S04E04: Last night’s episode of Breaking Bad is exemplary in just how well this show, more than so many others, can introduce new story without sacrificing old. Thus far, this season has been about Walt’s augmented conflict with Gus, the decay of Jesse, Skyler’s attempts to buy the car wash, and the Schraders’ marital problems: all plotlines more or less unique to Season 4. However, “Bullet Points” reintroduces elements of Breaking Bad past, and promises to expand upon them: notably, the cartel. Season 4 has kept the cartel at a distance from Walt and his company, but they are finally brought back into the conscious of the viewers in this episode. It is also suggested that their presence will become increasingly presence, which is optimistic, as the cartel has been one of the show’s founding sources of tension since the beginning
“Siiiiiiiiigh…” – Mike
In the family’s first scene all together this season, a superb dinner party that is reminiscent of the series early days of Walt’s double-life (some of the most benign scenes were the most exciting thanks to dramatic irony). Hank shows Walt and Flynn (remember that?) a hilarious music video of Gale Boetticher singing a green-screened karaoke of Zombie’s “Major Tom” that the police found at the crime scene, which chills Walt to the core. Walt then finagles his way into collaborating with Hank on the case file in an attempt to find out all he can. Hank has attributed the Heisenberg identity to Gale. If we know Walt, we can assume that the possibility of his work being publicly attributed to someone else probably doesn’t sit well with him. Walt also finds out that fingerprints were discovered at the crime scene, so he rushes to speak with Jesse, who is desperate to avoid conversation on the subject matter.
Walt pays his weekly visit to Saul, who offers a plan that, while shrugged off by Walt in this instance, seems to be foreshadowing a plot arc: Saul describes a business partner who can help organize a The significance connoted to this speech by the episode direction should indicate that this idea will be revisited later on. This could also explain why Saul asked his partner Hule in Box Cutter if he had a passport.
Jesse’s decadent party continues on until he gets a visit from Mike, who informs him that one of his party guests has attempted to steal a large amount of money from him. Jesse is unconcerned, so Mike, considering him a liability, convinces Gus to allow him to take action, despite what this will provoke from Walt—the end of the episode sees Mike driving Jesse to an undisclosed location. What with Mike’s seasonal development, this cliffhanger begs the question: is Mike going to (attempt to) exterminate Jesse (we can assume that Jesse won’t be killed off any time soon, just because of the rules of television), or is he actually taking action against the boss with whom he has become suspicious and jaded, and helping Jesse to achieve some kind of freedom?
Though not as tense as recent Breaking Bad episodes, tonight’s may be my favorite yet this season: it revisited the cartel, Walt’s façade around his family, Skylar’s extra-Walt character identity, Walt Jr. as an existing person, and further exemplified Jesse’s sapped will and, subtly, Walt’s pride and selfishness. Plus, that Gale music video was fodder for internet meme phenomena.
