Breaking Half: "... And the Bag's in the River"

Left to right: Bryan Cranston and Max Arciniega

Are you tired of long, tedious accounts of Breaking Bad episode recaps? Then look no further than Breaking Half: a weekly column that takes the good and bad from each week's episode of Breaking Bad and dilutes it down to the core necessities. Each Monday, Breaking Half will attempt to take a few key moments from the episode and boil it down to one juicy paragraph.

Season 1, Episode 3
"... And the Bag's in the River"

"The soul? There's nothing but chemistry here."

-Walter (Bryan Cranston)

Continuing the quest to rid themselves of Krazy 8 (Max Arciniega), Jesse (Aaron Paul) and Walter (Bryan Cranston) duke it out over how to do it. That is, until Jesse decides to take a load of meth and rent a prostitute in a motel named Wendy (Julia Mensci). Leaving Walter to kill Krazy 8 on principle that it was his job based on the coin flip, he contemplates the morality behind the decision by making charts and eventually giving him a sandwich. Through a series of events, he passes out, breaks a plate, and ends up having a sympathetic conversation about their lives, including the reveal that Walter has cancer. Up until this point, nobody knows but Walter. Meanwhile, Marie (Betsy Brandt) discovers from Skyler (Anna Gunn) that someone she knows is doing drugs. Inferring that it is Walt Jr. (R.J. Mitte), she has Hank (Dean Norris) take him on a car ride with hopes of getting his head straightened out. This results in talking to Wendy and Walt Jr. acting like it was kind of cool to see a cracked out hooker. During this time, Marie also reveals that she is a kleptomaniac, stealing a pair of shoes from a local store. After an intimate chat with Krazy 8 that suggests that he is a kind citizen, Walter decides to free him. That is, until he notices that the shards from the broken plate is missing a piece. In one last effort, Walter kills him and disposes of the body. Meanwhile, Hank and Steven (Steven Michael Quezada) are searching the site of where the RV started a fire, revealing in a nearby car that there's clues to a bigger case. The episode ends with Walter in flashback talking to a scientist named Gretchen Schwartz (Jessica Hecht) about the chemistry behind the human body. It ends with Walter in deep thought, and realization that he can no longer claim innocence. He shows hints of telling Skyler that he has cancer before cutting to credits.


Rating: 4 out of 5

Arciniega

MVP: Krazy 8 (Max Arciniega)

While this is an amazing episode on principle that this is the first episode in which Walter officially starts turning evil by sparing someone's life, there is nothing more intimately haunting than the long period of quiet conversation with Krazy 8. During this time, they discuss their careers, school life, jingles, and their upbringing. While the ending is shocking yet expected, the build up is so impressive on the sole purpose that we get to know the captive as this caring individual. Whether or not he actual meant anything he said is another thing. 

Left to right: Steven Michael Quezada and Dean Norris

Best scene: While many would argue that the intimate conversation between Walter and Krazy 8 reflects on Walter as a person, I think that this is the first episode where we fully understand who Hank is. He is a wise-ass who is so confident that he spent a good portion of this episode badmouthing a prostitute in front of Walt Jr. This scene sets up a lot of the building blocks for where the relationship between the two will go and it also has a perverse, corrupt feel in terms of humor. Hank may be loyal, but as the scene in which he takes Walt Jr. to Crystal Palace shows, he is not afraid to intimidate.

Come back tomorrow for a recap on the episode "Cancer Man"