Breaking Bad re-watch: Season 3, Episode 12: "Half Measures"

There’s a bit of cruel irony about Jesse (Aaron Paul) this season.

He took the risky move of pocketing some meth from the superlab and tried to sell it at his group therapy meetings. Deplorable, but he faced no repercussions, from the authorities or, even worse, from his boss. It’s when he tries to do the right thing that bad things happen. Of course, the “right thing” still involves killing two drug dealers (Mike Seal and Antonio Leyba), payback for employing Andrea’s (Emily Rios) kid brother Tomás (Angelo Martinez).

Jesse’s something of a paradox here. That he sees killing the dealers as the just course of action shows that he’s been corrupted by the drug world. And yet, his reasons for going forward show that he’s retained some bit of morality, unlike most of those around him. Really, it won’t be until next episode that we see his true colors.

As for Walt (Bryan Cranston), it seems he’s fully content with being a criminal and the moral sacrifices that come with the job. But his actions in the final moments—disregarding Gus’ (Giancarlo Esposito) orders to keep the peace and killing the dealers before Jesse has the chance—show that Heisenberg hasn’t fully taken over yet. There are still lines he won’t cross, and killing kids is one of them. Or maybe that line is betraying Jesse. I’m not sure.

I am sure of one thing, though: Walt running the dealers down with his car is the only cool thing in history that a Pontiac Aztek has done. Ever.

There are a few really good standalone moments in this one, too. One is the opening showing the typical day of the meth addicted hooker Wendy (Julia Minesci). Her pitiful circumstances are a stomach-churning and sad reminder of the side of the drug business the show rarely explores, and the contrasting music (the scene’s set to the oh-so-annoyingly-upbeat “Windy”) somehow makes the whole thing even more unpalatable. Another good scene is Mike’s (Jonathan Banks) monologue about “half measures.” I’m not quite convinced it really fits well within the show (it seems a little irrelevant relating a story about cops and morality when his line of work is so immoral and callous), but I do like how it establishes some history and depth to Mike, who will grow from a bit role to a great major player starting now.