After the tension of the first
three episodes, “Cancer Man” served as a bit of a respite in this short first
season. It was an episode that took time
to focus on both Walt and Jesse’s home life, or complete chaos resembling a
home life. Both cancer-ridden teacher
and former meth making student have just finished getting rid of two drug
dealers (and in each cases, went badly), and have went their separate ways. In a way, it made sense, seeing as how they
made a decent amount of cash, at least enough for Walt to not leave his family
completely penniless. And considering
their luck with Crazy-8 and Emilio, it seemed best not to tempt fate again.
Jesse has some of drug buddies
Skinny Pete and Combo visit, who besides noting the weird hole in the hallway
of the house, are there to kick back and relax.
He of course, joins them in smoking some of the Walter White produced
meth, and in a creepy hallucination filled haze, flees his house and ends up at
his parents’ home. His parents are hesitant
to let him stay with them for awhile, and are paranoid enough to try to limit
his time with his younger brother Jacob.
You get the impression Jesse wasn’t too far off from being Jacob at his
age before drugs took over his life; both are smart individuals, but Jesse is
the one who’s went down a bad path.
Jesse has had a tough childhood (by some fault his, and by some, his
parents inability to intervene), so it comes with some surprise when he sees
the love that Jacob gets and feels resentful about it, Jacob tells him how much
they care for him.
As such, it comes with some
surprise that Jesse gets booted out for having a joint in his room, a joint
that was actually Jacob’s. Instead of
proclaiming his innocence, knowing his little brother will get his parents’
disdain and disappointment, takes the hit.
He destroys the joint in front of Jacob almost as a warning to not end
up like him. Jesse is a flawed kid (as
most people hitting their 20’s would be), but he does something in taking the
fall for Jacob that shows that he cares enough to not see that happen to his
brother. It’s a nice reminder that for
all the dim decisions Jesse has made in the episodes previously, he has a good
enough heart to care, and unfortunately, to injure easily.
Walt, on the other end of this
episode, is still in a bit of shock from the Crazy-8 killing. Jesse gives Walt’s end to him (which is a
decent amount of money), and in a rather awkward way, tries to talk to his
former teacher/partner. Walt shoots that
down, and considering his mental state, is probably not desperate to confess to
anybody about what happened between them.
He did as teased by the previous episode’s finale, did confess to Skyler
something important: his cancer. This
conversation is brought up to Hank and Marie during a barbeque at Walt’s house,
and immediately, they and Skyler start pushing Walt to get some consultation on
what to do. Walt is not feeling comfortable
with any of that, and considering how much just one of these consultations eats
through his ill gotten gains, means his spoils will go dry quickly.
Then there’s the question if Walt
even wants to survive at all, with this haunted look on him whenever he sees a
cop car nearby, almost taunting him with the death of Crazy-8 by his hands. Of course, there is no punishment for what
Walt has done, except internally. And
his dead man walking routine is certainly not making things easier at the White
household, with a pregnant Skyler an emotional trainwreck, and Walt Jr. being
sullen. Both however, are angry at Walt
for avoiding chemotherapy, but blame it on him being stubborn. Actually, it is that and being a bit
fatalistic.
Look at how the last scene of the
episode came about: earlier, Walt gets cut off to a parking space at the bank by
a sport-car driving jerk, who for the purposes of this article, we’ll call KEN
WINS (yep, its his license plate). So,
at the end, when Walt is driving by his lonesome and spots Ken’s car at a gas
station, gets even by rigging the car to start burning. He’s lucky no one really spots him doing this
(even Ken, who’s too busy yaking into his Bluetooth headphone), but it’s a moment
of satisfaction for Walt, albeit a fleeting one. He has taken some kind of action, for better
or for worse (in a further analysis, likely for worse), but whether it leads to
him trying to fight to keep living is a question yet to be answered here.
As I said, this episode was really
a chance to learn more about Walt and Jesse, and really serve as down time
before the season picked up. Its odd to
note a small thing about both Walt and Jesse that this episode starts to point
out something in the fabric of the series: both of them really have a strained
relationship with their parents. Jesse
and his parents’ relationship gets nasty as the series progressed, and Walt
barely mentions (let alone, us as an audience witness)anything about his
parents at all. Of course, both of them
have witnessed loved ones die (as we discover throughout the series) at an
early age, and its affected them in different ways. When Junior complains to his dad to stop
complaining if he doesn’t want to go on, you see Walt react in a way that makes
you think he may just go through with his cancer therapy, if only because he
sees something of himself in Junior’s statement. He can roll over and die, or fight and keep
going, which watching the whole of the series, is a tragic decision that has
yet to reveal itself.
And now, some episode notes:
--Guys still want to get “tuggies” by Shania Twain? OK, I can see that.
--As revealed in the opening DEA
briefing, yep, Crazy-8 was a snitch. And
Walter White’s crystal was found. And so
was the school’s missing gas mask. Oh
boy.
--Nice little reveal of Jesse’s
unflattering sketch of Walt being on the back of his Walter White created high
school chemistry test. By the way, he
got an “F’ on that.
--Nice nod to the Tampico baby crib.
--Who didn’t get a slight grin when Walt set that asshole
Ken’s car on fire?
--“Icebreaker? Isn’t
that the name of a breath mint?”
--“Nah, I think the house is settling.”
--“Then why don’t you just fucking die already?”
Finally, some series notes:
--Skinny Pete and Combo appear for the first time. Oh, Combo, you are missed.
--The first time Walt starts using the nooks and crannies of
the house to hide money. Of course,
using the air vent may not have been such a good plan.
Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 stars
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