BREAKING BAD - 3x03 "I.F.T. " - Episode Review
Every thing I do, I do it for you
Plot summary: Walt disregards Skyler’s demands and the rift between them widens dramatically, pushing her to take even more drastic steps. Meanwhile, continuing anxiety and panic attacks plague Hank, which leads to a serisou situation at the DEA
Written by George Mastras. Directed by Michelle MacLaren.
“I think the success of the show will come from going smaller rather than trying to go bigger”
-THE SHIELD creator Shawn Ryan, dicussing the overall arc of his show
It seems that great minds think alike, seeing how episodes like “I.F.T.” and many others like it in BREAKING BAD are structured around “smallish” events with huge import. A birthday party for an old colleague. A park bench discussion over police procedure. A spurned husband’s desire to reconnect with his family. The major benefits of a television narrative (as opposed to film) is of course time - the time to really explore a character’s interior and exterior life, the time that elapses in a multi-year run which adds volumes to the weight of major decisions and action. “I.F.T.” is a perfect example of an episode where both nothing and everything happens at the same time; in its stillness and quiet observation of a domestic dispute lies a wealth of vital character and plot information. And even though the show’s creator Vince Gilligan says they don’t have an overall endpoint mapped out, it seems inevitable at this point that Walter White’s ending will not be a pleasant one.
In addition, the show makes it even clearer that Walter is far cry from such charming anti-heroes as Vic Mackey or Dexter Morgan. His grossly manipulative actions this week, perectly logical from his point of view, are nothing short of horrifying, and it’s no wonder Skyler did what she felt had to do with the cops, her lawyer, and finally Ted. I’m really loving the tennis match between Cranston and Gunn this year, their interactions this week were the living embodiment of Saul’s advice from “Callabo Sin Nombre”, and both know it. Acting is in a large part reacting, and much of this week’s power came from Gunn’s facial work, completely selling her character's horror and sadness at what her husband had become, and allowing us viewers to really see the human cost of what Walt’s love has really cost in the end. How sad is it that its gotten to the point where not only the cartel wants him dead, but so does his own wife?
The ripple effects of Walt’s badness continued to spread, as the aforementioned cartel boys made further steps to take out Gus’ golden boy in the name of Tuco’s “honor” (ironic in a sense because Tuco was a mad dog who deserved to be put down, and the cartel as a whole is such an “upstanding” institution), and both Hank and Jesse wrestled with ther inner demons created by all this fracas. Hank’s PTSD was certainly the more outward of the two, as he all but begged those bar thugs to take his life (so that he wouldn’t have to go back to El Paso), but Jesse was no less affecting as the last bits of Jane were stolen away from him.
I thought the direction this week was extremely evocative in its staging this week, in particular the shot that headlines my review. The money’s between them, the road back to domesticity (the bedroom) is behind them, a sun-kissed past now lost forever to the two characters bathed in darkness, one only sightly higher than the other. What a great episode this was.
Other notes:
• So now we know how Tortuga lost his head, and who did it (the Cousins of course). My theory is that Gus is going to have to go to the mat for Walt in order for the series to logically continue. If Gilligan is correct, that there will only be four seasons, then he only needs to keep Walt alive/uncaught for one more season, which will help maintain any sort of real life logical credibility (as opposed to something like DEXTER, which God love it, but continues to stretch the implausibility of its main characters’ escape from capture to the breaking point and beyond).
• “I F T” was dedicated to Shari Rodes, the casting director of the show. She had a cameo this week as the old woman with the wheelchair van. Another cameo was UFC fighter Keith Jardine, who lives and trains in Albuquerque where the show’s shot and set.
Episode Grade: A
Plot summary: Walt disregards Skyler’s demands and the rift between them widens dramatically, pushing her to take even more drastic steps. Meanwhile, continuing anxiety and panic attacks plague Hank, which leads to a serisou situation at the DEA
Written by George Mastras. Directed by Michelle MacLaren.
“I think the success of the show will come from going smaller rather than trying to go bigger”
-THE SHIELD creator Shawn Ryan, dicussing the overall arc of his show
It seems that great minds think alike, seeing how episodes like “I.F.T.” and many others like it in BREAKING BAD are structured around “smallish” events with huge import. A birthday party for an old colleague. A park bench discussion over police procedure. A spurned husband’s desire to reconnect with his family. The major benefits of a television narrative (as opposed to film) is of course time - the time to really explore a character’s interior and exterior life, the time that elapses in a multi-year run which adds volumes to the weight of major decisions and action. “I.F.T.” is a perfect example of an episode where both nothing and everything happens at the same time; in its stillness and quiet observation of a domestic dispute lies a wealth of vital character and plot information. And even though the show’s creator Vince Gilligan says they don’t have an overall endpoint mapped out, it seems inevitable at this point that Walter White’s ending will not be a pleasant one.
In addition, the show makes it even clearer that Walter is far cry from such charming anti-heroes as Vic Mackey or Dexter Morgan. His grossly manipulative actions this week, perectly logical from his point of view, are nothing short of horrifying, and it’s no wonder Skyler did what she felt had to do with the cops, her lawyer, and finally Ted. I’m really loving the tennis match between Cranston and Gunn this year, their interactions this week were the living embodiment of Saul’s advice from “Callabo Sin Nombre”, and both know it. Acting is in a large part reacting, and much of this week’s power came from Gunn’s facial work, completely selling her character's horror and sadness at what her husband had become, and allowing us viewers to really see the human cost of what Walt’s love has really cost in the end. How sad is it that its gotten to the point where not only the cartel wants him dead, but so does his own wife?
The ripple effects of Walt’s badness continued to spread, as the aforementioned cartel boys made further steps to take out Gus’ golden boy in the name of Tuco’s “honor” (ironic in a sense because Tuco was a mad dog who deserved to be put down, and the cartel as a whole is such an “upstanding” institution), and both Hank and Jesse wrestled with ther inner demons created by all this fracas. Hank’s PTSD was certainly the more outward of the two, as he all but begged those bar thugs to take his life (so that he wouldn’t have to go back to El Paso), but Jesse was no less affecting as the last bits of Jane were stolen away from him.
I thought the direction this week was extremely evocative in its staging this week, in particular the shot that headlines my review. The money’s between them, the road back to domesticity (the bedroom) is behind them, a sun-kissed past now lost forever to the two characters bathed in darkness, one only sightly higher than the other. What a great episode this was.
Other notes:
• So now we know how Tortuga lost his head, and who did it (the Cousins of course). My theory is that Gus is going to have to go to the mat for Walt in order for the series to logically continue. If Gilligan is correct, that there will only be four seasons, then he only needs to keep Walt alive/uncaught for one more season, which will help maintain any sort of real life logical credibility (as opposed to something like DEXTER, which God love it, but continues to stretch the implausibility of its main characters’ escape from capture to the breaking point and beyond).
• “I F T” was dedicated to Shari Rodes, the casting director of the show. She had a cameo this week as the old woman with the wheelchair van. Another cameo was UFC fighter Keith Jardine, who lives and trains in Albuquerque where the show’s shot and set.
Episode Grade: A