Instead of calmly assuaging his wife’s concerns, Walt tries to put Skyler in her place with snarling action-hero posturing. (Maybe “Bullet Points of Light” should get its own square on Breaking Bad Bingo.)įamiliar, too, was scene after scene of Walter White’s pride and insecurity getting the best of him-blinding him to how to read people, or situations, or emotions other than those attached to his own impulses. Even the cold open-two of Gus’s henchmen firing on the door of a Pollos Hermanos truck, shooting circles of daylight inside as they die of carbon monoxide poisoning-mirrored the cold open from “Bullet Points” just two weeks back. (Does that mean we’re recapping a recap?) For instance, the morning after Walt’s boozy outburst, Skyler lays out a case for going to the police that also boils down the show’s premise: “Schoolteacher! Cancer! Desperate for money!” Later, Walt explains to Jesse what we learned last week: that in “saving” Mike from an ambush, Jesse was in fact the unwitting lead actor in a Gus Fring Production, and that Gus is trying to “drive a wedge” between his two cooks. For some viewers, “Cornered” may be the episode that tips anticipation into slight frustration, because much of it felt like summary.

The last few weeks have been measured and patient even by the standards of a show that burns slow.

(Now I know how Jesse felt the first time he tried to cook Mr. Hello, Tuned In readers! While TIME’s TV swami James Poniewozik is on vacation, I’ll be guest-blogging the next two episodes of Breaking Bad. Follow ALERT: Before you read this post, finish digging that hole in the front yard and watch the latest episode of Breaking Bad.

Breaking bad season 1 episode 6 summary