Spoilers. This was a less enthralling episode compared to the preceding "Grilled", but no less tense and mesmerizing in its own special way. Having escaped from Tuco's desert domicile, just as Hank (Dean Norris) arrived on the scene to engage in a gunfight with the wounded druglord, Walt (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse (Aaron Paul) traipse to the highway through the scorching desert, giving Walt enough time to concoct an alibi for their disappearance..
Said alibi involves Walter wandering stark naked into a supermarket and being taken to hospital claiming to have amnesia. Skyler (Anna Gunn) and Walt Jr (RJ Mitte) are overjoyed to have Walter back safe, having apparently suffered a fugue state according to his doctors -- and, because they obviously can't find any medical cause for his breakdown, Walt takes the chance to blame the cancer-fighting medication he's only taking to appease his family.Elsewhere, Jesse has become a wanted man because his car was found at Tuco's hideout contained $67,000, so he rushes to clear his house of all the meth-making equipment in the basement, pays a friend to transport his RV cook-lab out of state, and has a trusted hooker pretend he's been partying with her in a scummy apartment the whole weekend. Hank eventually finds Jesse and brings him in for questioning, but it appears that the pothead's alibi is unassailable, until Tuco's mute Uncle Tio (Mark Margolis) arrives to point the finger... and ding that infuriating bell of his.
There were several lovely touches in "Bit By A Dead Bee". Bryan Cranston continues his mightily impressive work, peaking in a scene where he's evaluated by Dr. Chavez (Harry Groener) and decides to tell the doc his fugue state isn't real and how he just decided to abandon his life for a few days. Doctor-patient confidentiality would probably have stretched to him telling Chaivez a great deal more (and you could see Walt mentally chew on the idea of offloading all his secrets), but ultimately he decided to only share one element of the truth.
The visual of a painting showing a man in boat, rowing away from his wife and child on the shoreline, was also returned to a few times -- alluding to Walt's own circumstance as a man slowly rowing out to sea and leaving his family behind; both in terms of his looming death, but also his increasing familial distance as he lies to his loved-ones for their own benefit after he's gone.
It was particularly excellent when Walt returned home -- breaking the icy atmosphere with Skyler by making a joke about going to a convenience store naked -- before she asks him pointedly about the second cell phone Hank surmised Walt owned. Of course, Walt's able to feign no knowledge of what she's talking about because of his "amnesia", but that clearly doesn't convince Skyler as she fails to meet his goodnight kiss. So, it would appear Skyler's finally picked up on her husband's lies and will be watching him more closely from now on.And I continue to enjoy Dean Norris' role on this show, while cringing at how he and his work colleagues treat their work -- posing for snapshots with dead bodies recently, baking a cake to celebrate Hank shooting a criminal dead, and then the macabre icing on the cake: Hank being given Tuco's signature "grillz" (tooth jewellery) encased in a plastic cube, like a fisherman handed the jaw-bones of a shark he slaughtered.
Overall, "Bit By A Bee" was another very strong installment of the show, blessed once again by some excellent performances and character moments. This episode appears to conclude the Tuco storyline, but Walt doesn't seem to have learned anything -- as he calls Jesse about restarting their activities as meth-cookers now the smoke has blown over. It's tragic that Walt feels he needs to spend his last days this way, but after witnessing his wife and son consoling each other in the kitchen, he perhaps got a sneak-peek at what life will be like without him around, and he's too driven to provide for his family to even consider not putting his chemistry skills to dangerously lucrative use.
22 March 2009
AMC, 10pm
Writer: Peter Gould
Director: Terry McDonough
Cast: Bryan Cranston (Walter), Aaron Paul (Jesse), Anna Gunn (Skyler), RJ Mitte (Walt Jr), Dean Norris (Hank), Betsy Brandt (Marie), Steven Michael Quezada (Steven Gomez), Michael Shamus Wiles (DEA Chief), Matt L. Jones (Badger), Todd Terry (Sac), Harry Groener (Dr. Chavez), Julia Minesci (Wendy), Christopher Dempsey (Hospital Medic), Kat Sawyer-Young (Dr. Soper), Sheran Keyton (Tio's Nurse), David Priemazon (DEA Point Man), Mark Margolis (Uncle Tio), David House (Dr. Delcavoli), Tom Kiesche (Clovis) & Ramsey Williams (Supermarket Clerk)
