Sunday, September 1, 2013

Breaking Down: Breaking Bad Season Five, Episode Twelve

"Rabid Dog" brings us many a reference to Old Yeller. Hank and Jesse buddy up and have a sleepover, Marie leaves an internet trace searching for poisons, and Walt contemplates teaming up with is old buddy, Uncle Jack, to solve the whole Pinkman-knows issue.


Can you imagine the plans this man could hatch if he was on a toilet and next to a pool?
Stan Earnest: Yo, bitch! Mr. White is just a decent man.

Craig Scholes: I just want to remind you that I told you Jesse was tailed to Walt's house.

SE: Great call, and I was going to make a point this week that we see Walter White as evil, but the great thing about Breaking Bad is that it is like a giant philosophical and moral thought experiment. Essentially everyone on the show is breaking bad, and it couldn't be more obvious now that Hank and Marie want to risk lives to get Walt while Skysenberg is all-in. The only redeeming person on the whole show is a doorbell-murdering meth addict. Cue Alanis Morrisette's "Ironic" with four different Jesse Pinkmans in Mike's old-ass ghetto ride.

CS: Wouldn't a Sarah McLachlan "I Will Remember You" montage be more fitting? I’m also kind of bummed that we never got a Jane montage to the tune of "Jesse's Girl" by Rick Springfield, or even better yet: a Twaughthammer cover of it sung by Badger.

SE: I really had 70s buddy cop shows in my head as Hank clicked that seat belt, strapping Jesse in.

CS: I thought he was going to give him a hug.

SE: In the words of Marie, "you idiotic stupid idiot." Warning: more sycophantic Breaking Bad love to come. Not only does Marie's therapist say, "We all lead double lives to some extent," but Marie states in response that it "feels good to think about" doing bad, bad things to Walter Hartwell White. The show is driving the point home. It is the old Bronson in Death Wish storyline: is it ok to commit a crime to stop a crime?

CS: I fell asleep reading that.

SE: Junior however can't sleep. He's on the blue!

CS: Blue Laffy Taffy maybe. Flynn is more boring than a brown station wagon.

SE: Walt should have totally hired a crew to redo the house and surprised Skyler with it being a present to "upgrade the house." Maybe he could give the producers at the HGTV a call for his new show: Design on a Dimebag. His gasoline story was trash.

Only watching if the soundtrack is Pantera
CS: Even Flynn saw through it. This episode had way too much Walt Jr.

SE: I might just donate some money to Aaron Paul's charity, so that I can hire R.J. Mitte to smack you with one of those crutches.

CS: I'd duck and kick the other one.

SE: I love the J.J. Watt "Shot You Down" fantasy football commercials. We need a Walter White version of this commercial where he gloats after killing people. "Shot you down, Gus. Hey, that chicken smells great. Keep up the good work."

CS: It really is crazy the extremes to which the show has gone to try and make you feel sorry for Walt: special needs child, cancer, chud wife, the Aztek, shitty former boss. 

SE: You bring up a good point. I figure a lot of people are going to be up in arms about this episode being the whole let's-feel-sorry-for-Mr.-White-again episode. It just figures that the tiniest little thing turns the situation toxic. It was just a bald man playing with his daughter. I'm never going to feel the same way when I push my girl on a swing at a park again!

CS: I think the tides have turned on the show now. They really are playing the villain card at every turn now, even when he is innocent.

SE: There is a further philosophical question in there. All these things that make us feel sorry for Walter White are also what are contributing to his madness right? Nature and nurture are mixing a wicked cocktail here.

CS: Well, you pull off enough shit you eventually start to feel invincible. Walt has nearly completely lost touch with reality.

SE: Hank is the one that has lost touch with reality. No evidence from any of this fiasco is ever getting admitted. He is basically just burning the house down while standing inside of it.

CS: Hank knows he doesn't have shit. That’s why he needed the wire. He wants to get Walt to admit everything. I think Hank is the only person who really knows what he has got himself in.  No one else really fully knows the capacity of Walt’s devious intelligence. 

SE: What is your take on Skysenberg? She is ruthless. No wonder Anna Gunn ran that op-ed piece.

CS: I didn't read the piece because I can't stand her character that much.

SE: Irony just SHOT YOU DOWN.

CS: ?

SE: The whole piece is about how people should separate Anna Gunn the actress from Skyler White the character.

CS: I don't hold any ill towards the actress, but I don't give a shit what she has to say either.

SE: Craig Scholes, everyone. Craig Scholes.

CS: It’s not like I see her on something that's not Breaking Bad and just ooze hatred at her.

SE: Please tell me the DVD box set will have the full nine-hour Jesse Pinkman confession.

CS: That was some merciful editing.

SE: Even though this episode was the seemingly natural progression from last week, it seems as if this was the breather episode. Take a deep breath, and get ready for madness. Any thoughts for next week?

CS: I hope Jesse's plan this week is "MAGNETS BITCH!" No way Jesse claimed to killing Gale by the way. Speaking of DVD Box Sets and Gale, I can't wait to see the 27-disc Time-Life Gale karaoke collection.

SE: Chuck Klosterman made a point that he thinks that most showrunners seem to satisfy themselves with their show's ending while Vince Gilligan seems to be wanting to satisfy the customer. On top of this, on the Breaking Bad Insider podcast, Gilligan revealed that a fan he met through the Make-A-Wish Foundation changed his feelings on how the show should end. I don't really have a point here other than the hope that the show gets back to the pacing of last week's "Confessions."

CS: I don't have a response to any of that.

SE: Wait, you have seen Lost and The Sopranos, and you don't have a response to that? Let's just pray the screen doesn't go black halfway through the final episode.

CS: I don't get the comparisons of Lost to Breaking Bad.  Lost to me always seemed convoluted, like the writers were trying to prove how smart they were.  Breaking Bad is always focused. If you ask me, there are more parallels to Arrested Development than Lost.  Nothing was wasted in Arrested Development; everything meant something and was referenced several times.

SE: Wow, that actually makes sense.

CS: You're goddamn right it does.

1 comment:

WordyG said...

They add sympathetic shading to Walt this episode as you fellas have pointed out. I can only hope that it isn't sympathy Gilligan is aiming for, but stage building for how monstrous Walt really is, i.e., he's got some dark fucking moves coming up. The anti-hero is worn out, mebbe Gilligan is getting off on how much the public can get behind a true devil. The same kind of structure that goes into a Republican Presidential campaign.

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