Breaking Half: "Caballo sin Nombre"

Left to right: Luis and Daniel Moncada

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 3, Episode 2

"Caballos sin Nombre"

"I've lost my family. Everything that I care about."

-Walter (Bryan Cranston)

After getting arrested for losing it with a police officer, Walter (Bryan Cranston) gets bailed out by Hank (Dean Norris) and tries to patch things up with Skyler (Anna Gunn). Meanwhile, Walt Jr. (R.J. Mitte) is having trouble accepting the separation and is beginning to act out. Consulting Saul (Bob Odenkirk), Walter wants help with his marital problems. Saul puts Mike (Jonathan Banks) on the case. During this time, the Cousins (Luis and Daniel Moncada) have come to town and after talking with Tio (Mark Margolis), have found out who Heisenberg is and where he lives. Jesse (Aaron Paul) confides with Saul a plan to get his old house back, as it is being renovated to be sold. Saul blackmails his parents (Tess Harper and Michael Bofshever) with the basement drug lab secrets. Skyler continues to have trouble with the books a Ted's (Christopher Cousins) business and is desperately seeking better records. After Walter sneaks into his old home, the Cousins follow shortly behind. However, Mike is also on the trail and calls Gus (Giancarlo Esposito), who somehow manages to call it off. The episode ends with Walter alone, wondering if he heard a noise in his house.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Left to right: Bryan Cranston and R.J. Mitte

MVP: Walter Jr. (R.J. Mitte)

As the world is falling apart and Walter is practically regressing to an infantile state, the real tragedy of this episode lies in Walt Jr.'s performance. For episodes now we have seen him building up dread of the day that his father is kicked out of the house. In this episode, it all begins to come to fruition as he makes his way to Walter's apartment in order to be with him. His emotional speech and desire for his father is the backbone of the episode and is the defining reason why any tragedy going forward is worse than we could imagine. It's one thing to see the married couple separate, but seeing the trauma on the child is something that gives it an extra kick of despair.

Left to right: Bob Odenkirk and Aaron Paul

Best scene: It would be too easy to say the pizza scene (see above video for behind the scenes), but when it comes down to it, we finally get to see Saul in a position not involving meth. At least, not directly. When Saul helps Jesse gets his old house back by blackmailing the parents, we get a strong sense of how much of a con artist he could be. The scene in which he is talking to the Pinkman parents is pure class and one of Bob Odenkirk's best turns as Saul to date. At very least, it provides hints of what he's willing to do in order to keep his clients innocent, even if it means blackmailing people.

Come back tomorrow when we recap "I.F.T."