The pendulum of Jesse's life starts to swing the other way. With the cash that Walt gave him, Jesse is able to patch things up with the impound lot owner, get a new car, and even rents a new place. All of that on its own is nice to see after everything crapped on him last episode, but he even starts to assert himself to a greater degree. He puts his foot down when Walt tries to boss him around and manages to sway some of his friends into selling on his behalf. I figured that the dealers' cut would be too small, but they seem more than happy with the rate. Credit where it's due, Jesse made a solid pitch.
I did get a kick out of the crew. They appear like stereotypical street thugs, but then they started debating the merits of LCD vs plasma screen TVs and even offered insight into Jesse's ideas about how he'd go about decorating the place. The contrast is obviously intentional, but it's still funny.
Sadly, things aren't going so well for Walt. Things with Skyler are still tense and the cost of treatment is starting to add up. The once huge pile of cash in the vent dwindles down to nothing as the first round ends up costing $13,000.
The domestic tension starts to boil when Walt discovers Skyler's smoking. He rightly calls her on it, though she isn't wrong in pointing out that Walt's behavior isn't exactly sterling. It was a battle of who could be more passive aggressive and it was a pretty even fight.
The development with Hank was interesting. A part of me can't help but think that Hank has been doing this for a while and shouldn't be so rattled by his having to shoot Tuco. I mean, he's gone on raids before, wouldn't it have come up then? In any event, he suffers a panic attack in the elevator.
There's a later scene where he hears something in his house while he and his wife are sleeping and he immediately grabs his gun. I feel like I'm supposed to take this as some sign that something's wrong, but I don't see it that way. He heard loud crashing noises in the middle of the night and his cop instincts kicked in. It turns out to be harmless, but I don't think he did anything out of line there. He didn't know what it was, so it was better to be ready for the worst.
While Walt and Jesse start to see a new surge in business, things do hit a snag when one of Jesse's dealers gets mugged. I do wonder why he followed the woman. If he thought the cops were in pursuit, wouldn't it make more sense to split up?
Despite Jesse's assertion that he needs to be payed no matter what, he is rather reasonable about the money loss. They still made bank, so he has no problem shrugging it off. Walt doesn't see it that way and says that they need to assert their dominance before people start pegging them as an easy target.
Walt isn't completely wrong, but emulating Tuco may not be the best route. OK, no one messed with him, but he wasn't exactly someone you want to work with either. They could give the dealers a weapon to protect themselves from future muggings and still solve the problem. Never the less, Walt wants Jesse to dish out some punishment.
It does put Walt and Jesse into conflict. I can't help but notice that the rapport between the two is quickly falling apart. It's a pity as they were rather entertaining together.
We had another character driven episode. It did make for a nice balance of humor and drama. I like that the prior is still present to an extent. I figured that it wouldn't last long once Walt really got cooking, but it still pops up.
We're already coming up on the halfway point of the second season. It's hard to believe, but it goes by quick.
Click here to join our Patreon campaign.
No comments:
Post a Comment