Before I get into Breaking Bad, I wanted to say a few quick words about Rubicon, the new AMC series that the network chose to preview after last night's finale.
An unwise choice, really. Rubicon seems like a solid show, and I'm very curious about where it's heading. It unfolds rather slowly, but I get the feeling that, maybe three or four episodes in, we'll be hooked.
But airing it directly after Breaking Bad's stunning third season finale? Not a good idea. As a commenter on Alan Sepinwall's blog put it, it was like trying to play chess after being chased by a grizzly bear.
Pretty fitting analogy, seeing as how "Full Measures" was basically a deadly Walt vs. Gus chess match, with our hero moving from supreme cool to panicked desperation as the hour unfolded.
Walt's wearing the black Heisenberg hat again, but he's in over his head much deeper than he was with Tuco. Sure, he can negotiate with Gus a lot easier -- Mr. Fring being a businessman and all -- but it still seems like Walt's plan is a giant half-measure.
So what if Jesse killed Gale, leaving Walt as Gus' only chemist? (And make no mistake, Gale is dead. Vince Gilligan has made it clear in at least two interviews.)
How long before Gus finds someone else? What's to stop him from killing Jesse? Or from basically enslaving Walt?
And what becomes of Walt and Jesse's relationship, now that Walt has turned his surrogate son into a killer? As relieved as I was that Walt didn't really intend to sell his partner out to Mike, it was still heartbreaking to see red-eyed Jesse aiming his gun at poor Gale.
Just as heartbreaking: the opening scene, showing Walt and Skyler some 16 years earlier, buying their house. Skyler's all for it; Walt, still a chemist, isn't so sure. "Why be cautious?" this younger, happier Walt says. "We've got nowhere to go but up."
Not so for modern Walt, who reached new, horrifying depths this season. Breaking Bad, meanwhile, reached amazing new heights. Unless Sons of Anarchy and Mad Men really, really improve, or HBO's Boardwalk Empire turns out to be flawless, this is the best TV show of 2010. Bring on season four!
Other thoughts:
- Do you think the Chinese guy Mike rescued will come into play next season? Or was the purpose of that scene just to establish Mike's bad-ass credentials? If it's the latter, mission really, really accomplished.
- Vince Gilligan also makes a chess metaphor in an interview with Alan Sepinwall, only it's to argue that he's not thinking several moves ahead, and that that's one of the things that allowed the show to unfold the way it did this year.
- Take a bow, director of photography Michael Slovis. No other show on TV has images like the one above. That scene was just amazing to look at; Walt waiting for the other car to arrive was like something out of Lawrence of Arabia.
- Nice direction, as well, in the very first scene. We know it's Walt and Skyler, but we never get any direct close-ups, sparing us from the distracting wigs and make-up that would be necessary for the mid-90s versions of the Whites.
- Poor Gale. I'd sort of assumed he knew Gus was grooming him to take over, but his conversation with the boss revealed otherwise. He was even more of a patsy than Walt -- who had figured out Gus planned to kill him once Gale learned the formula -- but in the end, a likable dupe.
- The book Gale was reading when Gus visited? Stephen King's short story collection Everything's Eventual. King is a huge Breaking Bad fan, so the title might've served as a little homage, while also telegraphing Gale's fate. Incidentally, there's a story in that book, "The Man in the Black Suit," which is one of the creepiest things I've ever read.
- Glad the show could work Saul in for a little bit; the episode needed some levity, which he -- as always -- provided admirably. "Money laundering ain't what it used to be. God do I miss the '80s."
- And that's it for this season. That's also it for me as far as weekly TV recaps go, at least until Mad Men comes back in late July. I'll probably weigh in every so often on various shows, and write some movie or even book reviews.
Tom Coombe
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