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Observation Analysis Notes   Zach Denault, 2014Assignment One

Observation OneFriday, September 26th, 2014

AMC’s “Breaking Bad” Season 3, Episode 6

Note: All observations took place in the first 30 minutes of a 43 minute program. Information used in the analysis is from all 43 minutes of the episode. Timing is represented as Minutes:Seconds, ex: three minutes and

30 seconds would be shown as 3:30 from the start of the episode. (Characters: Left- Walter White, Center- Skyler White, Right- Walter White Jr. “Junior”. Photo courtesy of AMC’s Season 1 Photo Album)

Relevant Background Information: “Breaking Bad” is a fictional series about a 50 (now 51) year old high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with cancer and given a few years to live. He decides that he will stop teaching, and provide for his family even once he is dead, participating in the production and distribution of methamphetamine; crystal meth. He does this for 6

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months+ by the episodes I chose to observe. His cancer is in complete remission, and he has already acquired more than enough money to leave for his family, but has gotten so far and into the business, especially with big cartels in Mexico, that leaving is almost impossible. By this point in the series, Walt has seen death, violence, is facing a divorce, and all he wants is to go back to the way his life was before he started this lifestyle. The locations I observed in this episode are present day New Mexico, particularly Albuquerque and the surrounding suburbs.  The locations most important are as follow; Walt’s condo, Jesse’s house, Hank’s SUV, Gus’s restaurant, Walt/Gus’s meth superlab, and a local junkyard.

Rules and Conventions:In the world that Walt lives in, violence is common and lying and cheating are almost requirements for the job. Seeing a knife or handgun flashed or used is not uncommon whatsoever in the meth world. Many people die in the series and it is accepted. Walt has lied to his wife, Skyler, for over six months about where he has been when he is out late at night, on weekend “business trips”, and about where his money for treatment is coming from. He justifies this by saying it is to “protect his family” and that there is no way around it, but in the long run it has just ended up splitting his entire family apart and the one thing he wanted to do for them, provide everything they need, Skyler will not let him do as she sees the funds as “blood money”. Another norm in the series is actors just randomly drinking and doing meth at any point during an episode. For example, Jesse often offers to let his friends try the meth he cooked to see its quality and that is seen as a normal everyday event. Finally, seeing Walt or Jesse committing a federal crime; actually preparing the meth itself is something that happens in almost every episode by season 3. If a normal person walked in on somebody cooking meth they probably would not be okay with it, but the actors in this show have become used to being involved in or witnessing that kind of behavior on a daily basis.

Actors: Actors are characters who are the center of events in the show. The people who cause actions to occur and who can change the dynamics of the figured world. The actors listed below are only a handful of the very significant ones present in this series.

• Walter White- A.K.A.: “Heisenberg”- A 51 year old high school chemistry teacher who decides to manufacture and distribute crystal meth after being diagnosed with cancer. Known for making the purest, highest quality meth in the market. Also his product is notorious for its distinct blue color, which distinguishes it from others. Some even go as far as to dye their own meth blue and try to sell it off as Walt’s product since people are willing to spend

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significantly more on his meth. He is starting to lose his family due to the fact that he is always out cooking, and never seems to have time for them, even though they are why he started cooking in the first place.

• Jesse Pinkman- A high school burnout, drug dealer, meth addict, and former chemistry student of Walt’s. Became Walt’s assistant in the first two seasons of the series and has since broken off from Walt due to complications in their relationship. Currently going through rehab and trying to cook his own meth and sell it with his crew, without help from Walt.

• Hank Schrader- A Federal Drug Enforcement agent who has great morals and has an incredible amount of passion for his job. He has been assigned with tracking down a new meth lord: “Heisenberg” AKA Walter White, his brother in law, only he does not know that Walt is Heisenberg. Has been involved in the Heisenberg case since the very beginning and has always been very eager to catch the culprit responsible for the famous blue meth that is running rampant in his jurisdiction. All of the evidence that the DEA has is pointing to Walt, and Jesse, but Hank completely overlooks the fact that Walt could be involved in anything like this, and tries to convict Jesse for most of the “blue meth crimes”. From the very first episode, Walt and Hank have been in a deadly spiral of interactions where Hank would find a new piece of evidence, and it would point to Walt, and Walt would somehow convince his that it really was pointing to someone else, usually an enemy of Walt’s.

• Gustavo Fring- The major meth dealer for the entire Southwestern United States. Affiliated with the Juarez cartel in Mexico and owner of the meth superlab hidden underneath a laundry plant he also owns. Employer of Walter White at this time. He uses his massive chicken restaurant chain, Los Pollos Hermanos, to deliver mass quantities of meth across the Southwest.

• Skyler White- Walter White’s housewife who sells items on eBay and writes short stories for her income. She is extremely loving in season 1 and even most of season 2, but in season 3 she has started to suspect Walt is having an affair. She questions why he is out late at night and has the same set of excuses every time. She is aware of the fact that he is a drug dealer by season 3, and she wants to get a divorce with Walt. Eventually she will end up being Walt’s partner in money laundering, but she still resents him while doing this.

• Walter White Jr.- A.K.A.: “Junior”- A 17 year old boy with cerebral palsy who was close with his father, Walt, in the beginning of the series, but drifts from him

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as his father is gone most of the time and has started to change drastically. He is one of the main reasons Walt does what he does.

Artifacts: These are either a physical object; something you can hold, or an emotion. They must be significant to the figured world as well.

• Crystal Meth- This is what the entire series is about. The money in this complex combination of chemicals is astronomical and Walt planned to take millions of it for himself and his family. It represents the secure future of Walt’s family, which is ironic considering the volatility surrounding it.

• Walt’s RV- This is how Walt planned on making the millions of dollars he wanted for his family. A moving lab to cook meth in is ingenious, as it would be highly unlikely to be found. It represents Walt’s vessel for attaining his goals and goes hand in hand with crystal meth.

• Jesse’s Street Smarts- This is not a physical object, but rather a set of skills that Jesse attained through selling drugs on the street and befriending/ living with dangerous people. Walt planned on using Jesse and the skills he possessed to help him turn the meth, which is worthless to Walt as is, into hard cash, which is exactly what Walt wants. These skills represented the machine that Walt would put meth into and get cash out of.

Communities of Practice: A group of people (minimum of 3) who think in similar ways and have similar goals, who work together to achieve these goals.

• Jesse’s Crew- This group consists of Jesse, Badger, and Skinny Pete. They all want to sell meth to make money either to support themselves, or to buy more meth because they all are or have been addicts at some point in the series. They have had varied results in this process, as they were making tens of thousands of dollars each, but then a member of their crew, “Combo” was killed and they stopped selling meth.

• Hank’s DEA Crew- This group consists of Hank, Steven Gomez, and George Merkert to name a few. This group of people all want to catch Heisenberg, stop the spread of meth and do this by setting up stakeouts, communicate over radios and all back each other up if necessary. They all think similarly because they are all Federal Agents and have all gone through the same training and tests. You could not pick better people to work together.

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Domain: A group’s designated field of expertise and shared commitment to achieve a goal.

• Being Successful in the Meth Business- In Breaking Bad, the past events of the show have foreshadowed that you can only be successful for so long before you either a) die or b) are caught by the DEA and thrown in prison for the rest of your life. Walt is looking to break this trend by getting in, getting his money, and getting out before anything bad happens. Obviously this does not happen and Walt is forced to figure out a way out of his situation without going to prison or dying or worst of all, getting his family in any kind of trouble.

Practices of the Community: The actions that a community does to achieve a goal. The set of instructions they all use.

• Discovering Heisenberg’s Identity- Hank knows from the beginning that something is strange about this new meth cook. He is too smart and covers his tracks too well to just be some junkie trying to make a buck. Hank keeps running into evidence that brings him back to Walt, but never suspects Walt to actually be Heisenberg. Hank interviews many suspects and even kills some men he believes to be Heisenberg, but the blue meth keeps appearing, so the efforts to this point were in vain. I believe that Hank doesn’t suspect Walt, only due to the fact that they are family, and Hank has good morals, so he believes that his family would not lie to him.

• How to Cook Meth- At some point, Walt had to teach Jesse how to cook meth. Their goal was to acquire pounds of meth to sell and they did this by following the recipe in Walt’s mind that produced the purest meth around. That recipe is Walt and Jesse’s (and every other meth cook’s) practice of the community.

Literacy Practices: The way actors communicate in the figured world. This could be verbal or written communication.

• Use of Cellphones- The use of cellphones in this figured world is imperative. If somebody wants a delivery of meth, they are not going to come knocking on your door where you live with your wife and children, they will call you or send you a text. Walt goes as far as to have multiple cellphones in an attempt to keep his work and private life separate. Also having cellphones gives customers an easy

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way to communicate with their dealer, when all they have to do is dial a number and set up a meeting point and time.

• Torture/ Interrogations- Often times in Breaking Bad either a police officer or drug lord will need information from people less significant than them. They will attempt to get this information by either torturing the person or threatening to torture them or their families/ loved ones, or interrogating them. Typically these two acts go hand in hand even though police say they never threaten or torture anybody when we have seen Hank beat Jesse unconscious without reason. In this case, Jesse lived, but with many people in this series they are not that lucky. On several occasions, as soon as you either give them the information they want, or show that you will not talk, they kill you, despite what you have been promised or guaranteed. Even Walt has to torture some other characters several times in the show, when he tries to convince the person to not disclose his identity. This usually ends up in Walt killing the person, because he doesn’t believe they will stay quiet.

The Observation: Season 3, Episode 60:30- Scene opens on police officer checking a house where a local woman might be missing.1:30- Officer knocks on door and there is no response, but he looks in a window and sees a steaming cup of coffee.1:45- Officer sees a grim reaper figure in a corner along with a piece of paper with Walt’s image on it. He also sees men’s jackets outside on a clothesline. 2:30- Officer sees/hears flies in the outhouse. Investigates. Sees woman’s corpse behind the building. Runs to truck, calls in backup.4:00- Man approaches officer from behind with axe, while officer confronts another man coming out of the house.4:30- Man with axe kills officer ------------------------------------------- Intro Cutscene-------------------------------------------------------------5:30- Skyler calls Walt to talk about their divorce/the concern over their son, Walt Jr. Walt insists on paying for every aspect of their children’s lives, but Skyler doesn’t want that.7:30- The same men who killed the police officer come into Gus’s chicken restaurant and stare him down, trying to speak with him.

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9:00- Jesse and friends are in his house and Jesse offers his friends some meth he cooked and they say it is the same quality as Walt’s product.11:00- They debate whether or not to restart selling meth, even after their other friend was killed while doing it. When they talk about this friend, “Combo” they always take two fingers, kiss them, and point to the sky, which is a way that they communicate that he is missed and they loved him like family.11:30- They all agree to cook/sell meth again and Hank, a DEA agent, sees them leave Jesse’s house together as a team.12:30- Walt is making his PB and J and cuts the crusts off, suggesting he is very methodical and analytical14:00- Walt is talking to Walt Jr. about the divorce and says “Call me crazy, but I’m actually feeling very good about the future”. Possible foreshadowing.14:30- Gus walks into his restaurant and the same two men are waiting for him again. This implies that they are persistent and they will talk to him sooner or later.16:30- Walt walks into his meth superlab to see an assistant that he did not want. 19:00- Walt teaches his assistant to make his meth and they get along very well at this point. Classical music plays in the background, suggesting the process is elegant which it definitely is not.21:00- Walt and assistant talk about how they ended up where they are and why they make meth. They say that there is crime and then there is crime. They do not believe what they are doing is a real crime. They communicate much more sophisticatedly than anybody else in the show, using fancy words and proper grammar, suggesting that educated people also make decisions to do bad things too. They even recite poetry together.24:30-  Hank is watching Jesse’s house when Marie (his wife) calls him and tells him to call Walt for help catching Jesse and his crew. 27:00- Hank asks if Walt knows about Jesse’s RV, which he does as he cooked meth in it, but he does not want to turn Jesse in as his own fingerprints are all over it. The RV is an artifact.28:00- Walt calls his crooked lawyer, Sal, who tells him to destroy the RV ASAP.29:30- Walt plans to take the RV into the desert and burn/ destroy it there.

End of 30 Min Observation

Observation TwoSaturday, September 13th, 2014

AMC’s “Breaking Bad” Season 3, Episode 7

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1:30- Old man is talking to 2 Mexican men on cellphone about Gus and how he thinks he runs things, but really he is just a “fry cook” in the big scheme.4:00- 2 assassins are holding a candle vigil for Hank, they plan to kill him in revenge for their cousin’s death in season 2. 5:00- Jesse returns home, Hank follows him into his house and proceeds to beat Jesse within an inch of his life, which puts Hank in a really bad spot as a DEA agent. He does call an ambulance for Jesse though, which shows that he is not heartless and he saw wrong in what he did. 6:30- Hank’s boss suggests talking to a lawyer, as he believes Jesse will be pressing charges.8:30- Sal is talking to Jesse in the hospital about how he is safe from the DEA forever now, and how the beating was the best thing that could have happened to him. Basically suggesting to blackmail the DEA with the story of an innocent man almost being beaten to death by a federal agent.10:30- Jesse tells Walt that he will press charges and he will own Hank by the end of this event. He is set on ruining Hank’s life. Then Sal suggests not doing that because the DEA is afraid of him right now, while he has the story in his pocket, but if he released it, they would be forced to retaliate.12:00- Jesse says he will turn Walt in if he gets caught cooking again. Walt believes he is bluffing but Sal disagrees.14:30- Hank is giving his official statement to the police and his lawyer advises him to plead the 5th Amendment. Cops then say that Jesse is in fact pressing charges and that he is not on drugs, so his testimony is considered as fact. Also the investigators want a picture of Hank’s bruised hands, to document the case.17:00- Hank is walking through his office and everyone is staring at him, not saying anything, but communicating the uneasiness in the room. He then cries in the elevator with Marie.18:30- Skyler shows up at Walt’s condo to talk about Hank. She wants Walt to persuade Jesse to not press charges. Walt doesn’t seem like he will and then says he has to leave.22:00- Walt shows up at the lab and Gale (his assistant) already has everything set up that Walt would do. Walt starts to dislike Gale again.25:00- 2 assassins buy bulletproof vests from a man, then shoot him to see if they work, which they do. It communicates that they are the real deal, and if you were trying to sell them stuff that didn’t work, you would be dead.26:00- Walt finds that Gale put the wrong temperature into a piece of equipment, even though it is what Walt told him to do. Walt is clearly trying to get rid of Gale. He then

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dumps all of the sludge that Gale made on the floor. This communicates that Walt is unhappy with Gale.28:00- Hank is preparing for his trial and Marie tries to tell him to lie about what happened and say Jesse attacked him with a pipe or weapon. Hank says no and acknowledges that what he did was wrong in the situation. He says that the killing from season 2 in Mexico changed him significantly.

End of 30 Minute Observation

Observation ThreeSunday, September 14th, 2014

AMC’s “Breaking Bad” Season 3, Episode 8

2:30- Jesse is being discharged from the hospital, as Hank arrives in an ambulance with four gunshot wounds. It is ironic, Jesse leaves as Hank arrives, and it is even more ironic due to the fact that Hank put Jesse in the hospital in the first place.3:30- Jesse says he is doing great and grins demonically at Hank’s misfortune. He probably believes it is Karma at work.6:00- Walt is telling Gale to leave because he is more “classical” and Gale is more “jazz”, which Gale starts to believe, and how Walt needs another “classical” person to work with. Then Jesse walks in and is being obnoxious and very clearly shows Gale that Walt just doesn’t like him, as Jesse is definitely not “classical”.8:00- Jesse tells Walt about Hank’s condition and Walt runs to the hospital where Hank’s boss says that the men who shot Hank are Mexican nationals, affiliated with a drug cartel.11:00- Marie overhears that Hank was unarmed during the fight, and screams his boss and partner for taking his gun, and blame them for his situation.13:00- She then blames Walt for Hank even investigation Jesse in the first place and then apologizes once she realizes that she is wrong.14:00- The DEA are all donating blood to help Hank survive, which shows that they will all sacrifice part of themselves for him.16:00- Jesse is messing around in the lab when Walt needs him to be cooking, as Walt is stuck in the waiting room with his family.18:30- Jesse calls Walt at the hospital and Skyler knows what the call was about, but she doesn’t disturb him about it. She realizes that it is important for him to keep doing what he is doing. They communicate with their eyes very well at this point in their relationship.

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20:00- Marie complains about how the hospital utensils are “dirty” and she has no clue how anybody could survive the hospital. Walt then says that he survived the hospital and how Hank is twice the man that he is, so Hank will be fine.23:00- Gus gets a call from the cartel asking why his men are dead and who ordered the hit on Hank. There is an infinite amount of distrust between the two men.24:30- Doctor tells the family that Hank might be paralyzed, but he is alive and stabilizing in the ICU.26:00- Walt walks down the escalator and Gomez, Hank’s partner, is eager to show Walt what Hank did to the assassin who survived the fight, but is in critical condition. They all go upstairs and Walt sees that the man has had both legs amputated, but he recognizes “Heisenberg” and starts crawling toward the door to get to Walt, and that is when Walt realizes they were after him. 28:30- Jesse is still waiting for Walt and hasn’t freaked out yet. This shows that he is loyal to Walt no matter what.30:00- Jesse gets caught messing around in the lab, he gets himself and Walt in trouble with Gus’s assistant. This enforces the perception that Jesse is not the man for the job, making Walt look bad to Gus, who is already planning on getting rid of him.

End of 30 Minute Observation

Interview With Walter WhiteQuestion One: Tell me about why you picked Jesse Pinkman as your partner/assistant.

Answer One: I chose Jesse Pinkman for my assistant simply because he was the first/only drug dealer I knew back when I started cooking. Also we had some sort of history, as I was his chemistry teacher in high school. We did not get along when he was my student, but it still gave me a connection with him that I did not have with anybody else. As time went on, I did begin to appreciate him more, as he did start to become a better and more capable partner as time went on. He wasn’t the perfect partner, but we did a hell of a job didn’t we?

Question Two: What is your opinion on Hank Schrader?

Answer Two: Hank is a great man. We had a good relationship before I started cooking, but ever since, I have had to watch my back and since Hank is in the DEA, it is becoming harder and harder to associate with him, as I get bigger in the Meth world. I also feel terrible about what happened to him in relation to the two Mexican assassins

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from the cartel, as they were coming after me, but Gus needed me for bigger and better things.

Question Three: Why did you stay involved in illegal activities even once you had millions of dollars?

Answer Three: I did not want to stay in the Meth world once I had the money I needed. I was forced to because of the things I had gotten myself into. To pay debts to other big players, namely Gus, I had to work for him and make 200 pounds of my signature Meth every week, to avoid being killed. I could not just disappear with my family because of my situation with Hank, who would instantly know that something was up and would investigate it and eventually figure out that I am the infamous “Heisenberg”.

Question Four: Tell me about your relationship with your son, Walt Jr.

Answer Four: Walt Jr. and I have always loved each other. In light of recent events; the impending divorce, we have not had as much time together and therefore our relationship is not what it used to be, but I’d like to think that we are still on good terms. On a side note, I am starting to acknowledge that I am babying my son a little too much and I have realized that he is capable of opening doors for himself and I don’t need to treat him like a little boy anymore. He has grown into a strong young man who can take care of himself for the most part.

Question Five: How has your opinion of violence changed since you started actively participating in illegal actions?

Answer Five: My opinion has not changed. In the beginning I believed that if I had to protect my family and kill another human being, I would do it. I still have the same belief now, I just put my family in danger more often, which I regret, so I must defend them more often. I do not enjoy killing and violence, but I understand that it is a fundamental part of any power hierarchy and sometimes people must be killed. I still think about the eyes of every person I have killed, I can see the life fade out of them like a cup full of tea with a hole in the bottom. I feel awful about those deaths, but I stand by my beliefs.

An Interview with Bryan Cranston A.K.A.- Walter White:

http://news.yahoo.com/katie-couric-interviews-bryan-cranston-224913317.html?ch=2(Click on “Breaking Bad” near the top of the page to get to the video, and sorry about the ad. Interview courtesy of Yahoo News.)

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Character Transformations: In this section I will show 2 pictures of a character and show their physical differences, along with a textual description of their mental changes as well.

Walter White:

Season 1 Season 5

Jesse Pinkman:

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Season 1

Season 5

Hank Schrader:

Season 1

Season 5

(All pictures courtesy of AMC’s Season 5 Photo album)

Mental differences:

Walt: The difference in Walt’s mental state is everything. In season 5 Walt is a cold blooded killer who has no issues with violence, drug dealing, cop killing, torture or basically anything a normal person would have problems with. Killing someone for him

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is about as hard as us writing our name. It is clearly visible in his pictures as well. He is not the same man we

started watching a few years ago.

Jesse: The main difference in Jesse’s mental state is almost the opposite of Walt’s. He no longer wants to be involved in the criminal world, and just wants to get out and start a real, normal life. This is most likely due

to the fact that for a good amount of season 5 Jesse is locked up in a cage in the ground, and has endless amounts of time to evaluate his life and he realizes that he isn’t where he wants to be, and decides to change that.

Hank: The main difference in Hank’s mental state is that he is dead and it is Walt’s fault. It is true that Walt tried to give everything he had, $80 Million, for Hank’s life, but in the end Hank was going to be killed either way. Walt is the reason that Hank, a DEA agent, was even out at a gathering of drug dealers and criminals, and ultimately ended up dead. For Hank himself though, he has stayed relatively the same throughout the series. He is the constant if Jesse and Walt were the variables in the show. His morals never changed and he wouldn’t beg for his life because he knew he was dead either way and wanted to maintain his image for his family to remember him by.

An Interview with Aaron Paul A.K.A.- Jesse Pinkman:

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=343722394&m=343731309 (Start at around 2:30. You don’t have to listen to the whole 20 minutes, it is very long, but it is very detailed. Interview courtesy of NPR.)

An Interview with Vince Gilligan-http://blogs.amctv.com/breaking-bad/2010/06/vince-gilligan-interview-part-i-2/(Interview courtesy of AMC.)

Vince Gilligan is the creator of “Breaking Bad” and in this interview he discusses Walt and Skyler’s relationship in a good amount of depth. I really like how he goes into his own thoughts about the show, as he is the creator and really could have done whatever he wanted. Information means more coming from him, knowing that he had an idea of a character in his head and did his best to put that idea into the show.

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