Sunday, September 1, 2013

Breaking Bad Goes Rabid

Interestingly enough, the episode with the word Rabid in the title actually has less violent, less crazy behavior.  But some implications for the game, so beyond the break we go:




Perhaps no one is going to die in this show anymore.  Not so many deaths these days.  But an awesome Babylon 5 reference, which was a show that had an entire episode where purple was most prominent.  This was a very focused episode with not that many of our characters in play.  Just Jesse, Saul, Skyler, Huell, Hank, Marie, Walt, Steve Gomez, and Walt Jr.

Let's start with Marie--her fantasies of poisoning Walt are interesting given that she knows not that Walt has been poisoning and preparing to poison (other than that meth stuff, of course).  She seems restrained but self-control is not her forte, so I still think she is at risk.

Hank is still "a cop on the edge."  That puts him at great risk.  But there is a fun irony here--he lectures Jesse on how much Walt cares about him, but Walt also cares about Hank.  Only at the end does he start thinking about sending Jesse to Belize with Old Yeller, but Walt has resisted the idea of harming Hank.  But how long can that last?  Anyhow, Hank tells Steve the win-win of sending Jesse into danger, which means that Hank's obsession is dangerous--to everyone including himself.

Skyler? Lady MacBeth is now ready to do whatever it takes to protect her family, including "hey, what's one more!?"  Oh my.  Her descent into evil is now complete.  All she needs now is to build her own red lightsaber.  And that puts her closer to death as well. After all, which Sith survive?  None that I can think of.

Walt Jr.? Is the show that dark?  Um, maybe.  I doubt that he will be killed, but who knows?  Walt holds his son very dear, and thus the greatest pain would be if his son were to become collateral damage.

Steve Gomez, by joining Hank's crusade, is now much more in the line of fire.  I think he is now seriously at risk.

Huell is far more prominent now than ever before.  Well, in the sense of how much time he is getting on screen.  He is about as prominent as you can get otherwise.  I can easily seem him getting in between a bullet and its target.

Saul? He is not making friends with his metaphors!  Old Yeller!!!  Oh my.  Each episode this season reminds us how tied he is to Walt, so, yeah, there is that spinoff, but that reeks of long con to me.

Jesse is in danger as Walt asks Todd's family to take of this problem apparently. Of course, Jesse is the one that really knows Mr. White the best, being privy to most of the planning and crimes over the years.  He has something in mind, but, again, having a plan is the first step to being wrong, very wrong.  So, Jesse's life expectancy is not looking good here.

Walt? He can fool his son and he can fool the public, but he cannot fool Skyler, Jesse, Hank or Steve.  He is playing a most dangerous game, and his arrogance can get him killed.  I would not put money on him surviving the series.... sorry, Chip.

Good times.  Another great episode with heaps of tension and humor.  I have been watching the previous episode each week before the new one, and there is so much to notice.  This week, I noticed that last week's episode played with shadows quite a bit.  I wonder what I will discover when I re-watch this one.

and keep in mind what the therapist says here applies to Breaking Bad and to the Mideast:
"There is no problem, no matter how difficult, or painful, or seemingly unsolvable, that violence won't make worse."

Enjoy the last few episodes of one of the greatest shows and seasons of TV.  We are halfway through the last half.




No comments: