Breaking Bad – Problem Dog
With this episode Breaking Bad’s
fourth season is halfway over, and the series marked the occasion
with a brilliant installment. The other characters didn’t stand a
chance of competing with Jesse’s storyline, but Hank did give him a
run for his money. “Problem Dog” not only had the incredible
character development that has made up most of the season, but also
pushed the plot along into the setup for what one of the characters
themselves called, “a perfect storm.”
Showing Breaking Bad isn’t above
a little product placement, the cold open still did an excellent job
of portraying Jesse’s mindset. Gus’s evil empire must extend to the
gaming world, as that is the only way to explain Jesse getting his
hands on Rage before it’s been released. Well that or the
production deciding they needed a little extra income(just as likely
it was a move on AMC’s part, who has been known to encourage their
shows to include more product integration). Jesse’s guilt naturally
took the back burner when he began working with Mike, but it’s still
there, in fact, it has developed. Now his most pressing concern
isn’t the pain over what he did, but that he hasn’t felt enough.
Jesse wants the pain, he wants to be punished for what he’s done.
And since no one else will, he does it himself by reliving the moment
of Gale’s death with a video game. Not the most subtle message the
series has sent out, but one that was necessary in setting up one of
the most emotionally powerful scenes the series has given us this
season.
