Despite the name of this episode, this one is less about
Walt (Bryan Cranston) and finally gives Jesse (Aaron Paul) an episode.
After the ordeal with Krazy-8, Jesse seems to want to
abandon the world of drugs, and attempts to reconcile with his family. Like all
the references to the past on the show, we only get pieces, but what we do
learn is that Jesse’s strict parents (I’m assuming that based on his overachieving
younger brother) threw him out for using drugs. We also learn, through Jesse’s
old school work, that Walt flunked him as a student, possibly fueling the fire
of the tension between the two.
These events, among others later in the series, show that
Jesse is sort of the anti-Walt. Walt had the opportunity to get cancer
treatments without resorting to such drastic measures, as well as support from
friends and family, but his sense of pride (and maybe a little craziness
unleashed when he found out his days were numbered) made him ignore all offers
for help. Jesse, meanwhile, had some troubles as a kid, and his family just
threw him out. While Walt had support and rebuked it, Jesse’s lack of such
support made him drift toward the drug underworld. After being thrown out again
(this time for vouching for his brother’s weed, showing that, also in contrast
to Walt later in the series, Jesse at least retains some sense of altruism
despite his profession), he reaches out to Walt to cook and sell more meth.
Even after their ordeal with Emilio and Krazy-8, he needs Walt because selling
meth is all he’s got (Walt rejects the offer this time, but that’ll change).
Jesse at first seemed like a disposable character, a lame
white gangster wannabe, but this episode really opens the character up and show
there’s more than that. Thankfully, they didn’t go through with the plan to kill him off this very season, because his character arc just gets better from
here.
While Jesse gets more time in this episode, there are also
some developments with Walt. His DEA agent brother-in-law Hank (Dean Norris)
revealed last episode in passing that Krazy-8 was an informant. That he came
across the remains of Walt’s mess seemed like a funny coincidence an episode ago,
but this one sets up the storyline of Hank unknowingly chasing his own
brother-in-law that becomes ongoing throughout the series. Also, Walt reveals
his cancer to the family. While the development doesn’t go much further from
there, Hank’s assurances that he’ll look after Walt’s wife and kids if he dies
elicits a sour reaction from the cancer-stricken chemistry teacher, subtly
hinting at the aforementioned repressed pride that led him to meth cooking.
On the less subtle side of things, the closing scene where
Walt destroys the car of the well-dressed, Bluetooth-wearing
jerk he ran into at the credit union is great. Not only does he get to do what
we’ve all wanted to do to rude people at some point, but it
shows that despite moving on from his illegal doings (for now), he’s still got
some punch.
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