Breaking Bad Season 2 finale
AMC
There’s no such thing as a victimless crime, apart from incest. Every action has consequences. Taking this on board is the only chance we have to live morally, act responsibly and write truthfully. In seven seasons, The Shield never let the Strike Team off the hook; The Wire showed the actions of the street, the police and City Hall were intricately linked, like some multilevel clockwork diorama. Nothing we do takes place in a vacuum. Everyone must pay. Breaking Bad‘s second season has continued to demonstrate this unflinchingly and that’s why after the demise of the Shield, The Wire and Battlestar Galactica it’s the best show currently broadcasting.
It started out with a kidnapping. Walter and Jesse being dragged to Mexico by psycho fuckhead Tuco. Walter attempts to poison Tuco – he’s already a killer having disposed of the drug dealer in the cellar in season one so fuck it, right? It doesn’t work out but Hank ends up plugging Tuco as part of the day job so no one gets hurt.
“Nothing we do takes place in a vacuum. Everyone must pay. Breaking Bad’s second season has continued to demonstrate this unflinchingly and that’s why it’s the best show currently broadcasting.”
“The explosion rips an agent’s leg off and wounds several others.You think this is a joke, officer? The cartel does not play.”
Apart from Tuco of course. And Hank, who suffers panic attacks as a result of the killing. But what the hell, he gets promoted and sent to El Paso to work with some serious DEA hombres. What with the unfamiliar surroundings, his new colleagues bitching about him in Spanish and the crushing suffocating anxiety it’s a tough gig for Hank but, look, it’s not all bad. There’s Tortuga (The Tortoise) a drug kingpin turned snitch who’s getting ready to roll like a penny down a pipe on the cartel. On a stakeout in the desert, Hank thinks he sees Tortuga. Yes, that’s him – I’d recognize those raggedy snatch features anywhere.
A closer look through the binoculars reveals Tortuga’s severed head mounted on an ironic tortoise (they are the worst kind) with “HOLA DEA,” painted on its shell. Hank panics and pukes. His colleagues laugh at his wussiness and approach the hilarious corpse on a reptile. Bad move. The tortoise is booby-trapped. The explosion rips an agent’s leg off and wounds several others. You think this is a joke, officer? The cartel does not play.
“Walt cooks up 38 lbs of crystal meth and sells it for $1.2 million to the ultra-cautious blue-collar distributor Gus. Walt pulls off the deal of a lifetime but misses his daughter’s birth in the process. Actions and consequences.”
Nor does Walter While. As his tumour recedes and life begins to look good he cooks up 38 lbs of crystal meth and sells it for $1.2 million to the ultra-cautious blue-collar distributor Gus. Walt pulls off the deal of a lifetime but misses his daughter’s birth in the process. Actions and consequences.
Jesse, with his new-found wealth, gorgeous landlord smackhead girlfriend Jane (Krysten Ritter) should be happy as Larry. But with one of his dealers being murdered and Walt holding back on his half of the $1.2 million until he detoxifies, all he can see is a glass half empty. Jane plays a wicked Lady Macbeth, blackmailing Walt into handing over the cash. Paydirt, motherfucker! Money buys freedom.
“Walt has to call an ambulance and quick.But he doesn’t. He watches her die like a cunt. Walt was a decent man once. Part of him dies, too.”
So they are totally going into rehab to get clean before they start their new life together but it would be a shame to waste the last of the heroin so they slam it into their veins and fall asleep in each other’s arms like Hansel and Gretel in a poppy field. Walt comes round the gaffe to talk some sense into Jesse but he sleeps too deeply. Jane pukes in her mouth and starts to asphyxiate. Walt has to call an ambulance and quick. But he doesn’t. He watches her die like a cunt. She’s too much of a loose cannon – there’s too much at stake. Walt was a decent man once. Part of him dies, too.
There’s about to be a lot more death as we enter the finale. Jane’s distraught father Donald, an air traffic controller, returns to work too soon and causes a collision between two aeroplanes sending bodies and debris tumbling to Earth – a teddy bear lands in Walt’s pool. Just a few hundred more drug-related deaths in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
“They just don’t let up on this show. Crystal meth poisons everything. It wrecks users’ bodies, mines, faces, destroys families, ends lives, collides aeroplanes – no one is safe. It is the dirtiest money you can make.”
On the marital front, Skyler discovers that Walt has two cellphones after all, lied about the money for his operation and lied about visiting his mother. There’s only so much an attractive woman with a prominent jawbone can take. She takes the kids to Marie’s and tells Walt to get the fuck out. Learn the lesson, dude. Women can handle all kinds of truths but they really don’t like being lied to.
They just don’t let up on this show. Crystal meth poisons everything. It wrecks users’ bodies, minds, faces. It destroys families, ends lives, collides aeroplanes – no one is safe. It is the dirtiest money you can make. Bryan Cranston is brilliant throughout – so desperate, so conflicted. Alive for the first time yet dealing death wherever he goes. The sympathy you feel for him is sorely tested in season two but it’s still there. You never know what’s coming next but you always know it will cost. It gets bleaker as it progresses but you just have to watch. Misery enjoys company.
The best thing about it: The increasing involvement of Hank.
The worst thing about it: The cat and mouse with Skyler should have been resolved by now.
The verdict on Breaking Bad Season 2 finale: The best product currently circulating.
Marks out of 10: 8.5
Imagined: 1st June 2009
