9/3/13
View Logs: Breaking Bad S5.2 Episode 4
Episode Title: Rabid Dog"We've come this far... for us. What's one more?"
I knew it. I KNEW IT! Earlier I described that I think Skylar is going to become more and more of a criminal like Walt. I think it's interesting that the past few episodes we've seen Walt slowly seep back into his old law-abiding ways. Early in this season I predicted that Walt's ego will get in the way of his home life and it'll force him to maybe try to work with Lydia again by this point. But the writers decided to go with the opposite approach. Walt is actually becoming a little more normal. He seems to start abiding by morals and ideals. Ok, I know he made a despicable tape that painted him as a victim to Hank. But when you think about it, the criminal mastermind Walt probably would have just arranged a hit on Jesse and be done with it.
No, ironically, the criminal world that Walt built for himself has run away from him. Well, it's ran away from him a long time ago but this is the first time where Walt's realizing how far out of control the situation really is. See, this entire process actually reminds me a lot of the Argentinian movie Aura. In that movie, someone outside of the criminal world decided to try his hand at engineering a perfect heist. Every scenario and aspect of the crime is covered but the protagonist makes one fatal mistake. He assumed that people will fall in line; like neat pieces that complement a structured plan. This is very similar to Walt where he didn't really consider the human element within the crime world all that much. Walt figured that, if he set everything up right, he can just get in and get out without any issue. It's like a normal job that you just do. But crime changes people. Someone who goes through situations as extreme as the events in Breaking Bad will always change. I must bring in another screen fiction to compare.
I've recently watched the incredible German miniseries Unsere Mutter Unsere Vater (Generation Wars). There is a marvelous line spoken about the human condition through trauma. "People deal with it. Some go through with it trying to remove as much humanity as possible to make it easier. Others do the opposite. But one thing's for sure. No one comes out of it the same as they came in." Walt didn't realize how much his family could change just by being a little bit involved in his criminal world. The look Walter gave to Skylar after she said the line that I quoted at the beginning of this log is probably one of the biggest indicators of this and is my favorite moment of Season 5.2 so far.
I also use the final sequence as evidence of Walt's actual improvement as a person. He really was sincere about trying to make things right with Jesse. That scene in which the person Jesse thought was an assassin but turns out he's just a regular dude was amazingly executed. And, for once, I actually see some regret in Walt's face.
I'd also like to note one thing that I'm sure most fans would probably have realized by now. The episode where Jesse is having a hard time coming to terms with what he did to Gale was titled "Problem Dog". The title of this episode is "Rabid Dog". And there was many references in the dialogue to "putting the dog down." I think it's a sure thing that Jesse is going to die one way or another it's just a matter of time. But we'll see what happens. I think Walt's going down somehow. After all, "all bad things come to an end".
