Breaking Bad Season 2: A Retrospective

 Breaking Bad Season 2: A Retrospective

This entry is part of a series of retrospectives on the Breaking Bad universe. Click here for the previous entry on Breaking Bad Season 1. Click here for the next entry on Breaking Bad Season 3.

[Note: As a series retrospective, this post will contain major spoilers from Breaking Bad, its sequel film El Camino, and its prequel series Better Call Saul]

The second season of Breaking Bad needs no introduction, but it does require some explanation. After the moderate success of the show's first, 7-episode season, AMC increased the episode order to a whopping 13 come Season 2. However, according to reports at the time--and I believe this was for Season 2 but may have been for Season 3 more so--the budget for each episode was cut by the network at the time. So, in order to work around some budgetary constraints, the second and third seasons of Breaking Bad had to tread carefully when it came to how they played out. Season 2 was especially impacted by the writer's strike at the time and the availability of actor Raymond Cruz, with plans to kill off Jesse Pinkman and have Tuco Salamanca as the main villain cut because of these cruxes. While at least the first decision being reversed would play to the show's benefit as time went on, the sudden, shifting nature of the series' story during Season 2 made for a rather meandering experience--one that may be the worst the Breaking Bad universe has to offer.

Now, don't mix up my words here. I love Season 2 of Breaking Bad and many of its episodes are better than most television that's come after it. But, on a grander scale, episodes in this season feel more "episodic" than the rest of the show. That is to say, many episodes feature a problem encountered by Walt, Jesse, or both that ends up getting resolved by the end of the hour. The only exceptions to this are Tuco, who took the first two episodes of Season 2 to deal with, and Jane, whose sub-plot ran throughout the entirety of Season 2. But we'll get back to Jane and her role in Season 2 in just a minute. For now, I want to talk about how this "one problem per episode" track impacted the season, for better and for worse.

I think it was important to show the slow rise of Walt and Jesse into actually making a profit out of the meth business. Season 2 acts as a very well-done transitional phase, a 13-hour bridge between what Breaking Bad was in Season 1 and what it would become in Season 3. The series maintained a character-centric focus, with much of the entertainment value coming from interactions between different chess pieces on the board, so to speak. This includes Walt and Jesse learning to work together despite Walt's egotistical nature and desperation coming out in full-force during many of their argumentative conversations. This also includes Walt dealing with Skyler, whose suspicions about what her husband is doing continually grow, prompting her to tow the line between faithful, doting wife, and manipulating an end to their marriage. There's also Hank's progression in this season, with the PTSD he ends up dealing with after killing Tuco in Episode 2 being the major developmental milestone for his character--turning him into the most sympathetic antagonists in television history.

But character interactions taking center stage doesn't mean the story itself is bad. As I mentioned, the story of Breaking Bad Season 2 is typically focused on "problem of the week" episodes that blend together thanks to the overarching narratives being presented in the show. In terms of the overall plot, things don't really "go" anywhere until the last 2-3 episodes of the season, with many episodes prior to the end acting as setup for character development and later story progression. No more prevalent is this than with the character of Jane. Jane is the embodiment of what Breaking Bad Season 2 is. She's in the background for the majority of the season, with Jesse having a conversation or two with her or consummating his relationship with her. For the most part, however, she acts as background continuity while the issue at hand each episode takes precedence. This is until the very end, wherein Jesse's friend Combo is killed by rival drug dealers after Walt tries to expand his meth-selling territory. This causes Jesse--who had quit drugs thanks to Jane--to relapse, resulting in Jane (who herself was a recovering addict) to relapse as well, introducing Jesse to harder drugs like heroin and speedball. The result is conflict between Walt and Jesse that leads to Jane's death, with a subsequent consequence being that Jane's father, an air traffic controller, accidentally causes two passenger planes to fly into one another, killing over 150 people. The domino effect of the little things that are built up throughout the season is what makes this season so impactful, even if most of what transpired had little plot-related consequence outside the episode where it happened.

Of course, that's not to say episodes that are more focused on a singular storyline don't establish important ideas. While many episodes have a singular focus that doesn't carry into the next, it's the consequences of what those events mean that bolsters this second season. Without a proper, seasonal antagonist like Tuco around, it felt like the writers may have been backed into a corner, using "problem of the week" scenarios to ensure some level of plot progression. Unlike other shows with similar formulas, though, the content of these episodes has overarching consequences on Walt, Jesse, and their business, even if it doesn't seem like it in the moment. I think the most striking of episodes to illustrate this is Season 2 Episode 6, titled "Peekaboo." The main plot of the episode follows Jesse as he breaks into the home of two drug addicts--Spooge and his unnamed girlfriend/possible wife--to take back money and meth they stole from Skinny Pete when he was selling it a few days prior. Entering the home, Jesse finds it trashed, with half-eaten food, mold, and general garbage strewn across the floors and walls. It's here that he finds a little boy, presumably Spooge's son, who is also tattered, seemingly unable to speak much. Jesse cares for and develops a bond with the boy before Spooge and his girlfriend return, having lost the thousands of dollars they stole from Skinny Pete due to the girl buying more drugs. The episode as a whole acts as a commentary on drug addiction, the horrors it can inflict on children, and the disarray it can cause between people who are so deep in the hole, there may not be any way to dig back out.

While the message of the episode itself is admirable--making it one of the best episodes of the show overall--its self-contained nature is only in the moment. At the end of the episode, the Spooge's girlfriend crushes his head like a watermelon by kicking over an ATM he and Jesse were trying to get money out of. While Jesse is able to get the money, it is quite literally blood money, and he is traumatized by the incident. He ends up calling the police to get the unnamed little boy out of trouble. While the audience sees this caring side of Jesse that deepens his progression throughout the season, other drug dealers see it as Jesse having killed Spooge by dropping the ATM on his head. This story spreads, which is what leads to Walt wanting to expand their territory, resulting in the domino effect from Combo's death to the plane crash in the season finale. Episodes like "Peekaboo" are self-contained in the moment, but upon further examination of the season, its seemingly isolated "problem of the week" scenarios become more interconnected. Breaking Bad, even when using a tried and true TV formula for a single season, manages to subvert said formula in favor of the transitional story it wants to tell. It's a level of television writing that speaks to the talent of creator Vince Gilligan and his team.

However, not everything is perfect when it comes to these single-episode plots. In order to fill up the 47-minute runtime of each episode, there was a necessity to create sub-plots that become the central focus of roughly half the episodes. Many of these in this season had to do with Walt's relationship with Skyler. Now, don't get me wrong, I understand how important it was to underscore the dwindling relationship between Walt and his wife as he began keeping more secrets and getting further involved in the meth business. But everything that transpires between the two felt like a broken record by the time the season was over. In Episode 4, "Down," Walt is unable to leave the house after faking a fugue state as a cover story for being kidnapped by Tuco. He begins to act overly friendly with Skyler and Flynn, cooking breakfast, and generally being jovial. Knowing something is wrong, Skyler starts leaving the house all day, an issue that weakens Walt's resolve as the episode continues. It turns out that she is hung up on suspicions that Walt has a second cellphone, the crux of their arguments throughout the season. In later episodes, Skyler also begins to act flirtatious with Ted Beneke, her new boss after going back to work despite her pregnancy.

These storylines feel more like by-the-numbers drama that, while having consequences later on, feel more like they exist to fill episode time than anything else. I didn't need three scenes an episode reminding me that Skyler is flirting with Ted, I could understand it after one. Ted's tax evasion schemes, however, were interesting, and made me wish there was more focus on Skyler trying to solve the mystery of missing funds at work than her flirtatious demeanor around her boss. It felt like a bit of a missed opportunity, or perhaps a purposeful heel-turn for the audience that just didn't feel quite right. Maybe it's just because I enjoy the time spent with Walt, Jesse, and Hank more, but I wasn't really feeling a lot of what transpired between Walt and Skyler and Skyler on her own this season. Credit where credit is due, though: Spending time with Skyler throughout the season was important, as it made the ending where she kicks Walt out of the house all the more impactful. It's not that I didn't want to spend more time with Skyler--it's that time with Skyler could have been spent on better, more interesting things.

And then we come to Hank's storyline this season, which I only saved for last because of his status as the series' overarching antagonist. Though in this season, Hank becomes more of a deuteragonist/tritagonist to Walt and Jesse. Hank's story takes off after Episode 2, wherein he kills Tuco Salamanca. After this near-death experience, Hank begins to experience symptoms of PTSD, a condition that he's unable to cope with due to his tough-guy persona. His bravery in killing Tuco results in a promotion, wherein he's sent down to El Paso to split his time between the DEA in Albuquerque and the task force in Texas. During his time on the US-Mexico border, Hank becomes the sole uninjured party in a surprise attack on the DEA, his PTSD flaring up when seeing drug dealer La Tortuga's head on a tortoise, causing him to flee, thus saving his life. These two events cause him to dig himself further into the Heisenberg case, as he believes the ever-spreading presence of his signature blue-colored meth is connected to many of the unusual happenings that have plagued him and the DEA for the last few months. I think it was nice to see more of Hank in this capacity, as it paints him not only as a sympathetic antagonist, but also as just as human as Walt and Jesse. Hank is just a man with a proud sense of justice doing his job, faltering only when confronted with situations outside his control. Getting to know Hank more in Season 2 sets his character up for great things as the series progresses, turning him from a rather typical antagonistic force to someone you almost want to root for, even at the cost of Walt's budding empire.

On the empire side of things, while progression overall for Walt isn't as large as anticipated for a second season--especially one with double the number of episodes--there are plenty of puzzle pieces that get laid out for the rest of the series to explore. This includes the moniker Heisenberg becoming more poignant as time goes on, with Jesse's friends Badger, Skinny Pete, and Combo even going so far as to speak respectfully to Walt when he's forced to interact with them in real life. One episode even begins with a comedic music video about how the Mexican cartel has taken notice of Heisenberg and will be coming after him soon. This proves sort of true when the Cousins are introduced in Season 3, but this on its own the music video serves as a reminder of how widespread Walt's meth operations have become due to his ability to make nearly-pure meth. A fun fact about this music video as well is that it was originally meant to be a teaser for Season 3. In Gilligan and company's original plan for Breaking Bad's third season, the wheelchair-bound Hector Salamanca and the Salamanca family were going to be the primary antagonists. While the Cousins would serve as antagonists for the first half of Season 3 and while Hector's presence would be felt all the way until the end of Season 4, he didn't end up having as large a role as originally planned.

This was because of the introduction of another Season 2 puzzle piece: Gustavo Fring. Owner of the Los Pollos Hermanos fast food chain, Gus is a large-scale distributor for the cartel, operating north of the Mexican border. While he isn't explored much in Season 2, his few appearances establish him as a classic part of the Breaking Bad universe. But, much like the Salamancas, things didn't go as planned with Gus Fring. Originally, Gilligan wrote Gus in as a one-time appearance, a substantial opportunity for Walt that becomes a one-time deal due to Jesse getting back on drugs, resulting in immediate mistrust from Gus' end. Gus was supposed to be a guest appearance by actor Giancarlo Esposito, nothing more. But, because he was such a big fan of the series and had such great chemistry with Bryan Cranston, he wanted to get promoted to regular status on the show. So he played Gus as if he had a secret, using the level of intrigue associated with his character to get promoted to a series regular come Season 3. Gus was now the new antagonist Walt and Jesse would have to face, weaving in the story of the Salamancas as Gus' revenge-centric backstory was revealed. Seeing Esposito appear onscreen in an unassuming manner for the first time again was like whiplash, knowing just how important Gus was going to become--something no one in production of his first episode even knew at the time. His introduction is a stroke of accidental genius.

As for purposeful genius--and perhaps the only long-term setup in Season 2 that wasn't altered--is the introduction of everyone's favorite criminal lawyer, Saul Goodman. A comedic side character introduced in an episode titled, "Better Call Saul," Saul Goodman may be my favorite hero/protagonist in the Breaking Bad universe. Much of this is thanks to his aptly-titled spin-off, but even in Breaking Bad he's a fantastic comic relief character that isn't just there to be goofy. It's clear he's a smart but quirky character with his own ideas, many of which are steeped in paranoia and self-service. Having seen Better Call Saul prior to this re-watch, I felt like a lot of the throwaway lines presented by Saul have such deeper meaning now. Him telling Walt his real name is McGill. His dismissive relationship with his secretary Francesca. The ring on his finger he always plays with when thinking things over. And, of course, the line where he tells a masked Walt and Jesse, "It wasn't me, it was Ignacio!" before asking if Lalo sent them. What's interesting is that, in very early stages of Season 2's plan, Saul was supposed to be a one-time comic relief character. Luckily, this was swiftly changed, turning Saul into one of the most broken, tragic characters in the entire Breaking Bad universe. This is something I'll get into during my Better Call Saul retrospectives, but man! Does Saul's character hit different after seeing him in the prequel series.

What's funny about Saul, too, is that his appearance ended up fostering the creation of another classic Breaking Bad character: Mike. Appearing in the Season 2 finale, Mike is a fixer that Saul sends over to Jesse's house after Jane overdoses. He puts Jesse in line, giving him a story and making sure to clean up any evidence that seems like it would incriminate him in Jane's death. "You woke up, that's all you know," he says, having Jesse repeat the story back to him a few times before leaving. In the original script for this episode, everything Mike did was going to be done by Saul. However, Bob Odenkirk was unavailable to film that day, meaning they needed to create a side-character (Saul's "guy who knows a guy") last-minute. Enter Mike Ehrmantraut, resident cleaner/fixer/hitman and soon-to-be-revealed right-hand-man to Gus Fring. What's interesting is that, despite having a recurring role in Season 3--appearing in 6 episodes--no one calls him by name until Saul does so in the season finale. Here, he's just the fixer, though he is credited with his full name, as though the writers knew unconsciously just how important he would become. His introduction is stellar and well-executed, making for great setup come the rest of the show.

As is tradition, Breaking Bad continues to showcase a plethora of symbolism throughout its second season. Much of this is simplistic in nature, though there are some more complex ideas that appear and are fleshed out in later seasons. Some of the simpler symbols come in off-handed ways, such as Jesse admiring a beetle on the ground at the start of "Peekaboo." Skinny Pete walks up to Jesse with information on Spooge's whereabouts. He sees he beetle, declares it as "gross," then stomps on it, surprising Jesse. This coupled with the rest of the episode where Jesse tries to save Spooge's son accentuates the type of person Jesse is. He's not really someone cut out for the world of drug dealing and making meth. He's really just a confused, lonely kid who wants to do right by the world but is shackled by addictive drug habits and a want for easy cash. The beetle can be interpreted in many different ways, perhaps a symbol of how easily Jesse's hard shell can be stomped on by those around him. It's pretty ironic in hindsight, though, that Skinny Pete of all people ends up squishing the bug, as him and Badger end up being the only people Jesse can rely on. But I digress.

Some of the more overarching symbolism comes from decisions made in the wardrobe as well. Something that Vince Gilligan has stated was done on purpose throughout Breaking Bad's run was making the colors of Walter White's outfits darker over time. While it's not seen entirely this season, there is a notably less amount of light in some shots that would have been far more lit up in Season 1. As for Walt, there are some darker colors starting to become part of his regular outfit, though he still mostly wears lighter colors. These lighter-colored shirts and pants serve almost as a facade to who he truly is and how he really feels. Heisenberg is hiding behind every thread of cloth, and not a single soul is any the wiser. Though moving a little bit away from the wardrobe, I really did notice a number of scenes were shot in darker lighting than usual, especially those where Jesse is isolating himself in his house, unable to take the number of wicked, traumatic events he's experiencing in such a short amount of time. The grunge from Season 1 is still there, but it's been overshadowed by a layer of darkness in some areas that will only continue to close around the show as the series progresses.

Now, this next symbol is one I believe is the most poignant of the whole show: The pool. Originally, Gilligan considered covering the pool up during the series, or at the very least not using it for anything important. But, especially in Season 2, the pool has morphed into a recognizable symbol for Walt's greed, ego, and corruption. Despite being poor and struggling with funds, the White's still maintain a well-kept pool in their backyard. The pool acts as a symbol for what Walt wants to have--enough money in his life to enjoy its sparkling water without having to worry or want for cash. The blue hue of the pool could also act as a hint at the blue meth Walt and Jesse create, deciding to continue their business beside the pool halfway through Season 1. As for the pool's symbolism in Season 2, its constant presence in backyard scenes is more than enough to warrant its importance. During a party after Walt's cancer goes into remission, he forces Flynn to drink more alcohol than he can muster, resulting in Flynn vomiting into the pool. Walter does this because he wants to prove to Hank that he is just as much of a man as he is, and that he can raise his son without Flynn constantly idolizing his uncle. Of course, doing so only serves to bolster his ego, nothing more. Hence why the water of the pool is so important.

Speaking of Flynn, I want to deviate a little bit to talk about him and his relationship with Walt throughout Season 2. As Walt continues to become more distant from his family, Walt. Jr. adopts the name "Flynn" for himself, something that coincides with a need to have an identity different from his dad. Over the course of the season, a subtle subplot is Walt's attempt to revitalize the relationship with his son, the alcohol overindulgence a symptom of aggressive attempts to do so. Things start to fail on Walt's end, though, when Saul uses a website Flynn set up for donations in order to launder Walt's money via a botnet of donors from "across the country." Walt sees this play out for two episodes, with every donation making him squirm. Not because he feels guilty about anything, but because Flynn--his son--gets to take credit for the money Walt earned for the family. Walt is driven by ego so much that, even when his son sets up a donation website to try and help him raise funds for his cancer surgery, Walt is not grateful. Instead, much like his relationship with Gretchen and Elliot, reliance on others makes him feel small. It makes him feel weak, even if it's his son doing the heavy lifting for him. Walt's ego waits for no one. And no more true is this than in the season finale.

Walt witnessed Jane die. He had a chance to turn her over and save her from choking on her own vomit during her overdose, but instead he watches her die and leaves. While doing so proves to be a good thing for Jesse, helping him stay clean during Season 3, it results in Jane's father's carelessness while guiding airplanes at his job. The final sequence of Season 2 shows Walt in his backyard, near his pool, realizing having to move out means his actions are finally catching up to him. Just when things seem like they couldn't get any worse, an explosion emanates from the sky. Walt looks up to see two planes crash into one another. Then, we get a POV shot as a child's stuffed animal falls into Walt's pool, missing an eye. The culmination not only of Walt's ego throughout Season 2, but also of the pool's symbolic nature. While both will continue to be key elements of the next three seasons, it's in the death of over 100 people that the butterfly effect of Breaking Bad becomes prominent. If there was any way of showcasing that actions in the series have consequences for the characters, it was by doing this. It's a rather superfluous development for sure, but it's also an important one for Walt's character going forward. And the consequences are monumental for what Season 3 has to offer.

Breaking Bad Season 2 is probably my least favorite entry in the Breaking Bad universe. Not because it was bad, but rather because it's a bridge between something great and something even better. It's entertaining, introducing new characters and problems that become incredibly prominent come the next few seasons. If anything, rewatching Season 2 made me appreciate it much more than I had on first watch. The first time I saw the show, Seasons 1 and 2 were more of a blur leading up to much higher-quality drama and suspense later down the road. But remembering episodes like "Better Call Saul" and my now-near-favorite "Peekaboo," I think Season 2 has a lot of merit to it that, while not as focused as Season 1, still serves as a good bridge between Walter White, Chemistry Teacher and Heisenberg, Meth Kingpin. And it only continues to get better from here. Because Seasons 3 and 4 feature my favorite part of the whole show: the Los Pollos Hermanos arc.

***

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