Breaking Half: "4 Days Out"

Bryan Cranston

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 2, Episode 9

"4 Days Out"

"Smoking marijuana, eating Cheetos and masturbating 

do not constitute 'plans' in my book."

-Walter (Bryan Cranston)

After getting a check-up on his cancer, Walter (Bryan Cranston) decides to put things into perspective. Talking to Saul (Bob Odenkirk), he decides that he and Jesse (Aaron Paul) need to get some meth cooked in order to raise extra money, as he believes that his life is weeks away from perishing. This ruins Jesse's plans to see Georgia O'Keefe paintings with Jane (Krysten Ritter). During their time out there, Jesse manages to drain the battery through faulty key placement, destroy the water supply, and leave them biting at each other. Walter keeps insulting Jesse until, dehydrated, he decides to make a battery out of appliances around the van. They manage to get back in time to not raise suspicion. However, when Walter receives news from Dr. Delcavoli (David House) that his cancer is in remission by 80%, he decides to take it out on a paper towel dispenser in the bathroom.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

MVP: Walter (Bryan Cranston)

What is amazing is how much of a bottle episode this actually is. For majority of the plot, it is the Walter and Jesse show out in the desert bickering at each other. Jesse is still not smart enough to work his way out of tight corners, and in times of limited supplies, that doesn't help Walter. In fact, he's coughing up blood and dehydrating at an alarming rate. What is impressive about this performance is that Bryan Cranston manages to take this character who largely has shown overacting abilities up to this point and turn him into a feeble person, drained of water. As he comes up with a battery idea, he is on the verge of passing out, and Cranston sells it rather well. Despite this great build-up and essentially amazing set piece that establishes an interesting character dynamic between the two, it is the final reveal in which we get an amazing expression on Walter's face that he is shocked for different reasons. He probably isn't going to die.

Back left to right: Betsy Brandt and R.J. Mitte
Center left to right: Anna Gunn, Cranston, and Dean Norris
Front: David House

Best scene: This show has been around for awhile and we have seen Walter making meth to help leave an inheritance and hopefully beat prison in the process. The one thing that doesn't help is that he'll be around and Heisenberg will still be a relevant topic, provided that Jimmy 'In-and-out squeals. Still, it raises a new quandary of questions about whether to stop the business or keep going, as Walter seems bent on getting as much money as possible. It is a frustrating circle that he is in, and the final punch to the paper towel dispenser is probably the best symbol of the frustration that is going to be Walter from here on out.