The One Episode of Breaking Bad BETTER Than Ozymandias

you can't even get us a single barrel who said anything about barrels i'm talking about an ocean of this stuff hey guys it's andrew again this week we're diving into one of my personal favorites breaking bad this episode of breaking bad hits like a freight train it's 48 minutes of rich character development complex storytelling and nail-biting tension much like a freight train this episode links together cars full of deceit betrayal intimidation desperation greed action and tragedy and sends our characters on a one-way trip down an irreversible track this is dead frame the fifth episode in the breaking bad's final season some argue that this episode is where breaking bad jumps the shark and leaves plausibility behind stating that the train heist was just a little too unbelievable and they aren't necessarily wrong the train high seems like an incredibly difficult task for these characters who have no experience with train robberies to pull off however while the episode centers around this methylene heist it has almost nothing to do with the train robbery this is an episode about moral and ethical quantities and how our characters react to these quandaries under extreme circumstances in fact the actual train heist is less of a plot point and more of an environmental element it's a storm that our characters have to weather and survive no matter the cost and within that storm we learn what our characters are made of when we subject him to these extreme circumstances it is a master class on how appropriate pacing can have major impact on the overall outcome of one single episode when the episode begins with a cold open on a dirt bike cruising through the sand dunes of new mexico we see that the operator of the vehicle is a child and watch him pick up and capture a tarantula something that the best episodes of breaking bad do very well is show you something seemingly innocuous and almost quizzical at the beginning of the episode we've seen it with the pink teddy bear scene throughout season 2 which we find out was from the plane crash inadvertently caused by walter white by this point in the show we know that every scene and every frame in breaking bad is completely intentional we get this image of a child riding a dirt bike and collecting a giant spider but we don't get the context it's mysterious it's intriguing and it's subtle so subtle that we almost forget about it entirely as the episode progresses from the beginning of this episode we see that our main characters are all in dire straits lydia's discovery of the tracking device on a barrel of methylamine has pushed mike jesse and walter to an extreme point of desperation the episode starts out with really high stakes which is part of what makes it so perfect literally everything is on the line as walter white manipulates his way into hank's office to plant monitoring devices this is also a really interesting scene in the sense that while walter is telling hank about his problems he's essentially telling the truth but under false pretenses every single thing that comes out of walter's mouth in this scene is true his tears are real he truly is mourning the loss of love in his marriage granted it's his own fault but he is mourning nonetheless despite the level of honesty and emotional vulnerability displayed by walter in this scene he still uses it to deceive his brother-in-law to further his own agenda this is empathetic sociopathy and you'd think something like that would be impossible to capture in a performance the next scene is in stark contrast to the previous one and it's a good example of how the episode uses color to play with our emotions the warm reds and earth tones of hank's office makes us feel safe and secure as if nobody can be harmed here as we transition to the basement of the warehouse that warmth and security disappears and is replaced with cold blues and the bleak grayness of concrete it looks heartless and empty we immediately connect visually to a sense of danger someone could die here from the beginning of this scene we understand that lydia's life is on the line as viewers we begin to scrutinize every decision lydia makes because we know that she could die at any minute an audience that is scrutinizing a character's decision on that level is an engaged audience we become even more engaged as our main characters struggle with the first major moral quandry and whether or not to in fact shoot lydia in the head the stakes are what grip us and put us on the edge of our seat but with the addition of a moral dilemma we are drawn in and placed in these characters shoes as they weigh out the pros and cons of ending someone's life in an act of self-preservation and desperation lydia uses a window of opportunity to glue walter mike and jesse onto a gigantic tanker filled with a massive amount of methylamine headed towards them by train and by the time they make the decision to go through with the heist we've spent almost half the episode getting to the primary objective breaking bad takes its time the show does not move on until we understand completely what is on the line how it affects our characters and what it means to succeed or fail at it now that the show has done the heavy lifting of presenting the extremely high stakes we get to see the elaborate setup of how the heist is going to go down the writers do a great job at showing us the pieces and how they work without beating us over the head with foreshadowing it's not only efficient and concise it also fills us with anticipation now that we have an understanding of how the heist is going to unfold the next scene is one of the most important scenes in the entire series after banishing his son to go stay with hank and marie walter and skyler sit down for a little heart-to-heart in this conversation skyler makes something very clear with the line of dialogue i'm not your wife and you're hostage it's here where we realize that walter white's marriage his family the thing that has been driving him the entirety of the series has reached the point of no return it's also in this moment where walter white accepts the fact that he has destroyed his own family there's only 15 minutes left and we still have a train to heist what makes this climax so great is the way in which it is paced a satisfying climax is earned and pacing is the way to earn it almost an entire minute of footage is spent just showing the train in motion the music composition here helps at the tempo as the chaos of the train's elaborate machinery speeds over the heads of our main characters it's a symphony of tension as our hearts are pounding to the beat of the drums a brief reprieve as the train halts and boom the heist is on there's not even a whole lot going on here as far as heists go it's just three guys pumping liquids while bilber distracts the crew so why is it so exciting all the elements of fantastic storytelling are present here the music is perfect for a sequence like this the sound of the whirring and the visual counter of how many gallons of methylamine also add to what makes this feel exciting our characters are speaking with intensity the editing is on point and really highlights how the heist is unfolding cutting between sweating faces frantic movements and the roar of the generator engine the filling of the hoses it all paints a very clear picture of what exactly is happening there's even a bit of humor in this sequence with bill burr and the way he keeps extending his con on the train conductors mike herman trot's narration via walkie-talkie here also raises the stakes to the point of it almost being a little too nail in the head it all comes down to the very last second the music swells jesse lets the train pass over him todd leaps to safety and the group rejoices yes everything seems fine until yeah until that kid on the dirt bike you forgot about shows up without hesitation todd murders an innocent child and everyone here is complicit any shred of dignity these characters had is gone in an instant it's a catastrophic tragedy that occurs in the last 60 seconds and the credits roll over the tarantula in the glass jar dead freight is an episode of breaking bad that utilizes almost every facet of powerful storytelling and weaves them together in a way that constantly bats our emotions back and forth we feel sorry for walt we feel concerned for his family we feel fear for lydia we feel empathy for skyler and we feel pain and anger over the tragic and senseless death of a child there's also a heist involved by the time the episode is over we really feel like we've experienced something exciting and terrible when we tell stories we want to have these high stakes but it isn't enough to just create those stakes we need to earn the right to have them by establishing pace and action when this is done poorly it's at the very least somewhat exciting but when it's done well it takes us from simply watching a show to actively experiencing one well that's it for today's video guys let me know in the comments what other topics you'd like for me to cover and if you're a fan of nostalgic why not subscribe and hit the bell so you don't miss any future nostalgic content see you guys in the next video [Music] you

Channel: Nerdstalgic

Views: 1,477,997

Keywords: Breaking Bad, Breaking Bad Perfect Episode, Breaking Bad Dead Freight, Breaking Bad Ozymandias, Breaking Bad Season 5, Breaking Bad Final Season, Breaking Bad Best Episode, Breaking Bad Walter White, Breaking Bad Jesse Pinkman, Breaking Bad Saul Goodman, Better Call Saul, Better Call Saul Spin Off, Better Call Saul TV Show, El Camino, El Camino Netflix, El Camino Movie, Brian Cranston, Aaron Paul, Bob Odenkirk, Ozymandias, New Rockstars, Corridor Crew, IGN, Nerdstalgic

Id: q6mheeEtCyw

Length: 8min 52sec (532 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 05 2021