BREAKING BAD 3.2 - "Caballo Sin Nombre"

WRITER: Peter Gould
DIRECTOR: Adam Bernstein
GUEST CAST: Bob Odenkirk, Michael Bofshever, Jonathan Banks, Giancarlo Esposito, Luis Moncada & Steven Michael Quezada

[SPOILERS] "Caballo Sin Nombre" (Spanish for "Horse With No Name", the song that opened the show), was another fascinating and gripping installment of this excellent series, that I felt was even better than the premiere. This season's torment for Walter (Bryan Cranston) is undoubtedly going to be his breakup with Skyler (Anna Gunn), which he can't even explain the circumstances of to his own son (R.J Mitte), but there's also trouble brewing just beyond his field of perception in the disquieting shape of those two Mexican cousins...

We begin with Walt getting arrested for complaining to a police officer who pulled him over for having a smashed windshield, with Walt believing he should be given some leniency because the glass was broken by debris from the recent airplane disaster. While you can understand Walt's frustration at being fined, seeing him lose his temper and earn himself a pepper spraying felt like a reminder that Walt's no longer the milquetoast chemistry teacher we met in season 1. He has a confidence to rise up against authority figures now, partly attributable to pent up emotions over his crumbling marriage here, but I'm willing to bet he'd have bitten his lip a year ago.

Walt's swollen eyes limited his view of the world for a few hours, but his impaired perception stretch beyond a temporary physical handicap now. We're shown that the Mexican cousins who crossed the US border are relations of druglord Tuco, who was killed in a gunfight by Hank (Dean Norris) shortly after kidnapping Walt and Jesse (Aaron Paul) in season 2, and here they arrive at an old folk's home to acquire their target from Tuco's disabled father, Tio (Mark Margolis), the memorably sinister wheelchair-bound old codger who communicates by ringing a bell. In a gloriously bizarre moment, the Cousins used a Ouija board for Tio to mark out the name of his son's murderer: WALTER WHITE. I also found it amusing that braggart Tuco's family are all so opposingly quiet, intentionally or not.

There was also a vague theme of returning to the comfort of your family nest here, with Jesse and Walt both trying to gain access to their old homes. Jesse learns that his parents are selling their renovated house for $870,000, but uses some of his drug money to hire Saul (Bob Odenkirk) to act as his representative for a half-price cash purchase, achieved by threatening to expose the Pinkman's deception regarding the fact their home contained a meth lab basement. In a rather uncomfortable scene, Jesse walks past his parents and back into his childhood home as its new owner, having cost them a fortune, which must surely be taken as a sign that Jesse's burnt his bridges with them now. It'll be interesting to see what the Pinkman's do next, as I'm sure they're at least wondering where their junkie dropout son got $400k in hard cash.

For Walter, he was likewise trying to get back home, but Skyler seems set on denying him the chance to explain himself, probably fearing he'll just continue spinning more lies. In an awkward twist, Skyler's the one coming off worse from the breakup, as Hank (Dean Norris), sister Marie (Betsy Brandt) and son Walt Jr (who's gone back to his birth name, to show his dad solidarity), all still perceive Walt as the unassuming teacher and family man bravely battling cancer, and Skyler can't bring herself to tell them the whole sorry truth. In fact, her decision to keep silent about Walt's drug dealing is because she has so much to lose if the truth came out, according to crooked lawyer Saul -- who gave Walt a misjudged pep talk intended to get him cooking meth again. But maybe he has a point. Whatever her reasons for keeping Walt's activities a secret between them, Skyler's faced with looking like the "bitch" (as her son bluntly put it during dinner), and her tolerance for criminal behaviour has definitely been lowered, as she's not willing to signoff on her boss' accounts at work, as he's clearly been fiddling the books.

In the climactic scenes, Walt returns home while Skyler's out, by breaking in underneath the floorboards to have a shower. Unfortunately, Walt chose the worst moment possible to clean himself up, as Saul's sent a bald private investigator to bug the house (assumedly so he can snoop on "the wife" and use what he learns to manipulate Walt), forcing him to cut short his installations. And then, in a surprising move I wasn't expecting until mid-season, the Cousins have already located Walter White's residence and enter the house armed with a shiny axe to avenge Tuco's death when Walt steps out of the shower. There followed a very intriguing resolution, with Saul's P.I calling local druglord Gus (Giancarlo Esposito) about the arrival of the Cousins, who managed to call off the Cousins' attack by texting them his codeword "Pollas". So are the Cousins allied to Gus? Is Walt safe if they think he's in Gus' pocket? Does Saul know his P.I has connections to Gus? If Walt continues to refuse to work for Gus (by accepting last week's $3m for three months work offer), will Gus be forced to let the Cousins carry out their hit?

Overall, a typically strong and fascinating episode with lots of juicy character beats and some interesting developments. The story certainly progressed quicker than I expected with the Cousins, it's amusing to see Walt grappling with his family life and so oblivious to the encroaching dangers around him, and "Caballo Sin Nombre" certainly left you with a head full of questions concerning the Cousins, Saul and Gus.

Asides

-- Did anyone else think the Cousins were going to try and contact the dead Tuco when they grabbed that Ouija board? Also, isn't it rather insensitive to have a Ouija board in an old folk's home?

-- Is this the best cast on TV? No, that honour belongs to Mad Men, but it's surely second best. Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, Aaron Paul, Bob Odenkirk, Dean Norris -- they all impress me every week. Other shows have great actors involved, but they're usually surrounded by far weaker supporting players (see: Dexter), but Breaking Bad's core are all very strong.

-- I can't help but think that "Horse With No Name" was chosen because Vince Gilligan remembered its creepy use on Millennium, which he was affiliated with in the '90s via Chris Carter and The X Files.

-- The teddy bear's eye returned; this time ogling Walt when he woke up collapsed on his bedroom floor, but the Cousins also found it and, by moving it, left Walt to ponder how it got moved after leaving his shower.

-- It's a season of one-take wonders: last week the Cousins walked away from that exploding van without flinching ("bad guys don't look at explosions", remember), and this week Bryan Cranston apparently threw that gigantic pizza onto that roof in one shot. Incidentally, I know Americans like big portions, but I've got tables smaller than that pizza! And they wonder why there's a national obesity problem...

28 MARCH 2010: AMC, 10/9c