Remember the “Mexican standoff” end scene of Reservoir Dogs? All the tension, the drama, the uncertainty that brought you right to brink of insanity? Breaking Bad episode ‘Hermanos’ is an hour-long version of that.
The opening scene of ‘Hermanos’ is a perfect balance of absurdity and drama as a fellow cancer patient sitting next to Walt begins to go through all the emotions and thoughts that Walt should have gone through when he was first diagnosed. Rather than consoling or empathizing with the guy, Walt tells him to cut the crap and take control of his life like he has. In the very next shot, Walt is simply a drone worker bee (even dressed in all yellow), completely emasculated and put in his place by Gus.
Speaking of Gus, he really is the central character of this episode. His sit down with the DEA shows a return to the stoic and calm Gus even as Hank, more relentless than when he was chasing after Steven Seagal in Hard to Kill, grills him about his missing identity in Chile.
Afterward, in the elevator, is a different story. Gus is now showing a physical reaction, a twitch and flick in his finger. It looks like a hairline crack in a dam waiting to burst.
‘Hermanos’ reveals what led to the bad blood with the cartel, and what ultimately led Gus on the path he’s currently on. I won’t ruin the jump scare, but I will say that it is nice to see Steven Bauer once again forcing a Hispanic accident and dabbling back in the drug world. Bauer was missed, as awful of an actor as he is.
For once I didn’t hate Saul this time around. In fact, if he had this kind of delivery in every scene and his time on screen was as limited as this was, I wouldn’t hate him nearly as much as I do.
I am, however, not that fond of this part of Jesse’s storyline. It’s a dead end and needs to be cut off completely. Jesse’s character isn’t the same as he was when this was relevant and removing her and the kid would add more gravity to that deterioration than dragging them back in does.
‘Hermanos’ is a fantastic episode from start to finish. It delivers wire-to-wire, edge of your seat tension, and perfectly balanced drama lead to some of the best scenes ever seen on this show, let alone television. When TV historians look back at the impact of Breaking Bad on hour-long dramas, this will be one of the episodes referenced.
– James Zappie
