Breaking Bad re-watch: Season 4, Episode 6: "Cornered"

In this one, Walt (Bryan Cranston) gives his famous, oft-quoted “The One Who Knocks” monologue, and it’s easy to see why it’s become synonymous with the show. It’s a very good scene, not just as a plot point showing Walt’s arrogance and festering evil, but also a brilliant piece of writing. The choice of words (I mean, “The One Who Knocks” doesn’t sound very threatening on paper) sounds more like a real stream of consciousness instead of written dialogue.

Walt’s been mostly in retreat this season, but in this episode, he fights back at the world any way he can. But his arrogance blinds him to his true standing with both his enemies and friends. His attempt to spite Gus (Giancarlo Esposito) by letting immigrant laundry workers clean the superlab only registers as a mild annoyance to the boss man, and the workers are the ones punished for it. Walt buys a car for Walter Jr. (RJ Mitte) to get back at Skyler (Anna Gunn) for confronting him earlier in the episode (presumably this is a sorry present for Walter Jr., but I detected some spite in the action), but she takes control of the situation by guilting him into returning it. The only solid victory Walt can count is over Bogdan (Marius Stan), and that comes with little satisfaction because a man who did nothing wrong was cheated out of his business.

Through this episode, the audience feels every possible reaction to Walt. There’s a bit of a thrill from his monologue, disgust for some of his actions, rooting for others, and in the end some sorrow and pity, but with an almost told-you-so feeling to it. This, I think, is one of Cranston’s strongest acting episodes; that convincingly he goes through this range of emotion in just a single one (while sharing it with the Cartel subplot, no less) is a credit to his skills.

By the end, we see that Walt is outmatched on all fronts. He could take charge at home, but the little human feelings he has left is too much to be cold and callous enough to do so. And with Gus, well, he’s far from having the upper hand. In other words, the episode’s title is perfect.