Breaking Bad episode review — 5.12 — Rabid Dog

Original air date: September 1, 2013
Director: Sam Catlin
Writer: Sam Catlin

Rating: 8/10

This episode opens with a very suspenseful scene of Walt arriving at his home with a gun and looking for Jesse. As he realizes Jesse is gone, he assumes he’s changed his mind about burning his house down, and it’s fun to see Walt work out his latest ridiculous lie, as after a cleaning crew can’t get rid of the scent, he has to make up some bullshit about a gas pump malfunction.

Even Walter Jr. calls bullshit on this, though he thinks Walt’s covering for him having fainted due to his cancer.

In reality, Jesse didn’t change his mind; he was stopped by Hank, who wants to use Jesse to catch Walt.

After Jesse gets Hank to understand that if he’s in jail and ready to testify, he’ll be dead immediately, Hank (and Marie) agrees to have Jesse stay at their house.

He records a video for Hank and Gomez wherein he details all the crimes that he was privy to with Walt, but insists that it won’t take Walt down because it’s just his word against Walt’s. Hank then reveals a voicemail Walt left Jesse that asks to meet with him in public.

Jesse thinks it’s a death trap, but Hank says that there is no safer place to meet, though he reveals in private with Gomez that he doesn’t care what happens to Jesse.

We know or at least assume that Walt is genuinely trying to make amends with Jesse.

He has a conversation with Saul about their problems, and Saul is the one who mentions killing Jesse, which Walt is opposed to. Hank is correct in pointing out that Walt always protects Jesse, but it’s also very reasonable for Jesse to fear for his life. This is really great writing.

And it’s all the more great when Skyler then has a conversation with Walt wherein she also mentions killing him.

She asks him what’s one more person after all that he’s done. And while this happens after the conversation with Saul, it also comes before he leaves the latest voicemail, so we’re not 100% sure where Walt lands on the Jesse situation.

This makes for a very tense scene when Jesse is to meet him. he panicks when he sees someone he fears is an assassin (he’s wrong), he rushes to a payphone and calls Walt and says that he’s going to get him where he really lives.

When he meets back up with Hank, he says that he has another idea on how to get Walt.

It’s another fine performance from Aaron Paul. This final season has been so incredibly demanding, and he has absolutely overcome every challenge. While he stand out, there’s fine acting all around, and I think that’s what makes this episode pretty good.