Breaking Bad 1.04 - Cancer Man

One of the remarkable things about Breaking Bad is its consistency. "Cancer Man" is probably one of the worst five episodes in the show's run. A lot of the relationships just aren't calibrated quite right yet, and the episode doesn't have enough compelling stuff to really make up for it in the same way that "..And the Bag's In the River" did, or the amount of Walt and Jesse humour that was in "Cat's In the Bag." Yet it isn't remotely a terrible episode of television. There's a lot of things here that lay groundwork for what makes these characters who they are, and some individualized stories that are both tragic and yet fitting at the same time, which echoes throughout the series. "Cancer Man" doesn't rise above its inconsistencies in the way most of the Season 1 episodes do, but it doesn't completely get derailed by them either.

The main thrust for the episode is Walt telling the rest of his extended family that he has cancer. It was an episode that had to happen, and the reactions we got were sort of stock TV character reactions, because the supporting characters haven't really rose above stock TV characters at this point. But the fascinating thing about the episode is not Skylar's or Walter Jr's reaction to the cancer, it is the way Walt treats them given those reactions.

Skylar is made to be quite unappealing to audiences at this point. Her emotion and desperation to try to get Walt the absolute best treatment runs counter to the cold, calculating acceptance that audiences have adjusted to with Walt. And I think that contrast wears on the audience, like hot water shattering cold glass. Walt is clearly annoyed at Skylar's enthusiasm for finding the solution, which makes the audience slightly annoyed. Even I, who you could probably tell at this point has no love for Walt as a person,  was feeling a little put off. Anna Gunn's performance seems like it is on a different show from the performance Walt is giving at this point, and the easily readable and sometimes wearing emotions Skylar carries are just too much of a contrast and too opposed to the character that we are beginning to fall in love with. It's a hurdle the show just never clears with some people when they switch poles and make Skylar the sympathetic one, because too much damage was done to her character in the early going. It's interestesting watching this unfold, but I think that Gilligan and company probably wish they had treated Skylar more delicately in the early going to have the viewer more ready to accept the long game with her character.

The show has sucked the viewer into Walt's stratosphere so much by this point that they can't help but feel what Walt feels about the situation. That's kind of amazing considering the man made a conscious decision to become a criminal just because he was diagnosed with cancer. Ultimately, the show coerces the viewer to take the insane side of the argument and get peeved off by the rational side. Part of this may have been cheating a bit, because Skylar did say some pretty awful things in the last couple of episodes to turn the viewers against her. But still, look at the Skylar-Walt exchange I've put down in the quotes section. In what universe is Walt in the right there? He is willing to basically give up and abandon his family because he doesn't want to be seen as the husband who left his family in debt. Why? Because Walt considers leaving his family in debt as a failure, and if there's one thing that Walt can't abide, it's being a failure.

The pride of Walt is strewn throughout this episode. Walt shows such contempt for getting the best help for his problems. He shows such contempt for Skylar and Marie trying to find the solution that has the best shot at keeping him alive. He doesn't want to only be alive because Marie found him a physician, then he's accepted help from Marie he can never repay. He doesn't want to be fawned over and shown sympathy because that implies his cancer makes him weak in some way. He doesn't want help because that means he has to accept help. It's all so ludicrously macho from such a pathetic man that I'm certain if it wasn't so well hidden in subtext at this point viewers would be fleeing from Walt in droves.

That's one of the brilliant things about Breaking Bad here. All of Walt's considerable faults are in the subtext, not to hide what the show is doing from the viewer, but to disconnect the faults from the viewers emotions. You have to think rationally about Walt to see what a screwed up person he is at this point, and as soon as you  do that, you've disconnected yourself emotionally from things. This weakens a little bit in the next episode, [1x05], where Walt's decision not to accept the money from Grey Matter is much more in your face, but there's enough sympathy garnered for Walt by this point that it's simply a blip on the radar. Breaking Bad entwines you so much with its main character it takes a pry bar to pull you away. They will bring out that pry bar eventually, but it amazes me how much evidence that Walt is a monster has to accumulate before viewers turn against him.

The show could have gone a different way with this and made Walt a much more outright villain from the start, just by putting him in less favourable situations. If we had seen Walt surrounded by drug users in the early going when he was making that decision to cook meth, it would have repulsed viewers on a visual and therefore, emotional level, which is something Breaking Bad wouldn't have been able to get away with. The decision to make Walt sympathetic for as long as possible leads to the show being forced to tread lightly around the inner workings of drug culture. When they do feel they have to touch base with the idea, it leads to something half-hearted like what we got with the B-story of this episode.

Jesse's story in this episode is less well done than Walt's, and contains most of the problems that force this episode down near the bottom in the show's history. It's sort of odd that this show really has nothing to say about drug use and addiction. The episode pays lip service to the idea that drugs can screw you up, but doesn't add anything beyond the basics. We see issues with addiction on a surface level where Jesse suddenly becomes very paranoid as a side effect of his crystal meth use. In retrospect, I'm a actually a little disappointed with the camera work on this scene. For a show that gets so creative later on with camera angles and looking at things from all angles, the Jesse drug use scene is pretty standard fare. This becomes more obvious when compared to the camera work in "Phoenix" when Jesse first tries heroin.

We also see issues with addiction on a deeper level where Jesse has lost all trust of his parents because of the times he's failed them before. To be honest, the story doesn't really accomplish much other than cast Jesse's parents in a bad light, which is either not the intention or not a meaningful development. I suppose an argument could be made that Jesse became the way he became because of his parents suffocating influence, but there's just not enough evidence for it.

The other thing the show tried to do to portray drug culture in this episode was the early scene with Jesse, Krazy 8 and Combo, but the dialogue was off enough that the exchange came off as more hokey than it should have. If a show about drug use can't even sound sincere in its dialogue between drug users, than it's got problems. It's probably to Breaking Bad's credit that it realized what it was good at and what it was poor at, ditched the "drugs are bad" angle and focussed on the moral deterioration angle instead. Other than the divisive episode "Peekaboo," the show pretty well stayed away from showing much of Walt's worse off customers, even once it was no longer a goal to keep Walt's sympathy with the viewer.

I still sort of liked the Jesse story as kind of a tragic standalone arc. It does hurt that he has no more chances left, his family is so convinced that he's a failure they simply don't believe in his efforts to make things right again. This also does connect a bit to the overall arc of the show, as that Jesse becomes desperate for Walt's approval to replace the approval he never got from his parents. I'm not 100% sure I buy the development with the joint, as judging by the actor Ben Petrie's age the kid at this point is 12. I know there are kids who smoke pot when they're 12, I'm just not sure they are running in circles anywhere close to the circles Jake Pinkman would be running in. Even if you give the show the benefit of the doubt and say there's some older brother envy going on there, it's awfully coincidental the joint is found in the day or so after Jesse moves back in.

I'm contractually obligated to mention the Bluetooth guy. It's certainly a memorable scene when Walt blows his car up, but I don't have much to say about it. We all know how much Walt likes to feel powerful, and this episode really makes him feel impotent for large stretches of it. The explosion also puts the viewer even more on Walt's side because of how much of a jerk that guy is, so that's a bonus.

This isn't a great episode of Breaking Bad, but as you can see by the fact this is my longest review so far, there's still a lot going on here. It is the rare show that still reveals so much about its characters even at its low points, and Breaking Bad is particularly special in this regard.

Notes

·         Operation Icebreaker for a crystal meth operation. Clever, in an obvious way.

·         Walt and Skylar's story of how they met is so good. It also fits particularly well with Walt's general passive aggressiveness.

·         I really hope that picture in Jesse's room was a young Aaron Paul and not a lookalike.

·         "I believe things have a way of working out in the end." Oh, Walt, you're such a liar. I can't think of anyone who lies to their son as much as Walt does over the course of this series in such awful ways.

·         Krazy 8 revealed to be a mole. Got to think that if Walt lets him go, Krazy 8 turns him over and this series goes into brother-in-law vs. brother-in-law hyperdrive quickly.

·         Walt has a living mother? I think it's a major missed opportunity that we never got to see her.

·         The initial scene with the Pinkman family is a wee bit overcooked. Jake's not allowed to play both the piccolo and the oboe? He's wearing an awesomely preppy sweater vest that is only possibly a school uniform?

• Walt: I just think we need to discuss it a little further, that's all.
  Skylar: What is there to discuss? You're going to get the best treatment, and he's the best.
  Walt: Well, there's the money discussion, I think. No, $90,000 out of pocket. Maybe more.
  Skylar: There's a way, Walt. There's financing, there's installment plans. I could always go back to work. Walt, there's always a way.
  Walt: All right, Skylar, say, there is a way. And we spend that money and... Am I supposed to leave you with all that debt? No. Honey...I just don't want emotions ruling us. Maybe treatment isn't the way to go.