Breaking Bad ‘Hazard Pay’: I Handle Him

In Breaking Bad‘s world, being ignorant is a death warrant. Whether its Tuco, Gus, or even Hank, not paying attention to the whole picture can have deadly circumstances – especially with an unstable Heisenberg lurking in the shadows. But now that Walt feels like he’s in the position of power, the same ignorance he previously took advantage of is becoming his own Achille’s heel. Still riding a power trip from taking out Gus, Walt’s bulldozing himself a golden path, with no regard for what’s hanging on fringes – which, in most cases, turn out to be the most important. It’s always about the little things, something that’s obviously going to cost Walt very dearly in the near future.

‘Hazard Pay’ is a very rapidly-paced episode, moving quickly through the complicated process of getting a manufacturing process set up for Walt and Jesse to get the meth – and more importantly, the money – flowing again. Walt’s idea to use infested houses to cook in (through an elaborate deal with a pest control company) isn’t quite a mobile super lab like the The Crystal Ship, but provides a way for them to cook on a regular basis from different locations, without having to be tied down to a specific location that can be monitored easily. It’s a very smart idea that reminds me of the Barksdale crew in The Wire moving stash houses on a daily basis to keep both the police and Omar types from knowing where the valuables were at (although we know this plan only half-worked, at best).

Even with a lot going on, we still got a fantastic cook scene, the first we’ve had since sometime last season (note: the song played is from The Peddlers, titled ‘On A Clear Day (You Can See Forever)’). This time, the imagery was all about the different chemicals bonding to create a single product, a fantastic visual accompaniment to the reconciliation of Walt and Jesse’s working and professional relationships (only a short time removed from their brutal fight last season). Part of Walt’s big plan is to bring Jesse back under his wing, and he does this, by dangling and subsequently crushing Jesse’s dreams for a happy life right in front of his eyes.

That conversation was part of another masterfully written scene, with Walt’s heavily-loaded phrases like “I trust you” being backseat to a 3 Stooges episode with the distinct image of one man pulling the ladder out from under the other while he was about to climb on. Walt tells Jesse how nice it must be for him to be happy, tells him that Andrea loves him (“and the way she looks at you…”), and then reminds him how many terrible things he’s done to save them both, and how he’ll never be able to share his whole life with anyone, because who would want to love someone that terrible?

Furthermore, when Jesse finally addresses how much Walt’s comments affected him – he breaks up with Andrea off-screen – Walt’s already moved on to Phase 2 of his master plan: removing Mike from the operation. He cuts off Jesse during an emotional moment because he’s thinking about watching Victor’s throat get slashed (back in the season 4 premiere ‘Boxcutter’). As we all know (and as he tells Saul in his office), things with him and Mike are strained at best, and their numerous disagreements throughout ‘Hazard Pay’, especially those about money, is allowing Walt to talk himself into killing Mike, so he can finally feel as powerful as he thinks he should.

But as we’ve seen, this plan to take out Mike isn’t going to end very well, and could go wrong for a number of reasons. Walt still doesn’t respect the depths of Mike’s influence and power, and severely underrates Mike’s abilities in just about every department. Mike and Walt’s relationship reminds me again of something on The Wire – specifically Bubbles and Johnny’s conversations in the show’s pilot episode. Mike is like Bubbles – wise, experienced, and aged way beyond his years. Johnny’s younger, more reckless and ignorant, continually trying to assert with Bubbles that he was ready to rip and run on the streets (“Yo, Bubs, I’m brown.”).

Walt and Mike’s conversations are the same: Mike tries to inform Walt of hazard pay to keep people’s mouths shut, and Walt just assumes its a way for Mike and his guys to shake money out of everyone’s pockets. Mike’s frustrations are obvious, and justified: “Just because you killed Jesse James doesn’t mean you’re Jesse James.” And Walt and Mike both broke (Jesse’s the only one with any money), and getting paid less than they were under Gus’s structured system, there’s even more tension when it comes to distribution and salaries for mules, those doing time with their mouths shut, etc.

But does anybody really expect this to end well? Like Walt asks a terrified Skylar watching Scarface with the kids: “Everyone dies in the end, don’t they?”

‘Hazard Pay’ moves quickly through a lot of meth logistics, which smartly left a lot of time to spend simmering with Walt, setting the tentpoles for the disasters waiting in the wings later this season. We’re almost halfway through this shortened half of the final season, and with most of season 4’s loose threads dealt with, ‘Pay’ sets up the world for season 5. Now we can just sit back, and watch things go horribly wrong.

Grade: A-

Other thoughts/observations:

– Skylar again isn’t given a whole lot to do or say, but just remind us that she’s really struggling mentally with what she knows about her husband. And with him back in the house, the reminders of the blood on the money she spends are right in front of her face. It’s a reality she’s struggling to cope with, and the cracks are beginning to show.

– Along with that, Walt’s conversation with Marie was another horrific stroke of genius. Not only does he drop the dime on her banging Ted, but he uses it against her to deflect the feelings of worry and pity towards him and away from her. There’s no question that Walt is still bitter about how Marie treated him the last year or so, and he’s going to do everything he can to turn everyone away from her and isolate her. He feeds off power, and the fear he’s struck into Marie puts color in his cheeks every morning. The sick fuck loves it.

– Again Andrea gets dumped, and let’s hope she doesn’t come back a third time, because her or Brock will most certainly end up dead. Walt will see to that.

– Walt and Brock sitting on the couch together was Breaking Bad having one of its darkest laughs to date. It also shows us that Walt probably didn’t posion Brock first-hand (he doesn’t appear to recognize him). “I heard you were in the hospital, and Jesse said you were very brave.” What a cold motherfucker.

– I loved the scene of Skinny Pete banging out some serious melodies on the electric piano. It adds a layer to a minor character who’s always been amusing, but otherwise unexplored. A great touch, and good to see Jesse keeping the two old members of his crew alive and away from the brewing shit storm he now is part-owner of.

– “What are we doing for Walt’s birthday?” “I don’t know, Marie, but something tells me he’ll need some ammunition for it.”

– fun visual images of the episode: the paint on the wall going from light to dark in a time lapse (Walt’s rapid descent into evil), the DANGER warnings all over the place (as in “this idea is fucked from square 1”), the fly inside the house (a hint that things may be ‘bugged’ at some point, plus a callback to last season’s ‘Fly’), and of course, the cook.