WRITERS: Peter Gould & George Mastras[SPOILERS] Another subdued episode, possibly the slowest of the season, which was a slight disappointment, but "Kafkaesque" was more about introducing new ideas, focusing a few character's resolve, and apparently cutting a few errant storylines asunder. As usual, it was brilliantly acted and contained three excellent scenes, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't get me itching for something more dramatic. I hope the writers didn't deliver a premature finale with the estimable "One Minute" and are now spinning their wheels (the show does have a more improvised feel than other cable series), but I have faith we're building to an explosive finale that'll be worth the wait...
DIRECTOR: Michael Slovis
GUEST CAST: Charles Baker, Jeremiah Bitsui, Jere Burns, Christopher Cousins, Matt Jones & Steven Michael Quezada
Breaking Bad occasionally employs imaginative and beautifully-filmed opening sequences, and it certainly delivered one here. A heavenly commercial for Los Pollos Hermanos delivered with succulent relish, recounting the company's honourable family past and extolling the delights of its signature chicken dishes, before we transitioned to the backroom reality of Walt (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse (Aaron Paul) cooking blue-meth that gets hidden inside tubs of fry batter at Gus' (Giancarlo Esposito) chicken farm, before a convoy of Los Pollos trucks depart to deliver the drugs across the south-west.In this episode, there was a feeling that Walt and Jesse are beginning to realize their employment is unfair and, for Jesse in particular, tedious and boring in comparison to their days in the RV. Gus' operation is essentially a corporate venture, and Jesse's more the entrepreneurial type who wants to be his own boss. "What's the point of being an outlaw when you got responsibilities?" he opines to his friends.
Jesse has calculated that Gus is grossing $96m from the meth they'll cook over three months, of which they only get $3m to split. For the moment, Walt seems content with their unfair arrangement and suggests Jesse doesn't moan about being a millionaire, but Jesse's clearly not as enamoured with the superlab as he thought he would be. He's bitching about his "laundromat" job to his rehab group and ends up making arrangements with Skinny Pete (Charles Baker) and Badger (Matt Jones) to sell some meth the old-fashioned, hands-on way. Jesse's plan involves getting the rehab circle interested in the blue-meth he's hyping during meetings, to hopefully cause a few relapses and line his pockets by creaming off the super-lab's product by under-reporting quota's.
But will Jesse's anti-authoritarian nature come back to bite him? In another scene, it's revealed that Saul (Bob Odenkirk) has sniffed out a nail salon that he wants Jesse to buy so they can launder his drug money. It's a great idea, highlighted by the fact Al Capone was eventually caught for not paying his taxes, but Jesse's unimpressed and doesn't want to play by the rules. It'll be interesting to see if he keeps that attitude, or grows up and starts getting serious about his criminal activities. I'm also curious to see if Saul extends the nail salon offer to Walt now, who likewise needs a way to launder the $1.5m that's coming his way -- or has his website been reinstated? Or was Saul more interested in helping Jesse because he can insist on a 17% commission, instead of the 5% he's been forced to accept from Walt?
At the hospital, Hank (Dean Norris) is now awake and receiving visitors. He also reveals that he owes his life to a mystery caller who alerted him to the Cousins, sparking the interest of Walt as he tries to piece together what happened to his brother-in-law and determine if it was in any way related to him. And he came to the right conclusions; that Gus steered the Cousins away from him and onto Hank, then ensured a bloody shootout in an effort to cause problems for the cartel and become the sole distributor for the entire south-west market.
In a face-to-face with Gus at his farm, having put across that theory, Walt appeared to surprise Gus by admitting he owes his life to him as a result of his "deeper game"-playing and respects the strategy of Gus' decisions. It's another sign that Walt's beginning to think differently about questions of morality, preferring to think in terms of the bigger picture and greater good. Hank was nearly killed, no matter how Gus tried to "help", but all Walt can appreciate is the steely calculation and fact it all happened in an effort to keep him safe. It's a chilling ego-stroke, really.
But there's also the suggestion that, like Jesse, Walt doesn't enjoy the lack of control over his own life now -- even if his frank meeting with Gus resulted in his contract being extended to 12-months for $15m. Gus is the one with life-or-death control over his very existence, making Walt feel rather stupid and ineffectual on some levels, and he's grown to love being master of his own destiny. So, in the scene immediately following his chat with Gus, we watch as Walt tried to regain a sense of control over his life by speeding dangerously down the highway and almost crashing into a truck, spinning his car off the road.
Hank's situation is also being tackled more plausibly than I expected, as it became clear he has nerve damage that will need intensive phsyical therapy and months of treatment to repair. And that's something Hank's health insurance and medical policy won't cover as comprehensively as he requires. Marie (Betsy Brandt) is determined to self-finance his treatment to beat the odds against a full recovery, but it's Skyler (Anna Gunn) who eventually came to her rescue. Here she offered to pay her sister's bills for Hank using money Walt won at gambling; having concocted a clever cover-story for Walt's puzzling behaviour and their in-progress divorce. Even Walt's surprised that Skyler's managed to create such a water-tight story that hides his drug-dealing but provides effective reasoning for everything that's happened between them. And with Walt admitting he has a seven-figure sum of "winnings" from his "system" of counting cards at blackjack, it seems like Hank's recovery won't be a financial problem.
Another storyline half-forgotten about returned: Ted (Christopher Cousins), who dropped round Skyler's house to offer his support and is clearly confused about her lack of commitment now she's mid-divorce and able to make her feelings for him known in front of her sister. Skyler is quick to shoo him away politely, before becoming firmer when he demands answers about her behaviour, so I think it's safe to say the Skyler/Ted storyline is all but over. Now that Skyler's lying for Walt, realizing she still loves him, and has become more accepting of the money they have, it feels to me that Skyler's perhaps on a path to at least turning a blind eye to whatever Walt does... so long as it provides for Hank and Walter Jr's needs. Does that sound feasible? Or, rather, is Skyler basically punishing Walt financially by giving his ill-gotten gains away because she senses Hank was attacked because of him?Overall, "Kafkaesque" was absolutely fine but not really deserving of special mention. It definitely moved the story along in some key ways, but it was still quite a calm episode that lacked a strong undercurrent. Really, the show has lost some of the underlying threat it had when the Cousins were lurking around, and it's harder to see what the goal of the finale is going to be now that so much has settled. I'm sure it's going to involve Gus and perhaps the discovery that Jesse is trying to rip him off, but beyond that I have no clue. That's probably a good thing, but I hope the next episode grabs the story by the scruff of the neck again.
Asides
- I actually got the impression that Hank was lying about feeling sensation in his legs and feet. I'm not sure if that's true, because the rest of the episode didn't contain anything that gave weight to that fleeting thought, but it just wouldn't surprise me that Hank's lying about how bad his condition is. Then again, would the writers really choose to put Norris in a wheelchair for the rest of the series?
- "Kafkaesque" is an eponym used to describe situations that are "marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity", a la the writings of Franz Kafka.
- Loved Jesse's story at his rehab meeting about obsessing over a woodworking task set by a teacher, creating the perfect box as part of an assignment and taking such pride in is... but selling it for an ounce of weed. That about sums of Jesse's torment -- a talented kid whose skills went to waste because of his addiction.
