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| Steven Bauer |
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 4, Episode 10"Salud"
"Look, once every twenty years you forget
your place. There's no place for emotion in
this. You of all people should understand.
Business is business."
-Don (Steven Bauer)
Mike (Jonathan Banks), Gus (Giancarlo Esposito), and Jesse (Aaron Paul) are on their way to Mexico to teach the cartel how to make their brand of meth. Meanwhile, Skyler (Anna Gunn) cannot get hold of Walter (Bryan Cranston) on Walt Jr.'s (R.J. Mitte) birthday so that they can share lunch and celebrate him getting a new car. Meanwhile, Saul (Bob Odenkirk) gives Ted (Christopher Cousins) money from a deceased friend who neither of them actually know. Walt Jr. tracks Walter down to his apartment, where they share a talk about fathers and how Walt Jr. misses him. Jesse teaches the cartel how to make meth with rigid energy. Ted finds out that Skyler gave him the money and that his choice to spend it on a car was ill conceived, as it was for the tax issues. Celebrating after the meth-making event, Don (Steven Bauer) treats everyone to a poolside party with drinks and girls. Gus even gives him a gift of liquor, which actually poisons everyone. Gus, Mike, and Jesse disperse with the cartel now dead and out of the picture.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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| R.J. Mitte |
This may be somewhat of a cop out, as the entire finale of this episode is explosive and more memorable than the little chat that Walt Jr. had with his father. However, as a quick search on IMDb will show, Walt Jr. has been "Credit Only" for most of the season. He has almost become the forgotten White in that sense. Here, he gets breakfast, a slightly lamer car than he wanted, and a nice chat with his father. Not quite the great birthday that he wanted, but it gives us a chance to understand who Walt Jr. is as a person and not just his rebellious Flynn moniker. He makes what little time is dedicated to father and son in this episode work, especially with the touching goodbye in which he claims that the vulnerable and sad dad was a lot more comforting than a distant dad. It's powerful enough that you'd almost wish Walter would quit right then and there.
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| Left to right: Aaron Paul, Jonathan Banks, and Giancarlo Esposito |
Best scene: As established with "Hermanos," Gus has a bad history with the cartel. It almost seemed premeditated that he would come back and get them. Even if it is a subtle reference to The Godfather Part II, the final scene in which his plan hatches is an unexpected thrill ride of destroying the one enemy that the show has had since season one. Add in a Scorsese-like introduction of Gus walking out of the bathroom, and it is stylized, haunting, and leaves a strong mystery to what lies next. Jesse has proved himself worthy, making it even harder for him to side with Walter. Still, it is comforting to know that this symbolism was cyclical and that the pool signified two important deaths in the show.
Come back tomorrow when we recap "Crawl Space"
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