Breaking Bad 2.03 - Bit By a Dead Bee

Pre-Credit Sequence: This is the first time where a pre-credits scene basically just kicks off the episode, and doesn't do anything special such as the constant in media res of season 1, or show some spectacular scene. That said, the pre-credits is achieving something; it's showing the origin of the plan that would dominate the episode. Jesse and Walt are still in a pickle, as they have to explain their absence as well as the fact Jesse's car is at the crime scene. They had a lot of time to make this plan, and for one of the few times in the series, it works almost without a hitch. I'd also like to note that the opening camera angle, showing the camera being in the hole uncovered by the dirt that Walt and Jesse are digging, is nonsensical and I don't like it.

Review: We are getting into a stretch of episodes I generally consider to be the worst of the show. We are done laying the foundation for Walt, we know what makes him tick and the writers have put us fully on his side. We have finished dealing with his first threat in Tuco, his life is not in immediate danger, and while there's some minor danger about him being found out, we don't really have any reason to believe that is going to happen. We haven't entered the part of the show where Jesse and Walt have really kicked off dealing meth on their own, and don't really enter the issues that come with that until "Peekaboo." And even when the good part of Season 2 kicks off, that's really not driven so much by overarching plot as much as making each episode deal with something special and interesting. There is an overall theme to Season 2, and I'll get to that in one of these next two reviews, (because I'm not sure how much else I'll have to talk about), but it's much more of a conclusion driven theme and not a theme you can clearly see as the season is going on.

This episode for instance, from a plot perspective, is basically only about Jesse and Walt explaining what happened to them while being kidnapped by Tuco. Walt showing up naked in the supermarket is such a memorable image, that I remembered this episode as much better than it actually is. It has its moments from both Walt and Jesse, and we'll get to those shortly, but overall there's not as much of either depth or tension that Breaking Bad has at its best, and the show needs one or the other to be successful.

All that said, there are two fantastic scenes in this episode that is Breaking Bad  in top form. The first one is the kickoff to Jesse's section of the plan, where he's waiting in Wendy's motel room. The way the scene is staged makes it look like Jesse is on some sort of drug. The camera focuses on the sun through the blinds and is alternating between focused and unfocused. This continues until the police team breaks into the motel room and starts yelling and taken Jesse in. It becomes pretty clear afterwards that the fading camera was not a symptom of Jesse on drugs, but more displaying the tension Jesse felt because he knew what was about to happen. It's a great piece of camera work, a great piece of misdirection, and it still manages to put the viewers in Jesse's mindset. He's going to get hassled, it's not going to be easy, and he'd rather not do it, but he has no choice in the matter and his freedom depends on how he acts.

The other scene is Walt talking to the psychiatrist. The type of scene where someone lies by revealing a lot of the truth isn't unique to Breaking Bad by any means, but almost any time a show is clever enough to use this technique it works. Here it works particularly well, as this discussion with the psychiatrist also informs Walt's decision in the rest of the episode. The reasons that Walt gives for running away for a couple days are pretty much the exact reason he starts cooking meth in the first place. It's so cathartic to hear him finally give his real reasons for doing the things he is doing, even if it's just as part of another lie he's telling.

At the end of the episode, Jesse believes that this is the end of the road and that their cooking adventure is over. It's a reasonable thing to assume, given that they nearly were sent to Mexico and/or killed by a crazed lunatic. But Walt's reasons for cooking, the same reasons he gave to the psychiatrist, are as strong as they've ever been. As much as he repeats the 737,000 dollar number to himself, the real reason is that for the first time, he feels powerful. He feel like he's in control. He feels like his chemistry expertise is finally not being wasted teaching high school students. And he's still got that addiction to danger that drove so much of his actions in "A No Rough Stuff Type Deal." At the moment, Walt is in this for the long haul. Is there something that will change his mind, at least for a while? Absolutely, but it's not the threat of death from Tuco. It's actually a pink teddy bear.

Also driving Walt to continue in spite of the danger? That view of just his wife and son, on their own, while he thinks he's in hospital. It allows him to keep up his lie that all he is doing is for them, and to keep them well enough off without him there. The interesting thing about this scene is that there isn't actually anything special about how Skylar and Walter Jr. were interacting when he saw them. There's nothing he sees here that would be different than what he knew, or would have seen before to change his perspective on things. I really believe Walt is looking for excuses to continue, and a glimpse of his family that shouldn't be meaningful, he elevates it to very meaningful levels in his mind.

One thing that's surprised me writing these reviews is how prominent Hank has been this early in the season. He gets two episodes focussed on him later in the season in "Breakage" and "Negro Y Azul", and in the episodes leading up to that, he's definitely been the third most important character on the show. It is sort of impressive that the show commits this much this early to developing someone they had originally outlined as a joke caricature. In this episode, we really start to see the fringes of how the Tuco shootout affected Hank. It's pretty easy to tell in hindsight that he's really not comfortable with what went down. He is initially taken aback by Junior asking him about the shootout, though just for a moment before he recovers. This same sort of hesitation happens when he gets awarded Tuco's grills, though once again he recovers quickly and acts as he thinks would be appropriate for someone who should be proud of his "catch." It's subtle writing, and only really can be seen after watching "Breakage" and knowing the truth about Hank's  PTSD.

The other small sign of the effect of the Tuco shootout on Hank is how ineffective he is in his interrogations. Jesse was clearly not comfortable, but he's unable to really push the issue with him. He has Wendy where he wants her, and then blows in on his cheap "Windy" joke that he had previously used when seeing Wendy with Walter Jr. in "...And the Bag's in the River." He's been shown to be a pretty good cop, both before and after this point, and is really not good at all in this episode.

This episode is about 25% really good deep stuff and about 75% fluff. That's not a good ratio for Breaking Bad and a sign that the show really isn't quite ready to take the next step it wants to take. This season was built backwards, where they knew the ending and had to build to it, so it is possible that they didn't have enough story to fill the 13 episodes they were given. The show really shouldn't be spending a whole episode on the execution of a rather straight forward plan by Jesse and Walter. The show still has its flashes of brilliance, and the execution is still at a really high level, but for a show that needs the plot engine to be churning to be successful, "Bit By a Dead Bee" is not the episode the show needed to follow up its Tuco arc.

Other Points
- The writers still aren't being very careful with Skylar. In this episode, she's made to look dumb by supporting Walt's lie by complaining about cancer drug side effects, like this is something new to a doctor

-  Badger is on a roll this episode, especially clearing out the basement. "You are Willy Wonka and I have the golden ticket!"

- Speaking of Badger, if Badger was vouching for someone to you, does that really impact anything at all? I'd be less likely to trust that person.

-My favourite part of Walt's naked gag with Skylar is that he wears the porkpie hat

- And we have the continuation of the all time great second cellphone storyline! I really thought I liked Season 2 better than this going in to these reviews