Breaking Bad - Dead Freight

By: Ashley Chittock | Aug 14, 2012 I was so, so ready to write "Dead Freight" off as filler, a neat, little novelty episode to enjoy and kick back after the dialogue-heavy family spats we saw last week. Classifying it as "filler" isn't necessarily a bad thing in this context - even Breaking Bad needs a decent setpiece every now and again - but I was going to heavily criticize the episode for treading water, not really advancing the plot or developing the characters in any way. Then Todd shoots the kid in the last ten seconds and it reeled in all my bad feelings. Those ten seconds blow the future of the season wide open, and now it is going to start accelerating towards a gruesome end.

So lets start with what I didn't like about "Dead Freight" originally. The characters didn't really do much. Hank sat around, Skyler sat around, even Jesse spent half of the episode sitting around listening to Mike and Walt quarrel. Unlike last week, where characters without much to do were given worthwhile purpose, this week a lot of scenes came across as a bunch of people in a room waiting to deliver their lines. For the first half, Lydia was the only interesting character because she had an urgency to her part that came from the threat of death. I liked the deliberately stereotypical interrogation room look of the scene, and there were some great uses of lighting in all the indoor segments of this episode. The White house always looks dark these days, in keeping with the state of Walt and Skyler's relationship, and it wouldn't be Breaking Bad without foreshadowing; "are you burying bodies?"


The last half of the episode is a classic crime drama heist setpiece, which was predictable in a way with the rapid-fire conflict/resolution you'd expect. The episode contains the three key parts of a movie heist - the planning, the bit where it doesn't go to plan, and the bit where they solve the problem against the odds - and it's mostly done well. The only part I didn't like was the first planning bit. The way Lydia jumps up to join in with the whole thing seemed a bit forced, considering she was begging for her life just a minute beforehand. Jesse getting stuck under the train as it rolled away was intense, but the premise wasn't so absurd that it ruined the feel of the show like the magnets from the season premiere did.

I had completely forgotten about the kid from the teaser until Todd pulled out his gun and the episode ends on an infuriating cliffhanger that just makes me wish I could fast-forward to next Sunday. The show could spin off on so many different tangents from here. Jesse could want revenge, Mike could want to protect them (who?), Walt might have to choose between justice and his own safety (and if we know anything, it's that he'll choose the latter every time). It has left me so excited for the rest of the season because this marks the end of the good times for the crew. We're now starting the downward spiral which will end in three weeks time with the midseason finale, and until this sudden twist I'd completely forgotten that the show doesn't have the luxury of a 16-episode run to drag things out. There's no room for filler in season five of Breaking Bad.