There seems to be at least one or two moments per episode of Breaking Bad that comes to define that particular episode and acts as a symbol of growth for Walt or Jesse or other main characters. For this episode, it was both the discussion that Walt and Krazy-8 shared in the middle of the episode and the moment when Walt finally is forced to kill him. Vince Gilligan is so methodical with the way he sets up each and every scene leading up to the ending that when you rewatch it again, you can just sit back and marvel at how each scene connects to the next, how certain scenes that might seem inconsequential in other television shows are actually defining moments here.
It's difficult for me to figure out what my favorite Bryan Cranston moments are, but I'd say this entire episode is in the top three, at least. It finds Walt getting caught in a lie for the first time, murdering somebody with his own hands for the first time and pondering the morality of his decisions for the first and what will certainly not be the last time. And Aaron Paul has a very understated role in the episode; he grows to be a much more important character over time, but his addiction to meth, coupled with his paranoia, makes him a downward spiral type of TV character that's fascinating to watch, despite how awful he is at times.
As I mentioned before, Walt gets caught in his first big lie (this time, he tries to claim he was at the car wash place when his wife already knew he had quit.. oops!) The thing that works so well about the show (well, one of many things) is that Bryan Cranston sells every single moment that he's in Walter White's shoes. To go from a comedy show like Malcolm and the Middle to something like this takes an enormous leap from genre to genre, and he does it like nobody else I've ever seen. That scene where he kills Krazy-8 and muters "I'm sorry.." over and over was heart-breaking and you can truly feel how bad he feels about it.
Maybe I'm overanalyzing tiny little things, but with the show in hiatus until this July, I'm finding these older episodes to be just as exciting, if not more so, than the new ones. That's the sign of a good show.. it doesn't peak because every season is its peak.





