BARNES BREAKS BAD: Episode 3 – Confessions

Editor’s Note: For eight weeks, WarriorsWorld’s Jesse Taylor will speak to Harrison Barnes about each episode of their favorite current TV show, Breaking Bad, as it completes its fifth and final season. This installment covers Season 5-B Episode 3: Confessions.

WARNING: These are episode reviews, so there will be SPOILERS …

Jesse: We’re going to open this week with an interview within an interview. You went to see Bill Burr (who plays Kuby on Breaking Bad) at Cobb’s Comedy Club in San Francisco on Tuesday and talked to him backstage after the show. How did that go?

Harrison: After the show I went up to one of the security guards and told him, “I want to tell Bill Burr ‘What’s up.’” And he let me in.

That doesn’t happen if the Warriors aren’t a playoff team.

Bill was cool, man. He’s from Boston, so we talked NBA for a bit. He was impressed with the season the Warriors had and I told him we have even bigger plans for this coming season. We talked about Boston a bit, and he’s a huge Celtic’s fan, so we obviously talked about the Lakers and shared some similar opinions on them.

From there we started talking about Breaking Bad. I asked him what it was like being on a show like that. And he immediately wanted to make sure I was caught up. I told him I was, and he went off like any fan of the show would. “How crazy was that last episode?! Walt was nuts with that confession video!”

Then I asked him about the writing and how they fit the comedy into such a serious and tense show; like if him and the stand-up comics work that in or if the writers do it all.  He went off on how genius the writers are about everything. They really dig into proving the Internet naysayers wrong. Like the laying on the money scene with him and Huell. They went out, researched and measured exactly how big that pile would be for that exact amount of money. They didn’t just throw a pile of money in a storage room and say it was a certain amount. Also, how much time it would take a guy like Walt to dig a hole by himself to bury all that money.

His biggest scene was the train heist and he talked about all the work that went into making sure everything was exact down to every detail. They really do a lot of research and take so much pride in getting things right to prove anybody wrong who questions them.

Did you get in my question about the Saul show?

Yeah, so I asked him, “Come on man, give me the truth. Is there going to be a spinoff TV show with Saul? Are you going to be involved with that?”

And he said, “No, no. That’s all rumors. It would be cool if they did that. But I don’t think it’s going to happen.”

He also said he has no idea how the series is going to end and is watching just like we are. The creators are very secretive about that stuff.

The guy who plays Saul, Bob Odenkirk, is actually coming to the Bay in September for a comedy show, so we may have to go after another interview.

With such a big twist ending, I thought we’d start with Jesse’s realization near the end of the episode and his reaction to it.

I thought the ending tied into the beginning with Todd and his family. I went back and watched everything a second time. Todd’s uncle wiped some blood off his shoe and then threw the bloody tissue in the water. I thought the blood in the water symbolized what lies ahead for the show. Which came to light with Jesse at the end.

When Jesse finally figured things out, it was his breaking point. He’d been a ticking time bomb – emotional and all over the place. We’re led to believe he’s just going to get in this guy’s van and leave the show – at least for a few episodes. I never thought they’d have him leave for good like that.

But as he’s been putting things together it finally hits him when he can’t find his (weed) bag, but grabs his cigarettes. And he just snaps. He just goes off. I thought he was going to shoot Saul. Or Huell. Or someone.

I think Saul needs a bigger gun.

My first thought to Jesse walking away from the van was that he thought Walt was about to have him killed. It wasn’t until he spelled it out to Saul that I realized he put it together that Walt poisoned Brock. What was your first thought?

I knew it was related to the ricin somehow. But I just couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

Huell is the pickpocket king, but that’s what helped Jesse put everything together when he couldn’t find his weed.

And now everything is shifting. It was Walt versus Hank. Now it’s Walt versus Jesse.

Back to the beginning with Todd and his family. Have you ever seen such a ruthless killer come across so polite and timid?

I like how Todd illustrated the train heist to his family. He talks about how masterful it was and how everything ran so smooth. Mr. White orchestrated it perfectly. In reality it was a fly-by-night operation. They barely made it. And, he left out one important fact. You shot that kid, Todd – you didn’t say that part.

And his uncle didn’t seem too impressed with Todd. I can see him trying to use Todd to take over.

Last week’s cliffhanger was Hank walking into the interrogation room with Jesse. Neither of us thought Jesse would rat on Walt. What was your take on how that scene played out?

He definitely struck a nerve with Jesse. But Hank has become so desperate in these settings now. Most times in the past, he’s had his act together. But now with Skylar and Jesse, he seems distraught and strung out trying to get answers.

Next, your boy Walt Jr. finally makes an appearance. And he’s immediately manipulated by his evil dad.

The way Walt acted in that scene reminded me of Gustavo Fring. Playing multiple roles. On one hand orchestrating major illegal activities, but quickly changing character to play the law-abiding citizen. Manipulating the people around him.

It was a smooth transition by Walt. He was on his game with Junior. Throwing the cancer thing out, then telling him to go ahead and go to Marie’s. And of course Junior isn’t leaving his dad now.

Marie’s thinking Hank was about to tell the DEA about Walt, so she’s trying to get Junior out of the house before his dad is arrested. Which never happened.

Marie is trying to orchestrate a lot things from her end. She’s the driving force, more than Hank, to turn in Walt. And now that you told me about the color schemes on the show, I noticed she was the only one wearing purple when Hank got home from the office. But then at dinner with Walt and Skylar, both Hank and Marie were wearing purple, like she had got him on her side. Purple stands for nobility. So it’s like they are both on the righteous side. Walt and Skylar are wearing cream colors, like they are supposed to be the calm and quiet ones. Which they were throughout that dinner scene.

The brutal part of that scene is Marie telling Walt to just kill himself.

I’m not going to lie – I was a little shocked when she said that. Even Hank looked shocked when she said that.

Last week I thought Skylar was going to be all in – Bonnie to Walt’s Clyde. But now she’s zoning out again.

Breaking Bad fans got a little bliss when she finally joined Walt’s side. Now, unfortunately, it’s just her back to being the buzz kill.

Take me through what you thought during Walt’s mock confession?

My first thought was, “He is not pulling a Brody from Homeland.” Breaking Bad is so original, I was hoping they weren’t going to copy that. Then, when we see what Walt is doing, I just started dying laughing at Hank’s face. Then I had to rewind it back and watched it again. This time I’m cracking up at Marie’s face.

Then I go back and watch it a third time, and it was really Walt’s best job of manipulating everything that is going on for his benefit. He played it perfectly.

If you’re Hank, do you think you can still get away with turning Walt in, or is he done?

Oh, there would be no possible way he could get away with that now. Walt nailed everything on the head. Then that $177,000 for the medical bills just put it over the top.

But for some reason, I think Hank will somehow come back around. I don’t see him being completely out of the loop, and it just being Walt against Jesse. At some point, they have to get Walt and Jesse to cook together again. The cornerstone of the show has been their cooking.

We get hit with one great scene after another. Because next, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul give two amazing performances in that desert scene.

That scene was great. And I don’t even know – at the end, was Walt hugging him out of manipulation or was it that he really does care about Jesse and felt bad? As a fan, that was emotional. Jesse was just broken down, and it was great acting by Aaron Paul to really show that. And it looked like Walt was genuinely just hugging him; like a father-son thing.

Also, it was the first time it felt like Jesse was equal to Walt. He really stood up to him and didn’t let Walt keep working him.

And to pull you out of all that emotion is the background shots of Saul’s “LWYRUP” license plate.

Did you think Jesse would really end up in Alaska?

I didn’t know. It would’ve been a perfect ending for him though.

But he doesn’t go. And once you commit to disappearing, there are supposed to be serious repercussions for not following through. So that has to be another loose end coming up.

There are so many things out there – the guy in the van, Lydia, Czech Republic, Jesse, Hank. They’ve done a great job giving us so many options that we don’t know what’s coming next. They’re smart to keep everyone hooked.

Does Jesse light that gas on fire?

I don’t think he’s going to burn down the house. He’ll probably dump all the gasoline out, point the gun at the gas and then Walt Jr. walks in.

And Jesse shoots Walt Jr.

“It’s good having you back for a half-episode this season. Now we’re going to kill you off.”

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