WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.339 Welcome back to the deep dive. We are shifting 00:00:03.339 --> 00:00:05.540 gears a bit today. Yeah, definitely a different 00:00:05.540 --> 00:00:08.000 flavor for this one. Right. We aren't looking 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:11.539 at a historical event today or or a scientific 00:00:11.539 --> 00:00:14.960 breakthrough or even the latest tech trend. We're 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:17.920 actually cracking open a really specific, highly 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:21.239 volatile hour of television history. We are looking 00:00:21.239 --> 00:00:23.559 at Breaking Bad. Specifically, we're looking 00:00:23.559 --> 00:00:26.559 at what you could call the architecture of tension. 00:00:26.859 --> 00:00:28.879 Oh, that is a really great way to put it, the 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:31.039 architecture of tension. Yeah, because we are 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:34.479 focusing on season four. Episode four titled 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:37.259 bullet points exactly and look if you're a fan 00:00:37.259 --> 00:00:39.659 of the show Just hearing that title probably 00:00:39.659 --> 00:00:42.020 triggers a very specific image in your mind a 00:00:42.020 --> 00:00:44.939 notebook Yep, a handwritten list of notes. It 00:00:44.939 --> 00:00:46.840 definitely should but before we get to the notebook 00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:49.159 itself We really need to set the stage for you 00:00:49.159 --> 00:00:52.060 this hour of television originally air on August 00:00:52.060 --> 00:00:55.560 7 2011 Okay, it's the 37th installment of the 00:00:55.560 --> 00:00:58.520 series overall and the mission for our deep dive 00:00:58.520 --> 00:01:01.299 today the whole point of this is to really understand 00:01:01.299 --> 00:01:05.200 how this specific functions as a bridge a bridge 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:07.959 between what exactly well between the sort of 00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:10.400 simmering passive aggressive tension of the early 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:14.400 season and the absolute just explosive chaos 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:16.959 that comes later right because on the surface 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:20.420 bullet points looks like like a setup episode 00:01:20.420 --> 00:01:22.459 it does it's moving chess pieces around the board 00:01:22.459 --> 00:01:24.760 yeah but when you actually dig into the production 00:01:24.760 --> 00:01:28.040 notes the interviews with creator Vince Gilligan 00:01:28.040 --> 00:01:31.180 and the director Michelle McLaren plus all the 00:01:31.180 --> 00:01:33.040 technical breakdowns we have in our source material. 00:01:33.519 --> 00:01:35.480 You realize this episode is actually fundamentally 00:01:35.480 --> 00:01:38.620 about the collapse of professionalism. Professionalism, 00:01:38.780 --> 00:01:40.909 yes. And we have a lot of ground to cover. To 00:01:40.909 --> 00:01:42.489 show you how that happens, we've got the Cold 00:01:42.489 --> 00:01:45.469 War with the cartel. We have some genuinely insane 00:01:45.469 --> 00:01:48.709 practical effects involving dry ice. Oh man, 00:01:48.829 --> 00:01:51.109 the dry ice. And of course, the psychological 00:01:51.109 --> 00:01:53.730 unraveling of Walter White. Not to mention a 00:01:53.730 --> 00:01:55.769 karaoke video that might just be the darkest 00:01:55.769 --> 00:01:58.150 joke in the entire history of the series. Truly 00:01:58.150 --> 00:02:00.670 the darkest. But I want to start with the title 00:02:00.670 --> 00:02:04.269 itself, Bullet Points. It feels like a double 00:02:04.269 --> 00:02:06.879 entendre right out of the gate, doesn't it? Oh, 00:02:07.019 --> 00:02:09.740 it is explicitly a duality. You have the metaphorical 00:02:09.740 --> 00:02:12.280 bullet points, right? The list in Gale Boetscher's 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:14.620 lab notes. Exactly. The notes that threaten to 00:02:14.620 --> 00:02:17.659 completely destroy Walt. And you also have the 00:02:17.659 --> 00:02:20.379 literal bullets. The violence. The sheer violence. 00:02:20.460 --> 00:02:22.460 And that is exactly where the episode begins. 00:02:22.860 --> 00:02:25.699 The cold open. We're just thrown right into a 00:02:25.699 --> 00:02:27.879 high -stakes situation with Mike Ermentroth. 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:32.129 And the setting here is... Well, it's a choice. 00:02:32.229 --> 00:02:35.169 Yeah. He is hiding inside a refrigerator truck. 00:02:35.409 --> 00:02:38.129 A Les Paulos Hermanos truck, specifically. And 00:02:38.129 --> 00:02:40.770 to really understand the why here, we have to 00:02:40.770 --> 00:02:42.669 pull back for a second and look at the macro 00:02:42.669 --> 00:02:45.189 politics of the show's universe at this specific 00:02:45.189 --> 00:02:47.310 moment in time. Because this isn't just some 00:02:47.310 --> 00:02:49.590 random highway hijacking. No, not at all. This 00:02:49.590 --> 00:02:52.150 is geopolitical. It's the cartel striking back. 00:02:52.189 --> 00:02:54.949 Right. It's a direct response to the season three 00:02:54.949 --> 00:02:58.000 finale, full measure. Remember, Mike... killed 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:00.919 several cartel henchmen who had basically taken 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:03.560 over a chemical supply warehouse. He acted preemptively. 00:03:04.020 --> 00:03:06.560 Exactly. He followed Gus Fring's overarching 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:09.159 philosophy, which is essentially to strike first. 00:03:09.580 --> 00:03:12.439 But actions have consequences. Always. The cartel 00:03:12.439 --> 00:03:14.819 isn't going to just storm Gus's house yet. That's 00:03:14.819 --> 00:03:17.419 too direct. Instead, they're squeezing his supply 00:03:17.419 --> 00:03:20.520 lines. Hitting the logistics. Right. So Mike 00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:23.180 is in the back of this truck, literally chilling, 00:03:23.460 --> 00:03:25.360 just waiting for the attack that he absolutely 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:28.000 knows is coming. And it definitely comes. The 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:30.460 truck gets forced off the road. And this is where 00:03:30.460 --> 00:03:33.039 I want to just pause and really talk about the 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:35.599 filmmaking. It's incredible. Because this sequence 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:38.939 is terrifying for you as the viewer. You're trapped 00:03:38.939 --> 00:03:41.740 inside this dark metal box with Mike. You hear 00:03:41.740 --> 00:03:44.520 the tires screeching. The truck is tipping over. 00:03:44.620 --> 00:03:46.860 And then the machine gun fire. The sound design 00:03:46.860 --> 00:03:49.379 is doing a ton of heavy lifting there, absolutely. 00:03:49.979 --> 00:03:52.500 But the visual effects team is doing even more. 00:03:52.860 --> 00:03:55.319 We have to talk about the squibs. because this 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:57.639 was one of the craziest statistics in the research 00:03:57.639 --> 00:03:59.960 packet. For the listener who might not be familiar, 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:03.900 a squib is basically a small explosive charge 00:04:03.900 --> 00:04:06.879 used in filming. to simulate a bullet impact, 00:04:06.900 --> 00:04:09.340 right? Correct. It's essentially a tiny packet 00:04:09.340 --> 00:04:12.939 of fake blood or dust and an explosive detonator 00:04:12.939 --> 00:04:15.939 that's wired back to a control board. In a typical 00:04:15.939 --> 00:04:19.000 action movie scene, a director might set up 20, 00:04:19.060 --> 00:04:22.079 maybe 30 of these to simulate a really heavy 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:24.959 shootout. OK. So keeping that in mind, how many 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:28.720 did they use for this specific truck scene? 380? 00:04:29.620 --> 00:04:32.899 380 explosive charges. It is a staggering number 00:04:32.899 --> 00:04:36.199 for television. That's absurd. They had 150 wired 00:04:36.199 --> 00:04:38.639 onto each side of the truck, and then another 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:41.500 80 on the rear doors alone. Just think about 00:04:41.500 --> 00:04:43.720 the wiring nightmare that entails for the crew. 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:46.740 Oh, it's miles of cable. You have miles of cable 00:04:46.740 --> 00:04:49.100 running from the truck to a central control board. 00:04:49.300 --> 00:04:51.660 And the pressure on the crew must have been immense. 00:04:52.040 --> 00:04:54.740 Because if a squib misfires, or if the timing 00:04:54.740 --> 00:04:57.699 of the sequence is off, you can't just say, oh, 00:04:57.699 --> 00:04:59.920 let's reset and try again. No, you absolutely 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:02.180 cannot. You'd have to physically patch the holes 00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:05.660 in the metal, repaint the entire truck, and then 00:05:05.660 --> 00:05:08.579 painstakingly rewire all the explosives. So it 00:05:08.579 --> 00:05:11.220 effectively has to be done in one take? Essentially, 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:14.040 yes. It was a one -shot deal for the main impacts. 00:05:14.220 --> 00:05:16.259 And they went even further with the realism to 00:05:16.259 --> 00:05:18.600 sell it. They actually used two completely different 00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:21.360 sets of back doors. Wait, why two sets of doors? 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:24.740 It comes down to perspective. They had one set 00:05:24.740 --> 00:05:28.019 of doors rigged specifically for the exterior 00:05:28.019 --> 00:05:30.139 shots. Where you see the bullets punching into 00:05:30.139 --> 00:05:32.899 the metal from the outside. Then they cut the 00:05:32.899 --> 00:05:35.259 cameras, physically swapped those doors out for 00:05:35.259 --> 00:05:37.379 a second set, and that second set was rigged 00:05:37.379 --> 00:05:41.339 for the interior shots to show the bullets shredding 00:05:41.339 --> 00:05:43.819 through the metal to the inside right where Mike 00:05:43.819 --> 00:05:46.519 is hiding. So when you're watching it and you 00:05:46.519 --> 00:05:50.079 see Mike flinching as the light literally punches 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:52.839 through the metal, in the dark. Those are real 00:05:52.839 --> 00:05:55.399 controlled explosions happening just feet away 00:05:55.399 --> 00:05:58.519 from the actor. That adds visceral texture that 00:05:58.519 --> 00:06:00.899 CGI simply cannot replicate. You really feel 00:06:00.899 --> 00:06:03.279 the violence of it. You do. But speaking of visceral, 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:04.879 let's talk about the temperature in that scene. 00:06:04.920 --> 00:06:06.879 The cold. Because the other thing that really 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:09.660 sells this scene is the cold. You see Mike's 00:06:09.660 --> 00:06:12.449 breath. You see him shivering. it feels like 00:06:12.449 --> 00:06:15.250 it's 10 degrees below zero inside that box. Which 00:06:15.250 --> 00:06:17.430 is actually a massive problem for the production 00:06:17.430 --> 00:06:19.769 because they filmed the show in Albuquerque, 00:06:19.829 --> 00:06:24.009 New Mexico and usually they are filming in just 00:06:24.009 --> 00:06:26.569 scorching desert heat. So how did they pull that 00:06:26.569 --> 00:06:28.730 off? Did they actually refrigerate the interior 00:06:28.730 --> 00:06:31.589 of the truck? They considered it, but that would 00:06:31.589 --> 00:06:34.230 be way too expensive and honestly pretty dangerous 00:06:34.230 --> 00:06:36.290 for the crew to work in all day. So what did 00:06:36.290 --> 00:06:39.959 they do? Well... Vince Gilligan had a very specific 00:06:39.959 --> 00:06:43.160 visual requirement. He wanted the audience to 00:06:43.160 --> 00:06:45.680 see the breath condensation. He didn't want to 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:48.600 fake it in post -production with CGI. No, because 00:06:48.600 --> 00:06:52.040 smoke simulation back in 2011 was still a bit 00:06:52.040 --> 00:06:54.240 spotty for something that needs to look as subtle 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:57.339 and natural as human breath. So they went practical. 00:06:57.620 --> 00:07:00.500 Extremely practical. And honestly, a little bit 00:07:00.500 --> 00:07:02.800 unhinged. I love this part. The special effects 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:07.060 crew custom built this tiny plastic device. Just 00:07:07.060 --> 00:07:09.699 imagine a really small plastic box with several 00:07:09.699 --> 00:07:11.980 little holes drilled into it. And they filled 00:07:11.980 --> 00:07:14.800 this box with actual dry ice. I see where this 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:16.920 is going and I don't like it. It gets worse. 00:07:17.300 --> 00:07:20.100 Jonathan Banks, the actor playing Mike, had to 00:07:20.100 --> 00:07:22.740 physically hold this plastic device inside his 00:07:22.740 --> 00:07:25.259 mouth. Inside his mouth? While acting. While 00:07:25.259 --> 00:07:28.060 acting out the scene. That is insane. He's sitting 00:07:28.060 --> 00:07:30.579 there in the dark waiting to essentially kill 00:07:30.579 --> 00:07:34.300 two men with a box of frozen carbon dioxide tucked 00:07:34.300 --> 00:07:37.589 into his cheek. Wow. And when he exhaled, the 00:07:37.589 --> 00:07:40.410 warm air from his lungs passed over the dry ice, 00:07:40.730 --> 00:07:43.870 creating this perfect, totally natural -looking 00:07:43.870 --> 00:07:47.050 condensation cloud. That sounds incredibly uncomfortable. 00:07:47.290 --> 00:07:49.629 I mean, dry ice burns if it directly touches 00:07:49.629 --> 00:07:51.930 your skin. It absolutely does. And the source 00:07:51.930 --> 00:07:53.790 notes mention they actually had some teething 00:07:53.790 --> 00:07:56.670 problems with the device early on. What happened? 00:07:56.990 --> 00:07:58.730 Well, the first time they tested the mixture 00:07:58.730 --> 00:08:01.370 of the ice and the airflow, it was way too thick. 00:08:01.550 --> 00:08:03.490 It didn't look like he was breathing in the cold. 00:08:04.029 --> 00:08:06.449 It looked like Mike was chain smoking a massive 00:08:06.449 --> 00:08:09.430 cigar inside the truck. Which, to be fair, would 00:08:09.430 --> 00:08:12.089 be very on brand for a noir character like Mike. 00:08:12.230 --> 00:08:15.100 True. But probably not great for a stealth mission 00:08:15.100 --> 00:08:17.459 where you're hiding from cartel hitmen. Exactly. 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:19.660 So they had to dial the mixture back quite a 00:08:19.660 --> 00:08:21.800 bit. But here is a fascinating piece of trivia 00:08:21.800 --> 00:08:24.420 about this whole effect. Yeah. Vince Gilligan 00:08:24.420 --> 00:08:27.720 didn't invent this dry ice trick. He actually 00:08:27.720 --> 00:08:31.560 stole it. From who? Frank Capra. The director. 00:08:31.779 --> 00:08:33.980 The legendary director of It's a Wonderful Life. 00:08:34.220 --> 00:08:37.940 No way. Yeah, Gilligan had read Capra's autobiography 00:08:37.940 --> 00:08:41.039 years ago, and Capra used the exact same trick 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:44.200 back in the 1940s to simulate winter scenes that 00:08:44.200 --> 00:08:46.799 had to be filmed on a warm soundstage in Hollywood. 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:49.299 That is incredible. Gilligan remembered reading 00:08:49.299 --> 00:08:50.799 that and just thought, well, if it worked for 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:53.539 Capra, it works for us. It really is amazing 00:08:53.539 --> 00:08:57.120 how low -tech solutions in filmmaking... often 00:08:57.120 --> 00:08:59.940 age so much better than the high -tech digital 00:08:59.940 --> 00:09:03.620 ones. It's tactile. You can feel it. And it instantly 00:09:03.620 --> 00:09:06.539 sets up the baseline competence of Mike's character. 00:09:06.679 --> 00:09:10.019 Right. He is suffering. He is freezing. He is 00:09:10.019 --> 00:09:13.059 under heavy machine gunfire. And yet, the second 00:09:13.059 --> 00:09:15.659 those doors open... He doesn't hesitate for a 00:09:15.659 --> 00:09:17.940 fraction of a second. He drops both of the attackers. 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:20.759 But he doesn't walk away completely clean either. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:23.120 No. He takes a grazing shot right to the ear. 00:09:23.289 --> 00:09:25.049 And we really have to give a shout out to the 00:09:25.049 --> 00:09:27.870 makeup team here, specifically KNB Efec S Group. 00:09:28.049 --> 00:09:30.830 Greg Nicotero's team. Right. They made a mold 00:09:30.830 --> 00:09:34.049 of Jonathan Banks's actual ear to create a custom 00:09:34.049 --> 00:09:36.169 prosthetic application that looked absolutely 00:09:36.169 --> 00:09:38.509 gruesome. Just a chunk of cartilage hanging off. 00:09:38.850 --> 00:09:41.029 Yeah, it establishes right at the top of the 00:09:41.029 --> 00:09:44.230 hour that the Cold War is heating up fast. Mike 00:09:44.230 --> 00:09:47.090 is the absolute most capable soldier Gus has, 00:09:47.429 --> 00:09:50.009 and even he is taking damage now. Which brings 00:09:50.009 --> 00:09:51.909 us perfectly to the other side of the episode. 00:09:52.250 --> 00:09:55.009 what we might call the amateurs. Yes. Because 00:09:55.009 --> 00:09:59.190 we cut directly from this gritty frozen violent 00:09:59.190 --> 00:10:03.409 truck sequence to a warm brightly lit domestic 00:10:03.409 --> 00:10:05.950 dinner party. The contrast is completely jarring 00:10:05.950 --> 00:10:08.190 and that is entirely intentional by the director. 00:10:08.309 --> 00:10:10.509 We go from high caliber bullets to bacon wrapped 00:10:10.509 --> 00:10:13.490 appetizers. Walt and Skyler are having dinner 00:10:13.490 --> 00:10:15.529 at Hank and Marie Schreeder's house. And this 00:10:15.529 --> 00:10:17.889 is exactly where the title bullet points shifts 00:10:17.889 --> 00:10:20.129 its meaning. Right. Because Walt and Skyler are 00:10:20.129 --> 00:10:22.389 there for a very specific mission. They are there 00:10:22.389 --> 00:10:25.210 to sell a lie. They desperately need to explain 00:10:25.210 --> 00:10:26.970 to Hank and Marie how they can suddenly afford 00:10:26.970 --> 00:10:29.929 to buy an entire car wash business and how they've 00:10:29.929 --> 00:10:32.470 been paying for Hank's expensive physical therapy 00:10:32.470 --> 00:10:35.009 bills. And the lie they settled on, out of all 00:10:35.009 --> 00:10:37.970 the possible excuses, is gambling. It is such 00:10:37.970 --> 00:10:40.169 a fascinating choice of lie when you think about 00:10:40.169 --> 00:10:42.169 it. We've talked about this before on the show. 00:10:42.490 --> 00:10:45.970 Walt's lies are rarely just total fabrications 00:10:45.970 --> 00:10:48.710 made out of whole cloth. No, they're almost always 00:10:48.710 --> 00:10:51.649 distortions of his own massive ego. Exactly. 00:10:51.870 --> 00:10:54.870 He tells Hank and Marie that he developed a mathematically 00:10:54.870 --> 00:10:58.230 foolproof system for counting cards and blackjack. 00:10:58.509 --> 00:11:01.389 He frames himself as this unappreciated mathematical 00:11:01.389 --> 00:11:04.389 genius who outsmarted the giant casinos. It feeds 00:11:04.389 --> 00:11:06.789 his narcissism perfectly. He gets to sit at the 00:11:06.789 --> 00:11:09.330 dinner table and brag about his sheer intellect, 00:11:09.889 --> 00:11:12.730 all while successfully hiding his actual criminality. 00:11:13.049 --> 00:11:15.450 But the real tension in the sequence isn't actually 00:11:15.450 --> 00:11:18.070 about whether the gambling story works. No. Hank 00:11:18.070 --> 00:11:20.860 buys that hook, line, and sinker. He's almost 00:11:20.860 --> 00:11:23.659 impressed. The real tension comes when Walt excuses 00:11:23.659 --> 00:11:25.960 himself from the table. The classic bathroom 00:11:25.960 --> 00:11:29.039 break. The oldest spy movie trope in the book. 00:11:29.460 --> 00:11:30.960 But of course, he doesn't go to the bathroom. 00:11:31.259 --> 00:11:34.340 No. He sneaks into Hank's bedroom. Because he 00:11:34.340 --> 00:11:36.340 knows Hank, who's recovering in bed most days, 00:11:36.679 --> 00:11:39.500 has the active police case file on Gail Bowetticher 00:11:39.500 --> 00:11:42.519 sitting right in his room. Gail, the cartel chemist 00:11:42.519 --> 00:11:44.179 that Jesse murdered at the end of the previous 00:11:44.179 --> 00:11:47.519 season. Right. Walt is looking for intel. He 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:50.220 desperately wants to know exactly how much the 00:11:50.220 --> 00:11:53.159 DEA knows about the operation. So he finds the 00:11:53.159 --> 00:11:56.299 file, he opens it up and we, the audience, see 00:11:56.299 --> 00:11:59.519 the gruesome photos of the crime scene. We see 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:02.460 Gail's body. And then buried in the file, he 00:12:02.460 --> 00:12:06.070 finds the notebook. The lab notes. This is a 00:12:06.070 --> 00:12:08.669 total telltale heart moment for Walt. Oh, absolutely. 00:12:08.769 --> 00:12:10.889 He's flipping through Gale's handwritten notes 00:12:10.889 --> 00:12:13.289 and he suddenly sees his own process staring 00:12:13.289 --> 00:12:16.070 back at him. He sees the proprietary blue meth 00:12:16.070 --> 00:12:19.120 formula. painstakingly written down in Gale's 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:21.440 handwriting. It's a permanent record of his own 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:24.100 genius, which has been stolen from him. But it's 00:12:24.100 --> 00:12:26.620 also a literal death warrant if Hank connects 00:12:26.620 --> 00:12:28.600 the dots. Which leads directly into the scene 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:31.440 that I genuinely think defines the entire first 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:34.120 half of season four. The WW scene. It's a master 00:12:34.120 --> 00:12:36.259 class in both editing and acting. So Hank rolls 00:12:36.259 --> 00:12:38.460 into the bedroom in his wheelchair. He catches 00:12:38.460 --> 00:12:41.000 Walt red -handed, looking at the notebook. Now, 00:12:41.120 --> 00:12:43.279 a lesser television show would have Hank figure 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:46.129 it out right there and draw his gun. Right. Big 00:12:46.129 --> 00:12:48.870 dramatic standoff. But Breaking Bad always plays 00:12:48.870 --> 00:12:52.169 the long game. Hank doesn't suspect Walt at all. 00:12:52.450 --> 00:12:55.409 In fact, he invites Walt into the investigation. 00:12:55.629 --> 00:12:58.629 Which is just excruciating to watch. Hank is 00:12:58.629 --> 00:13:01.289 treating Walt like an unpaid consultant, casually 00:13:01.289 --> 00:13:03.529 asking him about the complex chemistry in the 00:13:03.529 --> 00:13:05.549 notes. And then Hank flips to the dedication 00:13:05.549 --> 00:13:09.909 page. Right. To WW my star, my perfect silence. 00:13:10.070 --> 00:13:12.490 It's a quote from the poet Walt Whitman. But 00:13:12.490 --> 00:13:15.090 Hank, Hank makes the joke. He looks right at 00:13:15.090 --> 00:13:17.820 Walt. He starts listing the possible suspects 00:13:17.820 --> 00:13:21.759 out loud. Woodrow Wilson, Willy Wonka. And then 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:24.139 he pauses. He looks Walt dead in the eye and 00:13:24.139 --> 00:13:27.000 says, Walter White. I really want to break down 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:29.340 the production of this specific reaction shot. 00:13:29.450 --> 00:13:31.870 Because in the source notes, Vince Gilligan was 00:13:31.870 --> 00:13:34.529 incredibly obsessive about this one moment. He 00:13:34.529 --> 00:13:36.870 utilized a very specific montage technique here, 00:13:36.990 --> 00:13:39.450 right? Yes. He worked very closely with the editor, 00:13:39.710 --> 00:13:41.850 Kelly Dixon. Right, we get these rapid fire, 00:13:42.029 --> 00:13:44.610 almost jagged cuts between the notebook pages 00:13:44.610 --> 00:13:47.289 and Walt's face. Gilligan's explicit direction 00:13:47.289 --> 00:13:50.269 to Dixon was to convey a state of hyper panic. 00:13:50.490 --> 00:13:52.769 He wanted the audience to physically feel Walt's 00:13:52.769 --> 00:13:55.990 heart just hammering against his ribs. But, and 00:13:55.990 --> 00:13:57.610 this is the crucial part of the performance. 00:13:59.220 --> 00:14:01.919 Walt's faith had to remain completely impassive 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:05.159 to Hank. It's a split reality. Internally, Walt 00:14:05.159 --> 00:14:07.700 is screaming in terror. Externally, he's just 00:14:07.700 --> 00:14:09.940 a mild -mannered, slightly confused chemistry 00:14:09.940 --> 00:14:12.519 teacher. The source material mentions that Bryan 00:14:12.519 --> 00:14:15.159 Cranston actually struggled to find this specific 00:14:15.159 --> 00:14:17.440 balance initially. Yeah, they actually had to 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:20.120 reshoot the reaction shot. Really? Because the 00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:21.720 first time they did it, he looked a little too 00:14:21.720 --> 00:14:23.899 guilty, Hank would have noticed. Right. The second 00:14:23.899 --> 00:14:26.740 time, he looked too calm. So they had to find 00:14:26.740 --> 00:14:29.960 that exact micro -expression where the pure fear 00:14:29.960 --> 00:14:32.480 is just hiding behind the eyes, but nowhere else 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:34.980 on the face. And the way Walt eventually gets 00:14:34.980 --> 00:14:38.000 out of it, it's just brilliant improvisation 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:39.759 on the character's part. He actually admits it. 00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:42.080 You got me. He throws his hands up in mock surrender. 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:45.840 You got me. It's the absolute best way to diffuse 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:48.100 an uncomfortable suspicion. You turn it into 00:14:48.100 --> 00:14:50.720 a joke. And then seamlessly, he pivots to the 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:53.539 actual truth. He explains the Walt Whitman connection 00:14:53.539 --> 00:14:56.019 to Hank. He uses his academic knowledge as a 00:14:56.019 --> 00:14:59.240 shield. He basically lectures Hank on 19th century 00:14:59.240 --> 00:15:01.960 poetry. And because Hank has always seen Walt 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:04.980 as this harmless nerd, he just accepts the explanation 00:15:04.980 --> 00:15:06.960 without a second thought. The tension finally 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:09.600 breaks. But the narrative damage is done. Walt 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:12.700 now knows for a fact that the police have a literal 00:15:12.700 --> 00:15:15.740 road map to his entire operation sitting in a 00:15:15.740 --> 00:15:18.690 binder. And speaking of Gail Becher. The ghost 00:15:18.690 --> 00:15:21.789 of Gale is just all over this episode. Haunting 00:15:21.789 --> 00:15:23.769 every scene. We have the notebook, obviously, 00:15:24.110 --> 00:15:27.470 but then we have the video. The infamous karaoke 00:15:27.470 --> 00:15:30.250 video. I don't think I have ever laughed and 00:15:30.250 --> 00:15:32.450 cringed so hard at the exact same time. It's 00:15:32.450 --> 00:15:35.330 incredibly jarring. Hank pops in a DVD that the 00:15:35.330 --> 00:15:37.950 police found at Gale's apartment, and it's Gale. 00:15:38.039 --> 00:15:40.460 Standing in front of a green screen, singing 00:15:40.460 --> 00:15:43.200 Peter Schilling's Major Tom. With full -tie subtitles 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:46.179 running across the bottom. It is just so wildly 00:15:46.179 --> 00:15:48.500 specific. Why did the writers do this? Well, 00:15:48.500 --> 00:15:50.240 according to the interviews with Vince Gilligan, 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:53.299 he really wanted to emphasize the sheer tragedy 00:15:53.299 --> 00:15:55.960 of Gale's death. Right, because Gale wasn't a 00:15:55.960 --> 00:15:59.179 hardened cartel hitman. No, he was this quirky 00:15:59.179 --> 00:16:02.600 libertarian nerd who loved making perfect coffee 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:05.820 and reading poetry. Gilligan specifically chose 00:16:05.820 --> 00:16:08.559 the song Major Tom because he felt it was, in 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:12.340 his exact words, cheesy and earnest. Which perfectly 00:16:12.340 --> 00:16:15.220 encapsulates Gale. Exactly. And the production 00:16:15.220 --> 00:16:18.580 team just went all out on this single 30 -second 00:16:18.580 --> 00:16:21.059 clip. They did. They brought back the actor David 00:16:21.059 --> 00:16:24.080 Costabile just to film this one bizarre video. 00:16:24.139 --> 00:16:25.960 And do you know what the background is behind 00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:28.559 him? The cheesy space footage. It looks like 00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:31.200 a cheap Windows screensaver. It's actually not. 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:34.460 That is real stock footage from a very short 00:16:34.460 --> 00:16:38.509 -lived 1970s sci -fi show called Quark. I've 00:16:38.509 --> 00:16:40.330 never even heard of that. Most people haven't. 00:16:40.389 --> 00:16:42.750 But it was a show that Gilligan absolutely loved 00:16:42.750 --> 00:16:44.870 when he was a kid. He somehow tracked down the 00:16:44.870 --> 00:16:46.509 footage and thought it was the perfect aesthetic 00:16:46.509 --> 00:16:49.389 for Gale's spacey weird vibe. That's hilarious. 00:16:49.629 --> 00:16:52.049 And what are the subtitles? Those are actual, 00:16:52.389 --> 00:16:54.450 accurate Thai translations. The show's music 00:16:54.450 --> 00:16:56.669 supervisor hired a professional translator to 00:16:56.669 --> 00:16:58.750 ensure they were grammatically correct, just 00:16:58.750 --> 00:17:01.129 so it looked like a legitimate, cheap souvenir 00:17:01.129 --> 00:17:04.710 DVD from a vacation to Thailand. They care so 00:17:04.710 --> 00:17:07.940 much about the details. But there is a funny 00:17:07.940 --> 00:17:10.440 behind -the -scenes controversy about this karaoke 00:17:10.440 --> 00:17:13.000 scene, right? Something to do with the show Flight 00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:16.000 of the Conchards. Yes. Okay, so David Costabile, 00:17:16.259 --> 00:17:19.119 the actor who plays Gale, also had a recurring 00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:22.259 role on the HBO comedy series, Flight of the 00:17:22.259 --> 00:17:25.509 Conchards. Right. And in that show, there is 00:17:25.509 --> 00:17:27.950 a running joke about his character making you 00:17:27.950 --> 00:17:31.250 guess to weird karaoke videos. So people immediately 00:17:31.250 --> 00:17:33.329 assumed Breaking Bad was just ripping off the 00:17:33.329 --> 00:17:35.329 joke from Flight of the Conquers. Or at least 00:17:35.329 --> 00:17:38.430 paying direct homage to it. But Vince Gilligan 00:17:38.430 --> 00:17:41.640 swears up and down it was a total complete accident. 00:17:41.940 --> 00:17:43.980 Really? He claims he wrote the scene, they filmed 00:17:43.980 --> 00:17:46.740 it, and only then did someone show him the Flight 00:17:46.740 --> 00:17:49.359 of the Conchards clip. Oh, man. He apparently 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:51.920 said, oh shit, and was genuinely worried that 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:54.160 critics would think he stole the bit. But they 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:56.299 kept it in anyway. They did because they felt 00:17:56.299 --> 00:17:59.259 it just fit Gail's character way too perfectly 00:17:59.259 --> 00:18:01.859 to cut it out over a coincidence. Well, I'm very 00:18:01.859 --> 00:18:04.099 glad they kept it. When you watch it in the context 00:18:04.099 --> 00:18:07.299 of the episode, it's not actually funny. Well, 00:18:07.420 --> 00:18:10.549 it is funny. But it's incredibly morbid. It's 00:18:10.549 --> 00:18:13.049 deeply macabre. You have Walt and Hank sitting 00:18:13.049 --> 00:18:15.750 there drinking beers, watching this sweet nerdy 00:18:15.750 --> 00:18:18.369 man singing about being lost in space. A man 00:18:18.369 --> 00:18:20.650 who is dead solely because of the two men watching 00:18:20.650 --> 00:18:23.390 the video. Exactly. Hank is actively hunting 00:18:23.390 --> 00:18:27.049 his killer. And Walt is... the literal reason 00:18:27.049 --> 00:18:29.369 the hit was ordered in the first place. It creates 00:18:29.369 --> 00:18:32.390 this intense cognitive dissonance for you as 00:18:32.390 --> 00:18:34.950 the viewer. It makes you feel almost guilty for 00:18:34.950 --> 00:18:37.730 laughing at the cheesy green screen. It humanizes 00:18:37.730 --> 00:18:40.859 the collateral damage of Walt's empire, which... 00:18:40.839 --> 00:18:43.519 I think segues us perfectly to the other person 00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:46.140 who is suffering the most from that exact same 00:18:46.140 --> 00:18:49.160 collateral damage. Messy Pinkman. Right. If Walt 00:18:49.160 --> 00:18:51.480 is handling his stress by carefully manicuring 00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:54.140 his lies in his image, Jesse is handling it by 00:18:54.140 --> 00:18:56.559 just totally destroying his environment. We go 00:18:56.559 --> 00:18:59.160 straight from the pristine, beige, upper middle 00:18:59.160 --> 00:19:01.259 class world of the Schrader house directly into 00:19:01.259 --> 00:19:04.059 Jesse's house. And it has become a literal circle 00:19:04.059 --> 00:19:06.500 of hell. It's a crack house. There is just no 00:19:06.500 --> 00:19:08.799 other way to accurately describe what he's turned 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:11.200 his home into. There's graffiti all over the 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:13.819 expensive walls, random strangers sleeping on 00:19:13.819 --> 00:19:16.359 the hardwood floors, and this constant heavy 00:19:16.359 --> 00:19:18.779 pounding music. And Jesse is sitting right in 00:19:18.779 --> 00:19:21.680 the middle of it all. But he isn't partying. 00:19:21.980 --> 00:19:25.609 No. He is completely dissociating. He's trying 00:19:25.609 --> 00:19:28.890 to drown out his own internal trauma with as 00:19:28.890 --> 00:19:31.950 much external chaos as he can possibly generate. 00:19:32.410 --> 00:19:34.490 There is a really telling moment where Walt comes 00:19:34.490 --> 00:19:38.029 over to visit. He walks in and is just visibly 00:19:38.029 --> 00:19:40.789 horrified by the filth and the squalor. And Jesse 00:19:40.789 --> 00:19:43.890 just he just stares at him blankly. Walt immediately 00:19:43.890 --> 00:19:46.369 brings up the shell casing. He asks Jesse if 00:19:46.369 --> 00:19:48.130 he remembered to pick up the shell casing after 00:19:48.130 --> 00:19:50.869 he shot Gail in the apartment. Which is a massive 00:19:50.869 --> 00:19:53.410 critical loose end for a murder investigation. 00:19:53.650 --> 00:19:55.769 And Jesse just casually admits that he didn't. 00:19:55.930 --> 00:19:59.490 And worse, he clearly doesn't care. That is the 00:19:59.490 --> 00:20:01.910 truly scary part of this sequence. Jesse has 00:20:01.910 --> 00:20:04.490 reached a point of absolute nihilism. He assumes 00:20:04.490 --> 00:20:05.990 he's either going to be murdered by the cartel 00:20:05.990 --> 00:20:08.210 or go to prison for life, and he has just accepted 00:20:08.210 --> 00:20:10.049 it. Before we move on from the house, we need 00:20:10.049 --> 00:20:12.309 to talk about the guests at this endless party. 00:20:13.069 --> 00:20:15.990 Specifically, a character named Sketchy. Oh, 00:20:16.369 --> 00:20:19.529 Sketchy, the incredibly fast -talking guy tweaking 00:20:19.529 --> 00:20:21.410 in the background. Yeah, this is such a great 00:20:21.410 --> 00:20:23.930 casting story from the production notes. The 00:20:23.930 --> 00:20:27.029 actress Jeremy Howard. Yes. And it turns out, 00:20:27.210 --> 00:20:29.470 Bryan Cranston actually knew him already because 00:20:29.470 --> 00:20:32.170 Cranston had directed him years earlier in an 00:20:32.170 --> 00:20:33.950 episode of Malcolm in the Middle. It's always 00:20:33.950 --> 00:20:36.069 the Hollywood network in action. But here is 00:20:36.069 --> 00:20:38.109 the interesting thing. Sketchy was originally 00:20:38.109 --> 00:20:40.069 only supposed to be in the previous episode, 00:20:40.309 --> 00:20:44.400 Open House. OK. But... Vince Gilligan loved Jeremy 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:47.480 Howitz performance so much. He had this perfect 00:20:47.480 --> 00:20:51.180 frantic, unpredictable meth head energy that 00:20:51.180 --> 00:20:53.900 they quickly rewrote the script to include him 00:20:53.900 --> 00:20:56.200 in bullet points too. And there's a specific 00:20:56.200 --> 00:20:58.460 moment with him that was a total accident, right? 00:20:58.519 --> 00:21:01.079 A mistake that actually made the final cut. Yes. 00:21:01.420 --> 00:21:03.680 There is a wide shot where sketchy is rambling 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:06.079 and he walks off screen and suddenly you hear 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:08.599 this massive shattering crash of glass bottles. 00:21:08.940 --> 00:21:10.519 I remember that vividly. It sounds like he just 00:21:10.519 --> 00:21:12.880 walked face first into a brick wall. Well, he 00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:15.240 effectively did. That was not in the script at 00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:18.279 all. Jeremy Howard accidentally tripped and knocked 00:21:18.279 --> 00:21:21.079 over a huge pile of prop beer bottles while he 00:21:21.079 --> 00:21:23.619 was exiting the scene. But they didn't yell cut. 00:21:24.119 --> 00:21:26.319 No. The crew started cracking up, but they kept 00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:30.460 rolling. It just fit the chaotic, sloppy, dangerous 00:21:30.460 --> 00:21:33.380 vibe of the house so perfectly that Gilligan 00:21:33.380 --> 00:21:35.619 said, yeah, we're keeping that in. It adds so 00:21:35.619 --> 00:21:38.019 much authentic texture to the scene. It does. 00:21:38.460 --> 00:21:40.599 But the party eventually takes a much darker 00:21:40.599 --> 00:21:43.799 turn, the head shaving scene. That is a genuinely 00:21:43.799 --> 00:21:46.599 hard watch. Jesse just starts buzzing people's 00:21:46.599 --> 00:21:48.279 heads in the middle of the living room. It starts 00:21:48.279 --> 00:21:51.039 off somewhat playful maybe, like a weird party 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:54.380 game. But then it quickly becomes almost ritualistic. 00:21:54.579 --> 00:21:56.700 And eventually he turns the clippers on himself. 00:21:57.240 --> 00:22:00.160 He shays his own head. Completely bald. Which 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.559 is a huge physical change. Why does he do that? 00:22:02.619 --> 00:22:04.440 Was that in the original script? No, actually, 00:22:04.500 --> 00:22:06.680 from a production standpoint, this was entirely 00:22:06.680 --> 00:22:09.240 Aaron Paul's idea. The actor pitched it. He did. 00:22:09.380 --> 00:22:12.140 He went to the writers and pitched it. He strongly 00:22:12.140 --> 00:22:14.920 felt that Jesse needed a stark physical transformation 00:22:14.920 --> 00:22:17.559 to visually match his intense internal trauma. 00:22:17.779 --> 00:22:19.920 He wanted to shed the oversized clothes the kid 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:23.299 looked. Exactly. He wanted the character to look 00:22:23.299 --> 00:22:26.920 harder, uglier, more stripped down. Well, it 00:22:26.920 --> 00:22:29.819 definitely works. He looks practically skeletal 00:22:29.819 --> 00:22:32.380 for the rest of the season. But apparently, this 00:22:32.380 --> 00:22:35.119 creative choice was an absolute nightmare for 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:37.259 the casting director. Oh, absolutely. Just think 00:22:37.259 --> 00:22:39.859 about the logistics of it. You are hiring background 00:22:39.859 --> 00:22:42.839 extras for a standard party scene. Right, which 00:22:42.839 --> 00:22:44.440 usually just means standing in the background, 00:22:44.599 --> 00:22:46.660 holding a red solo cup, and pretending to talk. 00:22:46.940 --> 00:22:49.319 Suddenly, the director walks in and says, OK. 00:22:49.609 --> 00:22:52.950 Who here is willing to let the lead actor actually 00:22:52.950 --> 00:22:56.309 shave your head completely bald on camera today? 00:22:56.509 --> 00:22:59.269 I imagine the pool of eager volunteers shrank 00:22:59.269 --> 00:23:02.269 very rapidly. Drastically. The production notes 00:23:02.269 --> 00:23:04.250 say they had a ton of people sign up for the 00:23:04.250 --> 00:23:06.970 gig and then bail at the absolute last minute 00:23:06.970 --> 00:23:08.630 when they realized the haircutting was going 00:23:08.630 --> 00:23:10.329 to be real. They didn't want to use bald caps. 00:23:10.549 --> 00:23:12.609 Bald caps never look quite right under harsh 00:23:12.609 --> 00:23:15.529 lighting, so they had this mad scramble on set 00:23:15.529 --> 00:23:18.109 to find extras who were actually willing to lose 00:23:18.109 --> 00:23:20.599 all their hair just for a standard day rate. 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:24.039 I mean, it pays off. It creates a scene that 00:23:24.039 --> 00:23:27.380 feels very cult -like. They're all physically 00:23:27.380 --> 00:23:29.640 stripping away their identities in this house. 00:23:29.960 --> 00:23:33.019 But amidst all this philosophical chaos, the 00:23:33.019 --> 00:23:35.359 reality of the drug business comes right back 00:23:35.359 --> 00:23:38.519 to haunt Jesse. He leads a duffel bag full of 00:23:38.519 --> 00:23:41.500 money. I think it's like $70 ,000 just lying 00:23:41.500 --> 00:23:44.259 wide open on the floor. And it gets stolen, obviously, 00:23:44.660 --> 00:23:46.839 by one of the partygoers. And this brings Wike 00:23:46.839 --> 00:23:49.599 back into the fold. And we see the contrast again, 00:23:49.859 --> 00:23:52.480 the competence gap. Right, because Jesse doesn't 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:55.240 even care that the money is gone. He's just sitting 00:23:55.240 --> 00:23:57.599 there, completely zoned out, playing a light 00:23:57.599 --> 00:23:59.740 gun video game just shooting at the screen. But 00:23:59.740 --> 00:24:03.869 Mike, Mike walks in. silently assesses the room, 00:24:04.109 --> 00:24:06.549 spots the thief almost instantly, and recovers 00:24:06.549 --> 00:24:09.069 the bag of cash without even raising his pulse. 00:24:09.230 --> 00:24:11.670 It's incredibly efficient. But Mike sees something 00:24:11.670 --> 00:24:14.670 else while he's there, something Gus Fring absolutely 00:24:14.670 --> 00:24:17.250 needs to know. That Jesse is a massive liability. 00:24:17.309 --> 00:24:20.049 He is spiraling totally out of control. Which 00:24:20.049 --> 00:24:22.309 leads us directly to the climax of the episode. 00:24:22.910 --> 00:24:25.609 Walt is running around trying to do damage control. 00:24:25.930 --> 00:24:28.230 He's talking to Saul Goodman. He's pacing around, 00:24:28.769 --> 00:24:31.349 practically ranting to the camera about professionalism. 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:34.579 And that really is the key thematic word of the 00:24:34.579 --> 00:24:38.579 entire episode. Professionalism. Walt rants that 00:24:38.579 --> 00:24:41.259 their entire operation is falling apart specifically 00:24:41.259 --> 00:24:44.299 because of a lack of professionalism. And he 00:24:44.299 --> 00:24:46.920 entirely blames Jesse for it. But let's actually 00:24:46.920 --> 00:24:49.640 look at the scoreboard for a second. Who is the 00:24:49.640 --> 00:24:52.240 one who almost got the entire operation busted 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:55.339 because he arrogant kept a murder victim's notebook 00:24:55.339 --> 00:24:59.059 in his personal bedroom? Who is the one drunkenly 00:24:59.059 --> 00:25:01.960 improvising insane lies about illegal gambling 00:25:01.960 --> 00:25:05.000 at a dinner party with a DEA agent? And who is 00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:07.279 the one currently accepting his grim fate with 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:11.759 total unwavering stoicism? Jesse. Exactly. Because 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:13.480 when Mike finally comes to the house to pick 00:25:13.480 --> 00:25:15.940 Jesse up... That car ride is chilling. It is 00:25:15.940 --> 00:25:18.279 so quiet. Mike is driving him straight out into 00:25:18.279 --> 00:25:20.700 the desolate desert. It looks exactly like a 00:25:20.700 --> 00:25:22.720 hit. It has all the hallmarks of an execution 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:25.079 run. And Mike looks over and asks him, you want 00:25:25.079 --> 00:25:27.460 to know where we're going? And Jesse just stares 00:25:27.460 --> 00:25:30.299 straight ahead and says, nope. That one word, 00:25:30.440 --> 00:25:32.839 nope. It breaks my heart every single time I 00:25:32.839 --> 00:25:36.119 watch it. Because it's the sound of a man who 00:25:36.119 --> 00:25:38.940 has already died on the inside. He isn't afraid 00:25:38.940 --> 00:25:41.599 of physical death anymore because he is already 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:43.839 living in a waking nightmare. So the episode 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:46.180 ends right there on that brutal cliffhanger. 00:25:46.599 --> 00:25:49.420 Jesse's in the car, his fate totally unknown. 00:25:50.180 --> 00:25:53.259 Walt is back home in a state of absolute panic. 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:55.500 It perfectly sets the table for everything that 00:25:55.500 --> 00:25:58.119 follows in the season. Now, before we wrap up 00:25:58.119 --> 00:26:00.420 today's deep dive, I want to spend a few minutes 00:26:00.420 --> 00:26:02.779 looking at how this episode was actually received 00:26:02.779 --> 00:26:05.359 when it aired. Because looking back now, with 00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:08.180 the benefit of hindsight, We clearly see it as 00:26:08.180 --> 00:26:11.019 a crucial turning point, but at the time generally 00:26:11.019 --> 00:26:13.119 well received by critics But definitely with 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:15.380 some caveats. Yeah, the critics immediately recognized 00:26:15.380 --> 00:26:18.359 it as a bridge episode IGN gave it an 8 out of 00:26:18.359 --> 00:26:21.460 10 explicitly calling it a solid building block. 00:26:21.700 --> 00:26:23.619 TV fanatic loved it, giving it a four point nine 00:26:23.619 --> 00:26:25.859 out of five, calling it phenomenal. The A .V. 00:26:25.960 --> 00:26:28.460 club gave it a minus. But Alan Sepinwall, who 00:26:28.460 --> 00:26:30.960 is basically the dean of television critics, 00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:33.839 he had a very specific note about the overall 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:36.059 structure. What did he say? He called it very 00:26:36.059 --> 00:26:39.420 oddly structured, but never uninteresting. And 00:26:39.420 --> 00:26:41.420 honestly, he's completely right. Look at how 00:26:41.420 --> 00:26:43.759 we just laid it out. Yeah. You have this intense 00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:46.460 action movie opening with the truck. Then you 00:26:46.460 --> 00:26:49.359 transition into this awkward sitcom dinner party. 00:26:49.420 --> 00:26:52.400 middle and then it ends like a psychological 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:54.960 horror movie with Jesse in the crack house. It's 00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:59.279 massive tonal whiplash for the viewer. I'd argue 00:26:59.279 --> 00:27:01.200 that the whiplash is the entire point, isn't 00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:04.119 it? Walt's life is becoming completely unmanageable. 00:27:04.599 --> 00:27:06.720 His carefully separated compartments are all 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:08.900 leaking into each other. I completely agree with 00:27:08.900 --> 00:27:10.920 that assessment, but it is interesting when The 00:27:10.920 --> 00:27:14.019 Ringer did a massive piece ranking all 62 episodes 00:27:14.019 --> 00:27:17.740 of Breaking Bad back in 2019. Bullet points ended 00:27:17.740 --> 00:27:19.819 up near the very bottom of the list. Really? 00:27:19.880 --> 00:27:23.220 Where exactly did it land? Number 59. 59 out 00:27:23.220 --> 00:27:26.220 of 62. That seems incredibly harsh. It does, 00:27:26.279 --> 00:27:28.859 but it's the classic curse of the set up episode. 00:27:29.119 --> 00:27:31.519 Well, when fans look back and remember Breaking 00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:34.240 Bad, they remember the massive set pieces. They 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:36.700 remember the train heist. They remember the exploding 00:27:36.700 --> 00:27:40.339 nursing home, the giant magnet. The huge climax. 00:27:40.539 --> 00:27:42.799 Exactly. You don't necessarily remember the quiet 00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:45.500 episode where Walt reads a notebook in a bedroom 00:27:45.500 --> 00:27:48.299 and Jesse shaves a random guy's head at a party. 00:27:48.670 --> 00:27:51.769 But the truth is, without this specific episode 00:27:51.769 --> 00:27:54.650 doing the heavy lifting, those later explosions 00:27:54.650 --> 00:27:57.069 don't carry any narrative weight. They don't 00:27:57.069 --> 00:28:00.170 happen at all. Exactly. This episode is the mortar 00:28:00.170 --> 00:28:02.710 that holds all those giant, memorable bricks 00:28:02.710 --> 00:28:05.349 together. So as we close out, what is the big 00:28:05.349 --> 00:28:07.769 takeaway here? If the listener takes just one 00:28:07.769 --> 00:28:10.029 thing away from bullet points, what should it 00:28:10.029 --> 00:28:12.849 be? For me, it's really about the total illusion 00:28:12.849 --> 00:28:15.690 of control. The illusion. Yeah. Everyone in this 00:28:15.690 --> 00:28:18.349 hour thinks they can somehow control or mitigate 00:28:18.349 --> 00:28:21.210 the fallout of their violent actions. Walt thinks 00:28:21.210 --> 00:28:23.849 he can just lie his way out of suspicion. Mike 00:28:23.849 --> 00:28:25.970 thinks he can shoot his way out of a cartel war. 00:28:26.490 --> 00:28:28.329 Jesse thinks he can chemically numb his way out 00:28:28.329 --> 00:28:31.029 of his guilt. But the bullet points, the cold 00:28:31.029 --> 00:28:33.369 hard facts of their reality are constantly closing 00:28:33.369 --> 00:28:36.700 in. Exactly. You simply can't hide forever inside 00:28:36.700 --> 00:28:39.559 a dark refrigerator truck. Eventually, somebody 00:28:39.559 --> 00:28:41.380 is going to open those doors. And I'll leave 00:28:41.380 --> 00:28:43.440 you with this final thought on that theme of 00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:46.140 professionalism we discussed. Walt constantly 00:28:46.140 --> 00:28:49.140 claims he is the professional one. He wears the 00:28:49.140 --> 00:28:51.839 knee button -down shirts. He uses the big academic 00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:55.220 words. He looks the part. Yeah. But in this episode, 00:28:55.700 --> 00:28:58.859 he is the one driven entirely by panic, ego, 00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:01.839 and fear. While Jesse, the junkie, the high school 00:29:01.839 --> 00:29:04.329 dropout, He's the one who eventually faces the 00:29:04.329 --> 00:29:06.369 barrel of the gun without even flinching. So 00:29:06.369 --> 00:29:09.809 I ask you to mull over this. In this brutal criminal 00:29:09.809 --> 00:29:11.990 underworld, who is actually better suited for 00:29:11.990 --> 00:29:14.529 long -term survival, the man who desperately 00:29:14.529 --> 00:29:17.289 clings to his life and his lies, or the man who 00:29:17.289 --> 00:29:19.670 has already completely let it go? That is the 00:29:19.670 --> 00:29:21.930 exact question that the rest of season four sets 00:29:21.930 --> 00:29:25.049 out to answer. Indeed it is. Do us a favor. If 00:29:25.049 --> 00:29:27.150 you have the time, go back and re -watch that 00:29:27.150 --> 00:29:29.410 cold open. Look really closely for the breath. 00:29:29.630 --> 00:29:31.809 Yes. Think about the chunk of dry ice sitting 00:29:31.809 --> 00:29:33.650 right in Jonathan Banks' mouth while he's aiming 00:29:33.650 --> 00:29:36.710 that gun. Take a moment to really appreciate 00:29:36.710 --> 00:29:38.549 the physical suffering that went into making 00:29:38.549 --> 00:29:41.289 your entertainment. It is definitely worth a 00:29:41.289 --> 00:29:43.289 re -watch with that in mind. Thanks for diving 00:29:43.289 --> 00:29:45.769 deep with us today. Until next time. See you 00:29:45.769 --> 00:29:45.930 then.