Breaking Bad Season Three Episode Three Review

The Calm Before the Storm

Well, if you watched Episode Two, then you know that Walt (Bryan Cranston) was spared the ax, literally. A last minute text message from Gus with the simple word of “Pollo”, let the brothers from Juarez know that hey must call off their plans of vengeance, at least for the moment. Walt has worked his way back in this home without Skyler’s (Anna Gunn) permission and Jesse (Aaron Paul) straight out bought back his aunt’s house. Everything has seemed to get back to some sense of normalcy as we wait to see where the rest of the season is heading.

Spoiler Warning for Episode Three “I.F.T.”

So what does I.F.T. stand for? We all know the writer’s of Breaking Bad love to have some hidden tricks in the name and this episode is no different.  for those watching, they will probably miss the significance of these letters even when they are finally revealed at the end of the episode. Walt is now scraping the pizza off the roof in an attempt at domestic bliss while he waits to drop the bomb on Skyler.  Jesse lays on the floor of his aunt’s phone and calls his dead girlfriend’s cell phone number over and over again to listen to her voicemail. We see this image over and over again throughout the episode while we focus on the White family. Hank has been given the word that he is going back to El Paso, but the post traumatic stress from Tortuga’s head blowing up has left him shaking under his macho veneer. In a flashback, we see how Tortuga’s head ended up on the tortoise as the Cousins from Juarez were instrumental in the beheading. A meeting between the Salamanca cartel and Gus has been set up with Uncle Tio showing up with his bell and wheelchair. Everything goes polite, but Gus is warned that Salamanca has very little control over the Cousins and he needs to get business over with Heisenberg soon.

Skyler is not to happy to find Walt in her home and makes good on her threat to call the cops. Well, this doesn’t go as planned, as Walt plays the cards that Saul advised him on, knowing that Skyler won’t spill the beans to the police on his illegal activity. Since he hasn’t beat her, since there is no legal separation, and no restraining order, the police can’t do a damn thing about Walt being home.

Hank still wrestles with the thoughts of going to El Paso and ends up in a biker bar with his partner. He sees a meth deal going down, but his partner tells him to leave it alone. While on the way out, he does a double turn and goes back in and starts a fight with the dope dealers. This action puts him up for investigation.

Skyler, not to happy with her domestic situation, decides to change things between her and her boss and asks him, “Is anybody at his place?”. When she arrives back home, Walt has cooked dinner for Walt Jr. and his friend. Skyler comes into the kitchen and tells Walt that she “I.F.T.”

(Figure it out…. the first part is I, the third the boss’s name, and the second can be done in so many different ways!)

Walt does not look to happy with this news.

Meanwhile, Jesse still calls the cell phone and finally gets a disconnect. His last connection with his dead girlfriend is gone.

The Fate Of Jesse Pinkman and the Rule of the Third Season

Jesse, having mentored under Walt, will now start making the infamous “Blue Meth” that Gus wants and Hank wants to catch. Unlike Walt, Jesse doesn’t have the general instinct to watch his back and he is going to fall under the radar of Hank’s DEA posse. I believe that Walt is going to have no choice but to get back in the game. Also, Skyler is being watched by Saul’s pet detective who will eventually bring the dirt to the surface. Another issue that everyone has seen coming is Walt’s eventual involvement with the sexy principal at his school. How can anyone resist that fine piece of tail, lol.

With shows like Breaking Bad, we have to follow the models of shows before them. The ante has to increase and somebody major has to die. In Sopranos, that seemed to happen every year and Dexter, it happened majorly at the end of Season Four with the shocking death of Rita. Since Breaking bad might only go four seasons according to Vince Gilligan, then this is the season where somebody dies. I have bets that it will either be Walt Jr. (an easy one considering he is almost useless to the storyline) or Jesse (which would be one of those holy crap moments).

Whoever it is, somebody is going to die.

Sneak Preview for Breaking Bad Season Three Episode Four “Green Light”

Breaking Bad Season Three Episode Twelve Review

Revenge Is A Dish Served Cold

With a quick demise of the Cousins from Juarez earlier in the season, many were wondering what direction the rest of the season would go. Well, as the final episodes approach for Season Three of Breaking Bad, we are offered a look back at Combo’s death and the revelation that Gus’s soldiers had an involvement in the dirty deed. Jesse (Aaron Paul) now seeks revenge for the death of Combo and goes to Walt (Bryan Cranston) for approval. Throughout this season, underneath the surface of drug deals and DEA shootouts, we have seen a quiet evolution in the relationship between Walt and Jesse. Despite Walt’s multimillion dollar deal and a chance to leave the troublesome drug addict behind, Walt has this sense of guilt/father figure hold on his damaged protege and refuses to let him go despite how Gus and Saul feel about this which leads to the deadly conclusion of this weeks episode.

Skyler is Breaking Bad

Why is it that when women in movies and series tend to draw more and more to their dark side do they get sexier and sexier? this is no different in Skyler (Anna Gunn) as she gets more and more involved in Walt’s business, she becomes a more sexy and attractive woman to the doting and pregnant mother of season One. Skyler is now breaking bad in her own way and Walt is once again just a passenger to the events around him. It is not until the end of the episode that we see the return of Heisenberg to the show.

Heisenberg To The Rescue

After Walt refuses to help Jesse with his plans for revenge, Jesse decides to take matters into his own hands by poisoning the dealers with tainted hamburgers. He enlists the aid of his favorite hooker, Wendy, to deliver the ricin-laced patties, but the plan is diverted as Gus’s henchman abduct Pinkman and take him to a summit between Walt, Gus, and the dealers. Jesse is ordered to shake hands with the dealers but not before he mentions that they stop using kids. Gus gives the orders to stop using kids and this settles matters.

Not exactly.

Jesse learns that young Tomas has been gunned down by the very dealers who had used the young boy in the first place. Now, enraged even more, Jesse ignores his safety and the truth and heads off to face the dealers himself. As they stand in the street ready to shoot each other, Walt arrives and runs over both dealers. He proceeds to pick up a gun off the ground and finishes the job he started.

As Jesse looks over, Walt tells his young protege to run.

The Season Finale

Season Three has been a mixed bag of tricks, some good, some bad, but overall disappointing to fans of the series. This seems like a year where there is no clear vision to the series future and the writers are not sure what direction to go. The fact that Walt has entered the high end of drug dealing leaves a lot of interpretation when things fall off with Gus. Will the series end next year? Will he go back to making meth out of an RV?

The fact that Gus and Walt’s relationship are now strained due to Jesse’s actions is now evident. With one episode to wrap this up, will we see a showdown between these characters are is everything going to be left hanging until next season, as we saw in Season One. AMC’s hit series Breaking Bad likes to keep a few cards hidden up their sleeve and it will be interesting to see just what happens in next week’s season finale. I still think Jesse is going to die, but the show will not be the same without him.

Let me know what you think.

Sneak Peek at the Season Finale “Full Measure”

Review of Breaking Bad Season Three Episode Two

The Fallout Continues in Episode Two “Caballo Sin Nombre”

If Season Three of Breaking Bad is feeling a lot different than the previous two seasons to you, then you probably have a good sense of why this is happening. While in the past, Breaking Bad came on like a derailed freight train, this year its slithers in like the way the cousins from Juarez did on their bellies. Season Three is a season of consequences and these have to be laid out like a ling winding trail on a road map for us to guess where it is going. While the first two episodes lack the overall bang, they do deliver a serious layer of dark overtones for what is to come.

Spoiler Warning for Episode Two

Let’s face it, Walt (Bryan Cranston) is in a lot of trouble. His wife is leaving him, his drug dealing has hit a plateau, and the brothers form Juarez are hot on his heels for vengeance. Also, Walt’s mental health is slipping into a delusions of grandeur and entitlement. This is seen in the opening moment when Walt confronts a police officer who pulls him over. Walt demands respect for the plane disaster that happened over his house and instead gets a nice dose of tear gas in his eyes. Meanwhile, his wife Skyler (Anna Gunn) has become a tough shell, neither bending to her husband’s demands, her boss’s attempts to doctor the books, and her sister’s constant questioning of what is going on with her and Walt.

While things are going bad for Walt, Jesse (Aaron Paul) sees life through a new perspective. Now clean for over 45 days, he goes to visit his family who is selling his aunt’s house. He tries to connect with his father, but his family refuses to have anything to do with him. Over at Saul’s office, the lawyer tries to persuade Jesse to help him convince Walt to start manufacturing crystal meth again, but Jesse has other ideas as he hires Saul to help him get back his aunt’s house.

In the supreme sheisty nature of Saul, he gathers a meeting with Jesse’s parents and offers them about half what they want for the house without exposing it is Jesse who is making the offer. When they refuse, he mentions the fact that they didn’t give full disclosure that the house was used as a meth lab and this fact seals the deal.

Meanwhile, Saul has other plans for dealing with Walt that involve trying to get some dirt on his wife. He sends his private eye, Mike, over to the house to set up some bugs, but while he is there, Walt decides he is entitled to come back into his own house. Walt breaks in and moves all his bags back in. Mike watches from across the street and noticed as the brothers from Juarez pull up to the house with an ax to bear. Literally.

Mike quickly gets on the phone with Saul and lets him know there is a problem. Walt, while taking a shower, is unaware that the cousins sit on his bed and wait for him to come out. As they sit there, their phone rings and it is a single text message, “Pollo”.

When Walt exits the shower, the boys from Juarez are gone, but he notices his “eyeball” has been moved.

Meanwhile, Jesse’s parents await for the new owners at his aunt’s house and are not happy when Jesse shows up. Telling him to stay away from the house because the new owners are coming, he produces the keys and lets himself in the house.

Who Saw The Cousins from Juarez Coming?

When we were introduced to the cousins in the first episode, I was really worried about their impact on the show. They seemed “too over the top” for the overall feel for Breaking Bad. I thought they were going to be a slow roll until the end of the season. But when i saw them show up at Walt’s door at the end of episode two, I was in shock. Are these super villains just a one shot storyline? Is Mike gonna come in all gangbusters and save Walt?

When they received the one word text message, it was a powerful moment, and it also let us know just how much trouble Walt is really in. Gus, the Chicken King, seems to be more powerful than anyone realized. To have the pull to stop a vengeance kill from the maniacs from Juarez is an impressive feat. It also rings as another blade that Gus can swing over Walt’s neck to get what he wants from him. However Walt feels about being a drug dealer, there will be no escape from Gus without a little bloodshed being spilled. Even if Walt redeems himself this season, it will probably at the cost of some family members (I believe Walt Jr. is gonna get it.)

Sneak Peek of Breaking Bad Season Three Episode Three “I.F.T”

For comments about this season of Breaking Bad, place them below.

Breaking Bad Season Three Premiere Episode Review

Breaking Bad Season Opener “No Mas”

Season Three of AMC’s hit series Breaking Bad offers no clever hints that foreshadow where the season is heading like the teddy bear from Season Two. Instead, we are left dealing with the aftermath, not only of the deadly plane crash but of Walter White’s (Bryan Cranston) life and the fallout of the decisions he has made as Skyler (Anna Gunn) has now left him and is filling for divorce and Jesse (Aaron Paul) is in rehab dealing with the death of his girlfriend.

Walt now lives in a run down apartment and spends time with a little introspection. When Skyler shows up with the divorce papers, he confesses to her that he manufactures crystal meth and she makes an ultimatum: if he signs the divorce, she will keep his secret. She leaves him in his new lonely life where Jesse is now a roommate on his couch. Walt tries to console Jesse about the responsibility of Jane’s death and her father’s actions in the airline crash. Jesse tells walt that he needs to stop running from who he is and just accept himself.

“I know who I am, ” Jesse says. “I’m the bad guy.”

Walt decides that he is out of the game and turns down a 3 million dollar deal from Gus.

Meanwhile, the cousins of Tuco come up from Mexico to seeking vengeance and leave a trail of dead bodies behind.

What Season Three of Breaking Bad Has To Offer

This Season might be the most rewarding and the hardest to pull off for the cast and crew of Breaking Bad. It is feeling like a series finale and the writers have to tread carefully because where Walter White is no mentally, there is no going back once he makes the decision to continue down the same path. Walt has no more excuses to hide behind to rationalize that he is a criminal and a killer. If he chooses to continue to make meth, there can be no redemption for this character.

Walt admits and knows he is at the crossroads, and he still believes he can control the people and things around him. But, I feel Walt is soon going to learn that you can swim with sharks and get away so easy. Saul and Gus are not going to just let Walt stop. Jesse will be used as a pawn in the same way Walt used Jesse in Season Two. Plus, let’s not forget about the boys from Jaurez.

These skull-tipped boot wearing bad asses are the first real villains of Breaking Bad. Whereas Krazy-8 and Tuco has some semblance of humanity, the cousins from Jaurez are mythic boogeymen and they are coming for Walt.

While I like these villains, they might be the infamous “jumping of the shark” that affects a lot of shows. Breaking bad worked on a lot of levels because it was a cast of characters that could be found in any neighborhood in America. The cousins from Jaurez bring a darker, more sinister approach to the season and might be an element that can derail what makes Breaking Bad so different from other shows.

I got to admit that I can’t wait to see what happens though and I still think Breaking Bad is the best show on television today.

Sneak Peek at Breaking Bad Season 3 Episode 2 “Caballo Sin Nombre”

Any Comments About The New Season, place them below.