For the second week in a row, Breaking Bad decided to play it cool by avoiding, for example, having a man slit another man's throat in a particularly violent fashion.
What made this episode, entitled "Open House," stand out, however, was the fact that it focused on the two main female characters of the show. Skyler and to an even greater extent Marie weren't really big parts of the show last season. Now, both seem to be taking a bigger role in the show. It certainly seems like Skyler is going to be a major character during Season Four. While I felt this episode while goo, was a lesser effort from a show as great at Breaking Bad, it's still impressive that they can push Walt and Jesse to the wayside and completely eschew Gus and Mike while still producing an engaging hour of television.
Spotlight on Marie
While Marie got a nice showcase in this episode, and while her character is having a really rough go of it and her scenes with Hank can be gut wrenching, she isn't developed or interesting enough as a character to carry this much screen time. That isn't to say Betsy Brandt didn't do a fine job in this episode. It's just that the show had to rely on her one notable character trait -- her propensity for stealing -- to derive anything worthwhile out of her, and they can't go to that well too often.
Skyler takes charge
Skyler on the other hand has been very interesting this season, and I like seeing her have more screen time. The scene where she showed concern for Walt early on was intriguing. Has she started to come around on him? Maybe she can't love him anymore, but at the least care about him? It certainly seems like she cares. Skyler also makes a nice foil for Saul Goodman, and I look forward to watching her and Walt deal with the money laundering through the car wash. Walt loves control, and Skyler has no problems standing up to his stubbornness. I also wonder if she will end up learning more about the man Walt is. Her remark about how she and Walt weren't the kind of people to resort to violence was an excellent moment of dramatic irony. Also, it was good to have Saul back this week. Now, if we could only see Gus again...
Jesse's downward spiral
Not much to report on Jesse. It was basically just an escalation of last week's antics. I imagine he ends up hitting rock bottom soon, and this from a guy who has already been in rehab.
Tyrus
I wonder what the show is going to do with Gus and Mike's new righthand man Tyrus. Then again, Victor didn't really do much until the premiere of this season, and we know how that turned out for him.
Final thoughts
Breaking Bad doesn't have to have people getting killed or other major events unfold every week. However, after a couple of more ponderous, character exploration-oriented episodes, I'd like to see things get ratcheted up at least a couple of notches next week. Breaking Bad has earned my patience, but they can certainly do better than "Open House" without having to resort to any sort of gimmickry. However, you can only do so many episodes that end with a character casually flipping through lab notes and generate engaging television.
I've enjoyed the last few episodes quite a bit. While they aren't necessarily "classics," they do much to allow us to hang out with major characters as the next series of tense moments builds.
Aaron Paul as Jesse just keeps getting better, and how his wretched existence is displayed a brilliant example of "show don't tell."