This week’s Breaking Bad episode ‘Open House’ continued with the downward spiral of Jesse, the emergence of Skylar as a powerful force for Walt, and Hank’s continued depression and self-loathing, with Marie’s kleptomania thrown into the mix. It is a solid episode, on par with the previous one, and I am once again floored by the performance of Aaron Paul.
A scene between Walt and Jesse is an excellent gun-less Mexican standoff. Each person has something to hide from the other, even though it was clearly written on their faces that they were holding something back (in Walt’s case, literally written on his face).
This scene also shows how much they care about each other. They say that if you don’t really care about someone then things they do or say or, in this case, hide, won’t bother you. Walt and Jesse are so involved in each others business that the issue of the security cameras capturing their every moment becomes nonexistent.
As for Jesse, there’s a GoKart scene that is intense. In fact, Jesse’s scenes continue to amp up the intensity so much that at times I’m glad I have a pause button on my remote control. When Jesse finally gets home and enters, the intensity reaches an all-new high.
Jesse has moved beyond drugs and now just craves chaos of any kind. It is amongst that chaos that he seems content for the first time since shooting Gale. If Aaron Paul isn’t up for an Emmy next year, I’d be incredibly shocked.
While Jesse craves chaos in its most raw form, Marie craves variety to point of chaos in her mundane life. When her lies and sticky fingers come back to bite her, the reveal is wonderful and extremely creepy. Lesson learned; don’t screw with a Realtor.
I’m liking the expansion of Skyler’s personality. She’s at the same time learning the ins and outs of criminal activity and schooling Walt in it by adding her own twists.
A “negotiating” scene with Walt, Skyler, and the phone is almost sitcom-y, but not in a cheesy way. It is well crafted and a good contrast with everything else that has gone on up until this point. Sometimes those bits seem crowbarred in and break up an episode’s pacing. If done correctly, as it was here, it can add contrast and texture to the scenes around it.
The bar continues to get raised with each episode of Breaking Bad this year, and I cannot wait until next week for more.
– James Zappie
