Breaking Bad: "blood Money" Critique

Breaking Bad: "Blood Money" Critique

Near the end of the pilot episode of the last season of Breaking Bad, Walt and Hank are in a cold garage full of tension. There's a very small amount of screaming and only one punch is thrown, but you hear the vague threats through their words and powerful performances. While Hank is desperate and ready to explode at any moment, Walt won't give him the contentment to do so. Hank says to Walt "I don't even know who I'm looking at", and Walt's final threat "If you don't know who I am, then maybe your best course would be to tread lightly" is just ambiguous enough to be menacing, and yet guilty enough for Hank to get the picture. The episode "Blood Money" is a powerful testimony that all bad things must come to an end and presents this through an incredible story, a fully believable world, and superb acting.

The final season of Breaking Bad once again starts with a very dark view of the future. A somber, distressed Walter White examines the remains of his old home now filled with filth and graffiti. The time then transitions back to the present when Walt's family is enjoying lunch in that same area. This plot device is important to note because we know going in that no matter how positive things may seem, eventually something will go wrong. These flash forwards of the bleak future causes you to try and imagine how all of these chaotic actions will take place. Furthermore "Blood Money" serves to remind one of the thematic elements, which shape the whole series. Originally Walter White was a good, kindhearted man who loved his family and joined the meth business only to support them. Much like the fall of Macbeth he eventfully turned to stealing, lying, and murder as a way to preserve his power. He got so paranoid that in the episode before he murdered dozens of people in the span of a few minutes to preserve his innocence. Now on the outside he is trying to rebuild his family and get out of the business but through a few lies and menacing remarks we realize that he is far from changed. "Blood Money" is broad in the since that it doesn't focus on any one character more than another, with the exception being Hank. We witness as each character is dealing with the repercussions of last season in their own way, except the episode as a whole is about Hank and his reaction to finding out about Walt. Hank has always been the series antagonists even though he is the good guy per say. One of the reasons he has such a hard time dealing with the fact that Walt is the culprit is that through all the hard times Hank was going through, he could always count on Walt to be there for him. His silent reactions are very powerful. The writers do a fantastic job creating dialogue between two characters and this one is no different. The final scene presents vague but powerful threats, which