‘Breaking Bad’ Retro Recap: ‘Salud’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

There are of course, a great many reasons to love and enjoy the iconic AMC series, Breaking Bad. So many in fact, that we would spend years exploring every last one of them in digital print, and how they appeal to audiences. But for the sake of today’s discussion, it is best we focus upon one particular reason that has shown up on a more consistent basis throughout season four, specifically… how this series offered up a masterclass in examining how everyday moments that we take for granted, carry extra weight and consequences in the drug world. Such as say, our response to being backed into a corner or determining what our legacy might look like… since those very notions were explored in great detail in the next episode in this storied franchise, ‘Salud’.

In fact, all of those notions were explored by a bevy of different characters with Walter White handling the concerns about legacy. For his wounds both physical and emotional following his fight with Jesse Pinkman, motivated him to just disappear from the world for a bit and not worry about anything… including his son’s sixteenth birthday. An omission that motivated Junior to drop by his dad’s apartment to check on him, only to find that dear old dad was a drunken, drugged out mess and well… once Walt slept it off, he was able to express to his son the importance of forgetting that moment so that he would forever be remembered as more than a mess to his boy. And his desperate efforts here to cover the truth and still find a way to be revered by his son, speaks volumes to how difficult it is for a drug kingpin to establish an honest legacy with their family and this poignant moment is one that serves a harbinger of doom as well… since we know that this story ends in tragedy and that Walt will be remembered in no positive manner.

However, there was mention that this story also examined what could occur when someone involved in this trade is backed into a tough corner and oddly enough… Skyler got in on this part of the examination. Because in an effort to keep the IRS off of her tail and her finances, she worked out a special plan to get Ted the money he needed to pay his back taxes. One that involved having Saul surprise Ted with an ‘inheritance’ or rather, money from Walt's stash, and well… it didn’t’ take long for this plan to outright backfire. Because Ted is in fact, a total clueless idiot and rather than see this as a blessing to pay off his debts and start fresh, he instead viewed this as an opportunity to get his mojo back. Which is why he leased a Mercedes-Benz and started to work on bringing his business back to life and that in turn, put Skyler right in the corner and left her with no option but to take matters into her own hands and explain to Ted where the money came from and why it needed to go to the IRS.

Which was a supremely low-key examination of what could happen when a non-violent individual is forced into a corner in this business, one that stood in stark contrast to Gustavo Fring’s response. For it turns out that his plans to show the cartel how to cook Blue Sky and sign over his business… were nothing more than the longest con ever. One designed to get him face to face with Don Eladio once again, so he could gently poison the Don and his various henchmen and himself. In a desperate gambit to make them pay for putting Fring’s back against the wall, and of course… for Max, and in the end, Gustavo was quite successful in his plans. For Eladio died in that damn pool, and Gus enjoyed his revenge and if he can survive the small dose of poison he ingested and if Mike can overcome his injury, then the Los Pollos Hermanos Empire can rule the drug trade without a care in the world. 

If anything, this was just another brilliant episode through and through. Simply because it featured one engrossing plot after another, ones that helped us to gain some insight into how Skyler and Walter are eager to find a hybrid lifestyle here and will likely fail in their mission, since they continue to bury themselves deeper and deeper into the underworld. Plus, this one really did inform us just how dangerous Gus really is and how he truly does see the long game in everything he does and that’s downright scary. Because all that is left for him to deal with now is Walter, and if he’s willing to bring down an entire cartel to avenge a close friend, heaven only knows what he will do to a chemist that got the better of him and well, the only way to find out… is to continue the journey to see what comes next for Walter and Gus as they barrel toward an epic showdown. Until next time.

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