WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.120 Welcome back to the deep dive. Today we're doing 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:05.759 something a little different. Usually we are 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:08.339 zooming out. Way out. Right, like looking at 00:00:08.339 --> 00:00:10.980 sweeping historical trends or, you know, massive 00:00:10.980 --> 00:00:13.580 tectonic shifts in the tech industry. Exactly. 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:15.560 We usually try to encompass the whole world in 00:00:15.560 --> 00:00:18.140 an hour, but today we're doing the exact opposite. 00:00:18.379 --> 00:00:20.500 We're zooming in. And I mean microscope level. 00:00:20.660 --> 00:00:23.600 Yeah. We are going to spend our time today inside 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:27.179 a single room focused on a single hour of television 00:00:27.179 --> 00:00:31.000 that aired way back in 2010. We are talking about 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:33.570 Breaking Bad. And for you fans listening, you 00:00:33.570 --> 00:00:35.649 probably already know exactly where we are going 00:00:35.649 --> 00:00:37.409 with this. We aren't talking about the train 00:00:37.409 --> 00:00:39.829 heist. We aren't talking about the explosive 00:00:39.829 --> 00:00:44.450 finale. We are talking about season three, episode 00:00:44.450 --> 00:00:48.649 10, the episode titled Simply Fly. Fly. One word, 00:00:49.030 --> 00:00:52.840 one room, two guys. And a bug. It is arguably 00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:55.219 the most polarizing hour of television in the 00:00:55.219 --> 00:00:56.740 modern era. I mean, you mentioned this episode 00:00:56.740 --> 00:00:59.140 to a Breaking Bad fan, and you get one of two 00:00:59.140 --> 00:01:01.659 reactions. Always. They either groan, roll their 00:01:01.659 --> 00:01:03.740 eyes, and say, oh, the bottle episode where nothing 00:01:03.740 --> 00:01:06.480 happens. Or they get this intense look in their 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:09.299 eyes and tell you it's a masterpiece of psychological 00:01:09.299 --> 00:01:11.700 horror. It really is the Marmite of television 00:01:11.700 --> 00:01:14.760 episodes. You love it or you hate it. There is 00:01:14.760 --> 00:01:17.099 very little middle ground here. And what's fascinating 00:01:17.099 --> 00:01:19.900 is that both sides are kind of right. They are. 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:24.579 On the surface, it is literally 47 minutes of 00:01:24.579 --> 00:01:27.620 Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul trying to swat 00:01:27.620 --> 00:01:30.870 a housefly. That is the plot. Which sounds totally 00:01:30.870 --> 00:01:33.469 insane when you say it out loud. Completely insane. 00:01:33.590 --> 00:01:36.769 Because this is a show about meth dealers, cartels, 00:01:36.930 --> 00:01:39.450 decapitated heads -on turtles, and high stakes 00:01:39.450 --> 00:01:42.349 poker games with the DEA. Right. And then right 00:01:42.349 --> 00:01:45.150 in the middle of season three, the brakes just 00:01:45.150 --> 00:01:47.329 screech to a halt. We watch a guy fall off a 00:01:47.329 --> 00:01:49.590 ladder trying to catch a bug. But that screeching 00:01:49.590 --> 00:01:53.189 halt is exactly why we are here today. Because 00:01:53.189 --> 00:01:56.030 when you stop the momentum of a thriller, When 00:01:56.030 --> 00:01:58.290 you strip away the explosions and the villains 00:01:58.290 --> 00:02:00.870 you are left with something much scarier. The 00:02:00.870 --> 00:02:04.049 human mind. Exactly. This episode isn't about 00:02:04.049 --> 00:02:08.009 a fly. It's a master class in psychology, a lesson 00:02:08.009 --> 00:02:10.969 in the brutal economic realities of Hollywood 00:02:10.969 --> 00:02:13.990 production, and really a visual experiment that 00:02:13.990 --> 00:02:16.909 pushes the boundaries of what a TV drama can 00:02:16.909 --> 00:02:19.490 actually do. So here is our mission for this 00:02:19.490 --> 00:02:22.509 deep dive. We're going to unpack the why and 00:02:22.509 --> 00:02:24.409 the how. We're going to look at the financial 00:02:24.409 --> 00:02:27.030 desperation that forced this episode to exist. 00:02:27.540 --> 00:02:29.919 Spoiler alert, they were completely broke. Totally 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:32.360 in the red. We're also going to break down the 00:02:32.360 --> 00:02:34.500 psychological meltdown of Walter White, which 00:02:34.500 --> 00:02:37.000 is the actual plot of the hour. And we're going 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:39.180 to explore this massive divide in the audience. 00:02:39.460 --> 00:02:42.199 Why do critics call this a perfect hour of television 00:02:42.199 --> 00:02:45.479 while so many fans list it as the one episode 00:02:45.479 --> 00:02:47.560 they skip on a rewatch? And ultimately, we are 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:49.659 going to answer the question, is this episode 00:02:49.659 --> 00:02:53.039 filler? Or is it actually the skeleton key that 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:55.199 unlocks the entire series? Okay, let's unpack 00:02:55.199 --> 00:02:56.919 this. Let's start with the reality of making 00:02:56.919 --> 00:02:59.259 television. Because I think, as viewers, we assume 00:02:59.259 --> 00:03:01.400 a show like Breaking Bad, especially by season 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:04.900 three, just has a blank check. You would think 00:03:04.900 --> 00:03:07.099 so. They were winning Emmys, the ratings were 00:03:07.099 --> 00:03:09.620 climbing. Surely Vince Gilligan, the creator, 00:03:09.860 --> 00:03:12.020 could do whatever he wanted. The reality is much 00:03:12.020 --> 00:03:14.199 grittier than that. By the time they reached 00:03:14.199 --> 00:03:16.759 the production slot for episode 10 of season 00:03:16.759 --> 00:03:19.860 three, the show was... to use Vince Gilligan's 00:03:19.860 --> 00:03:22.939 own words, hopelessly over budget. How does a 00:03:22.939 --> 00:03:25.460 massive hit show like that just run out of money? 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:27.900 Well, think about what they had done in the first 00:03:27.900 --> 00:03:30.900 nine episodes of that season. They had intricate 00:03:30.900 --> 00:03:33.539 action sequences, massive location shoot out 00:03:33.539 --> 00:03:36.340 in the desert, destroyed vehicles. Quality costs 00:03:36.340 --> 00:03:38.800 money. It does. And they had simply spent their 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:41.219 allowance. They were in the red. So they can't 00:03:41.219 --> 00:03:43.300 just go to the network and ask for a little more 00:03:43.300 --> 00:03:45.219 cash. It really doesn't work like that. Even 00:03:45.219 --> 00:03:48.340 for a huge hit. They had a hard cap. And the 00:03:48.340 --> 00:03:50.500 source material highlights a really specific, 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:53.719 fascinating financial detail that explains exactly 00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:55.960 why this episode looks the way it does. Let's 00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:58.199 hear it. It comes down to the trucks. The trucks. 00:03:58.520 --> 00:04:01.139 The production convoy. When you shoot on location, 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:03.520 say, you want to film a scene at Jesse Pinkman's 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:06.240 house and then a scene out in the desert, you 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:08.639 have to move what they call the circus. Right, 00:04:08.780 --> 00:04:11.050 the whole fleet. The camera trucks, the lighting 00:04:11.050 --> 00:04:13.409 rigs, the makeup trailers, catering, the actors 00:04:13.409 --> 00:04:16.529 trailers. It is a massive fleet of vehicles. 00:04:16.850 --> 00:04:19.110 It's not just hopping in a minivan. It's a full 00:04:19.110 --> 00:04:21.990 military style logistical operation. Exactly. 00:04:22.250 --> 00:04:24.649 And the sources note that simply moving that 00:04:24.649 --> 00:04:26.750 production convol from one location to another 00:04:26.750 --> 00:04:30.810 costs between $25 ,000 and $35 ,000. Wait, let 00:04:30.810 --> 00:04:32.670 me get this straight. That's not paying the actors. 00:04:33.009 --> 00:04:34.889 That's not the cost of the film stock or the 00:04:34.889 --> 00:04:37.069 cameras or lunch. That's just driving. That is 00:04:37.069 --> 00:04:40.629 just the relocation fee. The cost of fuel, drivers, 00:04:40.930 --> 00:04:43.769 permits and the time lost setting up and tearing 00:04:43.769 --> 00:04:46.149 down. Wow. And they looked at the budget for 00:04:46.149 --> 00:04:49.170 episode 10 and realized we literally cannot afford 00:04:49.170 --> 00:04:51.310 to move the trucks. We do not have the 30 grand. 00:04:51.470 --> 00:04:55.069 That is wild. So they were just grounded. Grounded. 00:04:55.310 --> 00:04:57.509 They needed a script that took place in a set 00:04:57.509 --> 00:05:00.470 they already had standing, fully built, and fully 00:05:00.470 --> 00:05:03.430 lit. The super lab. Exactly. And they needed 00:05:03.430 --> 00:05:06.949 it to use as few actors as possible to save on 00:05:06.949 --> 00:05:09.610 guest star fees. And that, my friends, is how 00:05:09.610 --> 00:05:12.870 the bottle episode is born. Right. Bottle episode 00:05:12.870 --> 00:05:15.350 is an old industry term. It goes all the way 00:05:15.350 --> 00:05:17.449 back to the 60s, like the original Star Trek. 00:05:17.550 --> 00:05:19.660 Oh, really? Yeah, when they ran out of money 00:05:19.660 --> 00:05:22.240 for alien planets, they would write an episode 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:24.939 that took place entirely on the Enterprise. They 00:05:24.939 --> 00:05:27.220 would bottle the cast up in the ship. It's a 00:05:27.220 --> 00:05:29.240 cost -saving measure disguised as a creative 00:05:29.240 --> 00:05:32.160 choice. Precisely. But in the case of Fly, it 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:33.959 feels like they didn't just accept the bottle, 00:05:34.060 --> 00:05:36.420 they smashed the bottle over our heads. They 00:05:36.420 --> 00:05:39.399 leaned into it so hard. They really did. If you 00:05:39.399 --> 00:05:42.600 look at the cast list for Fly, it is startlingly 00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:45.160 stark. Aside from a few extras in the background 00:05:45.160 --> 00:05:47.500 at the very beginning and end, like the laundry 00:05:47.500 --> 00:05:49.990 workers. The only people who speak or have any 00:05:49.990 --> 00:05:52.670 screen time are Bryan Cranston as Walt and Aaron 00:05:52.670 --> 00:05:54.910 Paul as Jesse. That is it. It's essentially a 00:05:54.910 --> 00:05:57.589 two -man stage play. It really is. And there's 00:05:57.589 --> 00:05:59.430 a funny quirk in the credits that the sources 00:05:59.430 --> 00:06:02.069 point out. If you watch the opening credits for 00:06:02.069 --> 00:06:04.889 this episode, you see the names of all the regulars. 00:06:04.970 --> 00:06:07.949 Like Dean Norris who plays Hank. Yes. Bitsy Brandt 00:06:07.949 --> 00:06:11.490 who plays Marie. R .J. Mitby who plays Walt Jr. 00:06:12.149 --> 00:06:14.750 They're all listed in the opening text. But they 00:06:14.750 --> 00:06:16.410 never actually show up. They get the credit. 00:06:16.649 --> 00:06:19.230 And likely the paycheck, because they are series 00:06:19.230 --> 00:06:21.970 regulars. But they were told to just stay home. 00:06:22.110 --> 00:06:24.589 To save money on hair, makeup, catering, all 00:06:24.589 --> 00:06:28.250 of it. Exactly. There is one tiny exception, 00:06:28.430 --> 00:06:30.930 though. We do hear the voice of Skylar White, 00:06:31.069 --> 00:06:33.170 played by Anna Gunn. Right. At the beginning. 00:06:33.410 --> 00:06:35.610 But the production notes reveal just how broke 00:06:35.610 --> 00:06:38.129 they were. They didn't even pay Anna Gunn to 00:06:38.129 --> 00:06:40.110 come into a recording booth to do those lines. 00:06:40.170 --> 00:06:43.689 Really? No. They reused audio from a season two 00:06:43.689 --> 00:06:46.230 episode called Phoenix. where she is singing 00:06:46.230 --> 00:06:49.129 a lullaby. They just recycled the tape. That 00:06:49.129 --> 00:06:51.949 is how scrappy this production was. Very scrappy. 00:06:52.089 --> 00:06:54.050 It's amazing to think that one of the greatest 00:06:54.050 --> 00:06:57.670 television dramas of all time was basically operating 00:06:57.670 --> 00:06:59.910 like a student film for a week. Like, hey, we 00:06:59.910 --> 00:07:02.009 have a basement and two actors. What can we make? 00:07:02.290 --> 00:07:04.329 But that is where the absolute genius of Vince 00:07:04.329 --> 00:07:06.670 Gilligan comes in. Yeah. He didn't see this as 00:07:06.670 --> 00:07:09.050 just a limitation. He had a whole philosophy 00:07:09.050 --> 00:07:12.759 about pace. How so? He argued that a season of 00:07:12.759 --> 00:07:15.079 television is like a piece of music. You can't 00:07:15.079 --> 00:07:17.579 have a guitar solo screaming at you for 13 hours 00:07:17.579 --> 00:07:20.199 straight. Right. You get numb to it. If everything 00:07:20.199 --> 00:07:22.720 is an explosion, then an explosion isn't special 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:25.180 anymore. Precisely. Gilligan said you need the 00:07:25.180 --> 00:07:28.000 quiet moments to make the high highs pop. The 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:30.120 contrasts. The quiet episodes allow the audience 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:32.680 to breathe, and they allow the characters to 00:07:32.680 --> 00:07:34.980 actually process what has happened to them. So 00:07:34.980 --> 00:07:38.139 fly is the deep breath before the plunge. It 00:07:38.139 --> 00:07:40.689 is the pause button. But it's a pause button 00:07:40.689 --> 00:07:42.529 where the characters are stuck together in a 00:07:42.529 --> 00:07:44.750 pressure cooker. So we have the context. We know 00:07:44.750 --> 00:07:46.930 why they're trapped in the lab. It's basically 00:07:46.930 --> 00:07:49.910 because the accountant said so. Yeah. Now, let's 00:07:49.910 --> 00:07:52.250 get into the story itself. Let's open the door 00:07:52.250 --> 00:07:55.209 to the super lab and look at what actually happens. 00:07:55.910 --> 00:07:58.389 So chronologically, we are right in the middle 00:07:58.389 --> 00:08:02.009 of season three. And to understand Walt's behavior 00:08:02.009 --> 00:08:04.750 here, you have to look at his medical chart, 00:08:04.829 --> 00:08:06.629 so to speak. And we aren't talking about his 00:08:06.629 --> 00:08:09.360 cancer. No, we are talking about his sleep. The 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:12.660 insomnia. The episode opens with this tight close 00:08:12.660 --> 00:08:15.480 -up of a smoke detector. Just that blinking red 00:08:15.480 --> 00:08:18.480 light. And Walt is just staring at it. Insomnia 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:21.459 is a classic literary device. When a character 00:08:21.459 --> 00:08:24.100 can't sleep, it means their subconscious is trying 00:08:24.100 --> 00:08:26.379 to eat them alive. Their defenses are totally 00:08:26.379 --> 00:08:28.959 down. The filters are gone. Walt is fraying at 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:30.980 the edges. So he goes down to the lab with Jesse. 00:08:31.579 --> 00:08:34.340 And right away, there's this tension about the 00:08:34.340 --> 00:08:37.090 product. And of course with Walt. It is always 00:08:37.090 --> 00:08:39.230 about the math. It is always the math. Yeah. 00:08:39.389 --> 00:08:41.889 Walt has calculated exactly how much meth they 00:08:41.889 --> 00:08:45.129 should be producing based on the chemical precursors 00:08:45.129 --> 00:08:47.690 they have in the tanks. And the yield is coming 00:08:47.690 --> 00:08:50.389 up short. Not by a massive amount, but enough 00:08:50.389 --> 00:08:52.909 to be statistically significant for a guy like 00:08:52.909 --> 00:08:55.570 Walt. Exactly. And Jesse tries to just wave it 00:08:55.570 --> 00:08:58.610 off. He gives us the word of the episode spillage. 00:08:58.610 --> 00:09:00.929 He says, oh, you know, just spillage. We spilled 00:09:00.929 --> 00:09:02.889 some like they are baking cookies and drop some 00:09:02.889 --> 00:09:05.289 flour on the floor. But Walt isn't buying it. 00:09:05.419 --> 00:09:08.700 And the audience knows Walt is right. We know 00:09:08.700 --> 00:09:11.399 from previous episodes that Jesse is stealing. 00:09:11.639 --> 00:09:14.399 Yeah, he's skimming. He is skimming small amounts 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:17.379 of the surplus meth to sell on the side to recover 00:09:17.379 --> 00:09:20.539 his own financial losses. So right from the jump, 00:09:20.820 --> 00:09:23.820 you have this incredibly tense dynamic where 00:09:23.820 --> 00:09:27.419 Walt is paranoid. But his paranoia is actually 00:09:27.419 --> 00:09:29.559 completely justified. He's essentially being 00:09:29.559 --> 00:09:32.379 gaslit by his partner. Exactly. And in that state 00:09:32.379 --> 00:09:35.200 of sleep -deprived paranoia, he spots it. The 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:37.860 fly. Enter the antagonist. The antagonist. He 00:09:37.860 --> 00:09:40.559 is all alone in the lab after Jesse leaves for 00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:44.080 the night. And he sees this common housefly buzzing 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:47.320 around. Now, in a normal context, you swat it 00:09:47.320 --> 00:09:51.220 or you ignore it. It's a bug. But to Walt, this 00:09:51.220 --> 00:09:54.399 lab is his church. It is the one place in his 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:57.320 chaotic life where he has total absolute control. 00:09:57.740 --> 00:10:00.620 It is sterile. It is perfect. And the fly represents 00:10:00.620 --> 00:10:03.559 what? Dirt? Contamination. That is the word he 00:10:03.559 --> 00:10:06.019 keeps using over and over. Contamination. He 00:10:06.019 --> 00:10:07.980 convinces himself that if the fly lands on the 00:10:07.980 --> 00:10:10.019 equipment, the entire batch of meth will be ruined. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:12.000 Which is scientifically ridiculous, right? I 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:13.840 mean, it's a tiny fly. It's not going to ruin 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:16.659 200 pounds of crystal meth. It is highly dubious 00:10:16.659 --> 00:10:18.559 science. But it isn't about the chemistry at 00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:21.379 all. It's about control. Think about his life. 00:10:21.769 --> 00:10:25.070 Walt has lost control of his family. Skyler wants 00:10:25.070 --> 00:10:27.889 a divorce. He is losing control of his business 00:10:27.889 --> 00:10:31.169 because he suspects Jesse is stealing. He can't 00:10:31.169 --> 00:10:33.509 even control his own brain's ability to sleep. 00:10:34.269 --> 00:10:36.110 So the fly is the one thing he thinks he can 00:10:36.110 --> 00:10:39.490 actually conquer. Yes, it becomes a massive psychological 00:10:39.490 --> 00:10:42.330 projection. And this leads directly to the slapstick 00:10:42.330 --> 00:10:45.190 portion of the episode. And I think this is where 00:10:45.190 --> 00:10:47.210 the haters we mentioned really start to check 00:10:47.210 --> 00:10:49.870 out. For sure. Because we see Heisenberg, the 00:10:49.870 --> 00:10:52.929 danger, the one who knocks, literally making 00:10:52.929 --> 00:10:56.370 a makeshift fly swatter out of insulation material 00:10:56.370 --> 00:10:58.950 and running around like a cartoon character. 00:10:59.070 --> 00:11:01.570 It is pure slapstick. Yeah. And you have to give 00:11:01.570 --> 00:11:03.230 credit to Rian Johnson, the director of this 00:11:03.230 --> 00:11:05.809 episode. He leans fully into the absurdity of 00:11:05.809 --> 00:11:07.769 it. He shoots it from these really low angles. 00:11:07.870 --> 00:11:11.000 He uses wide lenses. There is a shot where Walt 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:12.960 falls off the catwalk that looks like something 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:15.019 straight out of Wile E. Coyote. He really hurts 00:11:15.019 --> 00:11:17.360 himself too. He falls, hits the metal equipment. 00:11:17.460 --> 00:11:20.320 It's a brutal drop. But that physical fall is 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:23.179 important structurally. It renders him physically 00:11:23.179 --> 00:11:25.879 vulnerable to match his mental vulnerability. 00:11:26.220 --> 00:11:27.940 Right. So when Jesse comes in the next morning, 00:11:28.139 --> 00:11:32.110 he finds Walt bruised, manic. and refusing to 00:11:32.110 --> 00:11:35.210 cook. Walt has completely shut down the entire 00:11:35.210 --> 00:11:37.289 multi -million dollar operation. He locks them 00:11:37.289 --> 00:11:39.870 in. It's a full on lockdown. He locks Jesse out 00:11:39.870 --> 00:11:42.730 first. Then Jesse actually has to cut the power 00:11:42.730 --> 00:11:45.629 to the lab to force his way back in. And then 00:11:45.629 --> 00:11:48.669 Walt makes a decree. No one leaves until the 00:11:48.669 --> 00:11:51.850 fly is dead. It becomes a siege. Two grown men 00:11:51.850 --> 00:11:54.500 versus an insect. And I want to talk about Jesse's 00:11:54.500 --> 00:11:57.259 reaction here. Because usually, Jesse is the 00:11:57.259 --> 00:12:00.460 one who is emotional, erratic, the problem child 00:12:00.460 --> 00:12:02.580 of the duo. Right. Walt is usually the cold, 00:12:02.919 --> 00:12:05.799 calculating one. But here, Jesse steps up. He 00:12:05.799 --> 00:12:07.960 becomes the adult in the room. It is a total 00:12:07.960 --> 00:12:10.080 role reversal. Jesse sees that Walt is having 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:13.019 a legitimate mental breakdown. He doesn't mock 00:12:13.019 --> 00:12:15.500 him. Well, at least not entirely. He tries to 00:12:15.500 --> 00:12:17.500 actually problem solve. He suggests they just 00:12:17.500 --> 00:12:19.779 cook anyway and ignore it. When that fails, he 00:12:19.779 --> 00:12:22.179 tries to help catch the fly using fly paper and 00:12:22.179 --> 00:12:25.179 a ladder. But crucially, he realizes Walt just 00:12:25.179 --> 00:12:28.320 needs to sleep. So he glugs him. He becomes the 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:31.019 caretaker. He puts sleeping pills in Walt's coffee. 00:12:31.559 --> 00:12:33.960 It's a protective act, but it's also a pragmatic 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:36.320 way to just shut Walt up so they can get back 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:38.559 to work. And while this is happening, Jesse tells 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:40.860 a story that I think is the key to understanding 00:12:40.860 --> 00:12:43.559 Jesse's perspective on all this. The story about 00:12:43.559 --> 00:12:46.700 his aunt. Right, the possum story. Jesse recounts 00:12:46.700 --> 00:12:49.940 how his aunt, who died of cancer, started hearing 00:12:49.940 --> 00:12:52.620 a possum under her house. She was completely 00:12:52.620 --> 00:12:55.259 obsessed with catching it, but there was no possum. 00:12:55.419 --> 00:12:58.120 The cancer had spread to her brain. Exactly, 00:12:58.299 --> 00:13:00.700 and she was having auditory hallucinations. So 00:13:00.700 --> 00:13:02.679 Jesse's looking at Walt, who we all know has 00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:05.580 lung cancer, and he's connecting the dots. He 00:13:05.580 --> 00:13:07.899 thinks the fly isn't real. He thinks the cancer 00:13:07.899 --> 00:13:10.879 has metastasized to Walt's brain. It adds this 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:13.679 incredibly dark layer of tragedy to the slapstick 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:17.000 we were just watching. It does. Jesse looks at 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:20.299 Walt and sees a dying man losing his mind. Walt 00:13:20.299 --> 00:13:23.259 insists he is in remission, that he's completely 00:13:23.259 --> 00:13:26.100 fine, but the seed of doubt is planted for the 00:13:26.100 --> 00:13:28.840 viewer. It reframes the whole episode. Are we 00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:31.340 watching a dark comedy about a bug, or are we 00:13:31.340 --> 00:13:34.179 watching the tragic final decline of a man's 00:13:34.179 --> 00:13:36.980 cognitive faculties? And as those sleeping pills 00:13:36.980 --> 00:13:39.799 that Jesse slipped him start to really take effect, 00:13:40.580 --> 00:13:43.379 the energy of the episode shifts entirely. They're 00:13:43.379 --> 00:13:46.159 running around stock. The frantic energy dissipates 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:49.220 and we enter what I think is the real heart of 00:13:49.220 --> 00:13:52.080 fly. This is section three in our breakdown, 00:13:52.759 --> 00:13:55.820 the emotional core. And this is where the writing 00:13:55.820 --> 00:13:59.450 just absolutely shines. Walt becomes loose. He 00:13:59.450 --> 00:14:02.509 becomes very talkative, and he starts a monologue 00:14:02.509 --> 00:14:04.830 that is arguably the most important look into 00:14:04.830 --> 00:14:07.250 his soul we ever get in the entire series. He 00:14:07.250 --> 00:14:10.049 talks about death, but it's weirdly specific. 00:14:10.269 --> 00:14:13.009 He isn't saying, I don't want to die. He's essentially 00:14:13.009 --> 00:14:15.909 saying, I live too long. He is obsessed with 00:14:15.909 --> 00:14:18.169 the timing of his death. He treats his life like 00:14:18.169 --> 00:14:20.250 a mathematical graph, like a stock market chart. 00:14:20.590 --> 00:14:23.120 He is looking for the peak. The perfect moment. 00:14:23.379 --> 00:14:24.899 He's trying to solve the equation of his own 00:14:24.899 --> 00:14:26.879 life. Yes. He says there was a moment where he 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:28.759 had made enough money to leave his family secure. 00:14:28.940 --> 00:14:32.039 His baby daughter was born. But before the really 00:14:32.039 --> 00:14:33.980 bad stuff happened, before Skyler found out about 00:14:33.980 --> 00:14:36.519 the drugs, before he became the villain in his 00:14:36.519 --> 00:14:40.039 own home, he says, I missed it. He missed his 00:14:40.039 --> 00:14:42.700 exit ramp. And he pinpoints the exact night. 00:14:43.159 --> 00:14:44.840 And this is where the hair on the back of my 00:14:44.840 --> 00:14:48.340 neck stood up watching it. He lands on the night 00:14:48.340 --> 00:14:51.220 Jane Margolis died. This is the elephant in the 00:14:51.220 --> 00:14:53.519 room, the ghost in the machine for this whole 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:55.700 episode. For listeners who might be fuzzy on 00:14:55.700 --> 00:14:58.539 season two, let's recap Jane. Jane was Jessie's 00:14:58.539 --> 00:15:01.279 girlfriend. They were in love. They were planning 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:04.179 to run away to New Zealand with Jessie's drug 00:15:04.179 --> 00:15:06.759 money. She was a recovering addict who relapsed 00:15:06.759 --> 00:15:09.139 because of Jessie. And one night she overdosed 00:15:09.139 --> 00:15:11.539 in her sleep. She choked. And Walt was there. 00:15:11.820 --> 00:15:13.960 Walt broke into the apartment to talk to Jessie. 00:15:14.440 --> 00:15:17.899 He saw Jane start to choke. He rushed to the 00:15:17.899 --> 00:15:19.840 bed to help her, and then he stopped. He let 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:21.980 her die. He watched her die because she was a 00:15:21.980 --> 00:15:24.840 threat to him. She knew too much. She was blackmailing 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:27.460 him, and she was taking Jessie away. It is the 00:15:27.460 --> 00:15:30.080 moment Walt went from desperate guy breaking 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:33.559 the law to feed his family to an absolute monster. 00:15:33.799 --> 00:15:36.539 Yes. And here he is, stoned on sleeping poles, 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:38.399 sitting on the floor of the lab with Jessie, 00:15:38.440 --> 00:15:41.100 the man who loved her, talking about that exact 00:15:41.100 --> 00:15:44.940 night. And he drops a bombshell of a detail that 00:15:44.940 --> 00:15:48.759 Jessie doesn't know. He tells Jesse that earlier 00:15:48.759 --> 00:15:51.279 that same night, before he went to their apartment, 00:15:51.740 --> 00:15:53.779 he stopped at a bar for a drink. And he met a 00:15:53.779 --> 00:15:56.519 man. A complete stranger. They sat and had a 00:15:56.519 --> 00:15:59.059 beer. They talked about water on Mars. They talked 00:15:59.059 --> 00:16:01.919 about raising daughters. And that man was Donald 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:05.480 Margolis, Jane's father. The father of the girl 00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:09.039 Walt would watch die just two hours later. Walt 00:16:09.039 --> 00:16:11.080 is obsessed with the odds of that meeting. He's 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:13.820 a scientist. He believes in probability and logic. 00:16:14.220 --> 00:16:16.779 And he cannot make the math work. He tries to 00:16:16.779 --> 00:16:18.320 calculate it right there on the floor. He says 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:21.220 the universe is random, it's chaos, it's just 00:16:21.220 --> 00:16:23.480 subatomic particles colliding. But the odds of 00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:25.840 meeting that specific man in a city the size 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:28.559 of Albuquerque on that specific night, he calls 00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:31.120 it astronomical. It breaks his worldview. It 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:33.059 really does. Walt wants to believe the universe 00:16:33.059 --> 00:16:35.799 is a cold, unfeeling machine. Because if the 00:16:35.799 --> 00:16:38.039 universe is just a machine, then there is no 00:16:38.039 --> 00:16:40.139 morality. There is no ultimate judgment for what 00:16:40.139 --> 00:16:43.179 he did to Jane. But this coincidence, it feels 00:16:43.179 --> 00:16:45.000 like fate. It feels like God put him in that 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:48.179 bar to warn him or to judge him. He says something 00:16:48.179 --> 00:16:50.620 like the universe is screaming at you. Exactly. 00:16:50.779 --> 00:16:53.360 And the fly represents that screaming. The fly 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:55.759 is the chaos he can't control. It's the physical 00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:57.919 reminder that no matter how much he calculates, 00:16:57.919 --> 00:17:00.259 he is trapped in a moral web he can't escape. 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:02.860 And as he is rambling about this, the tension 00:17:02.860 --> 00:17:05.630 is just skyrocketing. Jesse is up on the ladder 00:17:05.630 --> 00:17:07.990 trying to get the fly. Walt is on the ground 00:17:07.990 --> 00:17:10.130 getting sleepier and sleepier. And he starts 00:17:10.130 --> 00:17:13.250 apologizing. He says, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry 00:17:13.250 --> 00:17:15.869 about Jane. Every viewer at home is holding their 00:17:15.869 --> 00:17:18.529 breath. Because if he says, I watched her die, 00:17:18.589 --> 00:17:21.650 it's over. The show is over. Jesse kills him 00:17:21.650 --> 00:17:23.450 right there with the ladder. It is the ultimate 00:17:23.450 --> 00:17:25.730 tease. We're teetering right on the edge of the 00:17:25.730 --> 00:17:27.630 precipice. Walt is murmuring. His subconscious 00:17:27.630 --> 00:17:31.109 is leaking out. He is inches away from confessing 00:17:31.109 --> 00:17:34.740 his darkest sin. And then? The moment snaps. 00:17:35.079 --> 00:17:37.519 Jesse sees the fly. The tension completely breaks. 00:17:37.700 --> 00:17:40.339 Jesse swings. He swats the fly against the ceiling 00:17:40.339 --> 00:17:42.900 light. A direct hit. The physical antagonist 00:17:42.900 --> 00:17:45.400 is dead. Just like that? Jesse climbs down the 00:17:45.400 --> 00:17:47.900 ladder, holding the dead bug like a trophy. He 00:17:47.900 --> 00:17:52.059 shows it to Walt. Look. I got it. And the window 00:17:52.059 --> 00:17:55.160 for confession abruptly closes. Walt looks at 00:17:55.160 --> 00:17:57.519 the bug and he whispers, it's all contaminated. 00:17:57.950 --> 00:18:00.730 and then he passes out. It's a brilliant narrative 00:18:00.730 --> 00:18:04.269 move by the writers. The resolution of the physical 00:18:04.269 --> 00:18:07.250 plot, killing the fly, actually prevents the 00:18:07.250 --> 00:18:09.190 resolution of the emotional plot, which would 00:18:09.190 --> 00:18:11.650 be the confection. The violence saves Walt from 00:18:11.650 --> 00:18:14.529 having to tell the truth. Exactly. So the siege 00:18:14.529 --> 00:18:16.690 finally ends, the next morning they clean up, 00:18:16.869 --> 00:18:20.450 they cook the batch, the yield is good, and Jesse 00:18:20.450 --> 00:18:22.990 drives Walt home. And there is this quiet moment 00:18:22.990 --> 00:18:25.549 in the car where you think, okay, they've bonded. 00:18:26.039 --> 00:18:27.779 They went through the trenches together. They 00:18:27.779 --> 00:18:29.960 understand each other better now. You really 00:18:29.960 --> 00:18:32.339 want to believe that. Jesse is being so gentle 00:18:32.339 --> 00:18:34.940 with him, he drops Walt off at his house. But 00:18:34.940 --> 00:18:38.160 then Walt turns to him and the mask is back on. 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:40.640 Heisenberg returns. Walt warns him point blank. 00:18:40.839 --> 00:18:42.839 He says, if you are stealing, I can't protect 00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:46.079 you. I can't protect you. That is so heavy. He's 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:47.740 basically saying, I know exactly what you're 00:18:47.740 --> 00:18:50.039 doing. And if our boss Gus finds out, you're 00:18:50.039 --> 00:18:52.740 on your own. It destroys the intimacy of the 00:18:52.740 --> 00:18:55.690 previous 40 minutes in an instant. It reminds 00:18:55.690 --> 00:18:59.069 us that these two are not friends. They are accomplices. 00:18:59.190 --> 00:19:02.410 And there is zero trust. Walt knows Jesse is 00:19:02.410 --> 00:19:04.890 stealing. Jesse knows Walt is hiding things. 00:19:05.349 --> 00:19:07.829 They are locked in a death spiral. Jesse pushes 00:19:07.829 --> 00:19:09.690 back though. He says, I'm not asking for your 00:19:09.690 --> 00:19:12.269 protection. Which is a complete lie because he 00:19:12.269 --> 00:19:14.849 definitely needs it. But he's asserting his independence. 00:19:15.009 --> 00:19:16.890 He's putting his own armor back on. And then 00:19:16.890 --> 00:19:19.470 we get the final shot of the episode. Walt is 00:19:19.470 --> 00:19:21.630 back in his house. He's in his own bed. He's 00:19:21.630 --> 00:19:25.200 trying to sleep. And the camera pans up. Slowly. 00:19:26.259 --> 00:19:28.680 To the smoke detector. And we hear it. Blast. 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:32.559 The fly? It's back. I have a different fly. But 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:34.700 it lands right on the blinking light. So what 00:19:34.700 --> 00:19:36.839 are we supposed to take from that ending? Was 00:19:36.839 --> 00:19:38.640 the whole episode for nothing? They didn't even 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:41.099 kill the right fly. I think the expert interpretation 00:19:41.099 --> 00:19:43.950 here is purely symbolic. If the fly represents 00:19:43.950 --> 00:19:46.950 contamination, if it represents guilt or the 00:19:46.950 --> 00:19:50.089 rot inside Walt's soul, then the ending is telling 00:19:50.089 --> 00:19:52.190 us that you can't kill it with a fly swatter. 00:19:52.490 --> 00:19:54.589 You can scrub the lab, but you can't clean your 00:19:54.589 --> 00:19:57.710 soul. Precisely. The contamination is internal. 00:19:58.309 --> 00:20:01.210 Walt is a contaminant. As long as he's alive, 00:20:01.769 --> 00:20:04.490 the buzzing will continue. That is incredibly 00:20:04.490 --> 00:20:07.710 dark. But it fits perfectly with the overarching 00:20:07.710 --> 00:20:09.630 theme of the show. Now. We've unpacked the plot. 00:20:09.789 --> 00:20:11.529 We've unpacked the production history I want 00:20:11.529 --> 00:20:13.190 to spend this last segment talking about the 00:20:13.190 --> 00:20:15.589 reaction because as we said at the start this 00:20:15.589 --> 00:20:18.650 episode is a battlefield Marmite episode. Let's 00:20:18.650 --> 00:20:20.950 talk about the people who love it first The critics 00:20:20.950 --> 00:20:24.289 seem to really really rally behind this one Critics 00:20:24.289 --> 00:20:26.549 usually love bottle episodes because they strip 00:20:26.549 --> 00:20:29.430 away the spectacle and force a focus on pure 00:20:29.430 --> 00:20:33.019 acting if you are a TV critic You want to see 00:20:33.019 --> 00:20:34.759 Bryan Kranstenach. You don't just want to see 00:20:34.759 --> 00:20:36.660 him walk away from a cool explosion. Who are 00:20:36.660 --> 00:20:39.299 the big champions of fly? Well, Donna Bowman 00:20:39.299 --> 00:20:41.920 at the AV Club gave it an A immediately upon 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:45.359 airing. She praised the visual risk taking. As 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:47.500 we mentioned, Ryan Johnson did some crazy stuff 00:20:47.500 --> 00:20:49.799 with the camera. Yeah, the scrub brush POV. He 00:20:49.799 --> 00:20:51.700 attached a camera right to a scrub brush so we 00:20:51.700 --> 00:20:53.680 got the point of view of the floor being scrubbed. 00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:56.279 He used extreme wide angles that made the lab 00:20:56.279 --> 00:20:59.980 look miles long and totally isolating. It felt 00:20:59.980 --> 00:21:02.660 disorienting, nauseating almost. Which was the 00:21:02.660 --> 00:21:05.720 point. Matt Zoller Cites, writing for Vulture, 00:21:06.279 --> 00:21:10.140 went even further. Years later, in 2013, he named 00:21:10.140 --> 00:21:12.880 Fly the single greatest episode of the entire 00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:16.079 series. Wow. Better than Ozymandias. Better than 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:18.819 the pilot. He called it a perfect hour of television. 00:21:19.180 --> 00:21:21.380 He compared it to Pine Barrens from The Sopranos. 00:21:21.619 --> 00:21:25.039 Oh, that's a huge compliment. It is. Pine Barrens 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:27.059 is another famous episode where two gangsters 00:21:27.059 --> 00:21:28.960 get lost in the woods and essentially nothing 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:31.920 happens. The argument is that these episodes 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:34.220 force the characters to stop running from their 00:21:34.220 --> 00:21:36.900 problems and look in the mirror. So the lovers 00:21:36.900 --> 00:21:39.200 say it's high art, it's Beckett, it's waiting 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:42.380 for Godot set in a meth lab. But the haters, 00:21:42.420 --> 00:21:44.799 they have a very, very different take. They do. 00:21:45.210 --> 00:21:47.769 Honestly, their frustration is completely understandable. 00:21:48.009 --> 00:21:50.410 If you tune into Breaking Bad for the plot, the 00:21:50.410 --> 00:21:52.829 cat and mouse game with Gus Fring, the tension 00:21:52.829 --> 00:21:56.069 with the DEA closing in, then Fly is a massive 00:21:56.069 --> 00:21:58.410 speed bump. It stops the story dead in its tracks. 00:21:58.930 --> 00:22:00.710 Right. Tasha Robinson, also from the AV Club, 00:22:00.910 --> 00:22:03.049 so even the same publication was divided. She 00:22:03.049 --> 00:22:05.390 completely hated it. She argued that it made 00:22:05.390 --> 00:22:08.579 Walt look stupid. She said, seeing the great 00:22:08.579 --> 00:22:11.480 mastermind Heisenberg falling off a catwalk and 00:22:11.480 --> 00:22:14.460 obsessing over a tiny bug was petty to the point 00:22:14.460 --> 00:22:18.420 of rank stupidity. She felt it betrayed the character's 00:22:18.420 --> 00:22:20.519 established competence. I get that. You spend 00:22:20.519 --> 00:22:22.640 three seasons building this guy up as a tactical 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:24.920 genius and then he spends an hour acting like 00:22:24.920 --> 00:22:28.059 a fool. Clyder recently called it the most polarizing 00:22:28.059 --> 00:22:30.819 episode and noted that many fans consider it 00:22:30.819 --> 00:22:33.799 highly skippable. Skippable? Yeah. They argue 00:22:33.799 --> 00:22:35.759 that because the fly is dead at the end and the 00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:38.220 status quo is essentially reset, you can skip 00:22:38.220 --> 00:22:41.200 episode 10, go straight to episode 11, and is 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:44.180 absolutely nothing of the plot. Business Insider 00:22:44.180 --> 00:22:46.779 in 2019 even labeled it the most aided episode. 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:49.200 That is the big question, isn't it? Is it filler? 00:22:49.740 --> 00:22:51.440 If I'm telling a friend to watch the show for 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:53.420 the first time, do I tell them to skip fly? I 00:22:53.420 --> 00:22:55.440 would argue it is the least skippable episode 00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:57.819 of the entire show. Because if you skip fly, 00:22:58.440 --> 00:23:00.900 you miss the emotional explanation for everything 00:23:00.900 --> 00:23:03.259 that happens afterwards. You miss seeing the 00:23:03.259 --> 00:23:05.720 massive crack in the armor. If you don't see 00:23:05.720 --> 00:23:08.779 Walt's crushing guilt here, his actions in the 00:23:08.779 --> 00:23:11.279 Season 3 finale, which are incredibly violent 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:14.119 and desperate, seem sudden. They come out of 00:23:14.119 --> 00:23:16.680 nowhere without this setup. Exactly. Fly shows 00:23:16.680 --> 00:23:20.259 us that he is a man on the verge of a total psychotic 00:23:20.259 --> 00:23:22.500 break. It's the structural load -bearing wall. 00:23:22.599 --> 00:23:24.660 It doesn't look pretty, maybe, but it holds the 00:23:24.660 --> 00:23:27.299 whole roof up. Yes. And it forces the viewer 00:23:27.299 --> 00:23:31.019 to sit in the discomfort. We are so used to TV 00:23:31.019 --> 00:23:33.420 moving fast, giving us constant dopamine hits. 00:23:33.859 --> 00:23:36.740 This episode demands patience. It traps you in 00:23:36.740 --> 00:23:39.079 the room with them. You feel the claustrophobia. 00:23:39.099 --> 00:23:41.279 You feel the profound annoyance. That isn't bad 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:44.200 writing. That is the exact intended effect. So 00:23:44.200 --> 00:23:46.299 we have an episode that was born out of literal 00:23:46.299 --> 00:23:48.359 poverty. They literally couldn't afford to move 00:23:48.359 --> 00:23:51.259 the trucks. And it resulted in an abundance of 00:23:51.259 --> 00:23:53.839 character depth. It proves that limitations breed 00:23:53.839 --> 00:23:56.440 true creativity. If they had a million dollars 00:23:56.440 --> 00:23:58.140 more in the budget, we might have gotten a generic 00:23:58.140 --> 00:24:00.950 cartel shootout. Instead, we got a terrifying 00:24:00.950 --> 00:24:03.430 glimpse into the abyss of Walt's mind. I want 00:24:03.430 --> 00:24:05.809 to circle back to that final image for our closing 00:24:05.809 --> 00:24:08.910 thought. The fly returning. The buzzing in the 00:24:08.910 --> 00:24:11.569 dark. Walt hears it, but this time he doesn't 00:24:11.569 --> 00:24:14.069 get up. He doesn't grab the makeshift swatter. 00:24:14.109 --> 00:24:16.829 He just lies there. He closes his eyes. Here 00:24:16.829 --> 00:24:18.650 is my question for you and for the listener. 00:24:19.109 --> 00:24:22.170 Think about this. If the fly represents the contamination 00:24:22.170 --> 00:24:24.960 of his soul, and he decides to just ignore it 00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:27.480 and go to sleep, does that mean he has accepted 00:24:27.480 --> 00:24:30.200 the contamination? That is the terrifying implication. 00:24:30.339 --> 00:24:33.599 Is fly the exact moment where Walter White finally 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:36.299 kills off the very last remnant of his conscience? 00:24:36.539 --> 00:24:39.240 Not by swatting it, but by simply learning to 00:24:39.240 --> 00:24:41.940 live with the noise. By learning to sleep soundly, 00:24:42.119 --> 00:24:44.400 even while the guilt is buzzing right above his 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:46.740 head. I think that is exactly what it is. He 00:24:46.740 --> 00:24:49.440 realizes he is a monster and he decides he can 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:51.799 comfortably live with that. He chooses to sleep 00:24:51.799 --> 00:24:54.160 over the cleansing. It's a chilling thought, 00:24:54.220 --> 00:24:56.000 and it totally changes how you see everything 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:58.259 that comes after. He isn't fighting for his soul 00:24:58.259 --> 00:25:01.000 anymore. He's just fighting to survive. He surrendered 00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:04.099 to the fly. Well, on that cheerful note, next 00:25:04.099 --> 00:25:05.900 time you hear a buzzing in your room in the middle 00:25:05.900 --> 00:25:08.440 of the night, maybe ask yourself what you're 00:25:08.440 --> 00:25:10.599 feeling guilty about. Or, you know, just buy 00:25:10.599 --> 00:25:13.480 a better fly swatter. Or just go to sleep. Thank 00:25:13.480 --> 00:25:15.539 you so much for listening to this deep dive into 00:25:15.539 --> 00:25:18.220 Breaking Bad's fly. It's been a truly fascinating 00:25:18.220 --> 00:25:20.359 trip into the lab. Thanks for having me. We'll 00:25:20.359 --> 00:25:23.559 see you next time. Stay contamination free, everyone.