Monsters of Television

“I’m sure if you keep digging, you’ll find me.”

That says it all, doesn't it?

I think my favorite thing about “Hermanos”, among the many many many things I enjoyed in the episode, is that it very much felt like one of those cold opens from season 3 that feel like a miniature movie. Those cold opens are wholly self-contained but send character and thematic ripples across the show. And, sure, people like to say, with each episode of a television show, they’re making a miniature movie, but there’s just something delightful about those cold opens.

With “Hermanos” the entire episode leads up to a sequence that would have otherwise been the cold open of an episode. There’s a steady build to it, which makes it, honestly, a miniature movie within the framework of this entire episode being a miniature movie of Gus Fring’s life.

Perhaps because I feel a little burned out on this season’s insistence on driving home Walter’s impotence in all fronts of his life, I’ve enjoyed the digressions from his story a bit. The more I think of it, the more I really liked “Open House”, and it was because it gave us some insight into Marie and Skyler, two characters who haven’t always been well-served by the show (particularly Marie). And with “Hermanos” we have another episode that allows us to consider Walt through someone else’s eyes again, and here, at least, a variation on Walter’s impotence.

For us, Walter’s a man slowly descending into being a drug lord, if only he could assume control of his life from, well, everyone else in his life. For Gus, Walter is the man who makes him meth, and thus a lot of money, and is also a money who rants and waves at a security camera. But he’s also a threat, he knows how dangerous a man in Walter’s position can be since, after all, he was in a very similar situation so very long ago.

Indeed, the flashback that the episode builds to, Maximilio pleads for Gus to be involved, that he “needs” Gus, are similar to Walter’s pleas earlier this season in regards to Jesse. It may be a bit too pat, the parallels coming into focus, but the difference appears to be that Walter is touchable, capable of being removed from an equation, where Gus was not. I have no idea how the Eladio knows of Gus, but that he is protected (or was, anyway) is interesting, and a piece of those pre-mid-1980s stories.

But you can get to Gus, as Hank demonstrates. The interrogation scene, while not the typical taunt Breaking Bad sequence, is still riveting. Just how well has Gus covered his connection to Gale? Pretty damn well, it would appear. Well enough to satisfy the APD and the DEA, anyway. But don’t you just love Gus’s surprise at Hank’s questions about Chile? Why would he go that far if he didn’t have anything? And Hank is obviously on the right track as Gus struggles to maintain himself in the elevator. It’s delightful that twitches of a finger indicate a struggle to maintain control of oneself, but that’s just how self-possessed Gus is.

The episode is filled with other small delights, like Walter’s paranoia being “confirmed” that Jesse isn’t completely on his side any longer after seeing the text message (presumably from Mike) or Skyler vacuum-packing the money with the sweaters, the rack breaking, and then having to place them in the crawl space like corpses in body bags. But perhaps the biggest non-Gus related moment was when, as Hank is explaining how to stick the tracker to Gus’s car, Mike just drives up, pretty as you please. It was the largest, most genuine laugh I think I’ve had on any show in a long time.

The season only has give episodes left, and I have to imagine that things will start accelerating, but unlike in previous seasons where I could kind of see things closing in on everyone, this season seems a bit more opaque. Yes, we have Hank’s now non-sanctioned investigation and Walter’s desperate attempts to get Jesse to kill Gus, but I can’t see how those threads will come together to lead us into the last season. And there’s some real pleasure in that.