Breaking Bad: Phoenix Rewatch
October 5, 2014 9:12 PM - Season 2, Episode 12 - Subscribe
The Whites welcome a new addition. Walter Jr. launches a new website in an effort to aid his struggling family. Jesse’s addiction begins to spiral out of control. Jane and Jesse’s relationship leads to friction with both Walt and Donald.
AMC content: savewalterwhite.com.
SlashFilm review: "a scene so morally complex and chilling."
AV Club review: "perhaps the single best episode to date in one of the best shows television has ever produced."
AMC content: savewalterwhite.com.
SlashFilm review: "a scene so morally complex and chilling."
AV Club review: "perhaps the single best episode to date in one of the best shows television has ever produced."
Both that scene and Jane's death are wordless but still enormously expressive acting by Bryan Cranston. I forgot to put this in the below-the-line, but: Cranston won his second Breaking Bad Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for this episode. (His first was for the pilot.)
Foreshadowing: early in the episode Walt props baby Holly on her side with a rolled towel, "in case she decides to do a little spit-up." (Also, a good line for Marie: "Hammacher Schlemmer makes a proper one of those.")
Walt's "nice job wearing the pants" line to Jesse is a callback to S1E2 Cat's In The Bag, in which Jesse tells Walt the same thing after receiving a visit from Skyler.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:45 AM on October 6, 2014 [3 favorites]
Foreshadowing: early in the episode Walt props baby Holly on her side with a rolled towel, "in case she decides to do a little spit-up." (Also, a good line for Marie: "Hammacher Schlemmer makes a proper one of those.")
Walt's "nice job wearing the pants" line to Jesse is a callback to S1E2 Cat's In The Bag, in which Jesse tells Walt the same thing after receiving a visit from Skyler.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:45 AM on October 6, 2014 [3 favorites]
I still thought Walt could be redeemed even after I saw this episode.
posted by Monochrome at 6:48 PM on October 6, 2014
posted by Monochrome at 6:48 PM on October 6, 2014
I still thought Walt could be redeemed even after I saw this episode.
I thought he was past it much earlier than this... pretty much as soon as he refused the money from Gretchen and Elliot. This is probably the first time he killed someone he didn't "have" to. Again there are justifications, and superficially his actions work, in that Jesse stops taking heroin so much. But it takes a very, very cold human being to make that kind of moral calculus.
Flynn's idolising of his father is heart breaking every time it comes up. And it really underscores that Walt isn't doing this for his family, he's doing it for himself.
posted by Cannon Fodder at 12:02 AM on October 7, 2014
I thought he was past it much earlier than this... pretty much as soon as he refused the money from Gretchen and Elliot. This is probably the first time he killed someone he didn't "have" to. Again there are justifications, and superficially his actions work, in that Jesse stops taking heroin so much. But it takes a very, very cold human being to make that kind of moral calculus.
Flynn's idolising of his father is heart breaking every time it comes up. And it really underscores that Walt isn't doing this for his family, he's doing it for himself.
posted by Cannon Fodder at 12:02 AM on October 7, 2014
Skyler's singing on the baby monitor, just before Walt goes out to get diapers/stop at a bar gets a callback in Fly. Of course, the first time I saw it the only thing it reminded me of was 1) irony and 2) the previous episode with Skyler at the party playing Marilyn Monroe singing to Ted (and Ted knew exactly what he was doing in asking for that).
I had a problem with suspension of disbelief with the bar scene--Walt just happens to run into Jane's father in a city with a half-million population?--but I could overlook that a bit because of what the authors were doing with the dialogue and its subtext. Still, between this and the conclusion of the next episode, I began to realize just how small the universe is in Breaking Bad (it's also set in a parallel universe Albuquerque where the population is much much more than 40% white, but that's another matter).
posted by johnofjack at 7:16 PM on October 25, 2014
I had a problem with suspension of disbelief with the bar scene--Walt just happens to run into Jane's father in a city with a half-million population?--but I could overlook that a bit because of what the authors were doing with the dialogue and its subtext. Still, between this and the conclusion of the next episode, I began to realize just how small the universe is in Breaking Bad (it's also set in a parallel universe Albuquerque where the population is much much more than 40% white, but that's another matter).
posted by johnofjack at 7:16 PM on October 25, 2014
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This whole sub-story not only allows Walter's GRAR!PRIDE! to flare up again, but gives us more of how Flynn sees his father, how much he means to him, and how he wants to play a part in sustaining the family unit. Heartbreaking to watch because every accolade he lavishes upon his father, we, as viewers, know is hollow.
"Oh yeah... my father is my hero. Definitely."
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:14 AM on October 6, 2014 [4 favorites]