WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.160 Welcome back to The Deep Dive. We've got a massive 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:06.639 stack of notes today. Oh, yeah. It feels heavy 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:09.519 just holding it, honestly. It really does. Because 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:12.740 today, we're not just talking about a television 00:00:12.740 --> 00:00:16.239 episode. We are dissecting what I'd call a philosophical 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:19.000 pivot point in modern media. Right. We are looking 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:21.960 at the exact moment where Breaking Bad stopped 00:00:21.960 --> 00:00:25.890 being You know, a quirky story about a high school 00:00:25.890 --> 00:00:28.350 chemistry teacher making drugs. And became a 00:00:28.350 --> 00:00:30.829 full -blown Greek tragedy. Exactly. A tragedy 00:00:30.829 --> 00:00:33.829 about the sheer cost of violence. That is honestly 00:00:33.829 --> 00:00:36.729 the perfect way to frame it. We are diving deep 00:00:36.729 --> 00:00:40.549 into season three, episode 12. The title is Half 00:00:40.549 --> 00:00:43.009 Measures. Half Measures. Yeah. And if you look 00:00:43.009 --> 00:00:45.509 at the entire five -season run of the show... 00:00:45.560 --> 00:00:47.979 I really think you can divide the whole timeline 00:00:47.979 --> 00:00:50.700 into two distinct eras. Before half measures 00:00:50.700 --> 00:00:53.079 and after half measure. It's the Rubicon. It 00:00:53.079 --> 00:00:55.500 absolutely is. It's the point of no return. Once 00:00:55.500 --> 00:00:57.640 the credits roll on this one, nothing is the 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:00.100 same. Everything changes. Everything. So let's 00:01:00.100 --> 00:01:01.619 ground ourselves here before we get too carried 00:01:01.619 --> 00:01:04.680 away. Our source material today is the comprehensive 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:07.579 history and analysis of this specific episode. 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:10.340 Mostly anchored by its Wikipedia entry. Right. 00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:13.000 But we've also expanded this with... critical 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:16.260 essays, production notes, and audience reception 00:01:16.260 --> 00:01:18.920 data from the time. Just to give you all a complete 00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:21.939 picture of what this hour of television actually 00:01:21.939 --> 00:01:24.900 achieved. So for context, we are looking at the 00:01:24.900 --> 00:01:27.819 32nd episode of the series overall. It originally 00:01:27.819 --> 00:01:32.780 aired on AMC on June 6, 2010. Which puts it right 00:01:32.780 --> 00:01:34.879 near the end of season three. It's the penultimate 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:37.260 episode in season. And the tension at this point 00:01:37.260 --> 00:01:40.000 in the show is just... It's suffocating. Oh, 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:42.540 it's unbearable. If you remember where we are 00:01:42.540 --> 00:01:44.920 in the story right now, the walls are closing 00:01:44.920 --> 00:01:46.959 in on these characters from literally every side. 00:01:47.079 --> 00:01:48.719 Yeah, you've got the cartel pushing in. You've 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:51.200 got the DEA getting closer. And the internal 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:52.859 strife between the main characters, it's all 00:01:52.859 --> 00:01:54.799 reaching a boiling point. And the central theme 00:01:54.799 --> 00:01:56.459 we're going to be wrestling with today is right 00:01:56.459 --> 00:01:59.439 there in the title, half measures. Which, I mean, 00:01:59.540 --> 00:02:01.120 it sounds like a corporate strategy, doesn't 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:03.000 it? Yeah, it sounds like something you'd hear 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:05.120 in a boardroom meeting. Right, like they're discussing 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:07.040 quarterly projections or something. Exactly. 00:02:07.579 --> 00:02:09.719 But in the context of the Albuquerque underworld, 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:12.400 it's a life or death doctrine. It's the idea 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:17.259 that hesitation or mercy or trying to find a 00:02:17.259 --> 00:02:19.840 middle ground in a world of extremes doesn't 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:22.919 just fail. It gets people killed. Yes. It is 00:02:22.919 --> 00:02:25.840 a fundamental argument against compromise. And 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:28.319 the players on the board for this argument are 00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:31.419 our core quartet. You have Walter White, the 00:02:31.419 --> 00:02:33.719 chemist. Jesse Pinkman, who is really the soul 00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:36.659 of the show. Gus Fring, the completely corporate 00:02:36.659 --> 00:02:39.759 face of evil. And Mike Ermentrout, the man who 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:41.979 brings this whole philosophy crashing down on 00:02:41.979 --> 00:02:45.219 their heads. It's such a fascinating mix of personalities 00:02:45.219 --> 00:02:47.319 when you put them all in one narrative pressure 00:02:47.319 --> 00:02:49.500 cooker. You have the pragmatist in Walt. The 00:02:49.500 --> 00:02:52.419 emotional moralist in Jesse. The cold calculator 00:02:52.419 --> 00:02:55.639 in Gus. And the weary, cynical veteran in Mike. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:58.439 And this episode serves as the collision chamber 00:02:58.439 --> 00:03:01.120 for all of those conflicting worldviews. So let's 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:03.500 get into the machinery of it all. Let's start 00:03:03.500 --> 00:03:06.379 with section one, the setup and the schemes. 00:03:06.699 --> 00:03:09.039 Because before we get to the gunfire and the 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:12.099 chaos, we have to look at the chess moves. We 00:03:12.099 --> 00:03:16.000 really do. And strangely enough, the first aggressive 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:18.300 move, or at least the most strategic move regarding 00:03:18.300 --> 00:03:21.020 their operation, doesn't come from a drug lord. 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:23.759 No, it doesn't. It comes from Skylar White. This 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:26.199 is such an overlooked part of this episode. I 00:03:26.199 --> 00:03:29.259 think because of how incredibly violent the ending 00:03:29.259 --> 00:03:32.319 is, people tend to forget the domestic side of 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:34.500 things in half measures. Yeah, the explosion 00:03:34.500 --> 00:03:36.659 at the end kind of blinds you to the slow burn 00:03:36.659 --> 00:03:39.819 at the beginning. Exactly. But Skylar's arc here 00:03:39.819 --> 00:03:43.330 is vital. Up until now, she's been arguably a 00:03:43.330 --> 00:03:45.729 victim of Walt's choices. Or at least a very 00:03:45.729 --> 00:03:48.110 reluctant participant who has been dragging her 00:03:48.110 --> 00:03:51.349 feet. Right. But here, she is taking the wheel 00:03:51.349 --> 00:03:53.969 on the money laundering. The notes mention she's 00:03:53.969 --> 00:03:56.650 heavily pushing the car wash plan. Now, let's 00:03:56.650 --> 00:03:59.210 unpack this for a second. Because Saul Goodman, 00:03:59.289 --> 00:04:01.590 the criminal lawyer, he already had a plan. The 00:04:01.590 --> 00:04:04.050 laser tag place. Right. He had the laser tag 00:04:04.050 --> 00:04:06.479 place lined up. It was easy. It was clean. Danny, 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:08.800 the laser tag guy, would play ball. It was a 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:11.259 turnkey operation for laundering drug money. 00:04:11.699 --> 00:04:14.599 Exactly. So why fight for the car wash? Why does 00:04:14.599 --> 00:04:17.779 Skyler insist on making it more difficult? Because 00:04:17.779 --> 00:04:21.100 it's about narrative control. Skyler isn't just 00:04:21.100 --> 00:04:24.040 trying to wash the money. She is trying to wash 00:04:24.040 --> 00:04:26.439 their history. Think about what the car wash 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:28.480 represents to Walter White. I mean, it was his 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:31.579 place of absolute humiliation. Exactly. Go back 00:04:31.579 --> 00:04:34.060 to the pilot episode. He's a genius chemist, 00:04:34.339 --> 00:04:36.339 but he's working there part -time just to make 00:04:36.339 --> 00:04:38.399 ends meet for his family. He's wiping down the 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:40.800 tires of a Corvette owned by one of his own high 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:43.500 school students. A student who actively disrespects 00:04:43.500 --> 00:04:46.339 him while he's doing it. The car wash is the 00:04:46.339 --> 00:04:49.819 ultimate symbol of his emasculation and his financial 00:04:49.819 --> 00:04:53.300 struggle. So by buying it? By buying it, she's 00:04:53.300 --> 00:04:56.319 flipping the script on their own lives. It's 00:04:56.319 --> 00:04:58.420 not just a pragmatic business decision. It's 00:04:58.420 --> 00:05:01.740 a psychological reclamation project. Wow. Yeah, 00:05:01.740 --> 00:05:03.800 she wants to take the very side of his lowest 00:05:03.800 --> 00:05:06.379 point and turn it into the engine of their future 00:05:06.379 --> 00:05:09.319 wealth. It's poetic, really, in a very twisted, 00:05:09.560 --> 00:05:11.939 pragmatic way. It really shows that Skyler isn't 00:05:11.939 --> 00:05:14.740 just a passive wife anymore. She's becoming a 00:05:14.740 --> 00:05:17.360 full partner in this enterprise. She's analyzing 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:20.100 the story they have to sell to the IRS. She's 00:05:20.100 --> 00:05:21.819 thinking about what the neighbors will believe. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:25.240 Because a laser tag place makes zero sense for 00:05:25.240 --> 00:05:27.180 a 50 -something high school chemistry teacher. 00:05:27.399 --> 00:05:30.060 Right. But a car wash. That's believable. He 00:05:30.060 --> 00:05:32.660 worked there. He knows the business. It tracks. 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:35.819 It shows she's actually better at the cover story 00:05:35.819 --> 00:05:38.259 aspect of the criminal enterprise than Walt is. 00:05:38.500 --> 00:05:41.019 Walt wants the easy route with Saul. He just 00:05:41.019 --> 00:05:43.319 wants the problem solved. But Skyler wants the 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:45.199 airtight route, the one that stands up to an 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:48.300 audit. She is making herself indispensable. She 00:05:48.300 --> 00:05:51.300 really is. But while Skyler is playing SimCity 00:05:51.300 --> 00:05:53.620 with the finances and dealing with the logistics 00:05:53.620 --> 00:05:56.759 of their success, Jesse Pinkman is doing something 00:05:56.759 --> 00:05:59.000 much, much more dangerous. He's playing detective 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:01.720 out in the streets. And Jesse is a terrible detective, 00:06:02.040 --> 00:06:04.480 because he leads entirely with his heart, not 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:06.779 his head. He isn't out there gathering intel 00:06:06.779 --> 00:06:09.360 for business leverage. No, he's gathering intel 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:12.420 for revenge. He's investigating the street dealers 00:06:12.420 --> 00:06:15.920 who killed his friend. Combo Ortega. We have 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:19.560 to remember how fresh that wound is. Very fresh. 00:06:20.199 --> 00:06:22.459 Combo wasn't just some low -level employee to 00:06:22.459 --> 00:06:25.319 Jesse. He was one of his day ones. They grew 00:06:25.319 --> 00:06:27.680 up together. And Jesse is out on the streets 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:31.459 using sex workers like Wendy. We have Julia Meshe 00:06:31.459 --> 00:06:33.360 guest starring there to help him figure out who 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:36.060 is dealing on that specific corner. And he finds 00:06:36.060 --> 00:06:39.000 the smoking gun. He manages to buy blue meth 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:41.699 from this specific gang. Which tells him what 00:06:41.699 --> 00:06:44.439 exactly? Why is the blue meth the key piece of 00:06:44.439 --> 00:06:46.600 evidence here? It confirms the entire supply 00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:49.480 chain. If these specific street level thugs are 00:06:49.480 --> 00:06:52.379 selling the blue stuff, which is Walt and Jesse's 00:06:52.379 --> 00:06:55.420 exclusive signature product. They aren't competitors. 00:06:55.660 --> 00:06:57.860 They're employees. Exactly. They work for the 00:06:57.860 --> 00:07:00.740 same distribution network. Which leads directly 00:07:00.740 --> 00:07:03.759 to Gus Fring. Precisely. It means the people 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:06.279 who murdered Combo are on the exact same payroll 00:07:06.279 --> 00:07:09.019 as Jesse and Walt. It's a closed loop. Jesse 00:07:09.019 --> 00:07:12.120 realizes he is essentially colleagues with his 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:14.500 best friend's murderers. That's the nightmare 00:07:14.500 --> 00:07:16.420 realization. You're sitting in the metaphorical 00:07:16.420 --> 00:07:18.879 break room with the guys who shot your friend. 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:21.639 But it gets even darker. Because the source material 00:07:21.639 --> 00:07:24.480 highlights a very specific ethical line these 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:27.500 dealers are crossing. They're using kids. Specifically, 00:07:27.720 --> 00:07:30.180 they are using an 11 -year -old boy named Tomás 00:07:30.180 --> 00:07:33.160 Cantillo. Played by Angel Martinez. Yeah. And 00:07:33.160 --> 00:07:35.899 just 11 years old. That is, even for Breaking 00:07:35.899 --> 00:07:38.399 Bad, that is incredibly bleak. It is. And we 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:40.779 have to really understand Jesse's character to 00:07:40.779 --> 00:07:43.100 get why this pushes him over the edge. Because 00:07:43.100 --> 00:07:45.449 Jesse is fine with crime. Generally speaking 00:07:45.449 --> 00:07:47.930 right he can deal with drugs. He can deal with 00:07:47.930 --> 00:07:50.089 theft He can even deal with violence between 00:07:50.089 --> 00:07:52.610 consenting adults in the game, but he has always 00:07:52.610 --> 00:07:55.850 had this fierce Unwavering protective instinct 00:07:55.850 --> 00:07:57.769 toward children. We saw it with the peekaboo 00:07:57.769 --> 00:07:59.949 episode earlier in the series. Exactly. It's 00:07:59.949 --> 00:08:02.370 his defining redeeming quality It's the thing 00:08:02.370 --> 00:08:04.269 that keeps you rooting for him despite all the 00:08:04.269 --> 00:08:06.829 terrible things he does So seeing little tamas 00:08:06.829 --> 00:08:09.430 riding a bike slinging meth and knowing this 00:08:09.430 --> 00:08:11.670 actual child probably pulled the trigger on combo 00:08:11.850 --> 00:08:14.569 It breaks him. It completely violates his core 00:08:14.569 --> 00:08:17.730 code. So he goes to Walt. He has a plan. And 00:08:17.730 --> 00:08:20.290 I can tell you, it's not a let's talk to HR plan. 00:08:20.430 --> 00:08:23.730 No, not at all. He asks Walt to cook up some 00:08:23.730 --> 00:08:27.930 ricin. The ricin returns. The magic beans. The 00:08:27.930 --> 00:08:31.490 silent killer. Jesse wants to poison these dealers. 00:08:32.169 --> 00:08:34.809 He wants revenge, but he wants to be smart about 00:08:34.809 --> 00:08:37.870 it. Or at least what he thinks is smart. He figures 00:08:37.870 --> 00:08:40.169 poison is cleaner than getting into a shootout 00:08:40.169 --> 00:08:42.519 on the street. But look at Walt's reaction in 00:08:42.519 --> 00:08:46.039 this scene. The notes say Walt appears troubled 00:08:46.039 --> 00:08:48.419 by the use of children. Troubled. That is such 00:08:48.419 --> 00:08:51.019 a weak word for that situation. I know. Troubled. 00:08:51.340 --> 00:08:53.039 It feels like Walt is looking at a spreadsheet 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:55.620 error, not a massive human rights violation. 00:08:56.320 --> 00:08:59.360 He sees the child soldier issue as a PR problem. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:02.799 or a logistical hurdle. Whereas Jesse sees it 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:04.919 as a moral emergency. That's the fundamental 00:09:04.919 --> 00:09:06.840 disconnect between them. And it's what drives 00:09:06.840 --> 00:09:09.500 the tension of this entire episode. Walt is operating 00:09:09.500 --> 00:09:12.500 entirely on logic, business preservation, and 00:09:12.500 --> 00:09:14.860 self -interest. He tells Jesse, you're being 00:09:14.860 --> 00:09:17.039 rash. You're going to blow up our incredibly 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:19.759 lucrative deal with Fring. He's compartmentalizing 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:22.519 the horror. Completely. He thinks if he just 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:24.600 ignores the child on the corner, the millions 00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:26.740 of dollars keep flowing into his duffel bags. 00:09:27.039 --> 00:09:29.980 But Jesse can't compartmentalize. He feels everything. 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:33.159 So he gives Walt an ultimatum. He looks him in 00:09:33.159 --> 00:09:35.159 the eye and says, I'm doing it with or without 00:09:35.159 --> 00:09:37.600 you. Which is terrifying because we know Jesse. 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:40.379 He's not a hit man. He's an emotional wreck half 00:09:40.379 --> 00:09:42.919 the time. If he goes after these guys alone, 00:09:43.019 --> 00:09:45.759 these are two hardened professional street enforcers, 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:48.779 he's dead. And Walt knows that. He knows Jesse 00:09:48.779 --> 00:09:51.659 is signing his own death warrant. Which leads 00:09:51.659 --> 00:09:53.960 us directly into section two, the intervention. 00:09:54.110 --> 00:09:56.730 Because Walt realizes he can't talk Jesse down. 00:09:57.269 --> 00:09:59.929 Logic hasn't worked. Pleading hasn't worked. 00:10:00.309 --> 00:10:02.950 So he decides he has to force him down. He goes 00:10:02.950 --> 00:10:05.669 to Saul Goodman. The fixer. The man with the 00:10:05.669 --> 00:10:08.370 Rolodex of highly questionable solutions. And 00:10:08.370 --> 00:10:10.909 they hatch a scheme to get Jesse arrested. Yes. 00:10:11.269 --> 00:10:13.169 Wait, let's stop and explain that logic to me 00:10:13.169 --> 00:10:15.409 again because it sounds absolutely insane. You're 00:10:15.409 --> 00:10:18.230 a criminal mastermind and your brilliant plan 00:10:18.230 --> 00:10:20.830 to save your partner is to call the cops on him. 00:10:21.019 --> 00:10:23.639 They view it as a timeout, a state -sponsored 00:10:23.639 --> 00:10:26.559 timeout. Like sending a kid to his room. Exactly. 00:10:26.980 --> 00:10:29.360 They figure if Jesse is sitting in county lockup 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:32.539 for a few days on some minor trumped -up charge 00:10:32.539 --> 00:10:35.519 -like possession or disturbing the peace... He 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:37.460 physically cannot go out and kill the dealers. 00:10:37.700 --> 00:10:40.320 He cools off behind bars. The dealers move on. 00:10:40.460 --> 00:10:43.320 Problem solved. It's incredibly patronizing. 00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:46.419 It is completely patronizing. It's Walt acting 00:10:46.419 --> 00:10:48.759 like the father who knows best, treating Jesse 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:50.840 like a toddler having a tantrum at a grocery 00:10:50.840 --> 00:10:52.980 store. He thinks he can just put Jesse in the 00:10:52.980 --> 00:10:56.200 corner until he behaves, but it shows how dangerously 00:10:56.200 --> 00:10:58.460 little Walt actually understands the criminal 00:10:58.460 --> 00:11:01.259 world he's operating in. Because in this world, 00:11:01.740 --> 00:11:04.750 secrets don't stay secret. And being in the system 00:11:04.750 --> 00:11:07.929 is a massive liability. Enter Mike Ehrmantraut. 00:11:08.070 --> 00:11:10.610 The man who hears everything. The man who cleans 00:11:10.610 --> 00:11:13.029 up all the messes Walt makes. Mike shows up at 00:11:13.029 --> 00:11:16.169 Walt's house, unannounced. I love the way Mike 00:11:16.169 --> 00:11:18.250 enters scenes in this show. He doesn't knock. 00:11:18.429 --> 00:11:20.250 He's just suddenly there, sitting in a chair 00:11:20.250 --> 00:11:22.289 in the shadows. It's terrifying. And the dynamic 00:11:22.289 --> 00:11:25.049 shifts immediately. Usually Mike is the cleaner. 00:11:25.210 --> 00:11:28.049 He's the gref employee. But here, he steps firmly 00:11:28.049 --> 00:11:30.789 into the role of the mentor, or the senior partner 00:11:30.789 --> 00:11:33.960 dictating terms. He drops the veil. Right. Up 00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:37.480 until now, Mike has been fairly ambiguous. But 00:11:37.480 --> 00:11:40.179 here he admits he works directly for Gus. He 00:11:40.179 --> 00:11:42.779 cuts right through the pretense. There was always 00:11:42.779 --> 00:11:45.600 this plausible deniability about who Mike really 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:48.580 answered to, Saul's guy, Gus's guy. But here 00:11:48.580 --> 00:11:51.779 he says it plainly. And he tells Walt very clearly, 00:11:52.460 --> 00:11:54.639 do not have Jesse arrested. Because if Jesse 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:57.039 gets into the system. If his fingerprints get 00:11:57.039 --> 00:12:00.139 booked, Gus will take it as a problem. I just 00:12:00.139 --> 00:12:02.179 love the euphemisms in this show. Take it as 00:12:02.179 --> 00:12:04.240 a problem. It sounds so bureaucratic, like a 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:06.120 zoning dispute. We know what it means. It means 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:08.620 we will kill him and we will probably kill you 00:12:08.620 --> 00:12:12.559 too. Gus Fring runs a tight ship. He values anonymity 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:15.200 and security above literally everything else. 00:12:15.419 --> 00:12:18.120 A loose cannon like Jesse in jail, potentially 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:20.539 looking at a plea deal to avoid prison time, 00:12:20.919 --> 00:12:23.480 potentially talking to the DEA because he's emotional. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:26.720 That is a liability Gus will not tolerate for 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:28.860 a single second. So Walt's clever little plan 00:12:28.860 --> 00:12:31.340 to jail Jesse is dead on arrival. Dead in the 00:12:31.340 --> 00:12:33.679 water. He's completely out of options. He can't 00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:36.259 talk Jesse down. And now he knows he can't lock 00:12:36.259 --> 00:12:38.539 him up without getting him murdered by Gus. And 00:12:38.539 --> 00:12:40.940 this is where Mike sits him down. This is the 00:12:40.940 --> 00:12:44.059 moment. The deep dive core of the episode. The 00:12:44.059 --> 00:12:46.980 monologue. It's iconic. Jonathan Banks delivers 00:12:46.980 --> 00:12:49.639 this story that just sucks all the oxygen out 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:52.120 of the room. He tells Walt about his days as 00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:55.220 a beat cop in Philadelphia. Right. Because before 00:12:55.220 --> 00:12:57.620 he was a fixer, before he was a cartel hitman, 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:00.220 he was a police officer. And this backstory is 00:13:00.220 --> 00:13:02.779 so crucial because it finally explains who Mike 00:13:02.779 --> 00:13:05.940 really is. He isn't just a mindless thug. He's 00:13:05.940 --> 00:13:08.820 a man with a very strict code formed by years 00:13:08.820 --> 00:13:11.360 of seeing the absolute worst of humanity. He 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:14.580 talks about a domestic violence call. a repeat 00:13:14.580 --> 00:13:17.480 offender. Yeah, an alcoholic husband who routinely 00:13:17.480 --> 00:13:20.620 beats his wife. Mike says he would go there, 00:13:20.700 --> 00:13:23.220 break it up, and the wife would refuse to press 00:13:23.220 --> 00:13:26.600 charges. Which is tragically a very common reality 00:13:26.600 --> 00:13:29.019 in these cases. It is, and the cycle would just 00:13:29.019 --> 00:13:32.159 repeat. Mike felt completely helpless. He was 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:34.879 the law, but the law was useless. It wasn't working. 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:37.740 It's that classic police frustration. You can 00:13:37.740 --> 00:13:39.600 see the train wreck coming from a mile away, 00:13:39.940 --> 00:13:42.120 but the procedure stops you from actually preventing 00:13:42.120 --> 00:13:44.100 it. You have to wait for the major crime to happen 00:13:44.100 --> 00:13:47.159 before you can act until one night. Right. One 00:13:47.159 --> 00:13:49.519 night Mike snaps. He takes the guy out to the 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:52.299 middle of nowhere in the police cruiser. It's 00:13:52.299 --> 00:13:55.000 raining. It's dark. He puts his service weapon 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:57.139 right in the guy's mouth. He steps completely 00:13:57.139 --> 00:13:59.299 outside the law. He steps outside the law to 00:13:59.299 --> 00:14:02.620 enforce his own version of justice. He has the 00:14:02.620 --> 00:14:05.860 power right there in that moment to end the cycle. 00:14:06.139 --> 00:14:08.840 to save the woman permanently. He has the full 00:14:08.840 --> 00:14:11.039 measure in his hand. But he doesn't pull the 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:13.820 trigger. He hesitates. He thinks to himself, 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:16.799 maybe I scared him enough. Maybe having a gun 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:19.279 in his mouth is the wake -up call he needs. He 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:21.679 chooses mercy. He chooses the half measure. And 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:24.220 the result of that mercy. Two weeks later, the 00:14:24.220 --> 00:14:27.039 husband beats the wife to death, caved her head 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:29.840 in with a television set. God, it's so visceral. 00:14:29.899 --> 00:14:32.480 Just the image of that detail, a television set. 00:14:32.659 --> 00:14:35.460 It is the defining trauma of Mike's life. You 00:14:35.460 --> 00:14:37.879 can hear the regret dripping from his voice when 00:14:37.879 --> 00:14:40.519 he tells it. He realized that his mercy wasn't 00:14:40.519 --> 00:14:42.940 a virtue, it was a weakness. It was a strategic 00:14:42.940 --> 00:14:45.500 error that cost an innocent person their life. 00:14:45.860 --> 00:14:48.000 He learned the hard way that if you leave a threat 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:50.480 breathing, it will inevitably come back to destroy 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:52.940 the exact thing you're trying to protect. So 00:14:52.940 --> 00:14:55.480 he finishes the story, looks Walt dead in the 00:14:55.480 --> 00:14:57.919 eye, and delivers the line that defines the rest 00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:00.299 of the series. No more half measures, Walter. 00:15:00.590 --> 00:15:02.789 It chills me every time I hear it. But let's 00:15:02.789 --> 00:15:05.110 really analyze that advice, because it's a terrifying 00:15:05.110 --> 00:15:07.470 lesson, isn't it? It is. He's basically telling 00:15:07.470 --> 00:15:09.490 a mild -mannered high school chemistry teacher, 00:15:09.809 --> 00:15:11.669 the next time you have a problem, you need to 00:15:11.669 --> 00:15:14.190 murder it. He's applying the brutal logic of 00:15:14.190 --> 00:15:17.750 a war zone to their meth business. But there's 00:15:17.750 --> 00:15:19.950 a subtext here that we really need to dig into. 00:15:20.730 --> 00:15:23.750 Who is the abusive husband in this metaphor right 00:15:23.750 --> 00:15:27.250 now? It's Jesse. Exactly. Jesse is the problem 00:15:27.250 --> 00:15:30.409 that's coming back. Jesse is the erratic element 00:15:30.409 --> 00:15:33.610 that refuses to listen to reason. When Mike tells 00:15:33.610 --> 00:15:36.970 this story, he is implicitly telling Walt that 00:15:36.970 --> 00:15:40.149 trying to save Jesse, trying to jail him, reason 00:15:40.149 --> 00:15:43.009 with him, protect him, is a half measure. That's 00:15:43.009 --> 00:15:44.730 the really dark interpretation of the scene. 00:15:45.210 --> 00:15:47.490 Mike isn't telling Walt to help Jesse go full 00:15:47.490 --> 00:15:49.590 measure on the street dealers. He's telling Walt 00:15:49.590 --> 00:15:52.029 to go full measure on Jesse. That is certainly 00:15:52.029 --> 00:15:54.470 how I hear it. He's saying, cut the dead weight 00:15:54.470 --> 00:15:57.299 before it drags you both under. He's suggesting 00:15:57.299 --> 00:15:59.559 that Walt needs to eliminate the problem, and 00:15:59.559 --> 00:16:02.860 the problem is his partner. But Walt, Walt interprets 00:16:02.860 --> 00:16:05.480 it differently. Or maybe he just rejects the 00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:08.000 target Mike is painting. He absolutely refuses 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:12.279 to give up on Jesse. Let's move to section three, 00:16:12.679 --> 00:16:16.000 the summit. Because Jesse is still moving forward 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:19.379 with his plan, he tries the raisin. The poison 00:16:19.379 --> 00:16:22.299 burger strategy. He gets Wendy to deliver burgers 00:16:22.299 --> 00:16:25.039 to the dealers, and he plants the raisin inside 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:27.519 them. It's so desperate, it's clumsy. It really 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:29.120 feels like something a kid would come up with. 00:16:29.159 --> 00:16:31.980 I'll just poison their lunch. It does. And of 00:16:31.980 --> 00:16:34.159 course, it completely fails. The dealers aren't 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:36.740 even at their usual spot. Because Mike is always 00:16:36.740 --> 00:16:39.759 watching. Mike and Victor Gus's terrifying enforcer, 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:42.559 played brilliantly by Jeremiah Bitsui, they intercept 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:44.500 Jesse before he can do anything. And they drag 00:16:44.500 --> 00:16:48.169 him to a sit down. This scene is incredible just 00:16:48.169 --> 00:16:50.529 from a cinematic standpoint. The power dynamics 00:16:50.529 --> 00:16:52.909 are perfectly mapped out. It's a masterclass 00:16:52.909 --> 00:16:55.730 in blocking intention by the director, Adam Bernstein. 00:16:56.070 --> 00:16:58.289 Set the scene for us. Where are they and who 00:16:58.289 --> 00:17:00.370 is there? They're in this remote meeting spot. 00:17:00.509 --> 00:17:02.490 It looks like a trailer or an office out at the 00:17:02.490 --> 00:17:05.930 chicken farm. And you have Gus Fring, the CEO, 00:17:06.329 --> 00:17:08.250 sitting calmly at the head of the table. You 00:17:08.250 --> 00:17:11.599 have Walt. The middle management looking incredibly 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:13.779 anxious. You have Jesse, the rogue employee, 00:17:14.180 --> 00:17:16.400 looking like a caged animal ready to explode. 00:17:16.539 --> 00:17:19.079 And you have the street contractors, the two 00:17:19.079 --> 00:17:21.900 dealers, looking like absolute stone cold killers. 00:17:22.200 --> 00:17:25.339 That tension is just palpable. Gus is mediating 00:17:25.339 --> 00:17:27.619 a deadly dispute between his top chemist and 00:17:27.619 --> 00:17:29.920 his street enforcers. It's corporate conflict 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:32.759 resolution, cartel style. So what's the verdict? 00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:35.740 How does Gus handle it? Gus acts the part of 00:17:35.740 --> 00:17:38.400 the benevolent dictator. He listens to both sides. 00:17:38.519 --> 00:17:40.579 He hears Jesse's grievance about the use of the 00:17:40.579 --> 00:17:42.960 11 -year -old child, and he turns to the dealers 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:46.480 and orders them. No more children. Which, on 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:49.160 the surface, feels like a massive win. Jesse 00:17:49.160 --> 00:17:51.220 got exactly what he wanted. He stood up to the 00:17:51.220 --> 00:17:53.500 biggest boss in the region and forced a policy 00:17:53.500 --> 00:17:55.759 change. It really seems that way. Gus forces 00:17:55.759 --> 00:17:58.200 them all to shake hands to seal the deal. And 00:17:58.200 --> 00:18:01.140 this moment, the handshake is crucial. Jesse 00:18:01.140 --> 00:18:04.279 is furious. You can see the physical repulsion 00:18:04.279 --> 00:18:06.900 in Aaron Paul's performance. He hates shaking 00:18:06.900 --> 00:18:09.319 hands with child killers. It makes him physically 00:18:09.319 --> 00:18:12.059 sick. But he does it. He agrees to keep the peace. 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:15.069 And Walt actually thinks it's over. On the drive 00:18:15.069 --> 00:18:17.569 home, Walt is trying to spin this as a massive 00:18:17.569 --> 00:18:19.849 victory. He's bubbling with relief. He's telling 00:18:19.849 --> 00:18:22.930 Jesse, see, we won. Great job, partner. We threaded 00:18:22.930 --> 00:18:25.089 the needle. And Jesse just stares out the passenger 00:18:25.089 --> 00:18:27.910 window. The silence in that car is deafening. 00:18:28.309 --> 00:18:30.670 Walt thinks this was a tense business negotiation 00:18:30.670 --> 00:18:33.809 that closed successfully. Jesse thinks he just 00:18:33.809 --> 00:18:37.390 sold his soul. Why? Because by shaking their 00:18:37.390 --> 00:18:40.710 hands, Jesse has become complicit. Yeah. He sat 00:18:40.710 --> 00:18:43.170 at a table with monsters, negotiated with them, 00:18:43.250 --> 00:18:45.849 and treated them like valid colleagues. He realizes 00:18:45.849 --> 00:18:48.430 that Walt is totally okay with that. Walt can 00:18:48.430 --> 00:18:50.369 stomach the moral compromise as long as he stays 00:18:50.369 --> 00:18:53.970 alive. But Jesse cannot. It highlights the massive 00:18:53.970 --> 00:18:56.789 fracture in their relationship. Walt is pragmatic 00:18:56.789 --> 00:18:59.970 to a fault. Jesse is deeply moralistic even in 00:18:59.970 --> 00:19:02.369 this criminal underworld. And that fragility, 00:19:02.529 --> 00:19:04.910 that fake peace shatters immediately in section 00:19:04.910 --> 00:19:07.140 four, The Breaking Point. Because you can't make 00:19:07.140 --> 00:19:09.079 deals with people who murder kids. You can't 00:19:09.079 --> 00:19:12.299 rely on the honor of sociopaths. No. The tragedy 00:19:12.299 --> 00:19:15.119 happens that very same night. The dealers adhere 00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:18.160 to the strict letter of Gus's law, but definitely 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:22.039 not the spirit. Gus said, no more children. So 00:19:22.039 --> 00:19:24.420 they fired the kid? They fired him in the gang 00:19:24.420 --> 00:19:26.000 sense of the word. They eliminated the loose 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:28.460 end. Little Tomas Cantia was found dead on a 00:19:28.460 --> 00:19:31.619 playground. It's the ultimate monkey's paw situation. 00:19:32.339 --> 00:19:34.819 Jesse made a wish. No more kids in the game. 00:19:35.049 --> 00:19:37.829 And the wish was granted in the most horrific 00:19:37.829 --> 00:19:40.549 way imaginable. To the dealers, the kid was just 00:19:40.549 --> 00:19:43.230 a liability who knew too much about their operation. 00:19:43.509 --> 00:19:45.029 If they aren't allowed to use them to sell drugs 00:19:45.029 --> 00:19:48.269 anymore, they just delete them. It's cold, brutal, 00:19:48.849 --> 00:19:51.650 terrifying efficiency. And this exact moment 00:19:51.650 --> 00:19:54.029 is where Jesse Pinkman ends. The kid he used 00:19:54.029 --> 00:19:56.519 to be is gone. Andrea Tomas's sister. played 00:19:56.519 --> 00:19:58.700 by Emily Rios, who is also Jessie's girlfriend 00:19:58.700 --> 00:20:01.559 at this point. She is devastated. She and her 00:20:01.559 --> 00:20:04.180 other younger brother, Brock, played by Ian Passada, 00:20:04.259 --> 00:20:07.539 they're just destroyed. Jessie rushes to the 00:20:07.539 --> 00:20:10.240 crime scene, and the guilt that washes over him 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:13.259 must be completely unbearable. Because he knows, 00:20:13.880 --> 00:20:17.420 he knows that his demand to Gus to stop using 00:20:17.420 --> 00:20:20.950 kids is the direct. approximate cause of this 00:20:20.950 --> 00:20:23.890 boy's execution. He tried to save the boy and 00:20:23.890 --> 00:20:26.589 his action triggered the boy's murder. That is 00:20:26.589 --> 00:20:29.170 a literal Greek tragedy. It's Oedipus realizing 00:20:29.170 --> 00:20:31.029 he's the one who brought the plague to the city. 00:20:31.309 --> 00:20:33.890 It destroys him emotionally. Yeah. The very next 00:20:33.890 --> 00:20:36.509 day, he doesn't show up to the super lab. Walt 00:20:36.509 --> 00:20:39.269 is down there cooking alone, constantly looking 00:20:39.269 --> 00:20:42.009 at the clock, getting more and more worried because 00:20:42.009 --> 00:20:44.630 Jesse is just gone. But where is he? He's sitting 00:20:44.630 --> 00:20:47.329 in his car in broad daylight, watching the dealers 00:20:47.329 --> 00:20:49.869 on their corner. And he's holding a glass pipe. 00:20:50.089 --> 00:20:52.529 He breaks his sobriety. He snorts math. And this 00:20:52.529 --> 00:20:54.309 is a detail we really need to linger on because 00:20:54.309 --> 00:20:57.289 it is so incredibly significant. He hasn't touched 00:20:57.289 --> 00:20:58.990 the stuff since he went to rehab at the end of 00:20:58.990 --> 00:21:01.490 season two. Right. He's been trying so hard to 00:21:01.490 --> 00:21:03.630 play the part of the bad guy while staying clean. 00:21:04.089 --> 00:21:06.410 But in this moment, the emotional pain is just 00:21:06.410 --> 00:21:08.829 too much to bear. Why does he do it right then? 00:21:09.470 --> 00:21:11.789 Is it just to numb the guilt? It's definitely 00:21:11.789 --> 00:21:14.930 numbness, yes. But it's also psychological preparation. 00:21:15.250 --> 00:21:17.480 He knows he is about to commit suicide. That's 00:21:17.480 --> 00:21:19.660 exactly what it is. It's a suicide mission. He 00:21:19.660 --> 00:21:22.819 has a gun, sure. But he's one skinny guy against 00:21:22.819 --> 00:21:25.299 two hardened killers who are standing on their 00:21:25.299 --> 00:21:28.579 own turf expecting trouble. He's high. He's shaking. 00:21:28.740 --> 00:21:31.119 He's an emotional wreck. He knows he isn't walking 00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:33.059 away from this confrontation. He just wants to 00:21:33.059 --> 00:21:35.440 take them with him to hell. He's checking out. 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:39.220 The meth is him officially letting go of any 00:21:39.220 --> 00:21:41.799 hope for survival. Which brings us to section 00:21:41.799 --> 00:21:44.900 five, the climax. This sequence, I mean, even 00:21:44.900 --> 00:21:47.410 reading the notes, my heart rate goes up. It 00:21:47.410 --> 00:21:50.029 is one of the most masterfully edited sequences 00:21:50.029 --> 00:21:52.609 in television history. It really is. And it starts 00:21:52.609 --> 00:21:55.109 with a stark, brilliant contrast. You have Walt 00:21:55.109 --> 00:21:57.869 at home. Domestic bliss. Yeah. He's wearing the 00:21:57.869 --> 00:22:00.650 soft beige sweater, the ultimate uniform of the 00:22:00.650 --> 00:22:03.509 harmless, boring suburban dad. He's sitting at 00:22:03.509 --> 00:22:05.609 the dinner table with Skyler and his son, Walt 00:22:05.609 --> 00:22:08.170 Jr. And then the local news report comes on the 00:22:08.170 --> 00:22:10.730 TV in the background. Body of an 11 -year -old 00:22:10.730 --> 00:22:13.390 boy found murdered. And you see the calculation 00:22:13.390 --> 00:22:16.369 happen in Walt's eyes. Brian Cranston is so good 00:22:16.369 --> 00:22:18.130 here. He doesn't wonder who that is. He doesn't 00:22:18.130 --> 00:22:20.130 wonder if it's related to his business. He connects 00:22:20.130 --> 00:22:22.730 the dots immediately. He puts down his fork. 00:22:23.490 --> 00:22:26.730 The realization hits him in two ways. First, 00:22:27.130 --> 00:22:29.210 Jesse's gonna kill them. And then the secondary, 00:22:29.490 --> 00:22:32.150 much worse realization, Jesse's owing to fail 00:22:32.150 --> 00:22:35.529 and Jesse's gonna die. And Walt moves. There 00:22:35.529 --> 00:22:38.930 is no hesitation this time. No, let's call Saul 00:22:38.930 --> 00:22:41.630 and figure out a scheme. No, let's ask Mike what 00:22:41.630 --> 00:22:44.230 to do. He just gets up and goes. He grabs his 00:22:44.230 --> 00:22:46.970 keys and leaves. Skyler asks where he's going, 00:22:47.230 --> 00:22:49.069 and he doesn't even have time to invent a good 00:22:49.069 --> 00:22:51.230 lie. He just walks out the door. Cut back to 00:22:51.230 --> 00:22:55.589 the street. It's nighttime now. Jesse is walking 00:22:55.589 --> 00:22:58.690 slowly toward the dealers. It's shot like a classic 00:22:58.690 --> 00:23:01.450 Western showdown, but completely distorted. Michael 00:23:01.450 --> 00:23:03.890 Slovis, the cinematographer, lights it so beautifully, 00:23:04.089 --> 00:23:05.890 the dealers see Jesse coming. And they aren't 00:23:05.890 --> 00:23:08.089 scared at all. They look almost bored by him. 00:23:08.269 --> 00:23:10.349 They calmly reach for their waistbands to draw 00:23:10.349 --> 00:23:13.079 their weapons. Jesse raises his gun, but his 00:23:13.079 --> 00:23:16.259 hand is trembling uncontrollably. He's crying. 00:23:16.339 --> 00:23:19.539 He's high. He's an absolute mess. He's hopelessly 00:23:19.539 --> 00:23:21.180 outgunned. They are going to drop him before 00:23:21.180 --> 00:23:23.980 he even gets a clear shot off. We are actively 00:23:23.980 --> 00:23:26.119 watching Jesse Pinkman about to be murdered. 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:28.880 And then you hear the roar of an engine. The 00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:32.660 Az - Walt's horribly ugly Pontiac Aztec screams 00:23:32.660 --> 00:23:35.279 into the frame out of nowhere. It's moving like 00:23:35.279 --> 00:23:39.099 a tank. And he plows directly into the two dealers 00:23:39.099 --> 00:23:41.970 at full speed. The sound design in that moment 00:23:41.970 --> 00:23:44.369 is incredible. It's not a standard Hollywood 00:23:44.369 --> 00:23:46.809 thud. No, it sounds sickening. It sounds like 00:23:46.809 --> 00:23:50.990 metal crushing bone and meat. It is. deeply jarring. 00:23:51.250 --> 00:23:53.509 It's horrifying to watch. The car just crashes 00:23:53.509 --> 00:23:56.190 right over them. One dealer flies up over the 00:23:56.190 --> 00:23:58.690 hood and into the air. The other goes violently 00:23:58.690 --> 00:24:01.029 under the wheels. The car smashes into a wall 00:24:01.029 --> 00:24:04.289 and stops. Smoke is hissing everywhere. The horn 00:24:04.289 --> 00:24:06.829 is blaring continuously because the airbag deployed 00:24:06.829 --> 00:24:08.890 and Walt is pressed against it. And then there's 00:24:08.890 --> 00:24:11.309 silence. Just for a split second, the dust is 00:24:11.309 --> 00:24:13.750 settling. Then Walt violently kicks his door 00:24:13.750 --> 00:24:15.910 open. He scrambles out of the wrecked car. He's 00:24:15.910 --> 00:24:17.809 limping slightly from the impact. He looks around. 00:24:17.930 --> 00:24:20.460 The one dealer is dead on him. broken on the 00:24:20.460 --> 00:24:21.700 street. The other one, the one who went under 00:24:21.700 --> 00:24:24.240 the car, he's broken too. His legs are completely 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:26.900 crushed, but he's alive. And he's trying to crawl 00:24:26.900 --> 00:24:29.400 toward his dropped gun. And this is the moment. 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:32.339 This is the true no half measures moment of the 00:24:32.339 --> 00:24:35.339 entire series. Walt sees the gun. He sees the 00:24:35.339 --> 00:24:38.160 wounded dealer. He doesn't call 911. He doesn't 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:41.240 grab Jesse and drive away to hide. He walks over 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:43.619 calmly. He picks up the bleeding dealer's gun. 00:24:43.700 --> 00:24:45.380 He picks it up. He doesn't say a single word. 00:24:45.400 --> 00:24:47.380 He just points it directly at the man's head 00:24:47.380 --> 00:24:50.519 and pulls the trigger. Bang. A point -blank execution. 00:24:50.859 --> 00:24:55.259 It's cold. It's precise. It is easily the most 00:24:55.259 --> 00:24:58.339 violent, deliberate thing Walter White has done 00:24:58.339 --> 00:25:01.279 with his own two hands up to this exact point 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:04.000 in the series. Think about the progression of 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:06.799 his character. He killed Crazy Eight back in 00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:09.400 season one, but he cried about it. He agonized 00:25:09.400 --> 00:25:11.720 over it. He strangled him in self -defense, essentially. 00:25:11.980 --> 00:25:14.500 Right. And he watched Jane die in season two, 00:25:14.519 --> 00:25:16.839 but that was an act of omission. That was inaction. 00:25:16.920 --> 00:25:20.809 But this. This is active, predatory, completely 00:25:20.809 --> 00:25:22.950 unhesitating violence. This is an execution. 00:25:23.089 --> 00:25:25.529 He identified a threat, and he eliminated the 00:25:25.529 --> 00:25:27.630 threat completely. And what is Jesse doing during 00:25:27.630 --> 00:25:30.230 this? Jesse is just standing there, frozen in 00:25:30.230 --> 00:25:32.309 shock. His own gun is dangling from his finger. 00:25:32.430 --> 00:25:34.410 He's staring at Mr. White like he's looking at 00:25:34.410 --> 00:25:37.390 an alien creature. He simply cannot process what 00:25:37.390 --> 00:25:40.619 his eyes are seeing. His nerdy high school chemistry 00:25:40.619 --> 00:25:44.059 teacher just ran over two armed cartel enforcers 00:25:44.059 --> 00:25:46.140 and executed one in the middle of the street. 00:25:46.359 --> 00:25:48.900 And Walt turns, looks directly at Jesse, and 00:25:48.900 --> 00:25:51.180 delivers the single most important word in their 00:25:51.180 --> 00:25:54.099 entire relationship. Run. It chills me every 00:25:54.099 --> 00:25:57.279 time. Run. It's command. It's a father saving 00:25:57.279 --> 00:26:01.009 a son. But it's also a general realizing that 00:26:01.009 --> 00:26:03.910 a massive war has just started. Exactly. That 00:26:03.910 --> 00:26:06.029 there is no going back to the super lab tomorrow 00:26:06.029 --> 00:26:08.769 morning. There is no clever lie or excuse that 00:26:08.769 --> 00:26:11.130 covers this up. They just straight up murdered 00:26:11.130 --> 00:26:13.769 Gus Fring's trusted men. This is what I meant 00:26:13.769 --> 00:26:15.589 at the very beginning about the philosophical 00:26:15.589 --> 00:26:18.130 pivot of the show. Walt actually took Mike's 00:26:18.130 --> 00:26:20.849 advice. He did. Mike said no half measures. But 00:26:20.849 --> 00:26:23.559 Mike meant Get rid of Jesse. He meant Jesse is 00:26:23.559 --> 00:26:26.819 the liability. Walt inverted that entirely. He 00:26:26.819 --> 00:26:28.980 applied the no half measure philosophy to protect 00:26:28.980 --> 00:26:31.119 Jesse. He went all the way to save him. It's 00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:33.420 a complete perversion of the advice Mike intended, 00:26:33.420 --> 00:26:36.720 but it's undeniably effective. He saved Jesse's 00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:39.440 life, but in doing so, he damned them both. He 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:41.759 crossed the line from a drug manufacturer trying 00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:45.059 to stay under the radar to a gangster initiating 00:26:45.059 --> 00:26:48.259 a cartel war. Let's take a breath and look at 00:26:48.259 --> 00:26:50.799 section six, the production and reception of 00:26:50.799 --> 00:26:53.579 this episode. Because when this aired in 2010, 00:26:54.240 --> 00:26:56.960 people absolutely lost their minds. Oh, universally 00:26:56.960 --> 00:26:59.420 acclaimed. It wasn't just considered good TV, 00:26:59.500 --> 00:27:02.700 it was an event. The IGN review gave it a 9 .7 00:27:02.700 --> 00:27:04.859 out of 10. That is near perfect in their scoring 00:27:04.859 --> 00:27:08.839 system. They described it as fun, creative, well 00:27:08.839 --> 00:27:11.839 directed, well acted, and they specifically noted 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:14.759 that it set up an awesome finale, which obviously 00:27:14.759 --> 00:27:17.480 it did. And the retrospective rankings really 00:27:17.480 --> 00:27:19.940 reflect that enduring quality. The Ringer ranked 00:27:19.940 --> 00:27:22.799 it 15th out of all 62 episodes of the series. 00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:25.519 And Vulture had it at 18th overall. Which is 00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:27.700 saying something. Because when you consider that 00:27:27.700 --> 00:27:29.960 masterpieces like Ozymandias and Crawl Space 00:27:29.960 --> 00:27:32.900 exist, cracking the top 20 of Breaking Bad episodes 00:27:32.900 --> 00:27:35.259 is a huge accomplishment. It stands the test 00:27:35.259 --> 00:27:37.539 of time because, as we've said, it's the hinge 00:27:37.539 --> 00:27:40.180 point of the entire narrative. We also really 00:27:40.180 --> 00:27:43.289 have to talk about Aaron Paul. Yes, Jesse Pinkman 00:27:43.289 --> 00:27:46.369 himself. He won the Primetime Emmy Award for 00:27:46.369 --> 00:27:49.230 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, 00:27:49.650 --> 00:27:52.109 specifically for his performance in this episode. 00:27:52.190 --> 00:27:54.130 And when you break down the episode, you can 00:27:54.130 --> 00:27:56.750 completely see why. It wasn't just one flashy 00:27:56.750 --> 00:27:59.769 scene that won him the award. It was the incredible 00:27:59.769 --> 00:28:02.650 emotional range he had to display. Yeah, he had 00:28:02.650 --> 00:28:05.390 to show the righteous. burning anger over a combo 00:28:05.390 --> 00:28:09.210 in the beginning, then the heartbreak and absolute 00:28:09.210 --> 00:28:13.029 devastation over Tomas. And finally that drug 00:28:13.029 --> 00:28:15.569 -addled suicidal desperation at the end on the 00:28:15.569 --> 00:28:17.569 street. The scene in the car where he's smoking 00:28:17.569 --> 00:28:19.829 the meth, the look in his eyes where you literally 00:28:19.829 --> 00:28:22.809 see the light just go out. That's Emmy material 00:28:22.809 --> 00:28:25.269 right there. He perfectly conveyed a man who 00:28:25.269 --> 00:28:27.089 had already accepted that he was a ghost. It's 00:28:27.089 --> 00:28:29.109 a total master class in acting without words. 00:28:29.690 --> 00:28:31.390 And we have to give immense credit to the crew 00:28:31.390 --> 00:28:34.029 as well. Adam Bernstein directed this episode. 00:28:34.150 --> 00:28:36.349 He did a phenomenal job. The visual language 00:28:36.349 --> 00:28:39.250 he used, the heavy shadows in the negotiation 00:28:39.250 --> 00:28:42.089 meeting with Gus, the chaotic, violent framing 00:28:42.089 --> 00:28:44.880 of the final car crash. It's brilliant. And the 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:48.240 writing by Sam Catlin and Peter Gould. They managed 00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:51.380 to take a standard 47 minute episode of television 00:28:51.380 --> 00:28:54.180 and make it feel like a massive feature length 00:28:54.180 --> 00:28:56.079 thriller. Even the guest stars brought their 00:28:56.079 --> 00:28:59.519 A game. Jeremiah Bitsui as Victor. He barely 00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:02.200 says a word, but his physical presence is just 00:29:02.200 --> 00:29:05.730 terrifying. And the kids. Putting child actors 00:29:05.730 --> 00:29:08.490 in a storyline this incredibly dark is a massive 00:29:08.490 --> 00:29:10.930 risk for a showrunner, but it completely paid 00:29:10.930 --> 00:29:13.930 off. Ian Passada as Brock and Angela Martinez 00:29:13.930 --> 00:29:17.250 as Tomas. It really grounded the stakes. It reminded 00:29:17.250 --> 00:29:19.490 the audience that this isn't a cool, glamorous 00:29:19.490 --> 00:29:23.289 video game. Drug dealing kills actual kids. That's 00:29:23.289 --> 00:29:25.609 the harsh reality Half Measures forces us to 00:29:25.609 --> 00:29:27.490 look at. It stripped away all the slick glamour 00:29:27.490 --> 00:29:30.130 of the Blue Meth empire and showed us the true 00:29:30.130 --> 00:29:32.710 human cost. So as we move into the outro, let's 00:29:32.710 --> 00:29:34.930 wrap this up. What is the final blast radius 00:29:34.930 --> 00:29:37.549 of this episode? The impact is total. Before 00:29:37.549 --> 00:29:39.869 this episode, Walt and Jesse were just employees. 00:29:40.210 --> 00:29:42.150 High -paid employees, but employees nonetheless. 00:29:42.589 --> 00:29:44.089 They were trying to keep their heads down and 00:29:44.089 --> 00:29:46.210 make money. After this, they are active insurgents. 00:29:46.369 --> 00:29:48.369 They are at open war with their powerful boss. 00:29:48.640 --> 00:29:51.299 It perfectly sets the stage for season four, 00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:54.900 which is basically a brutal 13 episode chess 00:29:54.900 --> 00:29:57.420 match between Walter White and Gus Fring. And 00:29:57.420 --> 00:30:00.660 it all starts right here. All because Walt refused 00:30:00.660 --> 00:30:02.839 to take a half measure. But here's the takeaway 00:30:02.839 --> 00:30:05.279 I really want to leave you with. As an audience, 00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:08.200 we view this final scene as Walt saving Jesse. 00:30:08.380 --> 00:30:11.000 Right. It feels incredibly heroic in the moment. 00:30:11.480 --> 00:30:14.539 The tension builds, the Aztec crashes in, the 00:30:14.539 --> 00:30:17.160 bad guys die. We sit on our couches and we cheer 00:30:17.160 --> 00:30:19.269 for Walt. But I want to challenge that feeling 00:30:19.269 --> 00:30:21.849 for a second. Let's complicate that heroic narrative. 00:30:22.089 --> 00:30:24.990 Go for it. Was it really loyalty? Was he really 00:30:24.990 --> 00:30:27.809 just the brave teacher saving his surrogate son? 00:30:28.089 --> 00:30:31.680 Or, hear me out. Was this the exact moment Walter 00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:33.900 White finally found a valid excuse to be who 00:30:33.900 --> 00:30:36.200 he really wanted to be all along? You think he 00:30:36.200 --> 00:30:38.180 actually wanted the violence? I think Mike gave 00:30:38.180 --> 00:30:40.259 him a permission slip. When Mike sat in his living 00:30:40.259 --> 00:30:43.099 room and said no more half measures, he inadvertently 00:30:43.099 --> 00:30:45.619 gave Walt the moral framework to stop pretending 00:30:45.619 --> 00:30:48.140 he was a good guy trapped in a bad situation. 00:30:48.420 --> 00:30:51.119 Wow. He used Mike's advice to unleash the monster. 00:30:51.309 --> 00:30:54.069 Exactly. He didn't just run over the dealer to 00:30:54.069 --> 00:30:56.730 save Jesse. He picked up that gun and executed 00:30:56.730 --> 00:30:59.410 the survivor because he could. Because he was 00:30:59.410 --> 00:31:01.829 finally done being the victim in his own life. 00:31:02.089 --> 00:31:04.710 That is a deeply disturbing thought. Yeah. That 00:31:04.710 --> 00:31:06.690 maybe he wasn't saving Jesse at all. Maybe he 00:31:06.690 --> 00:31:09.670 was just feeding Heisenberg. He saw an opportunity 00:31:09.670 --> 00:31:13.009 to exercise ultimate power. The power over life 00:31:13.009 --> 00:31:16.230 and death. And he took it without a second of 00:31:16.230 --> 00:31:19.240 hesitation. And if that's true, then Mike's story 00:31:19.240 --> 00:31:21.680 backfired in the worst possible way imaginable. 00:31:21.960 --> 00:31:24.759 It's the ultimate law of unintended consequences. 00:31:25.380 --> 00:31:27.480 Mike thought he was training a cautious soldier, 00:31:27.700 --> 00:31:30.599 but he was actually awakening a ruthless kingpin. 00:31:30.839 --> 00:31:33.059 Well, on that cheerful and terrifying note, that 00:31:33.059 --> 00:31:35.180 is all the time we have for this deep dive. It's 00:31:35.180 --> 00:31:38.200 been a heavy one today, for sure. Run. That really 00:31:38.200 --> 00:31:39.940 is the word of the day. Thanks for listening, 00:31:39.940 --> 00:31:41.559 and we'll catch you on the next one. Take care, 00:31:41.700 --> 00:31:43.960 everyone. And remember, no half measures.