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To be or not to be the boss
"Cornered" was a very straightforward episode which seems to leave little to comment on. But it is Beaking Bad so there's always food for thoughts.
I really like the Bogdan stuff, even though I wasn't sure about it in previous episodes. The "being the boss" thing is a key element in Walt's journey and being a teacher it definitely resonates with me. Walt turned the tables on Eyebrow. Bogdan reminded him of a previous humiliation (nice callback to the pilot)and added some salt in the wound when he suggested that if Walt wasn't tough enough he could call his wife, but Walt kept his cool and ended up being merciless towards his former boss, parroting his "As is" and not alowing Bogdan to keep the first dollar he had had framed. His smashing the frame afterwards was a last "fuck-up" to the guy and his Eyebrow even though Bogdan couldn't see it.
The fact that he used the bill to buy himself a coke was very badass and a nice touch. I think the whole scene is quite significant, symbolical even, given that the car wash is all about laundering and money is now the source of Walt's authority -- which echoed the conversation with Skylar --, a very different kind of authority than the one of a teacher or of a chemistry Nobel Prize...
And the scene seems to be foreshadowing something. At the moment, Gus is pulling a Bogdan on Walt, he is his boss, gets him feel humilated (well Skylar does a good job too!) and makes his life hell, especially by stealing Jesse. But some day Gus might hand Walt's the keys...
That day hasn't come yet, even though Walt though he could use some of Gus' employees, luring them with the green bill (authority through money again)into the lab. I found very interesting the choice of words that Walt used when talking to Tyrus about the cleaning ladies whose life he has foolishly ruined -- another echo to season 1 when the nice highschool janitor who used to clean his vomit got fired because of him! --: he used the words "punish" and "blame". I think it was very child-like or at least student-like. Walt is frustrated and angry because Gus isn't a co-worker or an associate, he is his employer, his elusive yet omnipotent boss, and even in Walt's own little realm that is inside the lab, he no longer feels "in charge" because of the camera watching him and because of Jesse leaving the place. Having three ladies cleaning stuff in the lab made Walt feel like the boss for a moment, the king of the place, and it was also part of a stupid pissing contest with the invisible Power That Be hence his gesture to the camera, but eventually he was put in his place like a pupil who has misbehaved. At the end of the day his waving his cup of coffee to the camera kinda looked like tongue-sticking or a finger (like the one Jesse gave him saying "register thist!")or like the "fuck you and your eyebrows" from season 1...A brat's behaviour. Walt and Jesse do have more things in common that they think!
Anyway "being the boss" that's the reason Walt needs Jesse. Jesse always makes him feel that he is in charge, making the call, that he's still the master teacher. Their partnership has never been about equality. By being reunited with his former student, Walt found someone to boss around, someone that would be under him and would look up to him. And Jesse was so in need of a father figure and of being "necessary" that it worked well.
As he tells Junior, denying any sort of addiction, Walt doesn't have a disease (who would have thought that I would write this about Cancer Man?!), he made choices, he made his bed...or rather he digged his own hole, but the super irony of the episode is that we also see a methhead being led by Jesse to dig a hole, deeper and deeper!
Both Walt and Jesse sees things but are blind at the same time. Walt has figured out the set-up fell for, he can make out what Gus is "cooking" ("he's driving a wedge between you and me"), yet he's still blinded by his ego; Jesse got the reason Mike took him ("they don’t want me getting high. I see that this thing started as Gus getting Mike to babysit me”) yet he still believes he saved the day by driving backwards -- perhaps still fancies himself a superhero, Rewindo, anyone?! -- because he needs to be told that he isn't a loser that he means something for someone, that he can do something right (wasn't Jesse's mother who said to Hank that, unlike other teachers, Mr White used to encourage him?). Of course Walt made Jesse doubt what he meant to Mike and Gus (hence the key scene with Gus) but he sees things and he's beginning to see Walter for what he is, so I wouldn't be surprised if he stopped calling him Mr White.
It's very sad to see that Walter has traded a true authority for the power that money gives.
No wonder the episode had so many Walt/Junior interactions. In season 1, a frustrated Walt stood up for Junior and took his anger on a jerk who was making fun of his disabled son. In this episode, after being foolish enough to let Skylar see "what he really is" (which drove her to the Four Corners Monuments where she flips a coin to decide which state to flee with Holly) he tries to assert his fatherhood by buying Junior a car. BTW I love how the editing reminded us that Jesse owns a red car too...Of course Skylar came back and reclaimed her place of boss in the house.
Junior and Skylar thought that the car was nothing but bribery (Junior didn't mind being bought off though) and it was, in a way, but I can't help thinking that Walter took the risk to undermine the "story" Skylar worked so hard on and bought the flashy car because he "just wanted to do something nice" for his son indeed. It's just that he couldn't do it for absent Jesse; on the contrary, when Jesse finally showed up Walt ended up being selfish and cruel again, focusing on Gus' scheme and ignoring Jesse's feelings, and of course making everything "all about" himself.
Speaking of children, could Holly be cutter? I don't think so.
I really like the Bogdan stuff, even though I wasn't sure about it in previous episodes. The "being the boss" thing is a key element in Walt's journey and being a teacher it definitely resonates with me. Walt turned the tables on Eyebrow. Bogdan reminded him of a previous humiliation (nice callback to the pilot)and added some salt in the wound when he suggested that if Walt wasn't tough enough he could call his wife, but Walt kept his cool and ended up being merciless towards his former boss, parroting his "As is" and not alowing Bogdan to keep the first dollar he had had framed. His smashing the frame afterwards was a last "fuck-up" to the guy and his Eyebrow even though Bogdan couldn't see it.
The fact that he used the bill to buy himself a coke was very badass and a nice touch. I think the whole scene is quite significant, symbolical even, given that the car wash is all about laundering and money is now the source of Walt's authority -- which echoed the conversation with Skylar --, a very different kind of authority than the one of a teacher or of a chemistry Nobel Prize...
And the scene seems to be foreshadowing something. At the moment, Gus is pulling a Bogdan on Walt, he is his boss, gets him feel humilated (well Skylar does a good job too!) and makes his life hell, especially by stealing Jesse. But some day Gus might hand Walt's the keys...
That day hasn't come yet, even though Walt though he could use some of Gus' employees, luring them with the green bill (authority through money again)into the lab. I found very interesting the choice of words that Walt used when talking to Tyrus about the cleaning ladies whose life he has foolishly ruined -- another echo to season 1 when the nice highschool janitor who used to clean his vomit got fired because of him! --: he used the words "punish" and "blame". I think it was very child-like or at least student-like. Walt is frustrated and angry because Gus isn't a co-worker or an associate, he is his employer, his elusive yet omnipotent boss, and even in Walt's own little realm that is inside the lab, he no longer feels "in charge" because of the camera watching him and because of Jesse leaving the place. Having three ladies cleaning stuff in the lab made Walt feel like the boss for a moment, the king of the place, and it was also part of a stupid pissing contest with the invisible Power That Be hence his gesture to the camera, but eventually he was put in his place like a pupil who has misbehaved. At the end of the day his waving his cup of coffee to the camera kinda looked like tongue-sticking or a finger (like the one Jesse gave him saying "register thist!")or like the "fuck you and your eyebrows" from season 1...A brat's behaviour. Walt and Jesse do have more things in common that they think!
Anyway "being the boss" that's the reason Walt needs Jesse. Jesse always makes him feel that he is in charge, making the call, that he's still the
As he tells Junior, denying any sort of addiction, Walt doesn't have a disease (who would have thought that I would write this about Cancer Man?!), he made choices, he made his bed...or rather he digged his own hole, but the super irony of the episode is that we also see a methhead being led by Jesse to dig a hole, deeper and deeper!
Both Walt and Jesse sees things but are blind at the same time. Walt has figured out the set-up fell for, he can make out what Gus is "cooking" ("he's driving a wedge between you and me"), yet he's still blinded by his ego; Jesse got the reason Mike took him ("they don’t want me getting high. I see that this thing started as Gus getting Mike to babysit me”) yet he still believes he saved the day by driving backwards -- perhaps still fancies himself a superhero, Rewindo, anyone?! -- because he needs to be told that he isn't a loser that he means something for someone, that he can do something right (wasn't Jesse's mother who said to Hank that, unlike other teachers, Mr White used to encourage him?). Of course Walt made Jesse doubt what he meant to Mike and Gus (hence the key scene with Gus) but he sees things and he's beginning to see Walter for what he is, so I wouldn't be surprised if he stopped calling him Mr White.
It's very sad to see that Walter has traded a true authority for the power that money gives.
No wonder the episode had so many Walt/Junior interactions. In season 1, a frustrated Walt stood up for Junior and took his anger on a jerk who was making fun of his disabled son. In this episode, after being foolish enough to let Skylar see "what he really is" (which drove her to the Four Corners Monuments where she flips a coin to decide which state to flee with Holly) he tries to assert his fatherhood by buying Junior a car. BTW I love how the editing reminded us that Jesse owns a red car too...Of course Skylar came back and reclaimed her place of boss in the house.
Junior and Skylar thought that the car was nothing but bribery (Junior didn't mind being bought off though) and it was, in a way, but I can't help thinking that Walter took the risk to undermine the "story" Skylar worked so hard on and bought the flashy car because he "just wanted to do something nice" for his son indeed. It's just that he couldn't do it for absent Jesse; on the contrary, when Jesse finally showed up Walt ended up being selfish and cruel again, focusing on Gus' scheme and ignoring Jesse's feelings, and of course making everything "all about" himself.
Speaking of children, could Holly be cutter? I don't think so.