Breaking Bad re-watch: Season 3, Episode 8: "I See You"

Hank (Dean Norris) was shot last episode, and it ended there. In this one, Hank is taken to the hospital, and we wait. And wait, and wait, and wait.

Yes, this episode literally consists of waiting, as Marie (Betsy Brandt), Skyler (Anna Gunn), Walt (Bryan Cranston), and Walter Jr. (RJ Mitte) sit in the hospital waiting room. Maybe it’s just me, but there always seems to be a “waiting” episode whenever a character in a series is attacked, or in an accident, or otherwise incapacitated. You’re supposed to be on edge, but after seeing this plot turn several times, it comes off as more anticlimactic than compelling anymore. Maybe having already seen this episode once has something to do with it, too.

Whatever the case, the episode’s a little slow, but the payoff ends up being worth it. No, Hank doesn’t wake up (though there’s a quick exchange indicating he’ll pull through), but we do get to see the true nature of Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito). Originally looking like a one-note low key underling for the Cartel, this episode reveals that he’s a cunning, patient Machiavellian. The rest of this and next season will cement his status as one of TV’s greatest villains. Watching the series through a second time, I’m starting to suspect that his secretive plans regarding Walt went much deeper than I previously realized (I’ll get into that more later).

During the big wait, there’s also at least one great scene. As Marie starts to lose it, Walt reassures her with a story about hitting all the green lights on the way to his surgery last season. It’s a monologue of pure TV melodramatic schmaltz, but that’s the point. Walt is lying, putting on a happy face to play the caring family man. Now that he’s fully embraced the criminal lifestyle, he’s rebuilding his broken home life, but merely as a façade to cover for his real one. To those who know the truth—the viewers as well as Skyler—his reassurance rings completely hollow. Cranston is so good in this scene, making Walt come off as so slimy and phony that you wish Skyler would just belt him, but all the more aggravating because she can't because Walt's words are helping her sister cope.