The endgame looms closer.
The cold open ends with kids zipping by on skateboards. Â In a few months, they will have a place to hang out.
The show’s writers are toying with us, even in minor things such as this. Â And while I have mixed feelings about the episode overall, it contained some interesting things to consider.
— Jesse is a fool. Â Seasons ago, before their unlikely alliance, Gus wanted nothing to do with Walt because of his junkie partner. Â Jesse’s erratic behavior has always been a problem for Walt, even when the simplest solution would be to kill him. Â But, as demonstrated throughout the series and voiced by Hank, Walt has a weakness for Jesse, forged through their meth partnership and repeated times bailing each other out of trouble. Â In this instance, though, Jesse’s erratic behavior finally was his undoing. Â Why talk to Hank, even when caught in the midst of arson? Â Hank is working independently when he was following him, and their history (i.e. a serious beating) would give Hank pause. Â Instead, Jesse spills all. Â He needs to confess, we understand, because his conscience cannot take living with any more lies and guilt. Â But now he has no bargaining position, aside from the fact that Hank’s target is Walt. Â Gomez suggests a variety of other investigative avenues to pursue, some of which sound pretty promising to me, and they don’t involve playing along with Jesse. Â We are supposed to think Jesse has this better plan to get Walt, and maybe he does, but the inspiration of the plan is based on Jesse’s paranoia. Â And at the end, Jesse warns Walt of his intentions, prompting Walt to call in Todd and his band of killers.
— The structure of the episode was quite clever. Â I have noticed various elements of Pulp Fiction in the show lately (Tarantino-esque banter in the diner by Todd’s uncle and his friend, for example), but yet another example of it comes in how the episode is set up. Â It opens with Walt arriving at his house, unable to find Jesse even though there’s a gasoline can in the living room and gasoline all over his house. Â The followup was Walt’s unusually weak effort to concoct a cover story, so lame that even his son doesn’t buy it; and the family’s move to a fancy hotel because the gasoline cannot be cleaned up. Â Walt meets with Saul in the hotel parking lot, while Skyler calls for Jesse’s head on a platter as Walt resists – believing he can explain his way out of this. Â This scene is chilling and illustrative of how low Skyler has sunk (and also is another reminder of why she has become my favorite character of this half of the season) even as she realizes it. Â “What’s one more?”
During this entire first sequence of the show, no one – not the characters we see or the viewers – knows what happened to Jesse. Â Why didn’t he burn the house down? Â Where is he? Â After the second commercial break, we return to the end of the last episode, and discover that Hank caught Jesse in the act and took him to his house. Â Walt only arrives just as Jesse is leaving with Hank. Â By sequencing the episode out of order, conversations that would otherwise have seemed pointless are fraught with tension and meaning, especially Skyler’s but also Saul’s “Old Yeller” talk with Walt and his very chilly reaction.
— Nobody cares about Jesse. Â His presence at Hank and Marie’s is played for appropriate comic effect, and Marie in particular is amusing. Â The little touches – the DEA mug, purple rug – are great. Â Aaron Paul can pull out some great line readings. Â “He was my teacher,” Jesse says. Â But Hank and Jesse still don’t like each other, and Jesse has come to regard Walt as a larger-than-life figure, and following Walt’s plan seems like a suicide mission. Â So he’s not on board with Hank’s suggestion to agree to the meeting, even though Hank has a good read on Walt’s sympathies. Â It is worth noting that Jesse is expendable to every character on the show except for Walt. Â Skyler wants him dead. Â Saul uses his “Old Yeller” metaphor. Â Hank wouldn’t mind if Walt kills Jesse, because he would have it on tape. Â Only Walt is a holdout, until the episode’s conclusion. Â Next week, we will find out about Jesse’s “better way.”
Still digesting the episode, but I buy Jesse as a semi-paranoid drug addict whose bell just got rung pretty hard and who really only knows that he won’t do what he’s told (relocate, wear a wire, etc.)
I have very low expectations for his plans.
Yeah, I don’t know what he could be planning that would be better than getting Walt arrested. But I guess it may involve whatever happens to the Whites’ house.
I don’t know what Jesse’s new plan is, or what chance of success it has, or whether it will work out better or worse than wearing Hank’s wire would have. But I do know that his sudden decision to go this way is the first calculated decision Jesse has made in a long time. Slugging Saul and preparing to torch Walt’s house were emotional reactions. Talking to Hank was a sudden emotional reaction (which he’s been building towards this whole half-season).
But bailing on the meeting in favor of his new plan was a conscious choice. Loved the way he walked away from the plaza calmly, knew Hank was screeching up behind and didn’t care, then got in the passenger seat with a new relaxed body language and demeanor. Jesse at least believes in this decision. And I believe that Gilligan is telling us, by way Jesse’s heretofore unseen thoughtfulness, that this plan is the plan which will frame half of the final conclusion to all of this. With the other half being Walt’s machine gun.
Didn’t Jesse indicate that he’s going after what Walt Really cares about, or some-such? So, it’s his kids or his ego. I agree it’s shaken Jesse out of his existential funk, and I’m out of the business of selling him short.
After the first two amazing episodes, last two episodes have really disappointed me.
again i point to dad/son overtones. somewhat irrational on walt’s part. (and i don’t even want to delve into any reason walt would have to look beyond walt jr.) but it’s there, and not entirely one-sided.
I remember spending a lot of time trying to parse dad/son vs. teacher/student on them, and I think the only fair answer is both. I liked the latter as a call-back to “good” Walt