Breaking Bad Season 4: A Retrospective

 Breaking Bad Season 4: 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 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]

It doesn't take long for Season 4 of Breaking Bad to not only establish itself as one of the greatest seasons of the series thus far, but also as a memorable, classic experience in semi-modern television. The fourth season of Breaking Bad picks up right where the third season left off. Walt is captured in the laundromat by Mike and Gus' other men. Jesse has shot Gale in the head, and is liable to be carted away soon by Victor. It quickly becomes clear that, even though they've committed an act of pure transgression against Gus Fring and his meth trade, the duo's true punishment will be the stay as Gus' cooks, being broken down in both body and soul over the course of the season. Even though Walt and Jesse won by shooting poor Gale in the head at the start of the previous season, Gus still ends up on top through sheer will alone. Now it's up to Walt and Jesse to juggle their lives outside the meth industry with Gus' constant presence, as well as their own mistakes throughout the show.

I think what's interesting about Season 4 is just how in-depth the season goes with personal character arcs throughout its run. To start is Walt and his family, with Skyler's new, direct involvement in Walt's business leading her to helm the money laundering side of things. This is where the car wash comes back into play, with Skyler deciding to buy it in order to make Walt's laundering more convincing. Skyler and Walt seem to get more time working together as opposed to being at odds with each other this season. While it's clear that Skyler is mostly doing this to avoid the White family themselves from falling apart, it's still interesting to see the dynamic between the two of them as Walt tries to get her to play it safe in some areas while she tries to get him to play it safe in others. The two of them are also forces of control, both wanting to have a larger role to play in the operation than the other now that large-scale decisions are involved. I enjoyed seeing their dynamic, as it underscored how Walt can't ever really grasp total control of everything, even if he strives for it, even among his own family members.

As I indicated above, Skyler gets more to do this season that directly impacts the plot than any other season prior. Much of this has to do with Ted's write-off scheme from Season 2, which comes back in a big way, as he's facing legal and financial trouble because of it. Legal and financial trouble that Skyler believes could put the family--and therefore Walt's operation--in jeopardy. So begins a multi-episode plot wherein Skyler tries to get Ted out of his financial and legal straits. I can't say I enjoyed watching this play out under Walt's nose, making me despise Skyler as a character even more (building on her cheating from Season 3, no less). But when the payoff hit in "Crawlspace," which we'll move on to soon, I understood completely why Gilligan and crew wanted the audience to see several episodes of Skyler slowly making decisions that would put the family in more danger than she could possibly imagine. I think this storyline did a lot to accentuate Skyler's lack of true knowledge of the criminal underworld Walt is involved it. It helped to highlight her own naiveté surrounding the meth business, as well as how she views the money Walt makes for the family in general. Upon re-watch, I appreciated Skyler's storyline more this time around, mostly because of what it leads to. Not entirely the content therein.

As for Jesse Pinkman, his story stands out the most among all the characters focused on in Season 4. After killing Gale, Jesse slips back into his drug habits hard, deciding to host an endless rave/party at his house. The slow desecration of his home over the course of the first half of the season does a good job at accentuating Jesse's mental state. He even shaves his head, adding to a rather interesting idea that, symbolically, characters shave their heads in order to indicate the corruption of their morality. What's funny is that actor Aaron Paul simply thought it would be cool to change Jesse's look because of what happened with Gale and Gilligan and crew went along with it. The idea of baldness having a symbolic meaning in Breaking Bad is unintentional, but it only adds to the series by making the audience think in ways the creators never intended. Watching Jesse slip into his old habits is hard to watch, especially when it becomes clear that he has PTSD from the ordeal. Jesse wasn't designed to kill people. On the inside, he's still the good kid who drew superheroes and designed woodwork from school, making it especially sad to see him slip back into the lifestyle that almost killed him in Season 2.

But that appears to be what Jesse wants, as we learn through the surprising friendship he forms with Mike Ehrmantraut. During the height of his drug use and lack of care for what happens to him and the meth business, Mike pays a visit to Jesse's home, catching a guy who stole all of Jesse's money. Jesse doesn't seem to care that it happened, even though Mike continues to insist that something bad will happen to the guy they caught--which Jesse just couldn't care less about. The result of Jesse's behavior and a subsequent report to Gus by Mike leads to Mike using Jesse as a wingman for his drop collections during the evenings. Not only does this help Jesse start to get out of his drug habit and feel useful for the first time in a while, but it also leads to tension between him and Walt. Upon learning that Jesse is helping Mike collect drops, Walt starts to wonder why Gus is favoring Jesse over him. What we learn later is that Gus no longer wanted Walt involved in the meth business, much of it having to do with Gale, but also because of the later involvement of Hank, which we'll get to soon.

I thought Jesse's storyline this season was done well, as it depicted his reaction to Gale's death in a sympathetic, oftentimes sad, way. His friendship with Mike is also nice despite the incoming conflict between Walt and Gus that was sure to impact it. Jesse's push and pull between allying with Walt and Gus is what made his story--especially in the second half of the season--so intriguing. At the end of the day, Jesse is the least experienced person in the main cast given his age. But at the same time, he's able to display a plethora of mature emotions and decisions because of everything he's been through in the show thus far. He sees the genuine value Mike and occasionally Gus puts on him, contrasting it to the constant bickering he has to deal with when close to Walt. He also starts to learn how to tell that Walt is trying to manipulate him, not wanting to fall for any tricks he tries to pull when it comes to attempts to kill Gus. This includes creating a vial of ricin that Jesse has hidden in his pack of cigarettes, a tool Walt later uses to manipulate Jesse into helping him kill Gus. Jesse's story is both uplifting and saddening in Season 4. He manages to pull himself out of his self-destructive behaviors for good, but he's unable to fully leave the game because of the misplaced, blind trust he exhibits for Walt.

On opposite side of things are the developments of the season's antagonists as well. Hank is still kicking despite still needing physical therapy throughout the season due to his encounter with the Cousins. The first few episodes involving Hank focus on him and Marie's fractured relationship, as Hank feels useless due to not being able to work, taking it out on Marie. Marie, in turn, begins to steal things from open houses, a heart-breaking situation because of how innocent she is in this particular situation. Hank's dark side coming out appears to be a reflection of gruff law enforcement types, with Hank acting as a reflection of the uselessness victims of the drug trade can feel when they've dealt with the horrible consequences their line of work may entail. Hank is both sympathetic and antagonistic here, as while it's understandable why he acts the way he does toward Marie, there's still no excuse for the horrible things he does and says to her. Luckily, Marie is able to garner the courage to fight back with her own words, smoothing things over for both of them in a weird way only a couple like Hank and Marie could muster.

Though it also helps that Hank is soon given materials to look over for the case of Gale's death, including a notebook containing details for the underground meth lab and possible connectivity to Heisenberg. This includes a dedication, "To WW," which will later be how Hank discovers Walt's identity as Heisenberg in Season 5A. Hank's intelligence truly shines this season, as once he puts his head down to do his work diligently, he's able to get things done. It's why he starts to suspect Gus Fring of being involved in the distribution of blue meth and the Heisenberg case, also tying in the much larger Madrigal Electromotive, a German company that owns the Los Pollos Hermanos brand. This is where much of the conflict at the end of the season originates from, as Hank's unwavering suspicions of Gus lead to an eventual conflict with Walt who, because he cares too much about Hank, is put in a position where he must kill Gus in order for his family to stay safe. Hank's story takes on a level of tension and interest that hasn't been seen in previous seasons, as he becomes integral to the overall plot, whether he knows it or not. I really liked the scenes where he tried to get Walt to help him out because no one at the DEA would, such as placing a tracker on Gus' car--something even Gus tells him to do. There's a massive amount of tension here that helps to show where the characters stand, as well as how much they are able to withstand when it comes to the pressures of law enforcement officials like Hank. So too do we see how many trial and tribulations Hank can go through before he too is impacted.

But Hank isn't the only antagonist to garner plenty of screen time this season. Gus Fring becomes a surprising focal point of Season 4, especially at the end. While he's still shrouded in mystery in much the same way as Season 3, new elements to his character become apparent right from the start of Season 4. This begins with his brutal execution of Victor, his right-hand man who had been loyal to him for years (as Better Call Saul reveals, but I'm going to save my...small critique...about this factor of their relationship for a later retrospective). As it turns out, the reason why Gus begins to do things in a rather speedy, visceral fashion this season is because of his grand scheme. While Season 3 saw Gus take control of meth distribution north of the Mexican border, Season 4 reveals the broader scheme everyone's favorite Chicken Man has in mind. This has to do with Don Eladio, the true kingpin of the unnamed Cartel he founded alongside the deceased Don Bolsa and the wheelchair-bound Hector Salamanca. A flashback near the end of the season reveals that Eladio had ordered the execution of Gus' friend and meth distribution partner Max Arciniega when they first met with Eladio to discuss meth as a possible addition to the Cartel. The execution was approved by Eladio, but was handled by Hector Salamanca. Thus, Gus decides to get revenge on the Cartel, waiting for well over a decade in order to ensure the deaths of all three heads, as well as their associates and the Salamanca family as a whole.

Max's introduction to the Breaking Bad universe is interesting on many levels--both tidbit and of importance. For one, his name is the real-life name of the actor who played Krazy-8 back in Season 1, a nice nod to the show's roots. As for the relationship between Gus and Max, it is heavily implied during the flashback that the two harbored a romanic interest in one another. This is because of comments made by Hector Salamanca, as well as the lengths to which Gus goes for the perfect revenge against the entire Cartel. At the same time, though, Hector's veiled comments about Gus being gay and Gus' general revenge quest could also be interpreted as someone with few close friends in the world deciding to take vengeance against the Cartel, with Hector's comments being due to Gus' lack of close relationships as a whole. However, both Gilligan and his frequent collaborator Peter Gould have stated that they see Gus and Max's relationship as a romantic one. Even so, the way they word themselves in interviews--including recent ones from Gould that caused a mass amount of "Gus is gay" articles to crop up--indicate they want Gus' sexuality to be difficult to ascertain. While I personally believe Gus and Max had some kind of romantic connection, it's also very easy to interpret their relationship as platonic, Gus never really letting anyone in outside of his best friend Max. I appreciate the mystery surrounding their relationship, just as I appreciate the mystery surrounding Gus.

Because this season indicates that Gus is a character whose past is shrouded by the confusion surrounding Pinochet's rule over Chile. The show indicates that Gus is from Chile, however notes (through Hank's research) that no records exist of Gus prior to his arrival in Mexico in the 80's. When confronted with this information by the DEA, Gus plays it off as the Pinochet regime often destroying birth records. However, there are indications in things he says during Better Call Saul, as well as in the flashback where Max dies, that imply Gus is not being honest. After shooting Max, Eladio tells Gus that he knows who he is, citing his time in Chile as the reason why the two have some sort of connection. We never get any sort of concrete resolution to Gus' past, neither in Breaking Bad nor in Better Call Saul. I really liked the decision to keep Gus' past a mystery, as it lends to his character while also leaving room for development in future installments (trust me, I would bet money that the inevitable second spin-off in this universe will be titled Los Pollos Hermanos). It also makes what he does feel all the more intriguing, as he ends up poisoning the entire cartel after tricking Eladio into thinking Jesse will cook directly for him so he can sell blue meth in both the US and Mexico. It was a risky play that easily could have gotten Gus killed--especially if he'd sat back and allowed Jesse to be taken from him. The fact that Gus truly is willing to take risks when revenge is involved is also what leads to his downfall.

Which brings us to the final part of the season, where the story ramps up and everything becomes even more tense than it's ever been in the show before. This is assisted by much darker colors coming into view, everyone wearing black or dark blue clothing and overall having an evil air about them, and the overall direction of the series taking a dark, sometimes methodical, sometimes panicked, turn. Breaking Bad truly shines in these last few episodes of Season 4, with everything coming to a head in ways I never anticipated while watching the show. This all starts with "Crawl Space," Episode 11 of the season, wherein Walt is informed of Gus' ploy to kill Hank while Walt himself is cut off from the meth business, Gus finding more trust in Jesse now than his original cook. Gus informs Walt that, should he inform the DEA of his decision to kill Hank he will kill Skyler, Flynn, and Holly. Walt, however, decides to make the call anyway, resulting in a tense scene where Walt--more panicked than he's ever been before--tasks Saul with helping him inform the DEA that the cartel is coming after him. However, Walt does so before gathering his family and money together, his panic at the thought of Hank or anyone else he cares about getting the better of him. And it's here, at the end of Season 4 Episode 11, that the most critically-acclaimed scene in Breaking Bad takes place--a defining moment for Walter White's character, and for the show as a whole.

Dubbed "The Crawlspace Scene," this final scene of the episode sees Walt going into the house's crawlspace, searching for the $600,000 he had saved thus far for his family. As he searches, a worried Skyler looks on, asking Walt what he's doing. For the first time, Walt screams as Skyler, asking her where his money is. Skyler says she gave it to Ted, trying to reason with Walt, saying she did it to protect their family. Walt screams, then begins to laugh. As he does so, the phone in the kitchen rings. Skyler picks it up, hearing as a panicked Marie talks quickly, telling Skyler that the cartel is after Hank again. Walt continues to laugh in the background, his humor dying as the episode ends. This moment, where everything has fallen apart, is an indicator of just how far Walt has fallen. This is the lowest point for him in the entire show thus far, a result of everything he had been doing for and with Gus Fring. Honestly, it feels almost like a series finale, the way everything is set up so that Walt must pull himself out of the proverbial crawlspace in order to succeed against Gus.

And succeed he does. Using Gus' plot for revenge against Hector Salamanca--something he learns from Jesse as they resolve their dispute--Walt ties a bomb to Hector who, upon ringing his bell, willingly suicide bombs Gus in order to garner his own vengeance against him for killing his family. The two are killed, the consequences of which resonate across both parts of the show's fifth season. I enjoyed the way things were handled here, as it underscored how Gus Fring, despite being a cautious man who is able to avoid one of Walt's attempts on his life, is so hell-bent on his quest for revenge that he's willing to throw away all trepidation for one last look on Hector Salamanca's face as he surely, surely kills him. It's almost horrible to know that, despite everything Gus went through, and even though he did end up getting his revenge, he ended up dead by Walt's hand. This is more something that context from Better Call Saul iterates, but Walt and Jesse technically had a good thing going with Gus, something that started to fall apart as soon as Jesse tried to overstep their bounds. Morally it was the right thing to do. But the dire domino effect Combo's death and Jesse's subsequent reaction to the rival dealers is what lead to this moment.

Speaking of Jesse, him and Walt's relationship doesn't smooth over right away. In fact, as it turns out, Andrea's son Brock, whom Jesse has grown a near father-like attachment to, ends up being poisoned, exhibiting similar symptoms to ricin poisoning. Jesse also realizes that his ricin cigarette is gone. He deduces that Walt took the cigarette off him to poison Brock with ricin in order to get back at Jesse for siding with Gus. Upon confronting Walt, gun to head, Walt has no idea what Jesse is talking about. Walt then pins it on Gus, saying that Gus must have poisoned Brock so that Jesse--thinking it was Walt--would come to Walt's house to kill him, getting him out of the way and ensuring the safety of Gus' growing meth empire. Walt convinces Jesse this is the case, resulting in the two of them taking Gus down. But, as the last shot of the season indicates, Walt did indeed poison Brock, but using the non-lethal poison of a Lilly of the Valley plant in his backyard. A plant that, when ingested, creates symptoms that seem like ricin poisoning, but that won't truly kill. However, Walt still did have Saul's bodyguard Huell lift the cigarette off Jesse, doing so to trick Jesse into thinking Tyrus, one of Gus' men, stole the cigarette from his locker.

And this is where the season draws to a close. But it does so not with Walt playing the hero or anti-hero angle anymore. Walt is now a villainous person, going so far as to stage a life-or-death scenario with a child so Jesse would help him take down Gus. And with Gus gone, it would only be a matter of time before Heisenberg became the largest meth distributor in the Southwest. Walter White's journey has led him all the way to where he is in the final season of Breaking Bad. Broke, yes. But a man who now has the time, energy, resources, and knowledge to make all of his money back and then some. Season 4 does an incredible job of building up to the sheer force that Heisenberg would become. Everything from Episode 11 until the very end of the series ends up being some of the best television I've ever seen. And, in so doing, the series has become a classic worthy to stand among great, memorable television series across time.

It only gets better with the show's final season.

***

If you like the blog and want to support me, consider buying one of my books here.

For more information about The Root, subscribe to The Crown Informer!