Breaking Bad Recap: Everybody Roomba!

Recaps

By Saint Clare of Assisi | Tuesday, July 24, 2012 | 8:09 pm | 7 Comments
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Posted in: Breaking Bad, Featured, Recaps

I could be wrong though. Maybe Walt will turn into Hitler.

-Also, in a way, Mike’s story now mirrors the one Walt found himself in when the show started. A guy needs money and is torn over whether to enter the drug trade. He does so only for his family’s sake, and thinks he can keep a handle on the dangerous elements. It’s almost like Mike is now Walt, and Walt is now Tuco.

-I loved, loved, LOVED the opening scene with Herr Schuler tasting the dipping sauces for the American markets. Here’s a visual:

I’ve read a few of the old scripts for BrBa over the years, and at least on paper, you notice how one of Vince Gilligan’s staples in his writing is “unexpected contradiction”. Here’s just a random sampling off the top of my head…Hank’s whole character is based on this. Superficially he’s a macho, jock-y law enforcement type, but he’s always been surprisingly emotionally attentive to the rest of the family. (Not being able to detect Walt’s crimes notwithstanding). And then Mike, the sleazy lowlife who’s actually quite great at spending quality time with his granddaughter. And then last week, there was Old Joe the junkyard worker with a pretty well developed philosophical worldview.

And now this: a well-dressed, sophisticated, continental mogul sitting in one of the world’s most advanced kitchens while eating cheap, disgusting, trashy food products that are to be sold in middle America, is the latest in a long line of these sorts of images.

-Other stuff I loved about the opening scene: first, how many times does a drama show on American TV, whether it be network or cable, take us into the guts of how our industrial food products are made. That’s investigative journalism territory, not mass entertainment. Second, I loved Schuler’s slack expression as he was eating the tater tots. I now know it’s probably because he knew his world was falling apart, but when I first watched it, I had fun imagining it was because his IQ was literally dropping before our eyes. And third, isn’t it fitting that Schuler was running Madrigal “Elektromotive”, and then the means he used to kill himself was electricity with the defibrillator?

-Want another contradiction? During the show this week, we get an opening sequence that makes fun of how shitty our food is, and then marketed with names like “Cajun Kick-Ass”…and then during the commercial breaks, they keep playing those goddamn new ads for Miller 64, where a bunch of actors sing faux-authentic drinking songs about it? I love it.

-One of Walt’s bigger character flaws was pretty prominent this week…he’s a genius, yes, but it’s always been his flaw that he’s seen everyone else as inferior. Particularly people who live the criminal life. Granted, yes, usually Walt can out-maneuver a smalltime dealer like Eight Ball, but when it comes to someone like Mike, Walt can’t understand why Mike wouldn’t want to join forces with him so he chalks it up to Mike being emotional. This is so going to bite Walt in the ass.

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Saint Clare of Assisi attended Boston University and has written for The Onion.  He took his name from the patron saint of television, who was a virgin and saved a boy from a wolf one time.

7 Comments

  1. 1
    someguy
    Posted July 24, 2012 at 9:33 pm

    So glad you are back. Your recaps add so much to the show for me. I was thinking the women Mike met at the coffee shop was Gus’s wife. I liked how Hank will take help from his partner with. His. Walking and treating Gomez like a friend and partner without the macho BS.I always have to watch the episode again after your recaps to pick up all the detail you caught and I missed. I want to know what Brook says about what he ate to get sick. He isnto old to eat plants. Thanks for you great insights

  2. 2
    mjhhawk
    Posted July 25, 2012 at 6:10 am

    Mike was watching “Caine Mutiny”, which is actually quite symbolic to the storyline as I believe the scene was was on they were just about to vote out the Captain (Gus) to replace him with another (Walt). Or it was another scene, but that does happen.

  3. 3
    mjhhawk
    Posted July 25, 2012 at 6:41 am

    I think Walt is and will always be the main character, but they are not afraid to turn the focus on other characters for development. In the past they have focused on Jesse, Skyler, Hank, Marie and did an entire episode on Gus’ roots. This is what helps keeps the viewers so engaged in the show. You have true feelings about every character. When things like Hank and Mike have their first confrontation you are completed conflicted, as you are pulling for both guys. I personally really hope they do an episode on Mike’s days as a Philly cop.

  4. 4
    timgunnssister timgunnssister
    Posted July 25, 2012 at 10:52 am

    Two things I LOVE about this episode: 1) Mike drinking an Ensure with a beer back – priceless! and 2) Merkert saying that “It was right in front of me the whole time” or words to that effect talking about Gus being the criminal overlord. Do you suppose that gets Hank wondering what’s been in front of HIM this whole time?

  5. 5
    timgunnssister timgunnssister
    Posted July 25, 2012 at 11:05 am

    Oh, and wasn’t Lydia sitting with the Madrigal executives in the DEA office? I assumed that’s how she knew Mike – she is/was a Madrigal employee and Gus’s local go-between/finder of stuff.

    And in the final scene, it sounded to me as though Walt said something about ‘family being the most important thing’. It sounded all creepy and Godfather-y to me. And Skyler looked absolutely terrified.

  6. 6
    annie anniedawg25
    Posted July 25, 2012 at 12:16 pm

    @timgunssister…yeah totally creepy! as was the boob grab.
    Sky is terrified of him….he knows it, and doesn’t give a shit. If anything, he likes it! EEK

  7. 7
    maryedith
    Posted July 27, 2012 at 8:09 pm

    Awesome recap as usual. Two things: I think Walt’s flaw is not just that he thinks other people are stupid but that he’s gotten greedy. It’s not about paying for cancer treatment anymore; it’s about the big payoff. Nobody who wants a big payoff for the sake of a big payoff ever gets the big payoff. Also, I don’t know if you mentioned this after the first episode, but when Walt popped those pills in the cold open I wondered if his cancer had come back? We don’t normally see him popping pills, do we?

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