Holy shit, how is that guy still alive?

So, hey… remember last post when I wondered if Walter would be up to killing someone in cold blood? Turns out, no – at least not easily and not yet.

There wasn’t a lot happening in this episode compared to the last one. Not in terms of action and plot, anyway, but there’s a whole lot of character building and exposition going on, and most of it was pretty cool.

I like the way they handled the tension between Walter and Skyler. Their marriage is under an enormous amount of stress but there are still moments of joy and it all rings true. Plot-wise, I’m still not sure how he would have managed to withdraw all of their savings to buy that RV and have Skyler (the tech-literate ebay seller who also manages their finances) remain unaware of it, but the emotional back and forth come across as absolutely believable.

Walters turmoil (and waffling) over the killing of Krazy 8 is a good thing. A necessary thing, in my opinion. If he were capable of just ending a man’s life, even this man, he would become less interesting. It’s the juxtaposition of the absolutely moral Walter White, who Jessie describes as “an absolute straight with a stick up his ass”, and the crooked, morally bankrupt world in which he’s chosen to involve himself that gives the show (thus far) it’s momentum.

He has promised Jessie that he will do it tomorrow, and I suspect that Walter White is the kind of man who keeps his promises. I haven’t checked IMDB, but I suspect that the actor who plays Krazy 8 only has three episodes credited to him.

Jessie is a bit more problematic from a storytelling perspective. I’m not sure how he fits in to the moral narrative. He’s not particularly moral, but nor is he particularly amoral. He was no more comfortable with the idea of killing Krazy 8 than Walter was, at any rate. If he was a complete dirt bag, I might expect some sort of Walter White led redemption story, but as Jessie himself pointed out – this ain’t no Welcome Back Kotter (though how a kid his age would even know that reference…). I guess it’s possible that, as a standard denizen of this world, he’s there to contrast against Walter and make sure we don’t lose sight of Walter’s underlying morality (??).

They just didn’t seem to do much with him in this episode, and his character direction seems a bit confused so far. I hope they develop him more in the next few episodes. He has potential and could become interesting if handled properly.