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First off this is kind of random and not really related to season 2 as such, but I'm always so confused at what passes for a poor standard of living in America. Walt and Skyler live in such a nice house, yet the audience is told they're really struggling for money??? I don't know if it's just a tv thing, or maybe the houses are just a lot bigger and nicer in America than I'm used too with the pokey semi-detached houses in England :P But really Walt and Skyler even have their own en-suite bathroom and they have a swimming pool in the back, that's...not struggling financially to me?
Anyways season 2! "Peekaboo" is predictably one of my favourite episodes, poor Jesse having to cope with Walt deciding to use Tuco of all people for their role model. I was surprised they didn't seem to consider taking the money out of Skinny Pete's cut as the robbery happened on his watch, it wasn't like it was that much money that it was worth the risk of Jesse having to go after their 'customers' with a gun. Aww I loved getting to see Jesse's softer side though, he's always so adorable around little kids. Er how old were that couple supposed to be anyway? I understand they would look rough because of the meth, but it was weirding me out how they both looked about 50 at the youngest, yet had a little kid together
And urgh Gretchen was way nicer to Walt than I would have been. He should have been on his knees thanking her for supporting hm to Skyler, instead he declares that he owes her no explanation and 'fuck you'! When she was protesting about Walt being the one to up and leave her it's the first clear hint that maybe Walt has just been painting himself as the victim for all those years without real cause. He brings up Gretchen coming from a rich family when they met, so I got the feeling he had always resented her having more money than him. And lol Walt Junior's entire scene consisted solely of complaining about Skyler getting the wrong breakfast cereal and make sure she checks the box more carefully next time. Riveting stuff :P
"4 Days Out" is :shocker: enough favourite of mine. It kind of made me sad though to see Hank celebrating at Walt going into remission, he seems to genuinely like Walt and is happy for him, and has no idea just how much resentment Walt is harbouring towards him. There's more concern from Jesse for Walt in this episode too, and Walt already knowing that he can trust Jesse to take care of his family after he's gone, awww
The reason for Walt's anger at the diagnosis was left kind of ambiguous, but my interpretation was that he was angry because he liked having license to live as he wants and make the most of his final days, especially without having to worry about living with the consequences of his choices. Like with Elliot offering him the money back in season 1, Walt (and the audience) is now faced with the realisation that he doesn't HAVE to sell meth to support his family after he's gone, yet there he is reacting against going back to the playing it safe life that he was living before
"Over" was yet another amazing episode, I would have selected this episode for my Emmy showcase if I were Bryan Cranston. Walt was really seething to himself from the beginning when Gretchen and Elliot were credited for giving him the cheque, this whole episode he seemed bitter about have to give up the power he was getting off on with the secret double life as Hisenberg, that is until the final scene where he 'reclaims his territory'.
Earlier in the episode Walt's alpha male challenging of Hank gave me such second-hand embarrassment though, honestly I don't get why more people didn't pick up on it then that he was acting seriously different from normal. I mean yeah they probably thought he'd just had a bit too much to drink, but the anger he was showing at ordering Walt Jr not to look at Hank, telling Hank that 'he's my son, this is my house' etc, you'd think there would be more repercussions and weirdness from Walt letting out what he'd been secretly thinking for so long? Whether you're drunk at the time or not, people would still remember that and wonder what was up with it (and Walt didn't even come off particularly drunk anyway). For all that the writers and actors talk about how it would be completely ridiculous for Hank to ever suspect his mild mannered brother in law, idk there were hints very early on that something wasn't quite right there. The first time I watched this scene I was actually expecting Walt to eventually be mortified at causing his own kid to throw up in the pool, it was creepy seeing his little satisfied smile instead. (Very random but this is the first episode where Walt junior starts looking too mature for the age of the character to me. Maybe it was just weird because the actor actually was 15 in season 1 I think, so his maturing his more obvious then when it's 20 something actors hired to play teens?)
Oh and Jesse not being able to contain his excitement at Walt being in remission was so sweet! I guess that events of Four Days Later really bonded them, they both seem to really like each now and I would actually call them friends at this point.
Not to sound like a broken record, but Walt's protests in "Phoenix" on doing it all for his family are again ringing a little hollow. He could easily have gone along with Saul's suggestion to get that money to his family by having a surprise relative leave him money in their will, but you can see how much it matters to Walt that he be the one to take credit for it and be seen as providing for his family. He even had to show his newborn baby the stacks of money that Daddy made for you ffs. And lol Walt junior looking so proud of his savewalterwhite.com website was such an awkward moment. And Skyler afterwards puzzled as to why Walt says charity like it's a dirty word. His family really don't know him at all! Probably an unpopular opinion, but I thought they should have discussed it more as it was Walt's face on the website after all and he was clearly very uncomfortable with the concept of accepting charity, I would hate not to even have my feelings acknowledged if I didn't want a website to be using my image. Like fine if Skyler really thought that using the website was the best and only option to get money, but at least have a discussion about it when Walt is clearly so deeply uncomfortable with the idea?
And this will probably sound hopelessly naive, but I believe that Walt leaving Jane to die was nearly all motivated by concern for Jesse. I don't know how much of a risk Jane talking would be, she was only threatening Walt for Jesse's half of the money, there was no real indication that she was going to keep asking for money under the threat of turning Walt in. Jesse clearly already felt bad enough about her forcing Walt to bring them the money that he actually owed Jesse, she knew that he wouldn't have supported her forcing Walt to hand over more. And then Walt returning to try and get through to Jesse because 'you don't give up on family' spoke volumes to me, if he really wanted to stay out of Jane's way and believed that she was a real threat to Walt himself then why would he risk deliberately aggravating her by trying to get Jesse out of her grasp? I really feel like it was seeing the state that Jesse was in that made Walt stop himself from his immediate impulse to help Jane. I guess it's meant to be very ambiguous, but idk I think having the bar scene right before with Walt hearing that you don't give up on family is meant to speak strongly to the audience that it's because of what he perceives Jane is doing to Jesse that he really dislikes her so much and ultimately left her to die. I was pleased that Bryan Cranston talked in his interviews about how 'she's the one who's going to bring him down, and I can't let that happen', as that backs up how I've always seen that moment
And I just loved that whole scene in "ABQ" when Walt insists on being the one to rescue Jesse and you see his eyes linger on the half-dead people around him as he is finally brought face to face with what his product is doing to people. Even earlier with the reporter interviewing his family, you see Walt squirming at Walt Junior gushing about how his father always does the right thing. Walt is clearly still struggling with his conscience quite a bit at this stage
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(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-16 09:41 pm (UTC)Walt and Skylar's house is quite dumpy on the inside, out of date, and small. It's still just fine, but they're obviously not even close to reaching the 1 percent. :0)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-16 09:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-16 09:58 pm (UTC)Well, it's "TV Poor". :P Like "TV Ugly" where the 'unattractive' girl is still, you know, really attractive.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-16 10:07 pm (UTC)So many of the detached houses I see on US television just look so much nicer and roomier than the rows of semi-detatched houses with a scrap of garden that I'm used too in England, so maybe that's what's throwing me a bit. You can't even get a decent driveway in a lot of places over here, so many housing estates have rows of cars parked on either side of the road (very annoying to try and navigate when another car is coming!) because there's just no space to park them in the tiny bit of front lawn that most houses get. So yeah Walt and Skylar's place looks like luxury to me *g*
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-16 10:18 pm (UTC)Could be. The White house is pretty darned nice by semi-rural PA standards, too, but I don't know about ABQ. So was Roseanne's. It's really about the area you're in.
Newer towns are all planned out. There are places where you're not even allowed to build unless the house has a certain square footage of living area. So I guess it's a combination of American self definition through their house and TV-glamorizing.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-19 02:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-16 09:57 pm (UTC)I was just in ABQ earlier this year but we didn't go out past the city very much so it's hard to judge what the typical surrounding suburb looks like. The big trees lining the streets in Jesse's neighborhood (the one the gassed guy ran into while waking up--I only just saw up to ep 3) would say the neighborhood is on the order of like 30-35 years old? One would think those trees would have been planted when the neighborhood was planned.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-16 09:49 pm (UTC)or maybe the houses are just a lot bigger and nicer in America than I'm used too with the pokey semi-detached houses in England :P
You get a lot of suburban areas like what is shown, but it varies a lot depending on the location. For a big city like Chicago or Philly, a house like that in an area like that would signify our version of upper middle class. But not necessarily in Albuquerque, which has a much lower cost of living and is more developed in the suburban style. But I think also that Americans tend to invest a lot of equity in their houses and property, possibly a holdover from the kind of Stepford Wife suburbia dreams of the 50s. That is why when the housing bubble burst in 2008, it set back the "average american" to the level of savings they'd had in something like 1996 or earlier. Especially in suburbia, your main asset is your house & even then you are paying a 30-year mortgage on it.
So it is not out of the realm of expectation that a family in a nice house like that could be hurting financially. Especially if there are unforseen medical costs. Walter also seemed to be the sole breadwinner (Sklyar does the kind of stay-at-home mom ebay stuff?).
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-16 09:58 pm (UTC)Walter also seemed to be the sole breadwinner
Honestly I always wondered why Skyler couldn't find another job to take on instead of Walt teaching AND having to take on the car-wash job that he obviously found degrading, but idk maybe he didn't want Skylar working? He does seem to have old-fashioned views of a man needing to support his family, but still it always struck me as odd that Skylar was just at home all day which is pretty unusual these days anyway with most partners, and on top of that her husband was working two jobs and she was clearly worrying about the credit card bills, so it seemed like another job could have come in handy?
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-16 09:54 pm (UTC)Mileages vary depending where you live, I guess. I do sort of think the Whites were living above their means a little bit. Two cars in the driveway, $100K house, name brands everywhere, etc. I tend to figure they were quite fine when Walt and Skyler were both working, but after she quit, they had trouble keeping up and toning down their spending.
Walt, I think, is a guy who feels he gets stepped on (the dude with the car cutting him off, for instance). It's not really about money or any of that, even though he claims it is. It's the prestige he's after.
My take from Fly was that Walt originally made a deal with the Devil, so to speak. Like you said, he could do whatever because he didn't think he'd have to live with the consequences. Then he just kept slipping further down.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-16 10:12 pm (UTC)That makes sense, Skylar was obviously concerned about Walt accidentally using the wrong credit card account in the pilot, and Walt having forgotten that would fit with them only recently having to tighten their belts after Skylar leaving her previous job. I'm guessing he most likely got the car wash job to help with costs after she left her previous place of employment, but of course book-keeping would still have paid a lot better than part-time car wash
And yeah I definitely think that it's about the power for Walt and feeling like he's really in control and driving his own life for once
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-16 10:26 pm (UTC)Neither are really portrayed as very good money managers, I don't think.
I always kind of thought Skyler serving veggie bacon (which is expensive) to cut down cholesterol alongside scrambled eggs, which are high in cholesterol, summed them up rather well. LOL
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-17 06:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-16 11:30 pm (UTC)But on top of that, the Whites probably bought more than they could afford, and now are having trouble making the mortgage payments. You might think the obvious solution is to sell the house and move to someplace more affordable, but because housing prices plummeted, the house would be worth a lot less than they paid for it, so they can't sell without going in debt.
I would say the Whites were average middle class - in the beginning of the series, Walt was working two jobs to get by, which doesn't really scream "well off" to me. Then once Walt gets cancer, the money worries are totally justified by the medical bills, even if they'd had two stable incomes.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-16 11:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-16 11:47 pm (UTC)(It's also the southwest, where almost everyone has a pool. I imagine even if they couldn't really afford it, Walt would want one for the status.)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-17 06:07 pm (UTC)this will probably sound hopelessly naive, but I believe that Walt leaving Jane to die was nearly all motivated by concern for Jesse.
You are not alone! I spoke about this a lot in my Walt/Jesse meta posts. Like you say, Walt returned to Jesse's house at his own risk to try and save his partner. Jane was threatening to ruin Walt's life and Walt still couldn't abandon Jesse to heroin addiction. When Walt is sitting on Jesse's bed he seems to have forgotten Jane's blackmail threat and is simply consumed with fears for Jesse. Walt was desperate to get Jesse off drugs and I think Walt saw Jane's death as a chance to scare Jesse straight. I don't think Walt realized Jane's death would break Jesse's heart like it did. He seemed genuinely shocked and guilt-ridden when Jesse sobbed "I loved her more than anything". Your gif is killing me by the way.
As for Heisenberg emerging in the scene where Walt pushes Junior to drink till he pukes, it is a very dark moment. But Hank probably puts it down to Walt's cancer trauma as well as Walt being drunk. Hank seems to have a lot of pity for Walt in general just because Walt seems to him like a meek science nerd with no life.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-17 06:44 pm (UTC)The gifs are from the BB tumblr tags :) And yeah it seems like sometimes the fandom views Walt (at least early Walt anyway) more harshly than the show and Bryan perhaps intended? I always secretly loved that it was for Jesse that Walt first made the decision to passively leave someone to die, and how it was again tied to protecting Jesse the first time Walt got a gun and started actively killing people. Hopefully that doesn't sound too warped :P But it seems like most of fandom now talk about Walt leaving Jane mostly, if not solely, because of her blackmail threats? And I never felt like he took that THAT seriously, although obviously he did cave and bring round Jesse's share of the money in the end, but Idk it never came across to me that he saw Jane as such a terrible threat. The episode ending was pretty much focused around Walt talking with Jane's Dad about you don't give up on family, then trying to rescue Jesse from the squalar he was in, it seems like more of a leap for me to interpret that scene as then being mostly Walt thinking about himself and how Jane might want more money from him
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-17 06:54 pm (UTC)A lot of fandoms like to see things as 100% one thing or another. I definitely agree, "saving" Jesse was a big reason he let Jane die much moreso than her blackmailing him. Saving Jesse 'causes Walt far too many problems then and even later on for it to be so simple.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-28 06:59 pm (UTC)