WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.700 Hello and welcome back to the Deep Dive. I have 00:00:02.700 --> 00:00:04.599 to be honest with you right out of the gate here. 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:08.839 Today feels a little different. Yeah, a completely 00:00:08.839 --> 00:00:11.660 different vibe today. It really is. Because usually 00:00:11.660 --> 00:00:14.779 we're tackling these massive, you know, explosive 00:00:14.779 --> 00:00:17.760 topics where the stakes are just immediately 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:21.039 obvious to you, like world -ending catastrophes 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:23.480 or revolutionary breakthroughs. Well, the high 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:28.030 -octane stuff. Exactly. But today... We are zooming 00:00:28.030 --> 00:00:30.969 way in like a microscope slide. We're looking 00:00:30.969 --> 00:00:33.789 at a very specific slice of television history 00:00:33.789 --> 00:00:35.950 that honestly, a lot of people might actually 00:00:35.950 --> 00:00:38.090 just skip over if they were doing a rewatch. 00:00:38.189 --> 00:00:40.310 Oh, for sure. It's it's the classic vegetable 00:00:40.310 --> 00:00:42.250 episode. The vegetable episode. You know, you 00:00:42.250 --> 00:00:44.409 need it for the nutrition. Right. But it isn't 00:00:44.409 --> 00:00:45.770 necessarily the dessert you're looking for. That 00:00:45.770 --> 00:00:47.329 is the perfect way to put it. We were talking 00:00:47.329 --> 00:00:49.630 about Breaking Bad season one, episode four. 00:00:49.689 --> 00:00:53.890 The title is Cancer Man. And here's the thing. 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:56.100 If you look at the rankings, if you look at the 00:00:56.100 --> 00:00:59.240 fan lists, this episode is often sitting way, 00:00:59.259 --> 00:01:01.960 way down at the bottom. Really far down. Yeah. 00:01:02.299 --> 00:01:05.799 Vulture has it ranked 56th out of 62 total episodes. 00:01:06.019 --> 00:01:08.900 So it's sitting there in the map pile for a lot 00:01:08.900 --> 00:01:11.299 of people out there. Which is, frankly, a tragedy 00:01:11.299 --> 00:01:13.840 in itself. Because without this episode, the 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:15.579 rest of the show just doesn't work. It falls 00:01:15.579 --> 00:01:18.760 apart. And that is our mission for today. We 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:21.340 aren't here to just recap the plot for you. You're 00:01:21.340 --> 00:01:24.099 listening right now. You know what happens. You 00:01:24.099 --> 00:01:26.819 know Walt blows up a car. You know Jesse goes 00:01:26.819 --> 00:01:29.480 home. Right. You've seen it. We are here to argue 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:33.079 that this so -called boring bridge episode is 00:01:33.079 --> 00:01:35.920 actually the psychological pivot point for the 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:38.260 entire series. Absolutely. We're going to pull 00:01:38.260 --> 00:01:40.939 apart the chemistry, literally the actual science 00:01:40.939 --> 00:01:43.260 of the meth, and we're going to dissect the family 00:01:43.260 --> 00:01:45.640 dynamics that are honestly way more explosive 00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:47.780 than any fulminated mercury. And we are definitely 00:01:47.780 --> 00:01:50.269 going to talk about a squeegee. Oh, we are absolutely 00:01:50.269 --> 00:01:52.049 going to talk about the tactical application 00:01:52.049 --> 00:01:54.450 of a squeegee. Can't wait for that. But before 00:01:54.450 --> 00:01:56.769 we get to the pyrotechnics, let's just set the 00:01:56.769 --> 00:01:58.870 stage a bit. We're looking at sources from the 00:01:58.870 --> 00:02:01.290 Wikipedia archives today, along with production 00:02:01.290 --> 00:02:04.250 notes and critical reviews. This episode originally 00:02:04.250 --> 00:02:07.969 aired on February 17, 2008. And context is really 00:02:07.969 --> 00:02:10.900 key here. 2008. The writers' guild strike was 00:02:10.900 --> 00:02:12.939 looming over everything in Hollywood at this 00:02:12.939 --> 00:02:14.780 time. Right, the big strike. Yeah, shows were 00:02:14.780 --> 00:02:17.860 getting cut short. Tension was incredibly high 00:02:17.860 --> 00:02:20.319 across the industry. And into this atmosphere 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:22.379 drops an episode written by the creator himself, 00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:25.340 Vince Gilligan. And directed by Jim McKay. Exactly. 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:27.840 And whenever the creator picks up the pen, you 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:29.659 really have to pay attention. Because it means 00:02:29.659 --> 00:02:31.719 there's something in the DNA of the episode that 00:02:31.719 --> 00:02:33.840 they wanted to handle personally. Precisely. 00:02:33.860 --> 00:02:36.319 And that starts right with the title. Cancer 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:38.139 man. Now, on the surface, that seems a little 00:02:38.139 --> 00:02:41.060 lazy, right? Like, Walt has cancer, he's the 00:02:41.060 --> 00:02:44.699 cancer man. Boom. Done. But you have a theory 00:02:44.699 --> 00:02:46.919 about this that I found fascinating, that this 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:49.460 is actually a massive Easter egg. Yeah, it's 00:02:49.460 --> 00:02:52.400 a bit more than a theory, actually. It's a direct 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:55.620 line to Gilligan's resume. Before Breaking Bad, 00:02:55.939 --> 00:02:58.699 Vince Gilligan cut his teeth as a writer and 00:02:58.699 --> 00:03:01.800 producer on The X -Files. Which is legendary 00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:03.840 in its own right. Oh, absolutely. And if you 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:07.120 know the X -Files, you know the ultimate villain 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:09.849 of that show. The shadowy figure pulling all 00:03:09.849 --> 00:03:11.689 the strings behind the scenes. The cigarette 00:03:11.689 --> 00:03:14.389 smoking man. Right. But in the show, the main 00:03:14.389 --> 00:03:17.090 character, Mulder, he often referred to him derisively 00:03:17.090 --> 00:03:21.650 as Cancer Man. Oh, wow. Yeah. So by naming this 00:03:21.650 --> 00:03:23.689 episode Cancer Man, Gilligan is doing something 00:03:23.689 --> 00:03:26.969 very, very specific here. He is invoking a villain. 00:03:27.229 --> 00:03:29.389 Okay, but let me play devil's advocate for a 00:03:29.389 --> 00:03:31.849 second. Is that just Gilligan being cute? Like, 00:03:31.909 --> 00:03:33.729 hey, remember I worked on that other cool show? 00:03:33.930 --> 00:03:35.870 Or does it actually change how we're supposed 00:03:35.870 --> 00:03:39.180 to see? Walt because I mean at this point the 00:03:39.180 --> 00:03:41.759 show Walt is still our protagonist. He's the 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:44.430 victim of this terrible disease And that's exactly 00:03:44.430 --> 00:03:46.569 where the friction is. By using that specific 00:03:46.569 --> 00:03:49.310 title, Gilligan is subtly recasting Walt right 00:03:49.310 --> 00:03:52.150 in front of us. In the X -Files, the cancer man 00:03:52.150 --> 00:03:54.729 was defined by his vice, right? By the smoke 00:03:54.729 --> 00:03:57.409 that constantly surrounded him. Here, Walt is 00:03:57.409 --> 00:04:00.090 being defined by his illness. But it suggests 00:04:00.090 --> 00:04:02.069 that the illness is actually turning him into 00:04:02.069 --> 00:04:05.330 an antagonist. It's framing the cancer not just 00:04:05.330 --> 00:04:07.469 as a biological reality he has to deal with, 00:04:07.590 --> 00:04:10.689 but almost as a villainous identity. So he's 00:04:10.689 --> 00:04:13.930 not just a man with cancer anymore. No. He is 00:04:13.930 --> 00:04:16.850 becoming the cancer man. It's a fundamental identity 00:04:16.850 --> 00:04:19.540 shift. So the title is basically saying, hey, 00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:21.939 this is the exact moments the bad guy is born. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:24.660 Exactly. It's not the chemistry teacher episode. 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:28.060 It's Cancer Man. The humanity is slowly being 00:04:28.060 --> 00:04:30.360 stripped away by the diagnosis, and what's replacing 00:04:30.360 --> 00:04:33.459 it is something much colder. Man, that completely 00:04:33.459 --> 00:04:36.319 changes how you watch it. And speaking of cold, 00:04:36.399 --> 00:04:37.699 let's shift gears and talk about the law for 00:04:37.699 --> 00:04:40.879 a second. While Walt is having this quiet identity 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:43.959 crisis, we cut over to the DEA office. Hank Schreier, 00:04:44.060 --> 00:04:47.040 the man, the myth. The loudmouth. The one and 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:49.240 only. He's holding this briefing about the disappearance 00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:51.899 of Emilio Kriama and Crazy 8. And this whole 00:04:51.899 --> 00:04:54.319 scene is just a masterclass in dramatic irony. 00:04:54.579 --> 00:04:56.639 We, the audience, we know exactly where those 00:04:56.639 --> 00:04:58.740 two are. Yeah. Emilio is currently dissolved 00:04:58.740 --> 00:05:01.980 in a bathtub in Jesse's hallway. Or, well, was. 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:05.879 Yeah, mostly. And Crazy 8 has just been strangled 00:05:05.879 --> 00:05:08.920 in a basement with a bike lock. But Hank is standing 00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:10.839 there looking at a whiteboard full of question 00:05:10.839 --> 00:05:13.430 marks. But there is a detail in this briefing 00:05:13.430 --> 00:05:15.589 that I think a lot of people completely miss 00:05:15.589 --> 00:05:18.269 on the first watch. And it completely changes 00:05:18.269 --> 00:05:20.410 the morality of what Walt just did in the previous 00:05:20.410 --> 00:05:23.569 episode. Hank reveals that Crazy 8 wasn't just 00:05:23.569 --> 00:05:26.149 a mid -level dealer. Nope. He was an informant. 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:29.720 Crazy 8 was actively snitching to the DEA. This 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:31.720 blows my mind every single time I think about 00:05:31.720 --> 00:05:34.339 it. Walt didn't just kill a drug dealer in self 00:05:34.339 --> 00:05:36.660 -defense. He killed a guy who was technically 00:05:36.660 --> 00:05:38.980 an asset for the federal government. Which creates 00:05:38.980 --> 00:05:42.040 a really messy moral gray area. I mean, if Crazy 00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:43.800 8 was an informant, does that make him a good 00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:47.500 guy? Not really. No, of course not. But it means 00:05:47.500 --> 00:05:49.819 Walt is obstructing a federal investigation in 00:05:49.819 --> 00:05:52.240 a way he doesn't even comprehend yet. But honestly, 00:05:52.379 --> 00:05:54.500 the real meat of this scene isn't the informant 00:05:54.500 --> 00:05:57.920 reveal. It's the chemistry. Yes, the blue meth, 00:05:58.180 --> 00:06:00.540 which actually isn't even blue yet at this point 00:06:00.540 --> 00:06:03.459 in the show, it's clear. But Hank drops this 00:06:03.459 --> 00:06:05.879 statistic that basically haunts the entire rest 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:08.660 of the series. He says the lab results came back 00:06:08.660 --> 00:06:11.060 on the product they found in Emilio's car, and 00:06:11.060 --> 00:06:14.839 it is 99 .1 % pure. And to the average viewer 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:16.699 at home, that just sounds like a high grade, 00:06:16.839 --> 00:06:19.459 like getting an A -plus on a spelling test. Right, 00:06:19.459 --> 00:06:21.500 like, oh, he did a really good job. Exactly. 00:06:22.360 --> 00:06:24.519 But we need to pause here and explain why Hank 00:06:24.519 --> 00:06:27.079 literally stops the meeting over this specific 00:06:27.079 --> 00:06:29.079 number. Because in the world of clandestine chemistry, 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:32.980 99 .1 % shouldn't exist. Okay, please break this 00:06:32.980 --> 00:06:35.180 down for me because I barely passed high school 00:06:35.180 --> 00:06:39.079 chemistry. Why is 99 .1 % so radically different 00:06:39.079 --> 00:06:42.720 from, say, 96 %? I mean, it's just a 3 % difference. 00:06:42.839 --> 00:06:44.720 It is the difference between a go -kart and a 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:47.180 Formula One race car. It really is. You have 00:06:47.180 --> 00:06:49.360 to understand this concept called chirality. 00:06:49.500 --> 00:06:52.189 Chirality. Yes. Methamphetamine is... is a chiral 00:06:52.189 --> 00:06:54.529 molecule. That means it has two forms that are 00:06:54.529 --> 00:06:56.949 exact mirror images of each other. They're called 00:06:56.949 --> 00:06:59.610 enantiomers. Think of your hands. Your left hand 00:06:59.610 --> 00:07:01.410 and your right hand look the same, right? But 00:07:01.410 --> 00:07:04.110 you can't put a left hand perfectly onto your 00:07:04.110 --> 00:07:06.189 right hand. They don't overlap perfectly. I'm 00:07:06.189 --> 00:07:08.519 with you. Left hand, right hand. Makes sense. 00:07:08.680 --> 00:07:12.420 So in meth, one hand, the D methamphetamine is 00:07:12.420 --> 00:07:14.500 the stuff that actually interacts with your brain 00:07:14.500 --> 00:07:16.220 and gets you high. And the other hand? The other 00:07:16.220 --> 00:07:19.240 hand, the L methamphetamine is basically useless 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:22.699 junk. I mean, it's used legally in over -the 00:07:22.699 --> 00:07:24.879 -counter nasal inhalers. It just makes your heart 00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:27.379 race a bit and clears your sinuses. It doesn't 00:07:27.379 --> 00:07:30.120 give you any euphoria at all. So a normal street 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:32.060 cook, usually they're just making a mix of both 00:07:32.060 --> 00:07:35.920 hands. Exactly. When you cook with the pseudoephedrine 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:38.259 method, or especially the PDP method they use 00:07:38.259 --> 00:07:40.740 later in the show, you usually end up with what's 00:07:40.740 --> 00:07:43.500 called a racemic mixture. It's basically 50 -50, 00:07:43.639 --> 00:07:45.560 half the good stuff, half the junk. Oh, I see. 00:07:45.660 --> 00:07:47.740 So the active purity essentially tops out at 00:07:47.740 --> 00:07:50.800 50 % unless you are an incredibly skilled chemist. 00:07:50.939 --> 00:07:54.459 So for Hank to see 99 .1 % on that lag report. 00:07:54.970 --> 00:07:57.269 It means the Cook didn't just mix chemicals in 00:07:57.269 --> 00:07:59.310 a bucket. It means they actively performed a 00:07:59.310 --> 00:08:02.410 chiral separation. They isolated the specific 00:08:02.410 --> 00:08:04.829 molecular structure they wanted, the demeth, 00:08:04.870 --> 00:08:07.990 and discarded the rest. Wow. And doing that requires 00:08:07.990 --> 00:08:10.769 industrial knowledge. It requires a level of 00:08:10.769 --> 00:08:12.810 precision and equipment that you just do not 00:08:12.810 --> 00:08:15.990 find in some guy's trailer park setup. That is 00:08:15.990 --> 00:08:18.889 exactly why Hank uses the word kingpin. He assumes 00:08:18.889 --> 00:08:21.209 it has to be a massive, well -funded organization. 00:08:21.569 --> 00:08:23.930 Right. He assumes it's a cartel super lab somewhere. 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:27.319 He literally cannot conceive that one desperate 00:08:27.319 --> 00:08:30.680 guy in his tighty whities in a beat up RV could 00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:33.039 achieve chiral purity. It completely breaks his 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:36.220 worldview. And that right there is Hank's fatal 00:08:36.220 --> 00:08:38.399 flaw, isn't it? He's looking for a monster. He's 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:41.519 looking for a cartel lord, a Scarface type. He 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:43.580 isn't looking for a quiet genius. He's looking 00:08:43.580 --> 00:08:46.019 for the wrong kind of monster entirely. And that 00:08:46.019 --> 00:08:49.120 blind spot is exactly what allows Walt to operate 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:51.720 right under his nose for so long. He's literally 00:08:51.720 --> 00:08:53.779 sitting at the family dinner table with him. 00:08:53.899 --> 00:08:56.769 It's a brilliant writing. And while Hank is out 00:08:56.769 --> 00:08:59.590 hunting this phantom kingpin, we get to see the 00:08:59.590 --> 00:09:03.049 actual street -level impact of that 99 .1 % product. 00:09:03.269 --> 00:09:05.970 We cut over to Jesse Pinkman. Right. He's hanging 00:09:05.970 --> 00:09:08.169 out with his entourage, Skinny Pete and Combo. 00:09:08.269 --> 00:09:10.629 Ah, the Greek chorus of the Albuquerque underworld. 00:09:10.809 --> 00:09:13.909 Exactly. And they are smoking Walt's product. 00:09:14.230 --> 00:09:16.490 And this is where the episode takes a really 00:09:16.490 --> 00:09:19.549 hard left turn into psychological horror. Because 00:09:19.549 --> 00:09:22.129 Jesse starts hallucinating. Yeah, and this is 00:09:22.129 --> 00:09:24.409 a direct consequence of that extreme purity we 00:09:24.409 --> 00:09:26.669 just talked about. This isn't a relaxed, mellow 00:09:26.669 --> 00:09:29.850 high. This is severe overstimulation of the nervous 00:09:29.850 --> 00:09:32.549 system. Jesse creeps up and looks out the peephole 00:09:32.549 --> 00:09:35.529 of his front door. And in reality, out on the 00:09:35.529 --> 00:09:37.610 porch, there are two Mormon missionaries standing 00:09:37.610 --> 00:09:41.120 there. White shirts, black ties, bicycles, literally 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:43.019 the least threatening human beings on the planet. 00:09:43.139 --> 00:09:45.059 But Jesse's brain is completely misfiring from 00:09:45.059 --> 00:09:47.179 the meth. He projects all of his own guilt and 00:09:47.179 --> 00:09:49.519 his severe paranoia onto them. He doesn't see 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:52.720 friendly Mormons. He sees armed bikers. He sees 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:55.220 cartel assassins coming to settle the score for 00:09:55.220 --> 00:09:58.159 the crazy eight and Emilio situation. It is such 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:01.519 a brilliant visual representation of a guilty 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:04.519 conscience. He literally sees monsters knocking 00:10:04.519 --> 00:10:07.580 at his door. And this overwhelming fear drives 00:10:07.580 --> 00:10:10.649 him. completely out of the house. He runs away. 00:10:10.769 --> 00:10:12.710 And this leads us to what I think is one of the 00:10:12.710 --> 00:10:14.750 most underrated segments of the entire first 00:10:14.750 --> 00:10:17.610 season, Jesse Pinkman, The Prodigal Son. It is 00:10:17.610 --> 00:10:20.450 so jarring, isn't it? Because we've spent the 00:10:20.450 --> 00:10:22.370 first three episodes in these gritty, dusty, 00:10:22.590 --> 00:10:25.730 super messy locations, the desert, the claustrophobic 00:10:25.730 --> 00:10:29.049 RV, Jesse's duplex with the literal acid stain 00:10:29.049 --> 00:10:31.309 melted through the ceiling, and then suddenly... 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:34.539 It's almost like a different show entirely. The 00:10:34.539 --> 00:10:36.580 silence. That's what really hit me when I was 00:10:36.580 --> 00:10:38.799 rewatching it for this. Jesse walks into his 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:41.120 parents' neighborhood and it is dead silent. 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:43.600 The lawns are perfectly manicured. The houses 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:46.600 are huge. It completely recontextualizes everything 00:10:46.600 --> 00:10:48.659 we thought we knew about Jesse up to this point. 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:50.240 If you're a first -time viewer, you probably 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:52.159 assume Jesse is just a street kid. You assume 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:54.379 he turned to dealing dregs because of poverty 00:10:54.379 --> 00:10:56.879 or maybe a broken home, abuse, something like 00:10:56.879 --> 00:11:00.100 that. But then he walks into this massive McMansion 00:11:00.100 --> 00:11:04.049 and you realize... Oh, he's not from the streets 00:11:04.049 --> 00:11:06.009 at all. Not even a little bit. He's a bored, 00:11:06.129 --> 00:11:09.309 affluent, suburban kid who broke bad out of pure 00:11:09.309 --> 00:11:12.370 apathy. He's a tourist. Exactly. He's a tourist 00:11:12.370 --> 00:11:15.009 in the criminal world. And we see him sneak into 00:11:15.009 --> 00:11:17.929 his pristine childhood bedroom. He falls asleep 00:11:17.929 --> 00:11:20.570 for a full day. It's a total regression. He's 00:11:20.570 --> 00:11:22.669 hiding from the terrifying adult world he just 00:11:22.669 --> 00:11:25.929 helped create. And then we meet the source of 00:11:25.929 --> 00:11:29.309 his trauma, I think. The golden child, Jake Pinkman. 00:11:29.389 --> 00:11:31.889 The little brother. Yeah. he plays the piccolo 00:11:31.889 --> 00:11:35.370 he gets straight a's he is essentially the repository 00:11:35.370 --> 00:11:38.490 for All of the parents' hopes that Jesse ended 00:11:38.490 --> 00:11:40.590 up disappointing. And that dinner scene they 00:11:40.590 --> 00:11:43.350 have is just excruciating to watch. The parents 00:11:43.350 --> 00:11:46.169 are polite, sure, but there is this massive wall 00:11:46.169 --> 00:11:48.750 of ice between them and Jesse. They have completely 00:11:48.750 --> 00:11:50.629 written him off. They clearly don't even want 00:11:50.629 --> 00:11:53.610 him sitting there. But Jesse tries so hard. That's 00:11:53.610 --> 00:11:56.149 what's sad. He really tries to bond with Jake. 00:11:56.330 --> 00:11:59.230 He tries to be the cool big brother giving advice. 00:11:59.750 --> 00:12:02.210 But then comes the twist. The housekeeper is 00:12:02.210 --> 00:12:04.789 cleaning, and she finds a joint. The fall guy 00:12:04.789 --> 00:12:08.559 twist? Yeah. It's a classic TV trope, but it 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:11.860 works so incredibly well here. The joint is found 00:12:11.860 --> 00:12:15.019 in Jesse's room. So naturally, the parents assume 00:12:15.019 --> 00:12:17.120 it's his. They are immediately ready to kick 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:19.820 him out again. Their mindset is just once a junkie, 00:12:19.820 --> 00:12:22.379 always a junkie. But we know it actually belongs 00:12:22.379 --> 00:12:25.620 to the perfect brother, Jake. Right. Now this 00:12:25.620 --> 00:12:28.600 is the crucial moment. Jesse is holding the joint. 00:12:28.970 --> 00:12:31.649 He looks at his parents. He looks over at Jake. 00:12:31.809 --> 00:12:34.309 He could completely destroy Jake's reputation 00:12:34.309 --> 00:12:36.610 right then and there. He could just point and 00:12:36.610 --> 00:12:40.070 say, look, your golden boy is getting high. It's 00:12:40.070 --> 00:12:43.289 his. It would be sweet revenge. It would totally 00:12:43.289 --> 00:12:45.110 vindicate him. But he doesn't do it. He takes 00:12:45.110 --> 00:12:47.370 the bullet. Why do you think that is? Is he just 00:12:47.370 --> 00:12:49.629 a glutton for punishment? I think it's a combination 00:12:49.629 --> 00:12:52.350 of two things. First, it's genuine love. Despite 00:12:52.350 --> 00:12:54.370 everything, he loves his little brother and he 00:12:54.370 --> 00:12:56.029 doesn't want him to fall into the exact same 00:12:56.029 --> 00:12:58.779 trap he did. He knows that if the parents turn 00:12:58.779 --> 00:13:00.679 all that intense pressure and disappointment 00:13:00.679 --> 00:13:03.580 onto Jake, Jake might actually rebel for real 00:13:03.580 --> 00:13:06.080 and ruin his life. That makes sense. But secondly, 00:13:06.220 --> 00:13:08.940 and maybe more tragically, I think Jesse has 00:13:08.940 --> 00:13:11.080 just accepted his role in the family dynamic. 00:13:11.419 --> 00:13:14.299 He is the villain in their story. It's actually 00:13:14.299 --> 00:13:16.879 easier for him to just be the bad guy they already 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:19.679 expect him to be rather than try and inevitably 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:22.519 fail to be the hero again. Man, that is heartbreaking. 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:25.299 It's easier to just wear the black hat. It really 00:13:25.299 --> 00:13:27.419 is. But then we get the button on the end of 00:13:27.419 --> 00:13:30.120 that scene. Jesse is outside, standing on the 00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:32.379 curb, waiting for his taxi. He's accepted his 00:13:32.379 --> 00:13:34.980 banishment. And Jake comes out to say thank you 00:13:34.980 --> 00:13:38.059 and then asks for his joint back. The audacity 00:13:38.059 --> 00:13:40.139 of that kid. Like, hey, thanks for saving my 00:13:40.139 --> 00:13:42.019 life in there. Can I have my illegal drugs back 00:13:42.019 --> 00:13:45.080 now? Right. And Jesse's reaction is what absolutely 00:13:45.080 --> 00:13:47.139 defines his character for me moving forward. 00:13:47.340 --> 00:13:50.519 He throws the joint on the ground and just crushes 00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:53.139 it with his shoe. He stomps on it and he tells 00:13:53.139 --> 00:13:56.409 Jake. It's skunk weed anyway. Poor quality. That 00:13:56.409 --> 00:13:58.830 line is everything. It tells us that Jesse has 00:13:58.830 --> 00:14:01.950 professional pride. He is currently cooking the 00:14:01.950 --> 00:14:05.549 purest methamphetamine in North America. He looks 00:14:05.549 --> 00:14:08.950 at this shriveled little joint and he is legitimately 00:14:08.950 --> 00:14:11.610 offended by the quality of the drug, not just 00:14:11.610 --> 00:14:13.710 the morality of his little brother smoking it. 00:14:13.809 --> 00:14:16.429 It's like a Michelin star chef looking at a greasy 00:14:16.429 --> 00:14:19.549 fast food burger. Just, I cannot let you consume 00:14:19.549 --> 00:14:22.460 this garbage. Precisely. It humanizes him so 00:14:22.460 --> 00:14:25.460 much, but it also shows us that he is deep, deep 00:14:25.460 --> 00:14:28.720 in the game. He has standards now. So Jesse's 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:30.879 proving he actually has a moral compass, strangely 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:33.179 enough. Meanwhile, across town back at the White 00:14:33.179 --> 00:14:36.179 House, Walter is rapidly losing his. We really 00:14:36.179 --> 00:14:37.980 have to talk about the family meeting. The barbecue. 00:14:38.419 --> 00:14:40.840 The truth finally comes out. Walt tells Hank, 00:14:40.980 --> 00:14:43.200 Marie, and Walt Jr. about the cancer diagnosis. 00:14:43.620 --> 00:14:45.440 Skylar obviously already knew, but now the whole 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:47.360 family knows. And watch Marie in this scene. 00:14:47.789 --> 00:14:49.610 I know we aren't focusing a ton on her character 00:14:49.610 --> 00:14:53.149 arc today, but wow. She immediately hijacks the 00:14:53.149 --> 00:14:55.090 entire moment. She starts crying louder than 00:14:55.090 --> 00:14:57.070 anyone else. She makes it all about her pain. 00:14:57.250 --> 00:14:59.870 It's the early seeds of her narcissism showing, 00:15:00.070 --> 00:15:03.029 absolutely. But the conversation shifts very, 00:15:03.110 --> 00:15:06.090 very quickly from the emotional shock of, oh 00:15:06.090 --> 00:15:08.789 my God, you're sick, to the practical reality 00:15:08.789 --> 00:15:12.710 of how much does it cost to fix this? Enter the 00:15:12.710 --> 00:15:15.389 true villain of the series, the U .S. healthcare 00:15:15.389 --> 00:15:18.110 system. Without a doubt. Skyler does some research 00:15:18.110 --> 00:15:21.110 and finds Dr. Del Cavoli. He is the best. He's 00:15:21.110 --> 00:15:23.250 the miracle worker oncologist. But of course, 00:15:23.250 --> 00:15:25.470 he is out of network for Walt's crappy teacher 00:15:25.470 --> 00:15:28.730 insurance. And the treatment plan, the radiation, 00:15:28.990 --> 00:15:32.129 the chemotherapy is going to cost $90 ,000 up 00:15:32.129 --> 00:15:35.250 front. And that's in 2008 money, remember? Right. 00:15:35.309 --> 00:15:38.289 For a high school teacher making maybe $45 ,000 00:15:38.289 --> 00:15:40.409 a year, that is an impossible number. It might 00:15:40.409 --> 00:15:43.149 as well be a billion dollars to them. This perfectly 00:15:43.149 --> 00:15:45.350 sets up the central conflict of the episode for 00:15:45.350 --> 00:15:48.309 Walt. Because the irony is, he actually has the 00:15:48.309 --> 00:15:50.629 money. He has the cash from the Crazy 8 deal 00:15:50.629 --> 00:15:53.409 sitting right there. But he can't use it. Because 00:15:53.409 --> 00:15:55.169 he has to launder it, essentially, through a 00:15:55.169 --> 00:15:57.110 massive lie. He tells the family he is going 00:15:57.110 --> 00:15:59.129 to borrow from his retirement pension to pay 00:15:59.129 --> 00:16:01.809 for it. But in reality, we see him go to the 00:16:01.809 --> 00:16:04.330 air conditioning duct in the house. The imagery 00:16:04.330 --> 00:16:07.110 there is so on the nose. But I absolutely love 00:16:07.110 --> 00:16:10.309 it. He hides the dirty drug money inside the 00:16:10.309 --> 00:16:12.929 literal lungs of the house. Polluting the air 00:16:12.929 --> 00:16:15.649 his family breathes. It is a... Perfect, perfect 00:16:15.649 --> 00:16:18.509 metaphor. But Walt is actually hesitant to spend 00:16:18.509 --> 00:16:20.610 it on the treatment. He sits at the dinner table 00:16:20.610 --> 00:16:23.909 and he makes a very logical, very cold argument 00:16:23.909 --> 00:16:26.649 to his family. He says, what is the point of 00:16:26.649 --> 00:16:28.649 spending all this money if I'm going to die anyway 00:16:28.649 --> 00:16:31.629 and just leave you all with massive crippling 00:16:31.629 --> 00:16:35.169 debt? It's a totally utilitarian argument. He's 00:16:35.169 --> 00:16:37.330 thinking like it's a math equation on a chalkboard. 00:16:37.690 --> 00:16:40.289 not like a husband or a father and this coldness 00:16:40.289 --> 00:16:43.129 completely triggers walt jr and i have to say 00:16:43.129 --> 00:16:45.950 walt jr gets a lot of flack from fans for just 00:16:45.950 --> 00:16:48.289 being the breakfast character right it is always 00:16:48.289 --> 00:16:50.470 just eating cereal and complaining about yeah 00:16:50.470 --> 00:16:54.789 but in this specific scene he is the mvp he explodes 00:16:54.789 --> 00:16:57.289 he looks right at his dad and says then why don't 00:16:57.289 --> 00:17:01.330 you just die already die already man it just 00:17:01.330 --> 00:17:03.620 sucks all the air right out of the room It is 00:17:03.620 --> 00:17:06.559 brutal to watch, but it is entirely necessary. 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:09.819 It's a total inversion of the classic father 00:17:09.819 --> 00:17:12.339 -son dynamic. Usually the father teaches the 00:17:12.339 --> 00:17:14.079 son how to be tough, how to fight through adversity. 00:17:14.819 --> 00:17:17.559 Here the teenage son is shaming the father. He 00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:20.220 is telling Walt that giving up is an act of cowardice, 00:17:20.220 --> 00:17:22.759 not an act of logic. It shatters Walt's defense 00:17:22.759 --> 00:17:26.069 mechanism. He realizes in that moment he can't 00:17:26.069 --> 00:17:28.930 just quietly fade away to save a few bucks. His 00:17:28.930 --> 00:17:31.269 son will actively hate his memory if he does. 00:17:31.410 --> 00:17:33.650 So now he's trapped. He has to fight. He has 00:17:33.650 --> 00:17:35.670 to undergo the expensive treatment, which means 00:17:35.670 --> 00:17:37.309 he has to use the drug money, which means he 00:17:37.309 --> 00:17:40.349 has to keep breaking bad to get more. But all 00:17:40.349 --> 00:17:42.650 this pressure building up inside him, his son 00:17:42.650 --> 00:17:45.369 screaming at him, the massive medical debt, the 00:17:45.369 --> 00:17:48.410 literal cancer eating his lungs. It builds up 00:17:48.410 --> 00:17:51.650 this intense rage in him. And he desperately 00:17:51.650 --> 00:17:54.829 needs a target to let it out. Enter Ken. Ken. 00:17:55.009 --> 00:17:57.710 The Ken Wins guy. We have all met a Ken in real 00:17:57.710 --> 00:17:59.710 life. Oh, absolutely we have. And the writers 00:17:59.710 --> 00:18:01.849 did such a great job of making him instantly 00:18:01.849 --> 00:18:05.009 loathsome with zero dialogue at first. He literally 00:18:05.009 --> 00:18:07.089 just swoops in and steals Walt's parking spot 00:18:07.089 --> 00:18:08.769 at the credit union. And then inside the bank. 00:18:08.990 --> 00:18:12.000 Yeah. The Bluetooth headset. The glowing blue 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:15.519 earpiece. In 2008, that was the universal, undisputed 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:18.460 symbol of I am self -important and highly annoying. 00:18:18.740 --> 00:18:21.700 He's standing in line having this incredibly 00:18:21.700 --> 00:18:24.839 loud conversation about his bonuses and conquering 00:18:24.839 --> 00:18:27.160 the corporate world, completely ignoring everyone 00:18:27.160 --> 00:18:29.440 around him. He represents everything Walt isn't. 00:18:29.460 --> 00:18:33.539 Ken is loud. He is rich. He's arrogant. And most 00:18:33.539 --> 00:18:36.900 importantly, he is healthy. Walt is quiet, poor. 00:18:37.450 --> 00:18:40.069 deeply insecure and dying. So the universe, in 00:18:40.069 --> 00:18:42.150 its twisted way, brings them together again. 00:18:42.630 --> 00:18:44.950 Later in the episode, Walt is driving. He has 00:18:44.950 --> 00:18:47.349 this awful coughing fit. He actually coughs up 00:18:47.349 --> 00:18:50.049 blood onto his hand. The reality of his impending 00:18:50.049 --> 00:18:52.390 death is literally staring him in the face. He 00:18:52.390 --> 00:18:54.549 pulls into a gas station to clean up. And who 00:18:54.549 --> 00:18:56.410 pulls up to the pump right next to him? Ken. 00:18:56.730 --> 00:18:59.289 In his fancy BMW convertible. With the custom 00:18:59.289 --> 00:19:01.710 license plate, Ken wins. It's almost too perfect. 00:19:01.910 --> 00:19:04.109 Ken hops out, leaves the convertible top down, 00:19:04.190 --> 00:19:06.630 leaves the car unlocked and struts inside. And 00:19:06.630 --> 00:19:09.819 Walt. He just snaps. But he snaps in a very Walter 00:19:09.819 --> 00:19:11.960 White way. He doesn't key the paint. He doesn't 00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:14.099 slash the tires like a normal angry person. Yeah, 00:19:14.099 --> 00:19:17.460 he's a science. Yes. Let's talk about the squeegee. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:19.720 Because this is the moment everyone remembers 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:22.859 from this episode. Walt walks over, takes the 00:19:22.859 --> 00:19:24.759 wet squeegee from the bucket, he pops the hood 00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:28.519 of the BMW, and he lays the squeegee right across 00:19:28.519 --> 00:19:31.019 the battery terminal. And then calmly walks away. 00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:33.720 Okay, so I have to ask the expert here. Is this 00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:36.690 real? Like, could I actually blow up a car with 00:19:36.690 --> 00:19:38.849 a window cleaner at a Texacom? Well, please do 00:19:38.849 --> 00:19:41.569 not try this at home. Obviously. But theoretically. 00:19:42.049 --> 00:19:45.650 Yeah. Yes. The science is somewhat sound. Here's 00:19:45.650 --> 00:19:48.380 the physics behind it. A standard car battery 00:19:48.380 --> 00:19:51.579 is a lead acid battery. It's capable of delivering 00:19:51.579 --> 00:19:54.539 a massive amount of current amperage very, very 00:19:54.539 --> 00:19:57.720 quickly. That's how it has the power to crank 00:19:57.720 --> 00:20:00.579 over a cold, heavy engine block. So it's basically 00:20:00.579 --> 00:20:02.579 a little box of lightning. Right. Now, if you 00:20:02.579 --> 00:20:05.200 take a conductive metal object like the wet brass 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:07.339 head of a gas station squeegee and you touch 00:20:07.339 --> 00:20:09.220 the positive terminal and the negative terminal 00:20:09.220 --> 00:20:11.680 at the exact same time, you are creating what's 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:14.619 called a dead short. There is almost zero electrical 00:20:14.619 --> 00:20:16.410 resistance. So all that trapped. electricity 00:20:16.410 --> 00:20:19.369 just flows out at once. Exactly. The metal of 00:20:19.369 --> 00:20:21.589 the squeegee would instantly become red hot, 00:20:21.789 --> 00:20:23.690 kind of like the filament in a light bulb, but 00:20:23.690 --> 00:20:26.549 much, much hotter. It would likely spot weld 00:20:26.549 --> 00:20:29.589 itself directly to the lead battery posts. Then 00:20:29.589 --> 00:20:31.829 the plastic casing of the battery would start 00:20:31.829 --> 00:20:34.670 to melt from the extreme heat. And PAR batteries 00:20:34.670 --> 00:20:37.670 naturally vent hydrogen gas so that gas could 00:20:37.670 --> 00:20:40.269 ignite. Once the fire starts into the hood. You've 00:20:40.269 --> 00:20:44.109 got rubber hoses, fuel lines, oil, grease, vapors 00:20:44.109 --> 00:20:47.890 everywhere. a thermal runaway event. Now, would 00:20:47.890 --> 00:20:50.529 it explode into a massive cinematic fireball 00:20:50.529 --> 00:20:52.950 in exactly 30 seconds like it does in the episode? 00:20:53.170 --> 00:20:55.970 That's Hollywood pacing for you. In reality, 00:20:56.049 --> 00:20:58.289 it might smoke and burn for several minutes before 00:20:58.289 --> 00:21:00.150 the fuel tank actually catches and goes boom. 00:21:00.289 --> 00:21:03.069 But the core mechanism, the short circuit. That 00:21:03.069 --> 00:21:05.130 is sound physics. It's terrifying that he just 00:21:05.130 --> 00:21:07.589 knows that. It is. But look at Walt's face during 00:21:07.589 --> 00:21:10.210 the scene as he walks away and the boom happens 00:21:10.210 --> 00:21:12.170 right behind him. He doesn't even flinch. He 00:21:12.170 --> 00:21:13.849 doesn't run away in a panic. He just gets into 00:21:13.849 --> 00:21:16.750 his sad little Pontiac Aztec and slowly drives 00:21:16.750 --> 00:21:19.779 away. This is the true birth of Heisenberg, because 00:21:19.779 --> 00:21:22.420 this act serves absolutely no strategic purpose. 00:21:22.500 --> 00:21:24.819 It doesn't help him sell more meth. It doesn't 00:21:24.819 --> 00:21:26.539 pay for his cancer treatment. It doesn't help 00:21:26.539 --> 00:21:30.000 his family. It is pure, unadulterated ego. He 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:32.140 feels powerless against the cancer inside his 00:21:32.140 --> 00:21:35.019 body, so he exerts extreme power over Ken to 00:21:35.019 --> 00:21:37.880 compensate. It's the very first time he realizes, 00:21:38.039 --> 00:21:40.539 hey, I can actually hurt the world back. And 00:21:40.539 --> 00:21:44.039 the really dark part is he likes it. He definitely 00:21:44.039 --> 00:21:47.119 likes it. Now, these two storylines, Jesse's 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:49.380 exile from his family and Walt's escalating rage, 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:51.960 they do intersect briefly at the end of the episode. 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:54.640 Jesse actually shows up at Walt's house. Because 00:21:54.640 --> 00:21:56.960 he has literally nowhere else to go. He sleeps 00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:59.200 in his crappy lowrider and then he comes crawling 00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:01.980 back to Walt. And he actually brings good news, 00:22:02.059 --> 00:22:04.559 technically speaking. He says his friend Skinny 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:07.039 Pete knows a guy who we later learn is Tuco, 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:09.099 though he isn't named quite yet, who will pay 00:22:09.099 --> 00:22:11.079 top dollar for their high -quality meth. And 00:22:11.079 --> 00:22:13.960 Walt just coldly kicks him out. He is furious 00:22:13.960 --> 00:22:16.180 at the intrusion. He rejects Jesse completely. 00:22:16.420 --> 00:22:18.339 And this connects right back to Jesse's character 00:22:18.339 --> 00:22:20.339 arc we discussed before Jesse leaves the driveway. 00:22:20.660 --> 00:22:24.599 He hands Walt $4 ,000 in cash. Which is the profit 00:22:24.599 --> 00:22:27.009 from their last cook together. Think about the 00:22:27.009 --> 00:22:29.509 integrity of that for a second. Jesse has just 00:22:29.509 --> 00:22:31.630 been completely disowned by his wealthy parents. 00:22:31.849 --> 00:22:35.049 He is functionally homeless, sleeping in a car, 00:22:35.150 --> 00:22:38.269 and he has just been insulted and rejected by 00:22:38.269 --> 00:22:40.410 Walt. He easily could have just kept that $4 00:22:40.410 --> 00:22:43.210 ,000. He desperately needs it. But he pays Walt 00:22:43.210 --> 00:22:46.069 his exact half anyway. Again, the moral compass 00:22:46.069 --> 00:22:49.319 is there. He is a criminal. But he is a surprisingly 00:22:49.319 --> 00:22:52.460 honest criminal. Unlike Walt, who is supposedly 00:22:52.460 --> 00:22:55.599 a law -abiding, upstanding citizen, but is currently 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:58.279 lying to every single person he claims to love. 00:22:58.519 --> 00:23:01.460 Such a great contrast. The episode finally wraps 00:23:01.460 --> 00:23:04.240 up with a medical update. Dr. Del Cavoli confirms 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:06.700 the worst. The cancer has officially spread to 00:23:06.700 --> 00:23:09.200 the lymph nodes. And this is really important 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:11.440 context for the medical drama side of the show. 00:23:12.140 --> 00:23:14.859 Once cancer hits the lymph nodes, it's not just 00:23:14.859 --> 00:23:17.220 a localized tumor anymore. It's a full -scale 00:23:17.220 --> 00:23:20.460 invasion. The lymphatic system is basically the 00:23:20.460 --> 00:23:23.099 highway of the human body. If the cancer is in 00:23:23.099 --> 00:23:25.920 there, it can easily travel anywhere else. It 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:28.480 moves his diagnosis from bad to catastrophic. 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:31.619 But Del Cavoli still offers them a sliver of 00:23:31.619 --> 00:23:34.730 hope. He says treatment is still possible. And 00:23:34.730 --> 00:23:36.990 that hope is the ultimate trap for Walt. If there 00:23:36.990 --> 00:23:39.009 was absolutely zero hope, Walt could just give 00:23:39.009 --> 00:23:41.569 up and die peacefully. But because there is a 00:23:41.569 --> 00:23:44.089 statistical chance of survival, he is obligated 00:23:44.089 --> 00:23:47.490 to try. especially after Walt Jr.'s speech. And 00:23:47.490 --> 00:23:49.710 because he's obligated to try, he needs the $90 00:23:49.710 --> 00:23:52.430 ,000. And because he needs the money. He is pulled 00:23:52.430 --> 00:23:54.349 right back into the meth business. The door just 00:23:54.349 --> 00:23:56.849 slams shut behind him. It is a brilliant tragedy 00:23:56.849 --> 00:23:59.430 of circumstances. So let's zoom out a bit here 00:23:59.430 --> 00:24:01.569 as we wrap up. We talked at the beginning about 00:24:01.569 --> 00:24:03.509 how this episode gets a pretty meh reception 00:24:03.509 --> 00:24:06.069 from a lot of fans. I was looking at the reviews. 00:24:06.210 --> 00:24:09.109 Seth Hamilton at IGN gave it an 8 .6, calling 00:24:09.109 --> 00:24:12.769 it subversive, which is solid. But Donna Bowman 00:24:12.769 --> 00:24:16.210 at the A .V. Club gave it a B -. Why do you think 00:24:16.210 --> 00:24:18.910 there's such a lukewarm reaction to this specific 00:24:18.910 --> 00:24:22.309 hour of TV? I think it's mainly because it denies 00:24:22.309 --> 00:24:24.730 the audience that immediate adrenaline sugar 00:24:24.730 --> 00:24:26.769 rush. Think about what came right before this. 00:24:26.930 --> 00:24:30.029 We had the pilot, which was pure chaos. We had 00:24:30.029 --> 00:24:31.890 the dissolving body falling through the ceiling 00:24:31.890 --> 00:24:34.750 in episode two. We had the brutal strangulation 00:24:34.750 --> 00:24:37.289 with the bike lock in episode three. This episode 00:24:37.289 --> 00:24:39.920 is quiet. It's about paying medical bills and 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:42.099 sitting through awkward family dinners. It feels 00:24:42.099 --> 00:24:44.259 a lot like real life. And people generally don't 00:24:44.259 --> 00:24:46.200 watch premium cable television for real life, 00:24:46.200 --> 00:24:48.779 right? They watch it to escape. Exactly. But 00:24:48.779 --> 00:24:51.359 looking back at the series as a whole, this episode 00:24:51.359 --> 00:24:55.240 is the foundation. Without the specific $90 ,000 00:24:55.240 --> 00:24:57.680 figure established right here, the rest of the 00:24:57.680 --> 00:25:01.039 show makes zero sense. We have to deeply feel 00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:03.200 the crushing weight of that medical debt to understand 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:06.480 why Walt stays in the game later on, even when 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:09.420 things get insanely dangerous. It's the why. 00:25:09.880 --> 00:25:12.259 This episode answers the core question of why. 00:25:12.650 --> 00:25:15.589 And it massively deepens the characters. If Jesse 00:25:15.589 --> 00:25:17.609 was just a one -dimensional street junkie, we 00:25:17.609 --> 00:25:19.930 wouldn't care about him for five seasons. But 00:25:19.930 --> 00:25:22.329 because of Cancer Man, we know he's a tragic, 00:25:22.470 --> 00:25:25.430 rejected figure. If Walt was just a cool badass 00:25:25.430 --> 00:25:28.509 from day one, we wouldn't relate to him. Because 00:25:28.509 --> 00:25:30.730 of this episode, we know he is terrified and 00:25:30.730 --> 00:25:33.410 financially drowning. Before we close up completely, 00:25:33.609 --> 00:25:35.690 I do want to hit on the music. Because Breaking 00:25:35.690 --> 00:25:38.089 Bad's music supervision is absolutely legendary. 00:25:38.289 --> 00:25:41.220 Oh, top tier. Thomas Golubic is the music supervisor, 00:25:41.500 --> 00:25:43.500 and his choices are always telling a parallel 00:25:43.500 --> 00:25:46.420 story. In this episode, we hear the song Didn't 00:25:46.420 --> 00:25:49.619 I by Durando. That's that really smooth falsetto 00:25:49.619 --> 00:25:51.819 soul track. It plays when Jesse is dealing with 00:25:51.819 --> 00:25:53.940 a joint, right? Yeah, exactly. As he's standing 00:25:53.940 --> 00:25:55.740 outside waiting for the cab to take him away. 00:25:55.900 --> 00:25:58.319 The lyrics of the chorus are literally, didn't 00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:00.660 I treat you right? Didn't I do the best I could? 00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:03.559 It is playing over Jesse being kicked out by 00:26:03.559 --> 00:26:05.980 his parents. It is functioning as his internal 00:26:05.980 --> 00:26:08.359 monologue in that moment. He treated his little 00:26:08.359 --> 00:26:10.480 brother right. He did the best he could to protect 00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:13.200 him. And he still lost everything. Wow, that 00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:15.619 is heartbreaking. I never caught that specific 00:26:15.619 --> 00:26:18.720 lyric connection before. It creates this deeply 00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:22.839 soulful, melancholic vibe that just elevates 00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:25.579 the whole scene from a standard plot point to 00:26:25.579 --> 00:26:28.079 a really profound character study. And quickly, 00:26:28.099 --> 00:26:29.940 we have to shout out the actor who played Ken. 00:26:30.589 --> 00:26:33.349 Kyle Bornheimer. Oh, the face you just love to 00:26:33.349 --> 00:26:35.730 hate. He really has made a whole career out of 00:26:35.730 --> 00:26:38.569 playing that exact guy. The overconfident, slightly 00:26:38.569 --> 00:26:41.289 incompetent, deeply annoying guy in a suit. Casting 00:26:41.289 --> 00:26:43.990 him was a stroke of absolute genius. Because 00:26:43.990 --> 00:26:46.190 you need someone who is annoying enough to justify 00:26:46.190 --> 00:26:49.109 Walt blowing up a very expensive car, but not 00:26:49.109 --> 00:26:51.609 evil enough to actually deserve it. Think about 00:26:51.609 --> 00:26:55.309 it. If Ken was a neo -Nazi or a murderer, Walt 00:26:55.309 --> 00:26:57.210 would look like an action hero for blowing up 00:26:57.210 --> 00:26:59.990 his car. But because Ken is just a loudmouth 00:26:59.990 --> 00:27:03.430 jerk, Walt looks like a petty psychopath. It's 00:27:03.430 --> 00:27:05.750 a very fine line to walk. That is the perfect 00:27:05.750 --> 00:27:08.009 summary of the whole episode, honestly. It balances 00:27:08.009 --> 00:27:10.490 right on that fine line. So let's bring this 00:27:10.490 --> 00:27:12.990 home. What is the big takeaway here? If you're 00:27:12.990 --> 00:27:14.730 sitting at a bar and someone brings up the Cancer 00:27:14.730 --> 00:27:17.470 Man episode, what is the deep dive insight you're 00:27:17.470 --> 00:27:19.920 giving them? It is the divergence point. Imagine 00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:22.480 two lines on a graph. This is the exact episode 00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:24.859 where they cross paths. Jesse is slowly moving 00:27:24.859 --> 00:27:27.440 up, morally speaking. He's showing loyalty to 00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:29.799 his partner, sacrifice for his brother, and professional 00:27:29.799 --> 00:27:32.519 standards. Walt is moving rapidly down. He's 00:27:32.519 --> 00:27:34.700 showing deception to his wife, unchecked rage, 00:27:34.940 --> 00:27:37.079 and a capacity for random destruction. And the 00:27:37.079 --> 00:27:39.579 truly scary part is they are both doing it for 00:27:39.579 --> 00:27:42.750 the exact same reason. Family. Jesse sacrifices 00:27:42.750 --> 00:27:45.349 his own standing to save his brother's innocence. 00:27:45.970 --> 00:27:49.049 Walt sacrifices his core morality to save his 00:27:49.049 --> 00:27:52.670 family's finances. They are dark mirror images 00:27:52.670 --> 00:27:55.049 of each other. And here is the final thought 00:27:55.049 --> 00:27:57.349 I want to leave you with today as you go about 00:27:57.349 --> 00:28:00.170 your week. We always talk about Walt doing it 00:28:00.170 --> 00:28:02.130 for his family. He says it constantly throughout 00:28:02.130 --> 00:28:04.890 the show. I need the $90 ,000 for the treatment. 00:28:04.890 --> 00:28:07.309 It's for my family. But I want you to look at 00:28:07.309 --> 00:28:09.529 the Ken scene at the gas station one more time. 00:28:10.299 --> 00:28:12.839 No one was watching him. No one paid him to do 00:28:12.839 --> 00:28:15.779 it. Blowing up that BMW did absolutely nothing 00:28:15.779 --> 00:28:18.180 to save his life or feed his kids. It was purely 00:28:18.180 --> 00:28:20.680 for him. Exactly. So the real question this episode 00:28:20.680 --> 00:28:24.180 asks us is this. Is Walter White fighting the 00:28:24.180 --> 00:28:27.220 cancer to extend his life? Or is he blowing up 00:28:27.220 --> 00:28:30.240 cars? Because for the very first time in 50 years, 00:28:30.359 --> 00:28:32.900 he finally feels alive. I think the squeegee 00:28:32.900 --> 00:28:35.000 answers that question loud and clear. He is addicted 00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:37.769 to the power, not the outcome. And that addiction 00:28:37.769 --> 00:28:39.890 is going to be way harder to kick than any blue 00:28:39.890 --> 00:28:42.250 meth. Thank you so much for joining us on this 00:28:42.250 --> 00:28:44.130 deep dive. Always a pleasure to break it down 00:28:44.130 --> 00:28:46.549 with you. We will see you all next time. Keep 00:28:46.549 --> 00:28:46.809 diving.