frelling_tralk (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
frelling_tralk) wrote2013-04-16 10:27 pm
frelling_tralk) wrote2013-04-16 10:27 pm
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Breaking Bad rewatch now up to season 2 :D
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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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.
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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
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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.
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