Breaking Bad Review: “Bug”

I spent most of last week complaining about how painfully slow this season of Breaking Bad has been going thus far, but now in its final few episodes, it seems that the pace is starting to pick up. Not exactly on the timetable I would have liked, but still, it’s progress.

The issues between Walter and Jesse that have been brewing for years finally made them actually come to blows in what I thought was a rather good fight scene between the two that left both parties bloodied. Walter was upset that Jesse had been lying about not being near Gus, and Jesse was pissed when he found out Walter bugged his car to learn that fact.

I don’t know, I think I have to side with Walter on this one. Even if Jesse’s intentions were still to protect Walter (him telling Gus if he kills Walter, he has to kill him would certainly indicate that), the evidence would be such where it did appear that Jesse had flipped and was in collusion with Gus, and his story about desperately needing Walt to teach him the recipe only looked even more suspicious.

Walter was right to confront him, but then again, Jesse was probably justified in his reaction as well. He has been unshakably loyal to Walt, with his most significant act being the murder of Gale when Walt needed his help the most. After all that, to have Walt not trust him and essentially call him a traitor was too much to bear.

Can their relationship recover from their biggest fight yet?

What’s unclear is what happens now. Jesse has to head to Mexico with an incomplete knowledge of the recipe, and Walt has to cook by himself with no way to get at Gus now that Jesse won’t be his chemical hitman. I guess it turns out that the deal the Cartel wanted wasn’t for Walter’s life, but rather most of his business and the blue crank recipe. That’s a much smarter business move than pure revenge for revenge’s sake. After last week’s reveal about Gus’s past, I thought that he would keep standing tall, and he literally did just that to sniper bullets this episode. But clearly it internally shook him as he agreed to the deal, and now everyone, himself included, is in a tough spot.

I’m unsure of what’s going to happen with Hank. Will Walt turn to him and start aiding him in trying to take out Gus before Gus can take either of them out? Is there a way that he can do this without exposing himself to Hank? I’m not so sure.

Surprisingly the person best able to think on their feet this episode was Skyler, who temporarily diffused Ted’s IRS problem with a low cut shirt and a dumb blonde persona. I knew that she’d probably think she had to give Ted the money to sort out the issue for good so she won’t be involved in the audit, but what are the repercussions of that? Can Ted just hand the IRS a bag full of drug money and everything will be OK? I highly doubt it.

“I don’t understand all them fancy numbers you got here mister!”

Someone’s going to die here, it’s just a matter of who. Since this isn’t Game of Thrones, I highly doubt that Walt or Jesse will get cut from the team, but Gus? Mike? Hank? Skyler even, caught in the crossfire? I’m guessing one of them will go for sure before the end of the year. I think the most obvious choice is Gus, but what happens if he dies at this point? Won’t the cartel just swoop in and take over and Walt will find himself working for an even more psychopathic group?

In any case, the show has me interested and excited once more, and I’m looking forward to see how they sort out these jumbled plotlines and character arcs by the end of the season. I’m guessing a lot of spilled blood will be involved.