At only seven episodes, the first season packed in all the
necessary plot points pretty tightly. With this and the next two seasons
extended to 13, the show is now able to take its time a little more. This makes
for more heightened tension in the next two seasons, as well as time for supporting
roles to really develop. But after the saga with Tuco, the tension doesn’t
really pick up for a while this season, making for some slower episodes, like
this one.
In it, Jesse (Aaron Paul) moves into a new place and strikes
a chord with his landlady Jane (Krysten Ritter), setting up their relationship
that will be an integral element for the rest of the season. He also gathers
his friends to form his own crew to deal meth, which goes smoothly, save for
one of them getting robbed by a pair of junkies.
This episode introduces plot points that will come to
fruition later, rather than diving in to them now. But in the meantime, certain
characters get a little more developed.
Hank (Dean Norris) is promoted for taking down Tuco, but it
becomes clear in his private moments that he’s haunted by his killing of the
drug lord. Skyler (Anna Gunn) is fed up with Walt’s (Bryan Cranston) lies and
secrecy, and has moved on from just not really speaking him to confronting him
about it. The tension is still high between the two, and Skyler’s anger spills
over to Marie (Betsy Brandt), who she sternly forces to apologize for the
shoplifting incident last season.
For Walt, it spills over to his criminal dealings, as he
angrily pushes Jesse to find and punish the junkies who robbed them (setting up
the next episode, which is a very strong one). The way Walt so easily takes to
the idea of killing people doesn’t seem like a mere business necessity; the
tension he’s built up at home seems to be channeled into this course of action.
Maybe Heisenberg wasn’t just birthed out of the necessary
brutality Walt needed to last in the drug underworld. Maybe, to some degree,
he’s homegrown.
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