Breaking Half: "Confessions"

Left to right: Anna Gunn and 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 4, Episode 11

"Confessions"

"Just drop the whole concerned dad thing and tell me the truth."

-Jesse (Aaron Paul)

With Todd (Jesse Plemons) off running the meth business, everyone is forced to go about living their lives. Jesse (Aaron Paul) refuses to talk to Hank (Dean Norris) without Saul (Bob Odenkirk) present. Walter (Bryan Cranston) gets upset when he discovers that Marie (Betsy Brandt) is trying to get his children through manipulation. Over dinner between Hank, Marie, Walter, and Skyler (Anna Gunn), they try and discuss ways to handle the situation, but are left with little options. Walter gives Hank a confessional tape that turns out to be an elaborate lie placing the blame on Hank. Jesse finally confronts Walter about the lies, but instead is convinced to change his identity and leave town, potentially to Alaska. However, when he discovers that Saul has traded his drugs for cigarettes in order to leave a more positive impression, things heat up. Jesse reveals that he knows about the ricin cigarette and how he helped poison Brock. Gomez (Steven Michael Quezada) talks to Hank and they figure out that dealing with Jesse won't work, as he is the APD's problem, not the DEA. In a fury, Jesse is last seen punching out Saul and then covering the White house in gasoline. Also, Walter has a gun stored in a soda machine.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Aaron Paul

MVP: Jesse (Aaron Paul)

This is the moment that we all have been waiting for. Jesse knows the truth, at least about Brock. Maybe Jane isn't too far off? Either way, he has been realizing for awhile now that Walter has been babying him. Now that he knows it, he is able to plan the ultimate attack and ruin Walter's life the way that his was unfortunately left in shambles. While this episode is full of gratifying Jesse moments, there is a sense of threat and danger that hasn't been seen in Jesse since the early seasons when he was goofy and a lovable, not sympathetic, mess. The final 10 minutes is practically his as he has one reveal after another and Walter's big plan of covering his tracks is finally ruined. Maybe Jesse didn't team up with Hank (yet), but there's nothing scarier than knowing where the man who betrayed you lives. The only question now is what is Jesse's encore? We know he will torch the White house, but are we about to see a literal shootout between former partners? This dark, amazing final act justifies the possibility.

Left to right: Dean Norris, Cranston, and Betsy Brandt

Best scene: Many will argue that Walter has done his share of despicable, unforgivable things. While there is still potential to do more shocking moves, I doubt that anything will top the titular confession. Besides hearkening to the opening moments of the series, the confession is the official turn of Walter from the least bit likable to ultimately awful. I believe that while this is evidence to only Hank and Marie's eyes, the idea that he produced an admittedly very clever yet blatant lie to protect himself suggests that he has no one left to trust. Even if we knew that he had a falling out with his family, the idea that he would bring them down to his level is almost like a resignation from anyone's good list. The sympathetic card only plays so much, but it is mostly a testament to Bryan Cranston as an actor that he has managed to turn Walter from a drug dealer into the ultimate liar. There's a good chance he has been lying about the cancer just to gain sympathy points.

Left to right: Cranston, Paul, and Bob Odenkirk

Predictions: Jesse will seek his revenge anyway that he can. Now that we know that both him and Walter are armed with guns, there's a good chance that there will be a shootout. Of course, for a relationship that has been building for this long, a simple gunshot would seem like a terrible way to go, but at very least, this could be the moment where either Jesse dies or Walter finally just vanishes out of state for awhile. There's a possibility that both could happen out of Walter's guilt, but he is an untrustworthy protagonist at this point, so don't trust his cries. Also, I am sure after Jesse, Saul's most loved client, punched him out, that this will be the end. All of the threats to leave will actually come to fruition. Also, despite supposedly being out of the business, could Todd's phone call at the beginning of the episode imply that if he's not cooking, he's at least overseeing an operation?