BREAKING BAD 3.6 – "Sunset"

WRITER & DIRECTOR: John Shiban
GUEST CAST: David Costabile, Jose Avila, Charles Baker, Larry Hankin, Matt Jones, Tom Kiesche, Daniel Moncada, Luis Moncada, Tina Parker & Michael Shamus Wiles

[SPOILERS] I liked how "Sunset" was bookended by cops dealing with a problem at residences – in the teaser, a tribal cop discovered the Cousins (Daniel and Luis Moncada) have killed an old lady and moved into her home, and the final moments involved Hank (Dean Norris) finally tracing the meth-lab RV to a scrap yard and waiting patiently for Jesse (Aaron Paul) to come out from inside. There was a loose theme of people trapped, often literally, in situations beyond their control and trying to break free...

Walt's (Bryan Cranston) fooling himself into thinking his "job" at Gus' (Giancarlo Esposita) secret laboratory is normal and everyday, by packing himself a lunch (even labelling the paper bag with his name as perhaps his wife might have), and he's bought himself a pre-furnished condo as a way to slip into a new life as easily as possible. Unbeknownst to him, Skyler (Anna Gunn) may be calling to talk through details of their divorce, but the expression on her face is one of someone eager to get her husband back, although she won't admit it just yet.

And what of Walt's "dream factory"? Gus' underground meth lab is heaven for a chemistry geek like himself, and he's even been given a lab assistant called Gale Boetticher (David Costabile), a specialist in x-ray crystallography and undoubtedly a far more helpful and intellectually stimulating partner than Jesse ever was. Gale's libertarian attitude (that consenting adults should be able to take uncontaminated drugs if they want to) is how Gale sleeps at night, and he and Walt both share a passion for the "magic" of chemistry that most jobs in the field don't let them explore. Right now, Gale seems like an amiable fellow who quotes poetry (Walt Whitman's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer"), but knowing the kind of creepy men Costabile often plays (he was last seen as a hit man on Damages) I'm not so sure he's as harmless as he appears. Maybe he's putting on an act for Walt to ensure his transition into the big leagues goes smoothly, or has perhaps been installed by Gus to learn Walt's blue-meth formula so that he can sever ties with Walt after his three-months are up.

Jesse's own drug dealing operation is smaller in scale, but he's planning to sell his version of Walt's formula using friends Badger (Matt Jones) and Skinny Pete (Charles Baker), despite their reluctance over what happened with Combo. Jesse's new plan is to "sell it safe" and not get greedy like they did before, but he's unaware that danger is already lurking just outside because Han's surveilling his house as the last possible lead on the meth-lab RV he's been chasing. And given Breaking Bad's fondness for bad decisions, it was exciting just to watch the whole scenario unfold: Walt made aware of Hank's progress by a phone call from his brother-in-law curious about former-student Pinkman, Walt realizing his fingerprints are all over the RV but unable to warn Jesse in case the phone lines are tapped, and instead racing to the RV's scrap yard to arrange for the vehicle to be crushed himself, which in turn alerted Jesse to what's going on when Badger filled him in.

Every domino fell and we ended up with one of Breaking Bad's most gripping scenarios yet, with Jesse arriving at the scrap yard to face-off with Walt over his plan to destroy his valuable RV, unwittingly having led Hank to his prize. The moment Walt and Jesse found themselves trapped inside the locked RV, with Hank stalking the outside like some kind of animal smelling blood inside was wonderful. Not least because it wasn't easy to guess how Walt would evade capture. And I was pleased to see the manner of their escape made total sense; the scrap yard owner laying down some legalise about RV's being private domicile's, and Walt calling Saul (Bob Odenkirk) to fake a call to Hank's phone about his wife being rushed to hospital. That in turn led to a beautiful moment of directing by hyphenate John Shiban, with Hank arriving flustered at the hospital only to answer his merrily chirping phone and find the unharmed Marie on the other end. Fantastic sequences all round.

And what of the Cousins? The teaser felt unconnected to their story, almost treated like a black joke, but surely the backup that cop called will arrive and sniff around for clues? But their main involvement this week was to unsettle Gus by sitting silent in one of his restaurant's booth's, which he very clearly did not take kindly to. Rendezvousing with them at the titular sunset, Gus realizes the Cousins aren't prepared to wait for his business with Walt to be done, so he instead threw them a bone: his personal permission to pursue Tuco's true killer, DEA Agent Hank Schrader.

Overall, "Sunset" was brilliant mid-season episode that was every bit as gripping and involving as we've come to expect from this series. I'm intrigued to see where Walt's new life and job takes him, how Jesse will explain himself to Hank, and how Hank will possibly evade a swift death when the Cousins come calling. Unlike Walt, he doesn't have anybody looking out for him, so it's hard to imagine how he'll avoid getting an axe through the skull.

Asides

• Sad to see the RV get crushed in the final moments, as it's been the location for many great moments of Breaking Bad and was perhaps one of the series' more iconic images.
• There's something about Badger's throaty voice that reminds me of one of Top Cat's gang, am I alone?
• The music playing during the Walt/Gale meth-cooking sequence was Vince Guaraldi's "Peanuts", made famous by Charlie Brown.

25 APRIL 2010: AMC, 10/9c