"No Mas" Review
There’s a lot to like about this episode and my favorite aspect is how well the plane collision is handled from last season’s cliffhanger. Breaking Bad has added to its mythology and it’s nice to see the impact the crash has upon the town. The scene in the school auditorium is especially well-done. Walt’s speech is appropriately awkward as he tries to justify what’s happened with statistics. Then again, the principal kind of deserved that for giving Walt the mic without letting him think. I would have been so mad if someone did that to me.
My favorite scene, though, is between Walt and Skyler. The two didn’t really see each other for most of the episode, until the one meeting in his new apartment. It’s here that Skyler serves divorce papers and finds out the whole truth… finally. It’s really interesting that Skyler knows everything now because it tears apart the premise of the show: Walt’s struggle to hide his drug dealing (sorry, I mean “manufacturing”) from his family. Now that that’s out the window, the show is something very different.
The most important part of “No Mas” is Walt finally quitting the business. It’s such an important scene - where he tells Gus that he’s finished (“no mas!”) - that his family is more important than any sum of money. For a second, I thought he’d give in to the $3 million dollars because I figured the show needed to go in that direction to continue. But no, Walt has chosen to go legit, and the Breaking Bad writers have shown they’re not afraid to go in an unexpected direction. “No Mas” ended on that note - Walt is determined to get his life back on track… and so is Jesse.
Speaking of Jesse, I really like how he has no one left but Walt. Walt picks Jesse up from rehab and now they’re living together. It really shows what their choices have added up to. They’ve alienated themselves from everyone else including their family and friends - they only have each other left.
Now, I can’t review “No Mas” without mentioning “The Cousins,” or the two twins pictured above (were they twins? … I think so). They are such badass characters… and they didn’t say one word. But really, did they need to? Holy crap, that last scene was insane. It’s terrifying to know that they’re after Walt. I guess he won’t be staying on the “straight and narrow” for very long.
Overall, “No Mas” is a great episode and a nice set-up for Season 3. It leaves me wondering where the show will go next, but that’s a good thing, isn’t it?
-MP