Breaking Half: "Live Free or Die"

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.

*Originally published on July 16, 2012

Season 5, Episode 1

"Live Free or Die"

"I'm sorry, I must be hearing things. Did you just use  
the word 'ethically' in a sentence? "

- Walter White (Bryan Cranston) 

And with those immortal words, "Yeah bitch, magnets!" we are officially set for another zany season of the greatest drama on TV. We join the gang after the death of Gus Frings (Giancarlo Esposito) and Tio Salmaneca (Mark Margolis) to discover that there are some loose ends that still need to be fixed. The episode continues in the vein of "Face Off" nature of making the unbelievable somewhat plausible as they take down a highly secured police evidence room with a large magnet, even if Walter White (Bryan Cranston) wants to go too far with it. This is not nearly the electrifying opener that "Box Cutter" was last season, but it doesn't need to be. Along with Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) and Mike (Jonathan Banks), they go on a quest to cover up their trails, even though the DEA and Hank (Dean Norris) are back on the lam. It's only a matter of time until they are caught now. Also, are we getting subtle clues to the gruesome finale with the opening shot of Walter at a Denny's? It is very much in vein with season 2 (as a lot of tonight's episode themes are). Here's hoping that this isn't a rehash and instead a blaze of glory of a finale.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Jonathan Banks

MVP: Mike

I personally think that Jesse and Mike are going to get together this season and try to take down Walter. I don't know how, but I am sure Walter is close to just losing Jesse, if just because he went overboard with the magnets at the police station. Also, Mike just really comes across as an assured leader in this episode and seems to have the most smarts.

Left to right: Larry Hankin, Cranston, and Banks

Best scene: Magnets!

You can never have too much fun playing with magnets in a junkyard. 



Come back tomorrow when we recap the episode "Madrigal"