WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.859 Welcome back to The Deep Dive. Today we are not 00:00:03.859 --> 00:00:06.339 just scratching the surface. We are going, well, 00:00:06.379 --> 00:00:08.000 we're going all the way down to the bedrock. 00:00:08.140 --> 00:00:10.099 We really are. Yeah, we're taking a stack of 00:00:10.099 --> 00:00:12.480 sources here. Yeah. So we've got articles, we 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:15.640 have critical reviews, production notes, even 00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:18.839 some scientific fact checks. And we're unpacking 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:21.440 all of them. to understand the machinery behind 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:23.780 one of the most pivotal hours of television history. 00:00:24.039 --> 00:00:26.379 It really is one of those hours. It's one of 00:00:26.379 --> 00:00:27.960 those episodes that when you look back at it, 00:00:28.019 --> 00:00:30.980 you realize it set the trajectory for literally 00:00:30.980 --> 00:00:33.700 everything that followed. It's the exact moment 00:00:33.700 --> 00:00:36.439 the show decided what it actually wanted to be. 00:00:36.740 --> 00:00:39.240 Exactly. So let's orient ourselves for a second. 00:00:39.320 --> 00:00:41.640 What is our mission today for you listening? 00:00:42.140 --> 00:00:45.359 We are focusing our laser beam on Breaking Bad 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:48.880 Season 1, Episode 2. The title is Cats in the 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:52.060 Bag. Such a great title. It is. And if you think 00:00:52.060 --> 00:00:54.859 the pilot, which, you know, we all know is iconic, 00:00:55.020 --> 00:00:57.140 if you think that was a chaotic adrenaline rush. 00:00:57.219 --> 00:00:59.179 Oh, it totally was. Yeah. This episode is where 00:00:59.179 --> 00:01:01.020 the hangover hits. It's where the adrenaline 00:01:01.020 --> 00:01:05.560 wears off, the headache sets in, and the messy, 00:01:05.719 --> 00:01:08.420 gruesome reality of what just happened starts 00:01:08.420 --> 00:01:10.680 to solidify. That's a really great way to put 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:13.430 it, actually. The pilot is the crime. And this 00:01:13.430 --> 00:01:15.209 episode is the consequence. The consequence. 00:01:15.450 --> 00:01:17.450 Usually in television, you have a pilot that 00:01:17.450 --> 00:01:20.069 sets up the premise and then the second episode 00:01:20.069 --> 00:01:22.549 basically repeats the premise to make sure the 00:01:22.549 --> 00:01:24.569 audience gets it. Right. Just like hammering 00:01:24.569 --> 00:01:26.870 it home. Exactly. But this episode doesn't do 00:01:26.870 --> 00:01:28.769 that at all. It immediately deconstructs the 00:01:28.769 --> 00:01:31.920 premise. So let's set the scene. Based on the 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:33.680 sources we've got lined up, we have the production 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:36.560 history, we have critical breakdowns from IGN 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:38.719 and the AV Club and the plot mechanics themselves. 00:01:39.400 --> 00:01:41.099 And I want to start with a question for you, 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:43.420 just looking at the big picture here. What is 00:01:43.420 --> 00:01:45.939 the vibe shift from episode one to episode two? 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:50.260 Because looking at these notes, it feels drastic. 00:01:50.680 --> 00:01:53.099 Oh, it's totally drastic. The pilot is almost 00:01:53.099 --> 00:01:56.040 a heist movie in miniature. Yeah. It's fast. 00:01:56.260 --> 00:01:58.760 It's frantic. You have the sirens. You have gas 00:01:58.760 --> 00:02:00.760 masks. You have explosions. The pants flying 00:02:00.760 --> 00:02:03.780 through the air. Right. The pants. But this episode, 00:02:03.939 --> 00:02:07.640 which aired on January 27th, 2008, it puts the 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:10.719 brakes on hard. It was written by the series 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:13.400 creator Vince Gilligan and directed by Adam Bernstein. 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:16.639 And it forces the characters and honestly the 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:19.340 audience, too, to just sit in the massive mess 00:02:19.340 --> 00:02:21.580 they made. And the critics seem to really love 00:02:21.580 --> 00:02:23.680 that shift, which is interesting because usually 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:26.939 slowing down. is kind of PV code for boring. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:29.340 Right. But looking at the numbers in our sources 00:02:29.340 --> 00:02:34.400 here, IGN gave this episode a staggering 9 .6 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:37.580 out of 10. Wow. I mean, that is incredibly high 00:02:37.580 --> 00:02:40.139 for the second episode of a brand new series. 00:02:40.219 --> 00:02:42.180 Usually shows are still, you know, kind of finding 00:02:42.180 --> 00:02:44.580 their footing. It is remarkably high. And the 00:02:44.580 --> 00:02:47.340 A .V. Club gave it an A -. There is this fantastic 00:02:47.340 --> 00:02:50.340 quote from Seth Emanatin over at IGN that I think 00:02:50.340 --> 00:02:52.460 really nails what we are going to be talking 00:02:52.460 --> 00:02:54.099 about today. Oh, it's here. He was discussing 00:02:54.099 --> 00:02:56.000 the chemistry of the characters. He said it's 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:57.659 like they're puzzle pieces and they're jagged 00:02:57.659 --> 00:02:59.479 edges aren't even close to matching, but they 00:02:59.479 --> 00:03:02.219 fit somehow. Jagged edges. I love that. Because 00:03:02.219 --> 00:03:04.699 literally nothing about this episode is smooth. 00:03:04.860 --> 00:03:08.620 It is all jagged edges, literally and metaphorically. 00:03:08.740 --> 00:03:10.840 You have the jagged edge of the broken plate, 00:03:10.939 --> 00:03:12.789 which will. We'll definitely get to that later. 00:03:12.870 --> 00:03:15.509 And the jagged edges of Walt and Jesse's relationship. 00:03:16.590 --> 00:03:19.710 And that leads us right into the big aha moments 00:03:19.710 --> 00:03:22.409 we need to look out for in this deep dive. We 00:03:22.409 --> 00:03:24.930 are definitely going to talk about the infamous 00:03:24.930 --> 00:03:28.090 bathtub incident. Oh, ma 'am. Which I know you 00:03:28.090 --> 00:03:30.430 are excited to unpack because the science behind 00:03:30.430 --> 00:03:33.750 it is, let's just say, volatile. Oh, I cannot 00:03:33.750 --> 00:03:35.969 wait to get into the chemistry of that catastrophe. 00:03:36.370 --> 00:03:38.610 I have so many questions about hydrofluoric acid 00:03:38.610 --> 00:03:40.469 that need answering. We will definitely get there. 00:03:40.569 --> 00:03:43.050 But we are also going to look at a really fascinating 00:03:43.050 --> 00:03:45.610 piece of production history regarding the character 00:03:45.610 --> 00:03:49.090 Crazy. Right. There is a very specific reason 00:03:49.090 --> 00:03:51.270 he is in this episode at all, and it actually 00:03:51.270 --> 00:03:54.270 wasn't the original plan. That's wild. It's a 00:03:54.270 --> 00:03:57.229 perfect example of how happy accidents can totally 00:03:57.229 --> 00:03:59.870 shape a masterpiece. See, that is the stuff I 00:03:59.870 --> 00:04:02.870 absolutely love. The accidents that shape the 00:04:02.870 --> 00:04:05.069 narrative. Yeah. Okay, so let's dive right in. 00:04:05.090 --> 00:04:07.129 Let's start with the title itself, Cats in the 00:04:07.129 --> 00:04:09.689 Bag. It sounds like a nursery rhyme, or maybe 00:04:09.689 --> 00:04:11.960 something your grandfather would say. But knowing 00:04:11.960 --> 00:04:13.979 this show, I have a feeling it's something a 00:04:13.979 --> 00:04:16.779 bit darker. Much darker. It's actually a direct 00:04:16.779 --> 00:04:20.759 cultural reference to a classic 1957 film noir 00:04:20.759 --> 00:04:24.220 called Sweet Smell of Success. Okay. I haven't 00:04:24.220 --> 00:04:26.100 actually seen it, but I know it's legendary for 00:04:26.100 --> 00:04:28.540 its dialogue. What is the specific connection 00:04:28.540 --> 00:04:31.360 here? So in that film, you have a character named 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:34.779 J .J. Hunsaker. who is this extremely powerful, 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:39.399 very corrupt newspaper columnist. And he asks 00:04:39.399 --> 00:04:41.660 a character named Sidney Falco about a dirty 00:04:41.660 --> 00:04:44.279 scheme they are cooking up. Okay. He asks him, 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:46.620 that means you've got a plan. Can you deliver? 00:04:46.819 --> 00:04:49.819 And let me guess, the reply gives us our title. 00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:52.519 Precisely. Sidney Falco replies, tonight, before 00:04:52.519 --> 00:04:54.660 you go to bed. Cats in the bag and the bags in 00:04:54.660 --> 00:04:56.120 the river. The cats in the bag and the bags in 00:04:56.120 --> 00:04:57.759 the river. Okay, let's unpack this for a second. 00:04:57.779 --> 00:05:00.920 In the movie, that phrase clearly implies that 00:05:00.920 --> 00:05:02.920 the problem is solved. It's handled. Right, it's 00:05:02.920 --> 00:05:05.620 a done deal. The problem is contained in the 00:05:05.620 --> 00:05:08.600 bag and disposed of in the river. Exactly. It 00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:11.300 implies a perfectly clean resolution, a specific 00:05:11.300 --> 00:05:14.000 plan executed perfectly. It really implies ultimate 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:17.139 competence. And the irony here, the whole reason 00:05:17.139 --> 00:05:19.540 Vince Gilligan chose this specific title, is 00:05:19.540 --> 00:05:21.519 that in Breaking Bad, absolutely nothing is in 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:23.680 the bag. Right. The cat is definitely not in 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:25.379 the bag and the bag is definitely not in the 00:05:25.379 --> 00:05:28.420 river. No. It is the complete opposite of a clean 00:05:28.420 --> 00:05:31.100 resolution. It's almost like the show is mocking 00:05:31.100 --> 00:05:33.560 its own characters. It totally is. It frames 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:36.560 the entire episode as a study in absolute failure. 00:05:37.180 --> 00:05:39.420 They think they have a plan. They think they 00:05:39.420 --> 00:05:41.180 are living in a slick movie where they can just 00:05:41.180 --> 00:05:43.740 handle it. But reality just keeps getting in 00:05:43.740 --> 00:05:45.959 the way. So let's look at where we left off to 00:05:45.959 --> 00:05:47.740 really set the context for this whole failed 00:05:47.740 --> 00:05:49.939 plan. Yeah. We are picking up immediately after 00:05:49.939 --> 00:05:52.529 the pilot. There is no time jump here. We are 00:05:52.529 --> 00:05:54.829 right there in the panic. Walt and Jesse are 00:05:54.829 --> 00:05:57.449 in the RV. They've got the gas masks on. They've 00:05:57.449 --> 00:05:59.810 literally just poisoned two drug dealers, Crazy 00:05:59.810 --> 00:06:02.449 8 and Emilio, with phosphine gas. And they are 00:06:02.449 --> 00:06:05.930 actively driving this massive mobile meth lab. 00:06:06.350 --> 00:06:09.089 back to jesse's house now a really key detail 00:06:09.089 --> 00:06:11.709 here that the sources point out this house used 00:06:11.709 --> 00:06:14.569 to belong to jesse's late aunt all right the 00:06:14.569 --> 00:06:17.230 ant it's a suburban setting it has a nice lawn 00:06:17.230 --> 00:06:20.310 it has neighbors this isn't some sketchy warehouse 00:06:20.310 --> 00:06:23.189 in an industrial district it's a quiet normal 00:06:23.189 --> 00:06:26.050 street which just makes the presence of a bullet 00:06:26.050 --> 00:06:28.850 riddled rv containing a meth lab and two bodies 00:06:29.579 --> 00:06:32.319 even more jarring the contrast is immense that 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:36.040 dissonance is so key to the show's entire visual 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:38.819 language so they park the rv they open the door 00:06:38.819 --> 00:06:41.199 fully expecting to just drag out two corpses 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:44.040 just a simple disposal problem right but here 00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:46.439 is the twist that kicks the whole episode into 00:06:46.439 --> 00:06:49.139 gear what do they actually find they find that 00:06:49.139 --> 00:06:53.300 emilio is dead he's gone But Crazy 8, he is still 00:06:53.300 --> 00:06:55.800 breathing. That is the exact moment the clean 00:06:55.800 --> 00:06:58.259 plan goes completely out the window. He somehow 00:06:58.259 --> 00:07:00.399 survived the phosphine gas, which, by the way, 00:07:00.439 --> 00:07:03.600 is incredibly nasty stuff. But he's alive. So 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:05.160 now Walt and Jesse aren't just dealing with a 00:07:05.160 --> 00:07:06.899 gross disposal issue. They're dealing with a 00:07:06.899 --> 00:07:09.959 hostage situation. They have abruptly moved from 00:07:09.959 --> 00:07:13.579 accidental killers to kidnappers actively contemplating 00:07:13.579 --> 00:07:16.199 murder. And this leads us right into what I call 00:07:16.199 --> 00:07:18.600 the comedy of errors segment of our deep dive. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:21.120 Because you'd think, OK, he's alive. They are 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:23.240 criminals. They'll handle it. But they are so 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:25.560 bad at this. They are terrible at it. So bad. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:28.220 And that's the absolute brilliance of the writing. 00:07:28.339 --> 00:07:31.399 It completely de -glamorizes the crime. The next 00:07:31.399 --> 00:07:34.180 day, there's this scene that That is almost slapstick 00:07:34.180 --> 00:07:37.560 comedy, but so incredibly dark. Walt is driving 00:07:37.560 --> 00:07:39.699 to Jesse's house to figure out what to do. And 00:07:39.699 --> 00:07:43.060 who does he see? He sees Crazy 8. Right. A completely 00:07:43.060 --> 00:07:45.959 bedraggled Crazy 8 just staggering down the street 00:07:45.959 --> 00:07:48.199 in the middle of this nice suburb. The visual 00:07:48.199 --> 00:07:50.879 here is just wild. You have this terrifying drug 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:53.569 dealer. But he's probably half poisoned. His 00:07:53.569 --> 00:07:55.410 clothes are all messed up. He's stumbling around. 00:07:55.810 --> 00:07:58.410 Walt pulls up, probably panicking, and tries 00:07:58.410 --> 00:08:00.949 to get his attention. He does. And Crazy 8 looks 00:08:00.949 --> 00:08:03.410 at him, recognizes him, probably is the guy who 00:08:03.410 --> 00:08:06.209 just gassed him, and tries to run. But he is 00:08:06.209 --> 00:08:09.110 in absolutely no condition to run. The source 00:08:09.110 --> 00:08:11.730 material describes it so perfectly. It says he 00:08:11.730 --> 00:08:14.329 runs into a tree and collapses. He runs into 00:08:14.329 --> 00:08:16.750 a tree. You know, in normal action movies, the 00:08:16.750 --> 00:08:18.889 villain escapes into the night. He scales a giant 00:08:18.889 --> 00:08:21.709 fence, steals a car, and breaking back. the villain 00:08:21.709 --> 00:08:24.410 runs into a tree because he's woozy. It's so 00:08:24.410 --> 00:08:27.610 deeply grounded in reality. It really is. It 00:08:27.610 --> 00:08:29.509 strips away the whole myth of the super criminal. 00:08:29.750 --> 00:08:33.070 He's just a guy who is seriously hurt and disoriented. 00:08:33.330 --> 00:08:36.090 So Walt has to physically load this unconscious 00:08:36.090 --> 00:08:39.129 heavy man into the trunk of his car. Oh man. 00:08:39.350 --> 00:08:42.129 Just imagine the stress of that. This is a mild 00:08:42.129 --> 00:08:45.309 mannered high school chemistry teacher manhandling 00:08:45.309 --> 00:08:48.090 a drug dealer into a trunk in broad daylight 00:08:48.090 --> 00:08:50.679 just praying Mrs. Johnson next door doesn't look 00:08:50.679 --> 00:08:52.879 out her front window. And then they managed to 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:54.519 get him back to Jesse's basement. So now they 00:08:54.519 --> 00:08:56.419 have a real containment problem. How do they 00:08:56.419 --> 00:08:58.460 secure him? They don't have police handcuffs. 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:00.259 They don't have a holding cell. They use a bike 00:09:00.259 --> 00:09:03.129 lock. A bike lock. They chain him by the neck 00:09:03.129 --> 00:09:05.950 to a wooden structural pole in the basement using 00:09:05.950 --> 00:09:08.409 a heavy -duty U -lock. Again, the improvisation 00:09:08.409 --> 00:09:11.450 is just so striking. They aren't using professional 00:09:11.450 --> 00:09:14.250 cartel gear. They're using whatever junk Jesse 00:09:14.250 --> 00:09:17.190 literally has lying around his aunt's house. 00:09:17.289 --> 00:09:20.230 It just highlights how unbelievably unprepared 00:09:20.230 --> 00:09:23.029 they are for any of this. Exactly. So now the 00:09:23.029 --> 00:09:26.129 situation has evolved. They have a corpse in 00:09:26.129 --> 00:09:29.370 the RV, that's Emilio, and a living witness in 00:09:29.370 --> 00:09:32.879 the basement. Crazy 8. And this brings us to 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:35.019 one of the most crucial psychological turning 00:09:35.019 --> 00:09:38.120 points in the entire series. The coin toss. Oh, 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:40.379 it was a huge moment. Yeah. Because they can't 00:09:40.379 --> 00:09:42.659 decide what to do. They are completely paralyzed. 00:09:42.759 --> 00:09:45.000 They're arguing in the kitchen. Voices raised. 00:09:45.740 --> 00:09:48.039 Panic really setting in. They are. Walt suggests 00:09:48.039 --> 00:09:50.799 disposing of Emilio's corpse using chemical means. 00:09:51.320 --> 00:09:53.440 Hydrofluoric acid. Which we will get to the messy 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:56.019 specifics of that. Oh, we will. But they also 00:09:56.019 --> 00:09:58.759 realize Crazy 8 is a massive liability. He knows 00:09:58.759 --> 00:10:00.679 who they are. He knows their faces. He knows 00:10:00.679 --> 00:10:03.620 where Jesse lives. So Walt says. We have to flip 00:10:03.620 --> 00:10:05.360 for it. Let's just pause on that for a second. 00:10:05.399 --> 00:10:07.419 We have to flip for it. It is a complete abdication 00:10:07.419 --> 00:10:10.419 of responsibility. Walt is the one who logically 00:10:10.419 --> 00:10:13.139 knows Crazy 8 has to die for their own safety, 00:10:13.320 --> 00:10:16.200 but he simply cannot bring himself to make the 00:10:16.200 --> 00:10:18.879 active decision. He wants the coin to decide. 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:21.419 He essentially wants fate to take the blame. 00:10:21.620 --> 00:10:24.159 It's cowardly, isn't it? It's trying to keep 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:26.539 his own hands clean while actively planning a 00:10:26.539 --> 00:10:29.919 murder. So they flip the coin. What is the breakdown 00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:33.070 of the toss? Jesse wins the toss. And what does 00:10:33.070 --> 00:10:35.710 winning even mean in this twisted scenario? Yeah. 00:10:35.889 --> 00:10:38.289 Usually winning means you get the prize. Here 00:10:38.289 --> 00:10:40.549 winning means you get the slightly less traumatizing 00:10:40.549 --> 00:10:43.049 job. Right. Winning means he gets to choose his 00:10:43.049 --> 00:10:45.490 horrible job. And Jesse very quickly chooses 00:10:45.490 --> 00:10:47.470 to dispose of the corpse. Which really tells 00:10:47.470 --> 00:10:49.210 you something profound about Jesse, doesn't it? 00:10:49.429 --> 00:10:51.929 Dealing with a dead body is incredibly gruesome. 00:10:52.029 --> 00:10:54.529 It's heavy lifting. It smells. It's disgusting. 00:10:55.009 --> 00:10:57.950 But it's passive. Exactly. It's gross, but it 00:10:57.950 --> 00:11:00.570 is not killing. A corpse is already just an object. 00:11:01.159 --> 00:11:03.960 By choosing the corpse, Jesse forces Walt into 00:11:03.960 --> 00:11:07.419 the other role. Walt loses the toss. He is left 00:11:07.419 --> 00:11:09.679 with the direct task of killing Crazy Eight. 00:11:09.879 --> 00:11:11.639 This is where it gets really interesting for 00:11:11.639 --> 00:11:13.399 Walt's character development. I mean, he just 00:11:13.399 --> 00:11:15.659 broke bad in the pilot, sure. He killed those 00:11:15.659 --> 00:11:19.120 guys in self -defense in the RV. But this. This 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:21.659 is straight up premeditated execution. That is 00:11:21.659 --> 00:11:24.279 the absolute key distinction. In the pilot, it 00:11:24.279 --> 00:11:27.659 was pure reaction, pure adrenaline. Here he has 00:11:27.659 --> 00:11:29.759 time to think. He has hours to think. He has 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:31.539 to actually walk down those basement stairs, 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:34.679 look a conscious man in the eye, and end his 00:11:34.679 --> 00:11:37.360 life. And what we'll see in this episode is that 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:39.440 Walt is simply not ready for that. He is not 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:41.620 a killer yet. Let's talk about that internal 00:11:41.620 --> 00:11:44.019 struggle. Because Walt doesn't just march down 00:11:44.019 --> 00:11:46.600 there and do the deed. He hesitates. He stalls 00:11:46.600 --> 00:11:49.399 constantly. He agonizes over it. He actually 00:11:49.399 --> 00:11:52.360 prepares to do it at one point. He prepares to 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:55.440 asphyxiate Crazy 8 with a plastic bag. There 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:58.080 is this intense shot of him holding the bag, 00:11:58.220 --> 00:12:00.559 breathing heavily, really trying to psych himself 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:02.799 up. The irony of the title comes back again. 00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:05.350 Cats in the Bag. He's literally holding the bag. 00:12:05.490 --> 00:12:07.409 But he stops. He just can't go through with it. 00:12:07.450 --> 00:12:09.470 And instead of violence, the pendulum swings 00:12:09.470 --> 00:12:12.590 wildly to guilt. He starts actively taking care 00:12:12.590 --> 00:12:15.110 of him. It's bizarre to watch, right? He's keeping 00:12:15.110 --> 00:12:17.629 this guy a prisoner, chained to a pole, but he's 00:12:17.629 --> 00:12:19.809 acting like his private nurse. Yeah. It's this 00:12:19.809 --> 00:12:22.429 weird cognitive dissonance. He brings him food. 00:12:22.450 --> 00:12:24.470 He makes him a sandwich and actually cuts off 00:12:24.470 --> 00:12:26.970 the crusts. The crusts. Right? He brings him 00:12:26.970 --> 00:12:29.590 water. He provides a bucket for a toilet. He 00:12:29.590 --> 00:12:32.049 even brings him a roll of toilet paper. It's 00:12:32.049 --> 00:12:34.250 like he is desperately trying to hold on to his 00:12:34.250 --> 00:12:36.529 own humanity while doing something completely 00:12:36.529 --> 00:12:39.750 monstrous. He wants to believe he is still a 00:12:39.750 --> 00:12:42.429 good guy, even though he is a man chained by 00:12:42.429 --> 00:12:44.970 the neck in a basement. There is that moment 00:12:44.970 --> 00:12:47.769 where Jesse comes back upstairs and asks, is 00:12:47.769 --> 00:12:50.929 he dead? And Walt lies to him. Or maybe he's 00:12:50.929 --> 00:12:53.460 just bargaining with himself. He promises Jesse 00:12:53.460 --> 00:12:56.320 he will do it tomorrow. He is just buying time. 00:12:56.759 --> 00:12:59.139 He is hoping, perhaps, that the problem will 00:12:59.139 --> 00:13:01.779 somehow magically solve itself or that he'll 00:13:01.779 --> 00:13:03.779 magically find another way out without having 00:13:03.779 --> 00:13:06.179 to pull the trigger. While Walt is playing nurse 00:13:06.179 --> 00:13:08.159 and struggling with his conscience in the basement, 00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:10.759 we have a whole other storm brewing on the home 00:13:10.759 --> 00:13:13.919 front. Skylar White. Skylar is such an important 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:17.460 character to analyze here. In so many crime dramas, 00:13:17.539 --> 00:13:19.860 especially from this specific era of television, 00:13:20.830 --> 00:13:23.509 The wife is just a prop. She's there to be nagging 00:13:23.509 --> 00:13:26.809 or completely oblivious. But Skylar is highly 00:13:26.809 --> 00:13:29.809 intelligent. She is intuitive. She absolutely 00:13:29.809 --> 00:13:32.110 knows something is off. Yeah. Walt is acting 00:13:32.110 --> 00:13:34.990 weird. He's disappearing at odd hours. He's taking 00:13:34.990 --> 00:13:37.370 strange phone calls and whispering. So what does 00:13:37.370 --> 00:13:38.950 she do? She doesn't just sit there waiting. She 00:13:38.950 --> 00:13:41.649 investigates. She goes into full detective mode. 00:13:42.169 --> 00:13:44.710 Jesse had called Walt's home phone earlier in 00:13:44.710 --> 00:13:47.009 the chaos. That was a huge mistake on his part. 00:13:47.370 --> 00:13:49.710 Skyler takes that number, which he tracked via 00:13:49.710 --> 00:13:53.149 star 69 or caller ID, and uses the Internet to 00:13:53.149 --> 00:13:55.289 trace it. Which, you know, in 2008 was a bit 00:13:55.289 --> 00:13:57.980 of a novelty for audiences, seeing that... reverse 00:13:57.980 --> 00:14:00.539 lookup search on a chunky desktop computer. It 00:14:00.539 --> 00:14:02.600 really places the show in a specific time. And 00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:04.960 she finds something. She discovers Jesse Pinkman's 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:06.879 social media website. I love that the source 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:08.879 mentions this specifically. It's probably a MySpace 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:11.200 page or something very similar. It really dates 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:13.340 the show in a charming way, but it also shows 00:14:13.340 --> 00:14:15.519 exactly how sloppy Jesse is. He's got his entire 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:18.580 life online. So she confronts Walt. She has the 00:14:18.580 --> 00:14:22.220 printed page. She has the name. Who is this Jesse 00:14:22.220 --> 00:14:24.679 Pinkman? And Walt is forced to come up with a 00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:26.899 lie right on the spot. And this is kind of the 00:14:26.899 --> 00:14:29.220 birth of the Walt. The Walt is a bad liar trope. 00:14:29.639 --> 00:14:32.480 Or maybe the Walt is a surprisingly good manipulator 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:34.200 trope, depending on how you look at the results. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:37.000 What is his cover story? He tells her that Jesse 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:40.200 sells him marijuana. Marijuana. It's such a beautifully 00:14:40.200 --> 00:14:43.659 small, manageable lie compared to the reality 00:14:43.659 --> 00:14:46.539 of I am manufacturing crystal meth and I have 00:14:46.539 --> 00:14:48.799 a hostage locked in a basement. It really is. 00:14:48.899 --> 00:14:50.879 And it works, at least partially. It explains 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:53.799 the sudden secrecy. It explains the erratic behavior. 00:14:54.120 --> 00:14:56.679 It even explains the association with a young 00:14:56.679 --> 00:14:59.980 burnout like Jesse. But it also puts Skylar on 00:14:59.980 --> 00:15:02.220 an immediate warpath because she doesn't just 00:15:02.220 --> 00:15:04.259 accept it and move on. She decides she needs 00:15:04.259 --> 00:15:07.080 to confront the source directly. This scene creates 00:15:07.080 --> 00:15:10.340 incredible tension. Skylar drives to Jesse's 00:15:10.340 --> 00:15:12.740 house, the very house where the bodies are currently 00:15:12.740 --> 00:15:15.679 located. It creates this classic Hitchcockian 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:18.919 suspense. We, the audience, know exactly what 00:15:18.919 --> 00:15:21.700 is inside that house. We know there's a dead 00:15:21.700 --> 00:15:24.820 body in the RV and a live hostage in the basement. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:28.039 Skyler does not know any of this. She confronts 00:15:28.039 --> 00:15:30.679 Jesse right outside on the driveway. And what 00:15:30.679 --> 00:15:33.179 is Jesse doing right at that exact moment? He 00:15:33.179 --> 00:15:35.919 is actively moving Emilio's body from the RV 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:38.419 into the house. Oh, my God. Yeah. Talk about 00:15:38.419 --> 00:15:41.559 jagged edges. She is angrily yelling at him about 00:15:41.559 --> 00:15:44.480 selling pot to her husband, and he is frantically 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:46.960 trying to hide a literal corpse. He's literally 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:49.500 shielding the body with his own body while she 00:15:49.500 --> 00:15:51.879 lectures him. She warns him off. She plays her 00:15:51.879 --> 00:15:54.080 ultimate trump card. She tells him point blank 00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:57.220 that her brother -in -law is a DEA agent. Yeah, 00:15:57.379 --> 00:16:00.210 which obviously terrifies Jesse. thinks the raid 00:16:00.210 --> 00:16:02.090 is imminent right then and there. But the incredible 00:16:02.090 --> 00:16:04.250 irony, and the source points this out specifically, 00:16:04.450 --> 00:16:06.789 is that Skyler does not notice the corpse. It's 00:16:06.789 --> 00:16:08.850 right there. She is so hyper -focused on the 00:16:08.850 --> 00:16:10.929 moral issue of the marijuana that she completely 00:16:10.929 --> 00:16:13.149 misses the capital crime happening right under 00:16:13.149 --> 00:16:16.389 her nose. It's a huge near miss. But it firmly 00:16:16.389 --> 00:16:19.190 establishes Skyler as a major force to be reckoned 00:16:19.190 --> 00:16:21.210 with. She isn't going to make this criminal life 00:16:21.210 --> 00:16:23.730 easy for Walt. She isn't a passive observer. 00:16:24.090 --> 00:16:26.870 She's an active participant in the unraveling 00:16:26.870 --> 00:16:29.190 of Walt's secrets. Not at all passive. And it 00:16:29.190 --> 00:16:31.629 reinforces that Walt's two worlds, the criminal 00:16:31.629 --> 00:16:34.129 underworld and the domestic family life, are 00:16:34.129 --> 00:16:37.210 on a massive collision course. Okay, so we have 00:16:37.210 --> 00:16:39.909 Walt stalling on the murder. We have Skylar closing 00:16:39.909 --> 00:16:42.509 in on the truth. But we really have to get to 00:16:42.509 --> 00:16:44.769 the main event of the episode, the disaster that 00:16:44.769 --> 00:16:47.309 completely defines this hour of television, the 00:16:47.309 --> 00:16:49.840 bathtub incident. This is where hard science 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:52.519 meets absolute incompetence. And it's where the 00:16:52.519 --> 00:16:54.960 show firmly proves it has a very strong stomach 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:57.820 for gore. So Walt, being the genius chemist, 00:16:57.879 --> 00:17:00.539 gave Jesse very specific instructions on how 00:17:00.539 --> 00:17:03.080 to dispose of Emilio's body. Let's really unpack 00:17:03.080 --> 00:17:05.099 the science here, because it sounds like dark 00:17:05.099 --> 00:17:08.380 magic, but it's pure chemistry. Right. Walt tells 00:17:08.380 --> 00:17:10.900 Jesse to use hydrofluoric acid. Now, this is 00:17:10.900 --> 00:17:13.880 a nasty, nasty chemical. It is highly corrosive. 00:17:13.900 --> 00:17:16.019 But he gives him a very crucial condition along 00:17:16.019 --> 00:17:18.680 with the acid. He tells him he must buy a bin 00:17:18.680 --> 00:17:22.259 made of polyethylene. Polyethylene, a very specific 00:17:22.259 --> 00:17:25.420 type of plastic. Why? Why does plastic survive 00:17:25.420 --> 00:17:28.500 this super acid when bone and metal don't? It's 00:17:28.500 --> 00:17:31.170 all about molecular structure. Hydrofluoric acid 00:17:31.170 --> 00:17:33.670 attacks things that contain silicon, like glass 00:17:33.670 --> 00:17:37.910 or ceramic, and it attacks many metals. But polyethylene 00:17:37.910 --> 00:17:40.950 consists of these really long chains of carbon 00:17:40.950 --> 00:17:43.950 and hydrogen atoms that are incredibly stable 00:17:43.950 --> 00:17:47.309 and nonpolar. The acid essentially cannot grab 00:17:47.309 --> 00:17:49.349 onto the molecules to break them apart, so it 00:17:49.349 --> 00:17:51.089 just sits there harmlessly. So the plastic is 00:17:51.089 --> 00:17:53.690 the perfect shield. But Jesse... Poor impatient 00:17:53.690 --> 00:17:56.549 Jesse. He goes shopping. He tries to find this 00:17:56.549 --> 00:17:59.089 specific bin. But he fails. He goes to the local 00:17:59.089 --> 00:18:01.190 hardware store and he just can't find a plastic 00:18:01.190 --> 00:18:04.059 bin big enough to fit a fully grown man. And 00:18:04.059 --> 00:18:06.319 Jesse, being Jesse, he gets deeply frustrated. 00:18:06.500 --> 00:18:08.220 He just wants this horrific chore over with. 00:18:08.359 --> 00:18:10.640 So he makes a massive assumption. He looks around 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:12.740 and assumes, hey, I have a perfectly good bathtub 00:18:12.740 --> 00:18:14.880 upstairs. It's big. It's heavy. It's ceramic. 00:18:15.059 --> 00:18:17.420 It's tough. I take baths in it all the time. 00:18:17.480 --> 00:18:19.539 Why not just use that? It is a fatal assumption. 00:18:19.819 --> 00:18:22.559 He drags the body all the way upstairs. He puts 00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:24.960 it in the tub. He pours in the gallons of acid. 00:18:25.299 --> 00:18:28.039 And then he just waits. And we, the audience, 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:30.240 if we know anything about basic chemistry, or 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:32.599 honestly, if we just trust Walt's absolute panic. 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:35.279 When he finds out what Jesse did, we know this 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:38.019 is going to go spectacularly wrong. The visual 00:18:38.019 --> 00:18:41.799 payoff here is truly iconic television. We are 00:18:41.799 --> 00:18:44.160 downstairs with Walt. He's standing in the hallway 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:46.960 drinking coffee, just trying to ignore the horror 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:49.740 of his current life. And suddenly the ceiling 00:18:49.740 --> 00:18:52.920 above him starts to groan. There is this incredibly 00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:56.190 ominous creaking sound. And then. Crash. The 00:18:56.190 --> 00:18:58.890 entire ceiling collapses. The heavy bathtub falls 00:18:58.890 --> 00:19:00.809 straight through the weakened floorboards. And 00:19:00.809 --> 00:19:02.869 it's not just the tub falling. It's the horrific 00:19:02.869 --> 00:19:05.589 contents of the tub. The source material describes 00:19:05.589 --> 00:19:09.170 it vividly as Amelia's liquefied remains completely 00:19:09.170 --> 00:19:11.789 spilling onto the hallway below. It's red. It's 00:19:11.789 --> 00:19:14.170 sludge -like. There are visceral chunks. It's 00:19:14.170 --> 00:19:16.589 a straight -up horror movie scene. It is grotesque. 00:19:16.630 --> 00:19:18.509 It is absolutely revolting to watch. But it's 00:19:18.509 --> 00:19:21.089 also, in a very dark, twisted way, kind of funny. 00:19:21.369 --> 00:19:23.990 Because it's such a spectacular, preventable 00:19:23.990 --> 00:19:27.000 failure. It really is. And it perfectly illustrates 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:29.480 the fundamental difference between theory and 00:19:29.480 --> 00:19:32.500 practice, or, more accurately, between Walt and 00:19:32.500 --> 00:19:35.980 Jesse. Walt knew the exact theory. Hydrofluoric 00:19:35.980 --> 00:19:38.839 acid will dissolve many things, but not polyethylene. 00:19:39.400 --> 00:19:41.920 Jesse completely ignored the theory and ended 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:44.920 up with a hallway full of human goo. Walt's reaction 00:19:44.920 --> 00:19:48.339 to this is just, it's pure exasperation. He's 00:19:48.339 --> 00:19:50.200 not even screaming at this point. He isn't vomiting 00:19:50.200 --> 00:19:53.400 like you'd expect. He's just... deeply, profoundly 00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:56.299 disappointed. He looks at the massive mess and 00:19:56.299 --> 00:19:58.059 just delivers that line about the chemistry. 00:19:58.200 --> 00:19:59.680 It's a teaching moment straight from hell. He 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:01.940 looks at Jesse amidst all this horrific carnage 00:20:01.940 --> 00:20:04.480 and says calmly, hydrofluoric acid will dissolve 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:07.339 many things, but not polyethylene. It's like 00:20:07.339 --> 00:20:09.220 he's grading a failed high school test paper, 00:20:09.319 --> 00:20:11.299 but the test paper is a dissolved human being. 00:20:11.480 --> 00:20:13.619 I noticed in the sources we use for this deep 00:20:13.619 --> 00:20:16.599 dive, there is a, see, also links to Mythbusters. 00:20:16.740 --> 00:20:19.480 Did they actually test this specific scenario? 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:21.240 Because honestly, it looks almost too effective 00:20:21.240 --> 00:20:24.009 on the show. They absolutely did. In the 2013 00:20:24.009 --> 00:20:26.970 season, they did a dedicated Breaking Bad special. 00:20:27.190 --> 00:20:30.089 It was episode 206. They really wanted to see 00:20:30.089 --> 00:20:32.250 if hydrofluoric acid would actually eat through 00:20:32.250 --> 00:20:34.789 a ceramic bathtub and the wooden floorboards 00:20:34.789 --> 00:20:37.670 like that. What were the results? Could it happen 00:20:37.670 --> 00:20:39.930 in real life? Could we actually replicate this 00:20:39.930 --> 00:20:43.569 disaster? Well, without completely spoiling the 00:20:43.569 --> 00:20:45.730 whole Mythbusters episode for you, let's just 00:20:45.730 --> 00:20:47.869 say that Breaking Bad took some pretty heavy 00:20:47.869 --> 00:20:50.069 creative liberties for the sake of the visual 00:20:50.069 --> 00:20:53.660 impact. The acid is incredibly corrosive, yes, 00:20:53.859 --> 00:20:56.799 but it takes a very long time. It wouldn't eat 00:20:56.799 --> 00:20:58.839 through a heavy cast iron tub and a thick wooden 00:20:58.839 --> 00:21:01.140 floor that quickly or that dramatically. So it 00:21:01.140 --> 00:21:03.039 was definitely exaggerated for the drama of TV. 00:21:03.259 --> 00:21:05.960 Definitely. But the core concept, the idea that 00:21:05.960 --> 00:21:07.839 different materials react very differently to 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:10.619 specific acids, that is entirely sound science. 00:21:10.819 --> 00:21:13.000 Yeah. Honestly, the thematic point is what truly 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:15.160 matters here. Right. It's the visual metaphor 00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:17.680 that matters. Yeah. It perfectly symbolizes the 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:20.069 complete and utter collapse of their plan. The 00:21:20.069 --> 00:21:22.450 cat is definitely not in the bag. The cat is 00:21:22.450 --> 00:21:25.029 melted all over the hallway floor. Precisely. 00:21:25.109 --> 00:21:28.509 It is the physical, tangible manifestation of 00:21:28.509 --> 00:21:32.609 their terrible situation. A messy, highly toxic 00:21:32.609 --> 00:21:35.569 disaster that has literally destroyed the foundation 00:21:35.569 --> 00:21:38.670 of the house. They have quite literally melted 00:21:38.670 --> 00:21:41.490 a hole in the floor of their one supposed sanctuary. 00:21:41.930 --> 00:21:43.690 Now, I want to pivot a bit to the production 00:21:43.690 --> 00:21:46.190 side of things, because as intentionally messy 00:21:46.190 --> 00:21:48.910 as the plot is, the actual production of this 00:21:48.910 --> 00:21:51.769 episode was incredibly tight. But you mentioned 00:21:51.769 --> 00:21:53.769 way earlier that Crazy 8 wasn't actually supposed 00:21:53.769 --> 00:21:56.269 to be here. This is a truly fascinating behind 00:21:56.269 --> 00:21:58.190 -the -scenes detail. In the original outline 00:21:58.190 --> 00:22:00.769 for the show, Crazy 8 and his cousin Emilio were 00:22:00.769 --> 00:22:03.670 supposed to die much, much earlier. The original 00:22:03.670 --> 00:22:05.650 plan was likely for both of them to just die 00:22:05.650 --> 00:22:08.089 in the pilot or immediately after. The whole 00:22:08.089 --> 00:22:10.470 hostage in the basement arc wasn't the main plan 00:22:10.470 --> 00:22:13.009 at all. So why did they decide to keep him alive? 00:22:13.390 --> 00:22:15.990 Why force Walt to deal with this incredibly tense 00:22:15.990 --> 00:22:18.710 hostage situation for multiple episodes? It was 00:22:18.710 --> 00:22:21.130 entirely because of the actor, Max Arseniega. 00:22:21.230 --> 00:22:24.349 Really? Just based on his performance? Yes. The 00:22:24.349 --> 00:22:26.490 producers watched his performance during the 00:22:26.490 --> 00:22:28.710 filming of the pilot. They saw what he did with 00:22:28.710 --> 00:22:31.089 the character, the genuine menace, but also the 00:22:31.089 --> 00:22:33.529 underlying humanity he brought to it. And they 00:22:33.529 --> 00:22:35.700 just loved it. That's so cool to hear. So they 00:22:35.700 --> 00:22:38.079 literally changed the trajectory of the story 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:40.140 because the actor was just too good to kill off 00:22:40.140 --> 00:22:42.599 yet. They actively begged Vince Gilligan to let 00:22:42.599 --> 00:22:45.400 him stay longer. And think about how profoundly 00:22:45.400 --> 00:22:48.039 that one production decision changed the entire 00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:51.640 show. If Crazy 8 dies immediately in the RV, 00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:54.579 we completely lose this entire episode of intense 00:22:54.579 --> 00:22:58.099 moral struggle. We lose all those quiet, tense 00:22:58.099 --> 00:23:00.359 conversations in the basement that happen later. 00:23:00.579 --> 00:23:04.289 We lose the slow, agonizing belief. transformation 00:23:04.289 --> 00:23:07.049 of Walt it definitely slows down the pacing of 00:23:07.049 --> 00:23:10.190 the season but in a very necessary good way it 00:23:10.190 --> 00:23:13.210 forces the character development to happen It 00:23:13.210 --> 00:23:16.450 forces Walt to confront the actual living individual 00:23:16.450 --> 00:23:18.369 he is planning on killing. It's not just some 00:23:18.369 --> 00:23:21.029 faceless bad guy in a shootout. It's a real person 00:23:21.029 --> 00:23:23.390 he has to talk to and feed sandwiches to. That 00:23:23.390 --> 00:23:26.049 incredible emotional depth only exists because 00:23:26.049 --> 00:23:28.269 they realized they needed to keep Max Arseniga 00:23:28.269 --> 00:23:30.829 around. It really is a testament to being totally 00:23:30.829 --> 00:23:33.650 adaptable in the creative process. Sometimes 00:23:33.650 --> 00:23:36.589 the absolute best storylines come from deviating 00:23:36.589 --> 00:23:40.109 completely from the original outline. So looking 00:23:40.109 --> 00:23:42.450 at where this specific episode stands in the 00:23:42.450 --> 00:23:45.529 pantheon of Breaking Bad episodes, we have some 00:23:45.529 --> 00:23:47.930 critical rankings here in the sources. We do. 00:23:48.049 --> 00:23:50.950 The Ringer, in their massive definitive ranking 00:23:50.950 --> 00:23:53.869 back in 2019, they put Cats in the Bag at number 00:23:53.869 --> 00:23:57.450 31 out of the 62 total episodes. Bang in the 00:23:57.450 --> 00:24:00.170 middle. Exactly halfway. And Vulture, they ranked 00:24:00.170 --> 00:24:02.670 at 33rd overall. That feels incredibly right, 00:24:02.730 --> 00:24:05.029 doesn't it? It's not the massive explosive finale. 00:24:05.089 --> 00:24:07.710 It's not Ozymandias, which everyone always points 00:24:07.710 --> 00:24:10.190 to as the best episode of television ever. But 00:24:10.190 --> 00:24:13.029 it is the crucial structural beam that holds 00:24:13.029 --> 00:24:15.329 the entire house up. It's what you'd call a workhorse 00:24:15.329 --> 00:24:17.710 episode. It does all the heavy emotional lifting 00:24:17.710 --> 00:24:20.250 of moving the characters from accidental criminals 00:24:20.250 --> 00:24:22.549 to people actively dealing with a life of crime. 00:24:22.849 --> 00:24:24.970 You simply cannot have the massive emotional 00:24:24.970 --> 00:24:27.569 highs of the later seasons without this foundational 00:24:27.569 --> 00:24:30.549 grounding work. It firmly establishes the real 00:24:30.549 --> 00:24:32.829 stakes. It establishes that actions have consequences, 00:24:33.190 --> 00:24:36.730 deeply messy, highly acidic consequences. Before 00:24:36.730 --> 00:24:38.970 we wrap up the plot analysis completely, there 00:24:38.970 --> 00:24:41.670 is one last loose end the outline mentions that 00:24:41.670 --> 00:24:43.809 we need to touch on. It's a very small detail, 00:24:43.990 --> 00:24:47.829 but it feels incredibly ominous. The scene out 00:24:47.829 --> 00:24:51.059 in the desert. Right. While Walt and Jesse are 00:24:51.059 --> 00:24:53.559 actively dealing with the horrific bathtub disaster 00:24:53.559 --> 00:24:56.579 back at the house, the camera suddenly cuts away 00:24:56.579 --> 00:24:59.099 back to the desert where they cooked the meth. 00:24:59.319 --> 00:25:03.740 It's this beautiful, wide, quiet shot. We see 00:25:03.740 --> 00:25:05.880 two young Native American children just playing 00:25:05.880 --> 00:25:08.339 in the scrubland. They're running around, totally 00:25:08.339 --> 00:25:10.960 innocent. And then they find something half buried 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:14.039 in the dirt. they find the gas mask walt's specific 00:25:14.039 --> 00:25:16.640 gas mask from the pilot the one he threw away 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:18.200 in a panic when he thought the cops were coming 00:25:18.200 --> 00:25:20.200 the young girl picks it up and actually puts 00:25:20.200 --> 00:25:23.140 it on her face it is a genuinely chilling visual 00:25:23.140 --> 00:25:26.200 image the stark symbol of industrial necessity 00:25:26.200 --> 00:25:29.839 and crime is now literally a toy for an innocent 00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:32.660 child this is just classic vince gilligan foreshadowing 00:25:32.660 --> 00:25:34.819 yeah walt and jesse think they're cleaning up 00:25:34.819 --> 00:25:36.579 they're melting bodies they're scrubbing floors 00:25:36.579 --> 00:25:39.420 but they left a massive glaring piece of physical 00:25:39.420 --> 00:25:42.339 evidence just sitting out in the It perfectly 00:25:42.339 --> 00:25:44.799 reinforces the core theme of the show. You can 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:47.359 never truly clean up everything. There is always 00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:49.599 a trace left behind. There is always a loose 00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:51.759 thread that can completely unravel the whole 00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:54.500 sweater. The desert remembers exactly what happened 00:25:54.500 --> 00:25:56.480 out there. So what does this all mean for us? 00:25:56.839 --> 00:25:59.619 Let's zoom out to the big picture. We have a 00:25:59.619 --> 00:26:02.640 title that openly mocks the very idea of a clean 00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:06.099 plan. We have a supposed protagonist who is too 00:26:06.099 --> 00:26:08.140 paralyzed to actually kill to protect himself 00:26:08.140 --> 00:26:11.500 and a sidekick who flunks basic chemistry class 00:26:11.500 --> 00:26:14.720 with genuinely disastrous results. And we have 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:17.079 the crucial introduction of Skylar as a highly 00:26:17.079 --> 00:26:19.700 formidable active investigator in her own right. 00:26:19.779 --> 00:26:22.299 Those jagged edges we talked about earlier really 00:26:22.299 --> 00:26:25.140 are the defining theme here. Walt and Jesse do 00:26:25.140 --> 00:26:27.650 not fit together smoothly. And the criminal life 00:26:27.650 --> 00:26:29.990 definitely doesn't fit Walt smoothly yet. And 00:26:29.990 --> 00:26:32.230 yet, despite all of that, they are completely 00:26:32.230 --> 00:26:34.549 stuck together. The chemistry, both the literal 00:26:34.549 --> 00:26:37.289 science and their interpersonal dynamic, it forces 00:26:37.289 --> 00:26:39.329 them to remain locked in this reaction. They 00:26:39.329 --> 00:26:41.910 are deeply bonded by the mutual trauma of what 00:26:41.910 --> 00:26:44.049 they are failing to do properly. I want to bring 00:26:44.049 --> 00:26:45.869 it all back to that sweet smell of success quote 00:26:45.869 --> 00:26:48.670 to close us out today. The quote was, tonight, 00:26:48.869 --> 00:26:51.750 before you go to bed. The cat's in the bag and 00:26:51.750 --> 00:26:53.829 the bag's in the river. Think about exactly how 00:26:53.829 --> 00:26:56.589 this episode ends. Do they go to bed with a neatly 00:26:56.589 --> 00:26:59.390 resolved plan? Not even close. It's a nightmare. 00:26:59.630 --> 00:27:02.690 No. They go to bed with a giant gaping hole in 00:27:02.690 --> 00:27:04.970 the second floor ceiling. A hallway completely 00:27:04.970 --> 00:27:08.490 full of toxic biological sludge. A live hostage 00:27:08.490 --> 00:27:10.609 still chained by the neck in the basement who 00:27:10.609 --> 00:27:12.990 Walt explicitly promised to kill but didn't. 00:27:13.190 --> 00:27:16.910 And the DEA, via Skyler's brother -in -law, is 00:27:16.910 --> 00:27:19.809 completely unknowingly sniffing around the outer... 00:27:19.849 --> 00:27:22.730 perimeter of their lives. It really asks a big 00:27:22.730 --> 00:27:25.369 provocative question for you listening. Is planning 00:27:25.369 --> 00:27:27.650 even remotely possible for these two characters? 00:27:27.789 --> 00:27:29.829 Or is this entire show just going to be them 00:27:29.829 --> 00:27:32.809 wildly reacting to the disastrous messes they 00:27:32.809 --> 00:27:35.109 constantly create? I think we are clearly seeing 00:27:35.109 --> 00:27:37.009 that they are purely reactive at this stage. 00:27:37.089 --> 00:27:39.470 They are frantically surfing a massive wave of 00:27:39.470 --> 00:27:41.509 chaos and they really haven't learned how to 00:27:41.509 --> 00:27:43.490 swim yet. They are just desperately trying to 00:27:43.490 --> 00:27:45.589 keep their heads above the acid. A wave of chaos 00:27:45.589 --> 00:27:49.119 and hydrofluoric acid. Not a great mix. Definitely 00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:53.180 not. Highly discouraged. Well, that is our deep 00:27:53.180 --> 00:27:57.380 dive into Cats in the Bag. An incredibly messy, 00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:00.700 absolutely brilliant, truly horrifying episode 00:28:00.700 --> 00:28:03.799 that proved Breaking Bad was never gonna be afraid 00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:06.460 to slow down and really look at the gore. And 00:28:06.460 --> 00:28:08.920 it definitively proved that if you are ever going 00:28:08.920 --> 00:28:11.759 to dissolve a body, you really need to listen 00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:14.039 to your high school chemistry teacher. Always 00:28:14.039 --> 00:28:16.019 double check for the polyethylene stamp on the 00:28:16.019 --> 00:28:18.880 bottom of the bin. Just good, solid life advice 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:21.000 right there. Essential. Thanks for listening 00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:23.299 to The Deep Dive. We will catch you on the next 00:28:23.299 --> 00:28:25.380 one, where we might just finally find out what 00:28:25.380 --> 00:28:27.339 happens to the actual cat in the bag. Or the 00:28:27.339 --> 00:28:29.799 bag in the river. Take care, everyone. Bye -bye.