Review of Breaking Bad: Thirty-Eight Snub

Episode Thirty-Eight Snub illustrates White’s his surprising stupidity fueled by his legitimate fear of Gus. The episode opens with Walter buying a 38-Special Snub revolver from an illegal gun dealer. Walter informs the surprising insightful dealer that the weapon is for “defense.” Walter says this several times as though he is convincing himself more than anything. I suppose Walt might believe in the familiar sporting maxim, “the best defense is a good offense.” He clearly has no intention of purchasing the weapon for defensive purposes; as he sees it, it’s him or Gus, pure and simple. The gun dealer (Lawson what an awesome name for an illegal gun dealer) is aware that something is amiss with the Walter’s explanation and approach. If Walter plans on being offensive, then he should opt for a different weapon. If the weapon is truly intended for self-defense, then going through legal channels makes far more sense, Lawson trenchantly points out. I really enjoyed this scene as it understands that while we, the ever-patient viewer, know Walter is a cold-blooded murder, to the rest of the world, he still looks like a chemistry teacher or something equally as innocuous.

But while Walter is clearly intelligent and seeming capable of self-effacement and reflection, he still behaves as though he has learned nothing from his experience in “drug world” and with “drug dealers.” After all, he and Jesse have had many “close calls.” So when Walter simply tries to walk up to Gus’s home, I suppose to gun him down in the doorway, I couldn’t help thinking “that is really stupid.” Can Walter really be that dumb as to think he can simply walk up to Gus’ house and simply shoot him down? His stupidity is demonstrated with banal subtly when he receives a call while walking up to Gus’s house. The voice, and I swear it was Gus, says “Go home, Walt.”

Walter’s paranoia still fuels an even more incredulous request concerning Mike the Cleaner. Walter tails Mike to a bar (not too well, Mike points out) and then attempts to recruit him. Again, Walt’s stupidity is so obvious in his recruitment pitch. Walter misreads Mike entirely. What does Walter know of the relationship between Mike and Gus? Nothing and Walter assumes, incorrectly, that Mike, after the throat-cutting scene in the prior episode, sees Gus as an unstable madman who will turn on his loyal employees without cause. Mike understands what lead to Gus killing Victor though Mike was clearly shocked, surprised and saddened by his untimely death—a death that was caused ultimately by Walter and Jesse.

The paranoia and shock still has Walter’s thinking addled and unclear. Walter’s behavior displays this, and I wonder how he can survive if he continues to brazenly threaten to kill a man, who could kill Walter without much problem whatsoever. Mike kicks his ass for suggesting he turn on his employer, and one can assume that Mike will relay this information along to Gus. Though Gus no doubt understands what Walter is up to. It seems as though Walter is no match for Gus. Walter has to be smarter than to let his emotions overrun his common sense but that’s what emotions do—overrun common sense. One wonders how the tension between Walter and Gus will be resolved. At some point, both Mike and Gus might get a little tired of Walter and his inept attempt to assassinate Gus. If some bumpkin was trying to kill you at every turn, after you made that person massively rich and after that same bumpkin has indirectly or directly caused the death of several loyal employees, how long would your patience extend? As Jesse might intone, “seriously.”

Jesse, on the other hand, deals with their predicament much differently. Constantly trying to distract himself—three-night party, booming stereo, taking drugs, etc.—Jesse also assuages his guilt by giving away a wad of cash to his erstwhile girlfriend, Andrea. The goal of the cash is more for her child, Brock, than for her. Jesse tells her to move out of the bad part of town. Jesse wants to provide the child a chance, and he knows that Brock has little chance living in the neighborhood that he lives in.

Jesse, as I have posited before, serves as the shows emotional and moral compass. So with his newfound wealth, Jesse does the noble thing—he tries to help out those in need. Jesse still maintains his sense of moral rectitude and even better acts on it. Despite being a killer and drug dealer, Jesse is a good man inside. In fact, the entire sticky situation the boys, Walter and Jesse, find themselves in finds its locus in Jesse’s sense of righteousness. It is Jesse who simply could not tolerate the idea of a child being used in to kill his friend, then as a result of his actions, actions which attempt to right the wrong, lead to the pathetic death of that child. Jesse tries upholding some semblance of moral righteousness and fails. At least fails that time, but he is determined to do the right thing.

The juxtaposition between Walter and Jesse—one perceived by society as a decent person, while the other viewed as a scourge as the show begins—demonstrates the most mundane and pedestrian of axioms: you can’t judge a book by its cover. I suspect that once we read Walter White's story, we may not like him much.