![]() It’s not because she’s smart or clever or mean or anything, but she’s so type A and stressful and the fingernail biting and the wrong shoe wearing and etc. Lydia returned in this one and she attempted to game the system. This was her finest work yet on the series. When Walt knew she had the upper hand, he attacked her ability to plan and she broke down: “I don’t know!! This is the best I can come up with! I’ll count every minute the kids are away from you as a victory.” Anna Gunn was fantastic in this scene. The conversation ebbs and flows, from an early “OK, we need to talk” sentiment to a pretty harsh tone of implied domestic abuse one-upmanship and backhanded, subversive threats. The whole scene was almost cut from a brilliant play, which, for a series that’s so excellent on so many levels, is something we haven’t seen before. Nothing is brought out into the open unnaturally. The line between Cranston and Walt was severely blurred in this one. The entire scene is so natural and familiar, it’s less like we’re watching a show and more like we’re seeing into some family’s life. She’s breaking up the family.Īnd this is the scene that gets BB another few Emmys in hand. ![]() were connecting?-Walt needed some answers. Now that the kids were being taken away-and how about those early scenes where Walt and Walt Jr. Though Skyler’s clearly been out of sorts in the last few episodes, Walt’s ignored it. Just before that scene between Walt and Skyler, Marie and Hank talked to Walt about Skyler and brought up taking care of the kids while they work out their differences and of course this is Walt’s soft spot. While I think there’s been a lot of misguidance on her character throughout the series-a good deal of it because fan reaction to her was so oddly visceral-“Fifty One” took a second to explore the depths of her fear and articulated it perfectly in one of the best scenes in this show’s history. Compared to Johnson’s last directed episode of Breaking Bad, “Fly,” it fits a lot more seamlessly into Breaking Bad’s catalog and especially into this season. Even if “distressed person jumping into the pool” is a cliché, it worked wonderfully here. ![]() It is entirely on Skyler, her face unmoved with a twinge of regret, cut-to her point of view of the pool, cut-to her face. When Walt, Hank, Marie and Skyler are all outside, having dinner together, the entire scene is about Skyler about to break and when it comes to a head-when Walt describes how Skyler was there for him, taking care of him during the cancer, one year ago-the camera doesn’t shift to the table at all. It’s not manipulative, but it draws you in. You can see it in the way characters talk to one another the close-ups on their faces the subtle droning tones. Johnson’s ideas waffle between incredulous and bizarrely mundane, but the focus on the bare bones of a scene or story (e.g.: the dialogue the acting) and getting into the heads of his characters can make even the most absurd story realistic. Brick is fantastic see it if you haven’t. Rian Johnson, who directed this episode, is awesome. Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow. ![]()
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