Breaking Bad re-watch: Season 2, Episode 11: "Mandala"

Another bridge episode, this one mostly sets up new plot points, some of which will come more to fruition next season. And it all begins from one small event.

That event is Jesse’s (Aaron Paul) dealer friend Combo (Rodney Rush) being killed. It seems like a random killing at first, but it actually sets up a major plot point next season. Right now, it leads Jesse to turn to drugs, and with him Jane (Krysten Ritter) relapses, setting up her tragic end next episode. Walt (Bryan Cranston) decides to seek a new buyer and meets Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), which sets him up to be the main villain in season three (he barely makes an impression in this episode, but he’ll soon become a great villain). And maybe all this coming as a result of just one event, one death, is an oblique foreshadow of the events that indirectly cause the airline tragedy at season’s end.

Oh, and I almost forgot: Skyler (Anna Gunn) has the baby finally.

Actually, of all the new developments in this episode, Skyler’s is the most interesting. She’s been obviously getting closer to her boss Ted (Christopher Cousins) for several episodes now. In this one, before going into labor, she finds that Ted has been cooking the company’s books and confronts him about it. But despite the weight on her conscience, she doesn’t leave the company.

Interesting, because later she’ll find out about Walt’s illegal doings and want nothing to do with him, at least at first. Why does she overlook Ted’s crimes but shun Walt for his? Is she willing to look the other way to help Walt, which at this point is what she believes she’s doing? Has she come to the conclusion that she can’t go anywhere without some shady doings? Does she think tax fraud is more forgivable than drugs? Is it because she has feelings for Ted? That seems like a given.

Aside from that development, Combo’s killing is effective because the way it plays out is surprising and lamentable, and the ending where Walt rushes to deliver meth to Gus’ associates, causing him to miss his child’s birth, is exciting and painful. But this episode is more about planting seeds for farther down the line than the immediate. That turns out to be a good thing, though, because it allows the last two episodes to wrap up the immediate arcs terrifically.