Breaking Bad: "Rabid Dog"

Spoilers ahead, but you knew that by now, right?

After three episodes of escalating tensions, capped off by that cliffhanger with Jesse and the gas can last week, "Rabid Dog" cooled things down a little. Sure, tensions are still running high, but this week was all about establishing where all the pieces are on the chess board are, and coming to a new status quo. The machinations of the writers are more visible, and the story briefly resembles a more conventional procedural, capped off by a great little outdoor set piece that shows off more of picturesque Albuquerque.

The first half of the hour features Walt scrambling to regain his footing in a crisis, his least Heisenbergian appearance in a while. The lies are bumbling, and they don't work. Junior assumes he's lying to cover up symptoms of the lung cancer, and an increasingly perceptive Skyler eventually gets the truth out of him. And then she demonstrates exactly how far she's broken bad – demanding that Walt go live up to his "I am the danger" pronouncement, and embrace the use of euphemisms to deal with Jesse. Though these scenes aren't nearly as showy and complicated as the last half of the hour, they're fantastic. The conversation between Walt and Junior by that ominously meth-blue hotel swimming pool made me wish the powers-that-be had given R.J. Mitte more to do before now.

Last week was all about how Jesse finally broke free of any remaining loyalty to Walter White, but this episode made clear the extent that he's still under his former partner's power. Teaming up with Hank was an expected outcome that previous episodes had set up pretty well, but Jesse has no illusions about what the DEA is capable of. After sleeping off the rage and coming face to face with Agent Gomez and a camcorder, he immediately starts doubting their plans. He knows they have no evidence and no case, and he's not keen on serving a new master when he's still trying to escape the previous one. Moreover, Hank clearly doesn't have his best interests at heart, perfectly willing to let Walt kill Jesse if it gets him the evidence he needs. Fortunately Jesse shows he's smart and paranoid enough to slip out of one of Heisenberg's traps – even if it wasn't real.

As for Walt, this is the second time Saul has suggested getting rid of someone Walt considers family and the second time that Walt has resisted. His insistence on talk over action looks increasingly foolish as events unfold. And while Jesse is terrified of reprisal for pouring gasoline all over the White's living room, Hank makes the convincing case for Walt still harboring some kind of feeling of responsibility for Jesse. Even if Hank doesn't believe it, and is just trying to get Jesse to do what he wants, Walt's actions suggest that this reasoning is correct – up until he makes that fateful call to Todd. Jesse finally poses too much of a threat to be protected, in Walt's eyes, the most significant development of the hour. Sure, Jesse cluing in Hank and Gomie keeps them in the game, but he's not really on their side. Jesse's still out for his own revenge.

The second half of the episode being told entirely from Jesse's POV perhaps signals a shift in the narrative from Walt to Walt and Jesse permanently. We now have two protagonists that are in opposition to each other, who are equally compelling. As far along as Hank has come, you really couldn't call him the equal of Walt in any sense. Jesse, however, has suddenly taken charge of his own destiny and seems to be a couple of steps ahead for once. He has the compelling history and the ties to Walt that could make him the final, and most challenging adversary Walter White has faced yet. I assumed Hank would be the last big bad of the series, but considering how far Walt has fallen, it makes sense that we've come all the way around to Jesse, the last real good guy, being the last obstacle.

Finally I want to talk about that little interlude with Marie and her therapist. Her fixation on poisons and deteriorating mental state seem to suggest that she's about to do something drastic. Or maybe she's supposed to serve as a basis of comparison to those around her – she's thinking about poisoning people, but unlike Walt she wouldn't actually go through with it. Well, for now anyway. That awkward scene where she and Jesse are on opposite ends of the hallways shows how far apart she still is from that world. I wonder if in future weeks she might start edging a little closer.

And Badger's a "Babylon 5" fan! Please let there be more fanfiction ahead.
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