What I’m Watching: Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad: Season 4, Episode 9 “Bug” (B+)

It’s about time things got rocky enough between Walt and Jesse that they came to physical blows. Walt’s becoming increasingly paranoid, for good reason, but he’s so completely unaware that Gus has much bigger things to worry about than Hank following his every move. Planting a bug on Jesse’s car definitely puts him into the same category as Hank in terms of being alone and particularly determined to reveal something, and they’re actually both onto something, even if they don’t know the whole story. After last week’s rather intense flashback to Gus’ first interaction with the cartel, we see a much more seasoned and impatient leader who walks right towards a sniper while he’s firing without any fear in his eyes, just fury. Every time Gus has someone over to his home for dinner, it presents the opportunity for such a fascinating interaction, and this time was no exception. Having someone so secretive be so open and honest is alarming, and Jesse seemed sure that Gus wanted to off Walt and have him take his place. Sending him to Mexico to teach the cartel – whose members might speak Mexican – how to cook seems like an ill-advised play for Gus to make, though we’ll see exactly how it pans out. This week’s surprise standout is Skyler, who manages to waltz in and make all of Ted’s problems go away by playing dumb and pretending that she used the wrong software to manage the books, excusing Ted from any wrongdoing. For somehow who insists on a strict script, she excels at improvisation.