Posted on 09/10/2013 11:21:52 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Last night's Breaking Bad left off in the middle of a gunfight, with Gomez and Hank trying to fend off two cars' worth of Todd's Nazi family. Gomez had a shotgun; Jack and Kenny each had some kind of assault weapon. But there were Hank and Todd, each with a handgun. Bang, bang, bang. It was just the most recent instance of Todd mirroring another character. We've seen him be like Walt, we've seen him mirror Jesse, and then last night we saw him mirror both Skyler and Hank. For a very late addition to the cast, Todd sure has become important.
Early on, Todd was a mirror for Mike. In his first appearance — as part of the Vamanos extermination front — Todd spotted a nanny cam in the house Walt and Jesse were about to use as a onetime cook site. It was an instance of Mike-style attention to detail (think of Mike cleaning up Jesse's apartment when Jane died), with the same kind of modest presence that disguises an intense dark side. Two episodes later, in "Dead Freight," Todd works seamlessly alongside Jesse and Walt, pulling off the great methylamine heist of '12. And then in one of the show's most striking scenes, Todd pulls out a gun and kills a child.
But dirtbike-riding, tarantula-trapping Drew Sharp is not the first kid to be shot on Breaking Bad. There was Tomás Cantillo back in season three, who was shot and killed in "Half Measures," presumably at Gus's behest. If Todd and Gus ever crossed paths, we didn't see it, but when he killed Drew Sharp, it was a total Gus move. At that point, Jesse thought Gus had poisoned Brock — so in Jesse's eyes, that was another Gus-style transgression. But Walt knew better; in his eyes, Todd was making a Walt-like move, and in its own sick way, that was flattering. Not unlike the Salamancas, Todd has an important professional criminal relationship with his uncle. Not a lot of solid father-son relationships on Breaking Bad! This is why so many characters seek out authoritative male approval and attention!
Since then, Todd's bounced between Jesse and Walt. He's a protégé — so he's Jesse. But he's very precise and committed — so he's Walt. He doesn't have a natural aptitude for meth-cooking — so he's Jesse. But boy, is he ever applying himself — back to Walt. When he helped Walt dispose of Mike's body, he channeled Saul: I don't need or want a full explanation; let's just get the dirty work over with. In this season's "Buried," Todd leads a blindfolded Lydia through a maze of corpses that she refuses to see or acknowledge, which is more or less how Walt led Sklyer through the first few seasons of the show. Denial's a hell of a thing.
So we've seen Todd channel the bad guys. But he's channeled the good guys, too. (Good being a relative term here; it's Breaking Bad, after all.) When he sat at breakfast bragging to his uncle Jake and associate Kenny about the train heist, he sounded just like a season one Hank bragging about his DEA busts; mostly telling the truth, leaving out the unsavory parts, and basking in the adoration of a rapt audience.
Todd's even able to echo parts of Skyler's story lines. Breaking Bad is a surprisingly desexualized show. Usually in this antihero genre that Walter White gets lumped in with, we see a tremendous amount of womanizing: We saw it from Tony Soprano, from Don Draper, from Vic Mackey. And often shows that have this much violence — say, Game of Thrones or Dexter — have a lot of sex and nudity to go along with it. Not so Breaking Bad. There's very little tenderness, very few loving relationships, and almost no eroticism. But then there was Todd's charged conversation with Lydia and his wistful examination of the lipstick stain she left on his These Colors Don't Run mug, and suddenly things were as sensual as they'd ever been. The only other time we've seen anything that overtly sexual was Skyler singing "Happy Birthday" to Ted, just before they rekindled their affair. And the way Todd cradled the mug felt like a direct callback to Skyler at the end of "Fifty-One," when she sat in the living room, ashing her cigarette into an Area 51 mug.
We see Hank in Todd, we Skyler in Todd, we even see Marie's perky telephone demeanor maybe sort of in Todd. We see parts of Walt and Gus and Mike and Jesse in Todd. And what they all add up to — Todd himself — is someone pretty awful. Oh, he's devoted, he's easy to work with, and he even seems to be enjoying himself at least some of the time. But Todd's also maybe a psychopath, or at least he's someone detached enough from the experiences of life that he's unfazed by murdering a child. He's a bad, bad guy. And with him, Breaking Bad is telling us that the bad side wins out — add up all the good things about the show's universe, and add up all the bad things, and guess what? The bad part wins. The dangerous part, the criminal part, the cold part, the cruel part — even when someone has goodness in them, when he or she is smart and passionate and reliable. Even then, the bad part is more powerful. Just ask Heisenberg.
Walt’s money was his weakness though. Everything he has done, he rationalized it by thinking that it was worth it, for the money. He knows Jesse is angry enough to throw millions of his own money down the toilet, so he has no reason to suspect Jesse won’t burn Walt’s money too. I think, if it was anything else, Walt would have been more cautious... but the money was his Achilles heel.
Remember how he similarly freaked out when he discovered the money he had stashed in the house was gone, when Skylar gave it away? So, there is a precedent.
I thought too that Jesse may have done something when he had to go use the bathroom at Hank’s. Remember what Fring had to do when he used the bathroom. they were drinking stuff in the living room. But of course Jesse didn’t have Walt’s ricin.
True.
But when Skylar takes Walt to the rented storage room and shows him a 4 foot pile of money - he is truly astonished.
“How much is enough?” She asks.
I don’t think he had any clue how much there really was. Yeah, the money is crucial. But more than that - Walter White is a family man. His main preoccupation was to always provide for his family.
So to see him lose control and run out of the car wash and race into the desert while being fooled by Jesse wsas a little bit too much to believe.
He should have known Hank was behind this.
Yes, I will admit...watching that girl die like that was cold as hell.
It was critical because walt framed Gus for poisoning the boy as a way to get Jesse to think Walt did it, and finally take out Walt for Gus. Walt said Tyrus lifted it from his coat in the lab and Gus poisoned Brock to make it look like Walt did it, to get Jesse to be loyal to Gus, and do away with walt and take over the lab. He pointed out Gus didn’t mind using children to sell drugs, and that he gave the order for Tomas to be killed. This convinced Jesse Gus did the poisoning and he sided with Walt to help get Gus.
Remember he said it was about building an empire. The money is a key to busting him, you can’t have an empire when you’re busted.
Right, the money he has NOW. In season one he’s talkign with Jesse about how much he’d be happy with leaving for the family for its needs, and he figures about 750 grand.
It’s a made up TV show. Why are you discussing it like it is real life? Do you have some kind of reality disorder or just a childish mentality?
IT’s his defining character. At least, drama-wise.
I remember him as dentist Tim Watley on Seinfeld. that was his first big show role.
I remember him on King of Queens as the dorky neighbors, the Schneckmans/Shenkmanns, Dorothy and Tim/Ted?
Then the dad on Malcolm inthe Middle. All comedy up to that point.
Thanks for the brain fart. Be sure and air out your house.
I am actually seeing him ambushing the crew on their own turf, somehow. or in a neutral meeting space. i don’t see him holing up waiting for them to come to him. He doesn’t come back to wait for them to come to him. he’s gonna do it for retribution. probably because thy took out hank and possibly Jesse, which he told them was family, he didn’t want them killed, and told them NOT to come but they did anyway.
Got it. Childish mentality. Does your mommy know you are using her computer?
it is a made up TV show. You are right. It is not real. Congratulations on recognizing the obvious. However, I don’t understand why you made a gratuitous attack. What’s your major malfunction?
But he's not Heisenberg anymore. He's no longer bringing in millions of dollars a year doing world-class chemical syntheses. He's just a guy who owns a car wash now. His mentality has changed. He's become more emotional. He's no longer concerned about building. He's concerned about preserving. That's a recipe for fear and paranoia.
Yeah but remember he had just set it up with Saul’s guy to disappear the whole family, but now had no money to pay the guy with, and he needed 500 grand, so that option disappeared and how screwed he felt he and his family was at that moment. Plus just learning your wife gave 622,000 bucks to the guy she had an affair with for his tax bill.
And you are God’s gift to the world. I admit it. Now run along and stalk somebody else.
Believing in hollywierd TV as though it is reality. Congratulations, you are the exact definition of a Sheeple. Stupid as stupid can be.
“What’s your major malfunction?”
Posting this crap on FR. THAT’S the major malfunction. You can’t see that? Just how stupid are you?
So you are going to continue to stalk me?
You’re sick. I hope you get the help you need.
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