Analyzing Breaking Bad's Fifty One

On Sunday night I was reminded of why I think "Breaking Bad" is the best show on television by a superbly written episode aptly titled "Fifty One". I've been thinking about it all week, and it's really one of those dramas where you have to notice everything. You can't take your eyes off the screen because, what's being discussed or what's being shown is always important. So if you're a fan, I'm analyzing "Breaking Bad's" Fifty One (spoilers ahead):

Notice how short the "1" is. Totally a wish on Skyler's part for Walt to just die.
Skyler hates Walt so much that it's both tragic and awesome at the same time
because she can't do anything about it. She sold her soul to the devil now
and there's no going back from that.

1) First off we have this new character Lydia that Mike stopped short in killing. We know she works at Madrigal which was helping Gus' operation by supplying barrels of Methylamine. But who the hell is she really? Mike says she's dangerous and Jesse Pinkman stops him from killing her (which for the record I think is a big mistake). I think Lydia is Gus' wife, and I would trust Mike's instincts. If anything, the dude is a super lethal assassin. But he's loyal. And he knows character. Lydia should die.

Lydia and Jesse. In this scene, they're looking at a tracker on the bottom
of a barrel that Lydia claims the D.E.A. must have put there. Mike thinks
she put it there and wants to kill her for it. Mike kills lots of people in
this show.

2) The arrangement of the bacon on Walt's birthday. I looked back to the season 1 pilot, and they did this ritual only with veggie bacon. Now one year later, Skyler arranges real "cholesterol clogging" bacon on Walt's plate to spell out 51. Only she cuts the "1" in half, symbolism that she really wants him to die this year. That's just frickin awesome. She does correct the "one" at Junior's insistence but takes a piece from his plate. This is the statement, "If you want your father to live through this year, it will take life away from you." Now the beginning episode of this season had Walt alone in a diner arranging bacon on his own plate to spell out "52." So we know he lives a full year, and we have the entire season to figure out what happens up to that point. How does he come to buy the huge gun and what does he intend to do with it?

Skyler sitting on the bottom of the pool, content in knowing that even
though she may run out of breath, it's better than listening to Walt
talk about himself.

Walt is so evil now. And I do kind of feel for Skyler. However, she's just as culpable as he is, being seduced by greed and money and the power that came with that. Her fate and Walt's are irrevocably intertwined the same as Persephone and Hades. Walt is going to hell and Skyler is too. But that doesn't mean she has to like him. That becomes even more apparent in a crucial scene-stealing moment when Walt is going off at the table about how Skyler saved him from the cancer and did this and did that for him. She gets so sickened by it that she just "walks into the pool". She sits on the bottom with her dress floating up around her and is smiling cause she can no longer hear him. That's just amazing.

3) The ticking watch. Jesse gave it to Walt for his birthday present but the end of the episode has a zoom in on the watch and the ticking is very pronounced. I recall an earlier scene where Mike calls Walt "A ticking time bomb". Once again, great symbolism.

Here's Jesse presenting a watch to Walt for a gift. Tick Tick Tick

4) Walt sells the mint green Pacer for fifty bucks. This car has been Walt's stable transportation for four years of this show. It's been through everything with him. The mechanic that fixes it compliments the car and says, "It will probably go another 200,000 miles." You can see the distaste on Walt's face as he savors this information. He immediately offers it to the mechanic for fifty bucks. THIS represents one dollar for every year of his life. I was blown away by the symbolism of that. A year ago, Walt lived in fear of his cancer.  He lived in fear of men like Tuco, Mike, and Gus, and in fear of losing his job because he wouldn't be able to pay his bills. He's a new man, having defeated ALL of his enemies. He's killed people, poisoned children, and outwitted anyone that thought they were smarter than him (including his D.E.A. brother-in-law, Hank). So Walt flushes the old life down the toilet, and embraces the new life by buying muscle cars for both himself and his only son "Junior".

There was so much to think about in this single episode. If you are a writer, I think that you would be well served to take one hour of your time each week and watch "Breaking Bad" and see how masters of storytelling can unfold a tale. It's absolutely brilliant.

So my questions for you (if you watch the show):
1) Do you think Lydia is Gus' wife?
2) Do you think that Jesse and Lydia might be working together or that they might have struck some kind of deal?
3) There's a part of the episode where Skyler is smoking cigarettes heavily. Do you think that the cigarette that Walt has with the poison in it will come into play this season and that he'll poison Skyler? I sure as hell wouldn't be smoking cigarettes around Walt.
4) What do you think Walt needed the gun for in the trunk of the season opener? I've been trying to figure that out for four episodes now.
5) Do you think Jesse should have just let Mike kill Lydia? Do you think she's dangerous?

A recap of Breaking Bad season 5 episode 1

I was firmly planted on my seat Sunday night for the return of Breaking Bad. It's easily one of the finest if not best written show on television right now. Highlights from last night's episode:

1) I like how they left off pretty much at the same spot where the season finale called "Face Off" had ended. Walt's transformation into the bad guy is complete with the death of Gustavo. And any doubt that I had that Walt was responsible for the poisoning of Brock was brushed away when he threw away the Lily of the Valley plant. I mean, I really suspected that Walt was capable of this...of hurting an innocent child, but I wanted to think that this might have been a coincidence. That there was still some shred of the good Walt that we saw in season one. Nope. It's all gone. He is officially as evil as evil can get. I find myself in an odd place with Walt. He is as evil as any serial killer or any criminal mastermind, yet there is something about knowing his past that makes me root for him. I admire his cleverness. Is it wrong to admire evil when it is especially clever?

Aaron Paul plays Jesse Pinkman

2) Jesse Pinkman is coming into his own. He is confidant. It was his idea which they employed to destroy the hard drive on Gus' laptop which the police tagged as evidence and put into a very secure room. I never would have thought a magnet used in a junk yard could be used in this manner, but I guess if the magnetic field/source was strong enough, it could happen. I have seen first hand how magnets can destroy hard drives. Maybe Myth Busters will do an episode and examine whether or not this stunt would actually work. In any event, it makes for good television. I hope that Jesse becomes a source of light in this very dark show. Skyler has gone evil and accepted that she is the "Persephone" character who resides in the underworld with its ruler "Hades". I hope that by the series end (which happens this season), that Jesse decides to abandon Walt for a fate that actually has a future.

Mike Erhmantraut is a badass assassin

3) Mike appears to be accepting the fact that Walt is now the King of Hell, or for that matter, is now a free agent since Gus is dead and so is the Cartel that controlled drugs to the southwest. It will be interesting to see the line this assassin chooses to walk. I know for a fact that wherever Mike does go, corpses will follow. He is as lethal as Walt is clever.

My Predictions:

Since this is the last season of Breaking Bad, I'm just going to say that I believe the villain of this season is going to be Walt's best friend Hank. He's the only one left. I think that the D.E.A. is going to expose Walt and that it will be Hank that puts him down. And this is so screwy because to say that Hank is a villain is so wrong. Hank is a hero. But since we have a villain as a protagonist, then the antagonist has got to be a good guy.

Anyway...so excited for Sundays. Right now I'm having to balance True Blood, The Newsroom, Breaking Bad, and Falling Skies all in one night. I love my DVR.

Have a great Monday.