WRITER: Gennifer Hutchison[SPOILERS] I'm still recovering from the near-perfection of last week's thrilling episode, and expected this follow-up to be slower and more reflective. I was right. Breaking Bad tends to move its story along in gentle waves, delivering peaks that work magnificently because of the careful build-up, so with "I See You" we're perhaps at the bottom of another climb till the finale.
DIRECTOR: Colin Bucksey
GUEST CAST: Charles Baker, Jeremiah Bitsui, David Costabile, Javier Grajeda, Daniel Moncada, Steven Michael Quezada & Michael Shamus Wiles
The fallout of Hank's (Dean Norris) shooting was the subject of this episode, as he was rushed to hospital and the doctors struggled to keep him alive. Hank's admission ironically coincided with Jesse's (Aaron Paul) departure, although noticing his attacker's situation filled Jesse with a devilish sense of karmic satisfaction, as he left to join Walt (Bryan Cranston) at the superlab. This in turn led to a very amusing scene where Walt was trying to gently fire Gale (David Costabile) from his job, likening the reason for his dismissal as Gale's "jazz" mixing badly with his "classical", seconds before Jesse (thrash metal?) burst in with a typical sense of breezy immaturity. Poor Gale. I guess I was wrong to assume he was only there to secretly learn Walt's formula.The meat of this episode took place at the hospital, once Walt learned about his brother-in-law's situation from Jesse. Skyler (Anna Gunn), Walt, Walt Jr (R.J Mitte), Marie (Betsy Brandt) were joined by Hank's colleagues, Gomez (Steven Michael Quezada) and ASAC Merkut (Michael Shamus Wiles) on a vigil. Indeed, such was the camaraderie and affection for Hank, that it seemed like the entire DEA workforce had amassed in the hospital's lobby, partly because the surviving Cousin (Daniel Moncada) was being treated for his leg injuries upstairs and everyone was desperate for explanations. Why were the Mexican drug cartel targeting a lone agent like Hank?
It's a question Walt is now asking himself, convinced that it must have something to do with his own dealings with the underworld. He eventually remembers that Tuco once claimed his "cousins" were arriving across the border, before going to see the surviving cousin for himself along with Hank's colleagues. There followed a wonderfully sinister sequence where the convalescing cousin, noticing Walt at his doorway, proceeded to fall out of bed (revealing he's had both legs amputated) and crawl his way towards the door, echoing the moment we first met the Cousins crawling in the Mexican desert.
"I See You" also established Gus as an even more intelligent, dangerous, resourceful and informed person than expected. Having been told there was a surviving cousin of the attack on Hank (which he allowed to go ahead), he accepted the apology of Walt for a delay in the week's blue-meth quota (which Walt blamed on Gale's mistakes), then demonstrated he can't be fooled by arriving at the hospital to offer a $10,000 reward for information on the shooting. Walt took this as a "sign" (that Gus can't be deceived by excuses and lies?), and that did seem to be partly the reason. But Gus, having also received a phone call from Juan Bolsa in Mexico, who knows the Cousins wouldn't have attacked a DEA Agent without his permission, is also using events to raise his status in the drug world. Or has Gus been manipulating things in that direction from the very start. Mike (X) was sent into the hospital to kill the loose-end Cousin by lethal injection, and Juan Bolsa's residence was beset by Mexican Federales before he was gunned down after opening his front door to them. Or men sent by Gus?
Whoever killed Bolsa, the head off the Mexican drug cartel has been chopped off and its two fearsome enforcers are dead, and Gus seems likely to fill the void. Ambitious, devious and clever, Tio was right to worry about the South American "chicken man" in last week's '80s-set flashback. It may have taken him a few decades, but Gus is now on the precipice of greatness with the cartel in disarray and Walt's superior meth on the production line for three months (and perhaps longer?) It's funny, we started this season believing the Cousins would be the big villains, but it looks like Gus is the real concern.Overall, considering this was a quieter episode coming off the back of the tensest moments of TV I've seen in over a year, "I See You" was a great character episode that still provided some important plot developments. I also enjoyed another of Walt's uncomfortably morbid attempts to be supportive, when he gave an awkward speech about his frightening time in hospital to Marie ("I survived this place. And I'm not half the man your husband is.") His heart's in the right place, but it's like a darkness has taken over Walt sometimes.
Asides
- Thinking back to last week briefly, I guess Hank's bar brawl without his weapon earlier this season helped him keep a cool head during that shootout -- when he was similarly weaponless and up against two men, right?
- Interesting to note that Skyler was more supportive of Walt here, particularly in the scene where Marie ranted at Walt when he arrived at the hospital. And she clearly knew Walt wasn't on the phone to a relative when Jesse rang the hospital. I half-expected Skyler to assume Hank's shooting had something to do with her husband, but she probably doesn't appreciate how deep into criminality Walt has sunk, so can't (or won't) allow herself to even entertain the possibility the two things are connected.
- Didn't Walt tell Gus that Gale was being replaced by Jesse last week, by phone? I got the impression Gus doesn't know in this episode.
- It's worth remembering that Gus' philanthropy in the community also extends to helping finance the DEA. As he told Walt in this episode, he hides "in plain sight, same as you." He also seems to be well-liked by the DEA Agents in general, judging from all the handshakes and backslaps his presence inspires in them.
- For a somber episode, there was actually a fair bit of humour, primarily through Jesse as comic relief; bored at the superlab and inflating his yellow overalls to pass the time waiting for Walt's return.
- Walt Jr's reading a book recommended to him by Hank, about the unsung DEA agents who investigated famous Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, quoting Hank as saying "good guys never get ink like the bad guys do." Hank seems to have disproved that statement here, but will it prove true the further we get into Breaking Bad? Is the show destined to end with Hank taking down Walt when he's grown to Escobar heights, but finding Walt's legacy is the only one assured?
