Breaking Bad: Loco Motives
Breaking Bad S05E05: "Dead Freight"
The cold open...
Aww, look at that adorable kid on the dirt bike picking up tarantulas in a glass jar! Not sure what this is all about, but he sure is cute going about his business as a care-free kid motorbikin' innocently in the New Mexico desert!
45 minutes and a great train robbery later...
Oh look! It's that teen tarantula collector again! I almost forgot about hi–HOLY SHIT LANDRY CLARKE JUST SHOT HIM DEAD!
Breaking Bad is no stranger to shocking moments, but the final 30 seconds of "Dead Freight" is still reverberating through our cores as though it's the first time we've seen something like that from the show. Todd shot someone. A kid. And it was his first instinct given the super-secret nature of their operation and potential residence in the worst the federal prison system has to offer. This isn't even the first time the show has killed a kid, but it is the first time we've seen it happen.
I just want to put this out there so you know where I stand: I am 100 percent against killing children. There. I said it. Let there be no question. "That Tim Surette doesn't agree with child murder," people should say. I'm a saint!
But...
And I'm going to do this just to play devil's advocate and because I'm an eternal optimist and because I like the process of convincing myself and others to take roundabouts when it comes to morality... this isn't the worst situation for Jesse and Walter. For Todd, it sucks. But for Jesse and Walter, not only is this accidental obstacle "taken care of," but they also have a guy to pin it on should they choose to get extra gangsta and put Todd in a ditch.
Let's look at this from Walter, Jesse, and Todd's perspective (as criminals) and imagine that they could freeze time the moment after motorcycle kid showed up and twinkled his fingers in a sheepish wave. They'd have a meeting to figure out what to do with the boy and go over their very limited options for hours. What could they do? They could pretend they're NOT stealing chemicals from a train and hope the kid keeps his mouth shut even after the feds crawl all over the place asking if anyone saw something suspicious. They could kidnap the kid and turn the series into some hilarious TV version of Three Men and a Baby. They could recruit the kid for the gang and teach him the ins and outs of making meth. Or, they could shoot him right there on the spot to make sure he stays quiet for good. In that moment where a decision had to be made right then and there, Todd obviously favored that last option.
Look, I don't know what the right answer is. And I must insist once again that I don't condone killing children. I like kids! I was once one of those children myself, and I'm forever indebted to everyone who did not shoot me dead. But Against all my moral fiber, I'm thinking Todd didn't act entirely in the wrong here, given the fact that these guys are drug dealers and this is a television show and we're allowed to explore issues like this without fear of repercussion. So much of this season has been about putting us in the mindset of Walter, Jesse, and Mike as professional drug dealers and following every minute detail they go through, and this is one of the toughest pickles they've been in. Murder is going to be part of the equation at times, and while no-kid policies sound like a great idea in theory, you won't be able dictate the predicaments you find yourself in. There's no accounting for someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I want you to reach down deep inside and tap into that dark place of yours by imagining a criminalized version of yourself in that situation (remember, getting caught isn't an option) and go through what you would have done. Let us know in the comments! I'm not sure I would have shot the kid right then and there (though he was on a motorbike and immediate action was necessary), but I sure as heck wouldn't have let him ride away. That's why if I'm Walter, I might be glad Todd did that. The decision was made for you, and your hands are–in some twisted way–relatively clean. Jesse obviously will not be pleased, but Mike is a pro at making things disappear and your goals now are clear: clean up your desert operation as soon as possible before the cops comb the area that the kid was known to ride around.
We have time to think the murder of spider boy through because we don't know what's coming next. But the bulk of "Dead Freight" involved Breaking Bad's biggest scheme yet, a good old-fashioned train robbery that unfolded from start to finish completely before our eyes. Remember the magnet plan from the season premiere episode? WEAK compared to this. Trains, bitch! So much of Breaking Bad this year has been about the process as the writers live out their fantasies of being a drug lord, which in turn gives the cinematographers the chance to live out their fantasies by filming a frickin' train robbery. My feet were tingling during the entire heist, and because Breaking Bad is so wonderfully unpredictable, the thought of something going horribly wrong was on the forefront of my mind the entire time. And that's what made the final seconds so powerful. We breathed a sigh of relief as the train took off beneath the horizon and Jesse and Walter jumped about like they, well, like they just pulled off a miracle train heist. We were all in the clear and basking in a non-violent job well done as Walt shutdown the motor to the pump that shot water into the train.
Only we still heard a motor running, and Walter heard it too. Breaking Bad uses all of its available senses incredibly well, and while most of the accolades go to the visuals, the audio is an unsung hero and was instrumental to the impact of the final scenes of the last two episodes. The ticking of the watch last week a metaphor for Walter's limited time, and the bike's motor this week signaling that the celebration was premature.
"Dead Freight" was a delightfully intense episode of Breaking Bad that toyed with the audience until the very last second.
NOTES
– I didn't mention anything before the train robbery because I'm not sure there is a whole lot to discuss about it. Walt's manipulation of Hank and the interrogation of Lydia were great, but they were there only to set up the train heist. If there's anything to complain about in this fifth season, it's that all this attention to detail consumes so much time that other stories don't blossom as much.
– Breaking Bad has mounted cameras on Roombas, shovels, and several other things, but there was something about these train shots that really stood out.
Follow TV.com writer Tim Surette on Twitter: @TimAtTVDotCom
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As you mentioned, Breaking Bad is very unpredictable, and it is the final season, so ANYTHING can happen.
We are lucky to be watching it as it airs, I am currently rewatching the series with my boyfriend and I feel as if he is slightly cheated. He KNOWS that Walter and Jesse are both still alive currently, so I think that takes some of the tension out of late season 3 and season 4. There have been plenty of moments where either of the main characters could have been axed (literally too, especially if the crazy twins were around) and knowing that they are still alive kinda takes part of the punch out of moments where either of their lives are in danger. That being said, it is an absolute joy to rewatch the series, I get to see how far the characters have come, and am constantly saying "Just you wait."
The device on the back of the PC seems the most likely to get discovered. Hank surely has some familarity with spy devices, considering his line of work. He bought an off the shelf passive GPS tracker to plant on Gus's car, for instance. If he drops a pen or something, and has to get down on hands and knees to retrieve it near the back of the PC, he might notice it. Anybody that has enough PC experience, and has ever had to move their PC and unhook and then reattach all the cables in the back would notice a weird black box attached to the ethernet port. I know of no legitimate device that connects between the ethernet port and the cable to the router (or bridge or hub or switch or wireless access point or whatever) that it could be mistaken for. Hank is still in the process of moving his stuff into his new office. He might decide on a whim to move his desk, and therefore the PC, and discover the device.
Maybe one of Mike's crew will get hired on as a janitor to remove it, or Walt will find another excuse to visit and retrieve it.
A quibble about the train sequence: Todd was still on top of the tank car -- in plain sight -- when the engineers got back in place and started up the train. How could they have not noticed he was up there?
On the point of killing the kid, I think in order for the plot to move it was a necessity. Put in the same position I probably would have chosen the same.
It's always awesome how Vince puts a scene meant for "down the line" in the opening scene of the season, and this time I absolutely cannot wait to see why Walt needed all that firepower and why he's needing to switch cars!
ANYWAY, with as methodical and meticulous the show has shown Walter to be, it's going to be really hard to swallow that scene unless they reveal in the next week or two a plan for Walter to get the bug OUT of that office...and I kinda don't think they'll bother.
If that's what ends up busting Walt I'll be really disappointed because it will be hard to swallow that Walt didn't think of that.
i guess ...
Man, I loved this episode. Granted, it feels like it's been a long time since I've not liked a Breaking Bad episode, but really, this was great. Not the best of the series or anything, but it's up there.
Todd killing the kid was fantastic -- for TV purposes, of course... I'm not an evil asshole. However, I'm not entirely sure I'd have done anything different if I was knee-deep in a meth-cooking empire. I do believe that if I was some sort of criminal, kids would be off-limits, but what the hell do I know about situations I've never been in. As for whether it was necessary... probably not. Not only do I think he didn't see much, but assuming the train later passes inspection, no one was going to come around asking the local folks about suspicious behavior. If the kid did see something, it's unlikely he'd have found the ears of a believing authority figure. But I do think a quick decision was best -- no time for a huddle -- and a quick decision of killing the kid is a bit more reasonable than letting him ride off.
With the kid dead, I'm not sure how much attention it'll bring that area and effect the gang's plans. He seems to have negligent enough parents for him to be able to ride around in a desert on a motorbike picking up spiders and waving to strangers... so maybe he could be missing for a few days without there being a HUGE fuss. I don't think much will come from the kid's death as far as police attention... I think the biggest thing this will impact is Jesse. He's completely against killing kids -- he had a tough enough time killing an, albeit kind and gentle, meth cook. I assume this is going to cause a strain in his devotion to the drug game, which in turn will cause a strain in his relationship with Walt.
This one hour was the best so far ...not in this season but in TV 2012!
I mean, the kid couldn't have known what they were doing, and who's he going to tell? Police wouldn't even be sniffing around since the chemical company would have covered up the diluted methlamine, and Walt and Jesse could have cleaned up all the tanks and stuff so there'd be no evidence of a crime.
Plus now, this kid's murder is going to help set Jesse and Walt against each other. Jesse is all anti-killing kids, and Walt was downright relieved that Todd pulled the trigger. Which at least will make for some great drama!
I definitely agree that this will likely pit Jesse and Walt against each other.
Their top priority now: get the methylamine out of there. They won't have time to dig up the tanks.
He's probably been doing the same thing for weeks on end.
Let me be clear:
- If the kid is their downfall, I won't be surprised and I won't have a problem with it.
- If the police never put 2 and 2 together to make 4 in regard to that kid I won't be surprised and I won't have a problem with it.
Either way the writers want to take that particular plotI have no problem with, what I'm saying is just because the kid was killed doesn't mean they're automatically fucked. It could just as easily be Lydia getting leverage and turning on them...or more likely - they turning on themselves.
I think that it's obvious that the kid was actually Walter's father, and that that particular area of the desert is an intersection of time and space. How else would you explain why Walt suddenly has a new name and is born in New Hampshire in the season premiere?
Yes, TV's best drama is channelling TV's best (american) sci-fi show. Walter White, meet Walter Bishop!
OMG was that scene ever creepy! At first I thought, oh what a cute simpleton, waving back at spider boy, then a split-second later he kills him - #$*&#@$!!
And as far as Walt and Jesse feeling relieved that someone else killed the boy, won't Walt and Jesse will still be guilty if they don't inform on him once they're safely away from the shooter?
And Todd shot him. Dead.
And here is BB at its best - even in light of such an enormity we can relate. No one is to blame, there is no other way to handle this shit. Talking to the kid, giving money, intimidation - forget it he will talk to friends or parents and some idiot father calls homeland security or the FB and I ...
If anyone's to blame, and I 'm sad to say so, it's Mike. He had the binocs and his job was to look out for uninspected guests. Yeah I know he had a lot to do at the time. But that is why you always need TWO spotters on a heist like this.
I'm mucho curioso about Jesse and how he's handling this.
And body-disposal is not that hard with a guy like Mike on hand. Last but not least they can use the tracks to lure police AWAY from the bridge. It's sad but Mike has the right of it. A witness gets you busted.
Still, the best episode I've seen since Through the Looking Glass (S03E23-24 from Lost).
My reaction to "Dead Freight" was closest to that of "Half Measures". The ending in HM was similiarly unexpected and got to be the biggest turning point for the characters in the series (of course picked up by "Full Measures").
This episode was awesome and is definitely one of the best. But I feel that certain other episodes had a slightly bigger impact on character development. It's hard to impossible to rank all this though, I'm just glad to experience it.
An amazing episode, to be sure, but I don't think I could call it the best.
And people get angry because some criticize shows like "Terra Nova" or "Falling Skies"... THIS is how you write a great series.
Shocking ending but nothing that doesn't happened regularly south of the border. The drug business is violent and heartless.
I think junior is gonna do something crazy which may put Walter into a tearing dilemma...
I love Skyler: that woman is definitely NOT suicidal.
I liked this one too:
Skyler "Out burying bodies?"
Walter: "Robbing a train!"
Man, it's really going to be a long wait for those final eight episodes, after these next three :p
Then again, these may be editorial errors and we get a completely different reaction next episode. But given the attention to detail I think it's safe to say Walt was ok with it (even though he'd never admit it to the others).
Wow, I didn't think Todd was such a cold-blooded killer. He seemed like a nice guy, an ordinary and petty criminal who just saw a chance of getting closer to the inner circle of meth-making.
And does Skyler plan to leave her children at Hank's indefinitely? That's simply not feasible.
The kid's death was a tragedy, but I'm concerned about something else. Who is going to let the poor spider out of the jar?
Yes, the magnet could've been rigged by the scarp metal yard guy.
The logistics involved in the train heist were so elaborate that this really challenged my suspension of disbelief. It even looked like this wasn't Walter's first major robbery. I wonder how much experience Mike had in pulling something like that.
Could've? They said exactly that in the dialog at several points.
"It even looked like this wasn't Walter's first major robbery."
Depends on your definition of "major" but stealing that barrel of Methylamine from that warehouse back in the season 1 finale was pretty major for a 2-man job.
I was thinking exactly of that robbery and this is why I said "major." the train heist was a much greater accomplishment, and even then, that doesn't characterize Walter as an experienced thief, which a heist of this magnitude would require. Mike must've had more experience in that area (maybe), and even Todd could've given some contribution, but that's still unproven.there seems to be a tendency for the writers to transform Walter into a super gangster all of a sudden showing skills he never had. I just hope they keep him more grounded.
The guys at the junkyard rigged the magnet...and it was Jessie's idea...
Jessie also came up with the plan for the train robbery...
I agree the ideas seem to be more and more outlandish, but I believe they they bring in necessary help (like the junkyard guys) when they need to make an idea a reality.
I get that Skylar is freaked out with concern over her children, but Walter deserves more love and respect for what he's tried to do for her and their kids, despite a bleak prognosis of cancer. And she has the balls to say to his face she's waiting for the cancer to come back?? Pretty cold...though she did get dragged into the whole meth thing without being consulted first. She has her reasons to be upset, but enough with the cold shoulder, and using Walt's 51 mug as an ashtray. Keep that attitude up, and she might take the big dirt nap beside Lydia :p
I don't know if DEA offices are swept for bugs, but they probably should be :p From what I've read, detecting bugs is not easy. The more sophisticated ones are tiny, and transmit in small cellular bursts. They don't emit a continuous signal that could be detected easily by an RF receiver. Plus, you have to rule out all those other legitimate signals that are present in a busy office complex full of PC's and other telecommunications equipment, to find that needle in a haystack.
I was also thinking that it should contain a receiver for a radio signal from the bug in the picture frame. But there could also be a receiver outside the building, that somehow relays the information to Mike.
If the guy who made the network device is smart, the red light will be on for at most a few seconds, to let the user know that he just switched the device on, not off, and that the battery is working. (The 3D glasses for my TV have lights like that).
I also don't think anyone dies from a tarantula bite. Maybe if you have an allergy or something.
There's also the possibility that even if they could get the spider to bite him, a medical examiner would be able to see that he died before he was bitten.
Maybe turn the Tarantula into a gun-shooting-half-robot-Tarantula?
I used to work as a lab tech at a chemical factory, and part of my job was to test incoming raw materials for purity. Several times a tanker was a few percent out of spec., and the boss just had me "pencil in corrected numbers" (lie our ass off). This was pretty much a daily occurence on incoming materials, and outgoing products. I don't know anything about methalymine, and what its legitimate industrial applications are, but 4% dilution might just get swept under the rug and never raise a red flag to anyone. In that case, there never would have been feds sweeping the area afterwards. Plus, the whole point of the crazy scheme was to avoid killing two engineers, not trade two adults lives for one kid's. Would sure suck to have to live with that, even if they get away with it.
Jesse: NO ONE, other than us, can EVER know that this robbery went down. NOBODY. Got it?
Todd: Yeah. Absolutely.
Walt: You sure?
Todd: Yes sir.
From the little we've seen of Todd in previous episodes, he seems to want to impress Walt and Jesse... and I can assume that he thought killing the kid would be effective in 1) making sure no one knows of the robbery, and 2) showing Walt and Jesse that he can be as cutthroat as need be.
And, I'm totally with badpony11. That briefest of exchanges between Skylar and Walt when she asks if Walt is burying bodies and he simply replies "robbing a train", might be my favorite 10 seconds of one of my favorite episodes of this or any season.
They have made him repeat more than once if he understood that the train affair wasn't nobody business but theirs. He surely has, after all. However I would love to see if his gesture comes from an innate cruelty or some kind of fear of both Walt and Jesse. Needless to say, however, that the narrative crescendo of this fifth season is capturing me in an incredible way; as much as the evolution / involution of the characters. I'm waiting only for a break in the wall that keeps the human side of Walt in hostage. Ah, just a small, final consideration: is it possible that by now the genius of the trio is that adorable idiot of Jesse? First with the magnet, then with being the only one to understand that Lydia didn't have anything to do with it nothing with the GPS, now with the robbery train. Teacher's pet just grew up, yo. An emotional breakdown is coming for him, too
I'm not sure about the fear that he may have of Walt and Jesse though. I guess it's kind of like fear, but I think it's more about respect. In the previous episode where he first told them his name and of the nanny-cam in the house and whatnot, it looked like he really wanted to impress Walt and Jesse. I think he wants to get out of his thieving crew and get in with the big boys, and he probably felt he'd be making a good impression if he acted like a badass that kills kids if necessary.
Then again, this is my interpretation from the limited time we spent with him.
Lydia can definitely identify them...
So I feel like even if you get rid of Mike you have to get rid of Lydia and the Laundry mat guy at a minimum
Point is, going that route would get real messy real quick.
And with all my respect to the writing staff, Breaking Bad is at its best with Gilligan at the keyboard.
Letting the kid go would be risky... if they play it cool, MAYBE he thinks they were just train workers or something and there is no problem. But maybe not. However, it's not at all clear-cut. Offing the kid guarantees they will be bringing down a lot of heat to the general area, whereas depending on what the kid thought he saw, letting him live might have avoided any troubles.
Walt's talk with Todd, earlier in the episode, about whether he understood how important it was for them not to get caught was great foreshadowing for the ruthless shooting. To borrow from Rick James: COOOOOLD BLOODED.
So, suddenly being presented with a potential witness to their crime, their safest bet would be to assume he saw everything and just kill him (and have Mike make the body disappear).
Its also interesting looking back at Walt and Lydia discussing their kids in light of the ending. So heavy. So good.