‘Breaking Bad’ Retro Recap: ‘Thirty-Eight Snub’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

If there is one universal truth about humanity, it would have to be that we process dark and traumatic moments very differently. For some, see brushes with the ugliness of life as a reason to run and hide, in an effort to protect themselves from further harm. While others see that kind of adversity as an outright challenge, the kind where they can seize the day and make a bad moment their finest hour and what’s wild, is that is but a sampling of how we deal with such matters. Since others handle it through humor, others aren’t bothered at all, and the list just goes on and on. If anything, this is top of mind today, simply because the contrasting manner in which we handle adversity, served as the focal theme of the next episode of Breaking Bad and understandably so.
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After all, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman stared down death in the last episode, and despite coming out of the showdown with Gus Fring physically unscathed, emotionally… they were in a rough place. Because Gus did make it clear that he was ready to act violently toward them at any given time and well… that motivated Walter, to take the bravery route. Because he saw this as a chance to show Gus that he wasn’t afraid of him and to make it clear they were equals. Which motivated him to buy a gun and try and finesse Mike to get him in a room with Gus to assert that a world of fear wasn’t going to fly with Heisenberg and well, if it didn’t go well… Gus would pay. A move that failed and ended with a fist to the jaw from Mike. But all that aside, this segment really did demonstrate nicely how the euphoria of fear can be turned into something quite motivational, if we focus on the upside.

Which is a lesson that served in grave contrast to Jesse’s journey in this tale. Because being close to death again and being forced to murder another human being in cold blood… left Jesse in a dark place and well, he’s the kind of person that will retreat and hide and do whatever it takes to bury the dark emotions flowing through his veins. As evidenced by his desire to fill the house with good tunes and big parties, since that allowed for Jesse to just get high and full and relish in the wonder of making others high and happy and while that is obviously the wrong way to handle this since he needs to confront the darkness… in this moment, little can be done. Because this is how Jesse has always handled his tougher days. But hopefully, he gets through this tough spot faster since Gus will undoubtedly continue to ratchet up the pressure.

But all worries aside, it really was quite refreshing to see this on display in a crime drama, since the characters are always tough as nails and expected to just forge ahead through dark times in this genre. So, episodes like this remind us that even drug dealers are human, and they choose this path and all the emotional consequences that come with it, and it does indeed change a person since Walt and Jesse are vastly different now than when we first met them. But while this examination on how we deal with trauma could have carried this episode, there was more juicy storytelling to be found in this tale. For Hank is in fact, getting worse when it comes to his mental state, to the point where Marie appears as though she is ready to snap and that’s not good since Marie deals with adversity by doing some highly illegal stuff.

Plus, we also saw how much Walt’s career choices have influenced Skyler to go above and beyond to get what she wants, since she marched right into Bogdan’s office with figures and charts to show him why he needed to sell his place to the White family, an offer he promptly and rudely refused and well, it will be quite interesting to see how Skyler handles that ugly of a ‘no’ when she is convinced this is the right business for husband’s dirty money and well… in the end, this was just a great episode through and through. One that made the characters the king once again and that always pays off in spades in this series well, all this episode does… is compel one to quickly continue the journey. Because season four of this series isn’t messing around and is building toward something huge and the only way to find out what, is to hit play on the next episode, ‘Open House’. Until next time.

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