WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.859 Welcome back to the deep dive. If you're joining 00:00:02.859 --> 00:00:05.280 us today, it's because you aren't satisfied with 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:07.059 just the surface level stuff. Right. You want 00:00:07.059 --> 00:00:08.960 the mechanics. Exactly. You want to crack the 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:11.279 casing open and see how the gears actually turn. 00:00:12.439 --> 00:00:16.800 And today, oh man, today we are looking at some 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:20.760 very dark, very intricate gears. It is good to 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:22.500 be back. And you are right about the dark part. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:26.440 We are dissecting 47 minutes of television that 00:00:26.440 --> 00:00:29.199 I honestly believe changed the medium forever. 00:00:29.370 --> 00:00:31.809 That is a massive claim, but looking at the stack 00:00:31.809 --> 00:00:34.009 of research we have sitting right here, the articles, 00:00:34.189 --> 00:00:36.310 the interviews, the critical essays from 2009, 00:00:36.490 --> 00:00:38.109 I think you might be entirely right. I mean, 00:00:38.189 --> 00:00:40.130 we're diving into Breaking Bad. But not the whole 00:00:40.130 --> 00:00:41.530 show. We aren't doing the typical, you know, 00:00:41.670 --> 00:00:44.229 Heisenberg is a cool badass thing. No, no, we 00:00:44.229 --> 00:00:47.429 are laser focused on one specific pivotal span 00:00:47.429 --> 00:00:51.130 of television. Season two. Episode 12. Phoenix. 00:00:51.369 --> 00:00:54.909 Phoenix. Aired May 24th, 2009. Written by John 00:00:54.909 --> 00:00:57.130 Chapman and directed by Colin Buxy. And our mission 00:00:57.130 --> 00:00:59.289 today for you listening is to use the Wikipedia 00:00:59.289 --> 00:01:02.070 entry as our roadmap to explore why this specific 00:01:02.070 --> 00:01:04.450 episode is considered a total masterpiece of 00:01:04.450 --> 00:01:07.689 tension. Tension, character development, and 00:01:07.689 --> 00:01:10.629 just unbearable tragedy. Unbearable is the word. 00:01:10.840 --> 00:01:13.560 Because if you ask any television historian to 00:01:13.560 --> 00:01:16.640 point to the exact moment, Walter White stopped 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:18.700 being a desperate father and started being a 00:01:18.700 --> 00:01:21.140 monster. They point to the final 60 seconds of 00:01:21.140 --> 00:01:23.879 this exact episode. It's the event horizon. He 00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:26.540 crosses it and you just can't come back. But 00:01:26.540 --> 00:01:28.599 what's so wild and what we're going to unpack 00:01:28.599 --> 00:01:32.000 today is how the episode is meticulously structured 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:34.359 to get us there. Right. Because it's not just 00:01:34.359 --> 00:01:36.939 Walt doing a bad thing out of nowhere. The entire 00:01:36.939 --> 00:01:40.299 episode is this relentless pressure cooker designed 00:01:40.299 --> 00:01:44.079 to force that precise moment. Precisely. We are 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:46.180 going way beyond the plot. We all know what happens, 00:01:46.500 --> 00:01:48.549 but we want to understand. how it happens. We're 00:01:48.549 --> 00:01:50.349 going to look at the plot mechanics, the behind 00:01:50.349 --> 00:01:52.670 the scenes production secrets, the critical reception. 00:01:52.769 --> 00:01:55.290 And some very specific acting choices that led 00:01:55.290 --> 00:01:57.390 to major awards. Yeah, we're going to talk about 00:01:57.390 --> 00:01:59.849 a specific piece of special effects makeup, a 00:01:59.849 --> 00:02:02.489 chest cast that tells you just how physically 00:02:02.489 --> 00:02:04.890 brutal the production actually was for the actors. 00:02:04.930 --> 00:02:07.189 And an actor having to imagine their own child 00:02:07.189 --> 00:02:09.530 dying just to get the emotion right. Right. It 00:02:09.530 --> 00:02:12.069 is heavy stuff. But to understand it, we have 00:02:12.069 --> 00:02:15.620 to start with the stress. The episode kicks off 00:02:15.620 --> 00:02:19.740 with Walt in a massive professional crisis colliding 00:02:19.740 --> 00:02:22.199 with a personal crisis. It is the ultimate breaking 00:02:22.199 --> 00:02:25.680 bad squeeze. He has the inventory, the blue meth, 00:02:25.960 --> 00:02:28.419 and he barely manages to deliver it to Gus Fring 00:02:28.419 --> 00:02:31.099 in time. Gus Fring, who is the ultimate on time 00:02:31.099 --> 00:02:33.960 guy. If you're late, you're done. So Walt makes 00:02:33.960 --> 00:02:37.120 the delivery. He succeeds professionally. But 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:39.639 the consequence of that success is devastating. 00:02:39.900 --> 00:02:41.759 He misses the birth of his daughter, Holly. He 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:43.979 misses the birth. And we have to just sit with 00:02:43.979 --> 00:02:46.460 the irony of that. Right, because his entire 00:02:46.460 --> 00:02:49.439 justification, his mantra from day one, has been 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:51.719 that he's doing all of this for his family. I 00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:55.020 do this for my family. Exactly. But the very 00:02:55.020 --> 00:02:57.719 act of providing for them literally removes him 00:02:57.719 --> 00:03:00.039 from the most important family moment imaginable. 00:03:00.340 --> 00:03:02.039 And the way this is shown at the hospital is 00:03:02.039 --> 00:03:04.139 just brilliant visual storytelling. Oh, it's 00:03:04.139 --> 00:03:06.639 so good. Walt finally arrives. He's frantic, 00:03:06.860 --> 00:03:08.500 he's sweaty, he probably smells like chemicals. 00:03:08.939 --> 00:03:11.159 He bursts into the hospital room and what does 00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:15.110 he see? He sees Skyler and the baby. But Walt 00:03:15.110 --> 00:03:17.250 isn't the one who got her there. No, it's her 00:03:17.250 --> 00:03:20.009 boss, Ted Benicki. Ted is standing right there 00:03:20.009 --> 00:03:22.330 near the bed. He's playing the role of the supportive 00:03:22.330 --> 00:03:25.370 partner. He drove her. He was present. And looked 00:03:25.370 --> 00:03:29.009 up locking in that scene. Ted is physically embedded 00:03:29.009 --> 00:03:31.650 in the family unit while Walt is standing in 00:03:31.650 --> 00:03:34.490 the doorway. Framed totally out of it. It's complete 00:03:34.490 --> 00:03:36.689 domestic displacement. He has been replaced. 00:03:36.909 --> 00:03:38.889 He just made over a million dollars in a drug 00:03:38.889 --> 00:03:41.210 deal. But in the room that actually matters, 00:03:41.530 --> 00:03:44.590 he is an outsider. And it fuels his resentment 00:03:44.590 --> 00:03:46.569 so deeply, because he feels like a martyr, right? 00:03:46.590 --> 00:03:48.669 Like he's doing all this hard work and getting 00:03:48.669 --> 00:03:51.509 zero appreciation. Which perfectly sets up his 00:03:51.509 --> 00:03:53.870 inability to share his success. Yes, the secret 00:03:53.870 --> 00:03:57.009 stash. This leads to the garage scene, which 00:03:57.009 --> 00:03:59.590 highlights his isolation so well. He has the 00:03:59.590 --> 00:04:02.169 money now, stacks of it. But he can't tell his 00:04:02.169 --> 00:04:04.949 wife. He can't tell his teenage son. So what 00:04:04.949 --> 00:04:08.689 does he do? He privately shows the cash to the 00:04:08.689 --> 00:04:11.509 newborn baby. Inside the dusky garage walls. 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:14.180 He pulls back the pink fiberglass insulation 00:04:14.180 --> 00:04:16.939 to reveal the hidden stacks of green money. And 00:04:16.939 --> 00:04:19.959 he's standing there with this soft innocent baby 00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:22.920 showing her the corrupt drug money. He says something 00:04:22.920 --> 00:04:25.920 like, Daddy did that for you. It is so pathetic. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:29.149 He is so utterly alone that he can only share 00:04:29.149 --> 00:04:32.069 his massive criminal success with an infant. 00:04:32.350 --> 00:04:35.930 An infant who has no concept of what money is? 00:04:36.209 --> 00:04:38.670 She can't validate him. It just proves he's really 00:04:38.670 --> 00:04:40.769 doing it for his own ego. He needs to show off 00:04:40.769 --> 00:04:43.350 his empire, even if it's to a baby. And that 00:04:43.350 --> 00:04:47.329 profound isolation Walt feels is a perfect mirror 00:04:47.329 --> 00:04:49.009 for what's happening on the other side of town 00:04:49.009 --> 00:04:51.550 with Jessie and Jane. The spiral of addiction. 00:04:51.870 --> 00:04:54.449 Jane's double life is fully collapsing in this 00:04:54.449 --> 00:04:57.680 episode. Kristen Ritter plays Jane, and she brings 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:00.800 this incredibly tragic duality to the role. Because 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:03.100 she's not just Jessie's girlfriend who uses heroin. 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:05.500 She's a daughter. Right. And her morning routine 00:05:05.500 --> 00:05:08.319 shows how exhausting that double life is. She 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:11.019 wakes up to a call from her father. Donald Margolis. 00:05:11.180 --> 00:05:13.800 Yes. And she immediately lies to him. She says 00:05:13.800 --> 00:05:15.620 she's late for a narcotics anonymous meeting. 00:05:15.819 --> 00:05:18.399 Hiding her relapse instantly. It's just reflex 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:20.500 at this point. And that lie continues into their 00:05:20.500 --> 00:05:23.360 lunch meeting. Oh, the lynch scene is so painful. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.019 Donald asks about Jesse and Jane acts like she 00:05:27.019 --> 00:05:30.100 barely knows him, right in front of Jesse. Or 00:05:30.100 --> 00:05:32.740 at least she plays it off to completely isolate 00:05:32.740 --> 00:05:35.120 Jesse from her real life. She treats him like 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:37.500 a stranger because she knows her dad would intervene 00:05:37.500 --> 00:05:40.199 if he knew she was dating a user. But Jesse is 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:42.519 already dealing with so much trauma and now the 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:44.639 woman he loves is essentially acting ashamed 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:47.800 of him. It breaks his heart. Uh huh. But Jane's 00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:50.819 wall of lies doesn't hold up for long. No. The 00:05:50.819 --> 00:05:53.560 second call happens. Donald calls when Jane is 00:05:53.560 --> 00:05:55.800 late for another rehab meeting. But this time, 00:05:56.019 --> 00:05:59.199 it's an ambush. Donald is waiting outside. Unbeknownst 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:01.560 to Jane, he sees her leaving Jessie's apartment. 00:06:01.740 --> 00:06:04.240 He puts the pieces together. And he barges in. 00:06:04.699 --> 00:06:06.920 He finds the evidence. The heroin. It's sitting 00:06:06.920 --> 00:06:09.139 right there. And Donald is furious. He gives 00:06:09.139 --> 00:06:11.399 her a massive ultimatum. He threatens to call 00:06:11.399 --> 00:06:13.959 the police on his own daughter. Which shows you 00:06:13.959 --> 00:06:16.060 just how terrified and desperate he is to save 00:06:16.060 --> 00:06:18.879 her life. He only stops because Jane begs him. 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:21.860 She promises to enter rehab the very next day. 00:06:22.019 --> 00:06:24.819 She asks for one more chance. And Donald gives 00:06:24.819 --> 00:06:27.579 it to her. That is the tragedy. He leaves her 00:06:27.579 --> 00:06:30.040 there for one more night. Which gives us the 00:06:30.040 --> 00:06:33.220 climax of Jesse's financial demand because Jesse 00:06:33.220 --> 00:06:35.959 wants his money to escape. Jesse demands his 00:06:35.959 --> 00:06:38.699 share of the drug money from Wald. Almost half 00:06:38.699 --> 00:06:40.959 a million dollars. Four hundred and eighty thousand 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:44.699 to be exact. And Walt flat out refuses. Walt 00:06:44.699 --> 00:06:47.399 argues that giving Jesse that much cash while 00:06:47.399 --> 00:06:50.300 he is actively using heroin is a death sentence. 00:06:50.839 --> 00:06:53.199 He says he'll only pay him when he's clean. Now, 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:55.480 we have to look at this objectively. Is Walt 00:06:55.480 --> 00:06:58.399 wrong? Not at all. Giving a heroin addict half 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:00.500 a million dollars is basically handing them a 00:07:00.500 --> 00:07:03.480 loaded weapon. So Walt is doing the right thing. 00:07:03.639 --> 00:07:06.839 Well, yes and no. He is factually correct about 00:07:06.839 --> 00:07:09.819 the danger, but Walt's true motivation is usually 00:07:09.819 --> 00:07:11.839 control. Right. He doesn't like Jesse making 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:13.819 demands. He doesn't like Jesse slipping away 00:07:13.819 --> 00:07:16.879 from his influence. Exactly. And that power dynamic 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:20.399 shifts entirely when Jane steps in. Jane intervenes. 00:07:20.540 --> 00:07:23.220 She calls Walt directly to blackmail him. She 00:07:23.220 --> 00:07:25.639 threatens to expose him. She said she'll blow 00:07:25.639 --> 00:07:27.420 the whistle on the high school teacher making 00:07:27.420 --> 00:07:30.139 meth if he doesn't bring the cash. It's a bold 00:07:30.139 --> 00:07:33.360 move, but it seals her fate. She has no idea 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:35.519 who she's really dealing with. She thinks she's 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:37.519 dealing with a cowardly chemistry teacher, not 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:39.910 a burgeoning drug kingpin. But her blackmail 00:07:39.910 --> 00:07:43.269 works temporarily. Walt Caves. He delivers the 00:07:43.269 --> 00:07:45.970 money to Jessie and Jane in these big duffel 00:07:45.970 --> 00:07:49.470 bags. And their reaction is pure euphoria. They 00:07:49.470 --> 00:07:52.029 are ecstatic. They immediately start talking 00:07:52.029 --> 00:07:54.290 about getting clean and running away to New Zealand 00:07:54.290 --> 00:07:56.689 to be graphic designers. It's a total fantasy. 00:07:57.069 --> 00:07:59.290 Because even as they're planning this beautiful 00:07:59.290 --> 00:08:02.610 clean life, the source material notes they still 00:08:02.610 --> 00:08:05.329 feel a strong pull to use their remaining heroin. 00:08:05.490 --> 00:08:07.790 The money doesn't cure the addiction. It just 00:08:07.790 --> 00:08:10.449 funds it. Before we see the result of that, we 00:08:10.449 --> 00:08:12.089 really need to touch on the money laundering 00:08:12.089 --> 00:08:15.189 subplot. The Save Walter White website. Yes. 00:08:15.629 --> 00:08:17.990 Because Walt has all this cash now, but he has 00:08:17.990 --> 00:08:20.430 a major problem. He can't use it for his cancer 00:08:20.430 --> 00:08:23.230 surgery without raising massive suspicion from 00:08:23.230 --> 00:08:26.709 his family and the IRS. So Walter Jr., his sweet 00:08:26.709 --> 00:08:29.610 teenage son, creates a website for donations 00:08:29.610 --> 00:08:32.480 using PayPal. It's so well -intentioned. But 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:35.480 Saul Goodman, Walt's sleazy lawyer, sees it as 00:08:35.480 --> 00:08:38.700 the perfect loophole. Saul proposes using a hacker. 00:08:39.220 --> 00:08:41.519 They make it look like small, anonymous donations 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:43.940 are pouring in from computers all over the world. 00:08:44.100 --> 00:08:46.419 But really, it's just Walt's own drug money being 00:08:46.419 --> 00:08:48.840 drip fed back into his legitimate bank account. 00:08:48.980 --> 00:08:51.779 It is a brilliant scheme. but it is psychological 00:08:51.779 --> 00:08:54.340 torture for Walt. Because he has to sit there 00:08:54.340 --> 00:08:56.519 and watch his son take the credit for saving 00:08:56.519 --> 00:08:59.059 the family while Walt has to pretend to be a 00:08:59.059 --> 00:09:02.259 humble charity case. He hates charity. And he 00:09:02.259 --> 00:09:04.080 can't even brag about the fact that he actually 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:06.860 earned the money himself. It's the perfect encapsulation 00:09:06.860 --> 00:09:10.419 of his ego problem. But all of this stress drives 00:09:10.419 --> 00:09:13.320 Walt out of the house. Which brings us to the 00:09:13.320 --> 00:09:16.399 coincidence at the bar. This is such a fascinating 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:19.519 narrative choice. Walt goes to a bar to unwind, 00:09:19.700 --> 00:09:22.000 and he unknowingly sits right next to Donald 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:25.000 Margolis. Jane's father. Sitting next to Jessie's 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:27.299 father figure. The extreme narrative coincidence 00:09:27.299 --> 00:09:29.700 of this meeting brings these two desperate fathers 00:09:29.700 --> 00:09:31.960 together. A lot of critics talk about this moment. 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:34.240 It feels incredibly fateful. And they strike 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:37.419 up a conversation. They discuss the Phoenix probe's 00:09:37.419 --> 00:09:40.340 discovery of water on Mars. Which gives the episode 00:09:40.340 --> 00:09:43.820 its title. The idea of finding something precious 00:09:43.820 --> 00:09:46.860 in a totally desolate landscape. And quickly, 00:09:47.080 --> 00:09:49.639 the conversation turns to their family frustrations. 00:09:50.019 --> 00:09:52.000 They bond over the difficulty of trying to help 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:55.299 family members who absolutely refuse to do what 00:09:55.299 --> 00:09:58.000 is good for them. Donald talks about his daughter, 00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:01.100 though he doesn't name Jane. And Walt talks about 00:10:01.100 --> 00:10:03.759 his quote unquote nephew, referring to Jesse. 00:10:04.039 --> 00:10:07.039 And Donald gives Walt this key piece of advice. 00:10:07.340 --> 00:10:10.179 He says that one can never give up on one's family. 00:10:10.409 --> 00:10:12.929 Never give up on family. Those words resonate 00:10:12.929 --> 00:10:15.669 so deeply with Walt. They inspire him. They are 00:10:15.669 --> 00:10:18.210 the catalyst for the entire climax of the episode. 00:10:18.549 --> 00:10:21.250 Because of Donald's advice, Walt decides to return 00:10:21.250 --> 00:10:23.970 to Jesse's house that night. He goes back to 00:10:23.970 --> 00:10:26.730 not give up on his nephew. He breaks in, or sneaks 00:10:26.730 --> 00:10:29.490 in, and finds Jesse and Jane passed out in bed 00:10:29.490 --> 00:10:31.409 from the heroin use. And this is the turning 00:10:31.409 --> 00:10:33.669 point of the entire series. The physical action 00:10:33.669 --> 00:10:36.549 in this scene is so deliberate. Walt leans over 00:10:36.549 --> 00:10:39.389 the bed and tries to shake Jesse awake. But in 00:10:39.389 --> 00:10:42.049 the process of shaking Jesse, he inadvertently 00:10:42.049 --> 00:10:44.889 knocks Jane. She was sleeping on her side, propped 00:10:44.889 --> 00:10:47.610 up with a pillow, which addicts do so they don't 00:10:47.610 --> 00:10:50.149 choke if they get sick. But Walt's physical action 00:10:50.149 --> 00:10:52.370 knocks her onto her back. And the biological 00:10:52.370 --> 00:10:54.590 reaction is almost immediate. Jane starts to 00:10:54.590 --> 00:10:56.509 choke on her own vomit. And we have to break 00:10:56.509 --> 00:10:58.129 down Walt's reaction here because it happens 00:10:58.129 --> 00:11:02.629 in three distinct stages. Stage one. Human instinct. 00:11:03.049 --> 00:11:04.850 He rushes to the other side of the bed to help 00:11:04.850 --> 00:11:07.690 her. His hands literally reach out to roll her 00:11:07.690 --> 00:11:09.830 back over. It would take one second to save her 00:11:09.830 --> 00:11:13.490 life. But then comes stage two, hesitation. He 00:11:13.490 --> 00:11:15.769 stops. You see the mental calculation happening 00:11:15.769 --> 00:11:18.750 behind his eyes. He realizes that this woman 00:11:18.750 --> 00:11:22.210 just blackmailed him. She is threatening his 00:11:22.210 --> 00:11:24.750 freedom and she is taking Jesse away from him. 00:11:24.990 --> 00:11:28.629 And stage three, he changes his mind. He pulls 00:11:28.629 --> 00:11:31.750 his hands back. And he just watches. He lets 00:11:31.750 --> 00:11:34.009 her die. He stands there and listens to her choke 00:11:34.009 --> 00:11:36.610 to death. It is horrifying. The aftermath on 00:11:36.610 --> 00:11:39.970 his face is so complex. He begins to cry. The 00:11:39.970 --> 00:11:42.490 tears actually fall. He is devastated by what 00:11:42.490 --> 00:11:44.509 he is allowing himself to do. But he doesn't 00:11:44.509 --> 00:11:47.409 look away. The script says he looks on resolutely. 00:11:47.769 --> 00:11:50.309 The tears stop, and the coldness takes over. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:53.419 He accepts the monster he has to become to survive. 00:11:53.799 --> 00:11:55.600 Let's talk about the production and acting insights 00:11:55.600 --> 00:11:58.679 here, because capturing that moment took an incredible 00:11:58.679 --> 00:12:01.500 toll on everyone involved. Brian Cranston playing 00:12:01.500 --> 00:12:04.100 Walter White and Kristen Ritter as Jane Margolis. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:07.500 We have to talk about Ritter's experience filming 00:12:07.500 --> 00:12:10.100 this death scene. Her initial reaction when she 00:12:10.100 --> 00:12:12.019 read the script was actually quite different 00:12:12.019 --> 00:12:14.059 from the reality of shooting it. Yeah, she thought 00:12:14.059 --> 00:12:16.120 the death scene would be rock and roll. She thought 00:12:16.120 --> 00:12:19.059 it would be fun to act out. But the reality of 00:12:19.059 --> 00:12:22.059 lying there, pretending to choke on your own 00:12:22.059 --> 00:12:25.120 fluids, became incredibly intense. They even 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:27.559 had to use special effects makeup for the logistics 00:12:27.559 --> 00:12:30.399 of it all. They built a cast for her chest. A 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:32.879 physical plate so that Aaron Paul, who plays 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:35.440 Jesse, could pound on it during the resuscitation 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:37.559 attempts in the following scenes without hurting 00:12:37.559 --> 00:12:40.419 her. It makes you realize how physical and violent 00:12:40.419 --> 00:12:43.080 the whole sequence was. And Ritter noted something 00:12:43.080 --> 00:12:45.259 very striking about Cranston after they filmed 00:12:45.259 --> 00:12:48.340 the choking scene. She says she saw Bryan Cranston 00:12:48.340 --> 00:12:51.100 sitting quietly in the corner after the take 00:12:51.100 --> 00:12:53.679 and described him as just looking completely 00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:56.700 intense and shaken. We actually know why he looked 00:12:56.700 --> 00:13:00.320 that way, thanks to his memoir, A Life in Parts. 00:13:00.659 --> 00:13:03.460 He wrote about his method for that specific moment. 00:13:03.639 --> 00:13:05.960 Cranston actually imagined his own real -life 00:13:05.960 --> 00:13:09.179 daughter, Taylor Dearden, as Jane during the 00:13:09.179 --> 00:13:11.759 filming. He pictured his own child choking to 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:13.899 death in that bed so he could conjure that level 00:13:13.899 --> 00:13:16.690 of pure panic and grief. He described it as the 00:13:16.690 --> 00:13:19.190 most harrowing scene he did on Breaking Bad. 00:13:24.970 --> 00:13:28.269 The reviews and analysis immediately recognized 00:13:28.269 --> 00:13:34.649 what a milestone it was. She noted how it perfectly 00:13:34.649 --> 00:13:37.009 captured the theme of how parents and children 00:13:37.009 --> 00:13:41.620 disappoint each other. She said it was perhaps 00:13:41.620 --> 00:13:44.200 the single best episode to date of the entire 00:13:44.200 --> 00:13:47.320 show. And Alan Sepinwall, writing for What's 00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:49.759 Alan Watching, praised Cranston's performance 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:52.639 heavily. He made a brilliant comparison. He compared 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:55.200 this episode to the Sopranos episode, Kennedy 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:58.179 and Heidi. Where Tony Soprano suffocates Christopher. 00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:01.480 Right. Another anti -hero choosing to let a younger 00:14:01.480 --> 00:14:04.299 surrogate family member die for their own self 00:14:04.299 --> 00:14:08.080 -preservation. It's a fantastic parallel. IGN's 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:11.350 Seth Amidon. gave it an 8 .9 out of 10, noting 00:14:11.350 --> 00:14:13.590 how effectively it pushed the tension right up 00:14:13.590 --> 00:14:15.669 to the finale. And the awards recognized the 00:14:15.669 --> 00:14:18.070 achievement too. Bryan Cranston won his second 00:14:18.070 --> 00:14:20.610 of three consecutive Outstanding Lead Actor Emmy 00:14:20.610 --> 00:14:23.289 Awards for this exact performance. And the writer, 00:14:23.470 --> 00:14:25.590 John Chibon, was nominated for a Writers Guild 00:14:25.590 --> 00:14:28.529 of America Award for episodic drama. The legacy 00:14:28.529 --> 00:14:30.330 of Phoenix is cemented in television history. 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:34.159 In 2019, The Ringer ranked it 17th out of all 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:36.779 62 episodes of the show. And Vulture ranked it 00:14:36.779 --> 00:14:39.559 23rd overall. It always lands near the top. Because 00:14:39.559 --> 00:14:41.620 it's the pivot point. It's the summary of the 00:14:41.620 --> 00:14:44.500 show's ultimate dual nature. It is a story of 00:14:44.500 --> 00:14:46.919 a father trying to save his family, which is 00:14:46.919 --> 00:14:49.720 Walt, and a father losing his family, which is 00:14:49.720 --> 00:14:52.519 Donald. And those two fatherly journeys intersect 00:14:52.519 --> 00:14:54.879 in the most tragic way possible at that bar. 00:14:55.159 --> 00:14:57.960 Bringing us back to the Phoenix metaphor, the 00:14:57.960 --> 00:15:00.080 connection between the Mars probe discussion. 00:15:00.429 --> 00:15:04.490 and the themes of discovery, an absolute desolation. 00:15:04.929 --> 00:15:07.470 Walt discovers his true capacity for darkness 00:15:07.470 --> 00:15:09.990 in the desolation of that bedroom. Which brings 00:15:09.990 --> 00:15:11.750 us to our final thought for you to take away 00:15:11.750 --> 00:15:13.350 from this deep dive. We want you to consider 00:15:13.350 --> 00:15:16.590 the concept of passive action. Because legally, 00:15:17.009 --> 00:15:19.929 Walt didn't kill Jane. He didn't administer the 00:15:19.929 --> 00:15:22.669 drug. But he didn't save her when he easily could 00:15:22.669 --> 00:15:25.370 have. So where does the line between a bystander 00:15:25.370 --> 00:15:28.309 and a perpetrator actually blur? If you choose 00:15:28.309 --> 00:15:30.549 to do nothing when doing something costs you 00:15:30.549 --> 00:15:33.289 nothing, are you a murderer? Morally, he crossed 00:15:33.289 --> 00:15:35.659 the line. We encourage you to go back and re 00:15:35.659 --> 00:15:37.919 -watch the bar scene with all of this in mind. 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:40.759 Watch it knowing exactly who Donald is and knowing 00:15:40.759 --> 00:15:43.240 the tragic irony of the advice he gives. The 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:45.820 father of the victim accidentally gives the killer 00:15:45.820 --> 00:15:48.320 the motivation to be in the room. It is haunting. 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:50.759 It really is. Thank you for diving deep with 00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:53.120 us today. Remember that even in fiction, the 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:55.519 most powerful and devastating moments often come 00:15:55.519 --> 00:15:58.139 from quiet decisions rather than loud explosions. 00:15:58.659 --> 00:16:00.539 Well said. We will catch you on the next one.