We've had good episodes, and we've had some really good episodes. This goes beyond anything we've seen before and delivers a downright fantastic episode. I'd rank this as my all time favorite episode to date.
Oddly enough, it doesn't have the frantic "Walt/Jesse are screwed and have to think on the fly to get out of it" plot hook that I always found so enjoyable. This is just gripping dramatic television and it is fantastic.
Everything about this episode works. More than that, it has just the right amount of everything. There's tension as Jesse swears vengeance after Hank attacks him (for the fake emergency from last episode) and even rips into Walt when he tries to bring Jesse back into the fold. There's introspection as Hank comes to terms with the fact that he's changed and isn't really cut out to be a cop anymore. We even get just the right amount of comic relief courtesy of Saul Goodman who is in rare form here as he tries to see the upside in the fact that Jesse has been beaten senseless.
I've always enjoyed Jesse Pinkman as a character, but he, like Saul, was in rare form here. His fury was palpable and you never really saw that from him before. Not only was it interesting to see in its own right, but Aaron Paul hit it out of the park and it really makes the episode something to behold.
Even the cousins get a bit more material to work with as we get a flashback to their childhood. You can see how Tuco turned out the way he did because Uncle Tio is a freaking psychopath in his own right. It made for a hell of a pre-credits stinger.
The two may have been rather dull villains, but they do contribute to another major sequence as they confront Hank. It was an incredibly tense scene that was pulled off perfectly. Hank got to show his competence and badassery, but he was by no means guaranteed a win. It was a hard fought battle and it made for a great climax to the episode.
I am curious to know who made the call. Was it a legitimate warning or was it more of a psychological move to make him afraid? I also wonder why Hank didn't just turn the ignition and drive off when he got the call. I get that they were going for "paralyzed by panic" but it seems like he had ample time to try to make an escape attempt.
If there is a downside to this episode, I'd probably say it was shipping Gale off so quickly. Yeah, it's good to have Walt and Jesse back, but Gale had his benefits. I do find it a bit odd that Walt cast him off so quickly for one mistake. Jesse made much bigger mistakes and Walt let it slide, so I wonder why he didn't give Gale the same benefit. It's true that Jesse and Walt have history, but there's no reason why he and Gale couldn't form a similar bond over time. Being a fellow scientist, you'd think it would be easier for him to connect to Gale.
To be honest, I wasn't sure if the show was living up to the hype. I've enjoyed the show thus far, to be sure, but it didn't have the oomph that I was expecting. This episode shows you why people mark it as one of the all time greats. This was a hell of an episode. I almost feel bad for the next one as the bar has been raised significantly.
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