‘Breaking Bad’ Retro Recap: ‘Seven Thirty-Seven’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

When we last settled in to discuss the wondrous AMC series Breaking Bad, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman were in quite the strange place. Because despite putting Tuco Salamanca on cloud nine with their top-tier meth, he was still eager to unleash his special brand of fury on No-Doze when Mister Doze felt the need to flex up. Leaving our heroes pondering upon just how weird things were going to get before their financial dreams came true and oddly enough, that wild and uncomfortable moment is precisely where the next chapter in this fantastic series opted to kick off season two. For ‘Seven Thirty-Seven’ opens up with that moment again, to remind us of how out there Tuco can get, before giving Walter and Jesse a moment to process his savagery and also think about whether or not this is something they want to do long term.

To the point where Walter calculates exactly how much money he’ll need for meth to take care of him and his family, making it seem as thought he’s genuinely thinking about walking away from this world, thanks to Tuco's ferocity. Which oddly added a strange sense of hope to this tale, since such a decision would mean that Walter's life wouldn't end in sadness and strife and his journey here would revolve around digging himself out of a hole he only went into, to save his life and his family's future. But such thoughts immediately had to go on hold, since Tuco came back to the junkyard and prevented their exit… thanks to an unfortunate complication. For No-Doze was convulsing and in bad shape from his beating, and that left Tuco hopeful that Walter could somehow help him.

But alas he could not, and No-Doze died right there with indignity, and to disrespect his life further, he was buried beneath a pile of cars by Gonzo and well… that in turn led to some serious trouble for Jesse and Walter. Because now they were witnesses to a murder and with Tuco’s unpredictable nature, that left the two of them worried about their future and rightfully so. Because minute by minute, after our dynamic duo and Tuco parted ways… strange things started to occur. Such as the fact that Tuco’s fancy Escalade kept popping up outside of their homes, and that left both men rattled and worried about what kind of trouble was heading their way, to the point where Jesse outright bought a gun and posed the possibility that perhaps the time had come to put Tuco down before he sought out revenge in an effort to keep his hide safe. 

Something that Walter decided wasn’t a bad idea, which motivated him to go with a more subtle assassination plan. Such as using homemade Ricin to poison Tuco into oblivion and well, that appeared to be the right thing to do. Because eventually Gonzo was discovered dead as well and that put the fear of God into Jesse and Walter, since it seemed their days were numbered. A reality that seemingly came to fruition at the end of this tale, when Tuco collected them both and took them to heaven knows where. Which is quite the powerful and poignant way to end this tale, for several reasons. Such as the fact that we aren’t aware of what Tuco actually wants with Jesse and Walter. Especially since we were able to learn that Gonzo died by trying to reclaim No-Doze’s body, in order to give him a proper burial and wasn’t assassinated as Jesse and Walter believe. 

Which means that in essence, whatever is about to happen is going to put Jesse and Walter at quite the crossroads. Because regardless of what Tuco wants, he is going to give Jesse and Walter one incredibly wild and weird look at what the drug world and dealer lifestyle really looks like when it becomes your everything, and that will likely put them at a crossroads. One where they must decide if this is the life they want to commit to or if they want to get out now and follow the positive path that Walter pondered upon earlier in this tale, and it will be interesting to see what decision they make and what Tuco has planned for them. But while we wait to learn all of that, we can bask in one quality season premiere. One that did a phenomenal job of upping the stakes for both the audience and the characters since this was a darker and dynamic tale, one that definitely made it clear that any escape from this ugly underworld, won't be easy in the slightest. Until next time.

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