Breaking Bad: “Fifty-One”

 

WARNING: I’ve been trying to keep these recaps relatively free of spoilers, on the off chance that someone might drop in out of curiosity and decide to check out the show (though if you haven’t yet, what’s up?). But reviewing this episode will necessitate a key revelation.

Possibly the trickiest part of Breaking Bad is how Vince Gilligan and company have made Walter White’s transformation believable. Sure, Bryan Cranston’s performance has had a lot to do with making it work, but the writing has been walking a tightrope for the entire series, mostly successfully.

Last season, when Skyler first decided to get on board with Walt’s business, it seemed almost a little too easy. And Skyler was so peripheral in Season Five’s early episodes that it felt necessary to focus in on what she was going through.

But despite the dramatic need for a Skyler-centric episode, I’d been enjoying the details of Walt, Jesse and Mike’s operation so much that the relationship-drama scenes seemed to drag a little bit. And when Skyler immersed herself in the pool, it felt like a scene I’d seen many, many times before — not something you can usually say about anything in Breaking Bad. Here’s hoping she can snap out of her torpor, for her sake and ours too.

A few episodes ago, I grumbled about director Michelle MacLaren distracting from the story with showy camera work. But in this episode, Rian Johnson (director of the brilliant Brick and the not-so-brilliant The Brothers Bloom as well as Season Three’s Fly) makes MacLaren look like Yashijurô Ozu. His use of bizarre angles and strange camera moves didn’t help with the slightly off feeling of the domestic scenes. And as happy as I am to see Walt Jr. as much as possible, the early montage of father-and-son hot-rodding felt like something out of an MTV Daytona Beach special.

Although to me, this was the least satisfying episode of the season so far, I have to confess that I was watching it in changed circumstances. Not being equipped with cable TV, I normally watch Breaking Bad on iTunes, which for some reason doesn’t make the episodes available until the day after broadcast. This time, I was luxuriating at my parents’ place and decided to enjoy it as (I thought) it was meant to be enjoyed. But my time away from television has made me forget: commercials! One of the episode’s most powerful moments (see below), went directly into an ad for KFC. Brutal. Snobby as it may sound, I don’t know how people do it.

 

Best lines:

–       This episode was short on quips, but its one memorable line was devastating. When Walt confronts Skyler about her bizarre behaviour, she admits she’s just waiting. For what, he asks? “For the cancer to come back.” I didn’t think she could top “I fucked Ted” as an absolute dick-shriveller, but boy, did she.

 

Random thoughts:

–       Walt’s metamorphosis hasn’t changed his fundamentally clueless nature. In spite of Skyler’s obvious depression and anxiety, all he can think about is her preparations for his own birthday.

–       It’s interesting to see Lydia develop as a character. Does she really have her own agenda, as Mike suggests? Time will tell…

–       Jesse is so dead-set against the team using lethal force. He may turn out to be the operation’s moral centre and/or its downfall.

–       And for that, he gets called “sexist” by Mike, the episode’s lone moment of traditional Breaking Bad dark humour.