Breaking Bad Season 1 Disc 3

Episode 7: A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal
This episode was all about changes. From the obvious like Walt and Jesse change the way they make meth or the way Skyler views her sister after the whole tiara incident, to the subtle changes like Walt bringing up to Hank that he doesn't [any longer] see the bright line between what is legal and what is illegal or Jesse stepping up when he needed to because his sense of self worth is improving.
I like that when Walt and Skyler go to visit his doctor, that even though they're into his round of treatment still refuses to say anything other than to stick with the treatment. You want to try Eastern medicine? No problem as long as you keep doing the treatments here. You want to sacrifice heads of cabbage to a saint to banis the demons inhabiting your lungs? No problem as long as you keep doing the treatments here. Maybe he's a great guy, but I can't help but see it in terms of money and how the doctor wants more.
There were a few more outright humorous moments in this episode, like Walter Jr. using his position as camera man at the baby shower to look down women's dresses or when Walt and Jesse steal the chemicals, but can only find this giant and heavy drum that they sneak out past the guard locked in the porta-potty.
While not funny, per se, I love when Jesse first sees Walt with his new do and says he looks like Lex Luthor. What? I can be a little proud of myself for coming up with that comparison before I heard them use it. And I think we do get to see a little bit of the evil genius playing out in the open when Walt explains cordite to Jesse.
This is the season one finale. There were no cliff-hangers, but also no real wrap-up of anything either. I think what we got were some set-ups for the season two story arc. I'll just have to wait and see. It might be a long wait, as this season is the only one in the library system and I need to request that a library buy it to add to their collection, which entails me hoping that some other people have already requested it, or shortly will request it, so that there are enough for the library to think it will circulate, which it totally will.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention my little crush on the vice principal at the high school where Walt teaches. We don't get to see many other adults at the school, not in a meaningful manner at least and she is very sweet to Walt and also has taken up Hugo's defense. I'm sure that she'll somehow get fired over the break in at the school that led to Hugo's arrest.

Breaking Bad at IMDb

Breaking Bad Season 1 Disc 2

Episode 4: Cancer Man
They know. They all know. Well, not Jesse, but everyone else in Walt's life, not counting his mother whom we've yet to meet, knows that he had lung cancer and that it's bad. I guess Skyler didn't trump Walt's confession at the end of the last episode. But that is because this is turning out to be more of a drama than the light led me to expect. I'm pretty okay with that so far, though wouldn't mind seeing some of the humor added back.
We got to see another side of Jesse this time out and experience one of his hallucinations. I thought it was hilarious that Jesse hallucinated to mild mannered missionaries who ride up to his on bicycle's as big, tough, dirty bikers sporting a machete and hand grenade, respectively. The scene at Jesse's folks was a nice way to add more depth, even if the joint turning out to be his brother's was a little predictable.

Episode 5: Gray Matter
What an interesting episode. We learn more of Walt's past and find out that had things been a little different he would have been rich and famous. We also find out that Jesse suddenly cares about doing something the right way instead of just doing it.
What was really key about this episode is the long discussion that was had about whether or not Walter would have radiation and chemo-therapy. This is a topic that is never dealt with in non-news or non-news magazine television shows. Then instead of just talking about why he should have the treatment, Walt explains in depth with great clarity why he doesn't want to have it. You don't even get that in a news show. At best you can hope for the person with cancer fighting bravely on as they undergo treatment. The option of not being treated is never discussed, unless it is an economic issue and then the treatment is still seen as the only good way to deal with the problem.
I had already been told that Bryan Cranston was going to prove that he could do more than comedy, that he was in fact a very talented actor. It's one ting to hear this and believe it, but then when you see a defining moment like this episode, it's really the next level of your understanding to what she actually meant.

Episode 6: Crazy Handful of Nothin'
In this episode, we get to see Walter White fully transform into Lex Luthor, if Lex were a bad-ass. We learned two things, mercury fulminate is goddamned volatile, and don't fuck with chemists. And if they're from Texas, you should probably turn and run the other way. Not that Walt or anything about this episode had anything to do with TX, it's just the saying. Oh never mind. It's ruined in the explaining.
It's interesting to compare the two types of collateral damage that come with the crystal meth trade. On one hand you've got the unintended human collateral damage shown by Hugo getting pinched for Walt's crime and by Jesse getting horribly beaten trying to do right by Walt. On the other hand you have the intended consequences of Walt using the mercury fulminate to impress upon Tuco the importance of doing tings Walt's way.

Breaking Bad at IMDb

Breaking Bad Season 1 Disc 1

Episode 1: Pilot
Bryan Cranston is my hero. He just puts it all out there, literally, and goes for it. I love the mustaches, because with the staches and the hair do, he kind of looks like Ned Flanders, but more because I have a friend who is a teacher and has this exact same look going on. For all I know, he watched this show and decided on the look.
At first glance, the show seems like it has a crazy premise. A good guy who is an upstanding member of the community, a teacher, discovers he is mortally ill with inoperable lung cancer, decides that the only way he can pay for the super expensive chemo-therapy and maybe hope to leave his wife some money is to 'break bad'. Which he then does in a big way by deciding to cook methanphetimenes. It turns out he's brilliant at it, from the standpoint of the drug dealers because his product is so pure, but Walt is all like, "it's just basic chemistry". I would like to think that at that point that many of the teachers watching with the know-how to do this entertained for at least a brief moment the possibility that they might make some money cooking up some drugs.
The best part of the episode is the awakening that Walt has throughout. He realizes likely for the first time in his life that he doesn't have to take the crap that the jackholes are dealing up for him. Not only that, but when Walt does take charge of his own life in these situations, he's kind of a bad-ass.

Episode 2: The Cat's in the Bag
The mustaches are gone and somehow Walt doesn't look right. We don't see him shave it off, and this episode starts 12 hours after the first one ends. I guess before he passed out on the floor in the bathroom, he must have shaved.
Not as much happens in this episode. It is much more the story about Walt and Jesse and Walt and Skyler than about Walt versus the world like the pilot was. It's really neither good or bad, just different. It did yield more conversation and less action, particularly hijink action.
I've got to say, that if I found out my husband was buying and smoking pot and I didn't want him to do it, I would not figure out where the drug dealer lived and go over there and tell him to stop selling to my husband. I would either have it out with the husband, or you know, just talk to my brother-in-law in the DEA.

Episode 3: ...And the Bag's in the River
Even less action this episode than the previous one, but way higher emotional content. It was good. Things seemed way less goofy for Walter and Jesse and Skyler, though the brother-in-law DEA agent has no clue about what is going on. When he tries the scared straight tactic on Walter Jr. you understand why Walter Jr. keeps cracking up. I've got to side with the meth-whore (not quite the ring to it that 'crack-whore' has), that it just seems like the cop wants to buy some pot.
I really thought for a while that Walter was going to let Domingo go free. They were having their moment and I felt like Walter was generating that memory of buying the crib on the spot, just to have a reason not to kill the guy. When he sees the pieces of the broken plate and puts them back together to discover that a dagger sized shard is missing, two things happened for me. First, I felt the heart break as Walter realized that he was going to have to kill Domingo to protect himself and his family. Second, if I had been in Walter's shoes, I would have been stabbed to death because I never would have thought to piece the plate back together like that to find that a piece was missing. My hat is off to Vince Gilligan for coming up with that simple, yet very powerful and believable plot device.
I write each of these entries immediately after watching the episode. So, when I see a cliff hanger like I did here with Walter, all serious, walking in on Skyler, crying, and he says, "I've got something to tell you." I am willing to bet money it's not that he has lung cancer, or maybe that's what he's intended but she is crying for a reason (maybe baby related) that will trump him telling her about the cancer. Also, the DEA now has enough evidence in their possession to lay some strong suspicions on Walter, if they can only figure out what they have.

Breaking Bad at IMDb