Welcome back to The Deep Dive. Today we are cracking
open a really specific, a very intense chapter
in the whole saga of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.
Oh yeah, a really dark one. Yeah, it is. We're
looking through a huge stack of notes, articles,
and all this great production trivia regarding
the second episode of the fourth season of Breaking
Bad. An episode titled 38 Snub. Exactly, but...
Before we really get into the nuts and bolts
of it all, I want to pose the question to you,
the listener. How do you handle it when you realize
you have absolutely no control over your own
life? That is, I mean, that's the fundamental
question of this entire hour of television. Right.
Because we are looking at two men reacting to
that exact realization in, you know, polar opposite
ways. Literally opposite. Yeah. One buys a gun
he doesn't know how to use and the other buys
a massive stereo system he can't even stand to
listen to. It's just wild. And our mission today
is to really unpack this. We aren't just going
to recap the plot. No, we never just do that.
Right. Though we obviously will get into Walter's
totally ill -fated attempt to become an assassin
and Jesse's descent into absolute chaos. But
we're going to look under the hood. The production
side. Yeah, the production secrets. Like how
they filmed a mirror shot that totally confuses
your brain, or why they needed a 180 -foot crane
for a single shot of a guy just standing in the
street. And how a literal physicist ended up
playing a car wash owner. Yes. I can't wait to
get to that. So good. We also really have to
talk about the sound. The audio landscape of
this particular episode is frankly a character
in itself. Totally. But before we get into all
the technical wizardry, let's set the stage for
you. Where exactly are we in the story? OK, right.
Context time. We are in the immediate aftermath
of the box cutter incident. And a hangover. The
ultimate hangover. Gus Fring has just brutally
murdered his own henchman, Victor. right in front
of Walt and Jesse. And he did it to send a message.
A very loud, very clear, and very bloody message.
It was so visceral. You know, the season premiere
was all about shock. It established Gus as a
very real physical threat, not just this, you
know, quiet managerial guy in a suit. Right.
He's not just the fast food boss anymore. Exactly.
So now in 38 Snub, the initial adrenaline has
kind of faded, but the terror absolutely hasn't.
Walt is terrified. He is convinced that he is
a dead man walking. He thinks Gus is just waiting
for an excuse to take him out. And then on the
other side, you have Jesse. he is trying and
really failing to numb the guilt of murdering
Gale Boetticher at the very end of season three.
And that's just the cartel side of things. Right,
then you have the domestic front. Skylar is maneuvering
to buy a business to launder all this drug money,
and Marie is dealing with a very depressed, completely
bedridden Hank. It's basically a pressure cooker.
Yeah. And the creative team behind this specific
pressure cooker included writer George Mastros
and director Michelle McLaren. Oh, Michelle McLaren.
Yeah, McLaren is a name we are going to say a
lot today because her visual stamp on this episode
is just undeniable. It really is. So let's dive
right into the A -flat. The Walter White narrative.
It all starts with the title of the episode itself,
38 Snub. Which refers, of course, to the .38
caliber snub -nosed revolver that Walter illegally
purchases right at the beginning. Yeah, and this
scene really sets the tone for the next hour.
Walt is in this dingy motel room meeting a black
market dealer. And the moment that dealer turns
around, if you are a fan of genre television,
you probably shouted at your screen, Jim Beaver.
Jim Beaver, the legendary character act. I mean,
you might know him as Ellsworth from Deadwood
or deeply beloved as Bobby Singer from Supernatural.
Yes. Seeing him in the Breaking Bad universe
was such a massive crossover moment for TV nerds.
It really was. But getting him there was actually
a complete logistical nightmare. Really? Yeah,
you have to remember, this was filmed back in
2011. Jim Beaver was a series regular on Supernatural
at the time. Which shoots in Canada, right? Right.
He was incredibly busy. And usually in TV production,
that means it just doesn't happen. Casting directors
just move on to the next guy on the list. Usually,
yes. But Beaver really wanted to do it. He was
a huge fan of the show. So the production basically
moved mountains. Wow. They flew him into Albuquerque
and they had him for literally half a day. Half
a day. That is it. They had to get this incredibly
pivotal dialogue heavy scene done in just a few
hours before putting him right back on a plane.
That adds such a crazy layer of tension to the
performance when you know that. They didn't have
time to mess around. Not at all. And despite
the rush, the performance is just so grounded.
George Mastros, the writer, noted that he loved
the irony of this character, Lawson. Yeah, the
dealer. Right here you have a black market gun
runner, an actual criminal, who is suddenly acting
as the sound of morality in the room. It creates
this wonderful tension. You expect the illegal
arms dealer to be the chaotic element, pushing
for violence. Sure, pushing the biggest, baddest
gun. But Lawson is actually trying to talk Walt
out of the illegal purchase. Or at least he's
trying to steer him towards something illegal
for defense, like a shotgun for the home. Because
he's looking at Walt, this high school teacher,
in a beige windbreaker, and he's doing a risk
assessment. Exactly. He sees a man who is clearly
way over his head. He's basically saying, you
do not look like a killer, you look like a liability.
But Walt insists. He wants the snub nose. He
wants something highly concealable. Right. And
that reveals his true intent. He isn't buying
this for home protection. He is buying it for
an assassination. He fully intends to walk right
up to Gus Fring and shoot him. Which, as we will
see, is a terrible plan. An awful plan. But before
we leave that motel room... We really have to
talk about how the scene opens because visually
it does something very, very tricky. The mirror
shot. Yes. Let's unpack this shot because it's
one of those things you might miss if you aren't
paying close attention. But once you see it,
it's brilliant. It really is. The episode opens
with Walter speaking directly into the camera.
He's asking. So how does it look? And as a viewer,
you think he's talking to the dealer. You assume
the camera is the dealer's point of view. Right.
It establishes this really intimate, almost confrontational
connection with you, the viewer. But then the
camera moves, or rather the perspective shifts,
and you realize he isn't looking at the dealer
at all. He's looking into a mirror. We're just
seeing his reflection. It was filmed to be deliberately
disorienting. Michelle McLaren wanted you to
feel unmoored, just like Walt feels. It totally
works. But there is a deeper critical interpretation
here, too. Logan Hill, writing for New York Magazine,
pointed out that this is a brilliant symbol for
self -reflection. He's checking his mask, right?
Precisely. He is wondering if the internal burden
he is carrying, all that fear, the murderous
intent, is actually visible on his face. He's
asking, can the world see what I am becoming?
Yes. It's a moment of intense narcissism and
deep insecurity. He is practicing the role of
a killer before he actually tries to be one.
It's such a cool way to start the episode. And,
you know, here is a little nugget for the set
design nerds out there. Oh, the room itself.
Yeah. That motel room. Totally fake. Which is
surprising because it looks incredibly gritty
and authentic. It has that, you know, stained
carpet, cheap wood paneling vibe. Director Michelle
McLaren wanted a real rundown motel feel. But
have you ever tried to fit an entire camera crew,
a boom operator, actors, and full lighting rigs
into a real Motel 6 room? It is physically impossible.
They're way too small. You'd be shooting everything
in extreme close -up and the actors would just
be bumping into the equipment. Exactly. Production
designer Mark Freeborn built a set completely
from scratch. But get this, it had removable
walls. Oh, wild wall set? Yeah. They could pull
a wall out to get a camera angle from a distance
that would be literally impossible in real life,
and then just slot the wall right back in for
the reverse shot. That kind of control is essential
when you are on a super tight schedule with a
guest actor like Jim Beaver. Right, because they
only had him for half a day. Exactly. It allowed
McLaren to get those really cinematic, wide angles
that make the characters feel isolated in the
space without being constrained by actual drywall.
So Walter gets the gun, he has the tool, and
he practices his draw in his apartment, which
is just another scene that oozes awkwardness.
He's literally posing with it. It's Taxi Driver
without the cool factor. He is desperately trying
to psych himself up. And then he decides to make
his move. He drives to Gus's house at night.
Here we go. He puts on this black hat Heisenberg
mode, fully activated. He's marching up the street.
And then he gets intercepted. He doesn't even
get close to the front door. Not even close.
Tyrus, the new henchman who replaced Victor,
just calls him on the phone. Walt answers, looking
totally confused, spinning around. And the message
is chillingly simple. Go home, Walter. It's so
defeating. He is all revved up, adrenaline pumping,
thinking he's the hunter. And with three words,
they turn him right back into the prey. They're
watching him the entire time. It perfectly emphasizes
the asymmetry of information. Gus's organization
sees absolutely everything. Walt sees nothing.
Nothing at all. But the way they filmed his defeat,
I mean, this is where the deep dive really gets
good. There is a shot at the very end of the
scene where the camera is looking straight down
on Walt from way, way up high. Oh, man. This
is one of the most discussed shots in the entire
episode. It is an extreme overhead crane shot.
Yes. Now, usually for television, a standard
crane might go up 30 feet. Maybe 40 if you're
getting really fancy. Michelle McLaren rented
a 180 foot tall crane. 180 feet. That is 18 stories
high. Just for this one single shot. Think about
the logistics of that for a second. They're shooting
at night. They have a very limited window of
darkness. Yeah, I read the sources on this. They
only had four hours to shoot the night scenes
before they lost the permit time or the sun came
up. So they had to set up this monster piece
of machinery as the very first shot of the evening.
Which is terrifying for a crew. Completely. If
the crane malfunctioned or if the setup took
too long, the whole night schedule would have
been completely ruined. It was a massive financial
and practical risk. So why do it? Why go to that
kind of trouble and expense for a shot that lasts,
what, maybe 10 seconds on screen? Because it's
about scale. If you shoot Walt from eye level,
he just looks like a man standing on a street.
If you shoot him from 30 feet up, he looks like
a man being watched from a rooftop. Sure. But
from 180 feet up, he is just a tiny, helpless
dot in the middle of a vast, dark world. It minimizes
him completely. Exactly. McLaren wanted to convey
Walter's absolute insignificance in that moment.
He thinks he is this powerful player, this kingpin
in the making. Right. But from the perspective
of the universe, or from the perspective of Gus
Fring, he is an ant. He is entirely alone, and
he is totally out of his depth. literally a god's
-eye view of a very pathetic man. And practically
speaking, it's just a stunning piece of cinematography.
Yeah. It elevates the show from a standard crime
drama to something almost operatic. And that
theme of, you know, pathetic aggression continues
because Walt doesn't just give up. He can't.
Right. He learns he can't get to Gus directly.
So he tries to find a proxy. Which leads to the
bar fight. Or, well, I should really say the
bar beat down. Yes, the confrontation with Mike
Ehrmantraut. So Walt tracks Mike down to a local
bar, which, by the way, McLaren filmed so beautifully,
she backlit Walt as he enters the bar. So he
appears as just a stark silhouette in the doorway.
It felt exactly like a scene out of a Western.
Very Sergio Leone. We see that influence all
over this season, really. The tense silence,
the focus on the eyes, the wide framing. But
the dynamic here is crucial. Walt sits down and
tries to pitch Mike. He says, look, we're in
the same boat. Gus killed Victor. He could easily
kill you. Put me in a room with him so I can
use this gun. It is such a desperate sales pitch.
He's trying to use pure logic to recruit the
guy who actively hates him. And Mike. Mike is
simply not buying it. No. Mike reveals he was
steps ahead the whole time. He knew Walt was
tailing him all day. He even knew Walt was carrying
the pistol into the super lab. That part is so
embarrassing for Walt. It is. Mike basically
tells Walt, you are not a partner in this. You
are just a problem. And when Walt pushes too
hard, when he implies that Mike is actually in
danger, that is the trigger. The physical explosion.
Mike just punches Walt, knocks him down and then
kicks him hard while he's on the floor. And then
he just walks out, leaves him there. It's brutal.
And here's where it gets really interesting regarding
the production and the stunt work. You might
naturally assume, oh, they use stunt doubles
for that. Especially with older actors. Nope.
Bryan Cranston and Jonathan Banks performed the
stunts themselves. Which adds a level of gritty
realism you just can't fake with a wide shot
and a double. Exactly. Stunt coordinator Al Godo
arranged it, but the actors executed it. Now,
safety is obviously paramount on a set. To make
the kicking safe, they placed a really large
sandbag against Bryan Cranston's torso. Oh, hidden
under his clothes. Either hidden under his clothes
or just blocked entirely by the camera angle.
So when Jonathan Banks is winding up and kicking
him on the ground, he's actually kicking the
sandbag with full force. So Cranston is getting
physically jolted by the real impact, but his
ribs aren't shattering. Right. It allows Banks
to really commit to the violence without holding
anything back. But there was also a really specific
editing choice that Vince Gilligan made that
totally changed the feel of the fight. Oh, right.
Originally, the scene was blocked so that after
the conversation at the bar, they both stand
up, square off, maybe exchange a look, and then
the punch happens. It was more of a traditional
fight start. Like a duel in a saloon. Exactly.
But in the editing room, Gilligan decided to
cut the standing up part entirely. Really? Yeah.
So in the final broadcast version, Walt is just
sitting there talking, trying to convince him,
and then suddenly, bam! He is on the floor. Mike
punches him almost out of nowhere. It makes it
so much faster. It's incredibly surprising. It
emphasizes Mike's raw efficiency as an operator.
He doesn't posture. He doesn't need to square
up or warn you. He just strikes. It makes Mike
scarier and makes Walt look even more helpless.
So that is Walt's journey in this episode. He
buys a gun. He tries to use it. He gets told
to go home by a guy on a phone. He tries to recruit
a grumpy ally and he gets punched in the face.
He is just flailing. He is trying to control
his fate through aggression, and he is failing
miserably. Now let's pivot to the other side
of the coin, Jesse Pinkman. Yeah. If Walt is
trying to control everything, Jesse is trying
to drown everything out. Jesse's storyline in
38 Snub is, it's honestly just heartbreaking,
and some of the darkest, most oppressive stuff
the show has done. He is totally miserable, he
killed Gale, and now he is completely terrified
of his own thoughts. So what does he do? He buys
stuff. He engages in sheer manic consumption.
He buys a very high -end stereo system. And famously,
he buys a Roomba. The Roomba. I love that detail.
Why a Roomba? Well, Raider George Mastras included
the Roomba specifically because it is inane.
Right. Think about it. It's a robot vacuum. Jesse
lives in what is essentially a frat house mixed
with a meth den. He does not care about cleaning.
Right. Hygiene isn't really his priority right
now. He wants the Roomba simply because it is
a thing that moves. It's like a little robotic
pet. It makes a humming noise. It occupies physical
space. It's activity for the sake of activity.
Exactly. He just wants something moving in the
house so he doesn't feel alone with his brain.
And when the gadgets aren't enough, he brings
in the people. He has Badger and Skinny Pete
arrange this multi -day non -stop party. This
is the Sound and Fury segment of our deep dive.
The party was a huge, fascinating production
challenge. They couldn't film this in a real
house. They're messy. Way too messy. You've got
graffiti, pizza, drugs, hundreds of extras, and
they needed to do things with the camera that
you simply can't do in a real living room. So
this was also shot entirely on a soundstage.
And the camera work here gets really experimental.
We talked about the mirror shot and the crane
shot for Walt, but for Jesse... They went totally
gonzo. We actually have shot from the point of
view of the Roomba. Which is such a weird low
angle scurrying perspective. It makes you feel
like vermin scuttling across the floor through
a forest of legs. And we also have a shot from
the point of view of a pizza box. It creates
this intense sense of nausea. You are trapped
in this party and there is a specific editing
trick called a match cut that director Michelle
McLaren conceived on the fly. Oh, explain that
for us. So you have a shot of Badger. out of
the frame to snort meth. The camera just holds
on the empty space for a split second and then
instantly Skinny Pete pops up into the frame
in the exact same spot. It basically loops them
together. It creates this weird endless loop
effect like one junkie leaves another appears
and they are essentially the same entity. Exactly.
It visually suggests that these people are completely
interchangeable. They aren't real friends to
Jesse. They are just warm bodies filling the
empty space. The party feels like this This endless,
repetitive nightmare, it is not fun, it is dizzying.
And the music supervisor, Thomas Galubic, chose
tracks that heavily reflected that nightmare
vibe. It's not party anthems, it's variations
of punk rock, hip hop, and heavy dubstep. Songs
like Money by Dee, Slash R, Period, or Digital
Animal by Honey Claws. It's super aggressive.
It's an assault. It's not background music. It
is an active weapon against silence. And that
leads us to the final breakdown. The party eventually
clears out. Everyone leaves. And Jesse is left
alone with the exact silence he's been dreading.
So he sits directly in front of his massive speakers.
This is really the climax of the episode for
me. He turns the volume all the way up and sits
inches away. He is literally vibrating against
the speaker to stop himself from thinking. Now,
here's a tech challenge I honestly hadn't thought
about until reading the sources. How do you film
a speaker pulsing like that without totally deafening
the actor? Right. You can't actually blast music
at 120 decibels right into Aaron Paul's ear.
It would cause permanent hearing damage in minutes.
Yeah. Safety regulations wouldn't allow it. And
you wouldn't be able to give the actor or any
direction during the take. So they tried special
effects. They tried a lot of things. They tried
shaking the speakers manually off camera. They
tried pulling the cones with invisible strings
from the back to make them bounce. But it all
looked incredibly fake. It didn't have that violent,
rapid vibration of a real subwoofer pumping air.
So what was the solution? How did they get it?
Michelle McLaren went shopping. Right. She went
to a local stereo store in Albuquerque and just
explained the problem to the guys working there.
She said, I need a speaker to move like it's
blasting, but I need it to be quiet. That is
just classic on the ground problem solving. She
actually found a device there called a bass tester.
It's meant to test the limits of audio equipment.
It allows a system to push air and move the speaker
cones at what they call maximum excursion. That
means the cone moving in and out as far as it
can physically go, but it does it at a frequency
that doesn't generate the loud audible booming
sound. No way. So the speaker's physically thumping,
pushing real air, but it's basically silent.
Relatively silent, yes. Just the mechanical sound
of the physical movement. They even hired the
actual store employee to come to the set and
run the system for them. That is amazing. So
Aaron Paul is literally leaning against this
violently throbbing speaker, acting his heart
out, physically shaking from the vibration. But
the actual deafening dubstep music we hear on
TV was dubbed in... later in post -production.
That is pure movie magic. It explains why the
performance is so visceral. He's actually physically
interacting with the prop. It's pushing against
him. And the critical reception to that scene,
I mean, critics were floored. Tim Surrett from
TV .com said, Karen Paul's acting ripped his
heart out. Yeah. Emily van der Werf from the
Los Angeles Times called it the most chilling
thing so far this season. It's a genuine portrait
of a man in hell. It really is. Yeah. So we have
Walt completely failing to be a gangster. and
Jesse failing to escape his guilt. But the world
of Breaking Bad is bigger than just them. We
have to check in on the supporting cast because
there's some serious drama happening elsewhere.
Let's talk about Skylar White. She is taking
the initiative. She actively wants to buy the
car wash where Walt used to work as a cover to
launder the drug money. The A wanted car wash
and she has to go deal with the current owner.
Bogdan. A man with the eyebrows? The eyebrows.
They are absolutely legendary. Now Bogdan is
played by Marius Stan and here is a fact from
the sources that completely blew my mind. Marius
Stan is not an actor by trade. No he is not.
Do you want to tell everyone what he actually
is? He is a Physicist. A physicist. Yeah. Like
an actual working scientist. A literal PhD scientist.
He was teaching at the University of Chicago
during the filming of the show. How on earth
does a physicist end up playing a car wash owner
on a prestige television drama? Well, he was
living in Albuquerque for work at the time, and
he just has a very distinctive look. The casting
directors saw him and just loved his presence.
He'd never acted professionally before in his
life. That is wild. So you have an actual physicist
playing a car wash owner. yelling at a fictional
chemistry teacher who is secretly a drug lord.
Only on Breaking Bad, but in this episode, Skyler
approaches him with an offer and he shuts her
down hard. He is still furious about how Walt
insulted him when he quit back in the pilot episode.
That's a great narrative callback. It shows that
Walt's past ego trips, like when he grabbed his
crotch and told Bogdan, wipe down this, are creating
very real obstacles for their current criminal
enterprise. Exactly. Walt scorched the earth
because of his pride, and now Skyler has to try
to plant seeds in it. It is not going well. And
then we have the Schrader household. Yeah. Hank
and Marie. Yeah. It is. It's really grim. It
is very difficult to watch. Hank is bedridden,
recovering from the massive shooting injuries
with the Salamaka cousins from last season. He
is deeply depressed, incredibly bitter, and taking
it all out on Marie. He is just so relentlessly
mean to her. He is. There's a scene where he
celebrates a small victory with his physical
therapist. He manages to move his leg or stand
for just a moment. And in that moment, he's charming.
He's happy. He's the old Hank. But then the therapist
leaves. Right. The therapist leaves, and Marie
tries to share in that excitement. She is genuinely
thrilled for him. And he just walls her off completely.
He absolutely refuses to share the joy with her.
He goes totally cold. Critics really noted that
this script effectively conveyed Marie's increasing
isolation. She is trying so, so hard to be the
supportive wife, and he is punishing her simply
for witnessing his weakness. It's devastating.
And speaking of witnessing things, we also get
introduced to a new face. in the criminal underworld,
Tyrus Kitt. Played by Ray Campbell, he is the
new Victor. The permanent replacement. Interestingly,
the script just called him new Victor for a long
time. It was the writer, George Mastros, who
finally gave him the actual name Tyrus. How does
he compare to Victor in your view? He is colder.
Victor was a bit of a hothead, always kind of
eager to please Gus. Tyrus is quiet. He's hyper
-efficient. He feels much more corporate, but
in a very, very dangerous way. Right. He's the
one who makes that chilling phone call to Walt
outside Gus's house. Go home. Just ice cold.
Moving on to the broader production style of
the episode. We touched on the Western vibes
earlier with the bar scene, but this episode
is absolutely drenched in them. Totally. Reviewers
were constantly comparing it to Sergio Leone
movies like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
What specifically gives it That vibe, do you
think? Well, according to the sources, it's the
extreme close -ups on the eyes and hands. It's
those tense, drawn -out silences where nobody
is talking, just staring each other down. It's
the saloon fight feel of the bar scene. Entertainment
Weekly writer Melissa Maris actually specifically
pointed that out in her review. It's a modern
Western. Instead of horses, we have Aztecs and
Monte Carlos. Instead of a six shooter. Well,
actually, Walt literally buys a six shooter.
A .38 snub. Exactly. The iconography is completely
intact. We really can't ignore the pop culture
references. This show always grounds itself in
the real world so well. At Jesse's party, amidst
all the darkness and the drugs. Badger and Skinny
Pete are having this incredibly heated debate
about zombie video games. A classic Badger and
Skinny Pete conversation. They are debating the
mechanics of different zombie franchises. Left
4 Dead, Resident Evil 4, and Call of Duty. World
at War. They are arguing about whether zombies
can run, right? The classic slow versus fast
zombie debate. Right. And Badger has that hilarious
line describing the Nazi zombies in Call of Duty
as the Taliban's of the zombie world. It adds
that perfect layer of absurd humor that Breaking
Bad is so famous for. Even in the midst of Jesse's
total psychological breakdown, you have these
two guys arguing passionately about video game
logic. It serves a narrative purpose too, though.
It shows that life goes on. Jesse is falling
apart, but his friends are just being their usual
kind of oblivious selves. It actually isolates
Jesse even more because he can't participate
in that innocent stupidity anymore. He's seen
way too much. That's a great point. And there's
a pizza callback. Yes. The large, unsliced pizza
at the party. It's a direct visual reference
to the season three episode, Caballo Sin Nombre,
where Walt famously throws the pizza on his own
roof. I love that they keep that strange continuity.
In Albuquerque, apparently they just don't slice
their pizza. Fans were totally obsessed with
that detail. Vince Gilligan eventually had to
explain it on a podcast or an interview that
this particular fictional pizza chain just doesn't
cut their pies. They pass the savings on to you.
It's so funny. So let's look at how this episode
was actually received by the public when it aired.
Ratings -wise, it had about 1 .97 million household
viewers. Is that considered good for season four?
Well, it was the third most watched episode by
that point in the fourth season, but it was actually
a significant drop from the premiere, which had
over 2 .5 million. But, you know, this is pretty
common in TV. Premiers grab everyone who's curious,
and then the audience settles into its core base.
And what about the reviews? Generally positive,
but definitely with some caveats. people widely
praised the attention and the visual innovation,
the camera work we discussed, the crane shot.
The Hollywood Reporter called the photography
and direction masterful. Which it is. Salon .com
praised the luxuriating pace and specifically
highlighted that massive overhead shot of Walter.
But not everyone was completely happy. No. Some
critics, like those at Crave Online, felt Jesse's
storyline was getting a bit repetitive. Like,
we get it, he's partying, he's sad, let's move
on. And Hank was so incredibly unsympathetic
that it made the Marie subplot really hard for
some people to enjoy watching. And CNN even called
it a placeholder episode. Which is a fair criticism
if you were only looking for massive plot advancement.
Walt ends the episode largely right where he
started, totally helpless. But if you are looking
for character depth and visual storytelling,
I think it's absolutely essential. In the grand
scheme of things, where does it rank historically?
The Ringer did a definitive ranking in 2019 of
all 62 Breaking Bad episodes. They placed 38
snub at number 58. Ooh, that is pretty low. That's
bottom five. It is definitely toward the bottom.
But you have to remember, a so -called bad episode
of Breaking Bad is still better than most incredible
episodes of other television shows. It's a bridge
episode. It moves the emotional pieces into place
for the really explosive conflict that comes
later in the season. So let's wrap this up. We
have thoroughly unpacked the gun, the mirror,
the 180 -foot crane, the silent base tester,
and the physicist car wash owner. We really have.
So what is the big takeaway here? For me, it
is entirely about the illusion of action. Walt
thinks buying a done is doing something. Jesse
thinks throwing a massive party is doing something.
But really, they are both just reacting blindly
to their own helplessness. The production team
used every technical trick in the book, from
sky -high cranes to vibrating speakers, to visually
represent that feeling of being small, trapped,
and completely isolated. It transforms a quote
unquote placeholder plot into a genuine piece
of visual art. Well, here's a final thought to
leave you with listeners. Consider the profound
contrast we talked about today. One man, Walt,
looks into a mirror, practices his hardened face
and tries to buy a weapon to control his fate.
The other man, Jesse, surrounds himself with
hundreds of people and deafening noise just to
drown out his reality. Yet how does the episode
actually end for both of them? They both fail.
Exactly. Walt is lying battered on the floor
of a bar, totally alone. Jesse is vibrating against
a massive speaker in an empty house, totally
alone. It really raises the question, is noise
just another form of silence when you are truly
suffering? Something to mull over. Yeah. If you
want to see that crazy crane shot or the mirror
trick yourself, definitely go rewatch 38 Snub.
It is absolutely worth a second look with all
this in mind. Thanks for joining us for this
deep dive. Until next time.