We are back for another season of Breaking Bad! Breaking Bad has become one of my favorite shows for a variety of reasons. The acting, the stylish and artsy nature of the show, the relevant topic, and so forth. After a powerful introductory season, we are back for more adventures of Walt and his delicious blue meth. This episode begins the season with quite a bang for many reasons. Right away, we are given the sense of foreshadowing. The episode starts off with a burnt stuffed animal with a detached eyeball floating in Walt’s backyard pool. What on earth could this mean? It looks like we will know at some point this season. The big theme of this episode is paranoia. If we remember correctly, Walt and Jesse met up with the dangerous Tuco to become their meth supplier last season. Now this season, they get the paranoid sense that Tuco is trying to kill them. After all, it’s not normal to see a black Escalade sitting outside their house in the dead of night. So paranoia is a prevalent theme here this episode and it works very well.
In this episode, “Seven Thirty-Seven,” Walt (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse (Aaron Paul) finish their deal with Tuco (Raymond Cruz). But they soon realize that he is a very dangerous man when he killed one of his employees over a few nothing words. After the murder, Jesse becomes paranoid thinking that he sees Tuco’s black SUV parked outside his house. Jesse purchases a weapon in case anything would to happen and he tries to convince Walt of the danger, but Walt believes Jesse is only paranoid…….until he sees the SUV parked outside his home. Jesse comes up with a plan to shoot Tuco, but Walt comes up with a better solution to rid themselves of Tuco…..an genius plan involving science and ricin. But they decide to act fast when they believe Tuco is killing the associates involved with the first murder. Meanwhile, Hank Schrader (Dean Norris) sees footage of the warehouse robbery from last season…..without realizing it is Walt and Jesse. Finally, Skylar (Anna Gunn) confesses to Hank about Marie’s (Betsy Brandt) kleptomania, but Hank surprisingly admits that he knew about it this whole time.
So this episode is a wonderful episode to start the new season. It is dripping with intensity and tension as you try to piece together on who is going to make the next move. This season promises that each character will be fleshed out even more. Bryan Cranston still steals the show as the newly-crowned drugpin of New Mexico Walter White. I was not a big fan of Skylar last season, but Anna Gunn shows potential this season based on this episode so fingers are crossed. And my Lord, Tuco is really a crazy and violent man! This is such a dynamic show and I am really looking forward to what happens next. Also, Bryan Cranston superbly directed this episode. Is there anything that the man cannot do?
My Grade: A-
