Some random thoughts on Breaking Bad's "Peekaboo"

WARNING: Breaking Bad spoilers below

This past week or so I've been watching Breaking Bad on Netflix, partially to get ready for the final episodes. I don't think I'll make through season five, as I'm just now on season two's "Peekaboo". Still, I'm enjoying going back through the episodes as far forward as I can get the next couple of days..

I don't know if I really have a favorite episode of Breaking Bad. Because of it being heavily serialized, I don't tend to think of it in purely episodic terms, and instead tend to remember favorite scenes or moments in the show.

However, if I had to pick an episode, "Peekabo" would probably be near the top of my list. When I started watching the series, I enjoyed it from the beginning, but it wasn't until this episode that where it was going really clicked into place. It was here that Jesse's humanity started to come through, as seen in dealing with that poor kid and the hands down winners of "Albuquerque's Worst Parents" award. Before this episode, all Jesse was to me was the unlucky screw-up who was in over his head. Obviously, he has done some absolutely terrible shit as time has gone on*, but there is still some level of humanity in him, to the point that I hope against hope there is some redemption out there for him.

Conversely, this is the episode where Walter really started showing himself to be Heisenberg at heart. Before this, it was conceivable that Walter was a genuinely good man, driven to do terrible shit because of a desperate need to provide for his family. However, his meeting with Gretchen Schwartz showed that perhaps Heisenberg has always been inside of Walter, as opposed to being a recent creation. I recall thinking before I saw this episode that Walter was just being stubborn in refusing help from his former associate and friends**. After that encounter, where Walter dropped the F-bomb at Gretchen, his reasons became much clearer. It isn't like this was the first time he had shown the rage and anger bubbling beneath his chemistry teaching surface, but it sure was the first time I saw how deep that resentment and sense of betrayal went. He wouldn't cross the line from Tyrion*** to Tywin**** until he let Jane die, but he stepped a lot closer to it*****.

*Walter may have killed Jane with his negligence, but Jesse helped her fall off the wagon. Also, let's not forget he killed Gale the Superdork. 

**Also, I rationalized that him accepting their help would have made this one boring show. Unless it became a The Office style comedy starring Badger, Saul Goodman, and Skinny Pete. 

***A flawed, but sympathetic character who does some awful things, mainly out of desperation, but who also does some pretty bad-ass things.

****A character you are actively rooting against, but enjoy watching do their thing.