More on Madrigal
I have re-watched the episode and realised I forgot to mention a few details in my review:
First off, the Walt/Jesse scene, as they are searching for the ghost cigarette. Walt finds a box filled with crayons. I thought it was a nice touch, that was there for three reasons:
- remind the viewers that Jesse used to draw a lot, loved drawing, fancied himself a comic books drawer even.
- re-establish the childish side of Jesse, that his breaking down in tears, first, and then the conversation with Mike (when the Cleaner calls him "the kid"), will point out later.
- set one of the episode's motives, that is the child's toys; After Jesse's crayons, we'll see Kaylee's drawings on Mike's fridge, then the hippo game and the rolling pig...and, eventually, the teddy bear of Lydia's daughter.
One of the reasons I love the show so much is its care for details and the story they are telling beside the main plots.
The story the above details tell me is that Jesse, Kaylee and Lydia's daughter are put on the same level. They are connected. It makes me more and more convinced that the last scene between Lydia and Walt is to be read within a certain frame.
Speaking of details, apparently many viewers didn't notice that Lydia was in the big meeting scene with the Madrigal staff. She didn't have any lines but we saw her twice. The first time, she appeared briefly at the end of the table as the camera was zooming out, allowing a big angle. The second time was even more significant. The focus was on the Madrigal heir, as he was talking, but the angle slightly changed and we could make up the woman behind the man who was seated next to the heir, and very subtly the focus was on her, and the still talking heir became blurred while the woman's picture turned sharp for a few seconds. A good way to tell the viewers, this anonymous silent woman is important. And she was indeed, since the diner scene ensued.
I do believe that the "show not tell" rule is one of the most important rules in movies/tv writing, and Breaking Bad has mastered it. There's no need to voice things when the camera can do the telling.
Also, there seems to be an emphasis on Walter wearing gloves in the episode. First he put gloves on when he was at Jesse's, probably before putting the fake ricin cigarette in the roomba, and later he's wearing the same yellow gloves as he's doing the dishes. Not sure what to do with those, though.
During the scene at Saul's office, I also realised that Saul and Marie could meet up and have a conversation about their favourite colours! He is less purple-obsessed than she is, yet there's potential for common ground here!
At last, re-watching the Mike & Gomie vs Mike scene, I had a new thought about Mike's background, or rather the way Hank mentioned it, and the way both Mike and Hank said they'd rather not talk about it.
I read a few comments on the Av/TV Club left by people who either wondered what really happened in Philadelphia or wondered the reason the writing had Hank saying that Mike's career as a cop ended rather "dramatically" but shying away from the specifics, as if to tease the audience with it, while viewers already knew about it since "Half-measures".
Me? I am not sure we already know what happened, we only know what Mike told Walt, that is he learned his lessons about going half-measures when the guy he hadn't arrested killed his wife. Maybe there's more drama and the wife's death had consequences we still don't know about. Not sure it's very important though, or that it will be addressed again and answered later in the show.
So I am not really curious, and I don't consider it to be a "tease". Actually, I wonder if that bit wasn't more about foreshadowing Hank's possible future than about hinting at something tragic in Mike's past. That scene plus the scene with Hank's boss, George, actually sounded a lot like we were told "this might happen to Hank before the end".
Which triggers another question, quite intriguing. Could Hank become a Mike? Could a dramatic end to his career turn this good man, this law man, into a detached killer, a hitman working for drug lords?
But I have a second theory about the scene. Maybe it was only a reminder to help the viewers put in perpespective the last scene with Lydia. Once Mike chose a half-measure and it ended dramatically for him. By the end of the episode, he does it again, betraying his own code. So it might be a way to tell us that there's drama ahead for Mike.
Okay I'm calling it, I think that Mike will die this season, before the break until the last batch of 8 episodes in 2013.
First off, the Walt/Jesse scene, as they are searching for the ghost cigarette. Walt finds a box filled with crayons. I thought it was a nice touch, that was there for three reasons:
- remind the viewers that Jesse used to draw a lot, loved drawing, fancied himself a comic books drawer even.
- re-establish the childish side of Jesse, that his breaking down in tears, first, and then the conversation with Mike (when the Cleaner calls him "the kid"), will point out later.
- set one of the episode's motives, that is the child's toys; After Jesse's crayons, we'll see Kaylee's drawings on Mike's fridge, then the hippo game and the rolling pig...and, eventually, the teddy bear of Lydia's daughter.
One of the reasons I love the show so much is its care for details and the story they are telling beside the main plots.
The story the above details tell me is that Jesse, Kaylee and Lydia's daughter are put on the same level. They are connected. It makes me more and more convinced that the last scene between Lydia and Walt is to be read within a certain frame.
Speaking of details, apparently many viewers didn't notice that Lydia was in the big meeting scene with the Madrigal staff. She didn't have any lines but we saw her twice. The first time, she appeared briefly at the end of the table as the camera was zooming out, allowing a big angle. The second time was even more significant. The focus was on the Madrigal heir, as he was talking, but the angle slightly changed and we could make up the woman behind the man who was seated next to the heir, and very subtly the focus was on her, and the still talking heir became blurred while the woman's picture turned sharp for a few seconds. A good way to tell the viewers, this anonymous silent woman is important. And she was indeed, since the diner scene ensued.
I do believe that the "show not tell" rule is one of the most important rules in movies/tv writing, and Breaking Bad has mastered it. There's no need to voice things when the camera can do the telling.
Also, there seems to be an emphasis on Walter wearing gloves in the episode. First he put gloves on when he was at Jesse's, probably before putting the fake ricin cigarette in the roomba, and later he's wearing the same yellow gloves as he's doing the dishes. Not sure what to do with those, though.
During the scene at Saul's office, I also realised that Saul and Marie could meet up and have a conversation about their favourite colours! He is less purple-obsessed than she is, yet there's potential for common ground here!
At last, re-watching the Mike & Gomie vs Mike scene, I had a new thought about Mike's background, or rather the way Hank mentioned it, and the way both Mike and Hank said they'd rather not talk about it.
I read a few comments on the Av/TV Club left by people who either wondered what really happened in Philadelphia or wondered the reason the writing had Hank saying that Mike's career as a cop ended rather "dramatically" but shying away from the specifics, as if to tease the audience with it, while viewers already knew about it since "Half-measures".
Me? I am not sure we already know what happened, we only know what Mike told Walt, that is he learned his lessons about going half-measures when the guy he hadn't arrested killed his wife. Maybe there's more drama and the wife's death had consequences we still don't know about. Not sure it's very important though, or that it will be addressed again and answered later in the show.
So I am not really curious, and I don't consider it to be a "tease". Actually, I wonder if that bit wasn't more about foreshadowing Hank's possible future than about hinting at something tragic in Mike's past. That scene plus the scene with Hank's boss, George, actually sounded a lot like we were told "this might happen to Hank before the end".
Which triggers another question, quite intriguing. Could Hank become a Mike? Could a dramatic end to his career turn this good man, this law man, into a detached killer, a hitman working for drug lords?
But I have a second theory about the scene. Maybe it was only a reminder to help the viewers put in perpespective the last scene with Lydia. Once Mike chose a half-measure and it ended dramatically for him. By the end of the episode, he does it again, betraying his own code. So it might be a way to tell us that there's drama ahead for Mike.
Okay I'm calling it, I think that Mike will die this season, before the break until the last batch of 8 episodes in 2013.