank, Mike, Saul (or a hired gun of Saul's), Skyler, Madrigal Industries, a user who received a bad batch, one of their new dealers or and this is wish fulfillment it could be Jesse.

So at the beginning of season 5 we are entering the period of Scarface in this particular story (Vince Gilligan has said that this show is about taking Mr Chips from Scarface) and now that Walt is Scarface he has no boss because he is the boss ("Because I said So") and he is full of confidence and ego and empowerment and courage and sheer skin crawling menace ("I Forgive you", "It is over when I say it is over").

What I like about this season premier is that it did not try and outdo the last 2 episodes of last season...because that would have been insane on many levels and both resets the arc and continues in the well known and detailed formula that has made the show so loved.

The formula is the detailed process...the show gives details along the way and like the Wire everything matters down the line and in the case of this episode Gus Laptop cause all sort of shit for Walt and co, and so when there is a problem Breaking Bad goes into the whole process of how it should be fixed and so Walt and Mike argue through every reason why anything but magnets will not work...they decide magnets and we spend 5 minutes going through the purchase of said magnet, the test of said magnet the need to get more magnets. All details are worked out so that when Mike asks the necessary questions after the deed is done we as Walt know that they will not be caught because everything was thought through.

Skyler White is the weakest link this show has ever had and she continues to be so. All her scenes really drag down any episode she is in to be honest and every time I saw her I was praying for the show to switch to Saul or Mike or Jesse or Walt or anyone else but her. Having Anna Gunn on this show proves that Vince Gilligan is not as smart as people think, I know that Gunn is second in the credits and was supposed to be more important than she actually turned out to be, but the man who is third is along with Cranston the best actor on the show and wisely has been the focal point of the series. Paul's Jesse was supposed to die in season 1 but did not and maybe Gilligan is smarter than I only a few sentences chastised him for not being. But she is just a terrible actress and a terrible character that the show has never been able to figure out and probably costs the show it's drama Emmy.

Ok enough with that rant...sorry. I enjoyed this premier a lot, although the show has a limited budget it did not over use characters that did not need to be overused we saw only one scene of Hank, two of Saul, one of Hank Jr and so on and so forth. The pacing was Breaking Bad at it's best and it sets up the season very well. Walt maybe Scarface but their is still some Walt left in him like the way he ignored Jesse when Jesse was coming up with the magnet idea or how he could not stop himself for going to far with the power switch or how even though Saul made the right call and the only way out of the predicament was to pay Beneke's tax bill...Walt is still being petty because Beneke banged his wife.

My mind is a little frazzled trying to do this so quickly after work and only a limited time to think and review the episode so I apologize for what I missed. This was a solid if not spectacular start to the season and the end of the series...things are only going to go even more bat shit crazy along the way and I cannot wait to see it.

Update

I saw on HGF's article that the author said that he did not think this show was as good as Lost and some other series. While I disagree about Lost I do agree that the show is slightly over hyped but it is all about opinion in the end and what people like.

If people like answers then Breaking Bad whips Losts ass [LOST answered virtually everything mind you --HGF], if people want unpredictability then Lost whips Breaking Bads ass [it does in every way possible --HGF], if people want....to each their own I suppose.

Episode Rating: 90 out of 100.
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Review - BREAKING BAD 5.01: 'Live Free or Die'

And so it has returned. The show all the Emmy voters automatically vote for as if it was ENTOURAGE, DEXTER, or DOWNTON ABBEY. Shows that once they become part of popular culture don't even need to be watched, or be of any measurable (or unmeasurable) quality to earn the highest praise.

In the case of BREAKING BAD the praise is at least still reasonable if not unbalanced by the hyperbole surrounding its perceived quality.

It is THE show of cool. Like the new STAR TREK or THE AVENGERS or what AVATAR was before it was suddenly no longer cool to have loved it (had AVENGERS made $800 million domestically, you could count on it suddenly becoming uncool to like it).

What I'm saying is that BREAKING BAD is good. It is sometimes really good. Even great a bunch of times a year. But it's not MAD MEN great. It's not THE WIRE awesome. It can't touch LOST or BATTLESTAR GALACTICA or DEADWOOD or ROME or GAME OF THRONES. I know hardcore fans of this show freak out anytime someone points this out because it is still "cool" to like it, and so suggesting otherwise may slowly contribute to wearing off that shine. But don't worry about it. The show is safe from criticism. In fact, I bet this will be the only "negative" review of the show.

However, this isn't a negative review. More of a general and personal observation about the hyperbole surrounding the show.

I think it needs to be said:

It has excellent performances.
Great dialogue.
Fleshed out characters.
Sometimes totally forced story lines.

That final point is what bothered me about this episode. The effort to use a super-magnet to wipe out the data from a computer that can ruin all their lives felt like it only worked because the script said it should. There wasn't much organic about those sequences. It's all just too... "cool." And then of course Walt's overinflated ego-trip causes an unintended result where the police suddenly find new evidence that will obviously lead them to him down the line.

Too cute. And I bet most of you loved the shit out of it.

Where the show continues to exceed is in demonstrating the deconstruction of a once decent human being in Walt, and how he drags anyone along with him.

Walt is the top dog now and in his mind he can do no wrong. Also, everyone exists to serve him now that he has bumped off the mighty Gus. All plans work because he has thought of them. No one tells him it is "over" until he says it is. And he "forgives" his wife for acting to protect their family without talking to him about it.

Walt is the hunter and everyone else is his food chain.

Walt is king.

Walt is god.

And everyone is either condemned or forgiven by him. Perhaps this episode should have been called "You Are All My Playthings." It is the kind of thing that makes the hairs stand on the back of your neck and why Bryan Cranston earns every Emmy award he will ever receive for his performance. Walt is terrifying because he doesn't have the logical level or self control that Gus had. Walt is a loaded and cocked shotgun with a hair-trigger. He is going to go off eventually. We just have to wait to see in whose direction he is pointed when it happens.

As for the rest of it, the episode opens up with one of those scene teases that this show can do due to shooting the season before airing (most shows shoot a few episodes before the season airs), so we get a glimpse into future Walt and to wonder about whatever his need for weaponry means down the line. We also learn it is his 52nd birthday, meaning two-years will have passed since the series started whenever we get to this point in the season (finale?).

I should also mention that I enjoyed the way the show handled the recap of last year's final episodes and delivered the exposition of what happened in-between, by having Walt Jr. break it down for his dad in child-like excitement. Writers wrestle with how to effectively handle exposition all the time and this was a smart way to do it.

Sadly, Jesse isn't the focus of this episode which may be part of why I wasn't overly impressed by it. He is my favorite character and any time he is used as surface I tend to feel a bit disconnected. After all, it is Jesse who is the heart and moral compass of the show. And one could argue that Aaron Paul is the best actor as well.

At least he came up with the magnet idea. Though King Walt probably forgot that already, thinking that it was his idea all along. Power!

If I had to rate this episode, and a secret message behind a photo the police would otherwise have missed says I do, then I'd give it:

85 out of 100

I don't get washed up in the hype. This wasn't close to one of the show's best. It was good with a lot of potential for what is to come.

But still insanely superior to that shitfest that is BURN NOTICE. Holy shit... I watched all of the new season episodes of that show this weekend. What a piece of melodramatic bullshit. OVERACTING MUCH?!

Just thinking about it is making me want to score this episode higher.

So... what did you think?

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