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.
Interesting choice of words. This may help you understand:
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/impossible-choices-conservatism-breaking-bad
Strangely enough ... I agree with you. I’m hoping Walt will do one last thing to redeem himself, maybe to save Jesse because that’s the last small bit of goodness that’s still there, and because it’s an important moral lesson: He saves Jesse even though Jesse no longer deserves it. [And being saved has nothing to do with deserving...]
I’m still two episodes behind.
It’s a toss-up between that and the “Crystal Blue Persuasion” scene as the Best Montage Ever.
Eh - shorter than cancer, and Heisenberg ends his life on Heisenberg’s terms. His ego won’t let him waste away to nothing, not after all he’s done and gone through to create this brilliant catastrophe.
There’s always the Scarface option - which hints towards the M-60 and the scene where he’s watching that movie with Walt Jr.
Nope, I watch everything on DVR so I don’t have to watch commercials and Sunday nights I’m usually trying to figure out how I’m supposed to make a buck the next week.
“Walt really lost me when
he turned on Gus. He had the perfect set-up to just cook,
and not have to deal with moving the merchandise.”
No way. Walt was a dead man walking, unless he killed Gus first.
Windy was a #1 song in 1967 -- remember it well. It was recorded by The Association who had at least one other BIG HIT I can recall: Cherish.
"Wendy" doesn't really even work. The double entendre based on what Windy does to get money for meth is a typically heavy handed Hank joke...
Yeah says he likes smart TV that’s well written. Sorry your busy body mind can’t handle it, but that’s your problem. Meanwhile we’ll keep enjoying one of the best shows in the history of TV while you stroke your ego.
it’s been bugging me since Sunday night - why did Huell flip so easily? Ever since he’s been on the show, he’s been portrayed as a cool & collected cat, secure and comfortable in what he does for Saul.
I wouldn’t have expected him to buy Hank’s story so easily, even with a photo from the camera.
As soon as Walt said “oh man everybody dies in this one” watching scarface, I knew how the ending was going to go.
Killing Gus is one of the few actually defensible things Walt does.
hahahaha - surreal and slightly creepy - I was a little unnerved when I first saw it.
I thought that song was great. I laughed when she plucked a hair out of her mouth.
because he does know that Walt had the ten guys in several prisons taken out all within two minutes. he also knows his partner and believes he would kill him once he saw the fake jesse murder photo. He also knows he can’t play stupid because Hank knows who Walt is - his brother in law no less - and told him a bunch of stuff that is true about Walt. I think huell just saw endgame and no upside playing stupid, and believed Jesse being dead. He also sees Saul getting more nervous about dealings with Walt, and Jesse is a big problem for Saul and Walt, and he didn’t go away.
I believe it’s plausible. Lots of times people forget governemt agents can lie to you.
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