'Breaking Bad': Hush, little baby, don't say a word ...

“Breaking Bad” is becoming one of the most twisted love stories television has ever seen. It began with the premise of a dying man wanting to leave a nest egg for his family, which led him to use his chemistry knowledge for the unsavory purpose of cooking high-grade crystal methamphetamine for lots and lots of cash. But this was for family, and so we somehow understood, and maybe even loved him a little for it. The hook was intriguing enough for us to come along for the ride.

This ride, though, has now descended into the deepest of valleys, a place much darker than I think any of us ever anticipated. We’re talking about a show that opened its pilot episode with a man wearing only his underpants. And a gas mask. The “dark comedy” tag, it seemed way back then, would always remain more on the side of “comedy.”

And so much for that.

What’s happened this season has been at once surprising and sublime, and in television you do need one to achieve the other. There are too many channels, too many options, and so shows have to shock to stay relevant, to keep us from picking up the remote. And the cumulative shock of this second season of “Bad” has been the complete unpredictability of Walter White, played by the infallible Bryan Cranston. Walt has now morphed from that goofy middle-aged man in his underpants into someone we at times don’t even recognize anymore, a guy we’re no longer sure whether to love or to be frightened of. How else to describe a man who in one episode pours endless shots of tequila for his 16-year-old son, making him sick, and then in this episode cradles his new baby girl in his arms and gives her a peek at the stacks of cash he just netted from a major drug deal? "Daddy did that," he whispers. "Daddy did that for you."

Yes, he’s still willing to sacrifice anything for his family. But only for his family. So blinded is he by this intense love that he’s become far less aware — or moved — by the consequences of his actions outside of his own home. As long as his own house of cards is still standing, it doesn’t much matter to him if others in the neighborhood are falling down.

Case in point: Sunday night, and probably the most shocking scene of the series. …

First, a little back story: Walt has just shared a beer with a stranger in a bar. The stranger has a 26-year-old daughter, and Walt, being the proud papa of a baby girl, asks the man if he has any advice. “Just love them,” the stranger says, and then Walt’s mind turns to his business partner, Jesse (Aaron Paul). Jesse has been nothing but a detriment lately, strung out on both meth and heroin. His junkie state almost killed the drug deal that netted them a combined $1.2 million. Walt isn’t sure what to do about Jesse, whether he should even care about him.

“I’ve got this nephew,” he tells the man at the bar, then goes into the story of how this “nephew” keeps screwing up and how he wishes he’d just listen to him, because in this case, he really does know what’s best for the kid. “Family…” the stranger says, and in this moment, you see the contemplation on Walt’s face: Is Jesse now family? This is, of course, a huge line in the sand for Walt — if Jesse is family, Walt will do just about anything for him. If he isn’t, well, have a nice life. “Yeah,” Walt says, nodding his head, “family…” And so the side has been chosen. 

“Can’t give up on them, never,” the stranger then says. “What else is there?”

These simple words lead Walt back to Jesse’s apartment. He goes there wanting to do the right thing.

And then…

The scene: Walt finds Jesse and Jane lying in bed, so strung out that they’re practically comatose. Drug paraphernalia litters the bedside table. Jesse doesn’t respond.

And then it happens. Jane suddenly begins vomiting in her sleep. Only … at this point she’s lying flat on her back, and so she begins to choke on her own bile. Walt jumps up from Jesse’s side of the bed and goes to her, and this is where “Breaking Bad” again moves into jaw-dropping territory.

Because Walter White doesn’t do a thing. No, he just stands there, at first reaching out but then quickly pulling his hands back and allowing the girl to die.

And the question is why. Why didn’t he turn her over?

My best answer is that Walt believes that Jesse — and, by extension, himself — is better off without Jane. With her in the picture, he will only be brought down. And so he allows nature to run its course, does nothing to intervene. And so a man who came to this home with the intention of doing the right thing was actually so blinded again by this love of family, and this selfishness that then comes as a consequence, that he did absolutely nothing. Never mind that this girl may have had great things still left to accomplish in her own life, or that Jesse may have really loved her, or that she herself may have a father out there somewhere, just like him, who might be destroyed by the loss of her.

So long as Walt’s own house of cards still stood.

Walt realized the atrocity of his decision. He covered his mouth with his hand, horrified not only by the death of the girl but also by the monster that he’d become, and tried not to cry. A tear escaped anyway, a single tear.

And then you saw him contemplating. You saw him inwardly reasoning with himself, convincing himself that what just happened was somehow for the best. You saw him stiffen back up into the only thing he could allow himself to be: strong, and looking forward, only forward.

Fading to black in more ways than one, this horrifying sequence lasted about a minute and a half. It should be noted that Cranston’s White uttered not a single word and yet conveyed a complete range of emotions to us yet again with just his eyes and the look on his face. This was, more than any other moment this season, the stuff of Emmy gold.

Speaking of fine acting … : Kudos to both Krysten Ritter, the actress who embodied Jane, along with John de Lancie, who played the stranger at the bar who was also, of course, Jane’s dad. You only truly feel the tragedy of what happened in Sunday’s episode if you've come to feel for the characters who meet such dark fates, and in a short amount of time, Ritter and De Lancie both infused some true spirit into what was already great writing.

Ritter, who’s been in a few romantic comedies of late and was going to be part of a “Gossip Girl” spinoff that now appears to be on the back burner, came into this storyline and we fell in love with her character almost immediately, just as Jesse did. First there was the sweet holding-hands moment in front of the blank flat-screen, and then there was the even sweeter “Apology Girl” sketch that she slipped beneath Jesse’s door to say she was sorry. Jesse doesn’t get to smile much, and nor do we, and so these  moments were welcome reprieves.

Then the clouds rolled in, Jane turning back from a doorknob and instead walking back into Jesse’s room, choosing to end her 18-month sobriety in order to accompany her new boyfriend down a very dark road. Because we so cared for Jesse and Jane as a couple by this point, seeing this was tough to watch. But now we can clearly see that that was the very point of Jane’s character: to show us just how quickly and easily drugs can wither away a good soul.

The very end was horribly graphic, but if you’re going to have a series about drugs, you can’t just show the fun stuff — the cash, the close calls with the police, the meth-cooking set to a cool soundtrack. No, you have to see the other end of it too, the furthest extreme being that closing scene, a pretty young girl dying a very ugly death beside the boy she’d fallen for in so many ways.

As for De Lancie, what on earth might happen to his character next week? We only know that he’d agreed to pick Jane up first thing in the morning to whisk her away to rehab. My heart is already beginning to crack at the thought of what this father is now set to discover.

And how will we finally arrive at that teddy bear sequence that’s been teasing us all season? The clues peppered into numerous episodes seem to signify some type of explosion at Walt’s house that leaves us with the charred teddy bear in the pool along with two body bags in the driveway.

I want so badly to get to this next episode, the Season 2 finale, and yet I also don’t want this to end.

— Josh Gajewski

Photo courtesy of AMC

Comments

[Jason]

It really is amazing that this basic-cable channel that focuses mostly on movies should have arguably the two best shows on television.

[Peter L. Winkler]

Walt let Jane die because earlier in the episode, she threatened to blackmail him. She was a potential threat to Walt and his family's security.

[David Levy]

This episode's ending truly was the most shocking moment of the series so far.

We'd seen Walt kill a pair of drug dealers in self-defense. We'd seen him indirectly contribute to the death of another drug dealer bent on killing him. We'd seen one of his associates taken out. And of course, there's no way to know how many lives have been (or will be) lost because of the methamphetamine that he's manufactured. All of these things must (or should) weigh on Walt's conscience to varying degrees.

But this ending transcended all of that. Jane was lying on her side, and it was Walt's attempt to shake Jesse awake that pushed her onto her back. And yet, he just stood there and allowed her to choke. No matter what happens next, Walt has descended to a depth from which he cannot recover; he has committed an act that should haunt him for the rest of his days. And if it doesn't, that means that his ethos has been irreparably corrupted. Either way, Walt has gone far beyond the point of merely "breaking bad," and he will never be the same man again.

[Piper]

Breaking Bad is stellar television. For years, I've muddled around the channels, finding little gems in several shows (ie. House, Nip/Tuck, Medium, and Numb3rs), but nothing has riveted me to the screen like Breaking Bad. Brian Cranston will surely win another Emmy for his portrayal of Walt, but I hope people also recognize Aaron Paul's contribution to the show as Jesse. For a relatively new actor, Aaron demonstrates the goods needed to continue this career path with great success. He kind of reminds me of Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma, Alpha Dog), who I also love to death, and I hope they both continue to make such compelling work.

I mourn for Jane but agree that she had to go. She became a loose cannon in this episode, one that Walt surely couldn't trust, one that Jesse shouldn't have trusted, and one that pulled a tragic fast-one on her Dad. After ten years of managing Jane's addiction (no, not the Perry Farrell band), Dad never learned the cardinal rule of interventions: Never give an addict "one more day" because that day is too often their last!

So regarding the finale and the pink teddy bear and the hazmat suits and the body bags... Could Jane's Dad put it together that Walt had something to do with Jane's demise and therefore be instrumental in the closing tragedy? I think it's possible. What if Jane's Dad makes Walt lose both of his kids (hence two body bags, even though the baby doesn't need a full-sized bag) as "payback?" All season, I've assumed the tragedy at the White's house is directly related to meth, but paternal rage and responsibilities may be the more important storyline here. Like Josh noted, Breaking Bad is actually about family more than anything else.

Oh this finale is gonna be GREAT!!! (But I don't want it to end either!!!)

[Mitch]

Excellent deconstruction of the episode. This show has captivated me this entire season.

There was a very subtle parallel shown when Walter rolls up a towel to wedge in the back of his baby daughter as she slept preventing her from rolling onto her back. Jane did the the same with Jesse after injected his speedball so he would not choke on his own vomit. Unfortunately for Jane, after her father left her apartment, all she had was Jesse to watch out for her, a character lacking any parental attributes.

[Wayne Dent]

It seems Krysten Ritter's performance on Breaking Bad had the same effect on many people across the states. I was taken by how much I felt for her and how much I liked her when I was witness to the character's awful death Sunday. I knew a young beautiful girl whose life very much mimicked Jane's and her end must not have been all that different in that she too died in "her sleep" after ingesting a fatal cocktail of drugs. Of course the difference is we were just left to wonder what happened at that moment life left her body that night. With Jane, we saw the awful terrible and impactful thing right there on the T.V. screen, made all too real by the POWERFUL performance of Ms. Ritter. When the death of a character and all that character may embody to a person, makes one cry (as Jane's death did to me).....when it makes you mourn losing her.....well, I believe that not much else needs to be said concerning just how MOVING AND POWERFUL a medium television can be in the right hands. Bravo.....BRAVO!

[Rie]

My husband and I watch this show faithfully and appreciate the character development that makes the story so real to us. Yes, Walt has descended to passively killing someone whom he believed posed a real threat not only to him, but to his personal and business relationship with his surrogate family member, Jesse. It's Jane whose vulnerability seems deeper than Jesse's. I'm not so sure that Walt is doing all drug-dealing "for family". Being a drug kingpin brings behaviors centered around power, the abuse of power, and the certainty that authorities can be both challenged and outwitted. What we've been witnessing this season is the metamorphosis of Walt into Heisenberg, sort of a southwestern version of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, a sociopath who reveals himself as needed. No, I think those tears were self-centered indicators of Walt's realization of the monster he has become at times. Can't wait for Sky to see more of this side of him, and hope that Junior doesn't get pulled down in the process. Walt's frustration that he can't flaunt his money-making successes speaks to how painfully inadequate and resentful he seems to have felt over the years. Now that he is scoring big deals will we see Walt turn into Tuco? Seems like Hank thinks Heisenberg is still out there,but he's not yet suspicious if Walt. That will come probably next season. Thanks to AMC for providing alternatives to garbage tv.

[Tony Jr.]

I had the feeling that Walt was going to administer an overdose to Jessie and take off with the money.

There are some very real life messages in Breaking Bad. "Never trust a drug addict," is good advice.

Saul cracks me up with the lines he delivers.

This episode was very dark. It was more disturbing than the ATM episode. The scene where he showed his new baby the cash was twisted. My favorite episode is still "Negro y Azul." The narco corrido and Tortuga. The line: "What's the matter, haven't you ever seen a decapitated head riding a turtle before?" was a classic.

[nayrb]

Walt picked up the syringe...somehow fingerprint sticking point in the police investigation?.. hmm.

[Hey Zeus]

what a fantastically brave series. Vince Gilligan never needs to go back to the x-files type weekly nonsense ever again. Since the beginning this drama has asked challenging questions and posed extraordinarily difficult scruples to the viewer. Never taking the obvious narrative path and consistently remembering it's irreverent and often absurd sense of humour.
this episode had me speak out loud to the screen "well do something!" quite unexpectedly. proper drama this. the best sort.
i watch on with baited breath.

incidentally, one of the only shows i've ever enjoyed with my mother. that'll be the cranston factor i suppose.

[Scott From kansas City]

I have one comment and one prediction. I believe saw in Walter White's face, as he allowed Jane to choke to death, the realization of 2 things. First that she was a loose canon and having her die would save himself from blackmail, and secondly that having her die next to Jesse would be so profoundly devastating to his "nephew" that he would completely withdraw from doing drugs again. (at least that's Walters logic, because that's what he would do)
Also, I'm officially predicting that one of the body bags will belong to Saul, his slick lawyer. The other bag, obviously must belong to Saul's killer. Perhaps a person who works for the mysterious Mexican Drug Lord that Saul thought Walter and Jesse were when they kidnapped him. + Plus I saw that Bob Odenkirk was only going to be appear in a few episodes. And now that Saul has set Walter up with a buyer - what's the point in keeping him in the story?