The Televangelist: ‘Breaking Bad’ Season 4, Episode 6
Jesse stumbles onto the set of “The Walking Dead” as Walt goes around bullying immigrants
- AMC.com
- I am the one who buys the Coke. I am the one with the dollar bill!
As “Breaking Bad” sets up for the final few episodes of this season (nine in all), it kickstarted into turbo mode last night. I haven’t been so overwhelmed and intrigued by an episode since … well, probably since Season 3. Last night’s “Cornered” took us all over the state and all over the emotional grid.
?I don’t want to spend the entire article bashing Walt, but it’s tempting. There is almost nothing redeeming Ieft about this man or the choices he makes (“choices I’ve made and I stand by”). From alienating Skyler (again - though it yielded two of the greatest lines of the series yet, mentioned below) to jeopardizing the family’s cover by buying Walt Jr a red Mustang, to endangering the lives of the factory women to lambasting Jesse for doing what Jesse has simply been instructed to do. Walt said it last night, in that conversation, “it’s all about me!” Well golly Walt, we honestly would never have guessed. That’s not to say that Gus isn’t weaving an elaborate plot to drive a wedge between Walt and Jesse, and perhaps it’s not fair that Walt be left alone to clean up the huge lab mess (although he doesn’t actually help in the process, just drinks from Gale’s coffee machine and toasts to Tyrus or whoever is watching), but his actions are never a cut above selfish. And then there was Bogdan.
?The interaction between Walt and Bogdan was fueled with so much passive aggressive intensity it was terribl(y entertaining) to watch. It seemed to me that Bogdan was attempting to maintain a certain amount of dignity while reluctantly handing over the keys of his successful American business to a surly Walt. Walt brushes off Bogdan’s mention that “being the boss is tough,” even as Bogdan elaborates that sometimes it means making a cashier wipe down cars, even if he doesn’t want to (nudge nudge, Walt). Is Bogdan trying to make some kind of peace with Walt? Of course Bogdan gets in a few jabs as well, and as he goes to take down the dollar bill mounted on the wall, Walt stops him. “As is” (which wouldn’t have been a bad episode title). After a beaten Bogdan leaves, Walt smashes the frame and buys a Coke with that dollar. But the moment was not at all triumphant. It was sad, and lonely. You have your money, Walt, but where is your soul?