Breaking Half: "Full Measure"

Aaron Paul

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 13

"Full Measure"

"I saved your life, Jesse. Are you going to save mine?"

-Walter (Bryan Cranston)

After the events of "Half Measure," Gus (Giancarlo Esposito) is not happy with Walter (Bryan Cranston), who assured Mike (Jonathan Banks) that Jesse (Aaron Paul) is gone. Instead of firing him, Gus allows him to continue with the help of partner Gale (David Costabile). Meanwhile, Saul (Bob Odenkirk) is trying to convince Walter to buy the laser tag building and do his money laundering there. Turns out that Jesse has been hiding out there. Work with Gale is going fine, even if Victor (Jeremiah Bitsui) is watching over them and he is unable to buy time. He feels like the minute that Gale knows enough, he will be killed off. It is at this moment that Walter decides that the best option is to kill Gale himself, as to provide leverage on his life. However, things come up and Mike and Victor plan to kill him off the night of the attack. Through one last phone call, he tells Jesse to do the job for him. This keeps Mike and Victor from killing him off. The episode ends with Jesse pulling the trigger.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5

David Costabile

MVP: Gale (David Costabile)

It almost felt like this episode existed solely to make Gale a sympathetic character. This whole season, he has been a side man forced to just serve as an counter option to Jesse. Here he gets a very sympathetic role in which he somehow manages to become an innocent bystander. All he wants is to work and make money. He doesn't want to kill Walter, yet he is contributing. Also, his apartment is amazingly kitsch as he hums along to records in varying languages and does something bizarre with hot water. Gale is a nice guy and in any other given situation, he would seem like a neat guy to hang out with. However here, he is sadly just an innocent bystander who unfortunately would sabotage Walter's career. In a sense, this is the episode that made me wish that Gale had a bigger part in the series as a whole.

Bryan Cranston

Best scene: Everything comes to a crescendo at the end of this episode. With Walter already on bad terms with everyone, he is forced to work his way out of death. Mike and Victor watch over him, waiting for him to keel over through an accident. Walter is smart enough to avoid it and somehow manages to work his way out of being shot at close range by setting Gale up for a close range death. The parallels are amazing and only reflect just how far Walter is willing to go to save his life. Also, it only adds haunting endearment to the Jesse/Walter relationship that they would work together for each other despite Walter not being the greatest partner in the world. The scene is high tension, especially for a season finale, and the very idea that Walter has leverage is an inspired way for him to stay alive. 

Also, special thanks again to Dave Porter on adding emotional music to elevate tension and make this meditative experience feel even more dramatic.

Come back tomorrow when we start season 4 with the episode "Box Cutter."